• 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.

Chapter 5: Voidward Preparations

Ray of Meep

Ray of Meep

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4 Hours Later,

Task Force 52 Headquarters, Conference Room

Eberhard grimly watched the newsfeed. The situation in Sol was falling apart. Within the past 36 hours, misinformation by an unknown source turned cold tensions between the GDW and the Soyuz hot. While both sides avoided targeting civilian centers, it has been confirmed that the GDW acted preemptively, striking the Soyuz SLE at Orcus while invading its holdings in Europe, seeking to force capitulation by destroying all anti-orbital and anti-air assets and communication networks. The Soyuz hunkered down, activating hidden, backup systems while counterattacking GDW's gas refineries in orbit of Neptune, Triton, and Uranus. The Commonwealth's Council was on fire internally, with the spaceborne colonies calling for a quick peace regardless of victory, having been harmed by the destruction of orbital infrastructure the most. There were even murmurs of independence within the Jovian system and the Silbern system by smaller colonies hosting no more than hundreds of people.

"What if this was all a ruse?" Eberhard asked Billhook, both team leaders waiting for their soldiers to arrive. Eberhard paced between the long desk and the wall-mounted whiteboard nervously, Billhook only slightly more stoic, tapping his foot. "What if we were the ones misinformed, that our countries aren't at each others' throats, that they're just coming after something in Yasny?"

"It's a ruse alright." Billhook crossed his arms, replying with some hesitancy. Uncharacteristically, he started divulging more information. "Fuckers penetrated deep. All our encryption methods, they have all of it." He eyed Eberhard, judging the man's character, more importantly, his stomach. "Captain Cobalt, a lot of officers I know are going to get spaced or put to the wall." Predictably, Eberhard's eyes narrowed, "Such is the consequence of betrayal. If the Commonwealth has any hopes of survival, it will take the necessary measures too. Remove the parasites. Burn entire branches, if necessary."

"Let's see if there's a system to burn after all of this is over." Eberhard looked at the whiteboard with a frown. "Admiral Vencencio and the crippled Fjord might be all that's left of the Commonwealth leadership, for all I know."

Billhook looked at Eberhard somberly. The large man considered reaching out with a hand, instead placing it in a more comfortable spot, gripping the holster of his pistol. "I assure you, there will be a Commonwealth in some shape or form after this. You sons of bitches are cockroaches and refuse to die. You put yourselves in fucking tin cans in the middle of literally nowhere." He tried to lighten the mood, instead coming off crude.

Eberhard nonetheless smirked back with a force. "Says the people who decided to stay on a planet with alien zombies. Don't think your censors can block me out. Now that's batshit crazy."

Billhook grunted something in Russian, the translator spitting it out as "Touche."
 
Jamison grumbled from the corner, he had his own personal opinion of this situation and it wasn’t a good one. However he decided to stay out of the discussion and just stand off to the side and wait to either be addressed or for something to happen where he could actually be of use.
 
Beatrix was stuck doomscrolling through the data dumps that they were receiving from Earth. Fuck, they hit Portsmouth, she thought, biting her lip as she looked at the damage radius. What if they go after the HQ in London? Hope Mum and Dad got somewhere safe when rocks started falling. And I really hope we get on to doing something about the piece of shit that started this war.
 
Renee couldn't help but feel uneasy in the base now that the GDW and Soyuz were, technically, at war. But she was also aware, in the rational part of her brain, that it was not the fault of the soldiers. The fact that killing the Grau Lancers would cause an intergalactic incident was somewhat reassuring to Renee - it either meant that they would not be killed, or that their deaths would not be in vain.

Her position in the room was close to Jamison, lurking in the corner with her head angled towards the floor, focusing on nothing in particular beyond the words of Billhook and Eberhard. It was clear from the look on her face that her mind was whirling, aching to check the status of her hometown on Bea's datapad, but that would have been a show of weakness and also an unnecessary sharing of her past. Her mother had always talked about feeling loss in her chest and 'just knowing' when something bad had happened - Renee didn't feel any of that, which was reassuring in a spiritual way. But, as a skeptic, this reassurance was not much to Renee. She wanted facts and evidence, and even then it was unclear as to whether that would cut it.

With that, the Frenchwoman looked up, shifting her weight from one leg to the other, waiting for whatever briefing or conference room fight that was about to ensue.
 
žana was just standing next with her teammates awkwardly after hearing about the tensions back on earth. she is hoping it will all end peacefully and not in total destruction.

"soo...how's your day going?" She asks a bit shy.
 
"Could be better," Eberhard replied flatly as the rest of Task Force 52 trickled in, all wearing neutral or grave expressions. As Shephard, Froststorm, Groundhog, and Toybob sat down, he put his hands on the conference table, beginning with a somber tone.

"There's no sugar coating it. All hell is breaking out in Sol. We still can't get good messaging through the SLE." Eberhard's eyes narrowed at the soldiers. "Which makes our task here all the more important." He pulled up a system map of Yasny as a 3D hologram in the middle of the table, zooming in on the inner system. "Thanks to Mr. Aubert's confessions, we have identified two targets of interest. One is this abandoned mine of Soroka..."

Eberhard zoomed in on the planet. It was a brownish grey, sandy world, ice caps at the two poles, small clumps of lights dotting along the equator and the edge of the ice caps, along with a few in depressions on the surface --- human settlements and mining camps. "We managed to hone in on the recipient of Omnigrow's messaging, a base of tunnels, not unlike that of Fabron Station." He eyed Beatrix and Jamison, "I'm sure you two are familiar with such a layout by now. The key difference is that we'd be operating under significant gravity on Soroka. Securing the databanks here could give us everything we need to know on why these three corporations decided to start the war between the Soyuz and the GDW, and how they did it in full detail."

He paused, then zoomed out, locking onto a small dot traveling through the void, moving between Soroka and Kitezh, "This is the Wayward Giant. It's a typical corporate passenger carrier, more a hotel than a ship---" Toybob snorted in amusement, a change from the grave demeanor "--- and it's heading for the SLE constellation in high orbit of Kitezh. Specifically, it is carrying on Selene Rosica, who is believed to be the head of all these terrorist operations. Needless to say, apprehending her will be a major boon towards the completion of this investigation. It's unclear why the Giant is attempting FTL at an obviously locked down gate, but we should get those answers from Rosica."

"There's one issue though. Given the Giant's trajectory, we won't be able to strike both targets in quick succession without one responding to the attacks on the other. Other joint Soyuz and GDW forces in the system can compensate, but given the Lancer's vast experience, we'll have the higher success rate."

Eberhard zoomed the map out back to the inner system as a whole, standing up. "We'll have to choose which target to strike. The Giant or Soroka."
 
Bee frowned as she looked up from her pad, look at both options. "I mean, is there a chance that we'll get more info out of Rosica than the compound on Soroka?" she asked.
 
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Jamison would agree on that fact, also the fact that unless they were going to blow it up then the databanks weren’t going anywhere and were more likely to still be intact after a raid, or at least less able to fight back if someone wanted to cover their trail. He indicated this with a nod of agreement with Bee.
 
Caleb sat on the opposite side of the room, trying his best to take in everything that was going on.

"Seems to me, the answer is obvious. The wayward Giant is leaving as soon as it can, but those tunnels will still be there afterwards. Even if they delete and b urn everything, there are only so many ways for me them to eescape." Caleb shrugged, might be missing a few details though.
 
Acewing13 said:
Bee frowned, look at both options. "I mean, is there a chance that we'll get more info out of Rosica than the compound on Soroka?" she asked.
Click to expand...
"Rosica is a valuable, human asset, while the databanks on Soroka will contain more and more accurate information." Eberhard responded, but then acknowledged Caleb and Jamison's sentiments. "Your observations are correct as well. Even if Kitezh's SLE is heavily guarded, the Giant is a moving target and could get itself destroyed if the garrison here is too trigger happy." He eyed the Taskforce, which reacted to his comments with a mix of scoffs and shaking heads.
 
Entering the room and standing dramatically in the center would be Mari.

Or at least Mari's drones.

The thing standing before everyone seemed to be made up of 4 spherical drones, each a bit larger than a basketball, with four humanoid mechanical arms spread out evenly around the surface. They were all holding on to one another to create the loose approximation of a human shape. One of the arms was holding Mari's cloak from before, though it seemed the robot hadn't put the cloak on yet, leaving it quite exposed.

And the robot had grave news.

"The GDW has attacked the Soyuz on Earth and-"

The mechanical voice of the robot cut off mid-sentence and on the other side of the base Mari was letting out a loud 'FUCK!' as she realized she was already way behind in the meeting thanks to a social-awkwardness algorithm picking up that she was about to repeat previously distributed information. The systems penetration expert was trying to continue her work using a small tablet and some displays that the Soyuz had been kind enough to provide. It was a setup that didn't meet her usual expectations and the sudden drop in the quality of her work was quite noticeable.

"Hold on, I'm getting caught up." The robot said. The machine standing in place for a good few moments before its hands spread out its cloak and pulled it over its body. The 'hand' it was using as a fake head grabbing the top part of the hood so that it could be pulled over its non-existent face.

"Ok"

Mari then quickly caught herself up on the goings on here.

"Zan-ah. my day is going terribly. I've lost most of my equipment and all of my snacks." Mari started, having to manually read her name off the display she had and ending up getting it slightly wrong.

"Bee. My assessment is that they will try and destroy their information at the Compound first. It is unlikely that Rosica would self-terminate just to protect others."

"Also, I would trust physical information more than a person's own memory. I would think that the tunnels would be the preferred first target."
 
"Half and half," Renee shrugged. It was a poor suggestion. Two taskforces would enable a double strike, but would also dilute the power of the forces. "If you put a watch out for the ship, we can detain and board it whilst simultaneously raiding the compound on Soroka," she added, her suggestion a little more fully fleshed out. She had run simultaneous operations and been a part of them too, so she knew how they worked... roughly. They tended to be successful, but only if it was truly simultaneous. Any difference in time, even by minutes or seconds, could allow the alarm to be raised and a destruction command to be triggered.
 
Beatrix frowned at the thought of splitting up their meager force. "We barely got through a building without half of us getting shot to hell," she said, looking pained to mention their previous performance. "I don't think we could go through splitting up without some serious beefing up with out more personnel at the very least. And I don't see that happening before we need to execute. I'm still in favor of the Soroka plan, to be honest. Less moving parts."
 
Eberhard listened attentively to everyone's suggestions. Renee wasn't wrong. This had to be a simultaneous operation. Mari pointed out rightfully Rosica's self-preservation. After all, she was making a desperate run for the SLE, wasn't she? Meanwhile, Beatrix made their meager manpower painfully apparent. Though, it wasn't like the GDW structured itself for infantry combat with overwhelming numbers, so at least their situation was usual.

"We'll split up. My Lancers will go after the Giant, Task Force 52 goes after Soroka." Eberhard announced, then eyed Billhook, "I'm going to call for a redistribution of manpower. I want whatever Admiral Vencencio can cough up for marines."

Billhook raised an eyebrow, scoffing and speaking through the translator. "You don't trust us." His native, slavic voice was gruff and unamused.

"Yes, but not the way you think." Eberhard shook his head, "I want men well experienced in zero and random-g maneuvering. No offense, but most of you Soyuz are planet-born and take up and down for granted. A good chunk of the GDW were born into disorientation."

The Taskforce's leader grunted. "Fine, but we're sending Exemplar Mari to keep an eye on you. Is that arrangement acceptable?" He turned to look at the three drones in a trench coat.
 
FUCK

Mari checked her snacks at her desk. She hadn't even had time to raid the vending machine in this facility, all she had with her were some crackers from a Soyuz ration-pack that one of the soldiers had been kind enough to give her along with something that might be candy-coated chocolate.

And the package was already had a decent amount of candy dust at the bottom.

No doubt from the pieces rubbing against each other.

It'd create a mess if she brought it into space with her.

She decided to go for her Magnetic Assembly squeezy-bottle instead to get a drink of water. The sealed bottle was made of a very squishy plastic-material with elaborate interior structures printed on the clear plastic that would wic the water towards the straw. The whole thing was designed for use on a planet or in Zero-G. It was basically impossible to spill accidentally even if thrown across the room, changed colors if there were drugs or high levels of radiation... It was one of the things she had managed to grab on her way out of her previous hidey-hole.

While she wasn't suited to do a dog-walking operation like this, she was still the best choice to handle it on the Soyuz's behalf.

She'd lean in towards the microphone on the datapad she was stuck using.

---

"This is acceptable. I will run operations for the Lancers." The robot in the cloak said, "I will need the telemetry from your team's suits and weapons, as well as workspace onboard the chase ship and a pressure suit."
 
"Understood, we'll lend you a spare body glove and a jumpsuit." Eberhard tapped his datapad, sending the relative requests up to his wife on the Daheim Zwei, along with a request of audience with Admiral Vencencio. "We regroup with our respective forces, then strike Soroka and the Giant simultaneously. Any objections to the overall mission goals?" He asked the Lancers.
 
Renee's eyes flicked to Beatrix with almost-regret, before giving Eberhard a curt and quick nod. She shifted her position slightly, arms still remaining crossed - well, one of her arms was in a flexible cast, so it was... difficult... to unbend. "24 hours, sir, or longer until the operation commences?" she asked, her accent prominent on the final word of the sentence.
 
"How much of the team will be fully functional?" Mari asked, as if she suddenly realized she wasn't working with drones that could have their broken parts swapped out within an hour if something was wrong. "Do you require both arms to do your job?"
 
Renee blinked at Mari and shifted uncomfortably. "Ideally I would have... two functional arms. But that is not possible at this current stage. At least... half of us have some sort of injury, I believe," she concluded, clearly an attempt to shift the issue away from herself.
 
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