Allison was still in the green Qual’sa silk dress when she entered the children’s playroom. Though playroom was likely a misnomer. It was a specially equipped observation lounge for activities. There were art supplies, terminals, toys and games. A reading area. The person in charge of the chaos was a Yorleer woman who was likely on the older side. Her supple green skin was now browning and had a rough bark-like texture. She smiled at Allison who approached her.

“Hello, Leshy… err Director Leshy asked me to stop by, she said the children wanted to meet me?”

The old wizened Yorleer nodded. She addressed the room.

“Children!”

The tone made Allison jump. It was very teacher-like. All of the various alien children looked towards her. There was one older looking one who was the same species as the Marshal Allison had run into. He looked depressed and barely looked up from what he was reading. The rest were various species, there were thirteen in all. Only one Silwrath. His wings were misshapen and his tail almost non-existent, his scales were black. There were several little girls among them, all younger than Robin. All of their eyes went wide, except for the humanoid wolf boy.

“We have a guest; Please gather round.”

She motioned to a padded mat in the reading area. She nodded to Allison, who wasn’t sure how to handle this. The kids were all looking up at her like she was their hero. On a one on one basis she was great with children, in groups, she had some deficiencies.

“Hello everyone. I hear you wanted to meet me in person, well here I am. I’m bad at this sort of thing. I’m much better when people are shooting at me then the talking thing.”

The group of children broke out into giggles.

“I guess… questions?”

One of the girls held up her hand. She was what Allison referred to as a Star Trek alien. Human looking but something different. In this case blue skin and wild pink hair. Along with a set of adorable horns. Allison pointed to her. The girl bounced.

“What do you do when you’re not being Battlelord?”

Allison smiled.

“Well during the week, I would usually be going to school. On the weekend, training because it takes a lot of training to be a Battlelord. If I’m not, then in the winter I’m curled up with my nargle in front of the fire watching something on the Alliance-Net. If it’s summer I’m probably at the lake swimming or playing sports at the sports field. We get summer vacation off, so I’ll be doing more training.”

There were a few shocked looks when she said she went to school. Another girl stuck up her hand.

“Is it Battlelord school?”

Allison almost laughed at the thought.

“No, its regular school with other boys and girls my age. We study math, languages, history, and science. You know, school stuff.”

One of the boys held up their hand waving it. They were all trying to get her attention. She picked the overly excited boy. He asked.

“Did you really blow up a planet?”

Allison bit her lower lip. She did but should she be encouraging them to be happy about it?

“I did.”

He was bouncing as he continued.

“Was it a big explosion?”

Allison nodded.

“A little bit too big. I got into a lot of trouble for it. It interrupted communications and travel across the whole galaxy. Of course, I also got caught in it, my friend Bit still teases me about not getting too close to things. So, the lesson is, don’t blow up planets. I was grounded for five weeks.”

Another girl held up her hand.

“Are you a princess? I heard you were a princess. You look like a princess.”

Allison smiled and nodded.

“I am in fact a Princess. My sister is the Empress. It is called the Court of Eternal Night. Because most of us cannot go out in the sun. I am special. My sister has been Empress for almost a thousand years. My mother was empress before her and my grandfather was emperor before her. He was emperor for as long as any remembered.”

The same girl got excited and asked another question.

“Do you have a crown? A tiara? Are you going to marry a prince?”

Allison thought, no way in hell, at least to the last question.

“No, no crown or tiara, well I do have a tiara it was for a gala, it was very pretty before it got broken when someone hit me in the head. It is hard to be a princess and a Battlelord at the same time, it is really bad for your wardrobe. I have no plans on marrying any Princes. I do have a boyfriend, he is a prince to me, but he is just a normal boy. Well not normal, he’s devastatingly handsome.”

A few of the girls giggled. The Silwrath boy held up his clawed hand.

“Are the Sal’nash going to come and get us?”

Allison blinked a few times at the question. She wasn’t even sure what to say about that, but she decided to give a Silwrath style answer since the child looked so frightened.

“No, and I will tell you why, because I’m going to hunt them down and kill them all. I will find their buried hives; I will burn them out of their holes, and I will teach them what the word retribution means. I will be their apocalypse and they are the ones that should be scared right now. That is what Battlelord’s do.”

His misshapen wings perked up. Mostly she was lying, she had no intention of doing any of that, she wouldn’t even be sure how to find them if the System’s Alliance Surveyors Guild could miss them. It seemed to make him and the boys happy. Allison looked at the Yorleer childcare worker.

“Just curious, are they allowed in the docking bay? You think they might like to see my fighter? They can climb in it and poke around; They won’t hurt anything.”

She nodded.

“Well, it would seem, we have a special treat. Who wants to go see the Battlelord’s starfighter?”

Of course, all the children wanted to go see it. The Yorleer looked at the wolf-boy.

“Let’s go, everyone remember your buddies and stick close to them, that includes you Dhark.”

The dark furred wolf-boy put the tablet down and gathered with the group. He was the odd man out, so Allison walked beside him.

“Hey, how are you?”

He looked at her, his mannerism was very much like an annoyed wolf.

“I’m in a place people go to die, how do you think I am?”

Allison blushed. Not that she was into the fur, but emo-bad boys were kind of cute no matter what the species.

“I kind of meant today. Guess you don’t care about Battlelords hmm?”

Stolen story; please report.

He shrugged.

“Whatever. It’s cool you get to fly a fighter. We got nothin’ in common.”

Allison glanced at him. Seriously was she getting teenage girl crush butterflies for a furry? She could feel her cheeks getting flush.

“Yeah, I mean, I’m human, you’re not. If I had fur, they’d be sending me for gene-therapy…”

He snickered, but his response was deadpan.

“If I was bald, it would just mean I got a new miracle treatment.”

Allison smiled and looked at the deck. How was he this cute? Seriously? She just finished a memorial service! She had a boyfriend. He was a wolf-boy! She thought, Down hormones down! She tried to keep the conversation going. She really wanted to keep it going.

“Does it suck here? I was only here for treatment for a couple of days.”

He shrugged.

“Hey, you were here for treatment? You dying?”

Allison shrugged right back.

“I was. I got better. It happens to me a lot more then you’d expect.”

He looked her up and down.

“You’re looking good now, for a hairless weirdo.”

She snickered.

“I’ll have you know I haven’t shaved my armpits or my legs in almost a month. I’m downright hairy right now. Don’t tell anyone at school. I wear leggings so I don’t have to in winter.”

His lips curved upwards. The first time he actually smiled.

“You’re funnier than I thought you’d be. We had to watch your speech in class, you came off kinda like you had a stick up your ass. I mean you were a good speaker but like, it wasn’t like a teenager talking. You kind of reminded me of those girls at school who are too busy getting perfect grades to have any fun.”

Allison looked at him.

“I am one of those girls. Most of the time anyway. I have fun sometimes. We just don’t have as much fun. And as for that speech, well, it was the council, and my government was expecting me to be professional, so I was professional. Hah, being here saved you from watching another one of my boring speeches. The Primarch made all the schools watch the memorial service. In fact, everyone watched it, and no one told me everyone was watching it, my social life is done. It is over.”

His tail shifted back and forth.

“Okay bookworm girl, what is the last thing you did that was fun? Come on, prove your point. Did you get an A in math? Did you celebrate by doing extra credit work?”

Allison rolled her eyes.

“Okay, fine, my friend and I stopped at a space station run by crime lords and I scared away some slavers by pretending I was a man… a really rude thuggish man. It was hilarious. Oh, oh and I got us free food by doing two shots of Silwrath Screech. That’s the stuff they use to clean the carbon scoring off their hulls after a fight.”

He shook his head.

“No way you can do two shots and still be standing or eating anything. That would put your average Silwrath in a coma, that’s the stuff you take to a party and dare people to drink it.”

Allison shrugged.

“I bet I could chug a bottle and be tipsy. I got the whole embassy guard drunk when we did shots of it at a gala. My mother was so mad.”

He still looked skeptical.

“How are you not dead?”

Allison snickered.

“Human constitution. And I’m well, I’m a weird human. Most humans would be on the floor after two shots.”

He slipped his hands into his pockets. Allison wondered why boy’s forearms were so annoyingly attractive, especially when they were wearing a long sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

“So where are we going?”

Allison smiled.

“To see my ride.”

They entered the hanger at that point. The kids started running towards Bit. Dhark’s eyes traveled up from the deck to look at the starfighter. It was pitch black against the pink and purple planet that could be seen outside the forcefield that kept the air in the bay. Dhark tried to play it cool, but Allison could tell he was ogling the starfighter. She smiled and decided to poke fun at him.

“Careful, she might not appreciate being undressed with your eyes.”

Allison called out.

“Bit, open up please. The kids want to see the cockpit”

The liquid metal covering the cockpit oozed back and the transparent canopy slid back into its housing. The ladders oozed into existence. Bit spoke.

“One at a time, you will all get a turn.”

All the kids jumped and looked around. Allison pointed at the starfighter.

“That’s Bit, she is my friend. She helps me control the starfighter. Go ahead say hi, she loves children.”

The caretaker kept the children under control and made them line up to look in the cockpit. Dhark kept trying to look casual, but he was inching closer to Bit. Allison was amused.

“See, us bookworms spend so much time studying so we can have the real fun.”

He reached up and ran his hand along the perfectly smooth liquid metal. It appeared Bit was in a joking mood as well, she made it ripple as he slid his hand along it, making him jump. Allison giggled.

“You didn’t break her; She was just playing with you. It’s liquid metal.”

She punched Bit’s armor. It clanged.

“Solid. It makes the fighter handle much better in atmosphere. I don’t have to use antigravs or even the main drive. I can use jet engines.”

Allison ran her hand along the liquid metal. The children were having a ball asking Bit a lot of questions. Bit was answering every single one of them. Dhark was still staring at the place where the metal had rippled.

“Your defense forces just let you fly it, you’re my age, right? Sixteen?”

Allison smiled.

“No, they don’t, it is my personal starfighter. I own it, though, I don’t like saying that because it’s also my friend Bit. She’s a sentient AI. I also have two drone wings, they’re autonomous but usually slaved to Bit. They’re basically fighters but no cockpit.”

Allison looked at the kids who were all looking about done.

“Hey Bit, cloak please.”

The fighter vanished from sight and there were gasps from the children. She shimmered back into existence. Allison looked at the caretaker.

“They can go for short rides two at a time if they want. Bit can fly. If they’re allowed.”

This led to a bunch of pleading the caretaker sighed and relented. Allison patted Bit’s metal skin.

“Be nice to them just five minutes for each pair.”

Allison looked at the caretaker then the children.

“So, who wants to be the first to go for a ride in a real actual starfighter?”

They all held up their hands Allison tapped her chin looking them over.

“I will tell you what. The first pair to answer my question right gets to go first. Okay, what is my species called?”

A pair of girls shot their hands up first the taller of two answered correctly but the pronunciation was off. Allison smiled.

“Good! It sounds like this, human.”

Allison helped one of the first girls up the ladder into the pilot’s seat and the caretaker helped the other. Bit launched slowly. Allison picked the next pair. Each pair went without incident, and they were all extremely giddy afterwards. There were lots of swooshes and flips with hands.

“Well, I guess that just leaves Dhark, I guess I can go with you. I mean, if you want. Or you can go alone.”

His attitude towards Allison had visibly shifted. He’d gone from seeming disinterested into hanging around close to her. He looked up at the fighter.

“Sure, I guess, it would be cool if I went with you.”

“You take the pilot’s seat; I get to sit there all the time.”

Allison smiled and started climbing the ladder to the rear seat, once again struggling with her dress. She looked back at the girls.

“See this is the problem with being a princess and a Battlelord it is so hard to fit into my starfighter with my dress on!”

There were a lot of giggles. Allison stuffed her dress into the seat and pulled on her harness. Bit launched and did the same circuit she’d done with the children. Dhark was quiet he was just taking it all in. Riding in a ship wasn’t typically this visual for most people, they never saw space. Bit brought them in for a landing. Allison struggled to get out and down the ladder with her dress. Dhark reached up and took her hand. She blushed.

“Thanks. Hey, could you do me a favor there is a silver case under the pilot’s seat. Could you get it for me, please? It’s a pain to climb in this dress without showing everyone my business.”

He did as she asked and handed it to her. Allison looked up at Bit.

“Thanks Bit, I appreciate your doing that.”

Bit spoke.

“It is nice to see children smiling and laughing. When are we leaving?”

Allison shrugged.

“The stuff we have to take to Ratoa is going to be ready tomorrow after six, I think, we’ll be leaving then. It’s an important shipment. See you then.”

Allison looked around.

“Hey, where did everyone go?”

Dhark shrugged.

“She pretty much forgets I exist. Probably to supper.”

Allison touched her belly.

“Hmm, that sounds like a good idea.”

“Well, it’s this way.”

Allison walked beside him. He looked at the case.

“What’s in there?”

Allison kept a straight face and tried to keep her voice as serious sounding as possible.

“Well, I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. Super top-secret stuff in here. The things nightmares are made of.”

His ears went back on his head. Allison couldn’t hold it in for long and she laughed.

“Oh, the look on your face was awesome. No, it’s my flight suit, weapons, armor and a change of clothes. Did you think I was going to fly home in my dress? School uniform?”

He touched his chest.

“You’re pretty scary when you want to be, you know that?”

Allison nodded.

“Yep, my fangs are as long as yours. When I eat, you’ll see.”

He shook his head.

“I can never tell if you’re being serious or just messing with me. You and that fighter of yours belong together.”

Allison grinned.

“Probably why she chose me. She’s like a fun aunt… a fun bossy aunt.”

He got to his room and went inside. His food was already there. Allison peeked in. It was full of charcoal sketches. Some were pretty, some were chaotic, some were just anger in charcoal form. She said.

“Hey, I’ll let you eat, it was nice to meet you.”

He looked at her.

“You’re going?”

His shoulders drooped. She didn’t really feel like being alone either.

“I’ll grab something to eat and bring it back here. How’s that?”

His ears perked up. Allison gave a small wave.