Liquid storage and delivery mechanisms and methods

A fluidics system, comprising:

• shells that include corresponding reservoirs to hold individual quantities of liquid, the shells including filling ends and discharge ends, the filling ends including fill ports that open to the reservoirs in order to receive the corresponding quantity of liquid;
• a shell management module comprising a cover and a platform, the platform including shell retention chambers to receive corresponding shells, the shell retention chambers arranged in a predetermined pattern on the platform, the shell retention chambers to orient the shells with the fill ports exposed from the platform, the cover to be mounted onto the platform to close the fill ports;
• a flow control plate that includes piercers arranged in a pattern that matches the predetermined pattern of the shell retention chambers on the platform;
• an actuator mechanism movable relative to the shell management module;
• and
• a controller to execute program instructions to direct the actuator mechanism to apply a valve pumping action to move the shells between non-actuated and actuated positions relative to the flow control plate, the piercers to puncture the corresponding shells when the shells are in the actuated position and to direct liquid from the reservoirs to a fluidics system.