voidmissions | [M15] ENEMY: UNKNOWN

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[M15] ENEMY: UNKNOWN - THE INTERVIEW

On opening their eyes, Voidtreckers will feel a sense of disorientation, a dizziness to their vision and inside their head. Both clear quickly, letting them remember where they came from: in the midst of a mission, some unknown entity jumping them, and then —

They're here. Wherever here is.
They stand in an empty room. The lighting of the room stings their eyes after how dark the rest of the station has been. The walls, ceiling and floor are all bright white, tiles. There is no visible door, no windows.

After the disorientation comes fear. The hairs on the back of their neck stand up. For those with danger sense, these senses are going haywire, even though any other abilities are still not working. The feeling can be pushed down, it is similar to the air of expectation at the start of a horror film, the anticipation of fear rather than being in a truly dangerous situation. It might be that they have been on the train long enough to have felt it before.

Heavy footsteps sound, it is almost impossible to tell where they are coming from as the echo through the empty space. The feeling of dread grows until part of the far wall slides open with a mechanical hiss.

Filling the doorway are two huge figures, around seven foot tall and bulky. They are in large metal suits, almost like power armour, black with highlights of gold. They wear a mask that covers their whole face. It is impossible to see the figure inside at all. Their breathing comes through heavy and raspy and when they walk their footsteps are heavy. The door closes behind them and their presence makes the room feel smaller. One of them scans a green light over the voidtrecker.

"Do not be alarmed. Under sections ninety six of Inter-dimensional law and on behalf of the Void Ministry we have intercepted Voidcraft designation Voidtrecker Express as part of ongoing investigations. You have been taking part in a simulated excercise to gauge your skill and strength. No harm shall come to you or your crew, you are protected by inter dimensional law. You have been chosen for questioning and we ask that you comply. You have the right to refuse our interview but we have the right to hold you until our investigation is complete or one week in standard void time has passed, whichever is longest. Complying with us will ensure our investigation is more efficient."

The inspector talking pauses here, as if giving the voidtrecker time to take in that information.

"Do you accept our interview?"

ENEMY: UNKNOWN

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Kitty has to take a few breaths to keep calm, her heart racing as she stares down the figures in front of her, though there isn't much of them to see under the masks and armor. Taking in a deeper breath, she nods.

"Fine," she finally manages, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. "But for the record, if you didn't want us to be alarmed, you might wanna reconsider the kidnapping and..." She vaguely gestures a hand towards them. "All that."

"The simulated exercise was necessary to bring the vehicle known as the Voidtrecker Express to this station," they explain. "We apologise for any mental disturbance suffered. You and others from the voidcraft will not be harmed during your time here. Our objective is to learn more on reports we have received on the craft, as well as events that those on board have been present for."

The oppressive air in the room eases, a calmer sort resting over them.

"We have received reports that many of those on board the voidcraft did not consent to their tethering to the Void."

"Sure." She doesn't necessarily believe them, but she didn't have much choice except to do as they say for now. She could only hope they did mean that no one would be harmed to the other Voidtreckers.

And it does get a bit easier to breathe then, so she'll take that as...well, an okay sign, anyway.

That first comment does have her hesitating, though. Eventually though, she can't help but nod. "Y-Yeah...at least when I boarded the train, I just kind of...woke up on a platform. I wasn't really sure how I got there."

"What can you recall remembering before you showed up on this platform?" One asks.

"And can you state how long you have been travelling the Void with the craft Voidtrecker Expression?" the other asks, after a beat. There is no rush to their questioning or tones. Allowing Kitty time to respond.

She releases another, slow breath. "Before ending up on the platform...I had been back in my own world. I had been involved in...a mission with my team back home, trying to save our own world. I was knocked out there, and then woke up on the platform."

She has to think for another moment, trying to recall how long it's been. "Six...or seven months, I think?"

"Thank you." They speak calmly, but there is a note of gratitude in the thanks.

"Our scan tells us you are Katherine Pryde, of around fifteen years of age. Were you aware of the Void before your arrival to the platform?"

"Is your world Void active, to your knowledge?" clarifies the one who hadn't been speaking.

"Most people just call me Kitty," she replies. "But no, I didn't know about the Void before arriving on the platform. I'm not sure about the rest of my world, but most people I knew did know it existed."

"Noted. Would you prefer to be called Kitty at this time?" One of the two ask.

She hesitates for a moment; it does feel a little weird for these guys, whoever they are, to use her name like that. But it also makes her feel a bit more at ease as well.

So eventually she nods. "Please."

"Kitty, then," says one, and the other repeats, "Kitty" in confirmation. There's a beat, and then one continues on.

"How many missions has the voidcraft Voidtrecker Express sent you on in your time onboard?"

She has to think about that for a moment, because while she'd been on the train for a while, she hadn't participated on all of the missions.

"Well...I've gone on six missions, I think? Seven, if we're counting this one. But I think there have been nine missions since I first boarded the train."

They keep silent as she thinks, not showing any sign of impatience. And once she has spoken, they wait a beat before one asks:

"What stopped you from attending all nine missions?"

She fidgets a little, a little embarrassed. "I, uh...didn't feel well when the other two missions took place."

"Noted." There is no judgment, nor delay that might suggest anything in the one who speak's tone. "Then you are allowed to not participate in missions at your discretion, with no consequence?"

"Yeah, as far as we know. Nothing really happened when I stayed behind, and I think there have been others who opted out of missions here and there without anything happening. Though I think most everyone wants to help out however they can."

"Do you appreciate being given the opportunity to take part in these missions?"

“For the most part, yeah,” she answers. “I mean, I still would have liked to have been asked first, and finish what I had been doing back home. But if there’s something that I can do to help people, then I’m glad to do what I can.”

"Your help to other systems is appreciated, Kitty," both of the Inspectors speak up. The gratitude, as calmly as it is given, is still felt in the air itself.

"We would to ask you about each individual mission," one says solely. "But our immediate interest is in any missions connected to the manifestation of a false system, with a planet named Diagad. Does this sound familiar to you?"

Their gratitude, though sounding a bit robotic, does get a faint smile from her. But it promptly fades with their next question.

“Oh…Y-Yeah. We had gone to Diagad.”

"We understand it was a distressing situation," an Inspector remarks, almost gently. "We would appreciate if you could speak about your experience: what you know of what occurred, of the unknown entity that caused it, and any particulars about the false life you led, if you were a participant."

"Take your time answering," the other encourages. "You are free to not speak about anything personal."

She twists her hands a bit, thinking back to the event in question. “Yeah, uh…when we got there, it was like…all our memories had been rewritten. We were convinced that we had always lived there, and our lives were different than what they actually are. We didn’t remember anything about there Void, or the train, or where we came from. We just knew the false memories we were given, and even those with powers were given different abilities. It had even pulled in people who weren’t on the train…people from different worlds who hadn’t been doing anything related to what we were doing.

“And the entity responsible…we couldn’t see much of it, it was mostly just a storm of colors. But it could create illusions or control people…and I think we fought it another time before.”

One of the Inspectors nod slowly.

"Were you a part of this previous encounter?"

“Yeah, I was on that mission too. We had gone to help a world where the city was divided into different tiers, and each tier had an issue that we had to look into. In the tier that my group was investigating, there were a few people that had been killed, and some sightings of animals that didn’t exist.”

"The city of Kamakan," one concludes.

"Reports indicated that the the entity had the ability to reflect highly precise projections using the knowledge and memories of those around them, without being physically present. Does this match your experience during the mission?"

Kitty Pryde

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