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the outer gate
"Open up, and let them in."
The Moira is no more.
With the damage done to the ship due to the timeslip, all that remains is a burning wreckage and parts to be taken—if the crew can find anything in the pieces. Recovery and headcounts are the main objective for the first several hours of being planetside, and once things have settled just enough, Captain Ira calls for a meeting and addresses those who are able in person to explain the situation. He draws a rough map of the area and explains where he believes they are - according to the terrain - and where they must go. For anyone who’s listening, he describes things like an “Outer Gate”, an “Inner Gate” and “gate sectors”. Believing this to be the best course of action, all crew are asked to explore and gather what they think they’ll need to make the long journey towards the central point of the Hub. Because the MIDs are no longer working due to the lack of a network, the Captains distribute a newer tech called the TAB. It serves the same functions as the MID but is lighter, slimmer, and has the ability to stick to any surface.
WELCOME TO THE MIDWAY HUB
Now that the smoke from the crash has cleared, and injured crew have been tended to, the Captains get everyone ready for departure by explaining what they know of the Hub. Almost stone-like, the creators built a domed workspace in the largest solid space on the planet they could find. Gates are the only way inside, and anyone who catches a glimpse of the compound will see that parts of the dome are cracked. Yet, everything still appears to be relatively intact. The Midway Hub’s terrain is very rocky and difficult to walk on at times. Below the surface is a honeycomb of intermittently dense and brittle stone that makes travel difficult due to the unpredictable nature of what lies beneath the crew’s feet. Those who can develop the tech from what’s left of the debris might be able to create something to determine which route is the safest. Ships and small crafts can be used to fly, but landing is a problem—rocks jut up in sharp peaks and the clearer spots can't handle their weight. Vegetation is sparse, consisting of twisted dark gray thistles that have sprung up from cracks in the rock and burn when in direct contact with skin, and what could be considered small animals here can be seen scurrying away the closer crew get to them.
☄ WEEK ONE
Crew are asked to hook cryo beds together and to use any appropriate vehicles that can be made or fashioned to fit the terrain to carry injured crew on the journey to the center of the Hub. Supplies are gathered, and the Captains, as well as any crew who want to, give the Moira a proper sendoff, heads bowed as they say goodbye to what’s been their home. Traveling starts out slowly, a line of a hundred-plus crew members making their way slowly forward. Stops are frequent, but camping for rest only occurs at night. Crew are assigned watch shifts, fires are built, injured tended to, and those who are able are asked to explore nearby caves and hunt for food.
Something akin to deer, though striped and only to be found in pairs, can be stumbled across at night. Throngs of dark purple mammels begin to follow the Moirans on their trip as well. They are friendly, curious, and eat the thistle. Meet the intelligent, watchful predators that aren’t easily scared away and follow the crew from a distance as if waiting to pounce. The thistle can be eaten, but only if cooked first, and those who sample the chewy plant raw will experience a burning sensation in their throat that doesn’t go away until the cooked version is consumed. During the first week, water can’t be found.
Anyone who does hunt, gather, or explore should make sure to that their TABS are on and it’s suggested that nobody goes alone.
Nearing the end of the first week, an Ingress can be spotted close by that crew can explore. If anyone dares to go inside, they will find the texture of the ground and surrounding walls to be rather soft. If inspected closely, crew will discover that what they originally thought to be rock is actually a living organism that’s fed off the energy of the Ingress it’s attached itself to. It’s not harmful and squishy to the touch. If pressed hard enough, it secretes a turquoise liquid with the consistency of water that might make a good substitute for that very thing. ☄ WEEK TWO
When crew finally pass through the sector gates, a strange sensation encompasses them, and a depowering of sorts goes into effect. The creators put in security measures meant to put all visitors on equal footing as well as to protect themselves from harm. All crew will essentially have the strength and abilities of the average human. An unforeseen issue, this causes Captain Thán to slip into a coma as he is no longer able to continue to recover at a steady pace, and with the loss of the former Captain’s abilities, crew can no longer be brought back if they die. For the first time, all Moirans are subject to permanent death.
During this week of travel, broken ingress machines and parts will be found scattered among the rocks, and new crew will come through. Unfortunately, these Ingresses aren’t in good shape, and anyone coming through will be in varying states of distress—some physical and some mental. New individuals will either have suffered an age slip, growing older or younger than their original body, some form of body transformation (perhaps that shiny thing they were wearing is now part of them somehow), or an extreme weakness they had never been subjected to before arriving on the Midway Hub. The new people will be offered to join their group, once found, and seasoned crew will be asked to explain to them where they are going and what they know.
The rest of the week will be a mix of greeting the new arrivals and continuing to travel to the center of the Hub. The closer they get, the less frequently they’ll see animals, and more caves will begin to pop up. ☄ WEEK THREE
Entering the third week of travel, settlements and houses begin to crop up and are prime areas for exploration and general supplies. Those who go inside may find items that have been left behind and evidence showing that those of varying species and cultures lived in the homes. Some appeared to have been scientists while others were explorers, but all living quarters are deserted. Crew who are less lucky in their search might come away with no fresh supplies, and others might walk into traps or safeguards left behind by previous tenants; these come in many forms, from mild paralysis to temporary unconsciousness. As there are more residences, there are also more caves. The entrances vary in size, and light sources will be needed to explore. Once inside, crew can find purple underwater streams, which can be consumed, and glowing surfaces. When crew drink the water, it temporarily restores powers, a few minutes tops, and then, extreme lethargy settles in for a couple of hours.
Further into the cave systems, crew will come across these lovely creatures that are attracted to sound and track through scent. They are highly dangerous and attack simply to feed. Killing them, though, is surprisingly simple as they are just as vulnerable and weak as everyone else. They are vicious in demeanor but only as strong as an average human.
The closer to the Inner Gate crew get, the less homes, wildlife, and more caves there will be. ☄ WEEK FOUR
The Captains, aware that the crew is exhausted, stop and make camp for the first few days. Someone mentions that it’s the holidays where they’re from, and the Captains do their best to throw a party. Set up at the base of a cave, tents are built and fires roar. Soft music is played in the form of guitar, thank you Ira, and Cúrre brings out some legumes that taste like cherries when roasted. There isn’t much in the way of decorations, but crew are encouraged to dig through their pac-discs and contribute to the festivities.
After a brief respite, crew learn that the entrances to Gate A and Gate B are inside one of the caves but any signs or markings have long since worn away or been destroyed. Groups are split, TABS are synced, and crew explore carefully until an entrance is found. Crew discover Gate A first, and all crew are contacted to gather there. The Captains will remain at the cave entrance until all crew are accounted for, and then, they’ll enter through the gate together.
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hohnkai) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thisavrou_log2016-12-02 06:54 pm
no subject
He hesitated at the question, but eventually he answered. "Officially, I was destroying Scud missles for the SAS. Unofficially? I was a sleeper agent for MI6. And then, well, turns out I was a bit more expendable than I thought." He sounds particularly bitter about this. "Plenty of torture later, and I was the Iraqis' shiny new recruit."
The fact that he'd even been brainwashed at all was a major source of embarrassment for him. Especially since he'd discovered he was still pretty susceptible to it.
"Don't worry. I made it out alive."
no subject
"Some people are just good at it. The only reason I learned to resist was constantly reminding myself that the world and people around me were terrible. But MI6 set you up when you were willing, made you vulnerable, and those that came later were well practiced in taking advantage of that."
He turned to pick up a box of what looked like toys. He tried to shake the concern of what that meant (there had been kids here) and rifled through until he found something with a crank that he could disassemble later. A little twist timer he could make.
"They weren't actually stronger than you."
Why the hell he was reassuring his murderer, it was anyone's guess. But that hardly mattered anywhere. So far they'd been decent allies (as far as allies go). Even fairly friendly. And sometimes Kaz still remembered what it was like being tortured by the Russians. They might have been able to get to him, except at the time he was in so much pain it seemed funny the'd even try. He had been able to tether himself to the here and now.
no subject
"I resisted as long as I could. I was trained for it. Did you know I was the youngest member of the SAS? Eighteen years old. They made such a big deal of it. So, I resisted. Not for the sake of anyone but myself. Not like I cared about anything else anymore. I think it took months for me to break. Sometimes it felt like years."
He sighed, shoving the second book into his backpack. "Been a long time since I really told anyone about all this. In this amount of detail anyway." It was weird, admitting this sort of thing to Miller, but they'd been in the same crew for quite some time now. Who else was he going to tell? His brother? Even if all of this was in the future, he knew the basic framework. "I know it wasn't because they were stronger than me. But. It's hard not to feel your mind's too weak to resist, you know? That others might... think less of you, no matter how you've bounced back."
Feelings he'd shared plenty with Mantis, who had been courteous enough to keep them to himself.
"If it had only been the torture, it wouldn't have been as bad. It's.... well, you like to think your mind's something you can keep under control, don't you?"
no subject
He thought sadly of Venom in that moment. How thoroughly someone could be brainwashed.
"I might have made peace with him, but I didn't forgive Big Boss for what he did to Venom. Well... what he allowed to continue." He straightened up completely, checking his TAB to see if there was anything else he needed to look for specifically.
"Do you wonder if you're still you, sometimes?" It was a hard question to ask of anyone. And he quietly resented that it was one made necessary to their lives.
no subject
Although it brought up a very good question. How would he know? Mantis could have told him, back then, but if anything were to happen now, well, he didn't have a psychic who was familiar enough with him to be able to tell.
"Back at that station, back then... it was sort of like the same thing, but hitting all at once instead of happening over time. It was... really hard to shake it off for a while."
He picked a cup up off a table, peering at it. "I once told Venom I wasn't like him, all those years ago. But maybe I was a bit more like him than I thought."
no subject
To the credit of the twins, they resisted this destiny. But Venom embraced it (or resigned himself to it). And even now, he's not sure he can save him from it.
Satisfied with his search, he turned away from what he was doing and looked at Eli directly. "I think we've cleaned this one out. Ready to move on to another place?"
no subject
"Of course, everyone always talked about him like he was amazing. A shame I always tried to kill the wrong person." Even though Venom was the one who took him from his home and everything. Maybe, in the long run, he was the better option.
Frowning slightly in thought, he glanced around the room for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, unless we want to poke around the dust some more. C'mon, Mantis." Liquid motioned for the dog to follow along, and since he was done with whatever he was chewing on, he got up and headed towards them, getting a few scratches behind the ears for his efforts. Who was a good doggie? This one.
"Let's find a place with better food."
no subject
He moved his bag of items over his shoulder, thinking briefly that Liquid had killed a lot of the wrong people. But it was better not to say that out loud; in a sad way, so had Solid.
"Did you ever hear much about a woman named Paz?"
no subject
Killing the wrong people always seemed to be a theme with these guys, unfortunately. Especially those who were, well, made for it. Crossing his arms, Liquid looked towards the next place over, then started heading in that direction.
"I feel like I recognize the name from somewhere, but I suppose not enough to really know a lot." He'd met her briefly while she was on the ship, actually, but never got her name.
no subject
"We found her journals after she left. Everything we did seemed so beneath her until she got involved. Then she decided she'd liked that real world. Maybe if we'd known how much she'd changed..."
He should have tried to talk to her before she hijacked Zeke.
"You weren't the only one to commandeer a metal gear on a base."
But that's beside the point. "After she was caught by them again, they put her through the unspeakable. The reason Venom has shrapnel in his body was that he threw himself into the path of a bomb that Cipher had planted inside of her. He took the blow for Big Boss. You might have been unhappy back then, you might have hated him, but I know he genuinely wanted to get you away from Cipher's influence. He'd been face to face with worst case scenario when Zero's people didn't get their way."
no subject
He's quiet for a while as he keeps an eye out for things, the dog following slowly behind.
"...Guess it's hard to think of it that way," he says, finally. "All I ever heard about it was I was just some kid, that I shouldn't have been out there, that I was supposed to just let adults come walk all over me. Maybe if someone had been a bit more forthcoming I would've directed my hate elsewhere. Maybe not. Who knows."
Doesn't matter, since that's all long in the past for him.
"At least I don't try to stab him these days, right?"
no subject
"I know that the Boss wouldn't have wanted what happened to you. If you take everything she went through, everything she saw, all that she hated about what the constant cycle of war did... she wouldn't have wanted it."
He saw what looked like a maintenance shed, and looked to Joy. She huffed a soft bark, meaning she smelled something dangerous over there (likely another trap) which meant there was probably something good, too. Wonderful how that usually worked out.
no subject
He paused, crouched down to scratch Mantis behind the ears. "Not like I knew here to know what she would or wouldn't have, but there's not much we could do about it anyway. For the longest time, it's all I knew. Bit hard to break from all that."
He raised an eyebrow, peering over at the shed. Nice. He seemed quite ready to head over. "Let's check it out." There could always be something cool in there. Weapons? Things that weren't weapons but could be used as weapons? A lawnmower?
no subject
Inside there were some tools, common and uncommon. With the regular wrench a laser level. With a measuring tape, a spanner with a strobe light. Fortunately in the middle of all those recognizable tools was a circular saw and replacement blades nearby safely contained in plastic cases.
Not a lawn mower. Not a weapon.
But it was something that could be improvised with.
no subject
As far as Liquid was concerned, any of this could be useful when necessary. After all, fixing stuff was just as good as breaking stuff, even if he was better with the latter.
But really, who couldn't use a wrench?
"Someone was particularly protective of their tools, hm?" He moved forward to carefully collect some of the tools. So far so good. "What do you think? Secret compartment?"
Press R1 to use your binoculars and scan the area.
"If nothing else, this might have been their last point of refuge. So provisions, generator materials, other useful items could be hidden around."
Miller started looking around at the door for any signs of forced entry. He saw none. Good sign, he hoped.
holds the f key
He pushes some containers out of the way, planning to inspect them later. Right now he's focused on getting through to the stuff that might be in back.
With all they've been dealing with, a prize would be nice.
"Well, if nothing else, we've hit quite the cache of materials. Could use a lot of this." Pushing aside some kind of gardening tool, he uncovers a box of cans. "How about mystery beans?"
It's probably beans.