"Except for one team who were figured out, Your Majesty," reported the chamberlain, Poik, to Tenel Ka in the latter's throne room, "every team inserted into Alliance space has been successful in the rapid decrease in the enemies' forces."
"What happened to the failed team?" Tenel Ka asked.
"They should be returning to the system right about..." Poik looked at her wrist chrono before promptly looking back up to her Queen Mother. "Now, Your Majesty."
Tenel Ka then looked out toward the window in the throne room that revealed a Battle Dragon fleet dropping out of hyperspace, as could be seen through Hapes's skies. The Queen Mother looked back at Poik.
"Do you wish to see them, or would you rather have them executed immediately for their failure, Your Highness?" the chamberlain inquired.
"Can you tell me which shipyard they failed to sabotage first, Poik?" Tenel Ka asked.
"Uh, I believe it was..." The chamberlain trailed off, and the Queen Mother waited patiently as her servant took out her datapad from a pocket in her robe and turned it on to check something. A few seconds later, Poik looked back up to declare, "Bilbringi, Milady."
Tenel Ka placed her one hand on her chin in thought. "Bilbringi is a major shipyard for the Alliance," she thought aloud. A little while later, she came to the conclusion, "Send out the transmission that they are to be executed at once."
Poik nodded, then replaced her datapad with her commlink. She activated it and began tuning it to the frequency with which to contact the fleet. But after a while, the chamberlain's face dropped to a frown.
"What is it?" Tenel Ka demanded.
"I can't seem to contact Commander Gebbam of the Queen's Liege," Poik informed her without looking away from her commlink. The chamberlain then hurriedly looked back up to her Queen Mother, realizing her mistake of not properly addressing Her Royal Highness, and stuttered, "The Liege was the flagship of the fleet that picked up the shuttle containing the Bilbringi sabotage crew."
"Then try one of the other vessels in the fleet, Poik," Tenel Ka said, apparently ignoring her chamberlain's minor mistake.
"Oh, yes, of course," Poik replied nervously before tuning her comm to a different frequency.
After a while, a militant female voice on the other end of Poik's commlink said, "This is the Hapan Fearlessness. You may respond."
"This is Poik, the personal chamberlain of the Queen Mother," Poik replied. "I can't seem to contact Commander Gebbam to inform her of the Bilbringi crew's fate, as addressed by Her Royal Highness."
"We will try contacting the commander," the voice stated. "What is the crew's fate, by the way?"
"They are to be executed as soon as possible," Poik answered. "The Queen Mother doesn't wish to see them to address their failure."
"Very well. We will try to contact them and let you know if we are successful."
"Thank you," Poik replied before deactivating her comm.
.
"Hapan Fearlessness, this is the Queen's Liege, please respond," stated the Liege's comm officer at her station on the ship's bridge.
"This is the Hapan Fearlessness," the feminine voice at the other end replied. "What is it that you wish to communicate?"
"Almost every one of our vital systems have been shut down just after we dropped out of hyperspace," the comm officer answered. "Have you been contacted by the Queen Mother yet?"
"We have, Liege," the other voice replied. "She has stated that she wishes to see them at once, and they are allowed to visit her alone in the shuttle they traveled in."
.
"Very well," came back the voice from the Hapan shuttle's inset comm. "We will inform the crew at once, and they will join you soon."
Piggy's voice was filtered through the vocal scrambler implanted in his throat that made him sound like a militant Hapan female. "Thank you, Liege." The Gamorrean then shut down the transmission.
.
Poik's commlink beeped again, and she took it out of her pocket to activate it. "Yes?"
"This is the Hapan Fearlessness," the same voice that Poik just talked to responded. "We couldn't send out a transmission to the Queen's Liege."
Poik looked back up to Tenel Ka expectantly.
"Have they sent a shuttle to the Liege?" the Queen Mother asked.
"We already have, Your Majesty," the voice answered before Poik could communicate Her Majesty's words. "We were merely updating you on our progress."
"Thank you," Tenel Ka said. "Inform me when the Bilbringi crew members have been executed. That will be all."
"Of course, Your Highness," the voice responded. Then the transmission was shut off from the other side.
.
Aboard the Liege, Wraith Squadron didn't hesitate as they briskly walked down the corridors of the Battle Dragon for its hangar bay. Along the way, they were joined by Trey, who was no longer in the disguise provided to him by Scut's neoglith masquer.
One short turbolift trip down later, the squad reached the bay and resumed their walk for the Hapan shuttle.
Halfway to the shuttle, however, everyone present in the bay saw, through the hangar's blast shield, another shuttle depart from a nearby Battle Dragon.
"Five, Force shield," Myri whispered to Jesmin. "Everyone, break for it!"
The entire squad then burst into a run for their parked shuttle. In an instant, everyone else in the bay looked in their direction and called for them to stop. When none of the fleeing squad members obeyed, a few Hapans decided to take out their blasters, set them for stun, and aimed them for the fake Hapans. In the meantime, their intended shuttle started up its engines.
However, the squad's progress wasn't slowed a bit, as the bolts refracted off of Jesmin's Force shield. In a matter of seconds, Wraith Squadron had arrived for their shuttle, whose boarding ramp lowered to admit them. The second the last member, who was Jesmin, was aboard, the ramp closed up in an instant.
A few seconds later, under Piggy's piloting, the shuttle lifted off the hangar floor and headed out the Queen's Liege for Hapes.
