Race Against Time: Ongoing Mission

[voidtreckermods]

Once the training is over people can get to work pretty quickly, there is plenty to be done both out in the world and back at the hub for those not too keep on jumping straight in to a strange volcanic planet with creatures that probably want to eat them.

Hub

The underground hub is a centre of activity. It turns out there isn't all that much fuel for shuttles to get back up to the space station so trips are rationed, they will hold villagers and lindusi until they have full shuttles and then send them up. So the hub is busy with scientists, lindusi in holding pens and as the week goes on villagers who may not be too impressed with the evacuation.

There is food, usually large pots of soup that can be reheated whenever people are around. Though some heavier meals are provided at set times the people leading the evacuation are keen not to let any of their helpers, or those they are rescuing, starve.

Sleeping rooms hold bunk beds, usually around eight a room but as the hub fills up space gets limited. Sharing beds or sleeping on the floor may become necessary.

For those hanging around the hub as the week goes on there is plenty to do, small jobs, entertaining village children, logistics, communication. Or they can find a quiet place to rest before going back out on their mission.

Red

The skies are heavy with debris, both from space and the volcanic ash and rocks from the planet itself. The fighter craft are not difficult to pilot but nor are they easy. They cannot be piloted by one person, unless that person has four arms and space in the cockpit is tight for two people.

It's difficult work and it is probably good for everybody that the craft only fly for six hours before recharging, it means they have to work in shifts, and rest when they are not in the sky. The pilots from the world are generally friendly, if very focused.

Purple

Flying bubble pods around what seems like an apocalyptic wasteland may seem surreal and that's before they even get to the villages. The villages are mostly underground, bunkers where groups of people shelter. There are a range of ages. Some villages come easy, some do not. Diplomacy is key.

Watch out for falling rocks, rogue lindusi and angry villagers, all are threats that have to mitigated. As the week goes on the villagers get more stubborn, the earthquakes get more frequent and the villagers that are waiting to be taken off world get more impatient. It's a tough job.

Orange

The lindusi are scattered across the island. Mostly as far away from volcanoes as possible though there are a few that seem too curious for their own good.

The trucks to hold the lindusi in are kept in a central point in an area whilst the groups go out to try and round as many up as possible. The voidtreckers are encouraged to stick together as they don't know the area or threats very well.

Blue

The Blue team are to protect the scientists, both those collecting plants and other life samples and those with Orange rounding up Lindusi. Once they have the hang of the shield devices it's just a case of sticking close by, keeping both eyes open and being quick to activate shields whenever there is a threat.

There are plenty of threats, it's one thing this island has in abundance.

Comments

[happyends]

It's not as if Madoka didn't already know what it's like outside, but the sound of the rocks hitting the craft is still enough to make her scoot slightly closer towards him. She's trying to keep from touching him so she won't bother him while he's steering the craft, but just having slightly more proximity makes her feel a little less scared about the loud sounds.

But despite any jitters, she does glance at their surroundings with wide-eyed curiosity.

"Wah, it looks so different from here.."

[tinkerheart]

"I'm sure it does."

Fëanor has been up there enough times to plan the safest route with the best views. Just one or two circles around the base should be enough. The landscape might be hellish, definitely not his preferred type of scenery, but even he can't say it's not impressive.

The red sky, mountains spitting fire in the distance, and below people, tiny as ants from this height and as busy, rounding another batch of animals, unloading the cages and crates. Trying to save as much and as many inhabitants, human and beast alike, from this dying world as they can.

"Can you see where were you with your group recently?" he asks trying to keep his voice above the constant rattle but still not shouting.

[happyends]

"Yes, I think it was over there.."

She points with a finger against the glass, still looking at the scenery below. It had been pretty chaotic being down there on the ground, but somehow seeing it from up here makes everything look even more dangerous - like it's only possible to take in the full scope of how bad everything is becoming for this world from this height.

"But all the.. um, did they call them Lindusi..? Those are gone from there now. They managed to get all of them to safety."

[tinkerheart]

"They are." Fëanor knows how bad it is. He knew it even before he got to see it from the height. "Remember that they wouldn't be able to achieve this without the protection of your team."

The creatures, yes, but mostly the people. He spent many an hour waiting for both the orange and blue teams to come back. Relieved every time they arrived unharmed.

"So their safety is your achievemnt too."

[happyends]

That statement makes her tear her gaze away from the view to instead look at him. For a moment it almost looks like she's thinking about something, but then she just starts to slightly blush in bashfulness.

"A-Ah, well, it's mostly thanks to everyone else on the blue team..! They're all so amazing, like mister Ignis and Ple Two.."

[tinkerheart]

"I am quite certain that if I were to ask Ignis he wouldn't exactly agree with you."

He's the last person to be an authority on modesty but even he can spot when someone is going so overboard with it.

"You downplay your contribution too much. You'd hardly be wrangling lindusi anytime soon but that's for the better. There's no need for you to do it. There are others who can."

And there are other forces at play, gentler and for that easier to miss. Forces that neither care nor want the strength of one's arm or cunning of one's mind. For all they care is the content of one's heart. And heart, Madoka's heart, is mighty.

"But you are kind and kindness is a powerful force. Never underestimate it."

He was told that once, a long, long time ago. So long and so far away it seems as if it never happened. He dismissed it then as a childish sentiment. He was wrong.

[happyends]

"Oh.."

Madoka does at least agree that kindness is important. If she didn't think so, then she wouldn't try so hard to be kind to everyone all the time, after all. But it being powerful.. that's not really something she thought about before. Kindness never helped her save her friends back home, after all, so it didn't feel as important as strength or magical powers.

So even now that thought feels a little hard to accept. But on the other hand, it's Fëanor telling her so, and he seems like such a wise person. She wouldn't dare disagree with him. So despite seeming hesitant, Madoka slightly nods.

"I.. I'll try my best to be kind then. Even if that's all I might be able to do. Thank you for your own kind words."

land and wrap?

[tinkerheart]

It's not his own wisdom that he's espousing here. Not his specialty either. Yet, if there's something he knows, and knows all too well, is that swords are not an answer either. No amount of swords or spears, no mighty walls of the fortress he built, no magic he wove into the very substance of it, was ever enough to protect his father from being murdered by the Enemy and his people from being slaughtered.

Olórin would have said that you need a little of both. A good sword to protect you from the forces of Darkness is indispensable but kind must be the hand that guides that sword. Otherwise, it's too easy to fall into the darkness yourself.
But Fëanor is not Olórin but himself so the thing he comes up on his own is: girl needs a sword to feel better. And a shield. If ever he'll get another chance to actually make any she'll be getting one first.

He clearly doesn't know anything about little girls...

But he does know a thing about steering a craft in difficult conditions and it starts to look that their sightseeing window of relative calm is about to close. So he makes another circle around the base and then puts the vessel on the return course. The barrage of the smaller, and now some bigger rocks, on the hull intensifies. Fortunately, they are able to land without much hindrance.