VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] middleofsomewhere2021-01-11 05:58 am

Fierce New World- Mission Start!

"Good Morning passengers. Today is day six of the month of Jelly." 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.

Preparation and Arrival

They have a short time to prepare for their mission, enough time to read their briefs, make decisions, meet in their teams and gather anything they may need.

A few hours later there is another announcement. "Shortly arriving on System #2207385. All passengers get ready to disembark. Next stop world #2207385. Exit from void in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."

The train judders as it leaves the void, the colours from the windows turn into the blackness of space but quickly white as the train descends into the entrance of the biosphere.

The doors of the train open and passengers can enter the large white-walled holding bay. Currently, they are the only vehicle inside. There are four large doors around the bay each labelled with where they lead. Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

The doors open easily, and their SCA’s show a basic route, though the non-linear nature of the sectors mean that obstacles will need to be navigated. While they are in a closed world, there is a day and night cycle: the panels far up above are designed to make it seem like there is a natural sky, brightening and dimming every ten hours.

Red/Summer

Empty Streets

Wide streets divide sealed-off factories and manufacturing pods that tower up towards the ‘sky’. It is hot here, though the fumes from the factories are vented out, leaving the air breathable if overly warm.

Sometimes the pods are not yet finished, empty shells that can be sheltered in. There are also stations for living, with plumbing and basic amenities scattered through the sector. Places to rest as they move towards the center and the Great-Summer that they seek.

Helpmates

Where factories are still being built they will find Helpmates, operating machinery or moving materials.

They will not pause in their tasks for long but are programmed to answer questions so can be drawn into a conversation. Or, if the Voidtreckers are unfortunate, they will find those that are malfunctioning turning on them as they approach.

They aren’t too difficult to fight, but can do some damage with the machinery if they manage to take a Voidtrecker by surprise. They can be fought with weapons or magic, or for those that think to use the panels they can be shut down outright.

Wild Weather

Though warm, the corridors remain a constant temperature that is not too unpleasant for people. For the most part. Unfortunately, due to the malfunctioning state of things routes may become impassable. Boiling air, freezing blasts, electricity crackling across a pathway.

Their SCA’s do a good job of warning them, allowing them to change direction or shelter in nearby buildings.

Purple/Autumn

Exploring

The Autumn sector is the least complete of the sectors, with shells of habitation pods and not much else. No one is expected to live here until nearing the end of construction, and so the pods are unfurnished, many missing doors, some missing internal walls.

Outside the streets are wide and clearly made to be pleasant to walk on; it is airy, bright and spacious, if a bit eerie due to the quiet.

There are panels on the walls, to call Helpmates to appear. Here they are primarily for helping citizens, giving directions and offering aid.

Malfunctions

Since there are more helpmates there is more risk of them malfunctioning. They attack with or without weapons, using any tools they can pick up to attack. They can be fought with weapons or magic, or for those that think to use the panels they can be shut down.

They won’t chase people into the houses, their privacy programming preventing them from doing so.

Turned Around

The roads seem simple, built in a grid pattern around the houses. However, whatever is going wrong here is affecting the very streets themselves. Sometimes there will be a wall where there wasn’t before or roads go in circles. Sometimes they find themselves at a dead end, trapped until structures shift again.

Their SCA’s do their best to keep up but it can take a while for them to reroute and by the time they do, that path might be blocked too!

Blue/Spring

Patchwork Forest

The Spring sector houses the hydroponics and pastoral sections. It alternates between grazing land and more heavily forested areas with rows of pine-like trees in a checkerboard pattern, with empty plots interspersed. Walkways divide each square, but all squares appear able to move about as required, as though on a conveyor system.

There are clear walkways to avoid stepping on any newly growing plants. In the grazing land live flocks of camelid creatures resembling alpacas with blueish wool, on average a metre and a half tall at the shoulders. Helpmates appear here as if on a timer to feed the animals and tend to plants.

Destruction


If the Helpmates here malfunction they attack anyone nearby, cause havoc to any farming equipment and frightening the animals.

They can be fought with weapons or magic, or for those that think to use the panels they can be shut down. The panels here are less obvious than they are in the more urban sectors, low to the ground, looking almost like energy panels. But once they know what to look for they will be able to use them to shut down the Helpmates.

Stampede

Frightened animals are likely to flee and unfortunately in this case it means rampaging across the grazing land to the newly growing trees.

They will need to be calmed, returned to their grazing lands and the plants restored. Or it might be that the Voidtreckers can stop the Helpmates before the creatures get too spooked.

Orange/Winter

Exploring

The Winter sector’s primary concern is life support. Huge banks of air scrubbers form artificial cliffs, while other sections are tanks filled with water in varying stages of processing or recycling.

The paths here are a lot narrower than they are in other areas, sometimes requiring moving between pipes or scrambling over layers of railing.

There doesn’t seem to be any easy or straightforward path through the sector, their SCA takes them on wild winding routes through the machinery.

Help or Hindrance

The fluctuating temperatures here are causing problems with many of the pipes, several sections are flooded, others are in danger of being so.

There are patch kits in easily opened panels, designed to be used by the helpmates and indeed there are many helpmates out.

But some are less helpful, those that are malfunctioning are more likely to cause more damage than they are there to fix. They will attack any one who tries to interfere with them. They can be fought with weapons or magic, or for those that think to use the panels they can be shut down.

Patch Job

Once the malfunctioning Helpmates are dealt with the pipes still need to be fixed. The patch kits do not have any instructions but are simple enough that anyone with a basic knowledge of how to fix things should be able to figure them out- though the more knowledge and expertise they have the better the fix!

For those that don’t, many of the jobs will need more than one person and so for those that don’t mind taking instructions they will find an extra pair of hands is always welcome.
azrthmtrnznthos: (....really?)

[personal profile] azrthmtrnznthos 2021-01-13 12:38 am (UTC)(link)
"Do you want me to see if I can get higher up and spot people? Help direct you?" Raven was finding this all very annoying, but at least their team-mates wouldn't be trapped between herself, Danny, and Kitty. Or anyone else who might be able to fly or phase.
azrthmtrnznthos: (deadpan)

Exploring/Turned Around

[personal profile] azrthmtrnznthos 2021-01-13 12:41 am (UTC)(link)
Raven has been trying to keep an eye out for her team-mates, once she discovered the walls could change, and try to trap them. The shouting and cursing drew her attention, as she homed in on her team-mate. "I don't think it's cursed, exactly." She said in her usual deadpan tone. "They're usually more specific in how they manifest."
azrthmtrnznthos: (Dark Energy once more)

Helpmates

[personal profile] azrthmtrnznthos 2021-01-13 12:43 am (UTC)(link)
"Back up incoming." Dark energy surrounded the Helpmate, pinning it in place. Raven wasn't far away either, blue-cloak and cowl surrounding her, one hand outstretched with that same dark-energy.
azrthmtrnznthos: (....really?)

Turned Around

[personal profile] azrthmtrnznthos 2021-01-13 12:46 am (UTC)(link)
I'm honestly more worried for those of us who can't phase through the walls." Raven muttered, deadpan tone still conveying hints of annoyance.
azrthmtrnznthos: (Dark Energy again)

2 C

[personal profile] azrthmtrnznthos 2021-01-13 12:49 am (UTC)(link)
I've got it, but we should work on a better solution for when everyone spreads out.

[Moving over to the wall, Raven places a hand against it, intoning softly "Azarath Metrion Zinthos". Dark energy swirls from her hand, to a portal on the wall. It looks just like a circle of darkness, but Raven turns to the rest of the group.]

I can phase through walls--if I hold this, you all should be able to just walk to the other side of the wall too.
light_of_willpower: (long-hair speaking)

Help or Hindrance

[personal profile] light_of_willpower 2021-01-13 12:55 am (UTC)(link)
"I can hold it while you fix it." A voice said, before the Helpmate is stopped in place. One hand grabbing and keeping the drill up and away. The other is holding the other arm of the Helpmate securely. "Go for it." Trunks told Entrapta.
light_of_willpower: (long hair profile talking)

[personal profile] light_of_willpower 2021-01-13 12:57 am (UTC)(link)
"Not with you, Cassie." One last kiss, before he leaned his forehead against his. "Gonna take your new toys, besides Emma?"
gentle_jim: (worried)

Handsome Jack AI | Orange team + OTA

[personal profile] gentle_jim 2021-01-13 01:13 am (UTC)(link)
SPLASH

Upon losing his footing and slipping into the enormous water tank, Jack's first thought is: I'm drowning. He thrashes wildly at the all encompassing liquid as the weight of his robot frame pulls him down. Several seconds after being submerged, it occurs to him through the panic that- other than sinking- nothing is happening. Oh yeah, I don't need to breathe... he remembers finally, limbs going still. There's still the problem of getting out of here before he's stuck at the bottom of this freakin' tank. He's not entirely sure his body is meant to be completely submerged for long periods of time either... Hopefully someone saw him fall? Someone who's actually inclined to help him, that is- and not just laugh. Things aren't looking good....

Hacker voice: I'm In

Jack's crouched in front of a panel, typing furiously on a keyboard that's just slightly too small for his robotic fingers.

"Goddamnit... who the hell wrote this code? If I could jack into this stupid thing I could take care of this crap in like six seconds..." he growls, muttering more curses under his breath.

There's already a 'help-mate' (as they're called apparently) trying to clock him in the back of the head with a wrench. Another joins it and soon there's a small crowd starting to dent up his metal torso.

"Fricking... these things are worse than Claptraps! Can someone back me up here for few minutes?? I know I can crack this - I just need time..."

Minions

Jack's relaxing on a ledge, watching his little troop of help-mates- or Lil' Jacks, as he's renamed them- using the patches to repair the pipes in the area. His speakers are blasting some kind of military drumming beat.

"Good work, boys! Keep it goin'!"
Edited 2021-01-13 01:16 (UTC)
ballseeker: (open your mind to actin' blind)

Bulma Briefs | Orange | Winter

[personal profile] ballseeker 2021-01-13 01:19 am (UTC)(link)
⁂ PREPARATION & ARRIVAL

[ This being Bulma’s first mission since arriving on the train, she takes the time to go through all the motions of meeting her team, listening to their plans and what’s going on, best recommendations, that kind of thing. She’s nothing if not observant in this way, and makes sure to pack some extra odds and ends, food snacks that should be enough for her in the mean time, that kind of thing.

Is it enough? Possibly not. She’s not quite sure of what, exactly, she needs to bring for herself. Usually she can over pack a capsule and continue on, or.. well.

Use a flying vehicle instead of doing this kind of camping thing.

Anyway, once at the station she’ll take a moment to pause and look at their options, a brow raised. ]


Does this seem way too simple to you too?

Like, anytime I play a video game and there’s just these pick and choose tunnels it’s almost always a ‘hey, pick your poison and you’re going to hate every option’ kind of thing.


⁂ ORANGE TEAM – EXPLORATION

[ Bulma’s used to small, cramped quarters when working on different bits of machinery. Of course it’s usually wiggling herself in to strange parts of the Gravity Room at this point in her life, but you know. She’s not exactly opposed to things like grand adventures.

These days she’s just been protected by an Angel or not bringing an infant to an android fight as a general rule.

Still, this is all very interesting, and nothing like a small path or heights has ever stopped Bulma before.

What may stop her is her wandering eye, fixating on a certain piece of machinery and trying to suss out how exactly it works as she’s walking along a narrow path that she’s pretty damn close to actually flat out stepping off of if she isn’t careful or snapped back in to focus. ]



⁂ ORANGE TEAM - HELP OR HINDRANCE

OPTION A -
[ Bulma is quick to involve herself in repairs and patches to the systems where needed. This is where she excels, of course, troubleshooting and repairing many things within her home and testing sequences at Capsule Corp on the daily. A capsule tossed and her tools scattered about the spot she’s currently wriggled her small frame in to that many wouldn’t be able to.

At least until she notices a hard impact in to one of her exposed legs, used to indicate where she is. It’s surprising, at first, and just as she’s wriggled to the side to see it’s a Helpmate it moves backward, coming back to impact her leg with more force this time –

Which means, of course, Bulma is immediately screaming loud enough to burst ear drums in panic, scrabbling to at least pull herself away somehow, but in the position she’s in, no solution is particularly quick. ]


OPTION B -
[ After her previous experience with the helpmates, Bulma’s mood is considerably more sour as she’s moved along to her next repairs, this time careful not to move herself in a way where she cannot quickly move if she needs to, and where she can keep an eye out for impending helpmate attacks.

This also means she’s kept a particularly heavy wrench in the front pocket of her hoodie for defense.

Her next victim is a helpmate that whirs her way a little too quickly, as she quickly reaches for the pocketed wrench, muttering - ]
Not this time you won’t - [ - Rears back, and throws it as hard as she can at her victim. Bulma doesn’t miss, and moves (a bit tender on her previously offended leg) to pick up her wrench as soon as the helpmate is sparking and smoking on the ground, not even one bit sorry for the mechanical murder. ]

Assholes.


⁂ ORANGE TEAM – PATCH JOB

Hey! You!

[ Hello fellow teammate, Bulma means you, she just has two hands currently busy with a patch job. Of course, she could probably think of a better way to call another person over, but her hands and her brain are a little full with this patching job at the moment and so manners have flown out the window as well.

She tips her chin back, jerking it to indicate to come over. ]


I need an extra set of hands, please!


⁂ CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

( obligatory call me out part of this whole deal – if there’s a thread you want to do but I haven’t prompted for it, let’s thread it! If you have any questions about it, pm me and let’s chat. )

gentle_jim: (pout 2)

Patch Job

[personal profile] gentle_jim 2021-01-13 01:19 am (UTC)(link)
"Come on, kid- it's not that hard," Jack groans, stepping behind Rich with a gun in hand. He's been watching the kid struggle for a few minutes now with an unimpressed expression on his face.
nutkrusher: (Rifle)

[personal profile] nutkrusher 2021-01-13 01:19 am (UTC)(link)
"Got my rifle in my ARMS band," Cassie says. "Not sure it'll be so smart to whip it out when there's just one sheet of metal between us and a hard vacuum. But I've got it if I need it."
nutkrusher: (dafuq)

[personal profile] nutkrusher 2021-01-13 01:21 am (UTC)(link)
"To be honest, that's not really the kind of cursed I mean," Cassie says. "I mean cursed more like the way an abandoned Chuck E. Cheese is cursed."
nutkrusher: (Smirking Wiseass)

Preparation

[personal profile] nutkrusher 2021-01-13 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
It sounds like you've got a problem with being shoved into a big empty space station with only a sheet of metal between us and a hard vacuum.

I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
light_of_willpower: (long hair profile talking)

[personal profile] light_of_willpower 2021-01-13 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
"Forgive me if I say, I hope it doesn't see much use." Trunks tilted his head slightly. "Maybe next mission we'll be in a place where we aren't restricted and you could try it. I know Father'd would like to be in a place with no restrictions. Honestly, I'd like it too, more chances to train while cutting loose."
nutkrusher: (Green Halo)

5

[personal profile] nutkrusher 2021-01-13 01:29 am (UTC)(link)
A figure in blue armor descends from roughly ceiling height.

"Need a hand up?"
gentle_jim: (don't talk to me im angy)

Help or Hindrance

[personal profile] gentle_jim 2021-01-13 01:30 am (UTC)(link)
"The hell are you doing, princess?" Jack calls, jogging over and straight-up football punting the help-mate with the drill with a loud 'CLANG' of metal on metal. It gets knocked several feet away- enough for Jack to stand between it and Entrapta and attempt to shoot the stupid thing. He aims one of the laser pistols they'd worked on earlier that week and--

--misses. "...Guess I'm out of practice."
unfavorableinstigation: Nita Callahan kneeling in the woods, drawing a glowing blue diagram on the ground while reading from a book. (Drawing a Spell Diagram)

Fixing

[personal profile] unfavorableinstigation 2021-01-13 01:30 am (UTC)(link)
"Already ahead of you."

Nita's pack was all but in a temporospatial claudication this mission; after having to go without in Nautilus for years on end, somehow recreating it hadn't felt worth the effort.

Until now, of course; she felt she needed that range of motion back.

"I'm setting up a shield around the two of us. If this piping would just-"

She broke off in an exaggerated groan.
nutkrusher: (Bang)

[personal profile] nutkrusher 2021-01-13 01:33 am (UTC)(link)
"I kinda had my heart set on blowing something up," Cassie says. "I suppose it'll be better for everyone involved if it waits until next time. But you never know. Shit tends to escalate."
light_of_willpower: (long-hair looking back)

Help or Hindrance Option A.

[personal profile] light_of_willpower 2021-01-13 01:33 am (UTC)(link)
[Of course her scream would bring her family running. Of course, right now in the same area, that's Trunks. Streaking through the sky on a beeline for his mother's ki.

She might be in a space that's too small for most, but he can at least put himself between the Helpmate and her. Which he does, dropping out of the sky. Blocking the Helpmate in it's charge easily.]


What happened, Mom?
Edited 2021-01-13 01:41 (UTC)
unfavorableinstigation: Nita looking directly at the viewer, mouth slightly open, as if she's in the middle of an important or unamused expression. (Focused)

Help or Hindrance

[personal profile] unfavorableinstigation 2021-01-13 01:33 am (UTC)(link)
Nita couldn't second those thoughts more - unfortunately, stopping these Helpmates would take a bit more than that...

"I can try holding them, okay? I don't think we have to hurt them to stop them moving..."

She had more than enough spells for both kinds of halting, but she preferred not to have to use violence when she didn't need to.

/Stop./ That word in the Speech was directed - not at the Helpmate, but at the drill, freezing it at that one relative point in space.
gentle_jim: (doubt)

Help or Hindrance

[personal profile] gentle_jim 2021-01-13 01:39 am (UTC)(link)
"Is that a dig at me?" Jack huffs, stepping in and picking one up by the head. It struggles in his robotic grip making all sorts of weird little noises. Jack just laughs and throws it as hard as he can.

Patch Job (aiming for an NPC chiming in on this, or nah?)

[personal profile] unfavorableinstigation 2021-01-13 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
"Conan?!"

Nita had just been doing a flyby, but that blur of motion sure did put a dent in things, now didn't it?!

Hopefully not a dent in her friend's head; Nita directed her next air-steps straight down towards Conan and his attacker.

/Hey, you. Pay attention to me!/

Then she gestured for Conan to move, or at least get up while it wasn't looking.

Maybe even go find whatever panel the Helpmate was connected to...
gentle_jim: (listen here)

EXPLORATION

[personal profile] gentle_jim 2021-01-13 01:48 am (UTC)(link)
"Hey! Blue haired chick!" comes a voice from behind her, metal fingers closing on the back of her shirt and hauling her backwards.

It's Jack - whose hard light hologram projected over his robotic frame depicts a middle-aged man with great hair and a weird fashion sense- all in glowing blue.

"Do you have a death wish or something? Sheesh."
blue_ice: (sacrifice)

[personal profile] blue_ice 2021-01-13 01:49 am (UTC)(link)
"If it would...what happened?"

Seto's grateful for the protection, he's able to concentrate on the work. But that's not a good sign.
dreamtamer: (dreamer)

[personal profile] dreamtamer 2021-01-13 01:55 am (UTC)(link)
Takato grins as he spots Trunks.

"Please? We can't figure out how to get over this railing."