Not with a Bang: Side Missions

[voidtreckermods]

On day nine of the month of Imagination voidtreckers may notice a new symbol on the SCA map. Lime green exclamation marks hover above several sections of Nion’s jungle. Tapping these exclamation marks will bring up additional tasks that need to be undertaken.

These appear at different times over the course of day nine and ten and do not seem to be linked to any specific team, anyone who wishes may follow their SCA to the marker and help solve the problems.

Task 1

Shield integrity is below expected levels in sector R-37. Potential for sabotage. Please investigate at the location indicated.

R-37 is a mile-wide area of jungle with a single solar station. and a cursory investigation will show that station to be the cause of the issue. Sirens wail and indicators flash red, both light and sound spilling out into the surrounding jungle.

The structure doesn’t seem to have taken any physical damage, but something is certainly wrong. The shielding in the air above this sector is flickering on and off, and no attempts to stabilise it work.
It will require a hard reset to fix; the map icon will pinpoint two towers on the corner of the station grounds from which this may be done. It will require a mix of people to physically climb the towers and access the controls whilst others reboot the system from inside the solar station building. The SCA will indicate locations and required interactions.

Task 2

Impacts upon the array have caused seismic activity in sector E-10, blocking a major river. Repair damage to the environment caused by the tremors.

It will be obvious when the Voidtreckers arrive in sector E-10, because the area is completely flooded. Trees are submerged and water is in places deep enough for Voidtreckers to have to swim, though for the most part they will be able to wade through the muddy water to find the source of the problem.

A sizable landslide has completely dammed the river running through E-10 at two points, causing the waters to swell and flood its surroundings. Whilst most of the wildlife is able to swim or climb and is therefore unaffected, one resident of the jungle is faring even better - the large plesiosaur-like reptiles that call the river home can now range much further afield in search of prey.

Voidtreckers should clear the river of debris, whilst avoiding dangers both environmental and reptilian.

Task 3

A violet panda pack has been detected in northern sector B-19, moving rapidly westwards. Given the lack of nearby solar stations, this movement is uncharacteristic. Please investigate.

Once Voidtreckers get into sector B-19 they will find the panda pack stampeding through the jungle. Some may wish to help them out and calm them down, but for those investigating the trail they have made through the undergrowth is clear.

Following backwards they will discover a blackened, smoking area of jungle, raggedly felled trees and a small crater where something has impacted heavily against the earth. The surrounding trees are partially ablaze, though the dampness of the foliage mean that none of the fires have grown large enough that they can’t be put out with concerted effort. A small river runs through B-19, within walking distance of the impact site. 

Task 4

Solar Station 29 in sector Y-5 is taking fire  from unknown assailants. None of its security drones are responding. Defend the station and identify the aggressors.

Their SCA will direct them to the entrance of Station 29. It is under attack by two large terraforming robots, identical to any of those already seen on Nion. There is also a complement of security drones with them, all painted with 29 across their chassis, and all attacking the station.

They are no tougher than any of the other automatons encountered thus far, but their attack is more coordinated compared to the simple self-defense of the stray robots. Even though they are focused on attacking the station, they will turn and fight anyone who tries to stop them.

Comments

[adregem]

With the robots dealt with and the largest one of them all put in place, Roland takes a cursory glance at the happenings by Halo and approaches with everyone else, albeit more cautious, with a slower gait. Half his attention continues to turn back to the robot in suspension thanks to Reno's efforts, but then they speak, and it's all he can do not to physically stop Curufin from jumping too far ahead. He's not opposed to it of course, would carry her if the stretcher was not an option. But there was more to this, wasn't there? And now, with a moment to spare and bulk of the healing over and done with, they needed to act logically before taking back a stranger to the train.

"Wait."

Roland comes into proximity and kneels so he isn't talking down at Halo. There is a stern expression on his youthful face, but it isn't harsh or cruel. He nods to her first. "We're glad we got to you in time. I'm Roland." He finally introduces himself, and now up close, it's better to see that heavy veil of concern washing over him. Roland chooses his questions carefully. "It's just as everyone said. We don't have a choice in leaving, either." He pauses, then quickly follows this up, meeting Halo's eye.

"I'm sorry for all the questions. I hope you can understand where we're coming from," Playing it cautious. "But if you could..." He looks around him, the five of them protecting her. "Halo, why did you sound like you'd rather meet the world miners than be found by the void ministry?" The implication being, an injured woman chasing after a criminal organization would have appreciated the backup from a formal organization bent on protecting the void...right? Roland approaches this gently, even as he is urgent about the matter. The phone tucked in his back pocket hopefully, is still recording everything it can, including the names of the golden station, the names none of them remember but should have apparently.

[voidtreckernpcs]

"Your old..." She looks just further confused by Seto's words but Koumyou again distracts her, she indeed looks away and seems to brace herself, expecting the pain that is warned for. She screams as he heals her, fists clenched by her side, her face twisted in agony. She makes an attempt to stifle the screams, clearly wary of drawing unwanted attention. She slumps sideways in weakness afterwards but after a few moments pushes herself upwards on her arms, taking a moment.

She smiles at Seto, "That you still try, even with no memories, that's..." She closes her eyes, "Everyone forgot, but I remember. You are heroes... don't doubt that."

Her eyes flicker up as Roland approaches, she smiles at him in greeting and huffs a small laugh at his question. "Because the void ministry are dicks." She laughed again, it seems to be a release of tension rather than true laughter.

"They do a brilliant job. But they don't like me. We've had some... altercations."

Except the terraforming machine under Reno's dutiful care the clearing is quiet and empty. There are only the group of them and smouldering wreckage and even that is starting to dampen in the atmosphere, the last small fire dying out.

[its_dad_sanzo]

That screaming, fully expected by Koumyou, didn't even get a wince out of the priest. The five Founding Scriptures of Heaven and Earth were a lot of things; effective, terrifying, capable of rending or creating existence itself.

Not on that list? Gentle. Even the Seiten sutra, with its primary dominions over Yang, light, and restoration, was anything but gentle.

"How long is that thing going to stay immobilized?" Koumyou asks the group, with a nod at the big terraforming robot. Only now, does he let his hands drop to his sides and the barrier dissipate, but he's watching that big machine, and glancing at the rest of the jungle around them periodically, too.

Let the others handle questioning and evacuating Halo, he's essentially on guard duty here.

[adregem]

"I don't know. But if it moves, we move too." Roland supplements, while summoning a Potion from his Arms Band, materializing in gold light. Reno would be better suited to answering that question, his tech holding the machine down.

For his part, Roland opens the Potion and offers the bottle to Halo, ready to help her drink it should she be too weak to do so on her own. "This might help." He chances a glance below - that sea of red, a map of blood that paints across her bottom torso like she's ready to be ripped in half. It's not pleasant. But he can't wax poetic about that now; they had no time to waste.

When it looks like she's settled a bit, maybe as some of the potion's regenerative effects start kicking in, he starts speaking again. "...Why don't they like you?" Enough to get into a fight, apparently. "And what do you mean, everyone forgot? Except you?" As he talks to distract her from the pain, Roland might just nod at Curufin too, ready to start carrying her to a safer location. They could probably talk more when the teraforming beast of a thing wasn't looming over their shoulders.

[blue_ice]

Kaiba didn't look especially comforted...he just had more questions. But she was exhausted, and in extreme pain. They needed answers, she needed possibly more than they could give.

But he would do his best to give it, even as limited as he was. He crouched beside her and offered support, though he knew the others had that covered.

One question line at a time.

[voidtreckernpcs]

"They don't like what they can't explain." She winces, closes her eyes for a moment though she opens them again and takes the potion with shaking hands, looking across at where Curufin was returning with wood and where Reno was holding the terraforming monster still. She needs the help to drink, her skin is cold and clammy to the touch.

"I don't know... Either I've gone mad, or the world has but you're here and even you don't remember..."

She clenched her teeth against the pain, there was a sound, faint, coming from her side. She lifted her arm, though the design was different the device on her wrist was clearly a similar thing to their own SCA's. It was letting out a high pitched whine.

She paled, a look of fear coming over her face, a look that hadn't been there before not even when she had been facing down the robots. "I don't know what happens now..."

[theturksway]

Reno stood apart from the rest, closer to the trapped robot than to the group conversing. But he could still hear them and note down all the particulars of the conversation. That was part of the job.

As for the question about the pyramid holding, Reno didn't answer it immediately. His initial reaction was, instead, to glance back at the terraformer and assess it. The charge would only hold so long but typically Reno didn't test the strength or length of it so audaciously. He was usually done and finished with a job pretty quick. That was his staple of performance. Hit 'em quick, hit 'em hard, don't let them get back up. And typically--they didn't get back up.

What he normally would have done by now was retract the mine and finish off his opponent--or, if it was a capture instead of kill mission, he'd transfer the prisoner to more convenient holdings. Except they were having such a ~pleasant~ conversation he hardly wanted to interrupt it.

When he finally did answer the question, it was with a small shrug. "However long we have to finish this conversation. Which might not be much longer," he said as he pointed towards the girl, Halo.

"Maybe we're not the people you think we are. Maybe we're a different set." He shook his head. "Either way, doesn't matter right now. What's that? Why are you...?" So scared.

The device was clearly a SCA or something similar to one, so he wasn't asking what that was. But rather what it was indicating. Was it the world miners coming in for an attack, or something else that she feared more than that? Reno wanted to know. The miners could be dealt with with good old fashioned fighting some more--but the unknown was more worrisome since, well, it was an unknown.

[blue_ice]

Kaiba watched her closely, a strange mix of fear and resignation settling inside him. Were they too late? Was Roland right, would they have to leave?

He tried his best to keep her warm, listening intently for the others' decision. It would have to be made quickly, that sound...

"Ours indicate when our lives are in immediate danger..."

He hoped he was wrong.

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin returned with a couple of poles balanced on his shoulder, having cut them from two eight-foot tall sapling trees. Under the other arm was a bundle of smaller wands that he could weave across the poles to make the stretcher bed. He set them all down in the clearing and started to work, but then he heard the beep coming from Halo's device.

He stood up and walked over to where Kaiba, Roland, and Koumyou were standing or sitting with Halo. He saw the look of fear on her face. "What is that?" he asked, gently, though he was instantly worried. "Is it giving you a warning? And if so, of what?"

[its_dad_sanzo]

Koumyou glanced down at Halo's whining device, wary.

...And as everyone else seemed to react with even more alarm, the priest threw his hands out and re-activated his barrier, just in case.

If danger was coming from outside, he was ready. If it was coming from inside the bubble, like from the device itself... well, he'd tried. Halo would know better than the rest of them if she should shuck and throw that thing, language barriers be damned.

[adregem]

There is a sense of dread that overcomes Roland. The suspicions that come naturally to him slowly fade away as he watches the color seep from Halo; seeing her hands tremble that prompt him to hold the Potion up to her lips. It won't do the job. It won't do enough. He doesn't want to go there, even if the inevitable might be to watch her -

- He steels himself. No. Not yet. Roland doesn't flinch when the barrier Koumyou Sanzo creates envelops them, he doesn't leave the woman's side despite the sharp, piercing whistle of her SCA filling the space, uncomfortably loud. He doesn't know if it's because her life is in danger as Kaiba and Reno point out, or if they all were. Worse yet, what if it was both?

Either I've gone mad, or the world has but you're here and even you don't remember.

He swallows thickly. Roland slowly offers his other hand to Halo, to hold or grip, whatever she would like to find some semblance of comfort. There's something he wants to tell her apart from the obvious, something that might be a shot in the dark but with how she's been acting too...Memories that didn't belong to any of them flash through his head, vivid no matter how much time has passed.

"Are you from that planet? The Home Station of the Voidtrecker Express?" He whispers. "Vian Tail. Xela? We've never met them, but we saw what happened. The dark cloud, and..." If Halo had chosen to take his hand, he grips it a bit tighter. Regardless - "We won't leave you alone. Try and breathe slow."

[voidtreckernpcs]

"I don't know..." She looked at Seto and shook her head slightly, "It's... I guess without Voidflash..." She doesn't look like she wants to finish that thought. She takes Roland's hand it is offered, her grip is weak but desperate.

"You saw?" She nodded, she still looks scared and so confused, as if she is unsure of what to make of any of this. "Yes. Enrara. My home. A dark cloud..." She takes a deep breath, fighting pain both physical and mental.

For those keeping watch they will hear distant beeps, familiar as robots, getting closer though not in sight yet. For those with eyes on Halo they will see she is beginning to glow, golden flecks rising from her blood soaked legs.

"The miners. Six of them, dangerous criminals." She speaks hurriedly, rushing our her words. "They wanted the world... destroyed, to move in. They will destroy it themselves, you'll make good scapegoats. Don't let them... Don't let them destroy it."

She is holding tightly to Roland, she moves her head to look at each of them though, meeting their eyes.

[its_dad_sanzo]

Koumyou... continues to say nothing, just observing with a rare, serious expression on his face, his hands still out to either side to maintain a wide barrier around the group.

The glow, the rising golden flecks. He doesn't have to be from the same world as Halo to recognize when someone is about to die.

She won't be his first to silently observe the end of, like this. Not by a long shot.

Faintly, just barely, he gives a nod.

[blue_ice]

Scapegoats...a clever plan. They're already at odds with this ministry, and they don't need another reason to be hunted down. That's enough of a motivation to fight this battle.

But it's also what she fought for, and to die, suspecting that your efforts might be in vain? The thought is sickening.

Kaiba grips her shoulder and nods grimly.

"All our faults aside, we have a strong crew. We'll fight them off with everything we have."

[so_dark_a_road]

Halo never answered the question as to what the whine from her SCA-like device meant, and that was not a good sign. She feared to speak of her own death, perhaps. Curufin watched as she began to glow and the golden sparks rose, and those phenomena were even more ominous. In his own world, long ago, when Curufin disembodied for the first time -- died, that is -- he sparkled with silver light. The same thing happened on later occasions. Halo wasn't an Elf, but maybe the bodies of her people had a similar feature.

And if this was oncoming death, then they couldn't carry her anywhere, not to the train, not even to the base camp. Nevertheless, he swiftly finished making the stretcher and brought it over and set it down near her. Just in case there was a point in trying. He looked meaningfully at Roland, Kaiba, and Koumyou, and then gazed down at Halo.

"Not long ago, we all had visions apparently caused by a Void storm. A few of the passengers saw a vision that might well have been of the destruction of your planet and the subsequent voyage away from that event with the crew the Voidtrecker had at the time. That was Enrara, your home planet?" His dark eyes spoke his sympathy. "Listen, Halo, we will not let the six criminals destroy this planet. We'll destroy them first. We won't let them make us their scapegoats with the Ministry. As Kaiba says, we'll fight with all our power to save this place. I wish. . ." He wished they could save her.

He looked up as he heard those robot beeps in the distance. It seemed they'd have to fight again, soon. Not at this moment, he hoped.

[theturksway]

Whatever emotion Reno felt in the face of this, he hid it behind a straight face and lifeless eyes. He looked away as she began to glow and instead focused on the sounds of new robots approaching, eyes scanning the trees for movement.

"Incoming," he said, voicing what everyone was probably already noticing but trying to ignore. But they didn't have time to sit around and wait for the inevitable.

He hated this--but he was used to it by the same token--and he was best equipped to give them the time they wanted. It was what he was best at.

"I'll buy time." He said and then began to run off towards the sound of the approaching robots.

[so_dark_a_road]

"I'm going with you!" said Curufin, to Reno. Curufin was better equipped to deal with the robots than he was with anything else. Plus, the bots were an immediate threat, and little as he wanted to leave Halo and his crewmates at the moment, this was important! He ran after Reno.

[adregem]

His eyes see the glint of gold, and his breath catches in his throat. He doesn't move or offer to give backup from incoming robots. There's nothing else he can see or hear but this; Halo's life, and the beeping, and the light slowly encroaching over the rest of her battered body. The truth is unspoken, but washes over all of them like a cold fog. The injuries were one thing, but she wasn't dying exactly from just that either.

Roland looks stricken with grief. Without the Voidflash, Halo was going to disappear.

Without the Voidtrecker Express, they were all going to disappear. But who was responsible for the dark cloud? The destruction? Was this the dark reality facing every void missionary...?

He's in a daze. But he forces it away, shoves it down. There are no more questions to be asked, no more suspicions to be had. As the robots come, and the barrier is held up by Koumyou Sanzo, Roland focuses on keeping Halo's gaze. Joins in as Kaiba offers a hand to her shoulder, with Roland making sure he isn't looking anywhere else. Says the only thing that needs to be said.

"It's okay. We're here. You did good. Just rest."

[voidtreckernpcs]

"Thank you." She feebily squeezed Roland's hand, looked up at Seto, at Koumyou and Curufin and across at Reno as if trying to communicate with her gaze feelings that she couldn't put into words.

"The minsistry... Avoid them." She is still speaking, gritting her teeth as she does so, aware she is running out of time and yet determined. "They won't like you, we are anomalies. They don't like what they don't understand."

She shook her head, "They want... They want to bring order to the madness of the multiverse. Organise all of the chaos. They don't like things that don't fit their data, don't work with how they believe the worlds should work. They want... They want everything to fit, in small boxes, chunks of information they can study."

Golden flecks are shining around her as she begins to fade, trembling as she grips Roland's hand, leans into Kaiba's hand on her shoulder, as if anchoring herself to them.

"They've lost touch, they want to organise the chaos but have you seen the multiverse." She smiled at them, "This chaos... it's fucking beautiful."

Her eyes close as the golden flecks fade into the air around them, her SCA falls, landing on the blood stained grass between them.

The robots reach Reno and Curufin, eight of them this time. As they begin to shoot everyone will find their own SCA's burst into life, the battle chatter of the comms returning in a burst of sound.

[theturksway]

"Shit!" That was loud and unexpected and annoying. Thankfully, Reno had lowered the headphones when they became unnecessary for the time--and also thankfully, it wasn't as if he was attempting anything stealthy at the moment.

He clicked his SCA comms off for now as he dashed into battle. No point in the distraction, and those back behind him could start the effort to warn others and figure out the rest. He had something more prominent to deal with first.

As he approached the robots with Curufin right behind him, Reno paused to charge up an EM Triple Shot and shoot it at the three closest machines. The electrical attack hopefully stunned at least one of them so he could dash in close and hit it with his baton in melee combat.

[its_dad_sanzo]

Watching death was always heavy, but it was karma that Koumyou knew from experience he could shoulder. He gazed down at Halo as she was subsumed by light, and then for a moment longer down at the foreign SCA, his expression still strangely serious.

...Then, he shook himself out of it.

"My barrier is going down in three seconds," he warned anyone sheltering in it, with his usual abundance of cheer. "And then I'm going to go punch robots!"

He hadn't attacked anything on this little side quest, so far, focused instead on finding and protecting their target. Now that she was gone, he was free to have fun.

And indeed, after those three seconds, the priest dropped his hands and took off at a full sprint toward the oncoming danger, as fearless about it as ever.

[adregem]

Roland doesn't seem to want to move. Even as the barrier goes down, and there is nothing left of Halo except the SCA taking the place of her bloody body. It isn't quite the scene by the platform he once saw with his own two eyes; but it might as well have been. Knowing what they do now, the bile in his throat rising higher and higher as if the tension was violently bursting through, demanding to be set free. Seeing through Halo's body, seeing her sparkle out of existence. A boy he has come to know well almost does the same once upon a time ago, a revelation that he is a dream, ready to do the same, to die. And now, what was he doing? Making plans behind their back? Trying to contact them? They could die, and it would be on him.

The deaths of millions, deaths of the train because Roland was a fool.

He takes the SCA from the ground with steady hands, rests it in his palms, before handing it to Kaiba. Roland is deathly silent, summoning his sword in his hand before standing up and facing the eight robots fighting the rest of the team. Finally back, awake, the sounds of lasers and clanging metal jolting him to action. No time. No time, and finally the SCA is back online.

"Keep that safe. I'll keep the robots away from you too so you can escape first, tell the train what happened to us. We'll regroup." Roland says, seeing some robots approach them now, his stance ready to cover Kaiba.

"Now."

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin is occupied with fighting the robots, his sword flashing with silver-white light as he charges it up with his Elvish power. He's too busy to pay attention to the racket from his SCA. He whirls, swings, and cuts, beheading the first of the robots to charge at him, which he then chops in half. He reduces it to metallic rubble and then turns to do the same thing to the next one that comes at him.

[blue_ice]

Kaiba's eyes glaze over as she disappears. Protect this universe...keep its natural beauty...

They're not his inclinations at all. But how could he deny her conviction, and upon further reflection, those little glimmers of something special? He has a lot to think about...

But not now. Now, their allies are potentially in danger. Kaiba's place isn't to fight, it's to fix...so it's his job to bridge this gap and make preparations. He takes the SCA gingerly, tucking it deep into his bag and zipping it tight.

And he's off, heart racing, to reconnect with the others and prepare.

[voidtreckernpcs]

Reno's attacks did indeed stun the closest robots allowing him and Curufin could start cutting them down, Reno's batton takes down one as Curufin chopped another in half.

There are still some left for Koumyou as he joins the fray, they fire at all three of them. Four of them, as one attempts to dart around the main fight and make a beeline for where Roland still stood.

Kaiba is not perused as he runs from the clearing.

(OOC: For anyone who hasn't seen plurk yet- SCA poking is here.)