• 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.

[Darkness Down Below] Chapter 1.1 - Easy Does It

Acewing13

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"Kogo ty nazyvayesh' Amerikantsem?" Joshua asked, raising an eyebrow at the ladies. "I guess I can be the front man, if for no other reason than the Russians expecting a baseline Human to be in charge. Cleo'll be ready to knock the lights out of anyone who stands in our way, Midnight can distract if necessary. All to Bavarian Fire Drill our way into the mark's ship?" He chuckled. "Ready whenever you ladies are."
 

TheFirstOne

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Cleo looked at Joshua as he commented with a smile. "Vash aktsent mozhet ispol'zovat' kakuyu-to rabotu. " She said, looking him up and down. She did another take, before brushing some of her hair out of her face. "Vse vmeste neplokho!" She grinned. Part of how she said that made it seem she wasn't really talking about the accent, before she turned to Hilda. "So, you shut up, and if we need a distraction I'll yank your top down. Sound good?"
 

CadetNewb

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10 Minutes from скучный Station


"H-Hey! I'm still downloading my Russian!" Midnight cried out, less than enthused. "No fair! The connection's bad and it's stuck at 99%!" she frowned, distraught at that last, final percent. Sniffing back her lament, she nodded. "F-fine. I'll see if I can pull up something a little more badass looking for the two of us then," the blonde rubbed her eyes. She wandered into her room again, and after rummaging around, re-emerged with something that Cleo would have likely agreed with. "I don't have much, but since the two of us are going to be the muscle behind Joshua, we should try and look the part," the German turned Daqinese woman suggested.

She held out a slightly odd looking knife for Cleo. There was nothing wrong with it at all!

Soyuz Sotsialisticheskikh Mirov
скучный Station


"Ah, welcome! I'm Pasha, the head of security in these parts. And you three must be - hnk!" the fat, burly man in front of them suddenly stopped mid-sentence, horribly failing to stifle his laughter. "This is a great joke!" the head of security burst into thick, heavy chortling again. "What do we have here, eh? Let me see," he rubbed his brown mustache. Holding up his hands, he pretended to frame them, one at a time in a camera lens made of his fingers. "We got a whipped boy, no doubt about it!" he chuckled, his great belly under his uniform rippling with his laughter. "But look at the blonde! Super-heavy armaments!" And then, what's this? A fancy-dog lady from the land of squint-eyes! Ha!" The head of security was the only one laughing however, and one of the two men tapped him on the shoulder. "Bah, what is it Dimitri?" Pulled aside for a moment, Pasha turned his back on Joshua, Hilda and Cleo for a moment.

"Sir. I think you should look more closely," Dimitri whispered, pointing at Joshua first. "He's a regular dude, but it's the two with him." Pasha glanced at Hilda first, his male gaze taking over. "The blonde is too pretty to be natural. She's a synth. And if she doesn't tear our heads off, she'll give us the mega-clap for sure!" the station guard hissed in his boss's ear. "And then there's the dog-lady. Think about it. She doesn't even need to leap up to rip our throats out, and the way she's looking at us, she wants to." Dimitri leaned in closer. "And look. They both have the latest Нож Разведчика Стреляющий!"

"Ah, we want no trouble from the Investigative Committee!" Pasha quickly changed his tune. "We in fact, have everything totally under control, and will be placing a proper report regarding the violation soon," the portly man added, dabbing his forehead with a handkerchief. "So you can just relax, get some drinks at the commissary, or just head on to your next assignment! Nothing to see here!"

It seemed that the real trouble was not scaring the station staff too much.
 

Acewing13

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"Chestno, ya nemnogo rzhavyy," Joshua replied to Cleo's back-handed compliment, before giving her a smile. "Anyway," he added, "I'm sure you'll be able to join in the fun soon, Midnight. Either way, let's get going."

скучный Station

Hmm, Joshua thought as he watched Pasha turn on a dime from making fun of him to bowing and scraping, how much to ham up a stereotype of a Russian secret police agent? Probably shouldn't twirl my mustache, at least.

"Nyet, comrade," he said, waving the offer away, "We must do as the state requires, even if it keeps us from our preferred...distractions." He smirked for a moment, before continuing, "I'd like to wrap this up as quickly as possible, so if you don't mind, can either of you direct us to the detained ship? I'd like to start there, before moving on to questioning the pilot."
 

TheFirstOne

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Cleo chuckled, shaking her head and finding a seat. "Mozhet byt', ya dam tebe chastnyy urok," She finished, before fading off into silence to wait for the rest of the mission.

скучный Station

"You have got to be kidding me..." Cleo thought to herself as she listened to the first man talk. Rage burned in her eyes as she was refereed to as a "fancy dog lady from the land of the Squinty Eyes" and was about to quite thoroughly interject her fist into that thought process when the second man stepped in and commented on the fact that she did, indeed, sorta want to rip the first man's throat out. It would be cathartic to say the least, and she could help but give a little growl and snarl when the an did point it out.

"You should learn to be as observant as your friend," Cleo said in her flat, irritated tone, never breaking her glare from the portly man. "Looks can certainly be deceiving, but I am fully capable of doing exactly what he said," She warned, before lightening up a little. "Though he was totally spot on about our colleage here. Mega clap to the maximum. I mean, you might get it just by standing that close to her, be careful," She said, smiling in a way that made it hard to tell if she was being serious.
 

Warped

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Soyuz Sotsialisticheskikh Mirov
скучный Station

The creaking sound of metal on metal fills the hall bellow as a hatch in the ceiling, not used in a long time gets opened up. "Осторожно!" It echoes from it. All of a sudden, an almost equally burly man as the Chief, only little less chubby, drops down from the hatch above. With a loud thud and the fleshy wiggling of loose fleshy parts sound from the man who had just, by all means, dropped in. In all casualness, as if nothing out of the ordinary, he pads down his ruffled up shirt and pulls it down at the bottom until he lets out a satisfied huff. A big hand moves to adjust a pin of the communist party on the collar of his shirt, to which he exudes another satisfied huff once he's content with it.

Slowly, the burly, alcohol smelling unshaven man turns his head over to the assembled, one by one before letting out a; "Добрый день, господа!", a glimmer of recognition playing along with his eyes when he glances upon the Investigation committee. An until now, unseen flask finds its way to the intoxicated man's lips, and after a hearty zip, the cap gets screwed in place and disappears into his pockets. He again takes time to steady himself before striding over to the side of Joshua, throwing his arm over his shoulder like he was hugging a long lost brother. "Comrade, where have you been all these years? You are still working with the Geats? Come, have a drink with me-" He throws his free arm into the direction of Cleo and Hilda, twirling his fingers like he was doing a magic trick. "-and your bedazzling colleagues here, ok?" A playful smile spreads across his mouth as he addresses both of them.

A forceful pad on Joshua's back seals the deal, at least in his eyes. The man jabs Joshua into the chest as he addresses the security staff. "I know these fellows myself, Pashua; they won't be too much trouble, don't worry about them."
 
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CadetNewb

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As Joshua smiled, the portly head of security shifted nervously, however, he wasn't the only one. Dimitri paled, and the third, yet unnamed man took a step back.

"Ah, yes! Well, I'm certain you are a very capable, uh, dog-comrade," he began to reply to Cleo. However, he glanced at Hilda too, who's expression was now silently stuck between angry pouting with puffed up cheeks, and quivering with ecstasy at the insult. From her own teammate none the less! "However, uh, we must observe protocol and put you under monitored quarantine if what you say about the diseased woman is true." He quickly held up his hands. Though Pasha was brave enough not to step back, Dimitri and the other man did. The government was notoriously bad at containing disease! "Not that I mean to impede your investigation! We will gladly don the proper camera gear necessary for you to observe the investigation of the vessel, and will even follow your orders on how to conduct it if our search is not thorough enough," the almost porcine man offered, almost desperate to placate the crew and keep them as far away as possible.

Though things seemed to have taken a turn for the worst, an interloper soon arrived. Though Dimitri stood his ground as the newcomer spoke, the third security man used this opportunity to quietly flee entirely. Meanwhile, the man was so bombastic that Hilda stopped rubbing her thighs together.

"Wǒmen de jiàndié (我們的間諜) ," Hilda muttered under her breath to Cleo, her eyes downcast and unwilling to make contact with the newcomer.

"I-I don't know Comrade," Pasha began. Pulling Gerasim to the side to speak to him in private, tones hushed. "The dog is ill tempered, the man in the front is a psychopath, idiot or a retard or all of the above given how he's smiling, and the boobs are potentially a biohazard," he pointed out. "I'm worried for the station. If I let them on any further, there's no telling what will happen!" He glanced back at Joshua, Cleo and Hilda. "I-it might even already be too late for us." Pasha realized.
 
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Warped

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Gerasim puts a comforting hand on Pasha's shoulder. "Pasha. Pasha." He shakes his shoulder a little bit as he coos to him calmingly. "You are the chief of security; these people are a committee. Are you telling me the sheriff of this station is scared of three guys?" He points at the conversation subjects with his left thumb and winks. "I thought you're more man than this. Even if you're right, you shouldn't betray your abilities to." He pauses, "Subdue them." Gerasim gives Pasha a hearty slap on the shoulder. "I'll take care of this, alright? I was an officer in the army; I can handle them."

Gerasim turns around, a gentle, comforting grin shining on his face. "Come on, comrades, none left except ol'Pasha and Dimitri to hold you up. Drinks are on me." With a wave of his hand, he motions everyone to follow him, walking off with a confident step.
 

TheFirstOne

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Cleo's jaw worked up and down as she watched the scene unfold, then she sighed. "Tā hē zuìle..." She whined quietly. "Wǒmen de jiàndié hē zuìle..." She said, before her ears perked up at the guards mentioning they needed to Quarantine Hilda. "You know," Cleo said, stepping forward. "I am actually purpose build so that I don't catch STI's. Carry over from being a... Luxury base model," She explained cracking her knuckles less as a threat and more as a relaxation tick. "And this Gentleman is immune. Spends a lot of time with hookers, he decided to get the permanent fix if ya know what I mean," She winked. "However, you are free to place her under quarantine for the duration of our inspection," She said, before looking at the man who had interrupted. "And this gentleman can even escort us! So neither of you have to do anything but maybe oggle the blond bimbo we were forced to take with us," Cleo smiled cheerfully.
 

Acewing13

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Joshua sighed as the situation spiraled out of control. I should have stuck to either humorless government agent or chummy comrade instead of trying to do some in between nonsense, he thought. Might as well go with the flow for now. "Sure, let's gets going," he said, following Gerasim. "If you feel the need to...detain my colleague, feel free. We'll be back soon."
 

CadetNewb

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"B-but! But!" Pasha began, frantically looking back and forward between his friend Gerasim and the group of intruders. Even so, he was helpless to stop them as they began brushing past. His muscle, Dimitri, also gave them all a wide berth as they did so. Meanwhile, a distraught Midnight paused by them, completely tossed under the metaphorical bus for the sake of the group. She looked at Pasha and Dimitri expectantly, as though hoping that they'd say or do something contrary to what the others had said. However, when they both further backed up against the wall, she recoiled in pain from the injury that her reputation had taken and looked away. But even so, she held out her hand, and they knew what she wanted. Taking the airlock keys dropped into her hand rather than being given proper, she departed with the rest, a tear budding at the corner of her eye as her lip quivered.

"Well...that could have gone better," Midnight finally spoke up, her voice dejected. Frowning as she walked along, the blonde couldn't help but hunch a little as she rubbed one of her arms. Having cleared their ship's docking point, they soon made it to the airlock for the ship in question. "Let's get this over with," she began. Using the key she had, Midnight opened the airlock into the ship beyond, revealing a standard airlock on the other side and a decontamination shower area. "Uh, where was the item we're looking for again?" the woman asked, her eyes turning to the rest of them again.

A set of ladders were heading up and down the skyscraper type ship, but the question was, where did they have to look?
 

Warped

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Gerasim stumbled forward, having led the group to the ship and lowered his hand onto a railing to steady himself. He glimpses at the star vehicle in front of him and rubs his eyes. 'That isn't the bar', he thought crestfallen, 'oh, What the hell need to think straight.' He shoves his hand into his pockets and rummages through it, taking out a pack of pills. Rolling out his tongue, he puts the package directly on it and pushes out a single tablet, swallowing it with a squelch.

He opens his eyes and looks at Midnight the moment she addresses the group, seeing that she had opened the door. 'That is one odd mechanism for a modern ship or any starship to have for a lock.' he states to himself, having looked at the whole schematics. He walks over, the pills already taking effect as they clean the alcohol from his system, soon only leaving a slight headache and numbness in his body. Maybe some vomit, but it happens when it happens. "That, I will show you comrades. My intel has it that he has it hidden somewhere up there." He says vaguely, shuffling beside Midnight into the starship.

"So, comrades, I didn't introduce myself. Gerasim Naumov, an engineer on this small station." He says, walking backward toward the ladder, spinning around at the last minute to grab one of its steps. "Now, in your service." He adds with a wink, then turns the back of his head to the group and starts to climb up.
 
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TheFirstOne

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Cleo looked around the ship carefully. "Do we know what exactly we are looking for?" She asked calmly. "I can find it if we know what we are looking for, better if we have something from the shipment," she said, looking over at Gerasim. "Next time, by the way, try to be sober when you show up to help us out."
 

Acewing13

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"For your dignity, yes. Sorry about my part in that, by the way," Joshua said to Hilda, before shrugging. "For the mission, I'm not sure we could have done better. No one got held up and we're getting free access to the ship. C'est la vie."

"Hmm," he said, taking a moment to look back at the briefing. "Some kind of big grey box, if I remember correctly. Not very specific, but that's what Midnight said." Looking at the cramped quarters of the ship, he stayed in the entryway and kept watch for anyone who might interrupt their search.
 

CadetNewb

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"A-ah, I see," the blonde replied as the portly man introduced himself. She didn't expect him to be so...polite? "You can just call me Midnight," the Hilda introduced herself, clambering in after the man. She was too busy thinking of this oddity to introduce Cleo and Joshua though. Hilda couldn't help but imagine him staring at her with greedy eyes, or wiping aside drool like a lust driven beast. It was only expected, wasn't it?! But no, Gerasim was not fitting of his stereotype it seemed. Hilda couldn't help but feel disappointed, but that was probably for the best. "And it's fine," the Daqinese woman replied to Joshua. "I'll bear any punishment necessary to keep the mission going!" They all clambered up the stairs, and soon found themselves in a kitchen area. "But yes," she answered Cleo as well. "It's a grey box apparently, with a simple lock." Looking around, she saw just the typical fare on board ships. Refrigerators for perishable goods, various lockers filled with retort pouches of food, powdered drinks and the like, as well as a coffee machine, microwave and a water boiler to heat food with. There were even a few tables and seats to sit down and eat, but nothing special. Except for one thing.

"Hey, what's that?" Feline ears perking up, Hilda's tail rose as she pointed over to one of the lockers, a slit of poly-glass revealing the contents inside. "There's all sorts of fancy alcohol here." Opening up the cabinet, she revealed a collection of fine alcohol and cigars, the interior of the locker folding out to reveal polished wood and velvet. "Odd. This should have already been pilfered by the local security," the woman realized.
 

Warped

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After Gerasim had climbed up the ladder, he had stepped to the side to let the others follow up and let his eyes sweep across the kitchen. 'An oddly homely kitchen,' he thought to himself, looking at the refrigerator. He walks over to it and opens it: 'sandwiches, pre-packed dinner and-,' he pauses, 'Kumys?'.

He stares at the bottle, throws a glance over the shoulder, and sees the Person called Midnight shout out as she walks over to the cabinet. He grabs the bottle from the fridge, closes the door with his left leg as he turns around, and leisurely walks over while screwing open the plastic lid. He stops next to Midnight and puts his nose over the opening, sniffing it. Yep, horse milk. He thinks and leads the bottle to his mouth, taking a swig from the sour, beer-like drink. 'Shame that I have to stay sober now.' He takes another swig. 'Kind of.'

"Now, now, our people here are honest folk. Don't think of them as thieves, I know them myself." He says to Midnight and takes another swig from the stolen bottle.

"Though, this is all rather-" He gestures with the bottle toward the spirits, "Much for a fellow citizen. He must be paid a lot for this." 'Also, this is a bit much indulgence on the job. Strange.' He traces his eyes across the room again. "I spoke to the owner, and he didn't pass on much, but I have a big hunch, though, that it is in the cockpit somewhere." He says, his scan shifting dangerously close to the alcohol cabinet again. "Maybe we should search there, comrade?"
 

Acewing13

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Joshua kept watch for a few minutes, before satisfying himself that they hadn't been followed. He closed the hatch of the ship and then joined the rest of the group. "So either the mule or his benefactor is loaded, makes sense," he said, looking between Gerasim and the cabinet. "And I don't think Midnight meant offense. I've known American soldiers to do...pilfering as well. Anyway, let's check the cockpit then," he continued, starting towards the front of the ship. "Faster we get this done, the better."
 

CadetNewb

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"O-oh! Sorry!" Midnight apologized. "I mean, yeah, that happens in America sometimes too," she admitted, realizing she had inadvertantly insulted Gerasim and his people. "No matter where you go, people are the same, so I sort of expected to see more of the same," the cat eared woman tried to backpedal, climbing the ladder and taking the lead out of embarrassment. "And, given the special nature of our job, I don't see why we shouldn't take a few bottles to inspect and make sure that they're cleared for customs," she tried to amend the mistake with foot-in-mouth haste.

Leading the way up the ladder and into the cockpit, the sight was immediately disorientating. One moment, they were clamoring up the rungs of their ladder, and the next, there were chairs mounted into the walls, their seats pointing 'up'. Hoisting herself into the cockpit and its nearly 360 degree viewscreen, Midnight stood on the 'back wall', setting her hands on her hips. With the four seats, the crew would have their backs to where she had emerged from, which was the same axis as the ship's thrust. "Maybe splitting up isn't such a bad idea?" the feline tailed blond suggested, reaching down to pull up anyone following her into the cockpit.

Though she was able to download Russian and speak it immediately, Midnight's words were a bit too...loose. In other words, she sounded just like how she looked given with the cleavage shot being offered to anyone climbing up after her.

A bimbo.
 

TheFirstOne

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Cleo sighed, mounting the ladder after Hilda. "Don't worry boys, I won't tear your head off looking at my ass," she sighed, starting the awkward climb up as her legs were poorly built for ladders, leaving her to just pull herself up with her hands only.

She got into the cockpit and immediately sat in the commanders chair, sticking a memory stick into one of the ports and fiddling through the screens. "May as well get everything we can right?" She asked, sounding bored.
 
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