Day 7: Screw your courage to the sticking place: Start

[voidtreckermods]

For those who have been on the train a little while they will be expecting this, the beginning of a new month, after certain passengers have strange dreams. Early in the morning of day seven of the month of Egret their SCA's glow the colour of the void and a holographic message appears. Their next mission. Another world to save.

Preperation

Those that go to the dressing room will find flight suits and helmets, one per passenger. Those who are not human shaped will find ones adapted for them, some of them quite odd. The flight suits are tight fitting and light, but once they put them on they will feel quite warm. Each is the colour of the Voidtreckers team and have a black train symbol on the chest, the helmets have clear fronts and coloured backs.

They have an hour or so to prepare for their mission. Time to make sure everyone understands what a space ship is, at least. Hopefully.

Arrival

"We are now approaching System #7212108." Finally it is time. "Warning: Exit from void in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." A jolt, a flash of light and suddenly the colours are gone, out of the windows they will see they are in a large hanger.

And outside of the train there are five scaled humanoids with guns pointing directly at the train. Those that try the doors find they do not open.

"What void transport is this?" One of the creatures demands. "We didn't request void help, explain yourselves."

Another speaks. From where they are stood near the engine. "Voidtrecker Express."

Even though the voidtreckers are unfamiliar with these people the surprise is clear in the creatures eyes.

"Stand down." They snap at the others, who lower their weapons and step back.

The commander looks worried. "Give them anything they need." They turn to hurry out of the hanger.

The doors open, allowing the Voidtreckers off the train.

One of the remaining guards steps forwards.

"I am Hitrinto, I apologise, we were not expecting you." They look worried as well. "We have everything under control but if you are here..."

At that moment there is a clatter of noise over the radio.

"There are reports coming in of a second wormhole in the system." A second voice spoke almost immediately. "Shield Station Two has been hit. I repeat Shield Station two is taking heavy fire." A third soon after. "More enemies ships sighted, reports of a second wormhole confirmed."

Hitrinto looked at the Voidtreckers grimly. "Come with me."

If the Voidtreckers indeed follow them they will find an array of ships. Hitrinto quickly explains the basics, two person ships are easier to pilot. The controls can be shared or can be set so one person drives whilst the other concentrates on fighting. They have solo ships but they are difficult to pilot and they will only give them to those who have ship fighting experience.

Another guard hands out blasters and will give quick lessons to anyone who is unsure on how they work. For all that they were surprised they guards seem to accept the presence of the Voidtreckers and work quickly to get them armed and ready for battle. Choose ships, have a quick practice of weapons and get ready to go!

Onward!

Blue team are already where they need to be, they can begin to explore the station, get the lay of the land and figure out a plan of helping guard this place.

Everyone else is off, purple and red are off to the second wormhole, orange to the shield station that needs help! Board your ships and set off to help!

(OOC: Team posts detailing the next part of each mission will go up on the 15th March)

Comments

[so_dark_a_road]

He laughs a little. "True. It might be a problem for us if the residents here had ten fingers on each hand and no thumbs, and had designed their controls accordingly! Not to mention their weapons."

"Yes, I'm sticking with Orange on this mission. I'm trying to split my time between maintenance and defense, though. Apparently our team has both responsibilities on this station. And yourself?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita snorts at the mental image that produces. "Yeah, definitely a problem there."

There's a pause before she answers Curufin's own question, though.

"I want a better look at those wormholes. I was thinking, if we could turn them off..."

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin is likewise grinning at the mental image of the trouble mismatched hands could produce for the tech-using Void Warriors.

"Yes, I'd like a look as well! But how do you turn off a wormhole?" He knows what a wormhole is, but he's not knowledgeable about how space-going civilizations actually make use of them.

[unfavorableinstigation]

"Hitrinto mentioned that the wormholes are a form of technology themselves," Nita explains.

"Rather than a natural phenomenon. So, if they can be controlled, set to one set of coordinates or another, then hijacking them is an option too. Or just telling them to turn themselves off to make a point."

[so_dark_a_road]

"Really? The wormholes around here are not natural? If so, I wonder how they were made?"

He gives a soft whistle. "Yes, it ought to be possible to hijack them, as you say. Any ideas as to how to do it?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita shakes her head. "Until I see what the hardware is up close - let alone the software, as it were - I couldn't say what the off switch would even look like!"

She's not telling this to Tony, naturally.

"But space is easier to connect to coordinate matches in other dimensions, not different spots in its own universe. There's leverage there, if there's need."

[so_dark_a_road]

"I'm really glad you're thinking about this. Such speculation could result in another way to defeat this Empire invasion. If we can get to the hardware, and maybe take a software expert with us to deal with that, we might have a chance of working with it."

He's thinking about it too, though his expertise is not in the realm of modern physics.

"That's really interesting, if it's actually easier to connect across dimensions than within them. Wormholes are fascinating objects!"

[unfavorableinstigation]

"My sister would love to get in on this if it goes that way," Nita admits.

"But for now, I think she'd be just as happy if we're not in each other's way all the time."

Dairine is certainly like that back home. Though, all the same, Nita wishes Kit was here.

She gives Curufin a wry smile. "You can say that for sure. Though if we run across a thinning of worldwalls on any of these worlds, that'd be more something to worry about than celebrate..."

[so_dark_a_road]

"Your sister is pretty smart," he agrees. "But then, so are you. And I like you both, but if you two aren't pleased to be in each other's company, then maybe it's best if you aren't, unless there's an urgent situation."

He smiles back at Nita. "When you say worldwalls, do you mean some bad effect that can potentially occur because of the use of wormholes to travel in space?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

"She's a lot more of a wanderer than I am, normally," Nita says.

"And it's not so much 'not pleased' as... she likes having her space? And I'm not her Keeper or anything."

And from Dairine's perspective, she had just come from a period of time where Nita had to find a way to not be exactly that.

"More like dimensional bleedthrough, which is more caused by population density than anything - both that effect and worldgates are symptoms of that, actually, though I'm not sure where these wormholes rank."

[so_dark_a_road]

"But you both are good at dealing with unforeseen situations, as far as I can tell. Still, people do like their own space. And younger siblings do tend to fend off older siblings in order to maintain their independence." He chuckles. "I can personally vouch for that, as I'm a younger brother."

He listens to Nita's exposition as regards the wormholes and the worlds. "Dimensional bleedthrough? You mean the dimensions can get punctured and parts of their substance can thereby bleed through into the next dimension? That sounds a little hazardous! But what is a worldgate? Is that anything like a wormhole?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita nods. "It's probably that. Glad someone else gets it."

... How many people on the train had siblings, anyway? Question for a better time, perhaps.

"A worldgate's a more controlled way of connecting two points in space-time. But there are technological instances of those as well, not just the ones that pop up naturally."

Nita makes... some sort of gesture out into the space below their feet. "So yeah, you could consider them similar. The question of the hour, though, is just how much similar."

[so_dark_a_road]

Good question, though! Maybe someone could post a survey on VoidTreckernet, sometime.

"Natural worldgates and technological worldgates? Hmmm. That makes sense to me." It did. He had discovered how to open such a gate himself, without technology, in the last world he had lived in before he thumbed a ride on the VoidTreckers Express.

"If wormholes and worldgates are actually similar, then would that give you some clue as to how to shut down a wormhole?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

Again, she nods.

"Be easiest if the power source is part of the wormhole's manifestation... but somehow I doubt it'll be that simple."

Why have the 'off' switch where enemies of the Empire could reach it, after all?

[so_dark_a_road]

"I can't imagine how such a phenomenon would be powered, let alone controlled. It must use some vast power source, and where would they put the controls?"

Indeed! An off-switch would most likely be hidden, or at least put in a guarded place.

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita pauses, a thought striking her- "It'd have to be something as large as a star - but there's a really high chance it'd just destabilize them if they get it wrong."

She freezes, that dream-vision-terror coming back to her. Fire, blossoming all over a world.

"Hopefully they're just using planet-bound nuclear materials. Or geothermal."

[so_dark_a_road]

"A star, yes! A star is an inferno of energy, and maybe it would be enough. Dangerous, though, if a civilization used their own star to provide the power. Yes, if they made a mistake, they could destroy their own sun. Or. . . just create havoc, because the power might flow in paths the scientists didn't anticipate."

He sees how she freezes at a disquieting thought. He has the same one, thinking of the dream-image of the wave of fiery energy swarming over the surface of a whole world.

"Do you think this nuclear energy would be enough to create such a vast thing as a wormhole? And if by geothermal, you mean that they'd use the molten core of their world to provide the energy, I wonder if even that would be enough?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

"Or other planets' suns," Nita points out faintly.

"I'd wager that this is far from the first world the Empire of Stars has... set its sights on."

She's hoping she's wrong. She's really hoping she's wrong.

"The fabric of space-time can be pretty weak, in some ways. Pulling two disparate pieces together - yeah, it can be done," she confirms, nodding.

"And maybe. Lower-powered, but still."

Part of her wants to look in her Manual, or have Bobo run the figures, but... she doesn't want to know, not really.

It's just that they might have to, and soon.

[so_dark_a_road]

"Yes, or if they used someone else's sun," he agrees. "Less risky for them, more risky for those whose sun has been hijacked. The Empire of Stars strikes me as being very acquisitive indeed!"

Curufin would rather be wrong, too.

"Strange, I never thought about how strong or weak the fabric of space-time might be. But then, I didn't have to wonder. It wasn't a problem I was concerned with, not even after I found I could open a pathway myself when I was in spirit form or sometimes even in living form. But these questions are paramount in a universe such as this one, on missions such as this one."

He shakes his head, smiling a little, meeting Nita's eyes. Not that he really thinks this is funny, but it is just like him to smile in the face of possible disaster.

Fortunately, they're wrong. XD Worried for nothing!

[unfavorableinstigation]

"It's one of those things where, if it goes wrong when you're in the middle of it, then it becomes your problem."

There's a reason there are wizards that specialize in dealing with the hyperstrings worldgates are hung on.

"But here, we've got more than just that to worry about. To start with, uh, what's this hatch supposed to hold?"

Nita gently taps a compartment in the ship.

We hope!

[so_dark_a_road]

"Amen to that!" he agrees, nodding his head emphatically. "And we're in the middle of it, although it hasn't gone wrong yet. And hopefully won't."

What a fascinating idea! Worldgates hung on hyperstrings. Someday Nita will have to tell that one to Curufin.

"True, we have much to worry about. Starting with how to fly this craft." He looks at the hatch. "Want to open it and find out?"

Re: We hope!

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita tentatively does just that... and a coil of rope falls out.

Laughing, both from stress and in genuine relief, she holds the rope and peeks into the back of the hatch. "Guess this is emergency supplies; don't see a tether in here!"

[so_dark_a_road]

"Rope!" he laughs. "Are they expecting us to go on a mountain-climbing expedition in space?" He peers into the hatch alongside her. "Emergency supplies, hmm? First aid kit and all?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita snickers just a little more, carefully reaching a hand in - and yup, that's exactly what it appears to be.

"Think this is if we need to tie ourselves to the fighter in a hurry. Or each other."

Or in case they catch anyone from the Empire!

After some more searching, she puts the rope back just as carefully as she'd opened it all up in the first place.

"Wonder if there's any open data ports?"

[so_dark_a_road]

He snickers along with her, as regards the possible uses of the rope. But not about the first aid kit, as that's no laughing matter.

"Open data ports? If there are, I wonder where they'd be?" This aspect of technology is not his thing, but NIta's curiosity sparks his.