The ion storm was a nightmare, but everyone survived. it also gave Castle enough time to do more covert interigations of the crew; although they didn't realize she was doing it. Kat is still embarrased to talk to Castle, apparently something happend between the two after the blind interegation she went through, but neither of them would tell me anything.
Sweets isn't being much help with it either. but that doesn't matter at the moment. right now, my whole crew is manning Castle, with my ship, Fuego, moored in the cargo ship dock onboard castle, and I am stairing at possibly the largest, most dangerous, walless fortress in this galaxy. The boundry of Tal Oz.
nobody knows how many of these mini fortresses actually exist around the royal system, each one built identically to the rest, each one manned by 1,000 sentient beings, armed and armored to the teeth, under constant upgrades, and just in the view screen directly in front of sweets, I can see probably fifty to sixty of them, spread out exactally 1 AU apart, and each one is located exactally 2,000 AU from the system's star.
I am sitting in the chair for cyber security, I have no idea about anything dealing in that aspect, but it was the only avaliable seat on the bridge, and Castle wanted every chair filled for this meeting.
the haling tone goes off from the communications station, and I have to stop myself from calling out to the station to answer. I am playing a part right now, I can't step on Sweets' command.
"color me impressed." I hear Castle mumle into my earpice. I had watched her proxy go into the tank at the back of the room, and the glass go translucent as her clothes disolved. thank goodness that the process didn't show much, and went pretty quick, otherwise I would be struggling to control myself even now.
"and why is that?" I mumbled back.
"Because you are holding youself back for the sake of appearances. your biosigns are all over the place, but on the outside you are appearing calm and collected."
"experance pays." I say as the haling tone rings a second time. Sweets told me that she wouldn't answer the first or second pings, wanting them to power on their weapons with the third ping, to give herself a bit more of a threat when she finally answered them. I guess she knows what she is doing, but it is making me nervous as hell.
the third ping sounds as the security station's target warnings sound. I guess she would know these procedures better than I do. well, since we haven't told the crew about who she really is, I guess they are in for a bit of a shock too.
"Answer the hale." she snapps, ans she stands up, her feet practically on Troy's shoulders in the pilot's seat. she places her hands behind her back, and takes on a formal stance, one I have seen in every photograph of our monarch, and his family. as soon as her shoulders are set, the screen flicks on, and a person looks like they are about to yell, when Sweets yells on the bridge over whatever he had to stay.
"You dare target a vessel owned by a member of the royal family!" she shouted, "You will explain yourself for targeting my vessel, the vessel of First Princess Candice Brighton Tal Oz; and you will do so right this instant, sector commander!" the silence on our own bridge after her shout was thick. the people on board thought she way lying, up until the man in the screen paled, and the warnings behind me on the security station died.
"Vo... vo... voiceprint verified." the man said calmly. "Standing down."
"I do not recall ording you to stand down, I recall ordering you to explain your actions, Sector Commander." she shouts again. I was apparently wrong in thinking the man couldnt possibly become more pale.
"Princess, you haven't been seen in four years, we were not informed of castle joining our navy, nor were we informed of your return." he answers with almost no stutter.
"Sector Commander, you are to personally board a shuttle, and meet me in Castle's Concorse, you are to bring yourself, your uniform, and your saber. nothing more." she doesn't shout this line, rather delivers it as an unmistakable order, but then she does shout. "I don't think that order was for next week. get a move on, now!" the screen goes black as the man scrambles out of the chair that he was obviously in.
"Transmission dropped." Kevin in the Intership communications chair announces. no one else speaks for a moment, then sweets does.
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"so now you all know who I really am. if any one of you bows, grovels, or calls me princess aboard this ship, you will scrub ever deck with your own toothbrush while wearing only your birthday suit, understood?
"Yes Captain!" every voice on the bridge said in unison.
"and once this idiot is off my ship, that won't be allowed either." she mumbles, but we all heard it. the traffic screens on both sides of the bridge show the approaching shuttle, and seems to snap her out of her thoughts. "Boss, Kat, Castle, Troy. with me. Kevin, take flight."
I can tell the water level in the tank fell, but the glass stayed translucent until Castle's bodysuit was back over her body. at least she shows some modesty. the five of us stand in the elevator, and I feel it drop through several floors, and then stop. we follow Castle to one of the gangway doors on the concorse, where sweets points to various spots on the floor for each of us to stand behind her. when the door opens, the man from the view screen steps onto the ship, stands behind the yellow line on the floor, then kneels in salute.
with no words said for a few seconds, the man then pulls the sword from its sheeth at his hips, presenting the handle to Sweets, but holding it to where it can be thrust into his own heart with little to no effort.
"you have trained your weapons on a member of the royal family." sweets says coldly to the man. I had heard her upset before, but I had never heard her pissed. this was the closest I could think of that sounding, and I knew she was acting. the man before us didn't. "do you plan to begin a revolution in Tal Oz?" she asked specifically.
"Never, your highness." even I could tell that he called her 'your highness' out of habit, not reverance. for some reason that made a difference in my ears as to how this situation could escalate.
"Lie, Your Majesty." Castle announced plainly, as though she was condemning him herself.
"Sectoin Commander, you wish to lead a rebellion against my father, with my knowledge." she wasn't acting anymore, she took his saber from him, and in a quick movment, the medals, rank insignia, even his name were cut from his uniform. the patches of a border guard, his time in service, as well as combat stripes denoting how many ships he had been a part of sinking, all fell off without maring the white uniform underneath. seeing this made me glad I had never honestly pissed off the girl standing in front of me, no, the future Queen, who now stood as judge, in front of me.
"You are relived of duty, you are to exit this ship through port L3." as soon as she said it, I looked at the door he had come through, L2. she had literally just told this man to space himself.
without word, or argument, he did as he was ordered. when I heard the second door open, she seemed to finally relax.
"oh crap." she said, and passed out right in front of us. Castle had seemed to expect it, and caught her.
"everyone, back to the bridge, now." Castle said, taking command, and carrying Sweets with us.
"What happend?" I asked, pointing at the unconcious Sweets.
"Every Noble of Tal Oz is given training since birth on how to act in certain, formal occasions. from an early age, we are stressed over and over, and have to do things, although simulated, just like what she did. however, every one of us, when its over, collapse. the fatigue of staying formal for that long is enough to cause this. she will be awake soon enough to hale the boundry in a few minutes. it will take them that long to pick up the fact that the commander of this area has just been killed. she hadn't planned on doing it, but the situation demanded it."
"Remind me again at some point that I don't want to piss her off." Kat said beside me. Castle looked over to her.
"Be very glad if you piss her off rather than me. with her, you know what attack is comming, and she will judge you formally, just like she did with that man. I am no longer human, I am not held to those standards of ettiquite." Castle grins at her own admission. "which is something that her mother will soon learn about me."
"Castle," I started, "you might not be held to those standards, but right now, you are considered her property, as a registered ship. she is responsible for your actions."
"I know; but the queen doesn't" she grins as we step off the elevator.
Castle sets her down in the captain's chair, and goes back to the tank, where this time its translucent from the beginning, and we all take our stations.
"Hale the boundry." I hear Sweets say, still sleepy. almost immediately, the screen flashes back to life, and a woman is standing, not sitting, in front of the screen. "Congradulations commander." sweets says to the woman.
"For what, Your Majesty?" the reverance was there this time.
"For your promotion to Sector Commander, I think its time for me to go home. what do you think, Sector Commander?"
"Welcome Home, Princess." she says, and four of the platforms, their points forming a square, in front of us begin flashing amber and green lights at us. Castle moves into the boundry, as we pass the platforms, the shuttle is ejected, and appears to dock with one of the four platforms that is letting us through. the woman's face disappears from the screen as the bridge passes the line of the boundry.
"Communication with Boundry Stations has been cut." Kevin, back at communications, says aloud.
"Welcome home, Sweets." I say to her.
"Thanks. and sorry you guys had to see that."
"you had a job to do, I just wish I never had to witness that." Troy said from his position in the floor.
"Troy, you are in the perfect position to get kicked." she reminds him.
"I'm aware, Sweets, but not having said it would mean I deserve that kick."
the whole bridge laughed at his response, but even I could feel the tension in the air rise as we were now inside the boundry, and we were officially escorting 'The Lost Princess' home; the one place in the glaxy, that she had made it abundantly clear, that she didn't want to be.