Monkeypants

Ban the Person above you

Banned for douche haircut

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Era of Succession(Closed)

The Imperium

Davians Hope

Aboard the Dark Horse, Admiral Graff sat comfortably on his chair. There was little emotion in his eyes as the tracers from his ships cannons disappeared into the void. He didn't bother magnifying the image, but was rather content seeing the tiny flickers of light in the distance from what his chief tactical officer exuberantly declared

"Sir! we scored four hits!"

"Primitives." Was all Graff could muster.

For nearly half an hour of constant fire, Graff ordered them to stop. He was curious as to why the fight was going only one way, why were the barbarians not firing. "Just content to sit in your little chairs so far off eh?" he mumbled, "Alright, Launch a couple... drones. Lets see if we can draw them out a little."

A mere two minutes passed before two drone strike craft darted from the left hangar pod of the Dark Horse
Their trek was simple and the travel was fairly uneventful. They passed small bits of wreckage until arriving at visual range of the Horde fleet. "Lets see what our next kill will be." Graff said with a smirk.

As the Drones panned their cameras, all aboard the bridge gasped. A few holographic emitters, projecting an image of a huge fleet, and four large ship props had been set. A elaborate ruse that the Imperium fell perfectly for. "Sir, your ord-" Alerts began sounding all around the fleet as Horde ships began erupting from the darkness. Graff slammed his fist, "All ships, Battle stations, Fire at will!"

The order wasn't even half given when the other ships began firing wildly. Horde ships rushed through the fire to get in range to launch their payload, masses of fighters. The two fleets clashed in a dazzling spectacle of lights and flashes. Graff leaned back in his seat and banged his head gently. "Is this all they have?" he said with clear disappointment. Ahead of the Dark Horse a massive ship appeared, the first any in the fleet had seen and Naval intelligence had seen once, A Behemoth slowly pulled itself from warp.

It, like all the rest, became a target for the Imperium gunners and in yet another array of dazzling lights, the ships fired in that direction as well. At that moment, Graff signaled for his ships to begin evasive maneuver patterns and his own ship to fly closer to the Behemoth. He could see the massive guns on all sides of the ship and hoped to get under some of their guns, guns that had scored some well placed shots into his fleet. There were losses, although at the expense of many of the Horde ships. "I've never seen the Horde fight like this before." Graff said, almost impressed. Almost.

with an ear to ear smile he leaned towards the comms officer. "Alright, they played into a trap too. signal the first two battlegroups. Time to drop this house of cards. Checkmate." he said with sheer, sickening confidence.

On cue, the two battlegroups, Pegasus and Gryphon, darted in from warp speed. The Horde had now been encircled and they knew it. Horde forces began to scatter in various directions, attempting to get a better hold on the situation but the sheer volume of fighters and ships prevented any chance of regrouping.

Four hours into the fight, the bulk of the Horde forces had been destroyed as the Imperium's elite pushed their ships beyond the safe limits. Some captains treating Ganymede cruisers like fighters, dipping and dodging. Albeit at much slower speeds. The Horde had seen an opening though, an weak point in the Imperium's line and began to exploit it. Droves of Barbarian ships broke off from the fight and made for the breach in the line they made. "Good.. good." Graff said, watching as the enemy ships took smaller formations to escape the Imperium onslaught. "Battlegroup Centaur, you're up."

Hundreds of flickering lights against the void heralded yet another mass of Imperium warships. All eager to join the fight. Their foe, tired and beaten from Graff's well executed play had thought escape was ahead. Only to see five Sol class dreadnoughts waiting for them.

It was six hours that the battle lasted before all that was left was the Behemoth. It's outer hull was heavily damaged and most turrets were gone from an intense dual with Graff's ship, which hadn't suffered near as much damage. "Bigger isn't always grander." Graff said, remarking on the fact that his own ship, immense and huge as it was, was still less than half the total mass of the Behemoth.

Only an hour more of fighting brought an end to that menace. Massive beams of energy tore through the innards of the Behemoth as it slowly broke apart from the sheer impact of kinetic and energy weaponry that had pounded it four hours.

"Strike up another victory." Graff said with a smile.

"Sir, we have taken some losses. Perhaps we shou-" a young bridge officer stated

"No. Celebrate with what we have as this is only the beginning. There will be far more losses. We can mourn later." Graff replied sternly, but finishing with a respectful nod.

Carina Prime

"Damn them. Damn all of them." Uther shouted angrily as he paced around the massive central chambers of the capitol building. All around him, Generals and politicians sat bewildered at a massive holographic display showed the declarations of war against their nation, as well as the rushing wave of Dominion warships tearing through the western Imperium.

The only thing keeping him from truly blowing up was the messages from his allies, that they would help him stop the madness of his tyrannical neighbor. "We have to bolster our southern front due to Musashi's entry into the war." Uther said, pointing to an admiral. "And recall our forces from the western front to a defensible line."

One of the Politicians rose his hand, "That line puts your capitol world of Astrion in danger of attack."

Uther shook his head. "It pains me greatly to leave it. My love for my home is unfathomable but the issue at hand is, do I commit forces against a fresh and well executed invasion that will end in tragedy?" He looked towards the holographic display. "It is fate that placed my home so close to his. But it will never fall, not so long as our Imperium lives. And the only way it will survive is if we are smart with the resources we have."

"Signal our Allies. Let them know we have had losses, but far from beaten." Uther said and then stood before the politicians and military officials. "Let it be known that the Imperium will not fail. The Forces of Varangians, Dominion, Musashi and the damnable horde will all fail. Our allies are strong and have their hearts set on the biggest threat we have, Faust. Once he is dealt with, the others will fall in line. However, we must still make sure to defend against the others."

"I want options of a pre-emptive strike against the Musashi military or against their populated worlds. I do not want to become a monster but them being in the war puts too much pressure on us." Uther said.

One of the Politicians spoke up, "Why do we not strike against Dominion worlds first?"

Uther frowned, "Because those people are only emboldened when attacked, too fanatical to take losses to heart.. and the Horde only see it as us freeing them from an obligation. Less for them to worry about defending. No, it has to be people that still seem to care."

"And what of the horde?" the same Politician asked.

"We are getting reports as to the full scope of their invasion and its worse than we imagined. Yet analysts are suggesting that they are attacking with less than a quarter of their military force. I sincerely hope they are gravely overestimating the size of our foe." Uther said. "And with that, I must head to a secure location."

A day later, Uther's fleet had left the second imperium. They were heading at flank speed for a fortress that was hidden from most, The Imperium's war-time command facility, Black Rock.

The Dominion

The battle for Earth had been hard and long fought, nearly two days on constant combat before the Imperium forces had fled. The losses of both sides were great but the Dominion had fared much better. All around the region, Dominion ships destroyed fleets and stations and attacked countless worlds. There weren't many planetary invasions, rather they were content to deploy combat satellites in orbit of a planet that could pin point target cities, bunkers, even people with devastating efficiency. Fear did wonders for controlling a population.

Faust wouldn't admit it but he was rather blindsided that the other powers declared war in the Imperium's favor but it was no matter, fleets began bolstering the 'southern' borders to intimidate would-be invaders. It was a show of force that they hoped would stall their foes long enough for the Dominion to finish off the Imperium.

The Horde

All across their borders, one would still see signs of the Horde falling back. To an ignorant leader or commander, which has already been proven, would see this as retreat, but to a careful observer, would know something else was going on. The Horde wasn't what it used to be, this new leader had brought with him new tactics, new technologies and new ideals. Ideals that would make the Horde more dangerous than ever.

On the Imperium front, the Horde had done well to cause disarray and confusion. Imperial fleets were evading systems that were safe for systems that Horde fleets controlled. The lack of communications and rapid movements of their newer, well fueled fleets enabled them to keep the Imperium a step behind. Though it was well known to the Hordes leader, Bragga, that the success was in no small part due to the Dominion's blitz into Uther's nation. Bragga was content to sit and watch the Dominion do the most work. Faust was doing well at this point which enabled Bragga to not use up as many forces. He knew they would be needed in the future as word had reached him that the nations to the 'north east' had begun moving on his territory.

Orders were issued to keep them guessing, keep them confused as it was working wonders so far. All the while, preparations for the 'event' were being made, something that made Bragga excited.

"With how well the Domon is doing and the Musi joining their hand. The great enemy has no chance." Bragga said, staring out of a crude window, overlooking a large green valley. In the distance, a skyline could be seen that was bathed in black smoke. It was yet another victim of his crusade. One of his trusted friends spoke, "But Bragga. We aren't to be the ones that kill the great enemy?"

"While they weaken, we will prepare the final blow. But we have enemies that are looking to our lands. Enemies that will be crushed." Bragga said.

Era of Succession(Closed)

for insanely private family reasons, reasons that I'd rather not go into. I was away from home for quite some time.

So hopefully too much interest hasn't been lost because I'm back for my beloved story arc, albeit I am somewhat curious as to how ya'll woulda ended the war. the conditions and all.

Anyway, I'm back.

Era of Succession(Closed)

@urukhai

So yeah. Hope your read my last post.

Get yer warface on!

Era of Succession(Closed)

The Terran Imperium

The Imperium Strikes Back.

It had been five days since the horde attacked and slain Dominions' Envoy and second in command. Most found solace in blaming Uther as no one had the desire to face the horde. Reality though, was starting to set in as outpost after outpost reported sightings and each one was further in to the empire. The path was right through the middle of the new imperium in what was to be Bragga literally splitting the nation in two.

One world in that path, Lumia IV, referred to as Davions Hope, lay silent for three days. Imperium command had dispatched two scouts that ceased reporting, followed by a battle group of seven ships.. That also never sent word. Families began asking a questions and to hear, we do not have all the information countless times was creating an uproar.

The decision to deploy assets was up to the high naval command, a group of five arm chair grand admirals that reported directly to Uther himself. The choice they made was to send an admiral that had turned down a grand admiral position many times, always stating "I need to see my enemy to defeat him."

Enter, Fleet Admiral Graff.

A tall, blond haired athletic male in his mid thirties. His chiseled form intimidated the majority of his men and held women's lustful hearts. Heavy footsteps announced his arrival on the bridge of a mighty Imperium warship, The Sol class battleship named Dark Horse, named by the brash mr Graff upon launch.

"Attention crewmen." He said with a drawn out 'N' and after a deep breath, an even more so heroic tone came fourth, "Today, We shall, Make certain that our worlds are, safe."

He prepared to open with a heroic speech of committing glorious deeds to his soldiers but the arrival at Lumia drew his attention elsewhere. Ahead he could see the remains of a lone Ganymede that was seemingly fleeing the battle. As they got closer they recognized the name as the ship that sent the distress call. "So they weren't traitors." Graff said. "Who ever committed these horrendous acts must be using a-" A bridge officer interrupted, "Sir, Long range scanners are detecting some sort of dampening field, something akin to a communications jammer but far more powerful."

"Fascinating." Graff said, seemingly unamused.

"Sir, This isn't the work of a rebel militia." Another officer stated.

Graff began examining his fingernails, mumbling about dry skin as well. "All right. Go to full alert. Battlegroups Centaur, Pegasus and Gryphon, enact Graff maneuver number four." He pointed his finger directly at what all could now see as a massive fleet of ships hovering above a small world, "How big is that fleet." The Sensors officers turned to Graff, "Sir, I cannot get a number but systems suggest they outnumber us five to one, and that's minus any fighter presence."

Graff turned from the massive view screen and sat down in a rather lavish command chair. "And. Here I was, hoping for a fair fight."

As the fleet split into battlegroups, Graff ordered his own group to push forward. Once within visual range without magnification, Graff stood up once more, "All ships except for the four Sol battleships, assume broadside formation." His second in command looked to him, "Why are we not turning our heavy guns towards them?"

Graff smiled, "I read up on these new ships. From what we could tell, those Bulwark battle carriages would outgun us in a true broadside. So, I have a plan." He said, trying to hide his excitement. "This entire fleet is their new age weaponry and from the reports, they have decimated everything they have encountered. Until now."

The second nodded and looked towards the massive ships. Graff spoke again, "All ships except for the Sol's, Launch all fighters and assume standard defensive formation." He gazed about the room then spoke one last time, "All ships, Be fierce, show these barbarians your fury! fire at will!"

With the order given, a barrage from the Imperium line signaled the start of the war. A war that was to transcend both Uther's Imperium and Bragga's Horde.

The Barbarians

For The Horde

It had been a long time since Bragga felt the true exhilaration of combat. The fights he endured from fighting fellow barbs for his title of warlord were tough, but nothing like killing a true alien from another land. As the now dead James Conrads bones snapped and flesh ripped along Braggas jagged teeth, he couldn't feel anything but excitement. This was his ultimate test. With war on the horizon, he was already winning. His forces had already penetrated the imperium border, a land that had foolishly turned its gaze from the barbarian space, thinking the horde to be content in their pocket of the galaxy.

Time wasn't on Bragga's side however, even as the horde assembled in its masses, threats from his flanks lingered. For now he had no immediate worry but the fact that he had to leave forces inside his own 'nation' meant that he would be counting on the Dominion to enter the war in the most flashy method possible.

From the outside of his borders, one could only see the lines fortifying. Entire worlds were abandoned that offered no real strategic value. This afforded Bragga more forces to defend the populated and important areas of his homeland. To the ignorant, it would seem as if he were cowering from the approaching aliens, but to the wise...

The wise would know a storm was coming.

The Dominion

Casus Belli

"The Executus, Dead.

Earth, Sieged and blockaded not by aliens, but by an emboldened 'Core Imperium'.

Creatures, machines and humans fighting in the reaches beyond the Imperium.

And the Horde uniting under one banner for the first time in.. who knows when.

These are the signs of our times, the signs of the coming darkness and the strife to come. Do we sit idly by as the galaxy unravels? Do we sit idly by as the machinations of foreign powers bring our mighty nation to its knees? The status quo is no more and there is no going back.

We must put one foot in front of the other, step by step we will not turn back, we must press on if we wish to survive. And survive we will. Today marks the initiation of an event that some had called our existence based around, war. This war was not hastily wrought, it was determined and decided through reason and thought alone. The vicious attack on our nation's leadership was proof of that reason, proof that we cannot sit back any more.

After the murder of the Executus by Uther's forces, Uther and his ilk's destiny was not written in the stars, but by their own hand. And we, the dominion, shall deliver this destiny to his front door.

I call on the Dominion's allies and friends. To uphold your words to help defend a nation that has been attacked so deeply. The Imperium must be brought to justice for its unwarranted attack and its allies, should they decide to aid Uther, are just as guilty of murder and treason. The time for half measures are over. Now is the time for action."

"Prepare yourself Uther, I am coming for you."

The news began eating Faust's words alive, every word, every breath, it was what the media needed to survive.. war.

It was going to get its share.

>>>>

Not even an hour before the announcement, Faust's ship had departed earth, leaving another Titan in its place. The pieces had been set and forces from all over his Dominion had reached their positions. The soldiers were bold from words of glory, their aim and skill honed from decades of intense training and centuries of examples to learn from.

Faust's Dominion war ready.

>>>>
Earth, the day of days.

"Admiral!" shouted a communications officer.

"Yes?" The captain replied.

"Sir, Code Blue announced!" The officer announced, with panic clear in his voice.

"What?!" the Admiral said, mirroring the panic and bringing him upright from his command chair.

"Message reads, Code Blue, Authority Faust. Designation, Total... and complete destruction of the Imperium Under.... Uther."

The Admirals eyes widened as the reality of the situation played across his mind. Knowing it was no jest, Focus pushed through and the Admiral turned towards the viewing screen. Shown was a broad view of the fleet, which was getting word at the same time. Messages were coming through in far greater numbers than the Admiral could hopefully read but all had the same premise, "For the Dominion! Permission to engage?"

The Admiral walked to the comms officer and pat him on the shoulder before returning to his chair. He sat down and pressed a small triangular yellow symbol on the chairs arm mounted console. "Attention fleet. As you all know, the order has been given. Fleet captains, Today will either be your finest or your last. Make use of your well trained crews, make use of the lessons of your ancestors, make use to the true might of your patron. We are the Dominion."

There was a moment of silence as the grin grew across the admirals face. "All ships, assume broad stance, pick targets and engage on my mark."

It was the poster child of a well oiled machine as the entire fleet split off into positions with precision. Ships moved into perfect spots and their fighters launched in a choreographed fashion. The Imperium ships started launching their fighters as well but were lazy in comparison. The Imperium was unaware of the full scale of the situation. The word of the declaration had yet to reach them.

And all across the Imperium and Dominion border, Fleets of Dominion warships crossed. Completely bypassing border patrols and disregarding warning messages. Casting them aside as a mild foul smell would be waved from ones nose.

The Admiral took one last deep breath as the fleet signaled it was ready.

"Fire."

Era of Succession(Closed)

Rong and Morinth

It had been long since Yuki left Rong and Morinth at earth. There was no reason for either to linger as the entire place was a powder keg and the three knew that Musashi wasn’t going to be the ones to light the fuse. The small fleet found itself traveling in Imperium space but by some luck, largely ignored. The Galactic south, along the border of the Dominion and unaffiliated systems was where this backwater planet was located.

As the fleet made a final approach on the outskirts of the system, Morinth went to Rong with a question she had been pondering for a while, “You said that the Psi-net is a link between people with that power. Is Lau linked too?”

“Its not the psi-net,” Rong answered, “but a psi-net. Psi-nets are advanced forms of telepathy. It’s… how to explain this?” She closed her eyes in thought for a moment before continuing. “Sort of like a group of computers connecting to each other through wireless signals. Does that make sense?”

“It sort of does.” Morinth said, “So can others I guess, Join, into the wireless signals? Like logging on to a network or some such?”

“Well normally that’s exactly how it works. Like in the previous battle. When we got close enough I sent out an intent to join the local psi-net. After I convinced those already in the psi-net that I was actually who I claimed to be they let me in.” Rong paused for a moment. “I honestly can’t tell you if the psionics of other countries have developed the techniques necessary to form psi-nets or things similar to them. But I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Lau can set up his own psi-nets.”

“My biggest worry is that, let's say someone like Lau was incredibly skilled with psi-nets, that he or something like him, could breach it. I doubt there would be a way to control another person through it but any information garnered would possibly be devastating.” Morinth nodded, “It’s actually a nifty setup, able to commune with others like that.”

“It is.” Rong agreed. “Its how the shinobi were able to avoid any friendly fire when they charged the loyalist position in that last battle.” She paused and frowned. “I have never heard of a case of someone forcing their way into a psi-net. Does that mean it's impossible? No. But it would be incredibly difficult. And the mere act of trying to do so would alert all connected to it that someone was making an effort to do so.”

Morinth thought back to the battle, Remembering the Shinobi fighting as if it were a choreographed dance. “That really is some amazing stuff. I doubt I’ll ever understand that magic stuff, I’ve heard you’re either born with it or not. No one just develops that trait.”

“Basically” Rong agreed. “I’ve heard myths of drugs or special techniques that can cause someone to develop psionic abilities, but I highly doubt they actually work. The only method I know for sure involves genetic modification, but that takes place before birth of course.”

“When I was younger I always imagined having those mystical powers. I believe people make them out to be something grand but are they really that grand, I know you likely couldn’t comprehend a life without those abilities.” Morinth stated. “Perhaps its best that not everyone has such abilities. Even though having some psi-net would be a tremendous asset for people like myself.” She thought back to the fight between Rong and the Imperial guard on the Musashi battleship, “At least you know how to listen when someone shouts get down.” she said with a chuckle.

“And I do it with style too” Rong responded with a chuckle of her own. “Psionics are… a curse of sorts.” She said, her mirth fading away. “It’s… frustrating to know that your greatest inherent strength is what has put into stone what most of your life will be.”

“Was the girl in that story you told me a while back, Psionic too?” Morinth asked.

“Yup.” Rong said. “As are all shinobi and kunoichi. They are… made that way.” She closed her eyes before adding “But it wasn’t the fact that she was a psionic that ruined her life. Perhaps someday I’ll tell you what it was.”

Morinth frowned. “You’ve left me in suspense for quite a while now. And after seeing how many have died at our hands, Our luck is bound to run out.. You know that right?”

Rong let out a long sigh before asking “You really want to know?”

“I would like to know.” Morinth said simply.

“Musashi’s Imperial family has done some… extreme things to keep its bloodline alive.” Rong said after a moment. “The first time the girl was brought out of stasis was during the reign of the current emperor’s father. She served as a guard of sorts for the Imperial family. Unfortunately the then-pregnant empress encountered a terrible accident that left her brain dead. By this point the emperor was advanced in age. So he… he…” Rong sniffed and seemed reluctant to go on.

Morinth started to feel regret from digging and reach out, touching Rong on the shoulder, “It’s ok, you don’t have to continue.”

Rong shook her head. “Its… just a story.” After a moment she continued. “He… needed a new host for the fetus. And who better to serve as that host then a young woman who could certainly protect herself from would be assailants?”

“Kunoichi.” Morinth said plainly, remembering their importance.

“A few months later” Rong continued with a bitter smile “the Emperor obtained a new empress and promptly impregnated her. Ah, but that wasn’t even the worst part. No. When the girl gave birth to the future emperor of Musashi she was promptly put back into stasis. Probably because the Emperor didn’t want her influencing his son.”

“That is.. Unfathomably devious.” Morinth said, showing clear signs of disgust.

“The story gets darker from there” Rong said with another sniff. “But perhaps we’ll save that for another time? Ok?”

Morinth replied in a soft tone, “Ok, another time.”. She took a deep breath. “How about we go get something to eat. I’m sure we could both use something.”

***** ***** *****

As the Musashi battle group approached a yet to be named star in the Imperial index, A small planet , Harrons Hope, came into view. It was their destination and when the term backwater was used, it was used correctly. Dry riverbeds circled enclosed atmosphere, Domed towns on this arid, inhospitable wasteland. “Why would anyone want to live here.” Was such a common question with this world. Perhaps they were descendants of a failed colony ship long ago, no matter the reason, it was clear that this place was old, centuries at least.

Those on board the Mogami, which had become the flagship of the battle group, found themselves in either the wardroom or mess hall as the formation of Musashi ships slowly moved towards the planet. Something that became quite clear to Morinth during her time on the Mogami was the fact that there was something of an unwritten rule that all masks were off in the wardroom and mess hall. It was a rule that the ship’s captain enforced strictly.

Kau Rong had seemed restless when the battle group had first moved out; each passing day her affliction became worse. The crew of the ship had done what they could to distract her from her apprehension, but in general didn’t seem particularly disturbed by it. At the moment Rong was pacing back and forth along one of the wardroom’s walls, gnawing on her bottom lip has she moved.

Izanami, who was seated across the table from Morinth, hummed to herself as she sketched on a piece of paper. Every once in awhile she would glance up at Morinth, but otherwise seemed content to ignore her. At least for the moment. There were other officers in the wardroom, most of whom were enjoying a large meal. Possibly the last meal they would have before being deployed to what had increasingly been called ‘Yomi’ by the Musashi soldiers.

Morinth seemed content with her head being held up be her left hand, and strumming her fingers across the table with her right hand. Her gaze shifted from Izanami and the wall a number of times before gazing elsewhere. “I’m bored.” she said plainly. She then slightly leaned towards Izanami, trying to get a view of what she was doing, and in a innocent yet very obviously inquisitive tone, “What’cha drawin?”

“You, Round Eyes” Izanami said, using a nickname she had given Morinth shortly after they had met. She held the paper up, revealing an incredibly realistic depiction of Morinth. Placing the paper back down on the table she frowned. “I think I made your nose too small.”

“Seriously?” Morinth said, rolling her eyes, though she was impressed by it. After a huff which ended in her exhaling upwards, ruffling her hair, “So, this.. Is this food?” she said, looking down at the plate. “So like.” She said, staring at the traditional chopsticks. Morinth lowered her hand and sat upright and trying her hardest to use them correctly. “Man.” she said, sighing heavily again.

After much, and likely too much struggling, she finally stabbed a piece of meat with the chopstick, or more appropriately, skewer at this point. A smug look turned to concern as she eyed Rong pacing. “I know you’re busy doodling me, but.” She paused and casually pointed at Rong, “What’s wrong with Rong?”

“Wrong?” Izanami asked. She looked over her shoulder at Rong who continued to pace. “Ah. That. Yea… they all sort of do that.” Izanami commented with a shrug. She only looked mildly interested in Rong’s antics herself.

“They?” Morinth said with a piqued brow.

“Hmm…?” By this point Izanami had already shifted her attention back to her sketch of Morinth. “Yea. You know? The shinobi and kunoichi?”

“Hmm” was all Morinth could muster at first, diverting her gaze from Rong to Izanami. “Why don’t your people take them seriously?” She paused, thinking her question though, “Why do the act like that?”

“I asked those exact same questions the first time I encountered a shinobi” Izanami said as she set her pencil down. She let out a long sigh. “And it's not like we don’t take them seriously. It’s just....” She seemed to struggle to find the wording she wanted. “Different I guess. They… always seem to struggle when there isn’t something specific to focus on. Some are far worse than others, but they all seem to suffer from what we can Duty-Affliction. She looks agitated now, but once our objective is in sight she’ll have nerves of steel. I’ve seen it dozens of times.”

Izanami frowned before adding “I’ve heard that it has to do with how they were raised, but I really don’t know that much about it. Sometimes the actions of the aristocracy are beyond my comprehension.” That comment brought the ghost of a smile to her lips, “even after I joined their ranks.” She shrugged. “I’ve heard that shinobi and kunoichi make great bodyguards and the like since it gives them something to focus on and once they have that objective of theirs they will focus on it alone.”

Morinth cocked her head and narrowed her gaze at Rong, “Their objectives? I guess that makes sense but has anyone ever tried to you know.. Like, actually help them?”

“Maybe? Probable. I wouldn’t know.” Izanami admitted. “I’m sure there’s someone with the knowledge necessary that is helping them.”

“I wonder what they think about.” Morinth said. “So what about you? Your role?”

“I fly around and blow shit up.” Izanami said with a shrug. “I may not be as graceful as she is” She jerked her head towards Rong, “but I’ll bring more firepower to a fight than her.”

“Well, that’s simple enough.” Morinth said, cracking a faint smile. It faded as she turned her attention back to Rong, then back to Izanami, “Do shinobi make you uncomfortable?”

“I…” Izanami hesitated for a moment. “No, not really.”

Morinth stood up slowly, “Well.. I’ll be back.” she paused, “Also, the nose on your picture is still too small.” she said with a grin before walking to Rong. Morinth made her way past Rong, making sure to get her attention before turning around and leaning against a wall. “So.” Morinth said in an attempt to draw a reaction.

“So…?” Rong asked as she continued to pace. It became clear as she came close to Morinth that her eyes were constantly roaming about the room, momentarily lingering on every person in the room. After a moment she took a deep breath and came to a halt, leaning against the wall next to Morinth. “What brings you over here?” She asked even as her eyes continued to check out her surroundings. “Izanami-san bore you?”

“Heh.” Morinth chucked, “No, she was keeping me entertained but your pacing just kept drawing me in.” Morinth gazed about the room, somewhat mimicking Rong’s own actions. “So uh, you expecting something to jump out at you? Or can you relax a bit and maybe come sit with us. Hell, maybe Izanami can draw you too. She is quite good at it.. Except for noses.”

“Noses?” Rong turned her gaze on Morinth, an eyebrow raised. She kept her eyes on Morinth for a moment or two before letting out a long sigh. “Sorry I was so distracting. I… just get fidgety sometimes. It's nothing to worry about.”

Morinth shook her head and leaned in, talking softly enough to ensure no one else could hear, “I assume you nearly dying in my arms on my ship, while you were having some nightmare wasn’t anything to worry about either.” She took a deep breath, “So. you gonna relax a bit and come grab a bite with us?”

“You’re exaggerating.” Rong said, but after looking at Morinth’s expression she let out a soft sigh. “Alright. You win.” She put her hands up in mock surrender. “I’ll get something to eat with you.”

A few hours had passed since Rong joined Morinth and Izanami in the Wardroom, and at last it had emptied. Morinth found herself wandering the halls of the ship, trying to really get to know her mobile home. After a time, she grew restless and made her way back to the Avalon that was nestled inside the Mogami’s hangar. It was perhaps the most comforting place on the warship for her, especially her ships tiny lounge.

After Morinth sat down on her favored couch, she lazily propped her feet up, “Man.. what the hell did I get myself into.”

“What in the name of Yomi did you get me involved in?” Izanami asked as she stepped into view. “Ah. Pardon the intrusion Morinth-sama.” She said as an afterthought as she perched herself on a chair. Rong, who had followed her in, seated herself next to Morinth. “So it occurred to me,” Izanami said after a moment, “that you may not have a great deal of experience fighting alongside psionics.”

Morinth lowered her feet and sat lazily upright, “Honestly, after the battle earlier, it was incredible to watch. But wouldn’t I need to be a Psionic to fight with you like that?”

“I don’t have any psionic abilities” Izanami stated. “And I think I did fairly well. What I’m talking about is knowing what to expect from Kau-sama in a fight. And… I’ve heard that we’re chasing some guy that’s pretty powerful himself. I’d imagine having some insight on what he may be capable of would be useful.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Morinth replied, leaning upright. “So where do we start?”

“I suppose I could try and simulate what a psi-net would be like for you” Rong said. “It wouldn’t be a true psi-net, of course, but it would be close enough.” She took a deep breath before asking “Are you ready?”

“This is going to get weird, isn’t it.” Morinth snickered before squinting dramatically, “Let's do it.”

“Ok.” Rong closed her eyes as she focused her attention on Morinth. She looked serene almost. “Can you hear me?” Rong didn’t speak the words. Instead they simply formed in Morinth’s mind, almost indistinguishable from her own thoughts except that they sounded like Rong’s voice and felt somehow distinctly foreign.

Morinth Closed her eyes hard and her voice strained, “How are you doing-” she said aloud before relaxing a bit, though still obviously uncomfortable. “I can hear you.” She thought.

“Telepathy?” Izanami asked quietly.

“Yes” Rong answered aloud. “The short of it is that I am projecting my thoughts into your mind. Now normally to communicate the other person would project their thoughts into my mind, but since you do not possess psionic abilities I’ll have to do all the work. I’m going to use my abilities to read your mind. Just the surface thoughts mind you. Try not to resist too much.”

There was a short growl from Morinth as she felt mild pressure on in her mind, as she tried hard to process what was happening. The thing Rong would feel first was by far, fear.

“Settle down” Rong said aloud. “You can trust me.” And as she spoke she sent thoughts of reassurance and calm into Morinth’s mind. “Now I’m going to start sending you the kind of information shared in the psi-net. Just let me know if it becomes too much to handle.” Suddenly Morinth could sense things she shouldn’t have been able to.

Izanami shifted in her seat and although Morinth’s eyes were closed she was somehow aware of the other woman’s movement as if she had viewed it with her own eyes. Every couple of seconds she would become aware that there were no other beings in the Avalon. And as Izanami shifted in her seat again the concept that that movement was non threatening and could be ignored was passed on to Morinth.

It was such a new experience as Morinth had never been through anything like this before. The closest thing she could relate to this was a neural interface but it was nothing in comparison to the power of this psi-net. “It’s incredible.” was the only words that flowed through her mind, words that might have reassured Rong that she wasn’t doing harm.

“Good” Rong mentally responded with strong feelings of relief. “It can be much more powerful than this, however. Especially when there are many shinobi and kunoichi working together.” Her mind drifted back to the battle for the battleship, during which she was constantly bombarded with enough information to make what she was sending to Morinth seem inconsequential in comparison.

“I think that is enough of that for now” She spoke aloud as she severed their mental connection. “I am somewhat concerned about the prospect of Lau trying to read your mind.”

“What could he possibly do? Sense my emotions? Doesn’t sound too terribly beneficial.” Morinth asked.

“It’s possible to draw out a lot of useful information out of an unwilling person.” Rong commented. “It’s not exactly easy, but it is certainly possible. I suspect it’d just be easier to show you. Now resist as much as you can.” Rong said as she focused on worming her way as deep into Morinth’s mind as possible.

The Inside was nothing short of madness, images whirled around of places and people. Voices of all types seemed to echo both loudly and quietly in this troubled mind. Digging deeper, past the storm of untamed thought and reason, were the coherent images was that on the surface, the most recent of her thoughts, the day prior.

“So, you’re a Bushi?” was her echoed words in this blurred view, showing an average soldier not moving a muscle, standing stoically in their post. Beyond that, walking, wandering, pacing followed by what seemed to be delicate care for a small plant inside the room Rong, Izanami, and Morinth were physically residing.

“Can you feel me forcing my way in?” Rong asked. “Can you sense me touching upon the memory of you recently caring for a plant in this room? You should be able to. This… is not particularly hard for a trained psionic to accomplish. And given enough mental strength and patience I could force my way deeper. There are… other methods however.”

“What do you think of this woman?” Rong prompted as she bombarded Morinth with images of Izanami. She was less interested in what Morinth would say, if she spoke aloud at all, so much as what the images of Izanami brought to the surface of Morinth’s thoughts.

“I- She.” Morinth thought, trying to place the images in an order that made sense to her obviously struggling mind. “I see her lips, talking?” she thought, not quite sure if it was the images or her own mind creating the scene. “This is so real, I feel as if I could touch her face from here.” From outside, her senses seemed stronger as her eyes rapidly moved behind her closed lids. She felt as if her mind and reality were becoming one. Morinth’s body seemed to calm and even though her eyes had closed, she slowly rose her right arm and pointed towards Izanami. Calm words were slowly spoke aloud, “It is you, the one I see is you.”

“Psionics are weird” Izanami muttered.

A smile formed on Rong’s lips, but not because of Izanami’s comment. She was essentially mining Morinth’s surface thoughts for her perception of Izanami and the first thought to come to mind was amusing to say the least. “We should go out drinking some time. Morinth thinks you’d be fun to party with.”

“Hah! I’d drink her under the table.” Izanami said.

Rong’s smile seemed to widen further as she mentally brushed against more of Morinth’s thoughts. She could have spoken aloud about what she sensed… But that wouldn’t have been polite. Instead she used telepathy to speak to Morinth directly. “She is cute.” Rong’s voice seemed to echo in Morinth’s mind along with a series of rather passionate, and in some cases graphic, fantasies involving Morinth and Izanami. “I always assumed you were straight. And chains? Naughty girl.”

Morinth at this point wasn’t sure if what she was hearing and feeling were physical or in her own mind, but on the outside, her cheeks began to blush as a strange image of Morinth wearing a black leather cat-suit, standing in an authoritative pose over Rong or Izanami, whom were both topless and on all fours.

Rong couldn’t help but cough and blush as she touched that specific thought. Worse yet, because she was telepathically linked with Morinth, she couldn’t help but advertise that she herself was embarrassed. It was time to change topics. But she would certainly return to this subject later…

“So uh…” Rong began.

It was at that moment that Izanami decided to speak up again. “I bet I could drink Yuki-hime under the table as well.”

“Probably.” Rong agreed. Great. The last thing she needed was to be seeing images of Yuki in chains.

Rong’s mind would have easily noticed the words Yuki triggering a massive reaction across Morinth’s mind. As the images of good times quickly dissipated, the thought of being thankful for an honorable person became prevalent but also feelings of remorse, remorse for something she had done behind Yuki’s back.

The Veil of blurred images lifted, revealing Morinth not even three days ago sitting in the Avalon, checking short range sensors to warn of any incoming individual. Hidden away in the secluded armory of her ship, a small holographic Image of Faust was visible. His grin was wide and Morinth forced a grin to match, trying to hide her obvious disappointment. His words were hazy but ones easy to make out were simple,

“Excellent, Morinth, This is a victory beyond all measure. Perhaps what could change our fortunes in this inevitable conflict.”

Rong narrowed her eyes slightly as she watched the memory, unintentionally sending the thought “What does this have to do with Yuki-hime?” to Morinth.

A visible frown crossed her lips as her thoughts continued to grow more dark, “Faust, it is done.” She said to the hologram. Faust’s arms were folded at first but lowered with her words, “You’ve managed the impossible Morinth.” he said with clear joy.

“Thank you.” She said simply.

The haze was distorting these repressed thoughts but it became clearer the harder Rong dug. It became far more detailed, as the image was now of Morinth on her knees in front of the knee-high hologram. Her hands were on her upper thighs and she had her hair pulled back so that her face was clearly visible. “Faust, it is done.” she said, “Yuki is secure and on her way out of the conflict.”

Faust's crossed arms lowered, “First James Conrad dies and now Yuki has been removed from the war.” he said, nodding but then bringing a hand to his chin. “Then it’s time to commence phase two. The weapon is not yet ready so care must be taken.”

Morinth shook her head, “You have nothing to fear from Musashi, they are an honorable people. Betrayal isn’t their methodology. It’d be worse than death to betray loyalty.” She paused, “What of Lau? He is clearly still a threat.”

Rong pushed harder and deeper. She knew this was a violation of Morinth’s privacy, but she had to know what Faust was up to. What plans did he apparently have for Yuki? What did he know about Lau?

And as Rong dug, an image of Faust with his arms now behind his back appeared, “Lau.” he said shaking his head. “You need to make full use of your acquired assets. Instead of participating in Phase two, proceed with finding Lau. I agree that he is by far, potentially a greater threat than Uther or this new ‘warlord’ among the Horde.”

Morinth’s mind seemed to ease, as if displaying her actual emotion at that moment with Faust. It was relief that she didn’t have to carry out the ‘phase two’ although there was no information as to exactly what it was.

“I will find him.” She replied with a confident tone.

“I know you will.” He replied, “You’re an amazing person Morinth, I knew from the moment we met long ago. Keep your mind and heart steady, vengeance is within your grasp.”

“Please, Faust, do not destroy what you have created. You saw what happened to my kids, I have few family left. I just can’t lose anyone else.” Morinth replied, showing strong and wildly complex emotions, the most prevalent being fear.

Faust dodged the comment entirely, “You’ve managed the impossible Morinth.” he said with clear joy.

The memory seemed to fade as Morinth’s mind started to race. Strange images rapidly blurred out anything discernible and outwardly, her cheeks had turned red and the glimmer of tears was growing in her eyes.

“Morinth?” Rong placed a reassuring hand over Morinth’s. “Open your eyes.” She slowly withdrew from Morinth’s mind, projecting calming thoughts until the very last moment. “You ok?”

Morinth leaned back in her seat and stared at the ceiling. She rose her hands and wiped the tears from her eyes. “I’m.” she paused and closed her eyes hard before opening them again, “I’m fine. I have to say, that’s… quite an strong experience.”

“It's good you have it now before a hostile psionic has his way with you.” Rong commented. “Though to be honest I’m fairly terrible at reading minds.”

“Eh… well don’t practice on me” Izanami half joked. She looked at Morinth, concern evident in her eyes although she didn’t speak up again.

“I wish I had more time to teach you some countermeasures but…” Rong sighed. “The only advice I can really give you is to concentrate on forcing him out of your head should you feel Lau in it.”

Morinth’s thoughts were first in agreement with Rong and as she was about to speak, she remembered what she thought of Izanami. Her eyes widened as her gaze turned to Izanami, not sure if Rong had actually explained the fantasy or anything else for that matter. She narrowed her gaze at Izanami before turning her attention back to Rong, What did Rong even see? She wondered. “Do you have to be close to dig into a person's mind?”

“I’m not going to die, am I?” Izanami asked having noticed the look Morinth shot her.

“What?” Rong asked. “No. I’m not a precog.” She rolled her eyes before looking at Morinth. “In theory no. But in practice proximity helps a lot. As a rule of thumb if they can’t see you you are probably safe, unless they are very skilled or very powerful.”

Morinth turned from Rong and gazed at her plant. “Lets hope that bastards like Lau aren’t very skilled or very powerful.”

“I’ll deal with the likes of Lau.” Rong’s expression turned fierce.

“You do that.” Izanami spoke up. “Morinth-san and I will watch from a safe distance.” She flashed Morinth a brilliant smile. “I’ll bring some sake if you bring the snacks.”

There was a moment of silence before Morinth perked up and gave a fierce look of her own. “After what that asshole did. I want a rematch.”

“We’re ready for him this time.” Rong stated. “He’ll quickly come to regret having tangled with us should he show himself.”

Era of Succession(Closed)

More convo in here!!

Era of Succession(Closed)

Duck has no reason to ever join this rp now.

Era of Succession(Closed)

Rong and Morinth

The Avalon drifted silently in Mars's orbit, monitoring the situation on earth. All that could be seen is the high tensions of two fleets ready to pull the trigger at any second. And in the middle, a small group of Musashi ships at the wrong place and the wrong time.

Morinth turned to Rong, “We are within comms range of your Princess, it’ll be hard to get through the imperial and dominion though.” She said, pointing at a small communications console.

Rong stopped pacing and turned to the console. “Ok. Let’s see if I can contact her flagship.” She activated the console and established a connection with the flagship. “Shokaku, this is Kau Rong. Can you put Yuki-hime on the line.”

There was a long pause before a response came. “Kau-dono, Yuki-hime is currently not on the Shokaku at this moment. Please wait while we connect you to her.”

“What the hell is going on?” Rong muttered to herself. “Shokaku can you give me a sit-rep?”

“Uh…. Things are short of muddled at the moment. Wait one… Ok we’ve got Yuki-hime on the line for you. Shokaku out.”

“Rong-chan, is that you?” Rong allowed herself to smile at the sound of Yuki’s voice.

“It is Yuki-hime. I’ve come… with a friend to help you in whatever way I can.” Rong paused before asking “What is going on?”

“Things are sort of a mess here” Yuki answered. “I… padded the fleet with a lot of individuals that are personally loyal to me. It's the only reason I’m still alive at this point. I was… far more successful in making this fleet personally loyal to me than I had thought. Most of the ships in the fleet are refusing to following my father’s orders. Still, the battleship and a few other ships are trying to either capture or kill me. And seeing as how the fleet is centered around that battleship… things will get ugly should ships start shooting at each other.” There was a long pause before Yuki spoke again, this time her voice was strained. “I’ve deployed some… shinobi… to help take control of that battleship. Meanwhile I’ve been stuck in a fighter, dodging loyalist fighter squadrons and the occasional corvette.” There was another long pause. “If I get that battleship the whole fleet is mine. Can you help the shinobi in that task?”

“I will” Rong answered.

“Good. I… need to get off this line and…” Yuki grunted. “Focus on not getting blown to pieces. We’ll speak again.”

A loud buzz and then dead silence ended the conversation, prompting a response from Morinth as she examined the console, “Yeah, they must’ve jammed the signal.” She frowned, “And I have no Idea which group did it. I think it's fair to say we need to act fast.”

“Shit.” Rong said. “Ok. How do you feel about storming a battleship?”

A wide grin was louder than words as Morinth slid into the pilot's seat. She ran her fingers across a few holographic panels, prompting manual flight controls to deploy. “Now, Rong, I need to know before we get there.. Weapons free?”

“Let’s try not to break anything if we can.” Rong said. “Yuki-hime made it sound like the majority of the fleet is with her, but if anything targets us… let’s just blow it and ask for forgiveness later if need be. Once we get closer I’ll be able to connect to the psi-net which should give me a much better picture of what’s going on.”

“So weapons free.” Morinth concluded. “Spinning up jump drive, we will arrive in about three minutes. You have two choices, you can sit here next to me and watch out the viewer here or… you can take that rear facing seat behind me and man the main dorsal and ventral turrets. Incase those corvettes Yuki was talking about decide to target us”

“I’ll remain here.” Rong said. She closed her eyes as she said “I’m going to focus on connecting to the psi-net. Doing so will potentially help us evade those corvettes anyways.”

Morinth shrugged as if not bothered by Rong’s decline but her disappointment was clear. “Suit yourself. Jumping in.. three..” She cleared her throat. “One.” Not minutes but seconds passed as with a bright flash, the Avalon burst forth onto the looming battlefield. Morinth dodged ships gracefully, circling engine pods of massive Ganymede ships and gliding along the bow of oppressors. Even being so bold as buzzing the bridge of a Sol battleship in a dazzling fashion.

As the Avalon continued to maneuver side to side, rolling and dipping in and out of the now convoluted imperial and dominion battle lines, Three trident fighters locked on and approached quick. They quickly gained missile lock and began to broadcast surrender orders but were quickly waved off by a very well placed move by an Dominion assault ship. Morinth did what was as close to ‘waiving one's wings’ as possible before finally reaching a break in the main battle formations of the Dominion and Imperium.

Though there were still ships in all directions, it was clear that both sides had given the Musashi fleet breathing room as the gap widened between the two opposing forces. “Damn.” Morinth said, pointing at the Battleship, “So we are supposed to board that.. And take it? I’m sure I can arrange for some help.” she said, already knowing the Answer no was coming.

“And what kind of help are you thinking?” Rong inquired, her brow furrowing in concentration.

Morinth eyes locked on an Dominion Titan nearby, “Ah.. nothing, we got this.”

“We do.” Rong agreed. By this point a number of Musashi destroyers had pinged the Avalon with their sensors, but had declined to lock weapons, seeming content to largely ignore the ship even as it drew near. Rong gasped before her look of concentration melting into a more serene expression. “Ko-class corvette to our port side. Shifting our course fifteen degrees starboard will put us within weapons range of a friendly destroyer. The corvette should back off.” She paused for a moment before adding “It will also keep a squadron of Zero fighters off of our backs for a while.”

The Avalon sharply banked towards the Musashi destroyer and Rong’s suggestion paid off as both the Corvette and the Fighters peeled back. It was at that moment that Dominion and Imperial sensor signatures ceased targeting the Avalon, “Well now.” Morinth said, checking various displays. “It seems both the Imperium and Dominion are not targeting this area of space at all. That’s good news for us. Keeping themselves blind to our actions at the very least”

“It wouldn’t be funny if one of them opened fire and started a war.” Rong said with a slight nod of her head. “So they are playing it smart. Ah! Looks like Yuki-hime managed to get some hundred odd shinobi onto that battleship. And the battleship’s complement of troopers are roughly split into thirds: one group loyal to Yuki-hime, one group following the battleship captain’s orders, and one group remaining largely neutral for now. Ah! And some of those friendly troopers are taking over one of the battleship’s docking ports. We have our means of entry now.”

The Avalon continued to maneuver erratically until they gained a clear path to the battleship. Upon drawing nearer, the Musashi beast’s ominous shadow eclipsed the tiny Avalon in comparison. Morinth gazed in awe for a few seconds before rotating the ship to the docking port. A loud clank from metal clamps sounded through the ship.

Rong slowly opened her eyes as she said “There are friendly troopers right inside of the battleship that will go with us once we are ready.” She rose to her feet and stretched before heading towards the Avalon’s armory. The pair of women quickly loaded up before heading to the hatch. Rong sported her kunoichi suit, a katana and wakizashi on her left hip, a pistol on her right, and a number of knives on her ankles and the back of her waist.

Morinth on the other hand, had forego her usual suit of power armor and instead kept to a simple armored tank top and black pants with no defining insignia. She had no desire to bring anything that shouted that she was part of the Dominion aboard the Musashi vessel. Her armaments reflected this lighter mentality as she worse a simple gun belt with a high caliber pistol on the left and a large combat knife on the right. Slung over her shoulder was an short assault rifle with a under barrel grenade launcher. A few hand grenades to top that off ended with a simple thumbs up from Morinth, “Let's do this.”

“Put this on” Rong handed Morinth a plain looking mask. “Its combat grade, resistant to shrapnel, and is set up to enhance vision. Also it’ll have the added benefit of giving the illusion that you are also from Musashi.” Rong gave Morinth a look before adding “Sort of.”

When the two women exited the Avalon they were greeted by a large hallway that was filled by twenty Musashi troopers. The leader of the troopers approached the women as he said “I’m glad you’re here to back us up Kau-dono. I’ve heard that the shinobi have almost reached the bridge, but have hit a particularly dug in group of bushi. Things could get messy.” He looked at Morinth before adding “Are you and your… companion ready to head out.”

“We are” Rong answered. The trooper gave a simple nod before barking out orders for his subordinates to move out. The troopers quickly started to lead the way down the many corridors of the battleship. “Only after you have to mark through its endless corridors does it become clear just how massive these warships are.” Rong muttered after twenty minutes of marching. They had yet to encounter any resistance, but that was about to change.

Morinth shifted her mask when the soldiers turned away. “Rong, These masks are uncomfortable.” She shifted it again, “Seriously. How can you people wear this.” After a few moments of careful adjustment she seemed content. “All right. So he mentioned the bridge. Is that our only target?”

“Hmm… Well it’s certainly the main target.” Rong answered after a moment. “It seems like the bulk of those standing against Yuki-hime are doing so because of the captain’s presence. If we eliminate him we should be able to get the loyalists to surrender. If nothing else those who are remaining neutral will join us.” She didn’t explain how or when she obtained this insight.

Rong’s comments sparked curiosity within Morinth and she was about to ask but then paused, “I know you all are about honor and such, But why don’t we attack a lesser defended area like an engineering bay. We could then you know.. Play dirty. Turn off the gravity on the bridge or just vent the atmosphere.” Her smile was hidden by a mask that upon close inspection, was definitely crooked. “I would suggest splitting up but I honestly have no idea what this psi-net thing is.”

Rong raised an eyebrow as she said “This ship wasn’t designed by a fool. The bridge was designed to be able to maintain its own atmosphere and gravity in the event of a boarding action by hostiles. Granted taking engineering or the CIC would help us limit what those on the bridge can do, but it won’t solve the problem immediately.” She paused before adding. “And the psi-net is a… series of connections between individuals who can use psionics. It’s… I could go more in-depth if you want, but it’s sort of complicated.”

“I wouldn’t mind learning more. I had it in my mind that it was how the ship was controlled or some sort of cool sounding intranet.” Morinth added. “Let's rescue your princess first though.” she said, drawing the rifle from her shoulder and gripping it firmly. “Ready when you are.”

“Contact!” A trooper at the front of the group yelled an instant before an explosion rocked the corridor. Men were screamed as they were struck by shrapnel and small arms fire. Rong reacted immediately, shoving Morinth to the side as a barrage of weapon’s fire swept through the space they were standing in. One round struck Rong in the shoulder, the force from the projectile spinning her as it knocked her from her feet. Further down the hall a group of loyalist bushi could be seen exchanging fire with Yuki’s troopers. The troopers were not faring well.

With a quick pivot of her feet, Morinth caught her balance from Rong’s shove and then rushed right to her side, trying to examine the injury. She didn’t get much of a chance as the shells were still whizzing overhead. “Shit, we are never going to get down this corridor.” she shouted, trying to announce this fact to the Musashi troopers. Before any could respond, Morinth motioned Rong towards a nearby room. “We got to get out of this kill zone.”

Rong drew her pistol and fired a few rounds down the corridor before giving a slight nod. “I’m good to move.” In front of them the troopers were slowly before forced back. Many of them had begun to slip into side rooms or corridors. Rong fired a few more rounds before adding “I have no idea what's in any of these rooms, so your guess is as good as mine. You lead the way, I’ll be right behind you.”

“Shit.. shit shit.” Morinth said, trying to figure out where they were. “Alright, that one.” she said, pointing to a large set of doors. The two rushed in, barely escaping the hail of gunfire. There wasn’t much in the room aside from a few chairs and tables, that made it notable to Morinth, aside from it being cover. “Alright, We have cover for now but I doubt those enemy soldiers are going to just sit tight and wait for us to regroup. You have to know something about this ship.. Look, over there. Is that a system console or something on that table?”

“Let’s see” Rong said as she walked over to the table. She typed a few commands into the console, bringing up a set of schematics of the ship. She peered at them for a moment before pointing at one part of the ship. “We are here and here…” She dragged her finger across to a room on the opposite side of a wall. “Is a barracks that is right by the bridge.” She pointed at where two corridors joined together near that barracks. “And this is where the loyalists are dug in and holding the shinobi back. We can hit them from the rear if we just blow or cut through this wall. Got any explosives on you?”

“Are you kidding me?” Morinth said with a grin. She raised her rifle’s grenade launcher into Rong’s view. “I’m pretty sure a few shots from this will do the trick. At least, I hope so.” With a simple nod from Rong Morinth rose up and aimed her rifle at the weakest point of the wall. “Cover your ears.” She said while pulling the trigger. The blast sent pieces of metal in all directions as a hole large enough for a bear was made. Morinth looked to Rong and smiled.

“Ok let’s- Shit!” Rong froze. The smoke and dust from the explosions cleared to reveal that the barracks had in fact not been empty. In fact it had been occupied by a group of bushi, bushi shodans, and imperial guards all of whom were now pointing their rifles at Rong and Morinth.

“Don’t move a muscle” One of the bushi in the front of the group said. Rong did a quick head count and immediately eliminated any hope of fighting through the group, having counted some forty odd soldiers. The imperial guards alone, who numbered ten, would have been enough to end the two women.

When neither group did anything for a minute Rong asked “You aren’t loyalists… are you?”

“Nor do we follow Yuki-hime” One of the imperial guards answered.

Morinth’s gaze shifted from soldier to soldier, “Then who do your loyalties belong to?”

“The Empire” A different Imperial guard answered. He paused for a moment before adding “We see no honor in this fight one war or another.”

“Well ain’t that a change.” Morinth mumbled, surprised at the outcome. “So, if you support the empire why don’t you just let us slide on by and talk to the ship Captain.”

“Perhaps we will” The first Imperial guard responded. “But first I’d like to know what stake a foreigner has in this fight.”

“Shit” Rong was so quiet that only Morinth could possibly hear her. “We are friends and comrades. She is here because I need her aid. That is all.”

“Is it now?” The Imperial guard asked.

Morinth grit her teeth and gulped, “I.. I owe her a life debt. She rescued me and I am bound to her service.” She gulped again, “fuck.” she mumbled. “She said if I help her in this, my debt is clear. I fully intend to clear my debt.”

“That is… more reasonable than I would expect from a foreigner.” The Imperial guard said after a moment. “Assuming you speak the truth. Very well. You leave us alone and we will return the favor.” As he spoke the majority of the soldiers present lowered their rifles, although a few kept theirs trained on the two women. “You may rest here for a moment or just move through. Just do us a favor and say you never encountered us.”

“Thank you.” Morinth said simply to the Imperial Guard. After affirming nod, she motioning for Rong to follow. After a few steps, a quick smile was flashed, although hidden by the mask, “And you have my word, I have never seen you before.” She turned her head to Rong, “I mean, it’s crazy that there was no one on the other side of the wall when we came through that hole.” she said in a sarcastic tone.

“Crazy, but not unexpected” Rong said as she followed Morinth.

A single bushi approached the women as they moved into the barracks and whispered “I heard there’s a group of onna-bugeisha nearby who are leaning towards Yuki-hime. They might join you if you speak to them.”

Morinth shook her head and whispered to Rong, “I’m doubting that life debt shit is gonna work again. Any tips on these onie budishosho’s ?” She asked with the most innocent tone.

“Well… for starters you could not screw up their name.” Rong answered. “Seriously though it's your accent that’s giving you away, although your… clothing is also quite odd.” She looked at Morinth for a moment before saying “I suppose we either need to come up with a new story or just have you keep your mouth shut.”

“I’m sure we will think of something.” Morinth said softly before looking to the Bushi, then back at Rong. “All you.”

“Where are these onna-bugeisha?” Rong asked the bushi.

After giving them the exact location the bushi added “I’d join you if I didn’t have a family to worry about. I’ll be praying for your success Kau-dono. And you too foreigner.”

Rong thanked the bushi before leading Morinth out of the barracks. The two moved cautiously, Both clearly worried about possible ambushes. Thankfully they didn’t encounter any other loyalist troops before they reached the barracks that the neutral onna-bugeisha were supposedly holed up in.

“We wish to speak” Rong shouted as they approached the barracks’ door. “May we enter?”

There was a long pause before a woman shouted “You may. But keep your hands where we can see them.”

“Here we go” Rong said to Morinth as she opened the door and stepped through. Inside the barracks was about forty women. All were hunkered down behind makeshift barricades. A few rifles were pointed at Rong and Morinth, but the onna-bugeisha were, for the most part, content to simply watch the two women.

“You said you wanted to talk” An onna-bugeisha shodan, the clear leader of the group, said. “Speak.”

“I was hoping you would lend me your strength” Rong said.

“Oh? And towards what end” the Onna-bugeisha shodan asked. “Who is it that your loyalty lies with? Yuki-hime or the empire?”

“My loyalty lies with both” Rong answered. “For I see Yuki-hime as-”

Morinth cut Rong off, seeing this conversation as one that could turn dangerous quickly or get them nowhere with a discussion for hours. “We understand that you are very loyal and honor bound people. Right? Well, we really need to speak with the captain of this ship. We have information solely for him. Does it matter where our loyalty lay when it clearly does not matter?”

“And what is this information about?” The onna-bugeisha shodan demanded as she folded her arms in front of her chest.

“Did I not just say it was solely for your captain?” Morinth said, crossing her arms as well. “How would it look if I were to just start telling everyone secrets of yours?”

“Then go” The onna-bugeisha responded. “We will not prevent you from completing your task.”

Morinth motioned for Rong, “Let's not keep the Captain waiting.”

Rong simply nodded before leading Morinth out of the barracks. When the two had exited she let out a long sigh. “We botched that. It would have made things a lot easier to have a few of them backing us up. Guess we’ll just have to do this the hard way now.”

Morinth frowned, “Well, it started sounding like a debate. With everything going on, we need to just get this done.” She smiled, “And hey, who knows. That lead one might get curious and come back us up regardless!”

“Eh. At this point I hope she and her subordinates stay where they are.” Rong said as she began to lead Morinth down the corridor. The sounds of combat could be heard in the direction they were headed, and with each step the telltale bangs of railguns firing and the clanging sound of swords clashing grew louder.

Rong suddenly halted. Her eyes trained on the form of a woman in a tight bodysuit. Two swords rested on her waist, a rifle in her hands that she used to fire at individuals unseen to either Rong or Morinth. “Gale onna-bugeisha” Rong whispered to Morinth. “Just without her heavy equipment. I… think she is on our side, she seems to be firing on where the loyalists are, but I can’t really tell from here. What do you think?”

“Maybe I’m not the best one to ask after that whole ordeal back there.” Morinth replied, “But from what I can see, she is firing at the loyalists. How easy would it be to just ask her. Aren’t your people all linked with that psi-net thing?”

“Only those who have psionics can access the psi-net.” Rong answered. “You yourself would be as successful in connecting to it as she is. And unfortunately there are no other shinobi or kunoichi in this area, besides me. Still… I could ask some shinobi and see what they have to say.” There was a long pause before she spoke again. “The only thing they can say for certain is that the loyalist position is taking some fire from the opposite direction from them. Which is where that gale onna is right now. Shit! The loyalists are going to charge her!”

Morinth readied her rifle, “Well, Loyalist or not, the enemy of my enemy is my friend applies here. Lets go help her out. Make some friends while we are at it.”

“Ok. Watch my back!” Rong activated the thrusters on the back of her suit and charged down the corridor as she drew her katana. The gale onna was, by this point, backing away from the loyalist position. She dropped her rifle and drew her own katana as a pair of loyalist bushi shodans came charging into view with their own swords drawn and ready.

“Take all the fun will you..” Morinth said angrily while raising her rifle. “Who’s first.” she said with a grin before aiming down the sights. “Five men.. Small hallway.” a faint click toggled the rifle's secondary mode. “This will be a blast!” she said, pulling the trigger.

Even as fast as Rong was, she was quickly overtaken by the grenade that went spiraling past. The first Bushi likely didn’t see it coming as it became host to the grenades destructive fury. As it’s body turned into a red hazed mist, the concussion pushed the other four aside. Shrapnel didn’t affect the others armor so much aside from drawing their attention while Rong and The Gale closed the gap.

The gale onna brought her sword across one of the bushi shodan’s chest as he allowed himself to be momentarily distracted by the grenade. She glanced at Morinth and gave her a quick nod of the head before turning her attention to the second bushi shodan, barely catching his katana with her own before it beheaded her. By this point Rong had closed the distance, her katana cutting the arm off one of the remaining bushi as the others either pointed rifles at her or raised their own katanas. Rong leapt to the side, giving Morinth a clear shot on the bushi.

And with a thunderous sound, Morinth fired her rifle's primary fire mode, sending two fin stabilized high caliber rounds straight into the faceplate of the Bushi Shoden, shattering it, and the head inside. Dissatisfied, Morinth slung her rifle over her back and started towards the battle herself.

The last remaining loyalist bushi didn’t stand a chance as both Rong and the gale onna turned on him. All the loyalist laid dead on the floor long before Morinth reached them. By this point the sounds of battle had picked up. The gale onna had retrieved her rifle and was firing on the loyalists. Rong had joined in with her pistol.

“The shinobi are pushing through the loyalist position!” Rong reported as Morinth joined her. “We just need a good push to break through!”

“I got just the trick.” Morinth replied, handing Rong a hand grenade. “I don’t know you. But here.” She said, tossing one to the Gale. “Use them to kill and disorient, then we catch them off guard just like back there.”

“Let’s do this!” The Gale onna said, her voice full of excitement, as she threw the grenade towards the loyalists. Rong shrugged before following suit. She activated her cloak and disappeared from view as her grenade sailed towards the loyalists. The first grenade, the Gale onna’s, fell short, but showered the loyalists with shrapnel. Rong’s grenade also landed short, but still managed to blow the leg off one of the loyalists. The last grenade, thrown by Morinth, actually struck a loyalist Imperial guard in the face before detonating, killing him, three bushi, and throwing the rest of the loyalists into complete disarray.

The gale onna tipped the hilt of her sheathed katana towards Morinth as she asked “Join us in our valiant charge?”

Morinth raised a brow before firmly grasping the katana and drawing it. “Thanks!” Morinth said, now starry eyed and filled with excitement. She did her best to mimic Rong’s combat stances as the two readied for the attack.

“Yuki-hime banzai!” The gale onna yelled before charging towards the loyalist position. Rong and a large number of shinobi were already there. Lashing out at loyalists with their swords before flickering out of sight. Other shinobi fired at the loyalists with their rifles, somehow avoiding any friendly fire despite the intense melee that was forming. Others could be heard mimicking the gal onna’s charge cry, including Kau Rong.

While not as skilled with the blade as the Gale onna and Rong, Morinth joined the intense fight with as much ferocity. It seemed everywhere she looked, there were were blades, howls, screams of pain. Morinth watched as the Shinobi, Gale, and Rong cleaved through the Loyalists with machine like precision.

The gale onna was dueling with a bushi near Morinth, the two exchanging sword blows and dancing around each other, seemingly unaware of their surroundings even as they danced away from the swords and bodies of other combatants. In the distance Kau Rong could be seen dueling with the only remaining loyalist Imperial guard. She would exchange a sword blow with the Imperial guard before disappearing, only to reappear again as she struck out at him from a completely different direction, even attacking from directly overhead a couple of times. What was even more impressive was the fact that the Imperial guard was actually fending her off and even occasionally predicting where she would appear next, lashing out with his own katana.

With surprisingly fluid motions for one whom never used a katana in a fight such as this, Morinth was doing well, though the occasional save from a Shinobi helped greatly. She did encounter her own threat when it came from a Bushi Shodan that was bearing down on her, and her alone. The Shodan gracefully evaded Morinth’s wide slash, forcing her on the defensive. The Shodan began circling her, parrying each other's blades. Within moments, the Shodan rushed Morinth, performing a series of rapid slashes, knocking the sword from Morinth’s hands.

“Shit.” was all she could say as the Shodan lunged forward as if to catch her off balance, to his surprise it seemingly worked as Morinth started to fall backwards. The Shodan began closing on her, raising his sword for the kill but a quick backflip saved her life, and enabled her to swing her rifle around. As she landed on her feet, the Shodan stopped dead in his tracks as she smirked, pulling the trigger. The first shot blew the Shodans arm clean off and the second removed its leg. Morinth didn’t know for certain if the Shodan had died before the third shot exploded its head, regardless. She switched her rifle from its scatter shot mode back to a rifle and aimed at Rong’s attacker, Yelling “Get down!”.

Rong was exchanging sword blows with the Imperial guard when Morinth shouted. She spared Morinth a single glance before jumping up and kicking off of the Imperial guard’s chest, pushing herself away and unbalancing her foe in the process. The guard stumbled back a few steps before finding his foot again. Before he could ready an attack, Five rapid shots from Morinth’s rifle sent his body cold to the floor.

The Imperial guard’s death marked the end of the battle. Those few loyalists who remained, and they were few indeed, surrendered as they found themselves woefully outnumbered and outmatched. Kau Rong looked around at the aftermath of the battle before she held her sword over her head and shouted “Yuki-hime banzai!”

“Yuki-hime banzai!” The shinobi shouted in response.

“Yuki-hime banzai!” Rong shouted again.

“Yuki-hime banzai!” The Shinobi answered once again. The gale onna shouted as well as she approached Morinth, jumping her sword arm into the air.

“Well fought!” She said as she sheathed her sword.

Kau Rong and the shinobi repeated their victory cries a few more times before sheathing their own swords. Rong looked about before spotting Morinth and headed over as well. “Not often does one get to cross swords with an Imperial guard.”

“And rarer still is that one survives the encounter.” The gale onna said. “Though it's not exactly fair that you got help.”

“Eh, I had the upper hand. Morinth-san simply sped up the inevitable” Rong said with a shrug. “All’s fair in love and war after all. Or so I hear.”

“Isn’t that a foreigner saying?” The gale onna asked, to which Rong simply shrugged. After a moment the gale onna shrugged as well.

Morinth knelt down and retrieved the Gale onna’s sword. “Thanks for this but I’ll be honest, it’s not for me.” She held the sword towards the Gale onna. “It is usually customary among my people to know the names of my comrades in arms.”

“Ichigawa Izanami” The gale onna said as she took the sword and sheathed it. “You can use my given name. And what is your name?”

“My name is Morinth, nice to meet you Ichigawa. So the matter at hand.” Morinth said, looking at Rong and the rest of the Shinobi. “What’s the play for taking the bridge.”

“We blow the entry hatch, throw in some flash bangs, and charge in.” Rong answered. “It’ll probably be bloody… but that’s how these warships were designed to be. Easy to defend and costly to take.”

Izanami slowly nodded. “I’d heard that the captain has just a handful of bushi in the bridge with him, but they know where we are coming in and they know we are using shinobi. If they drop some dust bombs or even smoke grenades they’ll tear us up as we storm the castle.” Both the of the Musashi women let out a long sigh.

“Well… let’s get this over with” Rong said as she gestured at the shinobi.

Unsurprisingly the group of shinobi, plus Rong, Morinth, and Izanami met no further resistance on their way to the bridge. What loyalist elements remained were being tied down by other pro-Yuki forces elsewhere. What was surprising was the fact that the entrance to the bridge was open. The bodies of three bushi had been propped against a wall, a trail of blood from each led to various locations on the bridge. The last bushi stood by the entrance with no weapons in sight.

“What. The. Hell.” Izanami said as she, Morinth, and Rong looked at the bridge from around a corner.

“Huh…” Rong muttered before asking “What do you make of this Morinth-san?”

“I’m not sure what this is.” She said, aiming her rifle in all directions. “I don’t like it. We need to move carefully here.”

“You sure the captain only had four bushi?” Rong demanded.

“Nope” Izanami said with a shrug. “He could have also grabbed a few more from elsewhere. What I’m curious about is those three dead bushi. And why is that fourth bushi standing out there without any weapons?”

Morinth shook her head and lowered her rifle, “Why not just go up and ask?”

“You want to just walk up to him and ask?” Izanami asked.

“Yes.” Morinth replied simply. After a moment of thought she offered Izunami her rifle. “I’ll go if you want. Or you can just shoot him.”

“I’ll cover your back” Izanami said as she took the offered rifle.

Rong disappeared from view as she said “I’ll be there with you. Poke my head into the bridge to make sure nothing nasty is lurking in there.”

Morinth shrugged before walking casually towards the bushi. Her left hand hovered just above her pistol. Once Morinth reached a distance she deemed safe, “Hey buddy, what are you doing? You ok?”

The bushi turned to look at Morinth, clearly making an effort to keep his hands where she could see them. “You… Are not from Musashi, are you?” He asked, his voice revealing him to be a comparably young man, possibly as young as eighteen. “Who are you? Why are you here?”

“That’s right, I’m not from Musashi.” Morinth replied, slowly placing her hand on the pistols grip. “So young man, why don’t you just let me know what happened here.”

The Bushi watched as Morinth’s hand moved towards her pistol. “This ship is the property of Yuki-hime and the Empire of Musashi.” He calmly said, but raised his voice as he continued “It will not be allowed to fall into the hands of foreigners!”

“Calm down kid, don’t do anything you’ll regret. I’m not here to take your ship. This place is all yours buddy, just calm it down ok?” Morinth said, taking a more commanding tone.

“I am no kid nor I your buddy.” The bushi snapped. “I am a bushi of the Empire and you will show me the respect I am due. Now you will state exactly why you are here and you will do so now.”

“The captain is dead” Rong whispered into Morinth’s ear. She was so close that she was almost touching Morinth. “Some of the bridge crew are also dead. The rest are armed. They might have mutinied.”

Morinth lifted her hand from the pistol after hearing Rong, “Alright, Bushi, You’ve got me. I am here on behalf of Yuki-Hime and the Empire as well. Yuki-Hime sent me here to help. So let’s just calm down.” She locked her gaze on the gaps in the leg plating around the knee, preparing to shoot if he didn’t comply.

For a moment the bushi simply stared at Morinth. But after a moment his hands began to shake. He took a deep breath as if to say something, but was cut off as Izanami let out a cry “Yuki-hime banzai!” from down the corridor. The shinobi let out the cry as well, causing a thunderous roar to emerge from behind Morinth. The clenched his hands into fists and raised one over his head as he joined in. “Yuki-hime banzai!”

“Yuki-hime banzai!” Could be heard from inside the bridge as the crew their joined in.

Izanami and half of the shinobi stepped into view and walked over towards Morinth. Rong deactivated her cloak, appearing next to Morinth as if from thin air. The bushi seemed mildly startled by this, but didn’t seem particularly disturbed. “Perhaps one of us should have spoken to him instead” Izanami commented. “It wouldn’t have been funny if they’d blown the engines because they thought some foreign power was trying to steal this ship.”

Morinth relaxed and took a few steps back, “So if you knew they would’ve blown the ship..” She stopped herself. “Good thing you arrived when you did then.” She said then turned towards the Bushi, “So, friend. Did you and your buddies in there choose the right side in this conflict? Are you truly Yuki-hime supporters?”

“You killed the core loyalists in that last fight.” The bushi stated. “Broke their back really. When the captain had weapons handed out to the bridge crew… well he sealed his own fate. Enough of them liked Yuki-hime more than the current ruler of Musashi. I for one didn’t particularly like the captain threatening his crew at gunpoint.”

“You did the right thing.” Morinth said before walking towards him and extending her hand, “Permission to enter the bridge?”

“Permission granted” The bushi said as he stood at attention.

Kau Rong entered the bridge first, heading immediately for the captain’s chair. She sat down in it and pressed a button on the arm of the chair, activating the ship wide comm system. “This is Kau Rong, faithful retainer of Yuki-hime, speaking from the bridge. Those of us who are loyal to Yuki-hime are now in control of this ship. I urge those who stand against us to surrender. I give you my word that you will not be harmed if you surrender immediately. And to those who stood with Yuki-hime I have just one thing to say. Yuki-hime banzai!”

All throughout the ship the cry “Yuki-hime banzai!” could be heard. The battle was over and with it Yuki-hime was now in firm control of the fleet.

Morinth nodded, “Well, this was fun.” she said, now running her fingers through her hair. “Any chance I can take this mask off now?”

“Might as well” Rong said. “You don’t really need to hide the fact you’re a foreigner anymore.”

“Not that it helped any” Izanami commented as she walked over. “Where are you from, anyway?”

“It was that obvious?” Morinth replied before carefully removing her mask. The edges were wet from sweat, making the fresh air that much more refreshing. “I am from the Dominion.” she said plainly, fully expecting a negative response, but acknowledging honesty was prized among these people.

“Curious” Was all Izanami said in response. “Yea… your accent made it pretty obvious. Also… that.” She gestured towards Morinth’s top. “What is that?”

Rong chuckled before chiming in “I’ve been wondering that for a long time. Does that even count as a piece of clothing?”

“Does it?” Izanami asked. “I’m not sure it does.”

Morinth snickered, “I suppose you’re right, but indeed it does. Look at Rong here, wearing armor and still got hit in the shoulder.” She said with a smile. “Plus, it shows off the goods if you catch my drift.”

“Hey! My armor worked!” Rong said. “No harm no foul!”

“These show off the goods just as well I think!” Izanami gestured at her and Rong’s bodysuits. “It might even enhance her appearance.”

Morinth straightened her arms downwards and clasped her hands. “Hmm..” She said, slowly squeezing her arms together, along with other things, making them far more obvious. “I suppose to each their own,”

Rong just rolled her eyes before asking “Well I think it’s safe to conclude that Yuki-hime’s safety has been assured. For now at least. You willing to tell me what you need my help with or is that something you’d like to discuss in… privacy?”

“Oh, this sounds interesting.” Izanami said.

“Oh, It’ll be interesting.” Morinth said, winking at Izanami. “But in all seriousness, You remember that man from when we first met?” She said, directed at Rong but loud enough for all to hear.

“The one that was more magical than I?” Rong asked.

“Magical?” Izanami muttered.

“You don’t know about space magic?” Morinth asked, slowly shifting her gaze towards Izanami. “This guy we fought, he had a glove thing that froze me in place. I had to watch as he toyed with Rong here.”

“Wait… what?” Izanami asked.

“She means psionics.” Rong answered. “We encountered a… man who was immensely powerful and very hostile.” She let out a sigh. “I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to tangle with him again. Ok, so what is he up to?”

“Well, That is what I need to find out.” Morinth said, “There was a report sent to me, regarding that symbol that those soldiers had, on another world. It was seen on some sort of stealthy ship.”

“And so you… want to investigate this stealthy ship?” Rong asked. “I’m not sure how to break this to you, but this sounds like a job for a destroyer, not a kunoichi.”

“Heh, I know.” she said, “But wouldn’t that be a sight.” She lowered her tone as to mimic a man, “Oh I’m mr badass and I have a super stealthy base- Then BAM! Musashi battleship. Ah one can dream.” She said, nearly starry eyed again. “But yes, And it’s not quite the stealthy ship more so than the site it was at. A backwater planet and a tiny little town of maybe two hundred tops. Why would he stop there. I doubt to grab a bite to eat.”

“Does sound like a good site for a secret base.” Izanami chimed in.

“No.” The bushi from before said as he approached. “It’s a good location to recruit ignorant people.”

“I don’t think he recruits his personnel” Rong stated.

“Not all means of recruitment are voluntary.” The bushi countered. Rong nodded her head in agreement after a moment.

“Ok, I don’t like any of this.” Rong said. “But what’s your game plan for this. It can’t just be the two of us, gallivanting across the galaxy.”

“Well, The two of us gallivanting across the galaxy does sound exciting, however..” She gazed around to the Bushi, the Shinobi and finally Izanami. “Sometimes two is not nearly enough.” Morinth then turned to Rong, “I don’t intend to get jumped again, I intend to arrive and force who ever is there to give us information. I’m done beating around the bush with this guy.”

“Faust giving you a small army to do this?” Rong asked with a raised eyebrow. “Cause if Lau’s previous response to us utterly wrecking his subordinates is any indication he has a large manpower pool to draw from.”

“There is no way we could face that manpower pool alone, you’re right, and no. I don’t have an army, nor the help of my other three colleagues. But I do not want to face that army. Rather, I like the Bushi’s input. Maybe if this is some sort of recruitment center, voluntary or not, it would be a good place to look for clues as to what he is up to at the very least.” She sighed, “But even that would require help but I honestly do not know where to go for it. There’s always mercenaries and bounty hunters but they cannot be trusted. I need a group that values honor.” She said, looking at the Bushi out of the corner of her eye.

The bushi, noticing her looking at him, turned fully towards her. “I serve Yuki-hime. Only she can grant me permission to aid you.”

“Stuck up as he may be” Izanami commented, eliciting a low growl from the bushi, “he is correct. You’ll have to get Yuki-hime’s support if you want anyone from this fleet to help you.”

“I’m sure something can be arranged.” Rong said. “But we’ll need to have an idea of what sort of forces we need before discussing it with Yuki-hime.”

“It’d have to be a small team, four to ten maybe?” She looked around, “They’d have to be the best of the best but I can’t bring a battleship or they will flee.”

“Well in a normal capacity I would serve as close air support.” Izanami stated. “Sort of like a… what would you call it? A gunship? Something like that.”

“You sure you wouldn’t want to bring a fixed wing aircraft or two along as well?” The bushi asked.

“Well.. I’m used to travelling in my stealth ship that is attached to this one. Additional support might come in handy.” Morinth replied, “I’m gonna need a ship with a hangar. Damn this operation became bigger than I anticipated.”

“Well you could just strap a fighter to the outside of your ship… right?” Izanami asked. “Ok… maybe we should ask the actual pilot that before determining that’s the best course of action.”

“I don’t think Yuki-hime will be to keen to give up an entire warship at the moment.” The bushi commented.

“Well… maybe a corvette?” Rong didn’t sound terrible certain. “I mean… what use would she have for them anyways?”

“I think your commander will have to provide this ship” The bushi commented. “Unless you have some real skills of persuasion.”

“Yeah, that’ll be interesting too. Walking up to Yuki and saying hello, then asking can I borrow a warship.” Morinth said, “How difficult would it be to have a chat with Yuki-hime?”

“Well…” Rong closed her eyes as she said. “Looks like she’s landing on the Shokaku now. We could probably talk to her via a holo-room, though personally I’d recommend we speak to her in person given what you are asking for.”

“Then that is what I shall do. Though, I do not know the way.” Morinth stated, “Would someone be so kind as to take me to her?”

***** ***** *****

An hour later Rong and Morinth found themselves seated across a table from Yuki in a medium sized room on the Shokaku. None wore masks, Yuki having not bothered to even worn her’s in the first place.

“I would like to thank you for the assistance you provided me” Yuki said. “While I am sure my followers would have been successful either way, you certainly limited the casualties they would have taken. Now then, what matter do you need to discuss with me?”

Morinth gave a confused, yet disgusted look at Yuki’s first comment but regained her composure quickly. “I need your help.” She said plainly. “There is a huge war on the horizon and what worries me is that there are things going on behind the scenes that I fear might.” She paused, clearing her throat. “Might be doing more harm than good.”

Yuki let out a long sigh as she leaned back in her seat. “For once… Just once I’d like to have only one problem on my plate.” She looked and sounded tired. “Ok. What are these… things behind the scenes and how can I help?”

That confused look crossed her lips once more, “Well, I’m not sure what these things behind the scenes truly are or I would just tell you. What I do know is that there is a man out there who commanded a force of strange soldiers, unlike any PMC I’ve ever encountered, and he himself bested both Rong and I without breaking a sweat. He even spoke of a dire future. I know people talk all the time and if we took every Prophet seriously, we would go crazy.”

“But this man, he just.. He had a strange feel about him and the technology he possessed was far greater than anything I’ve ever seen or heard of. My request is a ship, and a small group of your elite warriors to deal with it, as my nation is not in any position to do so.”

“And you think I’m in a better position to meet you needs than the entirety of the Dominion?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. After a moment she let out a long sigh. “Is this that Lau fellow you told me about some time ago?” She asked Rong who simply nodded in response. “Damn. I’ve been worried about him for a while. Ok. Let’s take deal with this before it gets out of hand. You need a ship? I can’t give you one of my capitals. I’m not sure I feel comfortable lending you a cruiser either. What sort of capabilities are you looking for?”

“I need a ship with a hangar big enough for my Ship, which in all honesty would fit the heavy bomber or light corvette class, as well as a few extra fighters that are atmospheric capable. And it would need decent firepower as well.” Morinth replied, feeling as if it was more of a shopping list than a request at this point.

“So a cruiser in short.” Yuki let out another sigh. “Alright. One of the cruisers I’ve got was designed as an atmospheric assault carrier of sorts. It’ll be able to carry all of the fighters and other support craft you could possibly want. The only thing is its firepower will be somewhat less than other comparably sized warships. Also… that class of ship has rather lackluster point defense systems.”

“Well, Beggars can’t be choosers.” Morinth said, forcing a smile. “The firepower deficiency will hopefully be mitigated by experienced fighter pilots with advanced hardware. As for point defense, Lau doesn’t seem to have a large navy or I doubt he would’ve let a lone Dominion warship get the best of him. If that is all you can offer, I will gladly appreciate.”

“We have the best fighters and pilots in the galaxy.” Yuki said. After a moment she let a humorous smile spread across her face “Or that’s what we like to tell ourselves at least. If you absolutely need it I may be able to spare another ship, but I need to know you really need it.”

“I am from the Dominion, I know Faust personally.. He was even the one who recruited me long ago. If I cannot get help from him, I doubt anyone else could or even would.” Morinth clenched her fists, “This threat is too great to ignore and few have any means to do anything about it. Musashi has those means. I need your help.”

“Alright. I’ll give you a second cruiser and a pair of destroyers. But I need these ships to return to me intact. Do you understand?” She didn’t wait for Morinth’s reply. “I already have a gale onna and bushi requesting to join you two. Received the requests before you had even gotten here. Unbelievable. Ok. So what type of soldiers are you looking for?”

“I need the kind that will not falter in the face of extreme odds, I need the kind that will follow orders and face this menace for what it is. The soldiers he commands weren’t a match for the likes of Rong and myself, But they were far greater than most I’ve ever seen.” Morinth sharpened her gaze, “And you’ll get your ships back.”

“Bushi and onnas?” Yuki directed the question towards Rong.

Rong hesitated a moment before asking “Maybe a few shodan too? Maybe an Imperial guard or two?”

“Absolutely not.” Yuki said. “I can spare a shodan or two, but I need all the Imperial guard bushi I can get my hands on.” She paused to think for a moment. “How does forty soldiers sound? This will include five shodan. I’ll also let that gale onna that wants to join you join as well, separate from those forty soldiers. You can decide how many of them are bushi and how many are onnas. Will that meet your needs?”

Morinth leaned back, “I.. Yeah, I. Thank you.” There was genuine joy in her voice. She turned to Rong, “That asshole has no idea what is about to hit him.”