Song of Sunrise

[The Legate]

Interceptor

It was 3 in the morning but space knew no time.

The planet of Void was ever-present in the windows and viewports of the I.S.V. Keplica, and had been for the past two years. The flagship of the U.S.E. navy hung over the planet like an axe. As well as it's frigates, which hugged the suffocating ball of mud like flies on shit. The large flagship, which had been responsible for the planet's scorching in the first place, served as the main headquarters for the Interceptors. It was meant to be temporary, but as months turned into years and the Voidants refused to die, the situation became more of a permanent one. Even though the time on earth was about 2 PM central currently, the concept of time for many of the people aboard the I.S.V. Keplica had simply fallen apart. After the years of being stationary, the schedule of shifts and duties had changed with haphazard care so that crew members were sleeping at 10 in the morning and waking up for their work at 11 at night. Most of them didn't care, it was all the same in orbit anyhow.

The I.S.V. Keplica had been stationed diligently around the planet, and aside from the few weeks of shore leave it had in the weeks after the scorching, it had been busy around the clock. There was almost something always going on in the massive destroyer. 3 times it had been orbital bombardment. 4 times it had been shortages. Once, it was mutiny. 2 times it had even seen battle: Once from when a ship had tried to leave Void, and another time when a ship had approached the planet without permission. On top of all this, Interceptors were of course being deployed and brought back 24/7. At first there were only a few Interceptors, but as more and more Voidants turned up, more and more Interceptors were needed to cover the whole of it. Now almost half of the crew itself was actually Interceptors. Most of which were either coming, going, or grabbing a few winks between.

It was 3 in the morning but space knew no time.

At this particular moment, a small cheerful ding-dong! in the intercom of the ship meant that an announcement was soon forthcoming. The crew didn't know what it was for but knew it was A.N.N.A. before her voice even came over the speakers: It was the silence, that's how they knew. When most people used the intercom, like the captain, there was almost always small background noises a few seconds before they spoke. Maybe talking in the room, objects being moved around, buttons being pressed, or even just the low hum of an empty room. However when A.N.N.A. used the intercom, there was never any sound in the background. Like her voice was coming out from nothing, or like it was from the ship itself.

"Captain Alexander Brodrick and Sargeant Ona Sumford; please make your way to the ship's briefing room. It is of complete urgence, thank you." was what the A.I. had said before the intercom cut, with no detail as to it's urgency. They would have to find out on their own.

-----------------------------

Voidant

The sun was setting over the horizon of Void, at least from the view atop of Breaker Hill. Not like anyone could see the orange hew of the sunset. The surface of the hill was barren, along with it's dilapidated streets and empty buildings. Most of Breaker Hill's residence had long since abandoned the sun and the sky. Instead, they remained under the earth, and inside what was once a massive shopping complex: A mall was what made the difference between life and death. Of course, it wasn't a mall anymore. Two years and hundreds of survivors after the scorching had made it into a massive and thriving community. Not by convenience, certainly, but by necessity and incredible circumstance.

It was hard, in those early days. The first to arrive looted the storefronts for supplies. People quickly became stir-crazy as they could no longer tell the passage of time in the sunless environment. More people came, and with them, mouths to feed. There was shortages of every sort, infighting, and in some few cases even murder. They tried to make sustainable solutions like underground farms and wells, but lacked the raw resources to do so. All things lead toward inevitable ruin, and it would have been their tomb... If it had not been for the Voidants.

No one could remember the first, as they seemed to come out from the woodwork. The first one arrived in Breaker Hill about a year and a half ago, looking for loot, but found the dying embryo of a community. She stayed for a small time, teaching the refugees there what she did and how she survived, before leaving a few days later back to the surface. No one there had even been up above ground, and that's when some of them decided to become Breaker Hill's own team of Voidants. They left, ignoring dangerous hazards and risking their lives to bring back the supplies they needed. Gradually more people came to Breaker Hill, and more Voidants were made. Nancy being of course it's most notable example.

Currently, he slowly roused from his sleep. He was inside an old bathtub in one of the abandoned store-fronts. A bathroom retailer of some kind, he supposed. He groggily got up, kicking the empty bottles of beer away from his makeshift bed as he stumbled outside. In front of him was the central plaza of the complex. A large clearing where various people ambled about, and several large makeshift stands sold various tools and items. All supplied for by Voidants like Nancy... Or, at least, Voidants that Nancy had been. Now he just used his reputation and wealth of supplies to live permanently within the complex.

As he stood there, starting to remember what exactly had prompted him to even get up out of his tub this morning, a familiar woman approached him. Her name was Jynn. One of Nancy's various "apprentices" who were desperate enough to take up being Voidants but not without seeking his advisement. Nancy did his best to keep her alive when she left Breaker Hill on runs, and she in turn offered to manage his personal affairs in the subterranean colony. Namingly; doing the thing that he was just starting to remember he ought to be doing.

"Nancy, people have been lookin' around for you since this morning... Where-" she began to say. Before she could finish her thought, Nancy whipped around, snapping his fingers and confidently pointing a finger gun at her.

"Drinking and crying a little bit in between. Do you want to do me a favor?"

"No."

"Thanks, I need you to gather those new Voidant gals that came into the settlement the other day. Bring them to me, if you could."

"Sure, but what am I supposed to tell them? I know it might shock you, Nancy, but not everyone actually wants to see you."

"Let them know that it's in their best interest. Either by wallet or good nature, whichever suits them more."

-----------------------------

@Quake @ze_kraken @Mandala @MrCalcium @Kuno @Mglo (Here's the starting post! Feel free to do your own intros and explore around a bit, whether it be on board the I.S.V. Keplica or Breaker Hill. You can also control NPCs like Jynn if you want to include them fetching your character in the intro.)

(Also, I know that your character @MrCalcium might not be in Breaker Hill at the moment so fee free to intro them outside of this context. I'm sure I'll get them into the RP anyway regardless :P)

 

[Quake]

Valerie "Raptor" Sorian
Voidant : Breaker Hill

Valerie grit her teeth in frustration. She had made it to Breaker Hill early that morning after leaving her own settlement late the previous night. It had been a rather uneventful trip that would have only taken an hour or so driving. However, vehicles made too much noise and attracted nosey Interlopers that wanted her head, so the young woman had decided to travel by foot instead. She had walked for some time, controlling and pacing her breathing in order to conserve as much oxygen as possible.

Having arrived at the station, Valerie dropped off some goods and began haggling with some of the traders, a feat more exhausting than her actual journey. Despite being in a breathable area, the woman kept her mask on, simply turning off the air from the oxygen tanks in order to have some for her next trip. There were few people that new Raptor was actually a woman, as her light armor and boots gave off a much larger size; the respirator in her mask naturally deepening her voice when she spoke. It wasn't a secret Valerie cared too much about, but she did notice how differently she was treated by the general public. She had done most of her business rather smoothly that morning, and was getting ready to leave when she noticed a deck of cards at one of the stalls. This was where the Voidant found herself four hours later, tied up in a heated bargain over a pack of cards.


"It's a pack of cards, old man. Look at them! The edges are even worn off! Surely twelve feet of rope is a fair bargain! Look!" Valerie held out the rope in front of the elders face for closer inspection. "No fraying. The threads are tight. This is strong rope. It's a good deal," she emphasized.

"No," the man argued. "These cards are worn, yes. But it is a full deck! Hearts, diamonds, spades, clubs! It even has both Jokers. I could easily find rope if I walked outside. You must offer more."

Valerie sighed, her voice echoing out as a deep growl. "Fine. Twelve feet of rope, and I'll give you 10 percent of my next haul since im feeling so damn generous."

"15 percent."

"10."

"12. These are good cards. Rare, even."

"11 and no rope."

The trader eyed her shrewdly. "Ah, alright you've got a deal.," he agreed finally, shaking her hand and turning over the deck of cards. "Just know I wouldn't agree to those lousy terms if it was anyone else, Raptor." Valerie grunted a response and swiped the cards from his hand, turning to leave.

"I'll be back in a couple weeks. I'm heading out a bit farther on this next trip." Having finished her dealings, the masked Voidant headed to a corner of the compound which was unbothered and sat down, closing her eyes to rest for a bit. It was then that she remembered that Breaker Hill was where the retired Voidant "Nancy" resided. Valerie had interacted with him only once or twice before, but she felt it would be rude to pass through without a greeting. Putting away her things, the Voidant rose to her feet and began to sift through the crowds towards the more populated areas. She was sure she'd most likely find him there.

 

[ze_kraken]

Alexander Brodrick - 03:00 Hours
Interceptor Quarters
​

Time was an artificial construct aboard spacecraft, more artificial than it was on Earth even accounting for a swath of new colonies. Though all ships tended to be kept to the same time standard of their port of launch - in this case, Earth, that very quickly lost meaning adrift in a black void with no day or night. Sure, the lights aboard the ISV Keplica shifted to denote day and night more readily to her crew, but that just meant that most grew accustomed to working in bright or dim light.

The Keplica was largely a command-and-control vessel with a large emphasis on crew quarters and support systems - with their opponent having no capacity for space travel, there was no need for heavy armaments - though the ship has been responsible for much of the devastation on the planet Void below, in the years since many of its weapon systems had been modified or kept inert save for the rarest of occasions. Alex laid awake now in one of those quarters alone, staring blankly at the ceiling above him as dim light from the paneling beside his head cast him and his bed in a hazy blue glow meant to resemble moonlight. He had just enjoyed a brief 10 second stint in one of the ship's showers, which in truth was more of a blast of pressurized hot water mixed in with soap. Now he lay, unable to sleep and too exhausted from his routine training to get up.

Just as Alex shut his eyes, the lighting panels beside his head rippled with neon-blue waves as the standard intercom tone played softly. Had any of Alex's fellow interceptors been in the room, perhaps it would have spared them the annoyance of being roused from sleep. Groaning, the captain shifted up into a sitting position, rubbing his eyes.

"Captain Alexandra Brodrick, I have you recorded as in your chambers based off of your schedule and biomonitoring. If this is correct, please confirm on your PAD."

Alex shifted over to the small console by his bed and entered in his authentication code, grumbling under his breath at the interruption. The screen faded into a pleasant, soft white and the waving lines shifted into a recognizable pattern - A.N.N.A. The pattern rotated and modulated as the machine spoke, almost as if to mimic the way a human's mouth moved.

"Good morning. Sorry to disturb you. Please report to the ship's briefing room, Captain Brodrick."

"Understood," Alex grunted.

He did not find attempts to make A.N.N.A. life-like welcome in the slightest. She always came off as a machine, no matter what form she took or how much she tried to pass off as otherwise.

Only, here I am calling it a 'her', Alex mused to himself as he roused himself from bed. He was dressed only in a white tank top and undergarments, which had to be rectified. He dragged himself to where his uniform hung in his meager wardrobe and donned it - standard battle dress uniform. A grey camouflaged jacket with markings of his rank that barely hung over his thighs followed by durable pants of the same material tucked into his magnetically-locking boots.

Giving his hair one comb over and crimping down a wrinkle on his uniform, Alex accepted this was likely as presentable as he was going to appear before exiting his quarters and heading through the tight, claustrophic corridors of the Keplica to the briefing room just opposite the main command bridge nestled deep in the heart of the ship - navigation and observation were conducted from the standard bridge above the main hull deck of the ship, but no sensible commanding officer dared leave the comparative safety of his ship's interior for command purposes.

Alex waved his ID badge at the guards posted on either side of the briefing room - an unnecessary gesture, but a formality nonetheless. Once inside, he stood at attention and faced his commanding officer.

"Captain Alexander Brodrick reporting for duty, sir!"

 

[MrCalcium]

Aidan Bretsnov

The sun was already coming back up as Aidan had lost all sense of time while working. She had spent the whole night working on trying to progress with her work on artificial plantlife. And finally, there was some progress. A lot of progress, actually. She had managed to construct a bacteria that would, hopefully, eat away at dust and debris. And finally it was time to test the bacteria out. She got into the upstairs remains of her old home, which was still just a mess with the windows and door entrance covered with planks. She got a flashlight and took out a small jar filled with bacteria. She found a dusty spot and set them free, and watched in awe as they began eating away at the dust.

In the span of five minutes, the bacteria had cleaned up a decent space of dust. Aidan's only reaction was a scream. A scream of happiness. Finally she had made some progress. She ran back downstairs and put some bacteria in a jar, taking another jar upstairs where she put some dust in. It was time to show some of the other Voidants what she had been working on. She also took a small bag of seeds for growing rice. She had modified the crop so it would not have a high chance of failing to even begin growing.

She put on a thick layer of clothing and put an oxygen tank at the side of her backpack. She put all her recourses in her backpack and strapped it onto her back, putting on a breathing mask and going upstairs. She moved the plank at the door and went outside, looking around to see if there were any threats. The threats would come either in the form of a deranged Voidant, some unknown creature or worst of these options, an interceptor. She hadn't had much interaction with any herself but she had seen them be ruthless with any Voidants they came across.

She made her way to Breaker Hill. the main hub of where Voidants gathered to trade, buy and sell their found goods. It was also the place she would be able to come across Nancy. She never cared much for people's pasts so she had no idea who he really was except for him being someone who was rather well known among a group of the Voidants. She finally got there, taking off her mask and looking around the place. She had some people that knew of her greet her and of course she greeted them back kindly, as she usually did. It wasn't often she showed herself around here unless it was something important.

She walked into the plaza, a large area where most of the stalls were set up for the market. She towered out above quite a few people and spotted Nancy, somewhat hastily walking over to him while she was already taking stuff out of her backpack. "NANCY! I GOT SOMEWHERE!" She finally managed to get over to him and panted as she stuck her hand up to Jynn, trying to catch her breath.

Once she was finally feeling better, she held up two jars. One filled with dust and the other with some kind of bacteria. She twisted them both open, holding the one with bacteria upside down over the dust one. What happened next would be somewhat shocking, as the bacteria began to eat their way through the dust. "I finally found a way to begin cleaning the dust. Of course this is... nothing. But it's a start. It shows my work is paying off. And it gives us hope. I also made this." She pulled out a bag of rice seeds, handing it to Nancy. "These are specially modified rice seeds. It's like normal rice but the plants won't die off as quick. And you better don't begin asking money for this or anything because this is for the people of this planet."

 

[The Legate]

Interceptors

There were two briefing rooms aboard the Keplica, and it's often said that one's for business and one was for bullshit. The former was the one that Broderick marched into. It was built for the NCOs of the Keplica. It had a large rectangular table that was made of wood on it's outskirts and glass at it's center, resting upon it was a small hologram that was currently imitating the planet of Void. Standing aside, leaning against the outer wall of the briefing room was the captain of the Keplica himself. A man named Orenn Cartus. He had been a hero and villain for many a story, depending on which side of the firing line you were on. On the front lines of the Iconoclastian Civil War and leading the charge at Shady Maw. After suffering a near mortal wound during the Void Revolutions, he was both promoted to the Keplica's captain and also decided to settle down into the rank, riding out the easy and quiet post into his retirement. He had a somewhat stern disposition that looked like he couldn't decide whether to be stoic or to be strict. Not understanding one could be both.



Next to him was... Well... A.N.N.A. Or at least a projection of her in such a way that she could interact with the both of them. Unlike both Broderick and Orenn, the AI was lacking of the same militaristic demeanor. Mostly because she was technically still considered a civilian construction despite her current use. She, unlike the noble captain, looked Haggard and almost sleeplike. The work of trying to facilitate and guide hundreds of Interceptors at once, 24/7, wearing heavy on her complexion.



"... At ease." Orenn spoke, giving Broderick a curtsey nod. Despite always looking as if there was no humor in his life, now more than ever did his iron gaze resemble a serious disposition... So much so that it almost seemed... Worried.

"Did you see Peaches, on the way here?" A.N.N.A. asked, snapping out of her daze. "She's kind of my favorite."

Orenn gave her a side look, like one would when trying to figure out if they should ask. "... She's quiet, I like quiet ones." A.N.N.A. responded simply.

Voidant

Nancy was almost falling back asleep when a sudden voice waked him back up. He could tell it was for him because almost any time someone shouted in Breaker Hill, it was for him almost more than half of the time. It also helped that someone opened with his name, which was more than what half the people did when they wanted his attention. The rider ones at least. He picked his head up from the small marketplace counter he was sitting at and cranes his head over to the source. Staring directly at Aidan.

Nancy knew a lot of Voidants, Aidan being one, but he suspected not many others did. She always struck Nancy as a neurotic curiosity that would later likely bloom into a mad scientist of some kind. As far as he was concerned, in Neuroticism at least, they shared a commonality. Jynn, not knowing the woman, furrowed her eyebrows and opened her mouth to speak but a outstretched hand from Aidan silenced her as she caught her breath.

"... Wow." Was all Jynn could get out, speaking for Nancy and herself as well, before Aidan accosted Nancy with several items of import. At least, they were to her, it seemed. Nancy watched silently as she demonstrated the bacteria. Watching her pour little germy clumps into some dust and watching the dust dissipate in the jar. He noticed a few clumps spilled out of the jar and onto the floor, and quickly started to eat up the cobwebs and dust collected there. Can't wait to get yelled at for that he thought idly as he watched the bacteria colony slowly grow and spread out across the floor.

"That's... Great, Aidan." He said, doing his very best to faux interest, which wasn't very genuine. She handed Nancy a packet of seeds and explained that they were like normal rice plants except adverse to the unfortunate weakness of most normal plant growth; death. His first instinct was to instantly peddle it to someone who actually grew something, but Aidan was adamant that it was for the good of Breaker Hill and not himself.

"We'll put it to public use." He assured, shoving it into one of his pockets and smiling weakly as he did it. When the rice was away, he tried to direct Aidan's attention to more present matters:

"I got a favor to ask of you, Little Einstein. You wanna help me out with something?"

"It isn't illicit" Jynn cut in, anticipating the question.

 

[Kuno]

P E A C H E S

---

Time: 03:00 | Location: Keplica Recreation Hall

Idle minds killed productivity. In the vacuum of space, where day seeped into night and night flowed into day, an idle mind became all a person had left to dwell on. The routine on Void was grueling; it ate at the bones, the soul, the heart. Genocide was a lot more painful when there was no distracting from it. In the empty expanse of the cosmos, where madness dwelled in the silence, idle minds laid ground for chaos. Mutiny. It had driven a small few to suicide.

The Recreation Hall was one attempt to remedy that. To call it a "hall" was incorrect vernacular. The area had more open space than it did electronics and appliances. Limited funding and rushed construction kept one half of the room largely unusable. The other half was sparsely populated with a raised game platform, a vision board, a fighting ring, and scattered seating arranged by each device. One of the soldiers had placed a bucket of water in the corner six days ago and sarcastically written "Pool" on it. It was beginning to become a running joke; today two more had joined it with the same writing, complete with rubber ducks bobbing at the top. Inspectors couldn't be bothered to care, so long as their antics did not disturb the flow of operations.

You were lucky if you were the only one in the room. An hour before it'd just been Peaches and Akeena, a fellow seasoned Interceptor attached to another unit, throwing shots in the ring for as many rounds as they could muster. Now that a movie was playing on the vision board, the hall was packed once more. As the rowdiness grew, the two women had decided to call it quits and both exited the ring, Peaches going to the side to do final stretches, the other woman watching the remainder of whatever movie was playing. A soldier whistled as she began stretching her calf.

"Looking good, Peaches," he called out. Staring across the room, her eyes met with Akeena's.

Women were scarce among the Interceptors. It was nice to believe each soldier was indistinguishable from the next, but the truth was that the disparity only made it more apparent. Most long-time residents had more or less grown accustomed to their presence. It was the new batch of soldiers that kept her eyes searching even when there was nothing to find, her mind working in a filled room. The two women watched each other's backs when they could, though Peaches didn't worry much about Akeena. After thrashing one particularly bold greenling, hardly anyone bothered the stocky older woman.

Akeena raised an eyebrow. Trouble? Peaches shook her head, and the dark-skinned woman shrugged, turning back to the vision board. An action scene was playing. Peaches didn't have on the immersion screen to watch, but she could tell by the way the woman's chair shook with every viewed blow. Not everyone took to the immersion technology like Akeena had. Most preferred the wall-to-wall board by itself, without the fancy sensors and screen that placed you right in the heart of the action. Peaches in particular despised them. They mirrored too closely their simulated exercises; too much of that, and a poor sap couldn't tell the difference between reality and green screening. She welcomed distractions from their mundane, day to day life, but...not in that way. Not like that.

A bell tolled suddenly; an announcement was incoming. She cocked her head to the side as both she and her fellow officer Captain Brodrick were summoned to the ship's briefing room. It had been some time since she'd last seen the captain. While their dual summons could have meant any number of things, the cynist in her was skeptical of it involving anything other than a planetside mission. Again. She rose to her feet with a grunt, brushing the dust off her legs. Maybe it was a good thing she'd gotten in her training session already.

Peaches went to the closest wall PAD, her fingers moving to input her code. She would need a quick shower before going to the meeting. A.N.N.A.'s voice patched through at last, and the woman cut in tersely as the A. I. finished repeating its message.

"Sergeant Ona Sumford. Send confirmation that message has been heard."

A whirring noise sounded as A.N.N.A. processed its answer. Peaches grimaced as the seconds ticked by. As building requests and functions flooded the system, the A.I. seemed to perform slower and slower by the day. By the time the screen flashed blue to signal an incoming response, Peaches was headed towards the showers. She paused as the chirpy voice of A.N.N.A. returned.

"Understood. What is your estimated time of arrival?"

She slung a towel over her shoulder. "Five minutes."

Five minutes turned into ten as she was forced to wait for a shower stall. The halls of the Command Bridge became speckled with water as she sped towards the main briefing room, hair wet and slicked back in a sleek fashion. She couldn't afford another tag on her record; one was fine, but more than three landed you in hot water with the C.O. Peaches was already pushing two for previous tardies. Her badge came out automatically for the guards posted at the door, and she marched past.

The doors slid open. She noticed the large form of Alex immediately, but stopped short of saying something. Command Control hadn't called them in for chit-chat, and she knew how Alex felt about protocol. They'd have time to talk later. Eyeing the others in a keen manner, her hand came up into a salute.

"Commander." A pause. "Captain Brodrick."

 

[The Legate]

Interceptor

Captain Cartus gave Peaches a side look as she entered. He didn't show it but there was a slight displeasement at her late arrival. Frankly and normally he wouldn't care at all for her tardy nature, but he hated speaking once more: "At ease" he instructed once again. It was more of a formality anyway since he had no doubt Peaches would take ease regardless but he still didn't like repeating himself twice, one after another. He always felt dumber for doing it. She had good sense enough to not make a big show of it at least. It was more than he could say for other interceptors he had the thin pleasure of working with.

"Now that you're both here, we can begin by covering what has happened and where you two are going to be moving next." He said, nodding to the two of them and then moving towards the hologram as Void slowly spun at the center of the large table, it's holographic form suspended in mid air. He waited consciously for a second, and when nothing happened, he cleared his throat and looked back at her: "... Anna." he just said, shortly.

"Hm?" She quickly replied, picking her head up from what was seemingly a daze. She seemed especially out of it today... Lord only knows how many Interceptors were currently fighting, dying and struggling on Void. All of which demanded her attention. After a second of pause she read the room and then suddenly nodded her head in understanding: "Oh! Right, right, apologies captain..." She said. Clearing her throat awkwardly before the hologram on the table suddenly shifted. The planet dissipating and being replaced with a topographic map laid out on the table. Somewhere on it's southern most edge was Breaker Hill. A Voidant stronghold they were likely familiar with.

"A little over an hour ago, one of our forward scouts stumbled upon something of interest. You might have noticed that neither of you have been handed a file when you walked in. This is for many reasons. Both for the nature of your target, which I will explain in a moment. However it is also because your operation today is strictly off the books. The details will not extend past the eardrums in this room... And, I guess, whatever the hell A.N.N.A. uses to hear."

The captain took a moment to clear his throat before continuing. He then pointed with his hand as if to touch the map, and a small red pin fell on the blue map just barely to the north east of Breaker Hill. Still within the abandoned city it was resting in, atop of the city's bank. "It was a small den, belonging to a particular Void inhabitant called Tarah Alyon. This is the reason why there is no file: There is no Tarah Alyon. Or, at least, absolutely no records that we have of a Tarah Alyon. It is unclear at this time why this is. It could be an alias of some kind or perhaps someone unaffiliated with Void."

"Either way..." He continued, and as he did, several pictures of helmet footage lifted up above the map. They mostly all seemed to be inside of a lived-in bank vault. A massive map on one wall, decorated and covered with pins and sticky notes. Various lock-boxes on the inside had been broken into and opened. With various items and gadgets lying around, as well as a cot and chair. "This 'Tara Alyon' has been very busy. She seems to have located, somewhere close to her, a weapons system of some kind than poses incredible threat to Keplica."

"To review: During the scorching of Void, the orbital weapon systems of the planet were unable to retaliate. As Void lost the oxygen in it's atmosphere, it was unable to fire many of it's weapons against us as the missiles required oxygen. However Tara has become convinced one way or another that this weapon is special in that it is except from these normal conditions."

"Your job... Is to meet up with out scout in the field and track down Tara Alyon. Be aware your orders, yet, are not to KILL Tara but to trail her to wherever her little super weapon is. Then we'll decide just how much we should be concerned."

"Are there any further questions, so far?"

----------

The bank vault itself was far from tidy, but it had been secure, surely. Say what you will about the Voidants but they were not idiots. The vault closed at 8 and opened up at 8 again in the morning. Keeping her perfectly and completely safe during the nights as well as hidden. It's oxygen had been vented every morning however. Normally it would have been of incredibly inconvenience, wasting such a precious resource, if an intricate machine of her construct did not recollect the air as it vented into the hallway outside the vault.

It was her machine that had ended up being the downfall of her refuge. The machine's contraption activated when the vault door opened, but since it was the only other system that interacted with the door, Steve (with some help from A.N.N.A. at times) had been able to reverse engineer the system to open the door instead of sense when it had opened. Thus the crypt had been opened.

"She's gone" A.N.N.A had announced, even though Steve could see for himself.

A few hours later, after reporting what he had needed to, Steve found himself back in his small observational post atop the tower of a small church. Waiting for backup, despite perhaps his protestations, against other Interceptors interjecting into his operations. They told him it was without his choice. As he looked out from his small hidey hole upon the entrance to Breaker Hill, way down the street where they could not see him, he felt a small voice suddenly pick up in his ear.

"They're being briefed now..." said A.N.N.A, and after a small pause: "They're coming to you. If I had to bet though, Breaker Hill might send out some Voidants to beat you to her."

 

[Agent_Puncake]

"Hmm." Steve grumbled and kept looking out the small hole in the wall. "Let 'em send all the Voidants they want. Free kills for me, amirite?" He patted his rifle, which currently sat on the ledge of a broken window, its bipod deployed. His other hand, though, idly played with one of his Snapshot holoprojectors.

He had wasted just about half of his supply of VMTs and Snapshots around the vault - no, wasted was not the right word. Deployed was. He had to have deployed about a dozen of VMTs in and around the vault - one under the bed in proximity mode, two next to the door in camera mode, one in the small hallway as a tripwire, and six or seven more scattered about the bank building, one for every potential entrance and exit to the vault - all of them cloaked. He even set up decoys; holograms of himself, almost lifelike save for the fact that it a) projected only the suit and not what was beneath it, and b) projected only what it was programmed to.

Steve held one such device in his hand. It was a small dodecahedron, with unremarkable white surfaces and thick, black edges. In it, however, housed thousands of lines of code, a similar amount of holographic files, a not-very-complex system that took all these thing on command and assembled them into one file to project, and a very complex deployment system.

Right now, at least four such holograms were deployed outside the bank. One hologram was perched on a roof, its "rifle" pointed convincingly at the bank entrance, and its figure unprofessionally hidden. The other three were deployed in a similar fashion on other nearby roofs, or set up next to broken or opened windows on the top floors. Each one would ping Steve if their projection was interrupted by anything of sufficient mass passing through the hologram - be it debris, bullets or something else - and, depending on its internal calculations, self-destruct, keep projecting, change images or simply deactivate.

"Yeah, well, given that we don't know where she is right now, we're either fucked big-time or being led on a wild goose chase. Unless the other Voidants don't know where she is either, in which case we still have the potential to be fucked." He let out a sign that was probably somewhat unnecessarily dramatic, stood, and began to walk downstairs. "ANNA, I'm going to -"

His wrist-mounted pad beeped. Steve glanced at it. "Great. Cool. ANNA, I'm going to check up on one of the projectors, I think some debris is preventing it from properly projecting. Notify me when those guys get here." He tapped his wrist pad a few more times, swiped once, and tapped again. The small device in his hand beeped, and the previously black edges glowed green. Steve tossed it at the ground next to the window.

The dodecahedron did not hit the ground; its internal stabilizers kept it afloat as the green light cast a soft, almost invisible green glow on the floor, nearby walls and even the ceiling. A few seconds later, the lights snapped to blue, and as sudden as the colour change, a suited figure appeared where he was sitting. The imitation "sat" on the stool, playing idly with its wristpad. As Steve stepped through it, the disrupted parts of the hologram vanished and reappeared, the edge discerned with a slight blue tint.

He grabbed his rifle and slung it over his shoulder. As the gun left its perched position, another replica of it appeared where it used to be. The imitation of Steve continued to tap away at its pad.

A minute later, Steve was clear of the building, cautiously making his way back to Breaker Hill.

 

[Quake]

Valerie "Raptor" Sorian
Voidant: Breaker Hill

Raptor made her way through the people, silently thinking to herself. It would be time to move soon. The most she could do was leave a greeting before she left. As the Voidant walked through the marketplace, her eyes were drawn to an old acquaintance of hers: Aiden. The two had always been friendly, but most of their interactions had been business related. As such, Valerie didn't know much about the young girl. Realizing that she was speaking with Nancy, the masked Voidant pushed through the plaza and approached them. Stepping up to the counter that the other Voidants were seated at, Raptor stood there silently, allowing them to finish their conversation before saying anything.

"Ms. Bretsnov. It's been awhile." The footsteps of Raptor's weighted boots announced her presence before she even spoke. Her natural speaking voice was warped by her mask, emitting a breathy, baritone echo that had confused many enemies and allies alike, making them believe she was a man. Even her closest fellow Voidant counterparts remained oblivious of her true self. Turning her head to see out of her good eye, Raptor nodded in recognition towards the Voidant she had been searching for. "Nancy. It's good to see you are well. I was passing through and figured I'd stop by for a brief moment before I move on. How have you been?"

@The Legate
@MrCalcium

 

[Kuno]

P E A C H E S

---

Time: 03:27 | Location: Keplica Command Bridge

An off-the-books mission. She should have known.

The small quirking of her brow throughout the Commander's discourse betrayed her inner thoughts. For one, she despised group recon assignments. Too many heads tended to bump together, and she felt strongly that it was best she did the locating, and she alone. Alex was a good soldier, but it was not his field of expertise. Or particular style.

And there was the issue of this other scout. Peaches' eyes drifted over the floating display, Breaker Hill pinpointed in bright contrast to Tarah Alyon's hideout sitting just north of it. Their assignment was very cut and dry. Too cut and dry, for it to be off-the-books. A potential super weapon hardly called for such discretion, but then again...

Questions. He wanted to know if they had questions. Her spine straightened as she came to parade rest.

"Yeah, I do" She drawled, slow as molasses dripping down bark. "Who's this scout of yours? Is he a...team player?"

 

[The Legate]

Voidants

During Nancy's conversation with Aiden, he heard- no, felt- the heavy footfalls of someone approaching. He figured this was it, those thugs were finally coming to collect on that bet he made a week or so ago. To his dismay it was someone much more intimidating. He turned his head slightly and did a double take as he watched Val approach him. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised. It was the woman he had asked for. She just gave him the chills every time she walked around. Like a sith from one of those ancient holo-tapes they have stocked up in the destroyed library of the facility. He avoided making the obvious "Darth Val" joke.

"Ah, right, I've been... Right..." He said, doing a bad job of hiding his slightly flustered disposition. He cleared his throat before going on, and turned to face her fully: "... I've actually hit a bit of a roadbump recently, a bit of a 'personal matter' that needs attending." He said and began to nervously wring his fingers.

"As you might know I used to be a teacher, before the war. I had quite a few students, all of them memorable... But only one of them dangerous. She was caught outside when the Scorching took to our planet. I have absolutely no idea how she even did it, but when the burning was done, she came stumbling into our school basement completely unharmed."

"She wasn't... right after that. She was an angry student, a bit of a hot head and a trouble maker, but something about that day broke her to an incredible extent. She would lay in her sleeping mat, but wouldn't sleep. We tried to feed her but she didn't take to anything. It took months of recovery before she began to speak, and when she did, it was not pretty. She lacked empathy, took to our stock of painkillers liberally, and lashed out against the other students. Sometimes even stepping into the boundries of violence, so that I would have to hold her back. She was psychotic, insane, to a substantial degree."

"When I became a Voidant, and we went to Breaker Hill, she was adamant that she wanted to become a Voidant like myself. I knew it was no use to try and stop her. By the time she even told me this, she had already gone on her first run. So I trained her as best I could but it wouldn't work. Her self-preservation was shot, you see, and she took every risk she could. During one of our runs with another one of my students, she took a risk too great, and attracted the attention of a whole squad of Interlopers... I thought for sure, all three of us were doomed."

"What happened next was horrifyingly remarkable. All that anger she held was released, like a whip that was 2 years long. I couldn't count how many gunshots I'd heard, how many explosions. It was a massacre, and in the dead of night, I could barely make out what was going on between the flashes of gunshots. I thought about fighting back but in a dark like that, I wasn't even sure who to shoot at. So in the end I hid. When the smoke cleared, 6 people were dead... I was alive... And so was she."

"It was a miracle; she wasn't even harmed. She was just out of ammunition. She told me to go back to Breaker Hill without her, and she would hold off the inevitable re-enforcements. Despite my complaints she explained neither of us would make it back if no one distracted the Interloper response. I told her that she needed to be the one to go back to Breaker Hill, that they needed to hear about what she did, that she was the hero they needed. She just scowled in a way that made me believe she never wanted that title and didn't have any intention of making it back alive. She told me if I didn't leave, she'd kill me herself. I frankly didn't doubt her."

"So I salvaged whatever I could, and I went... And she stayed. On my way back I heard more gunshots, and eventual silence. I assumed she was dead. When I returned, as the only survivor, people revered ME as the hero, and gave me the sole credit for what she had done. They wanted so badly to believe in hope for a brighter tomorrow, that they never questioned if I really was the hero of my own story."

There was a small pause as he thought about what he was implying. That perhaps he had built his reputation, the reputation then of almost all voidants, on a lie. That it was someone ELSE who held the trophy as the most revered of Voidants. He suddenly spoke very lowly.

"Before I go on... You must promise me, you cannot tell anyone of what I have just told you. If word gets out that I am not the hero people would take me as, that the glory belongs to some psychotic woman that was probably dead in some ditch, the hope and values we built Breaker Hill on would crumble. It would be a disaster for us all."

There was a small pause. Jynn blinked, wide eyed. Val could tell from the lack of color in her face that this was also the first time Jynn was hearing of this too. Nancy gave her a side look, she just nodded a little too emphatically.

 

[Quake]

Valerie "Raptor" Sorian
Voidant: Breaker Hill

Valerie stood in silence, arms crossed, listening to Nancy tell his story. Truthfully, it came as quite a shock to her. While she would never admit it, she had always respected the fellow Voidant for his leadership and decision making over the years. He was a legend in the business. And now Raptor was being told it was all based on a falsehood. As the masked Voidant listened to the rest of the man's story, she found herself clenching her jaw tightly in an irritation that grew into anger.

As Valerie listened to Nancy's story, she picked up on something immediately. I assumed she was dead. God-fucking damnit. She knew where this was going.

"This girl...She's not dead is she?" Valerie swore under her breathe. If everything Nancy was saying was true, she could see how big of an issue this could become.

"Damnit Nance. This ''lie'' of yours doesn't just put your reputation on the line! You're a worldwide face for Voidants! When the common people hear the word Voidant, its you they think of. If the truth gets out you're a sham, then by association so are the rest of us!" Raptor slammed his fist on the counter, driving a dent deep into its surface.

"Finish your damn story, Nance." Raptor's heavy breathing echoed through her mask. "You have my promise I won't speak of what you really are. But if you think i'm going to help you," she paused. "Well, you're both a fraud and a fool. Say what you have to say so I can get out of here." Valerie swung a free chair around the table and took a seat, glaring at the grizzled man in seething anger. This was the last thing she needed today.

 

[The Legate]

Interceptors

"No" Cartus said, crossing his arms. He knew Stevens operated better when he was alone and preferred it that way too. This wasn't something anyone could do alone though. Besides he wasn't going to lie to Peaches but that was because he really didn't need to. An order was an order, after all, and he trusted that she and Steven's could control themselves enough to play nice with others. He didn't extrapolate on it, but A.N.N.A. was quick to jump in:

"What he means is that this operation's importance supersedes normal operational standards..." She explained. As she did the hologram dissipated into nothing, leaving them in the empty room. Peaches wasn't the only one outside her comfort zone. A.N.N.A. herself had been instructed to put all other operational assistance on ice until this one in particular was completed. She wasn't told why this one took importance, and right now at any given second she could see dozens of Interceptors that were all needing her help. Her attention brought to focus however here on this task.

"Exactly, you're expected to operate with a satisfactory amount of teamwork if this is to succeed."

"Unless there's anything else... You can make your way to the hangers now, for your deployments."

-----

(Never took the opportunity to explain or describe Void's surface so gonna do it with Steve's post.)

The first thing one might notice about the surface of void might be the fact that, despite it's desolation and abandonment, there was not a hint of rust on anything. The signs, the cars, and even the ruined shells of subways and various terminals were damaged in other ways of course. Some were even melted by the extreme heats of the scorchings, forming heaps of smooth slag, but none of it was at all rusted of fraying at the edges. It was almost like it was a snapshot frozen in time.

In the silence of the street, Steve could see ash slowly gliding down through the air. Ever since the scorching, clouds of ash and dust carry ruined debris thousands of miles across the planet's surface. Depositing a thin film of snow like particulates across the ground. It was hard to believe that most of this stuff was the remains of living material. Trees, plants, animals... People...

There was a roll of thunder in the gray, smokey skies over Void. A.N.N.A. seemed to chirp in. "... You might wanna keep your distance, Steve... Breaker Hill is a pretty dangerous place if you aren't a Voidant..." She said, nervously. She wasn't wrong. Breaker Hill, which such a huge population, was built more like a fort than a bunker. Gates surrounded the perimeter of it's entrance. Although they didn't have the oxygen or resources to patrol it, he could see numerous and dozens of cameras that covered it's entrance and he had no doubt there was a checkpoint right behind it's makeshift barricaded entrance.


Voidant

"Now-..." Nancy said, nervously raising his hands as he could sense the anger shedding off of her. This wasn't unexpected of course. He had full knowledge the story would not be a pleaser, at least the first half. No one likes being told that someone was being revered as a false hero. However, it was the SECOND part he thought he could sell her on. "... Now, I know your mad... And, to answer your question, she IS alive. Though I don't think she'll be claiming the glory any time soon. Her sights are set somewhere else..."

"I found out she was alive a few days ago. It wasn't a coincidence either. She found something good, something worth a lifetime over, and I know she did because she killed a Voidant and came for me to help. I was out on patrol and she practically ambushed me out of nowhere, talking about some kinda weapon's system, a way to defeat the Interlopers. I knew it was better to not press her on it and she gave me no details... And I know she's a psychopath of some damn sort, but I know she wouldn't 'a done what she did unless she really thought it was important."

"I hid the body for her, but not before I rifled through his shit. Turns out she was right." He said, before reaching into his own bag and pulling out a shoddy map. It was faded and damaged, but clear enough to read. It was a park map that belonged to a national park in the north, and along one of it's mountain trails. A mountain named Mount Macithyne. At a certain point there was a marking on the trail with an X, and the numbers "1848" written in red next to it.

"Guy was planning to make a deal with the Interceptors. He was going to rat out and give them this location in exchange for a ticket off world. I dunno about you, but I don't think Interceptors would be so interested as to give someone a free ticket like that unless it was REAL important. Right?..."

 

[Agent_Puncake]

"Cameras..." Steve muttered.

He carefully counted the cameras from his vantage point. At least a dozen, plus more that he probably isn't seeing from this angle. Wonder what the response time is like?

He set the rifle down and pulled out the Snapshot. It was the one he'd grabbed earlier; debris had clogged multiple parts of it, and even after cleaning it as best as he could, it would require some serious repairs before it stopped glitching out. He linked it to his wristpad, and began to reprogram it.

=========================================================

A few minutes later, a small dodecahedron could be seen making its way towards Breaker Hill, concealed in shadows and occasionally darting behind cover. Once it barely got in range of the cameras, however, it stopped. Blue light shone briefly, and a figure appeared when there was only empty space and grey ash a second ago. It looked battered; a human in a worn and torn Interceptor suit, its face hidden, wounded and broken. The hologram shambled up towards the entrance.

"Help!" The voice was synthesized, but just enough so most people would mistake it for the helmet filtering the voice - and to those inside Breaker Hill, it probably won't make a difference anyway. The figure continued up the hill, pausing now and then, and finally coming to a stop some distance away.

Inside the hologram, a tiny red light switched on.