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

[theturksway]

Reno was used to both the train's chaotic version of a mission and the sorts of secret operations he took part in his home world. His job was one mission after the next and he was damn good at his job. Most of his pride consisted of his skills as a Turk and how well he utilized them to get a job done.

"Expect the unexpected, or some shit," he said sarcastically. Dumb quote aside, "It's best to just be prepared as much as possible for any possibility and then roll with the punches. Go with the flow. Once you have enough experience under your belt, it becomes second nature to know how to react to things, even unexpected things."

[reluctantjinrou]

"I suppose, this is my second mission so I don't have much of a frame of reference." Not everyone came from worlds that did mission-like things.

"I've been trying to prepare, it hasn't gone well."

[theturksway]

Or rather, had jobs that ended up very mission orientated. The rest of the world was pretty average. Reno was an exception to most things.

"You get used to it." He glanced over at Natsuno even as he ducked under a low-hanging branch. "What's gone so wrong you'd make it sound like that?"

[reluctantjinrou]

It would be nice to have skills or reference, but he was just an ordinary high school student, maybe.

"I'm trying to teach myself how to fight." Natsuno responded with a bit of a frown. "Because I'm rather useless like this. It's not going terribly well."

[theturksway]

"So you need pointers in how to fight, huh? Well, you could just ask."

Ask him? Ask someone else? There were options on board this train.

[reluctantjinrou]

He sighed. "I have. The advice I've had so far is to get some sunglasses and to hide behind someone who can fight. So I will just have to figure it out on my own."

[theturksway]

Reno's reaction was so explosive he snort-giggled at the comment. Yeah, he found it fucking hilarious.

"...oh, man. That's a good one." He breathed airily, trying not to laugh some more. "Maybe you ought to try asking someone else. I mean, hey, unless you want to hide behind someone else every mission time."

[reluctantjinrou]

If he was offended at Reno laughing, he didn't show it, but he was often rather glib all the time.

"That was two different attempts." Natsuno observed dryly. "It's a waste to just hide anyway, when I can survive a lot more than.." He'd been about to say humans, but he corrected himself. "Most people can."

[theturksway]

"There are more than two people on the train that know what they're doing. Try again."

Don't give up if you really want to succeed. That was for losers, and Reno couldn't stand a loser. Even a dweeb that tried after failing was higher in his book than someone who gave up entirely.

[reluctantjinrou]

"I have no intention on giving up." Natsuno clarified. "I will figure it out if I must."

He didn't think he needed anyone else, and his attempts to reach out were proving that to be the case.

[theturksway]

"Watch a pro at work. Learn something from it."

Reno quickened his pace a bit. "Come on. Let's find those bots."

And give the kid something to watch and learn from.

[reluctantjinrou]

"This way then." Natsuno said, picking up his pace as he veered them slightly to the left, following the marker on his SCA. He was more than willing to learn a thing or two through observation.