...
"Are you just going to fly your ship into his territory and begin shooting down his soldiers?" The queen questioned as she approached Chántel with the man in suit, Jerry following behind her.
Chántel tucked a green T-shirt into the jeans trousers she was wearing and turned to face her ship. "Not exactly, but yeah."
"Unless your engineers have tainted my beautiful piece," she points at the ship which some men were going through. "They'll only be able to track us as a commercial spaceship and hopefully allow us to dock. Once in, I'll be able to talk Asier into doing stuff he won't do."
The queen walked a few steps closer to the ship. "This was the ship you stole from Mom's collection during your runaway yeah?"
The red-haired woman nodded. "Yes. Well, Helga and I did tweak a few things to make it into the beast it is now."
"Speaking of, I don't see her anywhere. Helga I mean," Elizabeth said, turning to where the other ONLINE crew members were.
"Yeah. She said she couldn't work for an Imperial dumbass like me, so... She's probably back at the mercenary guild looking for another hirer."
The Tzerian Queen turned to face her sister. "What are you doing?" Chántel probed and her brow shifts into a furrow as the yellow-haired queen used her hand to cup her face. "Wahh… what is this?"
"I'm sorry about that." The Queen laughed softly.
Chántel moved her face away from the Queen's touch and shook her head. "With that, I may have to go back to the guild and renew my vows."
"There are vows?"
"No, geez" the redhead chuckled. "I just made that up. How did you end up as the Queen of Tzeria with that brain of yours?"
"Things just seem to even out for me I guess. Maybe I'll torture you to get the location of the guild so I can send my army to raid the place."
Chántel shook her head and started towards her crew. "Good luck with that."
"What about the army?" The Queen asked.
Chántel turned to respond to her while still walking backward. "After going over the plan, I realize I don't really need them. So just keep them a good distance away from the west's radar detection wave. They may come in handy if things do not go my way."
"Alrighty."
The red-haired lady turned back to her crew members. "Alright team. Are you ready to strike a deal with the devil?"
"We are not fighting them?" Rusty questioned with a seemingly disappointed look on his face.
Chántel softly punched the gray-haired man on his chest. "Don't worry, big guy, I believe our agreement would definitely lead to one fight or the other. After all, it's Prince Asier we are dealing with."
The ONLINE members stepped into their ship for their final preparation before taking off.
.
.
.
Uyi sat in front of his computer, rapidly typing into it. After a long while, he stopped and turned to face the others. "Look alive team, we are five minutes away from the west."
August put the ship on autopilot before strolling to where Chántel was. He sat in a space next to her. "Helga really did leave the team huh," he mumbled to her.
The red-haired woman nodded. "Yeah, I'm actually surprised. I thought it was gonna be like before and she'll be back in the morning to apologize."
"I guess she really does hate royal blood then. Must be something your family did to her, perhaps when she was younger," The light green-eyed man stated.
Chántel ran her hands through her red hair and groan loudly. "Then I guess she was right to do what she did then."
"Chántel, we've received a transmission from a tele-tower nearby, code orange," Uyi said out loud.
"Accept the transmission, but make it voice only," Chántel said while walking up to where Uyi was.
The black-haired man clicked a button and leaned back in his chair as the message played out.
[Greetings from the Western Tzerian tele-tower 'Iron Thunder'. We've noticed you flying into our territory but unfortunately, we can't let you in without acquiring some information]
"What would you like to know?" Chántel probed.
[Well, for starters, we'd like to know the amount of breathing souls on your ship.]
"Breathing souls?" The redhead let out a soft chuckle. "Why do you make it sound like we have unalive souls on here?"
[Well, I have no way of knowing since you don't allow me access to your ship's information.] The man laughed too.
"We are four on the ship"
[Copy that. Now open your trace shield, we'll like to check a few details about your ship, please.]
Uyi clicked the button to mute the transmission from their ship. "That's a bad idea, Chántel. With the ship's trace shield gone, they'll be able to know everywhere she has ever been to."
The yellow-haired woman bites her lips as she contemplated her decision. [Iron Thunder, we are still waiting for the shield, over.]
Chántel unmute the transmission and cleared her throat. "I apologize for the delay. This ship is a really old one passed down by my family. Just typing coordinate in takes a lot of time to do."
[Alright, we've received you, Thunder. Just give us a moment please, over.]
"We are dead," the black-haired man face palmed.
They all went quiet, waiting as the receptionist did what he had to do with their information.
August sat back on the pilot seat and hold on to the control wheels as they wait for a response from the other side.
[Alright Commercial Flight- 191pI-F, we've got everything we need, you may proceed to port]
August glanced at Chántel before he reluctantly descended the spaceship to the designated area to port.
The ONLINE members stepped out of their ship and into the atmosphere of the Western Tzeria.
A pink-haired female guard approached the four. She stopped in front of them and slightly bow her head. "His Majesty is waiting for you. If you'll follow me, I'll lead you right to him," the female said before turning her heels.
Chántel tilted her head to the side. "Stay alert. I believe he knows we were coming here."
The guard leads them out of the port and into the main city of the West. They stepped into a space car and continued towards the palace.
Chántel looked through the window at the people and buildings. It was far more different than it was the last time she was there. When she was younger, her father use to take her with him whenever he had a meeting in or sometimes outside the planet, and among the places he took her to was this part of Tzeria.
Before he allowed Asier the control of the West, her father use to travel between the two parts of the planet to take care of things. That was one thing she enjoyed doing as the heir of her father, traveling the Galaxy. But now that Prince Asier has full control, everything seems alien to her.
The red-haired lady sighed and leaned back on the chair she was sitting on while drawing a long breath.
A few more moments later, the space car came to a stop in front of a large, about 35-meter-long wall. They exit the car and stepped in through the wall. After a series of security checks, they reached in front of a door and the female guard ushered them in.
They stepped into the room which turned out to be a dining room. A man sat on a chair in front of a table with different variety of food set on the table.
The man had pale skin with narrow dark red eyes. He had dark slicked back side-parted hair and stubble beards. He wore a green gown that had loose sleeves and a furry V-neck. A wide smile crept up his lip as Chántel and her crew members stepped into the room.
"My dear Chántel, I've longed to meet you since I heard you were back in Tzeria," the red-eyed man said.
Chántel smiled back. "I've always been on Tzeria, sweetie, just not your side of the planet."
Asier smiled and waved his hand around the table. "Please, join me. Let's not leave these many delicacies to go to waste. Madam Shasha won't be delighted."
The four slid into the empty chairs around. "So, Chántel, how do you like what I've done to the place? Compared to Queen Elizabeth V's, which is more… imperial?" He queried.
"How about you tell me how you know that I was with Elizabeth, and then I'll answer your question," she grinned.
Asier wiped his mouth and folded his hands around his chest. "I see, you want to trade information? No. Why don't we jump straight to the reason you are here."
"I believe you know the reason I'm here Asier."
"Is it because I'm taking back what's rightfully mine?"
"I don't… I don't understand."
Asier leaned forward. "Didn't Dad tell you anything? You see, your father took the throne after the death of my father, and instead of passing what's mine back to me, he gave you guys."
"Is that how it is?" Chántel asked.
The red-eyed man leaned back and exhaled loudly. "But ruling a planet… it's harder than I thought."
"Then let her have it."
Asier brushed her comments and began new words. "So, I saw the records of your ship's movement." He waved his hand midair and a screen with a mapping of the planet appeared. "A little bird told me that you are now a mercenary, is there any truth in that?"
Chántel laughed and nodded her head. "Damn right."
"Mercenaries beneath my palace roof." The guards around immediately aimed their guns at the ONLINE member's head.
"No, no… not yet. I'm enjoying my conversation with the rogue Princess of Tzeria." He scanned the other members with his eyes. "How do you intend to take this place back with just the four of you?"
"I want to strike a bargain."
…
ns 15.158.61.8da2
