voidtreckermods: (voidtrain)
VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] middleofsomewhere2020-11-13 04:28 am
Entry tags:

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!
hotheadwarmheart: (Attentive)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2020-11-25 06:34 am (UTC)(link)
"I think so," Lea said. "Back that way a bit." He indicated the path they'd followed into the jungle. "Shouldn't be too hard to find it again."

"And if they don't like the bamboo, we can try other things. I figure they're some kind of plant eaters, or they wouldn't be so friendly, so we should be able to find something they like."
happyends: (that has been plucked)

[personal profile] happyends 2020-11-26 03:24 pm (UTC)(link)
She nods.

"That sounds good! Let's try the bamboo first then, since it seems like the most logical option." And like he says, if that idea falls through, surely they can find something else. But they've got to start somewhere!

"Should we look for it together? Everyone said it's not as safe to head out on your own.."

And Madoka is all for the buddy system.
hotheadwarmheart: (Small smile)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2020-11-28 05:25 am (UTC)(link)
"Sure," Lea said. "I'm pretty sure I could hold my own, but I wouldn't mind some company. And we'd be able to get more bamboo with two people."

He headed back over to the path, gesturing for her to follow. "I'll show you where I saw it; it's not too far."
happyends: (the ancient magic i dreamed of)

[personal profile] happyends 2020-11-29 10:45 am (UTC)(link)
Madoka follows. Quietly, at first, since she's hard at working thinking! Mostly since there's something she wants to say, but she's worried about saying it. After all, she doesn't know Lea that well, and the last thing she wants is for the other to have the first - or, well, second - impression that she's rude..

But it feels bad to not say it at all either. So after a moment or two she starts, sounding like she's picking her words very carefully.

"Um.. I'm sorry, I.. I really don't mean to doubt you! I think you're really amazing, especially when it comes to fighting!" She saw that during the last mission, after all. "But.. even when you're really strong, I think it's good to not be alone out here, you know..? We can't know for sure what kind of things may happen at any moment, and even really strong people could be caught off guard.. And I wouldn't want anything to happen to you and no one to know about it. That'd be so sad.."
hotheadwarmheart: (Small smile)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2020-12-08 04:14 am (UTC)(link)
Lea smiled at her concern. She didn't seem rude at all. Quite the opposite in fact; it was kind of adorable.

"Yeah, I know it's better to have someone you can work with on a mission," he said. "It's always nice to have backup, and if that backup is a friend too, it's just that much better. But back home I did a lot of missions on my own until fairly recently, so I guess I'm kind of used to it, whether or not it's actually a good thing."

"Honestly though, having so many people to help out on mission here is really great. And you're being a big help too. It's not easy keeping somebody like me from making more than my fair share of stupid moves; just ask my friend Isa, if he ever turns up here. He was always keeping me out of trouble when we were kids." When they weren't busy getting into it together, of course.
happyends: (so it's now or never more)

[personal profile] happyends 2020-12-08 03:25 pm (UTC)(link)
There are no words to express just how relieved the girl is that Lea doesn't take what she said badly, really. She even lets out a slight sigh of relief, but she's very busy trying to take in his words at the same time! She wouldn't want to ignore them when he's explaining himself.

".. It sounds like the two of you are close though." Lea and his friend, that is. Which is nice to hear - and also something Madoka can understand, no matter what kind of differences there may be between both of their worlds. Friends are something universal. "Have you two always been friends? This whole time?" After all, Lea certainly isn't a kid anymore by now!
hotheadwarmheart: (Small smile)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2020-12-17 05:38 am (UTC)(link)
Lea nods. "Yeah," he said. "We met when we were both in kindergarten and we've kinda been friends ever since." He paused then, considering. "Alright, our time with the Organization was... weird. And things got pretty rocky towards the end. But I don't think we ever really stopped being friends."
happyends: (the ancient magic i dreamed of)

[personal profile] happyends 2020-12-17 10:47 pm (UTC)(link)
"The Organization?" She repeats. Madoka doesn't hear the capital O there and assumes it's meant more generally than that, judging by the way she replies with:

"Did you run into problems at work..?"

That's what it sounds like to her when someone mentions 'the organisation' so vaguely.

"It's sad if that did anything to your friendship.. T-Though I'm glad you didn't lose it entirely."
hotheadwarmheart: (Dorky)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2020-12-29 04:00 am (UTC)(link)
"You... could say that, yeah," Lea said. He wasn't about to reveal to this sweet kid that those problems were largely due to said Organization being super evil. Or how one got to be a member of the Organization in the first place. "We started out with a specific goal in mind and were working towards it together, but when I started to make other friends, he felt like I was leaving him behind. So he got jealous and started acting like a major jerk, especially to those new friends. And of course he wouldn't admit why he was actually acting like that at the time, which just made me mad at him too, and... yeah, it was a mess." That was probably the gentlest way of describing the situation towards the end if his stint in the Organization.

"But it happened that he turned up in the world I got taken to before here too, and we got to work a few things out. Not sure if that'll hold when we get home, given all the interdimensional weirdness, but if it doesn't, we'll just work it out again." Though probably a lot more violently than the last time.
happyends: (so it's now or never more)

[personal profile] happyends 2020-12-29 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Thankfully he's very much putting it into terms that a more or less regular 14 year old can understand. Friends getting jealous and worried about being left out due to new friend groups forming is something that happens even in middle school, after all. Madoka has seen it happen, so she nods during his explanation, clearly sympathetic.

But she remains quiet, all the way until he's done talking. It's only then that she speaks up again.

".. You're very kind. That you're willing to work it out with your friend again, even though it won't be the first time. And even though it can't be easy.." It's always said when you fight with a friend, after all. (Though Madoka sure isn't thinking of a physical kind of fighting there.)

"Who knows..? Maybe you'll see him again in this place too before then."
hotheadwarmheart: (Small smile)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2021-01-14 12:46 am (UTC)(link)
Lea was very glad that she accepted that and wasn't looking for more details. After all, there was only so much dancing around the truth one could do.

"Yeah, it's not easy," he said. "For anybody involved. But we'll figure it out. We always do, somehow, even if it takes awhile. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that friendship is a lot stronger than a lot of people give it credit for. It might take a beating sometimes, but it's really hard to actually lose it."

"And yeah, maybe I will. If he does turn up, I'll introduce you."
Edited 2021-01-14 00:47 (UTC)
happyends: (so it's now or never more)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-01-14 11:04 pm (UTC)(link)
"Please do..!"

Sure, Madoka may be a pretty shy girl. But that doesn't mean she isn't friendly - or that she wouldn't like meeting someone who's important to Lea. Sure, they may not exactly be the closest, but they're friendly enough that Madoka would say..

"Any friend of yours is a friend of mine." Blue team solidarity!!
hotheadwarmheart: (Small smile)

Want to continue on to bamboo harvesting, or wrap here?

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2021-01-24 03:00 am (UTC)(link)
Isa was a fairly quiet person too, so it'd likely work out. If only because Lea was the one introducing them and wasn't relying on them to do it themselves.

"Well alright then," he said. "It's settled. I actually think you two would get a long pretty well; he's a pretty quiet guy himself a lot of the time." The times when he was in Berzerk mode didn't count, though he didn't really talk much then either.

"Anyway, we should be coming up on the patch of bamboo. It's be on the left, going this way."
happyends: (lies in the palm)

we can wrap it here!

[personal profile] happyends 2021-01-24 04:27 pm (UTC)(link)
"Ah--!" It's almost a surprised sound, slightly startled, as if the whole talk made Madoka forget for a moment what they were doing. But now she's back in the mindset! Got to collect that food for the pandas!

"Alright, let's go..!"