Lyla and I entered the hangar, the eleven other people of the squad stood tall, with no weapons. For some reason they all felt more intimidating than before.

"May I know the rules?" I ask.

"Lyla is the challenger, so she chooses who she thinks she can defeat. If the other person declines, their rank swaps. If they duel, and she wins, her position only climbs one among us." Beatrice explains. "Other than that, no hits meant to destroy the armor, or to kill. First to yield, or suit looses power, goes down in rank"

"And suit recharging takes how long?"

"A full charge takes six hours, if we stay out of combat that should last us three days. Combat can sometimes drain the suit in a single move. We train constantly to move, and fight with no power, to protect you."

"She has chosen" Beatrice says, Lyla is looking at the man on the other side of me. "Emmett, rank four; challenged by Layla, rank eleven." She whispers to me, prompting me to repeat it.

He steps forward. Slamming his fist into his chest.

"Say, 'commence'." I get told, and repeat it.

I barely see what happens, and Emmett crashes against the hangar wall, out cold. I'm astonished, mostly because she took two steps, landed a single punch, and the man went twenty feet away. I get told to say something.

"Victor, Lyla, rank ten."

"Thank you for overseeing. May I have the honor of choosing a prize."

I look to Beatrice, she explains the victor is allowed to ask for one thing from the overseer whom the challenger chose. Whatever is asked for, must be within the abilities of the overseer.

"What prize are you thinking of?"

"These clothes, may I have another set?" I laugh.

"That's not a prize, rather my duty to you. Also the set you're wearing isn't a perfect fit for you. I was planning on giving each person five sets of that outfit, choose something else." I tell her.

"What clothes is she talking about?" Beatrice asks.

I pull the maxi dress over my head, and am still wearing the white outfit from earlier. "This one."

"So, Lyla?, prize?"

"Then I would ask for permission to carry a Guardian Sword openly, until I loose a ranking Duel." The entire group kneels at her request.

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Beatrice explains I am being asked to allow her the highest honor able to be given to Chamber Guards: the authority to kill a threat without asking for permission, or being ordered to do so.

"Granted." I tell her. A broadsword is retrieved from the ship, and fastened to the left hip of her suit. "What color do you want for the outfit?" I ask her once it's obvious the ceremony is over.

"Can I get the underwear in black, and the rest in pink?" She asks.

"For all five sets?" I ask her. She nods. I have her give me her measurements. The rest tell me theirs afterward.

"Alright, I want four of you to take the rest of the day as a rest day. Then tomorrow, the four who guard my sleep have a rest day. And cycle like that. Any training on a rest day must be done without your armor, for the time being. You may perform maintenance, but that's it. Any questions?"

After a full minute. "Alright, I want you to wake up everyone in the Cryopods. I want names, and occupations given to me before we arrive at Centaur Trade Platform tonight."

Heavy slams of gauntlets against chest plates fill my ears. four people take off their armor, being just as rough with it as Lyla had. I wear each set, repair, and update it, but only tell each person I could tell a lot about them by wearing their armor for a minute.

I walked into a maintenance hallway just outside the hangar, made sure no one else was near, and created the outfits for the guards. The men's were a slightly different design, I made a knee length skirt for the women. And knee length shorts for the men, with textured shoes, so they could walk without being barefoot.

Everyone got a set of black, dark grey, and three red sets, with the small clothes and shoes black.

The two men who were off duty at least faced away before changing. And the women aren't sitting there topless anymore.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You said she wore each set?" Lyla asked the four who were resting. None of us thought anything of it.

"Put them back on. Now." She tells them. "Trust me."

"What's this about, Ten?"

"They will understand once they put those back on." She points to the stacks of armor on the floor of the hangar.

The four climb into the armor.

"No armor training, do your tests, and get back out." I agree.

"One, this feels lighter, it's not fighting me as much."

"I didn't recharge it, power says full." The five guards in front if me all stare at my direction. Lyla speaks, and we all agree.

"We protect the secrets of Korvall."

The guards get back out of their armor. The outfits they were given look comfortable. The shorts and skirts meant to protect our modesty don't seem to be in the way while in our armor. I decide to get out, and put one of the sets designated for me on.

Climbing back in, the skirt's lightweight material bunches slightly, but causes no discomfort. Only Lyla got pink sets.

After waking up the last person, we interviewed him, and gathered his information. We then moved them to a bunk room, well away from Princess Korvall.

Every person saved were technicians who worked at the shipyards. We started putting them to work around the ship. Then a tone sounded.

"Dinner is now available in the deck two cafeteria. Please thank the cooks for their hard work. Cooks eat first, bridge crew eat last, everyone else eats in order of rank, lowest ranks eat first. Guards. Eat in rotation, again, lowest rank eating first."

A tone sounds announcing the end.

The dining hall, meant for two hundred, looked mostly empty. Every soul onboard can't even fill one of the three cafeterias.

The Princess, and Dame Edington enter the room while everyone is eating. Her lithe frame, standing on a table, breaks the news to everyone at once, we've been confirmed dead for five centuries. Welcome back to the living.