Before too long, he's back on the bridge of his flagship, Victoriana putting in the coordinates for Samodiva. Ulie has been moved to the bridge crew, and gives Xavier a brief smile as she sees him, before saluting and getting back to work. As Xavier confirms his destination, the ship begins to move towards the local warp gate and prepares to jump to Samodiva. "Is it just us, sir, or are we taking the fleet?" Xavier hears his 2IC ask.
Spoiler: Telepathy Roll D100: 37+15 (Order of Sorcerers)=52 (Pass) She feels her target's presence, and begins walking in his direction. Negotiation? What, were those men you sent supposed to 'negotiate' with me? Is that what you call assassination on your world?
Xavier smiled at Ulie, before he took over the bridge command. 'The pirates are supposed to have one hundred ships,' he looked to Victoriana, 'I think we could use some back-up.'
I see you had a rough time with my disciples. And I apologize for that. I never told them to assassinate you, only to deal with you how they see fit. Fufu, but here you are. There's no use hiding. I've already secured your sister's cooperation. And with Lian's requests, I too shall extend my hand towards you. Will you take it, and work for me. Or will I need to break you down first? Vizelle replied as she moves toward him, keeping her barrier up, and her eyes peeled for traps.
"I-uh..." She shakes her head. "Lot of memories there, but I'm fine. Lead the way, boss." Bec checks that her sword sheath is adequately attached to her belt, a tic of hers. Isabella's people quickly respond, agreeing to a meeting. Eanne heads due south, to a large compound owned by the Research Institute. In one of a thousand identical labs, she meets the woman herself, who observes some sort of cybernetics experiment in a control room. "Ah, Lady." She nods. "I was wondering when you'd get to me. GENTLE, YOU BUFFOON! That's FRAGILE!" She shouts through the microphone at a startled tech carrying a box in the test chamber. "So, shall we begin?" She turns back to Eanne.
Victoriana looks a little embarrassed, before giving the order for the rest of the fleet to about face and join them. Approaching the warp gate, the ships head through and make the jump, the space outside the ship turning a blueish hue due to to the immense speed of FTL travel. "ETA, about a week, sir." Victoriana nods.
Spoiler: Diplomacy Roll D100: 80 (Pass) The dark haired spymaster of the Zhou family steps out of a row of server columns in front of Vizelle, hand on a pistol at his side. "What are your terms, then?"
"Your undying loyalty, and service to my cause. Inexchange for whatever your heart desires." Vizelle said with a smile, slowly moving closer, reaching out a hand to shake his. "What do you say? Lian accepted the same deal. I take it you know just how capable she is with diplomacy?"
“Alright, then, let's go.” Eanne nodded to Bec and led the way. “Thank you for meeting with me. I am Lady Eanne Winterwood, of house Winterwood, and this is Bec Hallaran, my head bodyguard.” Eanne introduced herself to the professor. “I hope I am not interrupting anything. If you prefer I could wait a few minutes and watch while you finish whatever experiment you're working on. Such a small delay is not a problem for me.” She offered, not wanting to interrupt whatever was going on.
He's static and silent for a few seconds, before reaching out to take her hand. "And the alternative is having my mind invaded? Very well, I'll work for you, Vizelle the Black." He nods. Still holding her hand, he draws and raises his pistol, but before Vizelle can move to do anything, he opens fire on the officer who led Vizelle in here, the woman clutching her chest and falling to the ground, quickly dying. Vizelle's 'bodyguard' lowers her own pistol as it becomes clear what happened, and the young man holsters his weapon. "I don't tolerate betrayal. I might have chosen to work for you now, but I wasn't in your service when she led you here."
"Very well. A simple officer is of no use. But she is still an officer under the Emperor's command. Her death here will be yours to deal with. I do hope you have more people here under your fingers." Vizelle sighed. "Well, our job here is done. Let's head back to the casino to discuss where our partnerships will be going." She grins as she heads back to the ship with the siblings.
"Very well. Glad to see you're interested." Isabella turns to the testing chamber. The box is unpacked, revealing mechanical parts, which are installed in a nearby mech. "Combat mechs were an indispensible part of ancient human warfare. However, modern human mechs are clumsy, and hard to maneuver if they're beyond a certain size, making them useless in war. Until today." She smiles, and gives a thumbs up. "Thanks to recent innovations, we've rediscovered the secrets behind large combat mechs, how to make them usable in combat." On her command, the mech begins to move, the pilot inside taking it through a complex series of actions on a row of glass bottles, shooting some with its weaponry, the sound booming through the chamber, before utilising fine motor skills to pick up the bottles and pour a glass of alcohol. Isabella beams in pride, before the mech begins to spark, and catch fire, the fingers of its glasping claw smashing the glass in its hand. The glass window opens, and the pilot falls outside, rolling on the ground with his legs on fire. "Shit." Isabella sighs, before looking at Eanne. "As you can see, science requires some level of trial and error, but we're close. We can give the empire a massive boon on the battlefield. And in other areas, like construction, for instance."
The people aboard the station are either well-bribed, or they simply didn't hear the shot in the huge server chamber. Either way, a few hours later, Vizelle sits in the casino, all three siblings nearby.
As they made their way back to the casino, Vizelle has her disciples called to join their meeting. And while waiting for them, the sorceress speaks to the siblings for now. "So then. All three of you have agreed to join me. And I will be up front. We will be dealing with your mother next, after that would be taking over Marcus' operations. And then strengthening ourselves to ensure we can deal with whoever Marcus' backers are. Any questions?"
Eanne watched in silence, her interest in the project increasing with every display of the mech's abilities. Though the end was obviously not the intended one. “Very impressive, professor. Such mechs will be of great use to the empire, both in and out of combat... if you manage to fix all the technical issues, anyway. I hope you do – this seems very promising... I'm sure the emperor will be pleasantly surprised by your project.” Eanne gave Isabella a warm smile, but then her expression turned serious. “Of course, there are some other issues that need to be addressed, such as the production costs of such mechs, the training of skilled pilots, how many people will lose their jobs as a result of the empire employing such mechs for various civilian jobs... I hope you have thought about some of these things.”
In her mind, Elena knew that at this level of technology, branding could be concealed or even removed. It happened before to her. But she would probably carry that tattoo and be Van Dorn property, as long as the house was useful. That did not change the fact, that she was in one, rather painful experience - of a kind she did not experience in a long time. And the anticipation of it made her hot. "Ah~" Her entire body shook at the sight of branding irons. A moan escaped her as she swayed weakly on her boots, her heels clicking as she steadied her position. Her pussy juices were flowing down her thighs and thigh-high heeled boots. Her legs were quivering with fear and anticipation. Her chest still covered with head butler's sperm was pushed forward, with rope coiling around her large breasts, above and below them, emphasizing them more. Her breasts moved up and down with each hot breath, her nipples were erect from excitement. "!" She gasped as the older woman grabbed her hair and pushed her to her knees. With the rope coiling around her chest and arms, she could do little, to resist. Not that she wanted to. A current went through her body as she felt a finger entering her sex. "Someone's eager, I see." She chuckled. there was sadistic anticipation in her voice. "Now, I'll give you a choice. You can choose to take an anaesthetic when we brand you, like the coward you are. Or, you can take the pain, and we'll reward you later." "Ma'am." The head butler interrupted her. "Lord Dorn ordered the bitch to be always treated in the harshest, most painful and degrading, way possible. It's true that she is useful to Van Dorn, but her loss would be not a great loss to the house. Her main purpose is to assure the members and servants of the family of their greatness - that they can step on, fuck and abuse, torture and even kill, one of the most powerful women in the empire, without any repercussions." A sweat started covering Elena's skin. That... she did not predict. Was the man laying? Was it part of the play? Or was he serious? Elena shivered, as she realised, that her situation became far more serious now. It was a peril... and strangely, it excited her. Still holding her hair, the older woman chuckled. "No anaesthetic then, and pain after that... Daughter, please do the honours." She could hear the younger woman chuckle. Elena froze, as she heard the clicking of a young woman's heels - first moving away... then coming closer. Elena then could feel the heat, right next to her left asscheek.
He gives her a nod and sets out for it, though not before exchanging his ceremonial sword for a real one, just in case he isn't the only person at the scene.
Yannika nodded and then kissed him. "I understand the limitations that we are faced with, but I'm committed to navigating them with you. In the meantime, I want to make up for lost time too; so..." she said and nestled in next to him, "how did you want to start?"
Isabella smiles as she hears Eanne valuing her work, before frowning at the question. "Those are not my concern. Besides, the utility of these mechs outweighs any other concern."
