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

[xue_yang]

"I did. Repairing roofs, scavenging rocks, herding sheep..I'm not opposed to doing tasks if it gets me what I desire." And there was nothing Xue Yang desired more then to have a sword in his hand again. He couldn't trust that there would be ways to get one while on the train. He figures there might be some restrictions given what he has done in the past. But they can't argue with him if he got them because of his own hard work while off the train.

"And with a little added bonus to them added while on the train." They now also have the capable to be so much more then just a blade.

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin chuckles. "I have a hard time imagining you up on a roof nailing shingles down, or shooing the sheep into and out of the pasture." But oh well, even Curufin would do those tasks if there was something in it for him or his family or community.

"What's this added bonus that your new blades have?" Curious.

[xue_yang]

"I actually repaired a roof back on my own world at one point." Otherwise Xingchen was going to do it..and a blind man should never be on a roof.

One of the swords appears in his hand in an instant and first it crackles with lightning around it, then it changes to fire and finally what looks like water swirling around the blade. "That's just a sample."

[so_dark_a_road]

"Good for you!" Curufin chuckles. "Everybody should have at least one rooftop experience."

He watches the display of magic with the swords, and he grins in surprise. "That's most impressive! Is that a sample of your Cultivator skills?"

[xue_yang]

"Controlling it is similar to the magic in talismans and being able to control our spiritual weapons. Since we encounter so many different types of monsters I wanted to make sure I have a few options available to me."

The sword disappears back into his robes. He was tired of feeling useless and he won't be able to progress once he goes home so he might as well figure out all he can while he is here to see what kind of cultivator he could have been.

[so_dark_a_road]

"I wholly agree with that idea," said Curufin. "There really is no telling what sort of monster you might encounter on a Voidtrecker mission, so it is good to have options."

He unsheathes his own sword, and a blue-white light glimmers along the blade. "I can't make my sword appear or disappear, though I can endow it with my own energy, which may be like fire or lightening. It's interesting that our magic has some features in common. Though I think you have more options than I do, actually!"

[xue_yang]

Xue Yang had made sure that anything he could have done with a talisman, he was now able to do with the swords. A few exceptions of course..such as binding something in place..but attacks are certainly there.

"I still would have preferred my sword from home but these two will do what needs to be done."

[so_dark_a_road]

"It seems so!" says Curufin, with a chuckle. "But hey, have you tried ordering your own sword from home at the train store? That's how I got mine."

[xue_yang]

These swords can actually do much more then his own sword at this point but that doesn't mean he would like to feel the weight of Jiangzai in his hand once more. There is nothing like your own spiritual weapon.

"I figured the train wouldn't be so willing...considering.." Considering he is the only person to actually be punished for murdering someone on the train...with a sword..

[so_dark_a_road]

True, there is nothing like your own spiritual weapon! Curufin is delighted to have his own sword back again. He can understand that Xue Yang might feel the same way.

"It's hard to say what the train will do. For a long time, it wouldn't let any of us order weapons, and it usually took our weapons away from us when it collected us and placed us on the monthly platforms. People were complaining about this regularly, as we need weapons on most of our missions, and none of us thought it was fair to have us scrounge our own on the mission planets or do without. Too dangerous."

He considers Xue Yang's situation. "It might not be willing in your case, but we don't know that. You've managed to make yourself very useful on all the missions you've been on so far, and you too deserve to be able to defend yourself and others. I can't say for sure that the train knows that or would take that point of view, but you might try persuading it. What if you promised the train sincerely that you'd never use the sword to do harm to any passengers?"

[xue_yang]

Xue Yang..can't make that promise. As much as he would like to say that he knows how to behave himself, sometimes things don't always go as planned.

"I would rather not lie." Because that is exactly what it would be and although Xue Yang is a very good liar, he doesn't think it would do him well at that moment. If he were to make that promise and then break it, there would probably be far harsher punishments in his future then the last one.

[so_dark_a_road]

"I'm sure you'd rather not lie. What's your thinking on this subject? Do you think that you might be tempted to use the sword on some passenger or other?"

Curufin's tone of voice is not accusing, it is merely inquiring. "I want to know how you think and feel." He's very curious about Xue Yang. "And I really want to help you."

[xue_yang]

"I can't promise that someone won't make me mad or that any of the people from my world might finally lose their restraint and try to take me down. And if they try of course I am going to protect myself. I'm not going down without a fight."

Xue Yang knows there are several on the train that would like to see his head removed from the rest of his body and he certainly doesn't blame them for that desire.

"No one an say with any certainty that they won't do something. If the circumstances align then anything is possible. And I'd rather not be accused of breaking a promise if something happens."

Want to wrap this thread and catch up later?

[so_dark_a_road]

"I see," replies Curufin. "You do have the right to defend yourself if attacked. You want to live, of course. And I can't really disagree with your disbelief in statements of certainty regarding what a person will or will not do, considering my own history and my beliefs. So, I guess that unless you can tell the train you won't initiate violence but will defend yourself if assaulted, and the train believes you and accepts that as a reasonable promise, then you don't have a chance of getting your own sword back."

He shakes his head a little. "All right, you don't want to make promises and then find yourself in circumstances that make it necessary to break them. You've already paid a heavy price for your earlier actions, and you don't want to pay it again. I can't blame you for that."

He hefts his gear onto his shoulders. "I wish you well on this mission, and on the train in the future."

Sure!

[xue_yang]

He nods and waves Curufin off. There isn't much more he can say about it. But now he has something to consider for when the mission is done. Perhaps he can get Jiangzai back..it will just take a little strategy.