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.
magicurls: (with a wink)

arrival

[personal profile] magicurls 2021-01-13 02:22 am (UTC)(link)
"You don't have to worry about me anymore, Madoka," Mami promises her, slinging her bag over her shoulder. She's sporting two armbands over her purple uniform---one red, and one white.

After a moment she gestures to the small green hedgehog curled on her shoulder, currently squeaking happily. Time to say hello!

"This is Rosetta. She can clear my soul gem, so running out of mana shouldn't be an issue anymore as long as I'm careful."
happyends: (lies in the palm)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-01-13 05:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, now that's the cutest portable charger she's ever seen.

Of course Madoka knows it's a Pokemon. She doesn't even have to know, she can just tell from looking at it - especially since Madoka both knows that Katsuya has been handing them out, and that it was his cute pony in the first place that had been cleansing Mami's gem. So there probably were more out there that could do that, right?

"Oh, she's so cute..!" Okay, it's more important that it's keeping Mami safe, but clearly we can't ignore that aspect of it. "I'm glad you have her with you, Mami-san. I imagine Katsuya-san can't always be around, after all.."
magicurls: (be alright)

[personal profile] magicurls 2021-01-14 06:06 am (UTC)(link)
"Mm. Jonouchi-san has been kind to me. But it's much easier for everyone if I don't have to stay with him all the time---healers have a lot of ground to cover!"

She allows Rosetta to rush down her arm and sniff at Madoka.

"So I won't be far, if you ever need me. Hopefully you won't!"
happyends: (so it's now or never more)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-01-14 11:04 pm (UTC)(link)
"I hope so too.." Since it'd be nice to have a mission where no one has to get hurt, huh. Though it's hard to tell how much of a risk of that there's going to be with how utterly vague the description they got is...

Madoka definitely leans over towards the cute critter though, happily letting Rosetta get to know her. She may even gently be trying to pet its back a little..

"Although it sounds like the teams may be pretty far apart this time.. I-I'm not sure how hard that'll make it for miss spider to teleport people. But even if we do get attacked, or get hurt.. Um, I'm sure there are people on the blue team who can help too. And we took along some mana drives with healing spells in case we really need them. So please don't worry about me.." She's sure Mami has enough to worry about even without her being added to it!
magicurls: (Default)

[personal profile] magicurls 2021-01-15 06:01 am (UTC)(link)
Mami watches with a satisfied smile. Don't worry, Rosetta's leaves are soft and nothing like a hedgehog spike! She quivers happily under the attention.

"Mm. I know you're going to do well! I stick to red because they tend to be in the most danger...we all are. But I'm ready to do my best this time too."
happyends: (lies in the palm)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-01-16 10:13 am (UTC)(link)
That has to be the absolute softest hedgehog-like thing that Madoka has ever felt. At the very least - luckily for Rosetta - it just incentivises her to keep patting the adorable creature.

"Well.. It's a little odder this time, isn't it?"

Especially since usually the missions are a little more clear-cut and then it's easy to see that red often has the most fighting to do, but..

"For some reason all the mission descriptions are just the same.." Madoka's voice trails off, and she raises her gaze from Rosetta over to Mami. "I wonder what's up with that."
magicurls: (magic flower)

[personal profile] magicurls 2021-01-17 05:16 am (UTC)(link)
"Mm, it is odd. But I still owe Miss Lightning a full mission with her team. Maybe we're solving four corners of the same problem to bring the world into balance?"

She's pretty sure she's heard stories like that before.
happyends: (better than the rest)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-01-17 10:29 pm (UTC)(link)
"Bring the world into balance.." Madoka repeats, like she's thinking about it. And as if the latter sentiment also comes to mind for her, she continues to add: "It almost sounds like a story."

Like a prophecy in some story, right?

"Well, then.. please be careful out there, Mami-san. Let me know if anything bad happens with the red team. We all have to help each other out somehow, no matter how far apart we are.. O-Or so I think, anyway."
magicurls: (be alright)

[personal profile] magicurls 2021-01-21 05:21 am (UTC)(link)
"Always. You can call me...even if I can't be there right away, you can talk to me!"

She lets Rosetta nuzzle her friend one more time before gently calling her back, small berry in hand.

"You're going to do wonderfully out there."
happyends: (so it's now or never more)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-01-22 02:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, those last words are definitely enough to make Madoka's cheeks glow a faint pink, practically matching her hair. She's never quite sure what to say in the face of that kind of confidence in her - especially when it's coming from someone she likes and respects a lot.

"Thank you, Mami-san.." The way her voice trails off is mostly due to that inability to know what to do with the compliment. She supposes the one thing she can do is say-- "I.. I promise I'll do my best!"

Her hands even form fists to show her determination to live up to it!!

"I'll go join the rest of the blue team now, but hopefully we'll see each other again really soon..!"