The whole process is surprisingly quick. Usually an oath of loyalty is recorded by scribes, but given that Dubernay is a spy, it's far less complicated, the woman simply uttering the words. Dubernay slips back into her mutant disguise and leaves, reminding Elena about her promise, before the priestess is left alone with the emperor. "Well done, priestess." He smiles. "It wasn't free, but I'm glad we were able to get her on our side."
Heading onto one the sleek dropships, the doors seal behind Vivian and her troops, before the hangar opens up, and Vivian's ship, along with the other used by the expedition, begin to descend to the planet below. There's a wave of heat and flame as they break through the atmosphere, and then out the viewport Vivian sees green, verdant jungle. Her sightseeing doesn't last for long, though, as a wave of blue flies up from the ground, hitting one of the transport, which explodes in a sphere of flame and molten metal. All of a sudden, the air is filled with blue blasts, as plasma turrets on the planet's surface begin to fire up towards the transports. The ship tosses and turns, as the pilot desperately makes evasive maneuvers. "Ma'am!" He calls out. "If we land in the original LZ, we risk getting hit! Do I land away from the area?" Vivian considers the question. If they get hit, shields will prevent the ship from being destroyed like the other one, but they could lose men. If they land farther than intended from the site, they would be out of range of the turrets, but could encounter unknown dangers while trekking through the jungles. (Sorry if that's poorly written.)
"Fufu. That's simply insurance. But you can also say your sister let me in to her mind." She chuckled, licking her lips at the mental image he sent. "Yes, indeed. You can try. But even if you succeed, what next? Do you have a plan?" She then continues speaking as she approaches him, "I don't ask for much, just you undying loyalty. And in return, I can give you what your heart desires." The sorceress then pulls down the top of her dress, revealing her breasts that's covered by the slightly transparent leotard she had underneath. "You want my body? I'd happily give it to you as a reward, you want the other beautiful women in the council? I can show you a way, where they'll happily hand you their leashes." She gets closer to him, and if she gets near enough that they're touching, Vizelle presses her breasts against his chest. "All you have to do, is let, me, in." She whispered, her yellow eyes glowing as she attempts to do to him, what she did to Halipha.
"Turrets are online, here? How old is this site supposed to be?" Still functional defenses was as interesting as it was dangerous, but there wasn't a lot of the time to weigh the ideas of it as they came underfire. "Get out of range. We gain nothing from rushing in." Not about to panic just yet, she gave the order relatively calmly while still thinking about in their head. The ship should have enough supplies to last them a good while if necessary, but even the delay shouldn't take that long, she reasoned.
Spoiler: Seduction Roll D100: 60 (Pass) Spoiler: Telepathy Roll D100: 21+15 (Successful Seduction)+15 (Order of Sorcerers)=51 (Pass) Looking up, she sees that she's had some effect on him, but he's clearly not buying it in its entirety. "Perhaps we can work together, if you provide what you promise." His metallic hand clamps around her neck and squeezes, as Vizelle's disciples move to intercept. "I will not be a slave, however. Understood?"
Dodging out of the way of a plasma blast, the pilot guides the ship away from the site, and out of the turret's range. Finally, at a safe distance, the dropship is set down in a clearing amidst the jungle. Looking at the ship's radar, she sees that about half the ships retreated, the other half going straight for the site.
Yannika's heart swelled at the cardinal's acceptance of her calling. She would do it, she would do anything to make the gods' will a reality. The Emperor's acceptance of her as a suitable consort would be a challenge, but she was determined and resolute in her faith; certain of her success was the gods' will. The priestess regarded the cardinal with a look of complete gratitude. "I would do anything the Church requires of me Your Eminence. Any test, any trial, any task the clergy could request I will do gladly. Name it, and it shall be done. I swear upon all The Gods. My loyalty to the Holy Mother Church is absolute."
What are those idiots thinking. We aren't pressed for time here. Internalizing her annoyance at seeing some of the fleet ignore her orders, they would hold at least. It wasn't all lost. If they moved quickly, they could press the fortifications from an assault down from front and behind, but it would require having to move quickly to make sure the other fleet didn't lose too much power in trying to press the attack without the rest. "We need to move out now! Double time!"
Seeing Verner about to move, Vizelle gives him a telepathic signal to stand down for now. "Dear boy. I don't have any slaves. Everyone with me follows me because they want something I can provide... for a price of course." He cooed, giving him a sultry look as he chokes her. "Aahn. But of course... if you do a good job. I don't mind rewarding you, by being your slave for a while." She moaned, sending him a mental image of her, kneeling in front of him, wearing a collar, while he held her leash. "What do you say? Will you join me?" Ma~s~ter. She smiles, waiting for his reply.
"Hmm," He looks at her, and for a moment she thinks he's going to ask for something lascivious, but instead he says "I want to know everything you hear from the emperor. The closer you get to him, the more he confides in you, I want to hear his inner thoughts. You'll be tested, to ensure that what you say is true."
The power armoured troops show their discipline as they fall in behind Vivian, moving in a practiced formation. Spoiler: Threat Roll 56=(Pass) As they run across the jungle, Vivian's squad are delayed by another turret, a minigun that fires hundreds of metallic rounds a second in their direction.
"I will follow you, for now." He nods. He's far from dominated like his sister is, but for now he signals his intent to go along with her. In his free hand, he holds up the book. "You want this?"
"Of course Your Eminence!" She exclaims joyfully, certain that a benevolent and supportive institution like the Holy Mother Church would use whatever information they received to help guide the young emperor down the righteous and holy path the gods' designed for him. "Your knowledge of his thoughts will only allow the church to better serve him and the empire." she gave the cardinal a deep bow "Thank you Your Eminence."
How defended is this encampment? She was expecting trouble, but what exactly they stumbled into with this site, was raising a lot of questions as she dived for cover. The guns probably weren't too scary for her suit, but this would be far from the only obstacle and just sprinting through would risk sustaining collecting a lot of damage easily dealing with other weapons. Scanning for the gun's set up, Vivian raised the plasma gun on her suit to fire at the tree line beside it, hoping to take it down and crush the turret and possible gunner if they weren't automated defenses.
"Good choice." Vizelle cooed, fixing her dress as he lets go of her neck. "Yes, I'd love to take a peek at its contents." She replied, holding out her hand to receive the book. And once she has it, she beckons everyone to follow her back to the others.
The cardinal smiles. "Thank you, my child, for doing the church's will." He pats her head approvingly. "The emperor, what is your strategy to gain his affection? Do you plan to reveal the truth to him?"
Spoiler: Attack Roll D100: 65+15(Energy Technologies)=80 (Pass) Looking through her weapon's sight and the hud of her helmet, Vivian sees that the gun has been fixed into a small rock face. Taking aim, she presses down the trigger, and her gun spews forth a spray of superheated plasma. The plasma hits the wall above the turret, which cracks and collapses, taking the gun with it. "Good shot." Someone says behind her.
Spoiler: Mystery Attack Roll D100: 41 (Fail) As Alexandros moves to hand over the book, there's a supersonic crack as a high velocity round zooms past, slamming through the edge of the book. Alexandros reels back, purple lightning sparking from his fingers. "What is this? You dare?" He growls in anger, erecting a psychic shield to protect against more sniper rounds. Looking around, Vizelle can't see where the shot came from.
While the current threat was down, she didn't let her senses relax just yet but lowered her weapon for now as she scanned for any potential injured, while still making the advance forward. "It wouldn't do any good to design anything that I'm not comfortable using myself." For now, her armor was doing it's job just fine and she gave a smile of pride even it wasn't visible from behind the helmet. Even if she wasn't an especially skilled fighter, superior gear did a fine job of closing that gap. "Keep your guard up. We can't slow the pace down now." Knowing the other half would likely be at bigger risk for already being in a firefight, there wasn't much time to lose.
