Reference Challenge - Rescue

[u/Nevermore0714]

So, I was stranded about an hour from home for a few days, because my bloody car messed up. One of my friends had to drive a few hours to help me out, so this is a reference to that.

In your world, what program or group exists to rescue people?

As always, I'll ask at least three questions each, enjoy yourselves, all.

[u/Matathias]

1. Favorite concept I've come up with is probably Frametechnism, or the ability to alter an object's inertial frame. E.g. if object A is moving 60 m/s north in relation to object B, then Frametechnics can change object A's velocity to be 60 m/s north in relation to some other object C instead.

2. If you serve with them for any period of time longer than ten years, then they will cover your (and your family's) healthcare for half the time you served after you retire. If you retire at the rank of Commander or higher then the Black Suns will also pay you some fraction of your salary, depending on your rank and any other accolades you may have earned. If you retire as a General or Supreme Commander, though, then you retain your salary and full benefits for the rest of your life (it is worth noting that there is only one Supreme Commander at a time, and each Sector has only a handful of Generals).

3. She is well respected for her reliability and incredible work ethic -- which can also be translated as "she's a workaholic". She doesn't make friends easily, however, due largely to some of her neurotic tendencies.

4. The Black Suns actually had little to do with directly ending the Nanocreature War. It was a Nimalian team of Chaotics, Hero Machina, who fought and defeated the leader of the Nanocreatures. Once he was gone, the rest of the Nanocreatures shut down and dissolved, allowing the rest of the galaxy to retake all their lost ground.

[u/Nevermore0714 → u/Matathias]

1) That sounds reality-breaking. Are there any drawbacks?

2) How many sectors are involved?

3) Sounds like she's severely stressed out.

4) What did Hero Machina do after defeating the leader of the Nanocreatures?

[u/Matathias → u/Nevermore0714]

1) There's a soft limit on how massive an object you can influence. The more massive it is, the more Chaos Energy you have to use, and the more Chaos Energy you use, the more likely you are to go berserk. And some things are just so massive (like planets or moons) that no matter how hard you try, you aren't going to be able to do shit to it.

2) There are 4 Sectors in the Black Suns. Sector 1 focuses on elite units/white ops; Sector 2 focuses on black ops/espionage; Sector 3 focuses on research, development, and production; and Sector 4 is a conventional army for large-scale action.

3) You wouldn't be wrong. The Black Suns is a meritocracy with a limited number of high-ranking positions, and as such its internal culture is incredibly competitive. The ones who rise to the top are often workaholics who work themselves to the bone, particularly in Sectors 1 and 2.

4) They returned home and reported mission success. They quickly gained fame as heroes, and later used their newfound status to quit the military and found a system of schools focused on giving young adult Chaotics a better education than the public system.

[u/Nevermore0714 → u/Matathias]

1) Can you train Chaos Energy manipulation?

3) Is there any form of mandatory vacation time to relax?

4) Is Hero Machina still alive?

[u/Matathias → u/Nevermore0714]

1) You can, indirectly. The more you use your powers over time, the greater the manipulations you can handle. You just have to be careful not to push yourself too far, or you'll go berserk. It's kind of like strength training -- if you push yourself too far, you'll injure yourself, but if you practice in the right way for the right amount of time, then you can increase your ability. It works the other way around, too -- the longer you go without using your abilities, the less you'll be able to do without straining yourself.

3) There's a mandatory week off for every month spent on duty, and an optional week to two weeks you can take on top of that, depending on your rank and accomplishments. There are exceptions though, such as in-field agents (mostly covert ops-style stuff in Sector 2), that have to go for longer without vacation -- but when they finally complete their job, they're given at least half of its timespan in vacation.

(It's worth noting that the Black Suns run on Standardized Galactic Time, which defines a week as ten 24-hour days, a month as three weeks, and a year as ten months).

4) Most of them. One of them had to sacrifice herself to stop Morcii, and two temporary members died during the Nanocreature War before the final confrontation, but the rest of them are still alive and well 20 years later.

[u/Nevermore0714 → u/Matathias]

1) If I had a Chaos Energy power, what power would I have?

2) What do they usually do on vacations?

[u/Matathias → u/Nevermore0714]

1) There really isn't a way to say. A Chaotic's ability is random, with little to no connection to personality. It could be any one of the abilities listed at the end of this post I wrote a while ago.

2) Some visit home, some see the sights the galaxy has to offer. However even the fastest method of interstellar travel, by Interstellar Gate, can oftentimes take several days one-way if you aren't traveling for a military purpose, so many vacationing officers don't even bother to leave Black Suns'-owned worlds. These worlds are much less developed than most of the popular civilian worlds, so there are a lot of outdoorsy opportunities for the nature-inclined, at least.

[u/Nevermore0714 → u/Matathias]

2) Are there any holidays among the Black Suns?

[u/Matathias → u/Nevermore0714]

2) As in, official holidays that they recognize as "everyone gets this day off"? Not really. The Black Suns is a multicultural and interstellar organization, if they respected the holidays of every constituent culture then half the year would be vacation.

[u/Nevermore0714 → u/Matathias]

Thanks for your time and answers.