Ling Wu's Story

The small caravan had departed the Township if Jikǒu early that morning, but it was hours yet from reaching its destination of Tiānshì City. It was a small convoy of only three wagons, but half a dozen riders accompanied it as escort. Losenji Island had been in a state of peace for many generations now, but one could not be too safe when transporting the daughter of the Minister of Trade.

The woman in question was seated in the center wagon with the shade upon the window pulled up so she could watch out of it as they progressed at their slow plodding pace. There were faster ways of travel these days - for those who could afford them - but Ling was in no hurry to reach her destination. She had enjoyed these trips to the city even as a small child, and the horse-drawn wagons left her with a sense of nostalgia.

This would be the last time she made this trip to Tiānshì City as the daughter of the Minister of Trade, for she would be returning home as the Minister of Trade.

It was strange how fortunes could change so quickly she thought to herself. With her brother in prison, and her elder sister disowned, Ling had almost overnight risen to heir of her ailing father's estate, and his position as Minister of Trade.

She fanned herself lightly against the late summer heat before settling back into her seat to enjoy the rest of the trip.

Two hand-maids sat across from her, but both seemed content to endure the trip in silence as well.

Jarkal hated everything, but if he was forced to pick between certain things, wagons were his most hated enemy. They made too much noise, they tended to throw whoever was around in the carriage if they were shoddily built and last of all, they were insanely hard to rob considering all the angels you had to cover and the amount of guards this one had.

Why did he have to hear them now? He had just gotten used to the peacefulness of this particular road and the land around it. The dogman rolled his eyes and turned around to face the carriages, walking backwards for a time to examine the 'regalness' of it all. Jarkal backed up and tapped his chin, everyone in that entire column looked pretty rich.

Except for the guards, but nobody cares about guards.

Jarkal swung his hands over his head and called for them to stop.

"Hey! Wait! There's bandits up ahead!"

The escort of riders reigned in their horses with a start as the man came out waving his arms and yelling in a near incomprehensible effort to speak Losenyu. The man was clearly not from around here.

"Whoa," the head of the column said as his horse snorted and shook its head at the abrupt stop. "What are you on about?" he hollered to Jarkal. "There's no bandits out this way."

"Sir," another man replied. "Maybe it's not bandits." He nodded his head towards the wagon that held the minister's daughter as explanation.

The other guard scowled. "You two go on ahead and check it out. The rest of you stay with the wagons."

Meanwhile inside of the wagon Ling lifted the shade over the window to get a look outside. "Why have we stopped?" she asked.

"There was shouting my Lady," one of her handmaiden's told her as she pulled the shade back over the window. "We should not be seen."

Jarkal clumsily smiled to go along with his terrible accent. They were right, he certainly wasn't around here and there wasn't any bandits up ahead, it was just an excuse to get closer to the wagons and give them a better look, which he tried to do by slipping past the two guards and pointing towards to where there might be bandits.

When Ling lifted the window, Jarkal tried his luck at waving towards her, grinning.

Get their attention and rob em' blind, right?

His view of the wagon was abruptly cut off as one of the guards shifted his horse into Jarkal's path. "Go on now," he told Jarkal.

Whatever was in that wagon, they didn't much seem to care for Jarkal giving it his attention.

Meanwhile inside of the wagon Ling swatted at her handmaiden's hand. "I am the Minister of Trade," she reminded the young hand maiden. "I will do as I please." Of course she was getting a bit ahead of herself. Until she reached the city, her father was legally the Minister of Trade still.

As if to iterate the fact that she was unafraid she pushed the side door of the wagon open.

One of the men at hand started at her appearance. "Lady Wu Ling," he told her lowly as he shifted his horse around. "You shouldn't be out here. We have sent riders on ahead to ensure the safety of the road."

"If you still wish to have a job in the morning, you will not tell me where I should or shouldn't be," she replied indignantly.

One of the other men had the thought to swing down off his horse to hurriedly retrieve and place a small footstool beside the wagon for the Minister's daughter.

Gathering the long lengths of her robes in hand, she stepped out onto the footstool and down to the roadside

"Now tell me what is going on out here," she instructed. "And who is this..." she trailed off as she looked over Jarkal. "Person," she settled on finally.

Jarkal's eyes lit up at the minister's daughter. It wasn't her that interested him though, that headdress looked rich, that could fetch a pretty penny from all those merchants back home, it took his entire sensibility to not snatch it there and then and dart back off into the distance.

Jarkal quickly bowed and waved again. "They robbed me and stole my cart, all of my merchandise gone! Who do I talk to get it all back?" Jarkal put on his best worried face and sniffed pathetically.

Ling sniffed disdainfully. "Do we look like the police to you?" she asked.

She turned about to re-enter the wagon. "I want these wagons moving. I have an appointment to keep," she told the men as she retook her seat.

One of the men shook his head before gesturing for the drivers to get the wagons moving. Hopefully the pair of riders that had gone on ahead could warn them of any trouble should there be any.

Jarkal scratched the back of his shaggy head and decided to take a more direct approach. The acrobatic thief took a few hasty steps forward, looked both ways and tried to snatch the headdress from the very top of her retreating form, it probably wasn't going to work as intended because it looked tied to her hair, but Jarkal wasn't much for smart ideas.

"Lucky you're not police then!"

Bright flashes lit up the sky above Terra, a battle was clearly raging and it was hard to tell just who was winning, losing or involved. It could have been pirates, a sovereign nation, or terrorists. Maybe even alien overlords coming to enslave Terra.

Large spheres were falling from the sky all over Shintenchi and the surrounding areas. Landing in Volary, the Shogunate, and even Losenji. They slammed down hard, destroying anything in their path if it wasn't sturdy enough, and even then the force of the impacts probably did some damage.

There were hundreds falling, many in the distance being shot down by Terran forces in the hopes that they could thin the herd of whatever was going to be released.

The spheres opened up soon after they touched down, revealing several men and women in blue jumpsuits and heavy black armor in each. Almost immediately those inside began to open fire on anyone they could find. Military and police being priority before they made examples of the civilians they encountered.

These attacking soldiers who were further from cities and villages opened fire with long-range rifles, trying to take out as much opposition as possible without needing to get close.

The resulting events were nothing short of comical, at least from a certain perspective. As Jarkal grabbed hole of Ling Wu's headpiece she let out a startled cry as the object was indeed entwined within her hair. Stumbling over the length of her robes she all but fell into the carriage, taking Jarkal with her.

The two-hand maiden's simultaneously began shrieking while throwing whatever was at hand at the man who was now sprawled inside of the carriage with them. Combs, hand fans, and even a shoe were thrown at the strange dog man.

Ling Wu herself was all but flailing within her tangle of robes as she attempted to disentangle herself from the would-be thief.

Slap!

As she got an arm free, the resounding sound of her hand striking his cheek filled the carriage. "How dare you!" she yelled indignantly at him.

The guards outside were in a frenzy which had the horses spooked as they stamped their hooves restlessly and shifted their weight causing the carriage to rock uneasily.

"Someone grab him!"

One of the guards drew a pistol but a second stopped him.

"Don't be an idiot! The minister's daughter is in there!"

Jarkal's cheeks went bright red, the would-be thief bit his lip and laughed, tumbling over himself and struggling himself out of the tangle of dress and princess. The combs being thrown at him were beginning to get annoying, the dogman twitched his ears in irritation.

Jarkal climbed to his feet, and caught the fans and the shoe in his hands and bundled them up and quickly looked down at his prizes, decided they were subpar and dropped them on Ling Wu.

"Ladies, this is a robbery." Jarkal proudly announced in broken Losenji, he hoped he got his point across.

Ling Wu scooted backwards until her back hit the wall of the cramped carriage space as she attempted to adjust her headpiece which was now rather lopsided, but it was largely a lost cause.

"Are you stupid or something?" she asked. "There'a a half a dozen men out there on horses. Where do you think you're going to go?"

As if to emphasize that point, one of the men shouted loudly from outside.

"Step out of the carriage, or we will shoot."

Jarkal grinned. "No, I think I'm fine in here." The thief shouted, he wasn't that stupid to walk out of his decent cover and he decided to bend down just in case. Jarkal pointed at her headdress and then his open palm.

"All your valuables, we can do this the hard way or the easy way, and I'd rather keep you from slapping me too." Jarkal grinned, looking behind him and checking if all the windows inside the carriage were covered by the blinds.

It was with some measure of indignation that Ling disentangled the head piece from her hair which now freed cascaded down over her shoulders.

She all but threw it as his feet.

"Take what you want. You won't make it ten paces from this carriage before the guards catch you."

Jarkal gave her a thumbs up and grinned as he collected the headdress and stuffed it in his jacket before scooting over to the window, raised a hand to the shutters, then thought of a better idea and drew his hand back and pulling a wickedly curved blade from his pockets and signaled for Ling to come closer.

"You won't either if you don't come with me."

Ling Wu stood up and shied away from Jarkal as he drew the blade. Her back was to the carriage wall already though, and in the cramped space there was nowhere else to move to. The two-hand maiden's likewise shied away from the now armed man as they huddled together in the corner of the carriage

To Ling Wu's credit, the woman maintained a sense of dignity as she held her head high and regained her sense of composure.

"You won't get away with this," she warned him vehemently as he drew her close.

Kaida smiled and inclined her head towards the delegates - not too much, but just enough to show respectful acknowledgement without deference. The ministers would be watching her every move like hawks, she was certain, to ensure she wasn't signing their nation away to become subordinate to any power. "Welcome, Champion, Prime Minister and Shipmaster. The Losenji Imperium greets the AXIS with open arms."

If the Empress was perturbed by the diminutive stature and bear-like appearance of one of the delegates, she did not betray it in the slightest. Fully made up in ceremonial paints and robes, with her golden crown resplendent upon her forehead, she made for an imposing presence even devoid of weapons or armour.

"Come," she said, gesturing, "Join us inside. We have much to discuss, I am sure."

Kaida turned and made her way inside, followed by the captain of the Dragonwatch and likely Avantia. The AXIS delegates would be led in next, then following them would come the first ministers. The entirety of the upper tier of the ministry had turned out to be present during this meeting, each with their own personal goals and opinions surrounding the matter.

The walk through the magnificent palace was short-lived before the delegates would be led into the throne room audience chamber. A large and tall-ceilinged room, the throne room consisted of a wide open floor with a long red carpet leading up to a series of finely crafted tables. They were laid out with two long tables to each side of the room, and one stretching across at the foot of a raised alcove, at the top of which another table was set. At the centre of that alcove, upon a slight further raised dais sat an elaborately carved golden throne in the design of a dragon, encrusted with precious metals and gems enough to make a man's fortune. Kaida had already taken her seat upon the throne.

The rest of the royal family along with Avantia and her accompaniment were seated at the raised table to either side of Kaida: her two brothers Shin'ichi and Kenji, her sister Emiko and her uncle Haruki, as well as her husband and children.

The ministers filed past the delegates to take their seats at the long tables to the sides of the room, whilst the delegates were directed to places at the table directly before the dais in the centre of the room. Places were also set aside for a TNG delegation.

Kaida gestured around, "My court, delegates." she introduced. "I will have refreshments brought shortly. Please, make yourselves comfortable. The TNG party should be with us momentarily."

No glitzy entourage or legion of marching soldiers preceded the TNG delegate. He entered quietly, making his respects at the grand palace doorway before being lead into the throne room. The diplomat, dressed in a modest suit and tie, bowed respectfully before them: first to Kaida and the Losenji court, then to Avantia and her emissaries, last to the AXIS delegates.

"Empress, Matriarch," he nodded to them, his cold but vigilant eyes flickering from face to face, "honored royalty and ministers, honored Prime Minister, Commander and Shipmaster and all other honored delegates of this court." He drew himself upright, his poise prudent and refined. "I am Casper Lessard, diplomat of the Terran National Government to the Shintechi region. I am honored to appear before you today."

Avantia watched on quietly as the various delegates were seated, and as the TNG diplomat joined them in the crowded hall. The general murmurs of quiet discussion between ministers and delegates created a droning of noise that afforded some measure of privacy even with so many people at hand.

Arun leaned close to Avantia as he watched 'Taanz 'Velzzmkt climb his way up into one of the available seats.

"What's that?" he asked her.

"That's a Matokeyan," she replied quietly. "They're found in the Andromeda Galaxy," she explained.

Among the ministers, Ling Wu was looking rather bored with the whole affair. She had largely already made up her mind on most of the matters to be discussed today, and she wasn't likely to change her mind during the ensuing debates and discussions. Matters of alliances, and of the Invictus were secondary to maintaining good trade relations with the Taiyou and the TNG both. The coming discussion would be a largely boring ordeal for her, one with which she would be happy to be done with. She had only attended as a matter of formality, and because it was expected of her as the Minister of Trade.

She hid a yawn behind her hand as the delegates filtered in and didn't so much as spare the TNG representative a passing glance. The only person that had drawn her attention was her sister Lian Wu, Minister of Work. When their father had broken tradition and left the family estate, and the mantle of Minister of Trade to his youngest daughter, rather than either of his two elder children, it had been with smug satisfaction that Ling Wu accepted both.

That her sister had managed to weasel her way into the Ministry on her own had been a point of irritation for Ling Wu, and only furthered the rather dysfunctional state of the Wu family.