[IC] Wind Riders: Heroes of the Etheric Sea

[chukklehed]

Location: Wind Riders HQ, The Flying Juggernaut Ambivalence
Mission time: 0 months, 0 days, 0 hours
Current Objective: Report for mission briefing

The Ambivalence, the Wind Riders' impregnable headquarters, and your home for the past few days while you were being tested as a hopeful applicant. Everything is sleek metal and holo-interfaces, bearing a stark contrast to the myriad of races and clothing styles belonging to the many Wind Riders traversing it's corridors. Now with your membership a sure thing, you've been called into briefing for your first ever mission. You were warned before hand that your first mission isn't going to be anything exciting, but that you should still consider it important. As the saying goes, "a mighty wall may be built of small stones."

Your briefing starts at an hour before midday, ship's time, and an hour before that your personal cabin is pinged by the Wind Riders' Semi Autonomous Distributed Intelligence (or S.A.D.I.) with a reminder, and the location of the room the briefing will be held in.

As you and the other members of your mission file into the room, Commander Wulfram, a woman you've met only a handful of times before, patiently waits at the front, near a projected starmap. As everyone takes their seats, the Commander begins her briefing.

"As new members of the Wind Riders, your first mission will serve as a kind of test, helping us determine where your strengths and weaknesses lie so that we may make full use of your talents. As such, you will be undertaking an extended patrol of Outskirt space, aiding newly formed colonies and sorting out the problems such places tend to have. You will be traveling together, as well as being accompanied by an offshoot of SADI. You should rely on your fellow Riders as well as your own skill." As she started going into the particulars of the patrol route, the star map moved to show each planet in order, detailing the specifics of each in turn.

At the end of the briefing, the Commander turned her gaze on each of you in turn, making sure she had your attention. "Above all, remember the Wind Rider's mission. Defend the weak, help the helpless, fight for the righteous. You carry more than your own honor now, be sure to keep that in mind."

With that, the Commander dismisses your group, reminding you to question SADI for any reminders or details about the mission.

[Hammerman]

When the ping for the meeting arrived, Tanya was still sleeping in her bunk. She had never been the best sleeper, always turning back and forth in her sleep with her mouth half-open. So it was no surprise when the reminder came, with the AI speaking, she rolled down her bed in an attempt to turn it off, thinking it was just a cheap, old-fashioned alarm clock.

"Urgh..."

She groaned as she finally woke up after falling face first to the floor. Yawning, she slowly got up to her feet.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Now could you please shut up?"

She was always in a bad mood every time she got woken up abruptly like this.

She then walked into the restroom and gave her face a good washing, not caring in the slightest that some of the water was splashing down her chest as well. Then, she unbuttoned and pulled down her shorts and panties before sitting down and taking a leak, letting out the most unladylike sigh out of her mouth.

She had abandoned her noble heritage completely. She wasn't some highborn lady anymore.

After finishing her business, she delayed going to the meeting room until the very end. Her excitement in taking her first mission had vanished completely, knowing that it wasn't going to be anything exciting. And she certainly wasn't going to pretend to be the ideal rider for a task she wasn't excited with.

Once the time came, she exited her room and went straight to the meeting, where she arrived last. Without saying a word, she took an open seat, crossed her legs, and waited until the commander began.

...

Yep, it was just a patrol mission, as expected. She yawned at the end of the briefing before going back to her room to prepare. Like the commander said, she would just ask the AI for more details on this terribly boring mission.

[Lasersquid112]

Patrick had been up since 0625 hours, shipboard time, and was doing calisthenics when the ping came.

"Copy that, SADI."

He finished up his set of calisthenics, then quickly changed into semiformal clothing, aiming for functionality and aesthetic in equal measure. Finally settling on something, a set of camouflaged, slightly-rugged-but-still-in-okay-shape pants, shirt, boots and gloves. He then clambered into his suit of power armour, making sure not to catch any of his clothing on something that could snag and rip what he was wearing - couldn't have that, especially on the day of his first briefing. Despite what he had been told, about the mission being nothing exciting, he was still looking forward to it. This was the squad of people he would likely be working with for quite some time, and getting to know them during such a mission would be a great way to pass the time for all members involved. He frowned inwardly, though, as he realized he probably wouldn't be striking up many conversations. Such are the troubles of introversion, especially the type he believed he had. Oh well. He's here now, and that's what matters.

He paced around for a few minutes, getting into the feel of the suit of armour again, going through some more combat routines and planning for ones he hadn't done so before. Mental exercises on fortified positions, bombardments, CQC maneuvers, intership combat tactics, and other such things, accounting for his ability whenever he could. He continued doing so until his suit pinged him, saying that it was time to head to the meeting, if he were to arrive on time, give or take three minutes. He exited the armour, carefully, then began heading towards the briefing.

---

At the briefing, Patrick paid close attention to the details given by the Commander. After it was over, he returned to his quarters, slightly dejected - it was only a patrol mission, practically training. Well, they were a new batch, so it wasn't too surprising. Hopefully it wouldn't be too bad.

"SADI, fill me in on that sector, would you? Any pirate activity, any activity at all, or just a nice and quiet string of colonies?"

[Jerkchicken]

Chiran had spent the morning earlier in the hangar inside his ship. He was making some preparations for whatever mission they were tasked with accomplishing. One of such preparations was with fine tuning his engine. In dim lighting next to smoldering incense projector casting a haze, ornate metallic structures emitting a rhythmic chime, and orbiting orbs, sat alone the man. He was controlling the mana flow through him and casted it around him and the engine. As the chime rang, he'd weave the mana in a certain way and then in another way as he heard another tone. While doing this he was also paying attention to the feedback the engine was giving him as he continued to calibrate it to him feeding it his mana.

BEEP! BEEP!

Chiran had to struggle to maintain his mana flow in this state of concentration. Soon he'd try and wrap this calibrating session up while trying to ignore the alarm which was making itself known. The ships lighting would brighten, and he'd start cleaning up the area. He looked at the time on his watch, he saw that it was an hour before the meeting proper. He'd continue to put things away and tidy himself up. It was important after all, it was his and many others' first official mission right after getting their membership. After getting dressed in his usual outfit, he'd make his way to the mess and get a couple of food items and eat until he was close to the actual meeting time. He was slowly sipping his coffee as he waited for his communicator to ping with the SADI alert.

He'd make his way to the meeting room once he got the notice. Inside he decided to briefly take a gaze around him before seating himself. So these were his fellow recruits huh? As to be expected of the Wind Riders, they were pretty diverse looking. Commander Wulfram would begin to speak and he'd straighten up to avoid any unnecessary attention and chiding from the woman. After the obligatory, motivational, introductory speech she'd get to the mission. A patrol mission with the other newbies? While others would no doubt bemoan the lack of glamour to the mission, it suited him just fine.

"Alright SADI, tell me about the area and if there's any urgent calls from them too." He said as the ship left the massive base and cruised towards the area of the colonies. There was a bit of time before he'd arrive to the location of the patrol. Might as well use the additional information to pass the time.

[chukklehed]

@Lasersquid112@Jerkchicken

SADI's smooth, slightly mechanical voice responds from your communicator. "According to the last received transmission from that sector, recent problems include a shortage of food on OCP-99341, increased violent weather patterns due to terraforming efforts on OCP-85212, a minor increase in violent crime on OCP-912213, and reports of unidentified ships near OCP-975521. Additionally, a followup of the mission briefing is being sent to you."

@Jerkchicken@Lasersquid112@Hammerman

As she finishes talking, you hear the ping of incoming mail. The follow up is as follows:

Your patrol will officially be underway when all of you arrive at the attached coordinates, near the colony on OCP-85212. Your SADI offshoot has been given all the information we have on their terraforming equipment, as well as the original state of the planet. Notably, the planet contains a high concentration of magicite, which is why a colony was established there in the first place. Be careful with magic there, as you'll have access to much more power than you're usually used to. A representative of the Wind Riders will meet you on the ground to help direct you to where you're most needed, but ultimately your decisions on this patrol are your own.

[Hammerman]

Like the others, Tanya also contacted her SADI once she arrived back at her room. With an unenthusiastic voice, as she threw herself on her bed, she spoke, "Sadi, tell me about the mission please."

As she had feared, there were really no interesting details. Maybe the unidentified ships, but that's nowhere near her assigned coordinate.

Aah, what a chore… I don't want to go now...

Eventually however, she relented, though not without a groan, throwing off the blanket that had covered her body.

Alright, alright, I'll go. I'll be screwed if I get fired from this job...

She walked over to the hangar, where her ship would be waiting for her.

---

---

The ship was a small one. A tiny one, to be exact, a tight fit for one single pilot. In that respect, and its shape, it beared a good resemblance to a fighter plane. It even had a similar stealth capability, though a fighter jet could certainly not transform into a small mechsuit like it could.

After checking in with the engineers, she was given the clear to go. She climbed up the ship, slid down the cockpit, and grabbed the joystick inbetween her legs, allowing it to bioscan her handprints.

"Identity confirmed. Welcome back, Miss Tanya."

The safety belts immediately wrapped themselves around her body on their own.

"Check all processes," she ordered.

"All functions operate at 100%. Fuel is also at 100%," the voice replied mechanically, turning on the displays on the ceiling.

Smiling, she pressed the launch button, causing the ship to activate its burners, lifting it up to the air. And with a simple push, it accelerated forward, leaving the hangar in one smooth move.

And of course, once outside, she engaged the warp drive, setting in the coordinate for her destination.

The "kick" was unpleasant as usual, with her body being pulled backwards when the jump happened, and when her body was pulled forward when the jump ended. The latter hurt the most since the seatbelts would dig into her skin, not to mention her crotch being pressed into the joystick as well.

Such was the lament of the owner of a cheap ship. No proper momentum adjustor onboard.

---

---

She landed on the designated planet immediately. A colony of magicite miners, according to her information. Not a wild, uninhabited planet, to her dissapointment.

Her landing was smooth as well. She jumped out of the cockpit on her own, and then she announced to the greeting party that she was with the Wind Riders.

[Jerkchicken]

Chiran listened to SADI describe the various problems afflicting the nearby colonies in the area. His attention focused to unidentified ships near OCP-975521. The mystery and the implied danger were piquing his interest and if he had a say in what to do next, those ships were what his whims telling him to do next. He already had constructed an order of who to help. The unidentified ships had a chance of fighting but perhaps it would be as simple as getting a scan on them and sending what information you got from them rather than fighting them. The food shortage mission should be first, but was more around second. It was pretty simple, but it could also be pretty involved. Since it might involve having to haul food from elsewhere on his ship and that could take a while to do.

He began thinking about the placement of the others in his own internal ranking of order of completion. However, it was going to be a bit of a pointless exercise as the first objective was not only chosen before hand, but it was now being announced. Violent weather caused by terraforming equipment on OCP-85212? Well this was going to be interesting, he never worked with such equipment before. The detail about magicite caused him to figurative raise his brow. So he'd need to be careful when it came to working his magic. Well so long as there wasn't anything that would need a whole of magic, he should be good.

"SADI, can you send the information regarding the devices on my portable device? He said as he punched in the directions to the colony. It would be but a moment before he already halfway there and entering into the planet's orbit. Mana would flow around him as the engine and him harmonized. He'd find out soon he wasn't the first to land on the planet. Landing zone had a ship that looked way too small and sleek for use in mining.

After donning his duster and checking his equipment, he'd finally hop out. Mingling with the locals, there seemed to be a child? He eyed Tanya as he confirmed by looking at her that yes, she was another windrider. "Hey so I guess it's just us for now? Anyway I'm the second windrider assigned to helping out with violent weather caused by the terraforming." He said to her and the group. Now it was just a matter of receiving briefing from the representative.