"Ahhhh, so much better, I hate the night shift," Becky said as she left the small bathroom that was part of her and Tessa's cabin before flopping down on her bed in her nightgown.
"I know, you say that after every late shift," Tessa replied as she shot her friend and cousin a small smile before returning to read the latest newscast headlines on her uniband.
"Maybe I should have a word with that cousin of ours, you never see her working the night shift."
"Perks of being a captain, perhaps if you focused more on your career, you could also avoid working them. Anyway, I thought you liked nighttime activities," Tessa replied as she shot Becky a smirk.
"Hmph, I don't want to hear that from a virgin like you who actually enjoys working the night shift. I honestly don't understand why you enjoy it so much."
"I enjoy the piece and what it normally brings. After being raised in the imperial palace and spending most of my early life attending different ceremonies and functions like a proper princess, I appreciate the chance just to relax and live life as I want for a change."
"You never cared much for being a princess.
Don't get me wrong, you performed your duties perfectly; however, it was never what you wanted."
"Oh, and what is that you think I want?" Tessa asked curiously.
"Freedom. The freedom to choose your own path in life and not be tied down by royal duties and obligations, that's why you fought so hard to be allowed to join the TISF, wasn't it?" Becky asked with a sad look.
"Heh, you're smarter than you look," Tessa teased.
"Shut up bitch," Becky said as she threw her pillow at her best friend and cousin.
"Hahaha," Tessa laughed as she caught the pillow before speaking again.
"You're not wrong, however. Unlike Andrew, who has always eyed the throne and been jealous of Stephen for being the crown prince, I have never had dreams of ruling.
Honestly, sometimes I wish I had been born in a normal family so that I would have the freedom to choose my own path."
Suddenly, the two of them heard the familiar voice of their cousin, the captain, speak over the ship's internal comm.
"Attention all hands, this is the captain. We have just received new orders to immediately depart Trillion and head for the jump gate, where we will rendezvous with an ambassadorial ship of another race and escort them to the homeworld
Because of the sudden urgency of this mission, we have been authorised to use the subspace drive in order to reach the jump gate before the ambassadorial ship arrives in our space.
All hands brace for subspace travel."
"I guess even our cousin works the night shift," Tessa said with a chuckle.
"That's a bit strange, isn't it? Why are we suddenly being dispatched to meet an ambassadorial ship at the last minute? Something like this should have been planned months in advance." Becky asked curiously.
"You're not wrong, I mean, we even have permission to use the subspace drive."
"Well, as long as I get to watch Lorelie's concert since Musiccast has permission to broadcast it again."
"Yeah, it should be a great show. I wonder how many new songs she will reveal this time."
"It definitely makes people pay attention to each of her shows. Normally, an artist just plays or sings the same group of songs at every concert, but Lorelie is mixing it up, however, by giving us at least two new songs each show."
"It's certainly got Xer-verse riled up with conspiracy theories about how she actually discovered her new genre of music a while ago but told no one about it."
Becky was about to reply when her uniband suddenly beeped, notifying her that she had received a message.
Looking at the sender, Becky couldn't help but laugh and say, "Haha, Speak of the Deverinian."
"I'm surprised she has time to message you. Isn't she due on stage any minute?" Tessa asked curiously.
"Yup, I wonder what she thought was important enough to send that she couldn't wait till after her concert, maybe it's news saying that I can get with Adam," Becky said with a hopeful expression.
"I think you're being a bit too optimistic there," Tessa replied.
Becky ignored her and opened the message.
[[Hey Becz, I'm about to go on stage, so this needs to be short and to the point.
We just found out that Adam's super possessive of us and hates the idea of any other guy touching us, which is a total turn on.
If you ever want a chance to be with Adam, then you're going to have to give up all other men and women and only be with members of the harem (group).
If you think you can manage that, then I am willing to try to help persuade them to let you join; however, if you can't, then I can't help you.]
"Are you sure this is from Lorelie?" Tessa asked doubtfully.
"It's her name on the sender, why do you ask?"
"Well, when we were escorting her around the capital, did she ever catch you as someone who would say 'a total turn on'?"
"I guess she's become addicted to sex," Becky replied with a smirk.
"Not everyone's like you," Tessa said while rolling her eyes.
"Don't knock it till you try it, maybe Adam's just that good," Becky said with a wink.
"Whatever, so what are you going to do? Can you really give up all other men and women to be with him?"
💫💫💫
"So did he meet with the new contact, grandfather?" Empress Victoria asked as she sat on the opposite side of a table from her grandfather, Michael Ororis.
"We think so, but we're not certain," Michael replied.
"What do you mean?"
"He told Daniel that he was going to a restaurant in the city with some friends; however, when he arrived, there was no one in the room, and no one entered after him.
He then proceeded to seal the room after the food arrived, and a short time later left the room.
I must say this organisation he's working with is very good at keeping itself hidden; if we hadn't installed our software on that console of his, we would have had no idea they existed."
"He must've contacted them somehow, so much for following him to them."
"It was worth the gamble just in case we could capture the contact of this organisation; unfortunately, they are too good at covering their tracks and staying secret."
"So can we apprehend and interrogate the fucking traitor now? " Victoria cursed angrily.
"We can," Michael replied before turning towards the door and speaking, "Go apprehend both Andrew and his mother, Petunia."
The part of the wall Michael spoke to seemed to shimmer for a moment before an individual wearing dark clothing that covered every part of their face except their eyes materialised before speaking.
"Andrew is not currently in the palace; however, we can move to apprehend Petunia."
"Where is he?"
"He has gone to the planet's neutron reactor to conduct a surprise inspection."
"AND YOU DIDN'T THINK TO REPORT THAT?" Victoria yelled angrily; however, the shadow just ignored her as they didn't react.
"Calm down, Victoria," Michael said before turning back to the shadow and saying in a stern tone of voice, "You know full well that Andrew is being monitored for treason and the secret organisation he is in contact with is suspected of the Trillion neutron reactor.
Please explain why you didn't think it was appropriate to report this straight away?"
"I have only just received the information myself, Lord Michael. The shadow following Prince Andrew has just reported that he has apparently only just arrived and informed the personnel there that he is there to do a surprise inspection after what happened on Trillion.
"Have the shadow report on any suspicious actions he takes while he is there."
"Understood, sir. Should we move to apprehend Petunia now?"
"No, let's wait until Andrew returns, just in case something goes wrong and word reaches his ears."
"I don't like that he's there; it's all too coincidental. Why would he go there almost immediately after supposedly meeting with this organisation, which might be responsible for bombing the Trillion neutron reactor?
What's he up to? Surely he's not stupid enough to bomb the homeworld's neutron reactor?"
"He's foolish in what he's doing and how he's working with this organisation, but he's not stupid enough to do something like that."
"Are you so sure? I mean, it's pretty obvious what they're offering the two of them for them to work with them."
"You mean the throne?"
"That brat has always been jealous that my boy is the crown prince, and his mother has always been jealous and resented Daniel for making me empress and not her."
Michael was about to reply when the shadow suddenly said, "Sir, Andrew just plugged a data drive into one of the consoles in the neutron reactor's main control room when no one was looking."