middleofsomewhere | Not with a Bang Start and Ongoing

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Not with a Bang Start and Ongoing

"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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"It'd be great to check out the code, but I don't see any way to hook them up to anything." Senku admited. "I wonder if the code would be anything I'm familiar with or not."

He made a thoughtful noise. "Yeah, based on last mission, we may not have that kind of time."

Quatre turned over the robot he was working on a few times like somehow a charging port or something would magically appear if he did it enough times. Okay, he knew that wasn't going to happen, but perhaps he had missed it the first few times. "I don't see anything either. Probably the only thing that we'd able to hope for is that one of the devices that are in the facility also acts as an updating device and the code could be input that way."

He nodded. "Yeah. Most of the missions don't give us much time to do things. This one at least-" He stopped himself, not wanting to mention ice storm or monsters wanting to kill them. Don't jinx yourself and the rest of the teams, Quatre. How could he live with himself if he willed that scenario to life and someone got hurt? "At least there are fewer distractions."

"Doesn't hurt to take a look around the nearest facility, in case we find something like that." He wasn't opposed to coding on the fly, if he knew the coding language, if they could plug them in somehow. There were a lot of 'ifs' in that scenario.

"This is my second mission and it's more fun than picking crystals in flowers." Senku hummed. "I haven't had the chance to tinker with robots in way too long."

Quatre smiled, shaking his head. "No, it does not. It's possible that one of the facilities has everything that we are looking for, but we just haven't found it yet. Who knows what all is here." The eternal optimist until there was really nothing left to be optimistic about, that was Quatre. But it would certainly be easier to not have to try and figure out the coding language of an alien race.

"I've been on a few of them. Honestly, the last one was a little off the norms for everyone I think. Orange Team usually gets technological-based assignments. But that doesn't mean that something else can't interrupt it. Like the monsters that started appearing on one planet. Made trying to research the problem very hard."

"I bet." Senku commented with a bit of a frown. "I'll have to keep that in mind so I've got a plan if that happens again."

He didn't have much of a plan for being under attack.

"That makes more sense, to put me in a technical role, but not everyone on the orange team can do tech stuff? I'm still puzzling out how people ended up on which team." Senku admitted.

He nodded. "We were not expecting that and unfortunately we were not able to get assistance from other teams because they were having the same problems that we were. The monsters were weak to light those who were outside or in upper floors of buildings had it easier than those that were not."

Quatre hadn't either. He still didn't have the best of one, but he had a better one.

"I don't think the placement is based on skills. My skills are far more suited to Orange Team assignments, but I was placed on the Purple Team. Red Team is supposed to be the ones who are stronger fighters, but not all of them are. And Blue Team seems to be the youngest team by far, but not all of them. I'd be curious to know the reasons behind the placements."

"It's alright, I appreciate something to think about when we're stuck on the train, and I'm hoping that doesn't happen here." Senku responded, mostly because he was entirely useless in a fight. At least, physically.

"Huh." Senku answered with a bit of a hum. "Yeah, I'm curious too. I've been wondering about that, because skill wise, Gen and I for example are both on the Orange team, but we have very different skillsets."

"Yeah, I hope that we are not expecting that here. It was really not fun to be surprised by that."

Not that anyone really did like to be surprised with monsters, but it still went without saying.

"Interesting. I really do wonder what the train bases the teams on. Also seems kind of weird to base skills on something other than individual skills. Like assuming the Orange Team has a technological base more than any other."

"There's some surprises I don't mind, but that's not one of them." Senku commented dryly.

"You would think that, but I don't think Gen knows his way around anything technical, but then again he's not a combattant either. His job is more...nuanced." Senku mused. It really was curious. "He's good at talking to people."

Quatre chuckled. "I agree with you completely on that."

"Oh? Is he? That's an important job too. Not quite as useful in some situations, but having someone who is good at talking to others can help solve problems."

"Yeah, it's good to know a people person, especially when you aren't one." Senku chuckled lightly.

"I know what my faults are."

He nodded. "I know this. None of my teammates from home were very good with others. I was usually the one who handled anything diplomatic for our team. However, I'm not good at other things that they are. Duo says that I have a talent for being able to blame myself for anything even if I never had any control over it."

"I'm sure you have other skills than that." Senku quipped. "Like your interest in technology. Everyone has different skills and it's through working together that everyone reaches their potential."

It was how his village worked after all, he thought that was the best way to go about it.

Quatre chuckled. "I do. I practically built a mobile suit by myself and I can play the violin." Two completely different skill sets there. "Technical skills seem to have more use on these missions, though I wouldn't mind a mission where I had to play the violin."

It certainly was the best way to go about it. Their train seemed to work a similar way in terms of the missions, everyone using what skills they had to make the missions work.

He let out an amused chuckle himself. "Yeah, I'll remember that, if a violin is needed that's all you. Music isn't something I get exactly." Senku shrugged helplessly.

"Stick me in any scientific field and I'm great. Strategy, planning, that kind of thing. I can't fight even a little bit, I'm not strong, and I'm not that great at talking to people. So if we needed to convince someone, I'd send Gen."

He smiled. "I'll gladly play if needed. I wonder what sort of mission would require a violin player." Random thought there but was something that made him curious after all.

"I'm very similar I feel. Aside from the violin, I'm very happy with scientific fields. The most I've been capable of in terms of fighting were with a gun and with Sandrock." Neither of which counted as him physically fighting.

"I don't have the kind of strength to deal with a gun." Senku admitted. "The recoil would put too much force on my arms and shoulders. If I was going to use any weapon at all, it would be a crossbow."

It offered similar protection, so to speak, but without the kickback.

"Typically I send the battle team in to do that stuff."

"Really? Makes sense. The recoil from some of our guns was pretty rough and I'd feel it later. I didn't shoot often though. Hmm... a crossbow sounds like an interesting option." Wouldn't have worked well in his world, but still interesting.

"Battle team? That was a specific group where you were from?"

It hadn't been that useful in his world either, but it was the best he had in a pinch.

Senku nodded. "Yeah, I've got a battle team. They're essentially warriors of a kind that go in and do the dirty work while I do the strategy."

Actually, the only one of the generals that could fight was Ukyo. That was kind of interesting.

"They mostly all fight in different ways, but spears are popular. Can't as much much about technique."

"Oh, how interesting. I guess in a way, I had one too. I befriended a group called the Maganacs Corps. After I saved their leader, they began to follow my directions and assist me with my missions. Of course, they mostly fought with mobile suits as well, but they were far more capable with hand-to-hand than I was."

"Mobile suits huh?" Senku asked with a bit of a hum.

"I am the leader." He explained. "Although we've shifted to something more of a committee but we're all still pretty much on the same page. The warriors do the fighting while we work on other things. Science and development are my strengths."

"Yeah. They are giant robotic suits. The cockpit is in the chest and we pilot them. Mine is called Sandrock."

"Oh, that's good. Others do the fighting and let you focus on what your strengths are. Very productive."

"That..." Senku said, looking up. "Would just be cool."

What could he say? He was the kind of guy who loved mechs and technology, even cars.

"Yeah, that's basically how the Kingdom of Science works."

"If I ever have the chance to show them to you, I will. Of course, it would probably have to be really small since one of them could certainly rival several cars of the train."

Impractical to keep on board.

"It sounds like it has been worked out very well, everyone doing what they are best at. Are there a lot of people there?"

"I wouldn't turn you down, that's the kind of thing I always wanted to see growing up." Quatre would have to forgive him, he was just a simple guy who really loved machinery and space.

"We're at about a hundred and fifty people right now, so we're at the capacity for the time being, for many reasons. For one thing, there's a limit to how many people can get along before they decide that challenging how things are run happens, according to the Mentalist." Senku hummed.

"Aside from that, we don't have enough food to go bringing a bunch of people on board yet. We just started with agriculture."

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