The tension on board was almost tangible. After half a day past the hyperlane, Githaiy had decided to retreat to the medical bay. There already were more than enough pairs of eyes drilling metaphorical holes into the backs of the poor pilots, who themselves couldn't do more than fly full speed ahead. And she wasn't needed on the bridge right now in the first place, so rather than contributing to the suffocating silence, she would rather be silent on her own. Not to mention that a thorough check of all the medical equipment on board was a good way to distract her mind from the rather dire situation at hand.

The doctor's limited political knowledge didn't stretch to topics like the military and foreign affairs, but if she had understood it correctly, a retaliatory strike would have been somewhat justified under alliance law if the government of Eroas had indeed ordered the assassination attempt. That would've been an act of war, after all. The problem was that they didn't. This attack was the one that was unjust, even if the ambassador had tricked the King and Queen. The alliance wouldn't let that slide.

First the poison, now this... just why was the ambassador doing all of this? Her people already were the potentially richest planet in the alliance, what could she possibly hope to gain?

This ship... what even was its name? Githaiy noticed she had never asked. Well, it just showed how hectic their departure had been. There was literally nothing that made this ship stand out, it was as basic as it could be. Everyone had obviously expected that to be enough. Fly to the relay station, send the message, and return. What had been supposed to take a day now stretched into an agonizingly long amount of time. If it weren't for the patrol ships escorting them, they wouldn't even have enough supplies. Especially Nadine would be forced to improvise. Githaiy would have liked to send at least her back to Hohmiy, but she knew the alien girl wouldn't leave the princess on her own in this situation.

A knock on the door pulled the doctor out of her thoughts.

"Yes?"

It was Nadine who entered.

"Also needed to escape the bridge?" the doctor joked.

"I can't catch a calm thought up there, and I really need to get a grip."

"Yes, I understand your feelings. The situation is precarious, and being forced to just sit around during all of this is taxing."

"All of this because of one maniac!" the small alien spat. "Better not go to her room right now, I'll just get more pissed."

"Her room? She is on board? Wait, is she that "prisoner" I heard of?"

"Yup."

"Why?"

Nadine shrugged.

"That was my idea. I thought with her word it would be easier to convince them to stop. She said she would cooperate, but while I highly doubt that, it's not like we lose anything by having her with us. And I'll take any I chance can to prevent the pointless loss of innocent lives. Stupid religious fanatic."

Githaiy sat down and went back to her checklist.

"I don't know much about foreign politics, but from the short briefing we got before her visit, I know that their belief is of high cultural significance to the Tystrie."

"They can believe what they want for all I care. The issue is a theocratic government. My homeworld has more than one example of why those are a very bad idea. Sure, monarchies aren't exactly... uh, that would take too long right now."

The bed creaked as she sat and eventually laid down.

"Doc... this won't lead to a full-blown war, will it?"

"If I remember correctly the Vanaery play a valuable role in the alliance, so as long as we pay the reparations we should be able to sort things out with the alliance, but beyond that... I honestly don't know."

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From the corner of her eye, Silgvani watched as Kykla was cuffed to one of the chairs, guards flanking her. Finally, after ten agonizingly long days, they were about to get the fleet in direct communication range.

"Don't you think this is a bit much?" the former ambassador mocked. "We're in a finite space, I have no weapons, and it's not like I can do much anyway while that is running around," she added while nodding in Nadine's direction. Staying calm to her provocation was challenging for the princess, especially after the stress of the last ten days.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"A criminal like you has no right to talk about her like this! You will only speak again once the channel is open and rectify this mess!"

The Tystrie merely shrugged.

"Can you even be sure she's really a noble? She never defends herself like someone of proper upbringing would. The way she just accepts all slander reminds me more of a peasant who subconsciously knows better than to correct his superiors. How do you know you aren't getting tricked?"

Silgvani didn't get a chance to answer as at that moment, the com channel got opened.

"This is Admiral Mirtan of clan Tessvani, your code was confirmed. Please state your occupation."

"Uncle, it's me!" Silgvani all but shouted into the microphone, discarding all etiquette. "You need to stop this attack!"

"Your Highness? And I was wondering why ten ships suddenly joined us."

"That is irrelevant, you need to cease attacking immediately! You have been tricked, I can prove it-"

"Sil, calm down."

Stumped by his answer, Silgvani was indeed quiet, albeit just for a moment.

"Wh-what? No, listen to me, you need to-"

"I am listening. But this is no topic to be discussed on an open com channel. I will await you on the Unifier."

That was it. Deafening silence followed. Silgvani didn't even know how to react to this, feeling as if she had just gotten punched in the face. Eventually, it was Nadine who spoke again.

"Did he just hang up on us?"

"I am not familiar with the phrase," the operator answered, "but they did close the channel."

"Yes, that's what it means."

And to add insult to injury, Kykla started to laugh.

"How fitting that the unhinged royalty appointed a warmonger."

Unlike previous insults, this comment did trigger a response from Nadine.

"What the FUCK is supposed to be funny about this?! Isn't this YOUR planet?! What is wrong with you?!"

"Oh, so now you can speak again? But yes, exactly. It is my homeworld, not yours. Why would you care?"

"Of course I care when some maniac endangers innocent people for some stupid power play! Don't you have family down there?! Are you fine just throwing their lives away?!"

The Tystrie cocked her head.

"What are you talking about? How would a fight between soldiers harm civilians?"

The small alien had seemingly no idea how to answer that, just staring confused for a while. Finally, she turned her head to Silgvani, leaving the princess just as confused, albeit for apparently different reasons.

"I, um, I don't know what you expect me to say to this," the princess admitted. "That was simply a true statement."

"...okay, let's postpone that topic for now, there are still the lives of countless soldiers as well!"

Kykla shrugged.

"Sure, but those are soldiers. They know what signed up for. If it is for the betterment of the Goddess's chosen people, they will gladly do their duty."

"And if this escalates into a war?!"

"I doubt it will. But even if, it was Hohmiy who attacked unjustly. The alliance will side with the Tystrie. And the Vanaery will have deserved it."

That was unfortunately correct. Even if her parents had gotten tricked, it would have been their duty to verify the information. That was one of the reasons why they needed to sort this out before the alliance learned of this. Just one merchant ship appearing could already be catastrophic.

"But it is not like I have no regard for their lives. I will still pray for the safe passing of the ones lost. That is why I agreed to help you, after all. I achieved my goal, further deaths are unnecessary."

"AS IF THAT WOULD MAKE THINGS- oh, forget it, this is pointless."

The small alien turned her back to the former ambassador and threw herself into her chair with a force that made Silgvani fear it would break. A normal chair probably would have, but on a spaceship, things were usually built sturdier.

In a way, while some of Nadine's thoughts eluded her, she could at least understand her frustration. The fact that common sense wasn't necessarily the same across cultures was a lesson the princess had to learn early.

"Escort her back to her room, but be ready to get her again once we reach the Unifier," Silgvani ordered the guards, who promptly complied. "What do we know about the state of the battle?" she added once she was gone.

"We analyzed the telescope images, but we can't seem to find any combat. Just our home fleet hovering in orbit," the operator answered.

"What? How? The Tystrie had more than enough time to amass a massive fleet, they can't possibly be defeated already!"

Was that why her uncle had seemed so uncooperative? But that made no sense!

"I-I don't know, Your Highness, that's what we can make out from the images."

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Finally, they reached the fleet. The data seemed to have been correct, all ships they could see were Vanaery. Just what was going on?

Landing in the hangar of the massive carrier and exiting their ship, an escort awaited them. Shortly after they - including Kykla flanked by two guards - stood in the command center together with Admiral Mirtan.

"Welcome, Your Highness."

"We have no time for formalities, uncle! You heard what I said, this attack must be stopped ASAP."

"Yes, and I said you need to calm down. There is no attack happening even if we wanted because there is no one to fight."

"Oh?" the former Tystrie ambassador remarked snidely. "Is the oh-so-great admiral saying that our troops are so pathetic they don't even qualify as an enemy force?"

Mirtan paused and gave her a deprecative look.

"No, I'm saying there is literally no one here we could fight. Or anyone at all, for that matter."

For the first time since they left Hohmiy, Kykla was speechless. Her mouth opened and closed again multiple times before she could formulate a word again.

"Wh-what do you mean, "no one here"?"

"I mean it exactly as I said it. We have not been able to find anyone, neither in orbit nor on the planet."

"Have you checked everywhere?!" she asked with audible panic, seemingly having discarded her mask.

"Obviously, we haven't. It's a planet. We are screening the surface as we speak, but all cities we've looked at so far were deserted."