A New Platform [Intro Post February]

[voidtreckermods]

On the Train

Three days after the Voidtreckers return to the void after their adventures on the biosphere world, they are awoken by a familiar announcement.

"Good morning passengers, it is day Sixteen of the month of Jelly. Points have been updated on the system."

They have indeed, and everyone can spend the morning shopping. Those who have been on the train for a while will also be expecting the second announcement that comes a few hours later.

"Shortly arriving into a designated void platform. Exit from void in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." A lurch and a jolt and the windows fill with the fog that means they are at a platform. The fog seems thicker than usual and as they step out onto the platform they will find it is cold, very cold. Icy fog sticks to their clothing, makes it hard to see very far; the atmosphere is dark and gloomy.

As usual the first to leave the train notice nothing as they walk silently, rucksacks on their backs, towards the barriers: Alexis Rhodes, Elfnein, Itsuki Myoudouin, Ken Ichijouji, MT, Neku Sakuraba, Nike Lemercier, Noctis Lucis Caelum, Rainbow Dash, Rei Saotome, Taichi Yagami, Tsubomi Hanasaki, Yuri Tsukikage and Zechs Merquise all pass through the platform, not looking back before they disappear through the barriers and into the fog beyond.

But on the platform itself there are new faces. Wearing hoodies in all four colours, in various states of confusion.

For New Passengers

At first all they can see is steam, billowing around them as they come to their senses. As their eyes adjust, they will see they are on a platform, glass and dark stone rising in sturdy arches around them. Behind them is a set of barriers, and in front of them is a single track extending both ways into thick fog.

They are standing, in clothes that are not their own and a style they might not even recognise. They are carrying a rucksack on their back. For a moment it seems to just be them, alone in the white haze; then the steam begins to fade and they realise they aren’t alone.

The platform is not large with sixteen figures scattered around, all facing the tracks, all dressed in cargo trousers and hoodies. To both the left and right, tracks disappear into the mist. Then there is a roaring sound and out of the fog arrives a train. Jet black with gold writing on the side. The Voidtrecker Express. There is a hiss as the doors slide open and out step a strange assortment of people. Some are human, some are less so. Most are wearing the same hoodie in one of the four colours, red, orange, blue and purple, though some are sporting different clothes in a variety of styles.

The Train

After a short time, the doors hiss open again. Those from the train may encourage those on the platform to board. It’s not like there's anywhere else to go and even if there was, you feel a pull. A need to board, a feeling that staying on the platform would lead to something terrible. If that is not enough, there are plenty of people on the platform now, to encourage them onto the train.

Each ICP shows the same message and next to the screens there are stacks of leaflets written by those on the train, with further information (see
'Publications'). The store rooms have been restocked with fresh ingredients, including several crates of avocados, the ingredient of the month of Jelly, as well as all sundries.

For passengers that have bought items, these are also scattered around the luggage carriage in various suitcases and bags.

New passengers will find their ticket allows them into their cabins. They may need to negotiate for beds, especially if they want a top bunk!

Room is tight but there are storage cubbies at the head of each bed, beds fold up and the bottom bunks double as benches for the small table. There is storage under those benches full of spare blankets and pillows.

Departure

A second horn sounds to encourage any stragglers braving the freezing fog, and the doors slide shut. Veteran passengers know what will happen next, but they may wish to brief their new companions.

The train sets off, the fog obscuring the view again as it picks up speed.

"Welcome aboard, passengers of the Voidtrecker Express." A female-coded artificial sounding voice echoes throughout the train. "Please take the time to read the passenger information displayed on the Information and Communication points and familiarise yourself with the layout and emergency exits."

The train begins to tilt, leaving the ground and rising up into the fog-filled sky.

"Entrance into Voidspace imminent. New passengers are advised to remain seated. Entry into Voidspace in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."

A shudder, a jolt, a lurch to the left. A flash of light, colourful and blinding. As quick as it happens it is done. The train seems to steady itself. The fog from the windows is gone now, replaced with a kaleidoscope of ever-changing colours.

Welcome to the Void!

Comments

[yondu]

He looks up at Soldat with tired red eyes. Then at whatever food he just put out. The way humans look at alien foods in movies? That's how Yondu eyes that pan. A pure, potent, 'the hell is that?' expression. But contrary to most of those movies, he'd absolutely try it because beggars bide their time and make do until they're choosers.

"I reckon I could get used to it. Just wanted somethin' warm."

But does he wanna sit here and force this down if it's this bitter? He doesn't know how strong he made it, he just wanted something to drink. "Alright. I'll bite. What you got that makes this taste decent?"

[worthallthis]

Eggs with stuff mixed in them, mostly (bacon, ham, lots of cheese, some tomato and the ever-present avocado). There isn't even any pastry crust, because Soldat is not confident in their pastry-making skills, since they have not actually ever successfully made it before.

"Milk, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, caramel," Soldat lists off. "Let me get you some, yeah? The food will help, too." It's definitely warm.

[yondu]

"I don't know nothin' about Terran food. What sorta animal does the milk come from?"

He really is lost here. He knows what sugar is, they've got a little bit of that everywhere in some version. But cocoa powder? Vanilla? How many things you gotta put in one drink for it to taste decent on Terra? He figured soda was strange enough.

(Quill got him to try some once. Not bad? Probably made him burp the biggest damn belch of his life. But why drink something that bubbled up that much on the regular if it didn't even get you drunk?)

He's noted that this guy's missing an arm. He's not going to pry, people are entitled their scars. It just feels better knowing some people aren't in pristine condition. A little more homey seein' people that life beat the hell out of.

[worthallthis]

"A cow. But if you aren't familiar with. Terran food? You probably won't know what that is." Clearly he's an alien. Soldat's met enough of those not to get too fanboy about it, these days, thankfully. "Hold on a sec." They hold up a hand to wait, and disappear back into the kitchen car.

They're back a moment later with a tray: sugar in a small shaker, milk in a small pitcher, a tin of cocoa powder, and even a tiny bottle of vanilla. "Here. Most people do sugar or milk, or both. Sugar makes it sweeter and cuts the bitter. Milk makes it creamier, mutes the bitter. Cocoa compliments the bitter."

[yondu]

'Cow' translates into something he can understand, just not with the right image in his head 'cause he's not all that familiar with Terran wildlife. He oughta be after looking around cornfield country for Quill, but he never thought to stop and ask the animals for their names.

"Alright. Guess I'll figure it out." Sugar first 'cause that's the one he knows.

"This train looks like it's in good shape. This outfit pretty new? 'Cause all this is way more high grade than any other mess I got dragged into."

[worthallthis]

Soldat shakes their head a little. "I've only been here two weeks, but. From what I've learned. The train is not really a thing. It's a being. So it probably maintains itself to some extent. We help clean it, though."

[yondu]

"Being.... Well I knew an asshole that was a planet so I reckon it ain't that weird."

No, Yondu. It's pretty weird. But it makes that explanation believable.

[worthallthis]

"A whole planet. Damn." That's a little weird, Yondu, but Soldat is also willing to accept it. They fought star-killing eldritch monsters and they're technically dead, they'll accept a lot of things. "How do you deal with someone who's an asshole who's also the size of a planet."

[yondu]

"Turns out you blow up the core of it. He was a Celestial. They can take a lotta forms. Like to think of themselves as 'gods'. So he had a man-form and a planet-form."

And if he thinks about it, it's been about seven hours since the guy finally died. It's still amazing it was doable. If he'd known? Hell... he might have not got away with it back in, but he might have tried to pull off that stunt a long time ago on his lonesome. As soon as he realized what type of thing he was.

"Nothin' left now."

[worthallthis]

(Good. Bombs are pretty great, pal, yeah.)

"Must've been a particularly bad brand of asshole, then," Soldat guesses. "If they needed blowing up."

[yondu]

"Yeah, big population destroyin' feelin' asshole. He was goin' around and philanderin' on planets, too, tryin' to make an heir. Turns out when he didn't like the youngin' he'd just kill 'em, toss 'em in a cave. One ended up about as strong as him, though. His 'heir' ended up the only person that could do somethin' about it."

He doesn't know if Quill still has a shred of that power. Probably doesn't matter. He was fine with being a bargain brand Terran. Yondu taught him how to be formidable and wily with that much.

[worthallthis]

Wow, that's a bigger asshole than they'd imagined. "Definitely deserved to be blown up, Christ." (There sure are a lot of people who dealt with universe-ending shit out there. Maybe that's specifically who the train is picking up. Well, there was a lot in Beacon, too. True.)

"That's the kind of thing we do here," Soldat adds. "Not blow up planets, exactly. Not that I've heard about, anyway. But deal with problems. Stop trouble that threatens people."

[yondu]

"That's what they've been tellin' me."

And he can't just bring himself to buy it. There's gotta be stipulations. The people they're saving just the ones allied with the train's maker? They're slowly settin' something up?

Who knows. Yondu's just never known a truly decent person in his life. Or at least no one he's bothered to get to know has turned out for the best. "Guess it could be worse. Heard from someone blue team's been havin' to deal with animals an' I don't know nothin about 'em except to avoid the dangerous ones."

[worthallthis]

Soldat, on the other hand, is just happy to have a mission now and then. They're not exactly comfortable with authority, but a sentient train is somehow a lot less scary than a regular human with an agenda.

"I heard about the last one having animals in it, yeah," they agree. "You don't have to stay on your team, though, for missions. I'm on purple team." They pluck at their purple hoodie with a wry little smile. "But I've been mostly helping out red team so far."

[yondu]

"They sure as shit are playin' it real fast and loose with this whole team thing. I probably woulda set up some structure." He waves dismissively with his hand, though.

It really seems, from the sound of it, that they're just handing someone's backend stuff? But he can't even tell so far.

"I reckon I'll cross that bridge when I get there. How rough have the missions been?"

[worthallthis]

"I've only been on one, but." They shake their head. "Wasn't that bad. Four routes through a space city in construction. It was malfunctioning. Some kind of virus in the system we had to defeat and clean out. Actually defeat. People went into the system and fought it." Or so they've been told. They couldn't make themselves actually go in, themselves, too afraid of having their brain fucked with.

[yondu]

That sounds pretty doable. Honestly even the battle heavy stuff he's heard about is a hell of a lot less than the Kree ever asked of him. Now, he's not grateful for this mess, not by a long shot. Even if he didn't want to die, and even if it's low tier servitude. But he will acknowledge it's not going to be any skin off his nose and it's not like he has anything better to do anymore.

"I've been on a whole lotta outposts in my time, that sounds easy enough. I probably would have let someone else go into the system if it was me, though."

He taps his fin. His is more of a hardware concern than any great desire to preserve his mental health.

[worthallthis]

"I didn't. Had a lot of people mess with my head before," they admit. "Didn't want something else messing with it, now. There was protection for people's bodies, outside, anyway. So I wasn't useless out there. The attacks weren't even that hard to fend off. The attackers weren't exactly programmed with tactics."

[yondu]

He doesn't say that he's not sure their heads aren't being messed with right now. Seems like it's somethin' they'd already got tickling around in the back of their brain, and if they don't got it then likely they don't need it there.

"Almost sounds like a vacation compared to what I'm used to."

[worthallthis]

The thought has crossed their mind, but they're not capable of living with that level of paranoia 24/7. There's enough anxiety buried under their calm demeanor without adding that on top of everything else.

Besides, they've had so many varying experiences with having their head messed with, it's likely they'd notice after two whole weeks.

"Yeah, it's better than what I'm used to, too," they agree, and lean over to steal a bite of the quiche, themselves, on the tip of a bone-bladed knife they produced from a hidden sheath. "Where are you from, sir?"

[yondu]

"Mean what planet I was born on?" He eyes the knife. It's interesting, but he doesn't ask about it. He might later though, it's a good make.

He guesses that it wouldn't hurt to try the quiche. He goes to grab a plate and a spoon. Maybe not the perfect choice of silverware, but spoons work on almost anything.

"Centauri. But I was real little when I left, so I barely remember. Mostly kept up 'cause there were other Centaurians owned by the same fleet. Been world-hopping for most of my life, especially after I got sprung."

He can't even say he's with the Ravagers anymore. His whole clan's dead, Stakar didn't want him anyway, so he'll leave that bit out. "What's this called again?" He sits down with the plate.

[worthallthis]

"It's called quiche. Weird name, I know. It's from one of the languages on Earth."

Soldat has lost any knowledge of stars they had before being turned into what they are now, so they can't even connect Centauri with the star system named that from Earth, so they can only nod a little to the name. "You were owned," is what they pluck out of that, instead, said soberly and without much surprise.

[yondu]

"Quiche? Alright, then."

He scoops some out, glancing up at Soldat, before settling in to eat.

"Yeah. My parents sold me off to the Kree. I was a lot younger than some of the kids on this train, but that doesn't mean I like it much better.

"Speaking of which if you hear about any Kree comin' onto this train I'd be much obliged if you warn me, I'd like to keep my distance."

[worthallthis]

Soldat nods, expressionless. "I will. Though if'd rather I can just stab them for you." They have very pointed feelings on people who would try to own others. "It won't stick, not here. But might make a point, at least."

[yondu]

"Unless that arm's got a lotta tricks? You'd probably have a rough time of it. I hate sayin' it. I've been bustin' up Kree settlements for years. But they're strong. Stronger than most races. The only way we stood a chance in their fleets was when they carved us up or jammed us full of some gene therapy or whatever the hell else they did."

Test runs to make their own improvements, he always suspected.

"Don't stab one unless you'd be 100% sure that shit took. You wouldn't want 'em comin' back."

Though he grimly adds. "But uh... thanks though. I only had one other person offer somethin' like that for me, the guy that loosed me."