Fierce New World- Mission Start!

[voidtreckermods]

"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.

Comments

Bucky/Soldat | Guest on Red team

[worthallthis]

I. Prep Work - Kitchen car

Soldat's first plan, as it always was when prepping for a mission or an exploration back in Beacon, is to make food. Not only is it a great way to keep distracted enough to not fret, everyone needs food for a trip outside the train. Especially them.

So they disappear into the kitchen for about two hours, and come back out with various sandwiches; dried fruit and nut mixes in large pouches; pressed and baked bars of granola, honey, and chunks of avocado that he hopes will keep well; and lidded cups of thick stew that won't keep at all, but should be okay for the first meal out.

As the train is slowing, they emerge laden with their offerings for the other passengers. "Won't last forever," they say, "but it'll help."


II. Exploring - Summer, Streets

It would be really nice to be somewhere warm and mostly open, if Soldat felt like they were remotely geared properly. One bone knife, one pilfered kitchen knife, one metal arm, one lantern with all its shutters closed slung over their shoulder, and three nervous voices in the back of their head. They've got a lot of snacks and maybe a couple of those potion things shoved into their rucksack, a notebook stuffed with origami-paper stuffed into a pocket, and two shirts under their coat, so they're sweating in the heat. But without any decent armor, layers are the best they can manage for protection.

But exploring a given route, sweeping a grid, making mental maps and clearing an area-- these are all things Soldat is in fact trained for. They fall into a watchful prowl, keeping tabs on their closest Red team partners, never going out of visual range of at least one of them, not letting anyone else too far ahead or behind or off on a tangent even if they spread out.

"Getting separated means getting picked off," they say, attempting to rein someone in. "Or just getting lost."


III. Waylaid - Summer, buildings

Soldat can and has gone without sleep for multiple days, mission focus and anxiety makes it hard to sleep when away from familiar, safe places. But they do rest when the group stops for the night, sitting against wall to keep an eye on the exits and their fellow teammates, catching cat-naps here and there but not much more than that.

It's fine. They're technically dead. So long as they eat enough and keep hydrated (harhar) they'll be fine. Honest! (Someone make this boy sleep, okay?)


IV. Helpers and Not Helpers

They absolutely do not like the helpmates. When they utterly ignore the team unless addressed, they bring up unpleasant memories of the Asset days, and of Beacon spirits mindlessly continuing routines they followed before they died. "It's creepy," they admit to someone who catches them staring. "It's. It makes me want to turn them all off so we don't have to watch."

Soldat likes them even less after the first one that doesn't ignore them leaps to attack with a high-pitched squeal of the projectors changing direction to handle the distance. Soldat's metal arm comes up to block. "I knew they were creepy," they growl as they try to throw the thing back and draw a knife.

They seriously miss having actual fucking body armor, because layers aren't as useful against bludgeoning damage as they would be against slashing damage, dammit, and this thing is absolutely using its big, friend-shaped fists.


V. Weathering the Trip

The first warning from the SCA of a temperature change is heat, and Soldat ducks inside with whoever they're with to wait it out. Tugging at the collar of their coat at the heat wafting inside. "Christ, that's annoying. Think we should go around or wait it out?"

The next warning from the SCA is for cold, and Soldat spends their adjacent route shivering and huddled into their coat. They're not fond of cold, okay, or of the sight of ice coating the street, glimpsed through alleys and windows. It makes them twitchy.

The worst is the electricity. The first time it flares up, it's sudden, and the SCA warning comes seconds ahead of the familiar, horrible crackling sound that takes up the entire walkway. Soldat actually freezes at that one, the sound impossible to tune out, for once completely distracted and needing a grab back themselves, before the field shifts and makes some new awful memories for them.

III

[bakegarasu]

Otoha is sleeping near Soldat, sitting up with his sword in front of him. He's wincing in his sleep, making small noises, but after about an hour of rest he jolts awake, sword drawn in an instant and held in front of him and breathing suddenly ragged.

He looks around, trying to focus. ... Oh. Oh, it's not... he tries to slow his breathing, eyes still wide with... well, it can't be fear. He doesn't feel fear, right?

[worthallthis]

The sound of the dreaming is familiar, and kind of sad; Soldat debates more than once trying to wake him up out of the dream, but they're not sure whether it's safe, welcome, or even a good idea.

Before they can decide, Otoha wakes himself up instead. Soldat has both hands up by the time sense comes into his eyes, showing them empty, sitting close by with their coat draped over their knees like a blanket. They're not great at tone, but they manage something mostly gentle-sounding when they say, "Hey. Hey, it's okay. Just a dream, buddy. You're okay."

[bakegarasu]

He tries to calm his breathing, lifting a hand to check his pulse to see how much stress his body is feeling. Hm. A little bit fast, but the breathing is kind of a sign of that. He sheathes his sword and bows his head. He hasn’t had a nightmare like that in a long time.

As his breath slows he focuses on Soldat. “... Yeah. He would... never say stuff like that... even though he’d be right to...”

II

[mynameisallen]

Allen frowned slightly. Thanks for reminding him that getting lost was a likely thing because with Allen it was more likely than you think.

"Thanks for the remainder. I mean people here seem capable of fighting alone if they have to, but getting lost is not a good thing at all." It was kind of why he always had a flying golden golem thing around him pretty much at all times during missions.

Timcampy was the way to not get him lost.

[worthallthis]

"Or getting stuck on the other side of one of those climate fluctuations," Soldat agrees, and after a little hesitation, gives Allen a little pat on the shoulder. "Come on, let's get back closer to the others. I don't wanna be stuck, either." They've only run into a heat one, so far, and that had been bad enough.

[mynameisallen]

"Ah, yes the climate things aren't necessarily fun either. I think this is probably one of the least fun missions so far." Not that any of them are fun, but at least so far he was more than a little relieved they didn't have to do a lot so far, but was wondering when that was going to change.

And when it did it wasn't going to be pleased with the climate changes.

"Do you remember where we came from?" It was hard to tell if he was kidding or not as he turned around.

I

[flatteries]

Inigo was so busy grabbing everything he needed and doing other preparation for the mission - especially one with such a vague, vague description as this one - that the sudden voice catches him by surprise. He turns his head, looking in the direction of its source.

And that's when he sees them. With all the food. It's oddly nostalgic. That's just the sort of thing the other Bucky would have done it he had still been here, huh? Didn't he always like to cook too? It was something he had picked up on the train - and perhaps Soldat had picked it up in that other place they were before. The one mentioned briefly, though Inigo can't recall the name in the middle of his surprise.

"T-thanks," he says, the surprise making him stammer as he accepts some of the goods. "Did you make all of this..?"

[worthallthis]

"Yeah." They look fairly pleased with the turn-out of food. It's not enough, they're sure it's not enough for a whole week-long mission, but they also know they weren't the only person prepping meals. "I did some experimenting yesterday. To work out the bars. Figured they'd keep better than anything else. Glad I did." They hadn't been sure when the mission would start, and they only just barely got it right in time.

[flatteries]

"It's kind of you to look out for everyone like that."

After all, they easily could have made all this and kept it for themselves, especially since missions tend to last more than just two or three days. But it's the small things like these that prove Soldat is still very much like Bucky.

"I'll.. um." There's a pause, a small moment of awkwardness. Inigo is still adjusting to speaking to a familiar face, yet having a - technically - different person behind it, after all. "I'll make sure to enjoy eating it."

iv

[magicurls]

"...not just creepy, but dangerous," agrees a young girl dressed in white and yellow. She's apparently beaten one away from her by using an old-fashioned rifle as a blunt instrument. The range is too close to shoot right now.

"I can do more damage if we can---put them at a distance!"

Still easier said than done. She's whacked on the side before she can drive the sharp end into the next one, but doesn't seem to suffer too badly for it.

[worthallthis]

Soldat places themselves solidly between her and the holograms, launching one back out of the way with a powerful kick. (Or whatever they are. Aren't holograms intangible? Fuck, it doesn't matter.)

God, what they wouldn't give for a rifle of their own, right now. "Get back, behind me, let them focus on me," they order, swinging the metal arm up to block another lunge, throwing this one back out of immediate range as well. "Then you can pick them off."

[magicurls]

They're on the ball. Mami is grateful. She dodges into position and swings her cap off her head, a pile of rifles falling out of it.

"Grab one if you need and know how to use it, but each only has one shot. Make it count," she advises, finally able to lean over enough to pick one off. Her aim needs to be deadly accurate here.

iv

[soldier_blade]

Sonya's exploring one of the panels when she saw one of the 'helpmates' attacking one of her 'temporary' teammates. Immediately, she turned her attention to the attacker and set off several energy rings at it.

The pink, static rings buzzed as they struck the helper, causing it to crumble to the ground. Smoke rose from the panel on its back, bringing the smell of frayed wires and burned metal.

[worthallthis]

That's just not fair. "Where do I get weapons like that," Soldat asks, looking very enviously down at the fizzling hologram, until it flickers out entirely. "I have a goddamn bone knife." Well, and the metal arm, but while that's technically a weapon, it's also just their arm.

[soldier_blade]

"This came with me from home." She answered, getting on her knees to check out the paneling. If they could find out how these things ticked, they might be able to take them out without frying their circuits.

They were only here for a few days after all; the people would still have to deal with them if they malfunctioned. "But if you save enough points you might be able to buy one in the void shop."

V

[reluctantjinrou]

He couldn't help but catch sight of his teammate and roommate stopped in front of the electricity.

"Come on." He called from behind him. "That's not a good way to go."

Natsuno frowned, looking at the map on his SCA.

[worthallthis]

It's another long second before Soldat can pull their brain back online, out of the memory of electricity and shaking and pain. They take a single halting step back.

[reluctantjinrou]

He wasn't sure what to make of it, but he wasn't really moving. It wouldn't be safe.

Natsuno came around in front of him. "Hey." He said, a bit firmly. "You can't stay here, I don't know if that spreads or not. It's not safe."

V

[knifewithnoname]

The changing temperatures are annoying, she listened carefully to her SCA, skittering back, ducking into buildings and finding reroutes.

The buildings here were not designed for roof running, she had learned that early on and it was annoying. Using streets was for people who wanted to freeze, or boil... Or get electrocuted it seemed.

When her SCA beeps she looks around for somewhere to hide. She instead sees them. Bucky. No. Soldat.

Maybe they don't know what the beeping means but also... She remembered that dream and though they are different people... Maybe some things are the same.

"Be coming on, I did be finding an open building, we can be sheltering there."

[worthallthis]

Some things are absolutely the same. Soldat shivers once all over, like a horse trying to shake a fly, and finally step back, jerkily. Can't shut down now, it's not-- it's not safe. But the sound is rattling around in their brain.

Someone's speaking. It takes them a minute to put the voice and accent together to an actual name. "Butter. Buttercup. Okay."

They don't move further yet, though. Give 'em a minute, kiddo.

[knifewithnoname]

"Yes. It do be being Buttercup." Her voice was patient. "Be looking at me, I will be taking you to the building."

She stays very still, trying to look non threatening. That isn't really hard, despite her two guns, she is still tiny and scrawny.

Still, it's best to be careful.

III fyi he's like....4'7''? small, lmao,

[seacub]

Whether Soldat has spotted this kid by now or not- orange is a bright colour even among red, and it doesn't help that his stand is an imposing figure in white with a constant presence this time- it's probably hard not to catch sight once they're all tucking in for the night.

He...can't really sleep this time though. Eventually he's giving up and moving off to find somewhere to sit and maybe play with some small homemade clouds. It's the best he's got, and there's definitely no Ghost Rooms in this place...

..Uh.

"...Oh. ...You can't sleep either?"

Well...

oh hai I remember you from VR <3

[worthallthis]

That is a very tiny person. Soldat manages to keep the alarm at the idea of yet more tiny people on this team-- children should not be on goddamn combat ops, seriously-- off their face. They manage a weak smile, instead, and focus on the... clouds hovering around his head and hands. Weird. Neat, but weird. "I don't usually sleep much on missions. Not these missions in particular. But when there's a job to do in hostile territory."

hello hello lmao yes

[seacub]

"Oh. ...not at all..?"

If Emporio hears he shouldn't be there, he's going to display a fair amount of confusion, but that's beside the point. For now, uh...

"...is that healthy..? ...I read that if you don't sleep enough, it starts to affect things like brain activity, or judgement... ...it just seems like the opposite of what to do in a dangerous place I guess. Er...if it can be helped anyway..."