• Nobles of Null is a forum based roleplay site where sci-fi and magic collide. Here, Earth remains fractured and divided despite humanity reaching out to the stars. Worse still, the trans-human slaves of one major power have escaped, only to establish their own Empire, seething with resentment at abuses of the past. Even the discovery of aliens, though medieval in development, has failed to rally these squabbling children of Earth together with its far darker implications. Worse still, is the discovery of the impossible - magic. Practiced by the alien locals, nearly depleted and therefore rare, its reality warping abilities remains abstract and distant to the general populace. All the while, unseen in the darkness of space, forces from without threaten to press in. For those with eyes opened by insight, it is clear that an era is about to end, and that a new age will dawn.

IDS Yīnghuā - Log 4.0: Frog at the Bottom of the Well (井底之蛙)

Sakura was quiet during all of this. She appreciated the Empress' generosity with the armor upgrades and weapons.. As she listened in on the conversation, she hefted the type-1 smartgun in vr, appreciating its reassuring weight and stability in her hands. She was definitely bringing one of these to the mission.

"I think these will cause a sufficient amount of destruction" she said quietly in response to the Empress' question while turning the weapon over in her hands, familiarizing herself with it.

Next, the soldier perused the armor upgrade modules. She immediately selected the Poly Muscle Layer, advanced sensors and heavy combat arnor plates. Next, as a requirement to run the extra hardware she was adding into the suit, she included am expanded battery cell slot and additional battery to power everything. With her order complete, shr submitted it, with her thanks.
 
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"Do we have time to get other supplies or are we leaving right this second?" Jun asked, quickly putting in an order for some survival gear to be delivered. Meats and cheeses, trail mix, the materials to mix up some gatorwine, a thermal blanket, glowsticks, some spray paint, and some extra power packs.

She would of course take the weapon, it would be foolish to turn down something from the Empress in front of the Empress!

Xian was much more certain on tactics. "We will be avoiding a firefight underground as much as possible. Any opponent will certainly have a better understanding of the terrain, and there will be no way to maneuver. We would be looking at heavy casualties on all sides. If we can't ambush them in the open, then our only option is to destroy anything that could harm us before it knows we are there."

"As for support. If we're going into the tunnels I would rather take as small a group as possible. We should be quieter and faster that way."
 
"We shouldn't divide the team," The Empress chimed in, speaking in meatspace for the benefit of the two Aos'Si and the Archangel. "Whether to stop the young lord from making contact or to prevent him from becoming 'departed', time is short. We don't have the luxury of...being the only ones to bear responsibility," Zhuli smiled at them all. "This will be several small-team searches, with the other teams being sent to other likely search areas." Waving a hand, a hologram appeared in meatspace, illustrating a sensor sweep of the Aos'Si extinct volcano city and the lava tubes running deep into the sea.

"Oh, how pleasant a surprise! It's almost as good as what what we have!" the towering alien continued to smile. Bending over, one of the avian alien's hands reached out and began plotting out the various sites they had to choose from. "These all continue to lead to The Dragon." Looking at the display, there were a total of five lava tubes that descended under the waves. 'Looking' up from its mapping work however, Lucifer did choose to reply to Reina. "Events are not as dissimilar to what I have previously foreseen as I would like," the Archangel politely pointed out. It essentially couldn't get paid if everyone died. "We effectively averted the war portion of the bad timelines, but apparently not the 'don't wake up the stupid thing' part," its posh voice swore.

It reared its head back in surprise and covered its beak from sight with a spare hand.

"All Aos'Si know of the legends." Lady Nimue answered Reina's other question through lips that had grown sour when the Archangel referred to Nimdorn as a 'lynch-pin'. "I had also thought all Aos'Si knew better than to wake a sleeping dragon, but I am apparently very wrong." Hugging herself ever so slightly, it was clear she was angry, but not at Reina. There wasn't much time to reflect however. The entrances to Viz's containment center opened, and several special forces squads began to assemble while chongwu came in and began swapping out their suit modules for them.

"The back is heavier than I thought," Hoshiko tugged at her collar. "Get me a breastplate to balance it out," she ordered one of the chongwu. Eyeing the special forces soldiers though, she spotted the other squad leaders bearing swords in smart-holsters. "And a vibro-jian with smart holster," she enviously added. With the weapon placed on her back, she took a laser rifle and powered it up.

"Oh finally," Lucifer snapped her fingers.

__________________________________

Empire of Daqin,
Pínqióng (貧窮) System
??????????????????????

The sense of vertigo and disorientation went as quickly as it came for the Daqinren.

"Report!" Hoshiko broadcast to them all, their feet landing on hard rock in the pitch black.

"Ugh. Too cramped," the archangel remarked with distaste. "Let there be light!" Small orbs of sunlight appeared along the lava tube's interior, lighting the way. It continued to float in its 'loafed' form again. As it did this though, Hoshiko, Wen, Aitana and Sakura immediately noticed the telemetry coming in from the rest of The Empire, and automatically networked with the others that didn't have advanced sensors.

"Red leader, standing by!"

"Blue leader, standing by!"

"Green leader, standing by!"

"Purple leader, standing by!"

Their sensors could 'smell' the scent of the sea ahead, and more importantly, the lava tube didn't continue on far. It terminated into a pillar, leading down and into a white fog.

"Commence operation," Hoshiko urged them on, nevermind she wasn't sure if her own squad was ready.
 
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Wen was always ready, in a tactical combat environment anyways. This was his canvas. Despite having been reduced to the rank of Ensign, he carried on his tasks as if nothing happened at all. Instinctively, he laid out a 3D map of their surroundings, then stepped forward as their team's vanguard.

There was a moment of hesitation; he didn't want to use the Chongwu. Still, he had to admit that they were more disposable than Daqinren. He summoned two bat-form Chongwu. He placed these two Chongwu under his command, then sent hard-coded commands into their brains to create over current in the cybernetics, physically burning away the lobes of their brains that allow for higher level thinking, therefore truly reducing them to mindless drones. Satisfied with the modifications, he sent them forward, using their eyes to map out the path forward without putting himself in danger, complementing them with his suit's sensors.

At the same time, with some remaining brainpower, he looked inward, toying with his own nervous system. He allocated a patch of nerves at his abdomen. Reverse engineering the catonite space-time emissions from the Archangel, he experimentally tried to recreate the effect using the catonite in his own body. If he could replicate the "hold person" action, then he could eventually develop a countermeasure against it.
 
"Watch your step, everyone," Aitana cautioned, following several seconds behind Wen's drones. With careful, intentional movements, she climbed down the craggy rock face, ensuring her lights and sensors were in good working order as she reached the fog below. Once she was fully 'submerged,' she slowed her descent, bracing her heavy rifle against her hip and keeping a close eye on her helmet's readouts. "Stay close to one another, but not too close. Just in case."
 
With everyone around her, Hoshiko opted to host their virtual lobby, a sandy beach with clear waters, cheery sun and palm fronds springing forth. It wasn't technically too far off from where they were actually at, following the lava tube under the ocean, but she felt she needed it. "All the rock, water and distance between us and the other teams is keeping bandwidth down," Hoshiko noted. Clad in a dark bikini with electric blue flames and a yellow sarong, she absentmindedly kicked at the water lapping at her toes as she shared that revelation. The other squad leaders couldn't do more than speak and listen, showing only as floating icons. "Let's keep comms between teams to a minimum."

Red Team was lead by Ru Zhuan, a Shā Pí (沙皮) dog type of all things. But the rest were tigers. A man by the name of Song Chen lead Blue Team, while another by the name of Zheng Bo lead Green Team. It seemed that Liu Shi of Purple Team was the only woman besides Hoshiko that was a leader. "Mother-Empress talked about getting to bear responsibility," the princess muttered to herself, voice trailing off. "They're all Han."

"My foresight shortens, but fear not! This is only the outer boundary!" the Archangel proudly declared in meatspace. As though to emphasize this, Wen's bats quickly found their flight through the fog slowing. Behind them, Aitana felt like she was lowering herself into clouds that condensed into thick soup and then stew the deeper she went. Seeing Lucifer descending with the vanguard, Hoshiko pressed forward as well, and together, they felt like they were being swallowed. Just when it was at its thickest, it began to thin, and through the fog, they could see ground.

Ground, darkness and small motes of light.

What looked like a hard, rocky plateau was not far off, but the jungle like fungoid shapes of the canopy below looked like it would catch their fall more softly. However, it was also the most brightly lit landing area. Meanwhile, what looked like a small lake or large pond would have also let them land without too much of an impact, but the splash would be particularly audible considering the liquid, and there was the depths itself to deal with too.

"Purple Leader reporting, we've encountered some sort of permeable membrane, and are...tiger paddling to delay our descent. Over," Liu Shi's picture icon's border lit up as she spoke.

"I'm thinking about hopping on the canopy," Hoshiko eagerly eyed the almost bouncy looking fungoid tops with glee. "What about you guys?"
 
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