Whatever had happened between Orphelia and the former queen had changed her friend. The other girl kept holding her hand, but avoided looking at her at the same time. Lia wanted to ask her really badly, what happened, but she couldn’t. The fall captain stood next to them in the mag train that hovered above the city, and kept staring at them, as if they could tell him Lillian’s plans.
“It seems that both of you have become pawns in the hands of the queen,” he finally said and looked past them and out over the city. “I do not envy you.”
Lia frowned and looked out of the window herself. Seeing all the buildings made of glass, sandstone, and advertising boards pass them by, she wondered whether all the cities on the large planets looked like this. Whether the pirate’s station was a cross-section of the empire itself with different ideals governing them.
“I joined the FAE because I thought we could change something,” the fall captain continued, “but it seems that all we are, is a different part of the Saggitarius empire, kept happy with a semblance of what we desire in our own small world.”
The train finally slowed as they approached a skyscraper clad in black panels. The vehicle entered it through a missing rectangle and stopped in a station that looked almost identical to the one they had left. The fall captain left and stepped into an elevator, waiting for them. After the platform lowered itself through the floor – which was almost as thick as a whole story in the other building they’ve come from, they entered something that resembled a bridge. They came from above and landed in the center of the room, the platform fitting neatly in the dais there, as if it had always been a part of it.
Space greeted her at the edges of the room. It even looked as if the dais hovered in the middle of nowhere, with stars glittering almost everywhere around them. This wasn’t just a bridge. This was a situation room that allowed them to keep their eyes on almost every part of the universe surrounding the station. Even the various displays scattered in a circle around the center were semi-transparent.
“Status report?” the fall captain demanded.
“The fleet has been warned not to approach EDEN, but to meet at point gamma,” a woman said, as she approached the dais. It was strange to see her walking on nothing. “Our donar and imperi are migrating to the core, preparing for the jump. The rings are slowing down and should connect to the crystal core within the next five minutes.”
“Good.” He took a deep breath, and set is jaw. It was almost as if he refrained from saying anything, because it could summon the imperial fleet.
“Several entry points into normal space detected,” someone shouted. “No response to IFF request.”
“The empire’s here.” The fall captain balled his fists. “Let’s see how they greet us.”
“Detecting several strong gravity fields.” Another voice echoed through the vast room.
“They’re trying to anchor us.” Lia couldn’t see the fall captain’s face, but the way he balled his fists, there could’ve been a vein bulging on his forehead. “Lillian. Why didn’t you warn us earlier?”
Lia felt Orphelia tighten her hand. “Because she wanted to force me to reveal who I am. What I am.” Her friend’s voice shook.
“We’re being hailed.”
The fall captain sighed and stepped aside, steering Orphelia and her in a certain direction. “Put them through.”
Lia immediately recognized the person on the other side.
“I am Admiral Arthur Horologii of the empire’s starfleet. Surrender and release the two students you’ve kidnapped.”
“What if we won’t comply?”
“I am authorized to shoot. Even though both donar are a vital asset to the empire, we’re prepared to … accept losses.”
“In other words you’re destroying the station and us with it,” Orphelia concluded. “What will happen to them if they surrender?”
“You’re one of the donar, right? Well, if they surrender, they’ll be taken into custody. The pirate leaders will be executed and the station will be converted into a trade hub for the empire.”
“So, some of them will die, no matter what?”
Lia shared her friend’s indignation. She hadn’t known the FAE for long, and had only really gotten to know Omor, and the former queen, somewhat, but she didn’t want to see them die.
“Look, girl. I’m not here to explain empire politics to a donar.” Then he turned to the fall captain. “You have ten seconds to comply.”
“That’s how the empire operates.” The fall captain shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t –”
He was suddenly cut off as Orphelia shouted at the top of her lungs: “Code Messier. Four C, Plus Thirty-Seven. Dot. Eleven.” She had shut her eyes tightly while blurting out what seemed like nonesense.
The admiral’s eyes widened. “Do you know what you’ve declared right now?”
There was a moment of silence before Orphelia answered, far quieter: “Yes, I am aware.”
“If it’s true, then this changes everything.” The admiral squinted with his eyes, but sighed when Orphelia didn’t react any further. “Very well, princess.” He emphasized the last word as if he couldn’t believe it. Lia didn’t blame him. Neither Orphelia nor her really believed it, but she was able to use her own mana to cast magic …
“Pirates! We’ll let you go in exchange for handing over the presumed princess.”
“How do we know that you’ll keep your word?” the fall captain asked. Although he faced the hologram, his eyes were still looking at Orphelia. He had been caught off-guard by the revelation as well.
“I’d say that my word is enough, but I understand your paranoia.” The admiral looked to the side, then nodded. “How about a good old hostage exchange?”
“And how do you propose we should do that? There isn’t any neutral ground we could meet at.”
The admiral seemed to think for a few more moments. “I’ll have most of my fleet retreat, so that only six ships stay behind –“
“To keep the anchor in place,” he was interrupted by the fall captain.
“To keep the anchor in place,” Arhtur Horologii admitted. “Then we’ll each board a shuttle and meet at the coordinates you designate. There she,” he pointedly looked at Orphelia, “will have to demonstrate, that she truly is a princess. If she does, then I’ll have five more ships retreat, allowing your station to leave.”
“Then you’ll probably allow that the Lagrange will stay behind as well.”
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There was a moment of silence. “Very well. I guess these terms are acceptable for you?”
“They’re not the best,” the fall captain said, contemplative, “but they’re acceptable.”
“Good.” The admiral gestured, and after a moment, someone in the room reported, that some ships of the empire were leaving. Lia took a deep breath. Some of the tension she was feeling had left her.
“I’ll sent you the coordinates of our meeting,” the fall captain said and gestured into the room. “I propose we meed in half-an-hour. I guess you’ll understand that we’ll have to travel to the station’s port.”
The admiral grinned. “Thank you for taking the stamina of our mages into account.”
“I am only doing that, because I think you’ll fire at us nonetheless, if you can’t keep us anchored long enough for the exchange to take place.”
The grin on the admiral’s face got wider. “You know, if you weren’t a pirate, I’d ask you to join the fleet.”
“I refuse.” The fall captain made a gesture and the hologram vanished. He looked at them. “I really hope you know what you’re doing.” Then he turned and walked toward the stars in the distance. “Come. I’ll bring you to this … hostage exchange.”
They didn’t take the the elevator back up, but walked through the starfield holograms. Lia could feel the strange buzz of the projectors on her skin, and a shiver ran through her. When she looked at Orphelia, all she saw was, that the girl had set her jaw. She seemed determined to see this through.
Lia sighed. It would be a long time until she could speak to her friend in private. Her worries made her almost not notice that she’d started to become lighter – probably due to the rings slowing down. As they entered another elevator, she wondered briefly what would happen, if gravity ceased completely on their way down.
The only thing that happened was that she almost left the floor as the platform accelerated downwards, but after she had caught up to it, she didn’t even feel the change anymore. When they left the cabin, they were in a large tunnel system. Colorful arrows were painted on the wall and the floor. The pirate seemed to know what color to follow and they soon arrived at a hatch on the floor, helpfully labeled “Dock 18.”
The captain jumped once, and then down the long tube. There was still a bit of gravity left, but it was apparently so weak that any fall of that height, that would usually result in injuries or worse, was harmless.
“Orphelia.” Lia whispered to her friend, but the other girl ignored her and jumped down as well. They should’ve had a few minutes, shouldn’t they? She sighed and promised herself to get answers later. Then she jumped down as well. Gravity was so weak that she floated gently downwards. It was almost as if the rotation of the rings had stopped completely. She had to correct a slight drift from time to time, but arrived safely on metal ground. Or rather a wall, as she determined after looking into the two big holes next to her “floor”.
“Strap in,” the fall captain demanded. He was already in a chair, held to it with seat belts. “The shuttle has no artificial gravity, unless you’d like to provide some dark mana?” He looked at her from the seat in the front. Orphelia was already busy strapping herself into the left chair.
“No, thank you.” Lia shook her head and pushed herself to the right chair. There was a hissing sound behind her, which was probably the airlock closing. She felt the acceleration push her gently into the seat, and she wondered what all those seat belts were for.
The stars in the distance swirled and turned, and Lia got a glimpse of the incredibly large ships that surrounded EDEN. “Here’s the Autumn’s Leaf. Please transmit the meeting coordinates to me.”
Lia never heard the answer, but since the stars shifted some more, the captain seemed to correct their course.
It was quiet during their journey. Almost too quiet. Not even the stars seemed to move, only the space station far above them journeyed to the back of their shuttle. Maybe Lia should risk asking Orphelia what Lillian had told her in private, even if the fall captain could hear it. She turned to look at her friend, who gazed at the stars outside.
What should she say? What could she say? No matter what came to mind, it felt all meaningless.
“You know …” she began nonetheless, “you can always talk to me.”
That made Orphelia turn around at least. Her friend had a smile on her lips, but the way her eyes were wrinkled … Why did she look so sad? As Lia tried to speak again, all Orphelia did was shake her head and reach out with her hand. Lia took it, and squeezed. So it really was something the fall captain mustn’t hear under any circumstances.
“We’ll be at the rendezvous point in ten minutes,” the captain announced. It pulled Lia’s attention to him and out the window, but she kept holding onto Orphelia’s hand. She thought she could see the other shuttle in the distance, swimming through the sea of stars like a white manta ray.
She watched in fascination as the ships closed in on each other, and the captain began to maneuver until both ship’s backsides met. During those maneuvers, she understood and appreciated the seat belts.
Metallic clangs and whirring sounds preceded the airlock hissing again. “Okay. This is it. Let’s get this over with.” The fall captain got easily out of his seat, Orphelia and Lia had to search the button that would release their belts for a bit longer. After that they floated around the metal wall and toward the door that now led to the other shuttle.
The admiral waited for them on the other side, a stern look on his face. He floated as well, and was clad in an astronaut’s suit. He either didn’t trust his ship or the pirate in front of him. “First things first,” he said, stroking his beard. “I need to see that you are what you claim to be, miss Orphelia Deimos.” He paused for a moment. “What elements do you have access to?”
There was some slight hesitation from Lia’s friend, then she took a deep breath and squeezed Lia’s hand. “All of them. But I am most versed with Plasma.”
The admiral looked at her again with wide eyes. Then he quickly turned to someone behind him. “Bring the lighter! And then the rest.”
It was answered with a quick “Yes, sir!” and Arthur turned back to them.
“You have to let go of the donar,” he instructed her after a few moments of silence. “You need to be able to demonstrate magic completely under your own power.”
Lia squeezed Orphelia’s hand once more, then let go of it. Her friend stepped forward, past the fall captain, who demostratively put one hand on a weapon and another on the wall. Lia could feel the tension in the air as her friend took the lighter from the admiral’s man and lit the flame. As it had done in the dormitory, the flame formed into a small bird and alighted from the device, flying a few circles, before Orphelia let the flame and the bird vanish. She offered the lighter back to an astonished looking admiral.
“I’m sorry, that I have to ask you to demonstrate a few more elements for me, princess.” Arthur Horologii took the lighter from the girl’s outstretched hand. Her friend still looked determined, almost … regal.
She was handled a bottle with a clear liquid next, and after she opened it, several drops floated out of it. They took the shapes of fishes, swimming around the bottle and back into it. Orphelia replaced the stopper and handed it back, only to be given a piece of rock next.
It changed, forming itself as if it was a liquid, but also made of sand. Parts of the sand fell off. When Orphelia was done with it, she handed a blocky looking ring back to the admiral.
“Crude, but I acknowledge the third element,” he said. “Can you form a breeze?”
Lia gulped. She could see sweat glistening on her friend’s forehead. She was pushing herself to succeed in this demonstration. To her knowledge, Orphelia had never practiced with anything but the fire. Maybe she had had practiced with water in secret, but anything else? A gust of wind ruffled the admiral’s clothes.
“That makes four,” he observed. Before he could request anything else, there was a light blooming on the top of Orphelia’s finger. “And five. That’s enough. You have verified your claim.” With a sigh, he turned back to the fall captain. “As we have agreed, I’ll tell the rest of the fleet to retreat. Please wait a moment.” The admiral turned around and climbed deeper into the shuttle, leaving only his man behind, who looked to be rather uncomfortable.
Orphelia staggered back to Lia and took her hand again, clearly looking for support. Lia embraced her friend and whispered a “you’ve done well.”
“Someone ignite me a new star,” the fall captain whispered all of a sudden, and gave a slight bow. “You have my thanks, princess.”
Her friend didn’t answer, and was breathing heavily, her skin was clammy and she was pale. Had she really used that much mana? Or was it that her mana had drained unusually fast again, as it had in Foresteri all of a sudden?
“The anchor has been lifted and the ships are retreating,” Arthur reported as he came back.
“Please give me a moment to confirm this,” the fall captain said, and disappeared into the cockpit himself.
“Princess? If you’d please?” the admiral asked and gestured into his shuttle. Orphelia didn’t move, and Lia didn’t feel like moving either.
“We wait until the station’s departure is confirmed,” she told the admiral, whose eyelid twitched.
“You’re a donar, you have no right …”
“Listen to her!” Orphelia said with force despite being so weak. “She’s my friend. You’ll treat her with the same respect as me.”
“Y… yes, princess.” The admiral ground his teeth, but then nodded once. “As you wish.”
It didn’t take long for the fall captain to reappear. “I have confirmed the station’s departure.” He nodded to Lia and Orphelia once. “Goodbye … and good luck.”
“Thank you.” Lia nodded as well, then helped Orphelia into the other ship. They’d soon be home, or at least back at the Crystal Academy. She only wished it would’ve been under different circumstances.