Day in the Life: Escape from the Heavenly State

[CadetNewb]

Tossing on a jacket, still clad in the stripperrific cosplay underneath, Huāzǐ the pole dancer got up and followed along for some beef. "Maybe some food is what I really need! Lots of thick meat!"

"I would like to think I am not the 'lead' Princess, but even so," the princess crossed her arms, her voice low. "That's it then? It's that simple?" she asked, unamused. "We don't have to blow up some sort of key, critical archetecture that's preventing us from doing what we want, or capture some important equipment in some daring raid on an enemy stronghold?" Hoshiko asked, her ears drooping with disappointment at the reality of the situation they were in. "I mean, the Super Luminal Drive still needs to be captured and such, but they probably just have some bots or something in there. Humans can't stand radiation for long," she noted, downcast from the realization. "And yeah, it's all lab grown. The real thing is considered expensive here." Letting out a sigh, she pointed at the star-map.

"The whole point of us going to Earth is to try and coordinate efforts to get Mother-Empress free. Faster than the Imperial Fleet, since we're one jump away," Hoshiko pointed out. "There's lots of humans, but they're all divided, so any actual fight there in Sol is actually easier too. They're out of position and at a disadvantage since they still need to clean up the Super Luminal Drive." Saying that, a sudden realization came to her as she perked up, fist smacking into an open palm. "We can even sabotage it some or even set it to blow after we leave!" she realized.

 

[Ray of Meep]

Wen scoffed, "Princess, crossing half the star system, sneaking past surveillance and patrols at every planetary orbit, is the easy part. Rushing past the Nurhaci defense fleet into the radiation cloud without getting shot or getting too many tumors, is the easy part. Making landfall on the command center, eliminating the skeleton crew, activating the SLE, is the easy part. The difficulty is keeping the SLE turned on for two or three weeks under siege, playing chicken with the Republicans and hoping that they don't decide to just destroy their own assets, leaving the entire Shen Zhou expeditionary fleet floating in interstellar space, dozens of light years away from anything, with no FTL."

He sighed melancholily, holding the ice giant in his hands with grave resolve in his eyes. "Nothing is simple about this. We have all the connections, know almost where every Republican ship is in the system, all the element of surprise, the best engines, the best stealth technology, but this is their most well defended system, outnumbering our expeditionary fleet ten-to-one. Those of us who volunteer to keep the SLE online are sentencing ourselves to death." He looked up at Hoshiko. "You're taking a big risk too, Lady. Isolation in endless space, a slow death, it's a high possibility as well. Yet, we have our duties. The Daqinren come first, always, which means saving the Mother-Empress must be accomplished at all costs."

 

[CadetNewb]

"That is unacceptable! Dying for nothing but holding a glorified door open," Hoshiko scoffed back. "And keeing the Super Luminal Engine on for...two? Three weeks for us to make the journey? There has to be a better way!" Standing up on her feet, she began to pace, her feline tail waving in agitation, a sharp contrast to canine based Daqinren. "We can't stop them from stopping us at that point, but maybe make them let us?" she pondered to herself. "Have them let us..." Hoshiko murmured, voice dropping low. Her lower lip curled as though she smelled something horrible. "We go with the humans. They're going to get that SLE working as soon as they can, and send their own forces to Earth. We could try hiding among them. Maybe even sabotage them while we're at it!"

As she was walking along with Jun in meat-space, the lights flickered. "Huh?"

"The lights are flickering again. Annoying. Distracting," she noted, irate at the inconvenience. However, her ears heard something that was of use, standing up at the thought. "Hm. I guess a protest or demonstration is perfect cover for inserting ourselves into their system. Not fool proof, but all within our abilities." She turned to Koyama, deliberately ignoring the cow in the room. "Do you have any suggestions? Otherwise, we should set out now while we can."

 

[Soresu]

Koyama listened, pacing back and forth as she looked at the glittering map of the system. She had been laying on her bed in the meaty space of reality a hand over her eyes.

"Simplicity is the most deceitful mistress that ever betrayed man." she quoted after a moment of repose more a murmur to herself than to anyone around her. But she did blink and look up, "Henry Adams, ancient human, and American historian." she liked some of their quotations and philosophy, even if they were a pathetic race. They did make some good points.

Gesturing toward the map, she plucked at the command center, a god holding something insignificant in its hand. "We would have to pray they simply do not initiate a kinetic strike and wipe you out. Or drop troops and drones in to overwhelm you."

Tossing the make-believe display aside, and frowning at Hoshiko's remarks, "And if we join the humans and their forces to catch a ride, they add their own and the odds continue to stack against us. However much we try to sabotage them in transit." her words chosen deliberately and slowly. "With the increased chance of discovery." with an accusatory finger she pointed it at Hoshiko.

"You are too well known. And if either of us is captured, or both, it is a windfall for the humans. And our strip club misadventure works against us." she did roll her eyes when finally the protest was acknowledged. She had mentioned it earlier after all and now it was on the table?

"Li Ming's sphere of influence extends to Shen Zhou in part, yes? The Doves are up in arms so they can apply pressure. And are more open to the Daqin. I would surmise they would be willing to stick it to the Hawks if they could to further their own agenda here."

"We just need the SLE open. That is the crux of the problem and the solution all in one tangled mess."

"If I had my way, we would cover our bases. Undercover cells work on the Doves, get the ball rolling, incense the humans and cause Hawk and Dove to strike at one another. However many that can be spared join us should, and you, " looking to Wen sadly.

"If you can take the command center, should do so. Both plans of yours are gambles. Both as I have said have their merits and flaws. I propose an amalgamation of the two. If we can cause a stir here while his people take the center, it causes chaos and division while the rest of us transition toward Earth. One group would begin accusing the other of trying to assume control. And their forces may turn on one another in the system or begin giving conflicting orders."

"They will come for him in the end, in either case, should we go with his plan. But it could forestall the humans even by a few days we gain an advantage. The Empire comes first." the last coming with the weight condemning some of her own people to possible death.

She folded her arms underneath her chest, "I can put the word out amongst those I do know of to do so. And I freely admit I am naive when it comes to these sorts of things. Still too young, but that is the best I can come to on such short notice. But it is clear, we act now before the chance slips through our fingers and the humans solidify themselves around Earth."

All she could do was shrug helplessly at that. "Not much help. And my own plan is a bundle of chaos and fuckery waiting to blow up in all our faces a literal ticking time bomb. Can something be had of it?"

 

[Ray of Meep]

"I'm not privy to inner Republican political workings," Wen remarked, shaking his head. "I could pull up polls and look at all the human newsfeeds of the protests, but that'll only get us as far as what the Doves are already doing. We're especially unaware of what Li Ming's position is, since the system has been hard to reach. There's also the question of how long political influence is going to take to bear fruit; I estimate we have a month to get out of the system and head for Earth."

He then gave a wave, expanding out to the entire star system again. "As a corvette captain, I'm more confident in Lady Hoshiko's plan." He eyed Koyama apologetically, "No offense to you, Lady Koyama, I'm just not a politician." Wen then looked back at the map, pinging a few hundred orange dots. "We've been operating and hiding in transport vessels for decades now, this is our bread and butter." He waved again, most of the dots disappearing, save for a dozen, their trajectories intersecting with that of the Hahana SLE. "And we know that a few of them will be heading for Sol. Better yet, some of them are unmanned, and with cargo space to hide a corvette."

Wen expanded the map again, now showing both Shen Zhou and Sol, with a tube shape in between them, both star systems small disks in the grander, interstellar space. He traced along the tube as he walked from the Shen Zhou disk to Sol. "We can ride along the compressed spacelane, and even if we are discovered, the Republicans wouldn't shutdown the spacelane they opened themselves and sacrifice their own crew to the void. I doubt they'd try military action in the spacelane either; it's unheard of. Once we get close to Sol, we can force an exit out of the lane and fling ourselves towards where we expect the main fleet will arrive."

"There are complications, of course. The Republicans don't make this easy." Wen walked back to the Shen Zhou disk. "If we want to have any influence on the battles in Sol beyond attritional fodder, we'll have to get out of the system within the month, which means finding the right cargo vessel that'll meet our timetable, and commandeering it without any suspicion. We'll likely also have to leave behind most of the other operatives here to maximize our stealth. Then there's the exit: we can't decelerate normally, and this kind of abrupt exit has left ships mangled before."

 

[Uso]

Jun frozen up in meatspace when Hoshiko came up to her, looking at the various food kiosks. She would immediately respond by yelling at her in the VR meet-space, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING! THEY HAVE YOUR FACE ON ALL THE BILLBOARDS AND YOU'RE WALKING AROUND OUT WHERE THEY CAN SEE YOU!" Jun snapped, "All for vat-grown-beef that looks worse than what the Aoi-Si eat. You gotta go back to the room or get a new face or preferably BOTH so some streaming site doesn't start posting clips of Hoshiko walking down the streets!"

 

[Soresu]

"Not at all," Koyama, sounded a little resigned still took Wen's words in stride. She was little known at court, beyond a prideful, arrogant demeanor. And any who knew her, which were precious few to see her acting in such a manner would've been thunderstruck she had given over so easily. She had admitted as much that she was untried and tested after all.

But as the Cow-formed Daqin squared her attention on Hoshiko, all but yelling, Koyama hacked a cough as her attention wavered. Her physical form getting off the bed to peer through the blinds of her room's window.

"She's right. I'm up there as well. Fleeting as it was, it seems we've caught attention." musing aloud in the VR-chat and seemed to be fondling her hair, stroking a length of it absentmindedly.

"This complicates matters."

 

[CadetNewb]

Ruminating, thinking hard, pacing about, Hoshiko's mind seemed to be practically overclocking itself to try and solve their predicament. Their words soaked into her, permeating her thoughts as she put the ideas together, tinkering, trying, testing. And all in spite of the damned cow!

"Oh, be quiet," she waved Jun away. "You know how much these Republicans like seeing Mother-Empress comedian impersonators? And that's not getting into the pornography." Of course, Hoshiko left out her nagging suspicions as to what Mother-Empress may have been up to when 'on vacation' - they didn't need to hear that. "Watch, I'll show you in meatspace," the Tigress waved, opening up a screen to show her visual feed in real time. The beef-bowl serving man at the stall gawked at them, especially the definitely-a-Hoshiko-impersonator. Pretending to 'notice' his stare, she authoritatively pointed a finger at the balding cook and struck a pose.

"Surrender your beef in the name of the Nyamatai Empire!" she ordered him. "All your meats belong to us! Dohohohohoho!" The man was flabbergasted one moment, and laughing the next

"Okay, I'll give you two ladies a discount," he tried to catch his breath.

"See? Simplicity is best." Having said that though, she grumbled. "Simplicity..." Turning her gaze on Koyama, the Tigress pondered at the other princess for a good, long while in silence, eyes locked to eyes that peered deep into the private recesses of her soul. "KOYAMA! That's! It!" Hoshiko suddenly beamed. "Simplicity is the most deceitful mistress that has ever betrayed the humans! We'll just have them clean up and keep the SLE running for us!" she proudly declared. "They'll send armed reinforcement ships to Earth, but then a supply convoy that's a lot softer! if we hide one of our combat ships - a small one - inside a freighter, we can exit at the last moment and fry them before we come out of FTL! It's a narrow corridor of compressed space, but that means they can't get away, and anything coming from behind we can shoot down easy! They'll never see this coming!"

 

[Uso]

"Mother help me..." Jun whimpered in the meet-space, as her real body performed the inhumane feat of not visibly cringing as Hoshiko both pretending to be the exact person the authorities had up on their billboards AND said 'Nyamatai' with a straight face. "Can you at least not tempt fate right now? You ignored all that advice I gave you on how to stand out among your peers and it is NOW that you decide to start using it? At least wait until we're off the planet."

Jun would pay for the beef bowl, pick it up, and started to walk away before pausing, "HEY! Didn't I just say this was some fake-beef? You can get this stuff anywhere and the whole point of coming to the Human territories was to try the real thing... not like vat-grown fake beef but that 'used to walk around in a field, eat grass, get milked, make cheese, wear a cowbell, and get fucked by a Bull beef!"

...

A realization hit Jun.

"Wait... Do humans eat Beef that's been fucked?"

 

[Ray of Meep]

"It's a... safe option," Wen commented with some hesitation, "If all our stealth protocols go off successfully. Hijacking a transport ship shouldn't be difficult, and there's quite a few to pick from. The complications come with doing so without alerting the Republicans' merchant fleet, and doing it repeatedly; it's unlikely we can find a cargo ship for every Daqin vessel in the system and hijack every single one without alert, especially when some of them have escorts."

 

[Soresu]

Koyama gave Hoshiko a placid expression as the other tigress became excitable. "Yes, I'm glad my studying ancient human philosophy, historians and quotations helped you come to this realization." her voice cut and dry. She rolled a hand, fingers flexing as Jun asked a profound cow-form question. With a sharp look in her direction and a shake of her head, the woman sighed.

"Pretty sure, considering what they are, I'm sure humans eat beef that has been fucked. " leaving the urge to spit on the virtual floor aside a grimace marred her features.

"You may be able to fake a parody of yourself. I'm unknown to humans beyond the giant billboard outside of my window. So who am I supposed to impersonate?" lifting a sharp eyebrow to reinforce the question.

 

[CadetNewb]

"I don't think you actually even have to impersonate anyone, since there's a high enough percentile change to your appearance that the Republicans can't pick you out from a crowd with their computers," the tiger princess pointed out to the dragon princess. "Same computers that still can't answer the CAPTCHAs. I'm just doing this - " Hoshiko snapped her fingers, transforming into her own parody for a moment, " - to style on the humans and make fun of them later. I'm gonna release a remix of my best pole dancing moves once this is all said and done. Anyways," she snapped her fingers again, returning her appearance to its default. "The beauty of this plan is that we don't need multiple ships. Just one. The humans will get to Sol first, but that also means they'll send a supply group." Pointing a finger, the display changed to show the system, but now dotted with tagged supply ships and their plotted courses. "Their movements are so transparent, it's obvious they think they're safe here And are in a near-panic rush to reinforce. Their leadership probably didn't tell them they were going to capture Mother-Empress, or expect to get forced to stay in Sol!" she triumphantly clenched a fist with a grin.

"One ship, in the right place, at the right time, is all the Empire needs to cripple their supply network!" She paused her pride and put it aside for a moment though. It looked like Hoshiko had bitten into something unpalatable as she turned to look at Jun. "Well, you had the right advice, but wrong situation," Hoshiko replied to Jun. "And yeah, I think they do eat beef that's been fucked. It's why we're eating Real beef right now. It's not the highest quality and therefore cheap. But it's real," she pointed out, stuffing more into her mouth in meat-space with a pair of chopsticks. It felt tougher and more chewy than it should have been, but that was the whole reason why beef-bowls had their meat sliced thin against the grain.

"Anyways, are there any questions? If not, we can get this party started!"

 

[CadetNewb]

Shen Zhou System,
Interplanetary Space
One Week Later

Two dark motes came together in the starry expanse, and just as quickly, parted.

"Finally! Our very own ship for our brilliant plan!" As they floated into the tight, cramped interior of the corvette, they could all 'see' the stealth frigate peel away and vanish into the dark, the faintest glow of infrared fading away. "And don't worry Wen, I'm sure your old crew is better off on that ship - better accommodations, higher survivability, and a larger pool of people to play games with in our virtuality," she tried to cheer up the Ox Daqinren, a hand idly rubbing the visible bump on her rump. Though they all still looked very much human, the process of returning to their true selves had already started, albeit slowly thanks to the lack of tanks. "Who wants to set course while we suit up?" Hoshiko offered in their virtuality, the scenery seamlessly melding into a bridge fit for the hero-ship straight out of a space opera.

Nevermind the fact that the tiger princess had stuffed her luggage away in meat-space and was now wiggling her hips to slip out of her tight-jeans, a locker of Type 4 Combat Suits opening up to wait for them all.

 

[Ray of Meep]

Wen walked over to a console in virtual space, sitting comfortably in front of it in a sleek chair with touchpad controls, looking out the large window of the ship, out into the expanse beyond. "On it, Captain Hoshiko," he obliged, and with a few taps on his console, he plucked a dot out of the vast void, tracking it on the window. It was labeled as the Shanghaifei/上海飛/On Oceans Fly, a large cargo freighter with an enclosed cargo space that could hide their corvette, which currently hid behind a lone asteroid. He then plotted half a dozen trajectories to intercept the cargocraft, ranging from the fastest, most exposed, to the slowest, stealthiest.

In meatspace, like Hoshiko, he was pulling his gawdy shorts and sleeveless shirt off, slipping into a combat suit that best matched his form. His red hair was returning, and two small bumps formed above his temples. The Ox-form sighed. "Admittedly, I wouldn't have left behind my crew to stay in this system, but you need a pilot, don't you?"

 

[Uso]

"Do we need a pilot?" Jun also asked, looking at Hoshiko in meatspace as she grabbed one of the bodysuits. She didn't actually know if Hoshiko could pilot a ship of this size. "I mean, I can pilot one of the small shuttles around an asteroid but I'm not rated for interplanetary stuff..." She still hadn't had an opportunity to really get out of the skimpy bar-tender outfit she'd had on earlier and before she was willing to seal herself into the bodysuit she wanted something vital. "This ship has a shower in it right?"

 

[Soresu]

"I know how they work. Not fly them," came Koyama's response to Hoshiko's query and Wen's in turn as she floated cross-legged, upside down. She stroked where her ears would be, feeling for that felt-like texture and finding herself wanting. With a grumble, the young woman had casually pulled off the clothes she had worn after orienting herself properly to perform the task. Modesty aside, seeing the combat suit gave her a bit of a thrill. Because of the implications, its capabilities and her innate love for technology in general.

"This is going slowly," the princess complained in their virtual space, voicing her contempt as she too rubbed at the area where her tail would regrow in meat-space. "I wish we had tanks, or at least something to further accelerate the process." punctuating the final bit with a grumble while plucking at the body glove. She had been a deal curvier before her 'downgrade', now slender, and seeing the suit before her reminded her of this fact and her shame.

Wiggling herself into the body glove, the material conforming to her form.

As she dressed herself in the physical world, her virtual avatar paused, "Funny how playing games involving thrilling heroics as a kid are becoming a reality."

 

[CadetNewb]

"Aw, come on guys! I could totally helm this baby alone!" Closing her suit up, the material saggy and baggy, Hoshiko checked the seals. "Remember when I fried that whole Tolken-army of elves?" The tiger princess reminded them of her moment of glory, a faint tune echoing in their memories. Meanwhile, her body suit hissed in meatspace, shrinking down tight to fit her body proper. "If I can do doughnuts in my own corvette, I'm sure I can handle this baby!" she added in their virtuality. Clamping the armored helmet over her head, a myriad of mechanical manipulators rapidly combing her hair into position, making her pause for a moment in meatspace. "But really, it's great to have a full, cross-trained crew. I can't do this next part alone," she pointed out. "And yeaaaaah, there's a shower. Technically. Just keep in mind that proper military vessels aren't made for comfort in meatspace though," Hoshiko replied to Jun in their virtuality. Pointing her thumb over her shoulder, the nav details streamed to the taller Ox. Settling into the commander's seat in both spaces, the meatspace version clamping down on her like a protective lock, Hoshiko poked at the ship Wen had picked.

"Now, the target you picked? Good choice, but we gotta think bigger!" Swatting its image aside, and even larger vessel came into view, its hull aged and pitted by almost a hundred years of use. "Soyuz make ship Beeeger!" she mocked the descendants of Russia. "Civvie ships, even ones bought from others like the Cháng Lǜ (常綠) here are made to last, but it's big, slow, and has engine problems! Meaning - " she mischeviously grinned, " - we can make excuses to get it in the back of the line. Boarding and capturing it is a breeze, especially after it does some evasive maneuvers and gets thrown off course, courtesy of your crew!" The planned intercept attempt from their allied frigate, and their own stealth approach envelop lined up, ensuring the Cháng Lǜ was going to be straggling behind in the ad-hoc supply group heading towards Earth. Having said that, the Tiger-princess turned to look at the Dragon-princess. "Don't worry about slow, this is what space-combat is all about. Hurrying up to wait! Though, yeah....it is a little funny. I guess?" she pondered for a moment. Real life wasn't usually so bright, was it? Hoshiko brushed the thought aside. "In the meantime though, we got lots of work to do."

"Everyone here know how to do a boarding action? "

 

[Ray of Meep]

"I'd be concerned if we were fighting crack-marines with just the four of us," Wen shrugged, updating the screen in front of them to switch to the Chang Lv, along with their trajectory towards it as a solid line, with alternative routes in dotted lines. "But if it's just a freighter with civilian crew, my only real concern is if we can take them down fast enough before they send out a distress signal." The Ox-form pulled from the ship's database, pulling up several Soyuz civilian ship models in front of the team. "We should spend some time running drills."

In meatspace, Wen climbed into a crashcouch, preparing for a high-g burn. He was visibly conflicted, fidgeting in his seat, taking quick glances at Hoshiko before turning away. Finally, with a hefty snort, he gathered the courage to ask, "Lady Hoshiko... you were an Aos Si before, right? You seem to be... unbothered torching them all. I don't know, I figured the Mother-Empress had good reason to kill our human creators, but the Aos Si are stuck in the dark ages. They pose no threat to us. I guess I'm just confused why we killed them too."

 

[Uso]

Jun would float off, expecting a warm shower... possibly some bubbles. Her excitement was immediately dashed when she saw the lame plastic bag-thing of a shower that could retain a small amount of water in zero G. Cleaning off would involve small sprinkles of cold water, soap on a loofa, and many lather/rinse cycles before that lingering feeling of having been in a human strip club was completely gone. Though their culture was interesting from a distance, but being up close had Jun with a distinct impression of just how much skin humans shed all the time.

A newly clean Jun would then swap into her bodysuit, letting the black suit conform to her body.

"Yeah, just shoot them and we'll be fine right? Just gotta be sure not to miss otherwise we'll be stuck wearing helmets the entire time." Jun replied, getting out of the shower-bag and floating off towards the nearest bed to get strapped down, "Or we could just punch them if you're worried about breaking the ship."

 

[Soresu]

"I've done the sims," Koyama answered soberly in response to Hoshiko and a clear indicator that meatspace hadn't happened. "As for a distress signal, get me a connection to their systems." the bodysuit clung tight, now fiddling with the helmet absently. "I can take care of their systems on the software end of things."

Holding up a small, unadorned, and seemingly innocuous module to her suit. The specs, clearly on display in the virtual space showed it to be a rather vicious module designed for taking systems deftly in the right hands. "But he has the right of it. Drills will help me cut down on the window needed to infiltrate and take their systems by storm. In the meantime, it would leave me vulnerable."

With that said, she held the freighter in the palm of her hand. "Communications will be foremost for my attack. Computational systems, engineering will be essential if the humans decide a blaze of glory and play fast and loose with the magnetic bottle of their reactor.

So one of us should probably make that a priority before the vodka-swilling idiots decide to bash a bottle of it on a console or toss it."

With a small maneuver and a slight bit of pressure, Koyama floated toward a couch to strap herself in.

"Playing with human tech ought to be fun though. Soyuz technology. I always wanted to play with Russian equipment." there was glee in her physical voice after the final click of her harness was in place. Wen's question on the other princess' origins she brushed aside. At least for now. That was her business while attaching the device to her suit and checking its integration.

"Still, from what I know of them, they are at least augmented to some degree. Even if it is just civilians."