• 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 2.0: "If you are far from the enemy..."

CadetNewb

CadetNewb

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Empire of Daqin,
Pínqióng (貧窮) System
Tiāntáng (天堂), High Orbit
Heavy Transport 172673-262688

Hoshiko was not the mother-empress.

"Listen up you Zhūtóu (豬頭)!" the short tiger-princess leaped onto the Jiǔjiā (豬頭) table. All around her, men were quickly throwing out kicks and punches in a grand display of martial arts, while women fled and cowered in fear. "It's time we planned our upcoming mission - "

"Hand over the Sword of Destiny!" a brigand interrupted her, brandishing a knife. She glared down at the filthy peasant of mythical China and simply jabbed her finger at the man. He instantly started screaming as he blackened, derezzing with prejudice from their virtuality. The other NPCs all stopped to look on in shock at the incomprehensible horror that Hoshiko had visited. Just as quickly, another brigand picked up a teapot and made to smash it over her, only for him to blacken and fragment. Screams of absolute terror spread through the asian tavern, and with a clap, they all vanished.

"Playtime is over. I've put planning our op off long enough," the princess began, now leaping down from the table. Hoshiko was not the mother-empress, who's black-mood hid in the shallows of her smile to suddenly surface like a shark. "So there's caravans heading to one city, and we're sure it's all the major players in Aos'Si politics coming to gather. What do you all think we should do? I want to hear your opinions," she half grumbled, focusing more on arranging the appetizers into a crude map of the area.

Unlike her mother-empress, she seethed and bubbled like an angry pot that would scorch anyone who reached out without caution.
 
Xian would carefully evaluate the situation. There were temperamental princess' to consider, and the stain on their reputations from the last encounter. Xian would have to say something to establish herself. Her mother would inist on taking control of the meeting in its entirety! Be the most in charge of the situation!

But that wasn't all there was to think of.

She did have the clout to shout down someone like Oumijia or Wen, but the two princesses here wouldn't stand for such a thing.

She could speak up early, but that was an honor reserved for those of lower rank. A younger officer speaking first gives the higher officers a chance to correct them. A higher ranking officer being corrected by a lower one would be...


"Lets find out what they do for fun. Big party-thing. Hit'em with the Daqin bubbly and uh maybe some party favors. It'll be a ton of fun, how many of us have actually experienced how the Aos Si unwind?" Jun said, the princess jumping right into the middle of things with her own recommendation before Xian could get it together enough to speak.
 
Wen was wholly unbothered by events days prior. He would have plenty of private time to dwell on the embarrassment and failures, but right now, a job was a job.

He looked at the crude map made of food, which might as well have been a blank sheet to him. "What is our objective? Are we there on an assassination job? Just observation? Diplomatic contact?"
 
"Hmmmm..." For a moment, it seemed like Hoshiko was actually considering what Jun was saying, but Wen brought up some of the more important questions. "That's the thing. Intel is spotty. We don't know the parties involved, and since we are acting on our mother-empress's behalf, she's probably expecting us to at least get a feel for everyone before offing someone." By now, Hoshiko had assembled a large array of Dim sum on the table, and began spooning out hoisin sauce until they recognized some of the planet's topography.

Whether or not hoisin sauce was apocryphal to the Three Kingdoms Era though, nobody knew anymore - The Communists probably burned the records on accident or on purpose.

"So, we're going way south of Gūdú Shì (孤獨市), the sole city we have on the planet's surface," Hoshiko pointed to a cube of Hóngzǎo Gāo (紅棗糕) and traced downwards. "Recon suggests several caravans with person's of interest are gathering here," her finger lead them to some southern placed Shāomai (燒賣) to designate the place they'd be investigating. "It's one of the largest walled cities, and apparently has a large military host, even after sending most of it and their magic artifacts against us."
The Aos'Si had failed to eject the Daqinren thanks to lots of modern firepower, but the status quo was unsustainable.

"Oumijia, you've been quiet. New guy or not, I expect you to participate, even if it's being dumb like Princess Jun," she jabbed a thumb at her sister-in-law.
 
"OH MY FUCK, is that like the military version of a one night stand? Just meet someone and kill them right away? People really hate it when you start killing people at a party." Jun replied, "Maybe they are just having a bad day you know? You've gotta get a feel for them over a few days before you go all the way. Unless, you know, they do something unforgivable... or like, they have a lot of money and aren't ugly."

Jun continued to maybe lose the plot, "So what makes for a rich, hot, Aos Si anyways? Are we wanting to see their magical artifacts? Or find out some Tea about who's hooking up with who?"

"Wen is right. We should have a clear objective for this operation." Xian said, finally getting involved at what seemed to be the right time, "Without an understanding of why we are conduction this operation, we will not know how to help achieve our overall goals. We should also avoid getting entangled with these Aos Si"

Xian would cast a glance towards Jun.

"WOW. Ok. I'm a PRINCESS now and I'm just here to have some fun. I'm not looking for a one night entanglement, just going to have some fun."
 
"Lacking an objective for this operation, I suppose we have to set one ourselves." Perhaps this was just the Mother Empress's way of telling them to take the initiative. "We do not know why the Aos Si are all gathering, so we should go learn. I propose the mission objective be to study and observe Aos Si diplomatic interactions, and their reasons for this large, abnormal gathering." Wen suggested outloud.

"What assets do we have for this reconnaissance mission? Xian is right, entanglement would complicate any mission. What stealth assets do we have available? It seems that the Aos Si were able to detect us despite our visual cloaking technology."
 
Though she eyed Oumijia at first, hoping the newcomer would speak up, the silence allowed the regulars to chime in during the awkward pause instead. As they did so though, Hoshiko tossed out a cup of some NPC's tea over her shoulder and poured herself a new one.

"I suppose the Aos'Si can detect us, at least, when we call out to them or start making a fuss among ourselves," Hoshiko remarked to Wen with some measure of sarcasm. "I suppose Viz putting sparkling star decorations all over us counts too, at least to a degree though," she admitted. In hindsight, it was admittedly rather creative use of what turned out to be an entertainment spell of all things. Taking a sip of the oolong tea for a moment, she decided to jot her finger down onto the empty side of the 'map' of food. "We'll requisition native fauna based spy Chongwu from our city then, since the new governor will be a lot more...willing to assist," ominously paused.

As neat little board pieces of their assets appeared, they all remembered what happened to the previous Governor.

"Once we figure out what's going on though, we'll either have to conduct kinetic action, or diplomatic action depending on what we find, so we might as well grab a transport and load up for both," the Tiger Princess noted, looking to Wen and Xian. A box of board pieces appeared in her hand, and she set it down for them to look through. Whatever The Lonely City had in its garrison, they likely had access to. "Kinetic is the easy part, but diplomatic...well, the rich, hot Aos'Si don't look all that different from us and will probably be dressed up more nicely," Hoshiko admitted to Jun.

"Theoretically, if we want to barge in on a party of mean-girls Jun, and, theoretically, get their friends on our side, what would you do?" she asked the horned cow woman.
 
"We could just crash the party with some booze and snacks but it'll go a lot smoother if we get an invite. Maybe ask one of the groups showing up to +1 us? Or maybe we got an Aos Si somewhere willing to vouch for us?" Jun asked. "After that we just gotta work the crowd. Talk to people, have drinks with them, that kinda thing... though if its a bunch of old Aos Si then we'll have to talk about whatever old Aos Si like... probably like... prunes... and board games. If we're lucky they'll just be happy to see some boobs."

"TACTICALLY." Xian said, trying to mask her discomfort with this topic, "Aos Si historically have had issue dealing with our air support. This is a large open area. We should be ready to engage close support from the air should a kinetic operation be needed. We should also retain air transport to bring in additional ground forces to secure the area should a kinetic operation start. The more firepower we can drop at the start of things the better, it will make us appear as if we are a larger force and get any armed opponents to retreat rather than stay and face an attack."
 
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