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

[gundamofthedesert]

"Yeah. I had a friend leave a little while ago, but no one else I know has left. It's shame though, having to watch people leave, even if you didn't really know them."

Quatre smiled faintly. "Probably pretty soon. The train doesn't have a record for giving us easy missions."

[mynameisallen]

"Yeah, esepcially if it's a lot of them like has happened." Allen himself honestly used to this kind of thing, having gone from world to world and having similar things happen. It was just normal. But it didn't stop it hurting if it is people he knew well enough.

He nodded slightly. "Yeah, wouldn't be a mission if it was easy though, believe me."

[gundamofthedesert]

"Yeah. Aside from my one friend, I've been lucky I think. But platform day is always hard for me. There are always people who are sad, people who are confused, and it hurts."

He hated to admit this was why he didn't really go out on platform day at least until later in the day, but his space heart always hurt on those days.

"No, unfortunately, it would not. I suspect there will be something to surprise us at some point."

[mynameisallen]

"And that feeling will never really go, no matter how many times it happens. Take it from someone whose been to more worlds than I can count at this point."

Allen never knew why he kept on going out sometimes. Maybe he just wanted that little bit of hope. Maybe it was a way to just remind himself that this was the way it worked.

"Who knows. I wouldn't be all that surprised if there was."

[gundamofthedesert]

"I would imagine that it wouldn't. Especially not for other people. So it won't for me either."

Empath problems and it would always be that way.

He nodded. "Considering the last few? If we weren't, that would be more surprising."

[mynameisallen]

He nodded slightly. He agreed that it would be surprising if nothing happened. He was used to this after a year of going to different worlds.

"but hey, I am sure people will enjoy the time we have in between mission stuff and that is what matters too."

[gundamofthedesert]

That was a good segue to a happy topic and Quatre smiled, nodding.

"It seems that they do. We can look forward to that."

[mynameisallen]

He nodded slightly, not that Allen ever really looks forward to anything when it's mission time. His mind always ends up focusing on what needs to be done with time in between.

But he figured that others aren't like that.

"I wonder what people will do during the off-time."

[gundamofthedesert]

Quatre definitely was very focused when it was time for missions, but there was still a time to sit and relax... as long as there were no monsters trying to attack them.

"Hmm... during the mission? Perhaps tell stories of home? The Maganacs always told stories when we were camped for the night."

[mynameisallen]

"I mean that's always possible. But I think the people of the train can be pretty creative to what they do." So he figured it might be more than that. He was curious to see what people do if he was perfectly honest.

"I think for me I might do something like look at the sky and see if they have stars or something if it's during the night."

[gundamofthedesert]

"Well, yes, telling made-up stories is fun too. Sometimes truth is strange than fiction, it seems." Listening to stories of other people's homes, he could certainly say he had heard things he had never thought he would hear before.

"That would be nice too. The stars were so pretty from Earth. It was different, having lived among them most of my life, to see them from Earth."

[mynameisallen]

"Yeah, I have plenty of stories that people would think are strange, but are true." He had learned that honestly, anything was possible because he has traveled to many different worlds at this point. He was used to it.

"I've never really had the time to just relax honestly. So I figured doing something I never would normally would. Even if they are different."

[gundamofthedesert]

"I'm sure people would think that our war was strange, if only because it was being fought with giant robots. No one else I've met so far as done that." Other than that, he hadn't had too much of a problem with people thinking that his world was strange.

"Hmm... that is a good philosophy on that, taking the chance to do something you don't normally do." Of course, he was the same way, he rarely let himself relax completely even if he didn't seem particularly stressed. War and owning his family's business.

[mynameisallen]

"No...That really wouldn't be weird for me. My biggest concern would have been that those robots could possibly malfunction and target those who might not deserve it, but other than that, not at all strange." The many robots of Komui's were enough to always give Allen pause. But that was another matter.

"I only learned it after so many people called me out on stuff so... there we go."

[gundamofthedesert]

"Well, these robots were piloted by humans so they weren't completely without conscience... Though, there was a group that made mobile dolls, which had no pilot and did only what they were told. We were very concerned about them being turned against civilians and the innocent."

He chuckled. "I'm surprised no one has told me this yet."

[mynameisallen]

"Yeah, robots like that will depending on what causes them to act out. I found that out myself. Don't trust them after that... Though I don't trust the man who makes them more." Komui is just the worst.

"I mean if you need people to do that, I suggest Alice. She's very good at it."

[gundamofthedesert]

"We did not trust the mobile dolls either. We were always trying to get rid of them when we saw them because they were so dangerous. And we certainly didn't trust the group that had them made."

He chuckled. "I will remember that if I need someone to tell me to relax."

[mynameisallen]

"A whole group made them? What did they do that as bad?" He asked at least knowing who Komui's robots were just plain awful. So he figured it might be something similar here as well.

[gundamofthedesert]

"Yes, they were mass-produced for an organization. The plan was, initially, to be able to fight us better. The mobile dolls did not have to worry about the impacts of a pilot's ultimately fragile body when fighting, making it more dangerous. The problem also came because then they could take away a pilot's conscience as well."

[mynameisallen]

"I see... I mean I don't understand, but I am at least trying to." Maybe this area was just not something he was going to really understand how he thought about it.

"But that does sound bad if it means they could be dangerous."

[gundamofthedesert]

"It is quite complicated, all of the issues that lead to the mobile dolls. A good summation is a behind-the-scenes military organization overthrew the one it was hiding within, wanted power above all else even at the expense of civilians and they used us, who had robots superior to anything they knew, as an excuse for their creation."

There was... a lot more than that, but that was a good brief explanation.

[mynameisallen]

"So overall it was a power thing. At least... they weren't planning on ending the world or anything like that. Unless the mobile dolls could do that, then that is worrying." Because no one would really want that possibility to even happen.

[gundamofthedesert]

"Yes, it was a power thing." At the comment, Quatre actually went silent for a moment. Maybe suspiciously silent before he answered. "Well... they didn't want to end the world."

The keyword there - they.

"The original plan by the colonies was called Operation Meteor... because they wanted to drop a colony."

[mynameisallen]

"Drop a colony... What do you mean by that exactly?" Allen asked curiously. he had no idea if it meant a good thing or a bad thing, though all things considering... most likely a bad thing.

[gundamofthedesert]

"The colonies are large satellites in space. They house quite a lot of people and supply lines and production. Some are mainly residential, others almost entirely industrial. My home is L4 because it is at Lagrange Point 4. The original plan was to drop one of these colonies onto the Earth and attack during the inevitable chaos."