Kykla looked around. Nothing. Just as always. From behind the glass, she could see into the opposing row of cells, but no one was there. Not that she expected there to be, it had primarily been an act of boredom. Besides praying, it was more or less the only thing she could do down here.

She wasn't exactly sure for how many days she had been down here. She could've counted the number of times she was brought food for reference, but she honestly didn't care. Her life was over, she was well aware of that fact. The only reason why she hadn't been executed yet was that the high council had yet to confirm her sentence.

She did a quick recount. In the worst-case scenario - in other words, if Qeylo's final contingency plan hadn't worked - and the high council would answer immediately, it should take around thirty days. How much of that had passed by now? Half? More?

In the best-case scenario - meaning that everything worked as planned and the damages were as minimal as possible - there might be a way for her out of this. But honestly, even if everything went perfectly and the high council had enough leverage, they would be stupid not to use it for something more productive than her life. In a way, she hoped it. All of this was for the sake of her people, after all.

She was a female, so there would likely be at least some voices to save her. But then again, she already had two daughters to her name. That was why she had been allowed to leave the planet in the first place. And with her final deed, there was hardly a Tystrie alive that had done more for their kind than her. Even if she wasn't that old yet, at least for a female, if she looked back at her life, she could accept her fate. She had certainly done things she wasn't proud of but in the end, she would be able to step before the Goddess with her head held high, knowing that it had all been for the benefit of her chosen people.

But while there was nothing for her to regret, she grew a bit sad when thinking about her family back on Eroas. Especially Labro. First husbands weren't supposed to attend their wife's funeral. Her daughters would be cared for by the temple, and her oldest would soon start her own family anyway. For her sons, things would likely be a bit more difficult. The oldest among them had already left the family and some had even found a wife, so they would be fine. The rest would need to stick to their individual fathers until they were old enough. It would be tough, but that was simply the fate of those born male in her species, with or without a mother.

Absentminded, her hand wandered to the highest ring earring on her left ear. It was nothing special in terms of quality, about middle ground when compared to the rest. But it was much newer than the others. It came from Eiri, her latest husband. She had only married him recently, and their only child so far was still an infant. For him, things might get the most challenging. Then again, he was still young, younger than a good portion of her oldest sons in fact, and he had many good qualities. The chances were low, but if the Goddess willed so, he might be able to find a new wife.

She laid down on her bed, closed her eyes, and performed another prayer. It took some time, the fact she did it a lot while down here wasn't an excuse to get sloppy after all. Once she was done, she got up once more and looked around again. Still no one right of her. Still no one le- no hang on, someone was coming. Was it mealtime already? She could only see a shadow, so she wasn't yet sure if it was a guard. But who else would come down here? They seemed to be fairly short... wait.

Her suspicions got confirmed when the human ambassador stepped in front of the glass. Her heart rate went up as soon as she saw the alien, not able to forget that fateful night, but she did her best to ignore it. Right, that was the other reason why she couldn't expect her people to try and get her out. Her one true screw-up. The only thing she had no excuse for when she would stand before the Goddess. Unless the Tystrie renounced her actions completely, there could be no future between them and this new contact.

"Lady Nadine," Kykla greeted. "I must say, I did not expect to see you again."

"That makes us two," Nadine responded and sat down. On the floor. What? Why would someone of her status do such a thing?

For a while, the alien merely kept her pose. What, did she expect Kykla to do the same? Then again, Kykla right now was just some criminal waiting for her death. She held no status anymore. Maybe that was some form of human tradition. It wasn't like anyone else saw her, and the sooner this unassuming beast would get what she came for, the sooner she would leave her alone.

It took her a while to find a passable position. She wasn't used to intentionally sitting like this.

"By the way, how is that poor commoner whose door you broke doing?" She asked before Nadine could take the word.

"He got compensated," she merely stated. "The money reserved for hosting you was no longer needed, after all."

"Oh? Is it human custom to have others pay for the damages you cause?"

"Sometimes, you can manage to have a good relationship with people you don't try to kill. I have some questions for you."

"You think I will answer them?"

"I won't leave until I have my answers."

"And that is of my concern... why exactly?"

For a moment, the alien didn't answer. Then, in a blink of an eye, she lunged forward, her palm slamming against the glass with a loud DONK!. Kykla recoiled, painfully hitting her back against the wall of her cell. Her heartbeat shot through the roof and her breathing was panicked and erratic, only calming down slowly.

"Lie to yourself all you want. Your instincts will always be honest."

Finally, she got her breath under control and was able to talk again.

"What do you want?"

"The list we found. Is it complete or are there more spies?"

"Shouldn't you ask Qeylo that? Oh wait..."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Nadine's eyes became narrow and her lips parted slightly, an expression that made Kykla feel extremely uncomfortable for some reason.

"Fine. Simply put, I have no idea. I wasn't even aware he had such a convenient list. I knew that these spies - or "friends", as he called them - existed, but that was it. And I am the only other Tystrie who even knew about them, the High Priests were never involved in this."

"You are seriously telling me you never interacted with them?"

Kykla shrugged.

"I needed something, he got it for me. Mostly information. It was always either a trade for a favor or some coercion, which was why most of them were one-time deals. For the attack on you, he said he needed to call in every favor he still had open, so I thought that his "friends" were all used up now. All of this I already said to the interrogators or in the trial, why are even asking all of this?"

There was a small pause before the alien answered.

"Rumor has it that some time ago, a large number of warships were sent into orbit."

It was? Oh, thank the Goddess, at least that had gone smoothly. Now the Tystrie would have some leeway again.

"And you seem a bit too happy about that."

Did she? Had her time here made her this rusty?

"I'm merely confused about what you're trying to get at."

"Oh, cut your bullshit! You did... wait. You said you thought he had used up all his favors."

Correction, she hadn't gotten rusty. She was sloppy because the alien's presence was so unnerving to her. Still, to think she caught that tiny slip...

For some time, Nadine stared intensely at her without saying anything. Then she averted her gaze but still kept quiet, and quite some time passed until she suddenly seemed to realize something.

"The blackout! When was the blackout?!"

"I don't know-"

"YES, YOU DO!"

Nadine had jumped to her feet, and the sudden volume of her voice which was a stark contrast to her usually soft tone made Kykla startle so much she fell onto her back.

"The power outage during the trial! When. Was. It?!"

Kykla once again needed to take a couple of breaths to calm down again. Oh well, she would figure it out eventually anyway. Considering the time passed, it was too late to stop it anyway. And if this was her last interaction before her execution, she might as well end it on a high note for her.

"Well, depending on when exactly this supposed power outage occurred, it is possible that a certain pair of overprotective parents missed a crucial detail in my statement."

----------------------------------------

Hastily, Githaiy ran through the halls of the Star Palace. She had no idea what was going on, only that she got called to the main entrance and that for some reason, the entire place was in turmoil. Out of breath, she finally reached the entrance hall. The gate was wide open, and through the rain, she was able to see shuttle after shuttle fly away. Quickly, she was ushered to enter one as well. She got slightly wet on her way to it, but not much. As soon as she was in, the doors closed and they took off.

Finally able to catch a breath, she took a look at the other passengers. Two guards, and the other was a mechanic at the shuttle bay if she recalled correctly.

"Does any of you know what's going on?"

All three shrugged.

"Apologies, Milady, but no."

So they hadn't been told any more than her. Because of the rain, she couldn't see where they were flying and only recognized the great harbor by the time they landed. The doors were barely open when a distressed-looking servant pointed them to one of the spaceships and told them to board it ASAP. Everything happened really fast after that, and Githaiy had barely reached the medical bay when she felt the ship start. She waited nervously until the launch sequence was over before she made her way to the bridge.

The ship wasn't very large, nor did it seem to be in any way special. It had the basic necessities, but that was about it. Before she reached her destination she noticed a couple of guards standing in front of one of the quarters and approached them.

"Can I speak with Her Highness? I wasn't able to report in yet."

"Her Highness is on the bridge, Milady," one of the guards answered. "These aren't her quarters."

"I... see. Thank you. Carry on, then."

Confused, she continued to go to her original destination. If those weren't the princess's quarters, why were they guarded?

On the bridge, she finally found her, accompanied by a captain she didn't recognize, the pilots and adjacent crew members, as well as...

"Nadine?"

The small alien turned her head.

"Hi, Doc. Sorry for the chaos."

"It's no problem. I'm the royal physician, I go wherever Her Highness goes. But what are you doing here?"

"Acting my role again in case it gets necessary. We, um, we kinda were in a rush, so we couldn't plan this very meticulously. We'll be far away from the fight, so there shouldn't be any real danger."

Fight? What?

"I see." She then turned to the princess. "Then, Your Highness, may I ask where we are headed? What fight is she referring to?"

"To Eroas, stopping what's easily the biggest mistake my parents ever made."

"Do you remember the trial?" Nadine quickly added. "How weird Kykla's opening statement was?"

"Not verbatim, but yes."

"That was on purpose," the princess took the word again. "The power outage was planned. To those listening to the broadcast, it sounded like the high council of Eroas ordered the assassination attempt."

Githaiy's heart almost stopped as she realized what that meant.

"Then... His and Her Majesty..."

"Before anyone could stop them, they ordered the home fleet to attack Eroas. I tried to contact them but wasn't able to. Time is more than ever of the essence, so I decided to stop it myself, hence the emergency scramble. If I can make Admiral Mirtan at least halt the attack and listen to me, we might be able to sort everything out."

"This is a political disaster, isn't it?" Githaiy didn't need to understand foreign politics to know that much.

"Best-case scenario, we will have to pay them horrendous reparations. But if the rumors of why they stopped exporting their titanium are true, they could have a massive fleet. In the worst case, this is the beginning of a new war. And if things aren't sorted out by the time the alliance hears of this, we'll have a REALLY big problem."

The princess was right, this was nothing short of a crisis.

Upon reaching orbit, six escort ships joined them. The reserve fleet had apparently already been contacted and quickly agreed to send their fastest ships with them as soon as they understood the situation. Their own ship seemed to be built for speed as well, and thanks to that, just a bit under a day passed until they reached the hyperlane. On the way, the princess explained the plan. Thankfully, Eroas was far away from the nearest Hyperlane, and a large fleet wasn't fast. Depending on the current position of the planet, the attack might have started under a day ago. With a bit of luck even less than that, maybe it hadn't yet begun at all. They would contact the fleet immediately after the jump, hopefully able to stop it before too much damage is done.

"We are almost at the entrance point. Get the prisoner here!" the princess ordered through the com.

Prisoner?

Githaiy wouldn't get her question answered just yet, as a moment later, they jumped.

"Make contact with the fleet, quickly! Use access code Furo-Mil-Nogara-/-Ako-Furo-/-Kipa!"

"... we can't!" the operator responded distressed.

"What do you mean, you can't?!"

"We're not getting a signal from the relay station! It seems to be offline, Your Highness!"

Silence. Every planet in the alliance was supposed to maintain a relay station close to their hyperlane to make sure they could be contacted from the entrance point. The ships heavily relied on those stations, as without them, their communication range wasn't big. Even Hohmiy had one, even though it wasn't needed for most of the cycle due to their closeness to the entrance point. How could this one be offline?

Potentially precious moments ticked away, until finally, the princess spoke again.

"If we go as fast as possible... how long until we can contact them directly?"

The operator opened a star map on his screen.

"If we go full speed... I don't know, maybe ten days?"