Not with a Bang Start and Ongoing

[voidtreckermods]

"Good Morning passengers. Today is day seven of the month of Imagination." The voice echoes through the train as passengers wake up in their beds. Not long afterwards their SCA’s glow with the colour of the void and a holographic image will appear.

Preperation

They have about an hour to prepare, a little less than usual but perhaps expected, given the urgency of the task.

The cupboards in the dressing room are open to reveal rows of tents, in all four team colours as well as some basic camp cooking equipment. They are in bags that should be easy enough to carry.

"Shortly arriving on System #6416. All passengers get ready to disembark. Next stop world 6416. Exit from void in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." The train rocks and lurches, bright colours of the void filling the space and then fading as they fly downwards towards a very green landscape.

Arrival and Initial Task

The train lands in a clearing, curving round in an attempt to fit. Once everyone who wishes to disembark has done it flies back into the air, vanishing from sight.

The air is heavy and humid, though it is not currently raining. The clearing is open to the sky and looking up will reveal a worrying sight. The sky is an angry red colour, colours shifting as if the clouds themselves were on fire. It's an unnerving sight.

Their SCA's show three points, one Orange, One purple and one that is half blue and half red. The three control centres. Each are a few hours treck through the jungle and it certainly feels like there is no time to waste.

Those that don't want to treck through the forest can start setting up camp, though the darkening sky might be a little distracting. As time goes on flecks of fire drift down, though they extinguish before hitting the forest floor.

Orange are to travel to the north, Purple to the south and Blue and Red must travel together to the west. Each route takes them through thick and unrelenting jungle. Flying is difficult here unless you can get up past the canopy layer, which means vision of the ground is severely hampered.

The control stations themselves are half buried in vines and require cutting into. If voidtreckers are unlucky they will meet their first security robots here, firing on the intruders. They might even meet their first giant Armadillos, the creatures are curious and may wish to investigate. They are not helpful or constructive to trying to power up the stations and prevent the destruction of the planet.

The control stations are simple enough to operate, but there's quite a lot that needs to be done in way of repairs and clearing. It will take a team effort to get it in working enough order to activate the shield.

The shield itself, when it is activated, is mostly invisible but there is a loud humming sound. The meteor, which has gotten more visible throughout the five hours, hits the shield and splinters, fire enveloping the whole sky. It is visibly terrifying, but no fire falls to earth, no rocks get through, the planet is safe.

Ongoing

Once the planet is safe the voidtreckers deserve a rest. But once the next morning dawns it is time to start with their next tasks, to make sure that this planet stays safe from future threats.

Red

The robots at the control stations are not the only malfunctioning security robots around. They roam the jungle, or are more often stranded in the jungle, powering up only when faced with a new threat.

Some are benign, terraforming machines whose only crime is using up precious power. These need to be dismantled so that power can be saved for the shield system. Others are security robots that will attack the intruders to the planet.

Though the machines are scattered they are often obvious, emitting warning alarms or flashing lights. Their SCA's will show some areas where there are larger clusters but machines can be found anywhere.

Purple

Their SCA's are filled with hundreds of purple dots, each a solar stations that needs cleared and brought back online. It's not the most glamourous job, the stations are deep in the jungle, the treck is difficult and most of the work needed is weed clearing.

But once the weeds have been cut away they will need to patch up the station, doing basic maintenance to get it back online. In some cases wires need to be patched back together but it shouldn't take any great feats of engineering to get the stations up and running.

They may run into some of the security automatons, needing to fight their way into the stations before they can begin the clean up operations.

Orange

Like the red team their SCA will show areas where there are clusters of the small insectoid automatons that need to be rescued and restored. However they can be found anywhere throughout the jungle, they are not too suited for the terrain outside of the stations and so they have gotten tangled in vines. They can be found powered down, stranded and in dire need of maintenance.

Tools and spare parts can be found in many of the solar stations that purple team have been locating. Actually repairing the robots takes some engineering knowledge but once they are restored they will go about their tasks in the stations. They will need help getting to the further flung stations as well as the main control centres.

They are very basic in design and follow pre programmed instructions rather than being able to hear and listen to orders. But once in the correct place they are very effective at their job.

Blue

Once the shield is up there is a faint humming that can be heard throughout the jungle if they listen closely and find it among the sound of rain and insects. But once they hear it, it is obvious where it is louder and more prominent.

Their SCA will pin point some of the larger control boxes but there are truthfully too many to show on a map. Not all of them have attracted Violet Pandas, but many of them have.

They are curious creatures, both of the power boxes and the voidtreckers. They are protective of each other but not so much of territory and therefore it is not difficult to move them on. Keeping them away is another matter, the power humming is interesting and they will unearth wires and chew through them. It doesn't seem to do them much harm, there is clearly safety stops in the system for such eventualities. It does however cut power off to entire solar stations and require a lot of patch work.

Good luck voidtreckers!

Comments

[kingcat]

"Well how else are you supposed t'do it?" he demanded, never mind that he'd seen other people making fires before. That was irrelevant. Those were humans. Totally different.

[strawberryprotector]

"I figured I'd use the lighter that was in the camping supplies." And was actually now in his hand. Ichigo showed it to Grimmjow and even got it to light. "I will use this to light some starter fuel, like some dried out grass or dead leaves. And you put it into the sticks and it starts the fire."

[kingcat]

Grimmjow watched the lighter closely, jerking back slightly when the flame appeared. "That ain't kidou," he could tell that much. But he didn't know what it was either.

[strawberryprotector]

"You're right. The lighter contains a flammable liquid, and the button pushes some of it up a narrow tube. Then the wheel creates a spark and ignites the liquid that's being pushed up the tube." Picking up some dry leaves and grass, Ichigo lit them and then shoved the burning bundle under the sticks that were arranged on the ground.

[kingcat]

He narrowed his eyes, watching Ichigo light the fire, and crouching next to it to make sure it didn't go out. He might not have known a lot about human things, but he knew how to keep a fire going. "Seems like an awful lotta work to go to when you could just use kidou," he pointed out dryly.

[strawberryprotector]

Rolling his eyes, Ichigo tended to the fire to get it nice and strong. "Normal humans can't use kidou."

[kingcat]

"Sucks to be them," Grimmjow replied with a grin, nudging sticks to make sure the fire wouldn't risk going out, and to get more of the sticks burning at once, so they could add some even bigger ones. "No wonder so many of 'em keep dyin'."

[strawberryprotector]

"Humans also have a much shorter lifespan than souls do. Most places, average life expectancy is between 80 and 90." Which was still practically a child by soul standards.

[kingcat]

Grimmjow is silent for a moment, rolling the numbers around in his head before apparently coming to a conclusion. "So you're a fuckin' baby?" Horror is probably not the reaction Ichigo was going for, but that's sure the emotion plastered across Grimmjow's face.

[strawberryprotector]

Terribly enough, Ichigo couldn't help laughing at the look on Grimmjow's face. "By human standards, I am very much an adult. I'm twenty one, after all."

[kingcat]

Twenty-one. It was so young he could hardly wrap his brain around it. "How is that..." he shook his head, reaching over to give Ichigo a gentle -- for him -- shove. "How the fuck are you so strong if you're stull fuckin' wet behind the damn ears?" he demanded, trying to wrap his brain around it all.

[strawberryprotector]

Ichigo shrugged. "My dad's a shinigami, my mom was a Quincy. One of Aizen's earlier creations infected Mom with its reiatsu, Dad sealed that with his reiatsu to keep her from dying, and I yanked it out when I was born. I've had my power stripped from me twice and had to rebuild it from the ground up twice. I have no idea why I have so much power."

[kingcat]

The way Ichigo described it had Grimmjow wrinkling his nose. "That sounds... messy," and gross. And kind of creepy.

[strawberryprotector]

"Very." Snorting softly, Ichigo took a seat by the fire. "I'm pretty sure I break a few laws of reality by existing."

[kingcat]

"You killed god," Grimmjow replied dryly. "I think that means you get to write your own damn rules. Knowin' you, you're gonna end up in that stupid palace again eventually."

[strawberryprotector]

Ichigo shuddered at the idea and gave Grimmjow a serious look. "Promise...promise you'll kill me before I can be shoved in that crystal prison?" It seemed a fate worse than death, and something he wouldn't even wish on Aizen.

[kingcat]

Grimmjow shot him a glare. "First of all, Nobody's strong enough to do that t'you. You proved that when you killed that fucking Quincy with the weird eyes," he said firmly. "Second of all, if someone's trying to do that to you, they're the one I'm killin', not you," he huffed, as if all of this were obvious.

[strawberryprotector]

Hearing that actually relaxed Ichigo. A lot. "Thanks." He flashed a smile at Grimmjow before looking back to the little fire between them.

[kingcat]

"Besides. The prison ain't mandatory for the Soul King." At least, that's what he'd heard. Admittedly from a questionable source.

[strawberryprotector]

"Maybe it isn't, but I'm done with soul society's bullshit for a few decades. I've put my foot down and made them assign someone competent to Karakura so I can have a life there." Not that Ichigo would ever turn Grimmjow or Nel away if they wanted his help. He was just tired of being treated like a tool and being thrown away until they need him again.

[kingcat]

Grimmjow snorted softly. "Do they even have anybody competent that's low enough rank to be stationed like that?" the only soul reapers he'd met that weren't completely useless were too high ranking for an assignment like that. Then again, Grimmjow was stronger than at least half the captains, so his impression of their competence was a bit skewed.

[strawberryprotector]

"They have lieutenants they could send. Rukia or Renji could do it. Hell, even the third and fifth seats from the eleventh are capable. And since I actually like those four, I might even be willing to give them a hand if they need it." Not that Ichigo would do so very often. And in fact he wasn't sure if Rukia would even allow it. After all, he was supposed to be having a normal life now.

[kingcat]

He snorted softly at that, smiling easily. "They could just leave it t'me," he offered with a grin. "I'm still gonna need to hunt other hollows when we get back there." And he was more than strong enough to take on anything that decided to come causing trouble.

[strawberryprotector]

That had Ichigo humming a little as he unpacked the food and handed a muffin to Grimmjow. "Yeah, but you can't help pluses cross over. So someone needs to do that part."

[kingcat]

Grimmjow considered that, accepting the muffing and taking a bite off the top of it. "I can eat those, too," he shrugged. For the most part he left pluses alone, but if it would keep them from pestering Ichigo he didn't mind a few extra souls in his diet. As far as he was concerned, they were no different from hollows.