Chapter 47: The King is Dead
"From everything I've seen on the news, it seems like things are going very well for you," Endymion said, taking on a more regal and refined accent. "In fact, it seems that it would be fair to say that you're winning."
"T-thank you, Your Highness," the communicator replied back through the speaker end. "Yes, if I may say so myself, we've experienced some good fortune and some strong results over the last year. It would at least be fair to say we have the advantage right now, but we're aware that things can flip very quickly. We're taking nothing for granted."
"That's good," Endymion replied. "So, I'll get straight to the point. I'm sure you're as busy as I am, perhaps even more. You've got The Rings on the run. Pushing them back, taking territory, shredding their manpower and resources. There's a light at the end of the tunnel. But it's still far away, right?"
"O-oh, there's...certainly still work to be done, Your Majesty. The Rings remain a potent, dangerous faction with enough power to threaten our planet. It could be years before the threat is truly neutralized."
Endymion nodded. "And then there's the cleanup afterwards. Hard for me to believe that the planet is exactly in the best of shape after over a decade of non-stop war."
"That's a...a fair assessment, Your Highness."
"Well then, Mister Cassini, that's where I come in. Suppose your efforts were bolstered by an ally. An ally with a large military and cutting edge resources." Endymion paused for a beat. "Is that something you'd be interested in?"
"Are you...is this an offer? Your Majesty?"
"A tentative one," Endymion corrected. "But yes, you can consider this an offer. I'd like to offer my assistance in bringing closure to your war. Of course, when I say that, I'm speaking about the military might of the Kingdom of Earth. I think, with our joint cooperation, we could see the end of the war inside of a year. And I can also see a path to us working together on post-war maintenance to get the Kingdom back up and running again."
"...um, I'm sorry, Your Highness, I'm just...well, how should I say this? You...you're speaking for the Kingdom of Earth in making this statement?"
"Of course," Endymion answered. "In what other capacity could I possibly be offering assistance like this?"
"It's just...uh, you're not...well, I can assume that you're speaking on behalf of High King Kasios?"
"Of course I am," Endymion said quickly, mildly irked for the first time. He glanced up at the front of the cockpit, where Kunzite was lounging, keeping an eye on the controls as the ship continued its long-distance jump to Saturn. "I have the authority of the High King of Earth, what, you think I'm just wasting your time with this conversation?"
Kunzite glanced over his shoulder, making a settling gesture with his right hand.
"S-s-so sorry, Your Highness, I didn't mean to...please, accept my apologies." Cassini cleared his throat. "But, yes, of course, Your Majesty, we'd be honored and deeply appreciative if the Earth Kingdom would lend Saturn a hand during these delicate times!"
"Wonderful," Endymion said, disposition brightening quickly. "And don't worry about it, I understand your need for clarification. Now, I'm on my way over to you, I'd like to meet with the current regime in charge of the Kingdom of Saturn as soon as possible."
"...on your w-way?" Cassini stuttered.
"Yes, me and a couple of my generals can be there in...four minutas. So, it's my understanding that you're one of the primary caretakers of the Kingdom, so of course you'll need to be present, but anyone else who's involved in decision-making up there should be invited as well. And, of course, the Princess herself. That all sounds fine?"
"Y-yes, yes, but...I just wasn't expecting you to be on your way! Such short notice, and...and you—"
"Well, we're all very busy people, my father among the busiest. And I think you'd benefit from this arrangement going into effect as soon as possible, and we can't exactly volunteer our forces without coming to a mutual understanding with regard to what we can expect to receive in return after this. Unless it's not feasible to meet right now?"
"N...no! No! Not at all, Your Highness, I'll see to it that all relevant parties are present! We can meet as soon as you arrive! What are you in, a B-class?"
"On the larger side of a B-class, but yes," Endymion answered smoothly.
"I'll make sure there's a spot for you in the hangar and they're prepared for you, just...fly right in and you'll be directed into a dock. Very eager to meet with you, Your Highness, and we can't wait to discuss the particulars of this agreement!"
"See you soon, Mister Cassini," Endymion said, quickly ending the conversation by tapping the center of the disc and pocketing it. "Either he's being polite or we've got them on the hook." He got to his feet, swinging up out of the passenger chair.
"They need us," Kunzite agreed. "Of course, we should be cautious about what we promise, given the current financial state of the Kingdom you're about to inherit."
"That's a problem for another time. A time when the priority is not simply staying alive." He quickly marched over to the door separating the cockpit and cabin, tapping a button on the wall to open it up. Stepping through confidently, pleased with the initial phase of his plan working so well, he immediately approached Zoisite, who was sitting against the left side of the cabin.
"We're on, Your Highness?" Zoisite asked, standing up.
"If you feel it'd be good to have multiple voices making the calls, just ask," Endymion said as Zoisite picked a small blue communicator from a pile of identical ones on the counter space right next to him. "I don't particularly mind how you do it, use your best discretion. But I want every camera on that planet pointed at me when I get to that hangar, and I want everyone very confused on where the tips came from."
"Will do," Zoisite answered, prompting Endymion to turn towards the center area of the cabin.
Nephrite and Jadeite were unwrapping large brown bundles of a clay substance and ripping off pieces of it, an empty green luggage container laid open between them.
"Remember, gentlemen. A firecracker isn't going to cut it," Endymion stated.
"We don't need to vaporize the entire thing, just bust a big hole in it," Jadeite pointed out, shoving a small metal stake into a wad of clay.
"Don't think like that," Endymion warned. "In this particular instance, we'd much rather have something too big rather than too small." He reached his hand into his inside right pocket, withdrawing a small golden paddle from it and holding it up. "Jadeite, look."
The blond Earth general took his focus away from shaping the explosive, eyes focusing in on the simple object in the Prince's hand. "It's the only one you'll have on you?"
"I'd imagine it'll be the only one in the entire palace," Endymion answered, tossing it over to Jadeite in a lazy arc. Immediately, Jadeite froze it in midair with his mind, raising his hand up towards it and pulling it over towards him. "At the very least, the only one in the room that I'll be in. But this is important, we won't be able to use communicators at all while we're inside the palace."
"I'll make it work," Jadeite said after quickly examining the paddle, tossing it back towards the Prince. He caught it and put it back where it had just been, inside his jacket pocket.
"Listen carefully, I'm not in the business of repeating myself," Zoisite said, holding one of the small communicators up to his mouth, the connected earpiece inserted into his right ear. A piece of paper was crumpled up over the microphone piece of the disc, masking his voice slightly. "This is the biggest story of the year, you're going to want to be covering it. The Crown Prince of Earth is headed to the Saturn Palace as we speak to negotiate an alliance in the war. He'll be arriving later today, four minutas at most."
With that, Zoisite quickly hung up, tossing the communicator down onto the ground by his feet casually. "One down, twenty-eight to go."
"
"Call down to the kitchens," Cassini ordered, pointing down the long hallway towards a pair of middle-aged women, both wearing dark purple maid outfits. "Tell them...they've got four minutas to get everything in the room. Not out of the oven, but in the room. Tell them Earth dishes! Something wealthy people from Earth would be familiar with! Make a spread for twenty people!"
As his left hand pointed down at the two maids, his right hand knocked rapidly on a thick wooden door. Mere beats later, the door swung open, a tall, thin, brown-haired man standing right there.
"This is real?" he asked Cassini immediately, getting him to give him a bewildered look.
"What, you think I'd joke about something like this? Come on, we need to move." Cassini jerked his head over to the right, down the hall. "Be a real shame if this went poorly."
"Where was this ten years ago, when we actually needed them?" The brown-haired man fell into line right behind Cassini, giving close pursuit. "You know why they're doing this now, don't you?"
"Of course I do, what does it matter? Do you want this war to go on any longer than it absolutely has to, Damon?" Cassini moved purposefully down the long, towering hallway.
"Of course not," Damon assured. "I'm just saying, they'd just as soon ally with The Rings if they thought they were winning. They don't...they're not helping us because they think we're right."
"We'll get over it," Cassini said, glancing over his left shoulder.
"All I'm saying is that this is pure opportunism on the part of Earth. Let's keep that in mind when they're pushing us for repayment after this is over," Damon grunted.
"We're not going to promise them anything that we can't deliver on," Cassini assured him. "But do not underestimate the value of ending the war in a year as opposed to three. Maybe even six cycles. Not much of a victory if the whole planet is rubble. This is an alliance worth sacrificing for."
The top aide to the House of Saturn finally got to the last door on the left of the extended hall. Cassini placed his hand on the knob.
"Her nap isn't scheduled to finish for another minuta and a quarter," Damon pointed out just before Cassini twisted the knob. "Can we afford it?"
"No," Cassini grunted. "The last thing we need is the Prince of Earth coming in here and seeing a sickly, weak heir to the throne. We'll need every moment we have to make her look as good as possible."
With that, Cassini pushed the door open, giving less consideration to being delicate as he entered the room than he ever had before. He marched across the carpet of the dimmed, darkened room, eyes glued directly to the teenage Princess who was curled up underneath a dark purple blanket. He hurried across the large chamber towards her.
"Your Highness?" Cassini called out, ignoring the strong wave of fragrances hitting him as he got closer to the large bed, assorted herbal arrangements designed to assist with her REM cycles. "Your Highness, it's time to get up."
The Princess stirred, head twisting upward slightly. "Mm."
"Your Highness, something very good has happened," Cassini explained, stopping right next to the bed, Damon just two steps behind him. "But we need to act quickly to assure that it's meaningful."
"Huh?" Saturn sat up slightly, finally blinking her eyes open. "What do you mean?"
"We may finally have ourselves an ally. A valuable one. One that can help bring a swift end to this war," Cassini continued. "Prince Endymion of Earth is on his way as we speak, and we need this meeting to go well."
The Princess shook the haziness of waking up off almost immediate, face suddenly going sharp with seriousness. She tossed the blanket off of her small body, scooting to the edge of the bed. "Okay, okay! I'm up! W-when did this happen?!"
"Just now. Wash up, you need to get ready!" Cassini encouraged. "I doubt you'll need to do much more than just sit there, but the healthier you look, the more confidence they'll have in investing in us. I'll try to get you out of the boring parts, but I'm sure he'll at least want to meet you."
Princess Saturn's feet hit the carpet and she was up, her energy levels quickly rising at the prospect of actually being able to do something to affect the outcome of the war that had consumed her home planet for longer than her memory could recall. "Got it!"
"And please, eat before they arrive," Cassini added tersely. "I'd rather not let them see what your diet consists of."
"
Mimas City was the crown jewel of Saturn, closely neighboring the royal palace with a wealthy collection of residents to match the prime location. One of the very few places on the entire planet that was well-protected enough to be shielded from the effects of the war, you could easily have taken a look at the city and assumed all was well on the whole planet.
The regal metropolis was still stable enough to convince residents to remain, and was even in a good enough state to attract some small amount of tourism. Boasting the finest hotels, attractions, and monuments on the planet, Mimas also had the largest airport around. And it was this particular airport that Jadeite and Zoisite currently had their focus on.
The two of them had been dropped off just outside the city, a couple dolichos from the airport. With the Prince and his two more physically imposing generals headed off to the palace, they were left behind to handle the behind-the-scenes work of their little deception. Both of them were casually strolling through the main entrance of the port, amidst a figurative sea of other people either entering or exiting the facility. For the moment, they were as anonymous as any of them, and could just as easily have been salesmen, peddling their wares through Mimas before moving on. Or vacationers, taking a few days to bask in one of the last remaining vestiges of civilization on Saturn. Nobody could have had any idea that they were mere minutas away from participating in a galaxy-altering scheme.
Zoisite reached over, managing to clap Jadeite on the back just after the two passed through the entrance hall with his left hand. His right held the green luggage container that had been packed full of clay earlier.
"Meet you in Hangar A," Zoisite said, voice just barely audible over the general din being kicked up by so many people being packed close together.
"I'll be as quick as I can," Jadeite mumbled back, breaking off towards the right side of the entrance lobby, gently pushing through the crowd.
"
Endymion leaned forward as far as he could towards the front windshield of the cockpit, looking down at the ground right in front of the entrance to the Saturn Palace hangar. It was about as good as he could possibly hope for. The entire area was tightly packed with bodies.
"They don't have any way of knowing that we're in this ship, do they?" Endymion asked.
"Not for sure," Kunzite replied, keeping a hand on the ship controls as he guided the B-class into the gaping maw built into the side of the palace, where all other ships that had some sort of business with Saturn royalty were parked. "But I'm sure they're all assuming it."
A tiny red light on the dashboard started blinking rapidly. Kunzite reached forward and pressed a button right next to the indicator. A clear voice emitted out of a speaker up by the ceiling of the cockpit.
"Um, Head Aide Cassini wants you to know that there are multiple spots available for your ship near the back of the hangar. If you dock back there, they won't be able to see who you are when you come out."
"Oh...seems like they already know," Endymion replied. "I'm not too worried about it, honestly. Thank you for the offer, though."
Kunzite quickly tapped the button again, ending the conversation. Endymion leaned forward again, taking a closer look at the crowd assembled, this time picking up on some of the finer details. Several uniformed palace guards were forming a line in front of the hangar, using their bodies to prevent the unruly mob from breaking through into the actual facility. Everyone who was trying to push their way in as close as possible was holding either a holo-recorder or a camera, the majority of which had been aimed up at the underside of the ship.
"What do you think we have down there? Six dozen media people?" Endymion asked.
"More than enough for what we need," Kunzite said, zipping the ship through the opening and quickly turning it sharply to the right, finding the first available docking slot for the ship. Engaging the automatic parking mechanism, it took only a few beats for the vessel to come to rest on the dock.
Endymion spun around, quickly pushing the door between the cockpit and cabin open. Nephrite was waiting, just a couple steps beyond the door and a step to the right. The back hatch was falling open, rapidly dropping a ramp down to the ground level. Endymion tugged the front of his overcoat over his chest as he hurriedly stepped across the cabin, both of his burly generals falling into line behind him.
"We have the easy part now," Kunzite muttered under his breath.
With impressive speed, half a dozen palace pages gathered right at the base of the ramp, three on each side, and fell to one knee, waiting. Endymion spent only a brief beat of focus on them before looking up, finding the more meaningful welcome party jogging up towards them. He recognized Cassini, Head Aide to the Princess until she came of age, and probably the most important person for Endymion to put in a good mood over the next few minutas. The other four people running alongside him, he didn't recognize off the top of his head.
"I...I…" Cassini panted, having clearly just ran across the hangar. He gave a tired arm wave over towards the sea of media people just outside the hangar, who were still creating a rather chaotic scene as they fought to capture the best, clearest proof of Prince Endymion's presence. "I don't know how it leaked."
"Hm," Endymion said as he stopped right at the foot of the ramp. "I understand freedom of the press is important, but that's positively barbaric."
"Your Highness, I am exceedingly sorry," Cassini continued, bowing low over towards Endymion, clearly a little distressed. "I can assure you, the leak didn't come from me, and I'll exhaust all resources to find out who is to blame for this!"
"I don't mind," Endymion said smoothly. "Kind of inevitable with things this big. And it doesn't really change all that much." Endymion raised his right hand up in the air, waving towards the large, tight gathering amicably. He turned back towards his welcoming party, sticking his right arm out towards Cassini. "Good to meet. It's been some time."
Cassini was mildly apprehensive, but soon put his own arm out to grab Endymion's. "W-welcome to Saturn, Your Highness!" He took a small half step to the side, twisting around to point at his companions. "I don't think you've met my colleagues before." He started pointing down the line of four middle-aged men. "Uh, Treasury Secretary Dorus, Defense Secretary Hyginos, Education Secretary Fotis, and...Junior Defense Secretary Bion." All four men bowed towards the Prince and his generals.
"Defense a high priority right now, makes sense," Endymion mused, reaching his right hand into the left inside pocket of his overcoat. "Where's the Princess?"
"Waiting in the room I've set aside for our meeting," Cassini answered as he watched the Prince pull out a roll of cred bills from his front chest pocket. "But...uh…"
Endymion took a couple paces over to the nearest of the six kneeling pages, holding his hand out towards the much shorter blond man. "Hey, up."
The black-clad servant picked his head up, looking rather scared at being in such close proximity to the Crown Prince.
"To share," Endymion instructed, holding the roll of bills out towards the page. "Can you do that? You and your five friends?" He gestured around loosely at the other five servants, still kneeling around the ship's ramp, who were unable to help but pick their heads up to look.
"U-uh...uh...that's really not—"
"This is how things are done on my planet. I realize we're on yours, but please," Endymion insisted, bending down and shoving the tight roll into the front pocket of the man's uniform. "To share!" he reiterated. With that taken care of, he turned back towards the collection of Saturn's royal aides. "You were saying?"
"Oh, uh, I was just going to say that...Princess Saturn doesn't really have any royal responsibilities right now. She doesn't know anything that we don't tell her, and we only tell her to...satisfy her own curiosity." Cassini glanced around shiftily. "Her presence during our discussion isn't terribly necessary."
"Right now," Endymion repeated. "Of course a thirteen-year-old wouldn't be involved in decision making. But she will be when she comes of age. Less than five years away now. Her reign as Queen will overlap mine as King, I think she should be aware of things that will still be in effect between us when she does take the throne."
Cassini inhaled sharply. "Very well. I understand."
Endymion, a quick glance tossed over towards the pack of media members now being forcibly hoarded away from the hangar by the line of palace guards, put his left arm out towards the opposite end of the hangar. "Lead the way."
Quickly, Cassini turned and began beating a hasty path deeper into the hangar, his four colleagues following closely. Endymion, Kunzite, and Nephrite took up right behind them.
"Again, very sorry about the media. The timing is unbelievable, they flooded up by the hangar entrance right before you got here. Four secundas earlier, I'd have them off palace grounds before you arrived, four secundas later, they'd have missed you entirely."
Endymion gave a wan smile. "I'm really not concerned about it."
"I'd like to say I'll have it all suppressed, but I doubt you're the kind of man who appreciates obvious lies, so I won't even bother," Cassini grumbled, his voice just loud enough to rise above the cacophony of clicking shoes against the concrete floor.
"Believe it or not, I'm used to every single person in the galaxy being aware of my every move," Endymion replied easily. "Comes with the birthright. Besides, I'm proud of what I'm doing here today."
"
"Send him in!"
The portly man with a crown of thinning black hair took his finger off the intercom on his desk and leaned back in his spinning chair. Mere moments later, the door right across him swung open. Jadeite entered the crowded, messy office, cabinets stacked to the ceiling and large boxes lying open on the floor.
"Afternoon," the man announced. "Phillipp, how can I help you, uh...Seth, was it?"
"Seth," Jadeite repeated, twisting his head around to look at the engraved piece of brass on the door, marked as 'Phillipp, Head Supervisor of Private Airstrips and Hangars'. "And if this engraving is accurate, I think you can definitely help me." He tapped the door shut behind him, removing the black bowler hat from his head and holding it against his chest.
"If you have business with our private airstrips or hangars, then I'm indeed the man to see," Phillipp said confidently. "Sorry about the mess, by the way. I've just been moved here."
"Not a problem," Jadeite assured. "I'll be quick, I'm sure you're busy. I represent Cronus, and he's going to be here later today."
"Well, that's a name that certainly gets my attention," Phillipp said. "He'll be flying in, I assume?"
"Yes, and I'm here to make sure everything is smooth when he lands. He's conducting some important business, time-sensitive matter. I was wondering if we could reserve Hangar A, Row Four. Is that possible?"
Quickly, Phillipp reached forward and pulled a large tablet off the desk in front of him, tapping the middle of it to awaken the screen. "Well, I'm pretty sure that one's open, let me double-check. Hangar A is right next to the commercial flights, though, if that matters."
"Not a problem," Jadeite said. "There's one other thing. He won't be here for too long, but I'd like to get his ship washed while he's got it parked in your hangar."
Phillipp quickly nodded. "I can certainly arrange for that."
"Like, not just a wipedown. A real cleansing. Inside the engine grill, the vents, everything you can. What's the most thorough process you have, how long does it take on a large B-class?" Jadeite reached up to scratch his forehead.
"Oh, uh...from start to finish, I'd say a little less than four minutas. M-maybe four exactly, to be safe. We have to...pull it off the dock and put it in this little stall to wash it, of course."
Jadeite grimaced. "Okay, I...I think that'll be perfect, actually. Yes, do that, but...just to be safe, could you arrange for the process to begin as soon as the ship gets parked? D-don't even bother Cronus with it, just...as soon as he gets off, get your guys on it? He'll be in a hurry, and I don't want him to get back to find his ship not ready for flight."
"Oh, hey, for a man like Cronus, we do whatever we need to do to accommodate him. I'll get a crew on it the moment he leaves the hangar. As long as you can guarantee me four minutas, I can guarantee that it'll be done by the time he gets back." Phillipp nodded confidently.
Jadeite surreptitiously removed a rolled up bundle of cred bills from inside his thick long coat, tossing it out onto the desk in front of Phillipp. "Pleasure doing business with you." Jadeite started to turn around, his right index finger twitching as he pulled it back towards his palm.
"W-wai—"
Phillipp's attempt to draw Jadeite's attention was interrupted by a loud, chaotic crash from right behind him. The large man spun around quickly in his chair, eyes wide and expression fearful, just in time to see the final contents of one of the cardboard boxes spill out haphazardly on the floor. One of the flimsy crates had burst open at the seams, and owing to that particular one being stacked atop a collection of them, the assorted of papers and files quickly splashed around behind Phillipp on the carpet.
His attention was pulled into this unexpected little disaster, eyes darting around as valuable information was disorganized and scattered around. He needed a moment to gather himself and resettle his nerves.
"S-sorry, it really is a mess in here," Phillipp muttered. "Don't know why that—"
He spun his chair back around, only to find he was talking to himself. Amid the short-lived chaos of the box ripping open, he had disappeared, slipping out the door. Phillipp scrambled up to his feet.
"Wait, WAIT!" he called out, hoping his voice could get through the closed door and reach him out in the hall, or perhaps that he had stayed for a moment to converse with his secretary. He rounded his desk quickly and stumbled over to the door, ripping it open and spilling out into the hallway just outside. "Hey!"
The hallway outside of his office was a non-trivial length, passing by a couple dozen other small side rooms before leading back out into the main hub of the airport. However, there was nobody there on that extended stretch of hall.
"Seth!" he called out.
"Sir?"
Phillipp spun around, his secretary's desk right at the very end of the hallway, crammed in between the two tight walls. It was less of a desk and more of an end table. An unfortunate necessity of the recent move.
"S-Seth, the guy who just came out, where'd he go?!" Phillipp asked.
"Uh, down the hall." The short, thin blonde woman behind the desk pointed down the long pathway. "Where else would he go?"
"Aw, shit," he grunted. "What is he, a world-class sprinter?!"
"He did seem like he was in a hurry," the secretary admitted. "What's the problem?"
"He...I need a serial number from him," he answered. "He wanted me to do a special service on a ship that's landing here later today, but he left before he could give me the serial." He scratched the back of his head, turning around to look down the hallway, hoping that Seth might realize his mistake and return at any moment.
"Do you want me to send an announcement through the airport?" she asked.
"Well, n-no, actually, I think we're fine," Phillipp finally settled on. "Uh, put down a flag for Cronus. It's his ship, he's on it, so as long as we see his name on the landing manifest we'll know that's the one." He turned back to his secretary. "Yes, flag all incoming landing manifests for Cronus's name, and direct that ship to A. Row four. And I want a cleaning crew waiting there when he lands, max treatment the moment he leaves the hangar."
"Got it," she said, beginning to tap her manicured fingernails against a large tablet screen on her desk.
"
"We had him," Tellu grumbled. "Had him dead to rights on Mars, all of them. One little bomb and all five of them would be at the bottom of a crater." She shook her head. Her and Ptilol were sitting next to each other at an empty bit of counter space in the left corner of the cabin of the space vessel that was currently speeding through vectors just beyond the asteroid belt. Each young woman had a large brown bowl of soup in front of them, and a large flat tablet was on the counter between them, lazily scrolling through assorted news headlines.
"Hey, look on the bright side," Ptilol reasoned. "It worked. We fed him a fake report for Cronus's location and he bit. He just managed to get out before Eudial could mop it up."
"It worked this time," Tellu countered, slowly running her large metal spoon through the thick yellow concoction in her bowl. "Who says that means it works the next time? Maybe he's onto us."
"What can he even do about it?" Ptilol pointed out, twirling her spoon around in her fingers. "He's the one with a time limit, not us. He's got no other option but to scrounge around for random tips and hope they pan out. Come on, we've got all the cards here, let's be positive."
"I feel like I've been living on B-class ships for the four cycles," Tellu said, casually glancing over the tablet as it continued to spit out the latest news updates from around the galaxy. "Really ready for this to be over so we can get back to our normal lives. I could use a week at a five star resort after this is over, living life on the run is no way to live." She scooped up a portion of soup and poured it back into the bowl. "Sick of eating soup all the time."
"I can agree with that," Ptilol admitted. "Sooner we stomp out that little pissant, the sooner we…"
The green-haired enforcer of Cronus gave Ptilol several beats to finish her sentence, but finally turned her focus away from her soup to see what had stalled her speech. Ptilol was staring down at the large tablet screen, her finger holding down on the center of the screen to get the rotating headlines to stop.
"What's the matter?" Tellu leaned over to look at what had caught her attention, eyes immediately bulging. "What the—"
BREAKING NEWS: Earth Prince Endymion makes surprise visit to Saturn; negotiations on alliance underway
That headline was more than enough to get Tellu to drop her spoon to the floor in surprise. Both girls read the sentence over and over again, waiting for it to change into something they could better process. It took nearly a full secunda before they even proceeded beyond that headline.
"Extensive video evidence right outside the Saturn Palace hangar confirmed what had been heavily rumored earlier in the day," Ptilol started to recite. "Just secundas ago, a B-class starship bearing the Prince of Earth and two of his finest generals arrived on planet and parked within the palace. While his intention is not yet confirmed, many believe that the Kingdom of Earth has finally decided to offer their support to the Royal House of Saturn in their decade-long civil war with The Rings."
"What the hell?!" Tellu snapped. Ptilol rapidly tapped the center of the screen, getting a holographic projection of a video clip to start playing a couple finger-lengths in the air. Sure enough, Prince Endymion was clearly shown, flanked by Kunzite and Nephrite, with a collection of Saturn higher-ups in front of him, right in front of the exit ramp of a B-class starship.
"Are you shitting me?" Ptilol staggered to her feet, just missing knocking her bowl of soup over by the slightest of distances as she pushed herself away from the counter. She spun around and sprinted across the ship cabin, leaping over a couple crates of food on her way. A red steel door in the wall on the south side of the cabin was waiting for her, and before long she was slamming her palm up against the surface.
"Sir! Sir! We have a problem!" she yelled, before giving her head a shake to try to come to her senses, then moving over a step to the right to press a button on an intercom system. "Sir! Get out here, now! It's Endymion!"
It didn't take long for the pneumatic hiss of the door to sound off, and just like that, Cronus was entering the cabin, hair slightly ruffled and still in the process of putting on his overcoat.
"What, what?!" he snapped. "Is he dead?! Is he here?! Ptilol, you can't just say that without—"
"He's on Saturn," Ptilol immediately spit out, instinctively shrinking away from her boss, knowing that this was quite possibly the worst possible news she could be delivering to Cronus right now. "In the palace."
Cronus's mouth clapped closed at that proclamation, initially too stunned by what seemed to be a statement that couldn't possibly be true. He didn't even look upset or panicked.
"Excuse me?" Cronus asked.
"He's meeting with the whole regime on Saturn," Tellu followed up, standing up and hunching over the tablet, twisting her head to look at her boss. The hologram of the video was still playing beneath her upper body, and she quickly spun the tablet around so that it would be oriented towards Cronus. "They think he's negotiating an alliance for the war."
Cronus stared at the hologram, mouth beginning to fall back open again as he was confronted with video evidence of the absurd claim his lackeys were making.
"I...I don't understand," Ptilol managed to force out of her tight throat. "Why would he be going there and...and doing...this, right now?" She was afraid she already knew the answer.
"Gods," Cronus finally said. "He found out."
Never had Cronus sounded so shaken.
"He figured it out." He gave his head a tiny, slow shake, as if in disbelief, even as his words clearly showed he was not wasting any time thinking this was some sort of absurd coincidence.
"We—"
Cronus purposefully marched up towards the north end of the ship's cabin, pointing an emphatic finger at Tellu. "Call Eudial, tell her to drop everything immediately and meet us on Saturn!" he ordered.
Ptilol quickly fell into line a couple steps behind Cronus as he moved up towards the cockpit. "Sir, before we—"
"Mimas Airport," Cronus continued. "We can't go to the palace, if we call in to ask for permission we'll be letting Endymion know exactly when we're arriving in advance." He practically punched the button next to the cockpit door, prompting it to slide open.
"Sir, this is obviously what he wants!" Ptilol protested. "We should take a moment to think about this!"
"Of course he does," Cronus agreed, jumping into the pilot seat and rapidly beginning to plot out a new destination on the central computer. "What does it matter?"
"Well, he's probably trying to lead us into a trap!" Ptilol said. "Why else would he make sure the entire galaxy knows he's there?! He's probably—"
Cronus twisted his body around to look at Ptilol. "Ptilol, do you realize that if something happens to her, everything we've worked for this past decade will have meant nothing?! That I may as well have actually taken my own life when I abdicated the throne?!"
"Yes, but...nothing's going to happen to her! She's the Princess of one of the largest Kingdoms in the galaxy, he's not actually going to—"
Cronus turned back to his work programming a new destination on the center console. "What, exactly, do you think he has to lose?"
Ptilol blinked a couple times. "Sir, she's...barely even a teenager, he wouldn't."
The vessel was pulled out of jump speed in an instant, Cronus accomplishing the sudden halt by pulling back on a lever to the right of the center console. Immediately, the ship began to twist about in order to orient itself towards the new destination.
"Viluy was one thing, I'll...I'll admit that I didn't think he was capable of something like that, but he wouldn't actually...at the very least, we shouldn't rush into this without a plan!" she insisted. "He's bluffing, he wants us to think he might hurt her and act accordingly!"
"We have a plan," Cronus said simply, keeping an eye on the ship recalibrating a new route, beginning to engage another jump. "The plan is, we do whatever we have to do and say whatever we have to say to guarantee my daughter's safety. Then, and only then, do we assume that we can get through this without putting ourselves in some kind of danger. And only then do we try to assume what Endymion might or might not be capable of."
Ptilol got the picture that it was time to stop protesting. It wasn't exactly surprising that some degree of rational thought would go out the window in light of Cronus having the one thing he truly cared about threatened. She firmed her stance up a bit and nodded.
"Yes sir. We'll be ready for anything once we get to Saturn."
She glanced up over Cronus's shoulder as he manipulated commands on the center console, noting with some trepidation that his fingers were shaking a bit. She had seen small flashes of Cronus losing control in the past, but they were incredibly rare and often short-lived. This, however, felt like an extreme that she had never seen before.
"
Jadeite slowly peeked out from around the corner of the private hangar, squinting as he tried to quickly take in his surroundings. The massive, expansive tarmac went off in all directions in front of him, providing plenty of takeoff and landing space for the bevy of starships that would pass through the airport on a daily basis. He spied a massive commercial ship just a short distance away to his left, connected to the main airport building by means of a short tube. Off in the distance, he could see a few more similar-looking vessels in various stages of being loaded with passengers.
Fortunately, there were only a few scattered people on the tarmac. Employees of the airport, wearing sickly brown jumpsuits. Jadeite's outfit matched, at least enough to fool someone at a distance, which would hopefully be enough to excuse his presence. With a hurried, yet not quite panicked gait, he ran out in front of the hangar, making for the entrance, trying to get within the relative safety of the indoors as soon as possible.
Hangar A had only four occupied docking stalls at the moment out of a possible twelve, leaving plenty of open space in the large garage. A skeleton crew of half a dozen security guards were up on catwalks up near the ceiling. As Jadeite entered the hangar, he quickly used his powers to cause one of the giant light fixtures on the ceiling to swing upward on its chain, banging against the roof.
The attention of all the posted sentries was drawn, and Jadeite dashed for the nearest parked ship along the right side of the hangar, trying to keep his footsteps light. He slid across the concrete floor, managing to get underneath the wing on the wall-facing side of the ship, pressing himself up against the hull, finding Zoisite waiting for him right there. The rectangular green travel bag was laying at Zoisite's feet, still visibly packed to capacity.
"I was getting worried," Zoisite whispered as Jadeite kept ducked down, ears perked up to listen for any signs of his presence being suspected by the sentries up above.
"I didn't come straight here, I got a pretzel," Jadeite said quietly.
"Well, where's mine?" Zoisite asked. "You know, as long as you're putting this whole operation in danger, you might as well think about others."
"I'm not putting anything in danger," Jadeite protested, craning his head around the hull of the ship to look out at the main area of the hangar. "Cronus might be on the other side of the galaxy when he figures this out. We could be here for awhile, you know."
"Which row?" Zoisite asked.
"Four, like we planned," Jadeite answered, extending his right arm out and pointing at one of the empty spots across the garage. "You've got the departure schedules?"
"I can't shake the feeling that there had to be a better way than this," Zoisite mumbled to himself. "So much that we can't control."
"Seems to me we haven't been in control of anything for quite some time," Jadeite countered. "And yet, somehow, we're still alive."
"Luck is not a strategy," Zoisite insisted.
"Are you new around here or something?" Jadeite asked sarcastically.
"
"This is a big planet, don't try to tell me the entire thing has been depleted in a decade," Endymion said evenly. "Come on, I want to help you guys, but nothing's free."
The meeting room in the east wing of the Saturn Palace was a solid production, a rectangular room that was brilliantly sunlit via a series of large windows and mirrors, with a long oak table stretching across the center of it. The top left corner of the table was occupied by half a dozen tiered trays, each one bearing far too much food by itself for the current meeting participants.
Endymion was sitting right on the north side of that corner, Kunzite and Nephrite just behind him. The Saturn representatives were stacked up on the left side, with most of the table not being utilized due to there being less than ten people present.
Cassini was the closest to the Prince of Earth, with Dorus, Hyginos, Fotis, and Bion filling out the full representation of current political power on Saturn right behind him. Princess Saturn seemed to be an afterthought, sitting behind her aides, just silently trying to take in the back-and-forth.
"Uh, here we are." Dorus brought a hand-sized tablet up from his lap, passing it in front of Cassini. "Output of the pearl mine in sector eight over the last three years. That's, uh, the third largest producer of pearls on the planet."
"Not bad," Endymion said as Cassini slid the small tablet over in front of him. "Certainly of interest. But I understand you still have significant gas-based resources." He glanced down at the screen. "I'm a little more interested in those, personally."
The Prince's eyes darted around, first towards Princess Saturn, lingering on her for just a moment before acting as if he was just twisting his head around to look at his two generals to his left.
"R-right away, Your Majesty," Dorus said, reaching forward to grab the tablet out from in front of Endymion. "I'll pull those up, should just be a moment."
"I really hope my daughter is as well-behaved as you when she gets to be your age," Endymion said, smiling as he returned his look over to the teenage girl. "Are you playing a game underneath the table or something? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're actually interested by this discussion."
The Princess gave a pleasant smile, reaching up to adjust her tiara atop her head. "No, no, it's...it's good. This stuff is important to me! I'll be eighteen before I know it, I need to know all about these sorts of things."
"No, no, I agree," Endymion replied, looking back to Cassini, who looked almost scared as Endymion engaged in conversation with the Princess. "It's just, you're taking it remarkably well. I can assure you, most children your age wouldn't be able to sit still for half this long."
"I think it's interesting," Saturn reiterated.
Endymion carefully pried up his overcoat's right lapel, peering down underneath it, quickly making sure that the small gold paddle was still within his inner pocket. "Well, that's very good to hear."
"Uh, here's that...some mine output data," Dorus said meekly, holding the small tablet up again.
"Yes, yes, uh...Roxxas Gas!" Cassini said quickly, snatching the tablet out of Dorus's hand and bringing it to bear in front of the Prince. "As you can see, there's certainly going to be a surplus of this for centuries to come just from the surface mines, we can guarantee that."
"Well, then I imagine you'll have no issue sharing once the cannons cool off a bit," Endymion replied.
"
"Whoa whoa whoa," Zoisite said suddenly, getting down on all fours to peek out just beyond the hull of the starship he was still hiding behind. He and Jadeite had remained stationed here for several minutas now, nothing to do but stare at the grey-colored wall of the massive garage and make sure no part of their bodies were visible to the guards up above on the catwalks. Each secunda that ticked by made it more and more likely that their complicated plan would fail before it could even truly get started.
Perhaps their initial hypothesis was wrong, and that Cronus had no relation to Princess Saturn. Maybe Cronus wouldn't bite on the fairly obvious bait, and keep his distance even if it put her at risk. Or it could end up being as simple as them guessing incorrectly on one of the steps he would take on his rush back to Saturn to protect his progeny and being unable to reshape their plan to fit. Whatever the wrench in the plan ended up being, it seemed more and more likely it existed with each passing moment.
And then, Zoisite was reaching over, tapping Jadeite on the shoulder and spying a B-class cruiser coming through the entrypoint.
"Maybe?" Zoisite hissed under his breath. "Come on, come on."
"If it's not him, I'm going back inside and getting another pretzel," Jadeite grumbled, leaning up and watching the ship move towards the left side of the hangar.
They waited with baited breath as the ship slowed practically to a halt, and then gave a little burst to the side, slotting in one of the docking grooves with a gentle grinding sound. Sure enough, it was coming to rest in row four.
"Good afternoon, Mister Cronus," Jadeite whispered.
"Hold on," Zoisite instructed. "I'll believe it when…"
Mere beats after the engine of the newly-parked ship had turned off, the exit ramp dipped down off the back of the ship and down to the concrete floor. Both Earth generals only allowed themselves the briefest of glances at Cronus, sprinting down the ramp, before they both ducked back behind cover. It would be a true disaster to have this one-in-a-million plot foiled by something as amateur as Cronus spotting them in the hangar. They listened closely, hearing the racket of echoing footsteps as a small group of people dashed out of the hangar through the main entryway, Zoisite leaning out just in time to catch sight of their backsides as they disappeared out onto the tarmac.
"I saw three," he murmured. "There's supposed to be four, right?"
"Who cares, as long as one of them is him?" Jadeite countered, watching the other side of the hangar.
"I care!" Zoisite protested. "What good is all of this if we just end up leaving a loose end who can expose our crimes when this is over?"
"This mission was always going to have extracurricular cleanup," Jadeite pointed out. "Alright, here they come!"
"This must be the one!"
Ten men, each wearing the sickly brown uniforms that marked them as employees of the airport, were jogging over from the far side of the hangar.
"Okay, move it! Phillipp was insistent that this one was a rush!"
Jadeite ducked back down behind the ship hull, watching as Zoisite fumbled with a small tablet.
"Okay, let's pull it down off the dock, but don't scratch it! That ship belongs to THE Cronus, as far as we're concerned it's made out of glass. I don't want to see any damage!"
"Perfect," Zoisite said, handing the the tablet over to Jadeite after getting it to display a three dimensional map of a large mansion. A red dot was pulsing on the left side of the schematic. "Alright, that's the meeting room. Do it!"
"I'm gonna need a little time here," Jadeite grunted, putting both of his index fingers up on his temples.
"We have a little time," Zoisite replied. "But not a lot."
"If I don't get the right tuning I'll just end up moving the table or...breaking a window," Jadeite said, voice slightly strained.
"Alright, just get it done," Zoisite said. Jadeite closed his eyes, trying to focus enough to mentally reach across a large distance.
"
Endymion concealed any sort of reaction as he finally felt it. The paddle in his inner overcoat pocket, gently but unmistakably moving, applying a light pressure to his chest, and then twisting to the left slightly. If anyone happened to be looking at the Prince's chest right at that moment, they'd just assume his jacket was shifting due to some subtle movement of his body that they couldn't see. But Endymion knew that the small toy in his pocket had been purposefully manipulated as a signal.
"...a sudden assault on sector eighteen originating from a point north-north-west would be devastating to The Rings. If you could commit maybe half-a-dozen well-equipped platoons to an attack there, it'd accomplish a lot."
"Well, I think we're about done here," Endymion announced.
"...hm?" Cassini questioned, immediately looking rather concerned that he had just said the wrong thing. "I'm sorry?"
"No, no, I don't mean anything bad. Quite the opposite," Endymion comforted. "We don't need to hash out every single detail right now. The way I see it, you've made it clear that you're willing to compensate the Earth for our help, and you've made it clear that what we have to offer you is going to prove valuable in ending this war. That's good enough for me."
"Uhhh...well, Your Highness, I appreciate you saying that," Cassini replied slowly. "It's good you feel that way, but I wanted to review a few more current battlefield statuses first, just so you know exactly what you're getting involved in."
"I've seen enough," Endymion insisted, rising to his full height. "I get the picture, Cassini. And you can count on the Earth's assistance in expediting the end of this war, contingent on one thing."
"Uh, one thing?" Cassini repeated, getting up to his feet as well, nervously fumbling his fingers along the pinned medals on his chest. "What do you mean?"
Endymion extended his left arm out in an unfurling motion, gesturing it over towards Princess Saturn. "I'd like to speak with her, alone."
Cassini blanched, eyes bulging a bit.
"Not for very long, nothing technical, I just need to confirm some things with her, and I'd like it to be one-on-one."
"I-I...I don't understand," Cassini said, glancing nervously over at the Princess, whose expression was somewhere between surprise and excitement. "There's...really not anything she could tell you that we can't. Whatever it is that you feel you need to...confirm with her, should really run through me, Your Highness."
"I can understand why you might think that, but the reality is, she's ultimately going to be the one who has to keep these promises," Endymion said. "I want to speak to her, without her aides present."
"Ummm...alright, I suppose so," Cassini relented, which was enough of a prompt to get Princess Saturn to her feet. "There's a break room right across the hall, you two could—"
"Not here," Endymion interrupted. "Not in this palace. I want a more neutral site."
Cassini's face fell.
"My ship will do. Off-planet," Endymion continued, maintaining an almost menacing stoicism. "In orbit."
"Your Majesty—" Fotis interjected, only to immediately be prompted to silence by Cassini's open palm.
"Uh, I'm afraid I don't understand the need, w-what could you possibly need to discuss with her that you can't do on Saturn?!" Cassini asked, sounding wildly uncomfortable and starting to lose his composure.
"I just don't believe any large-scale agreement should be negotiated entirely on one party's territory," Endymion said cryptically. "And I want to hear her answers far away from people who might be influencing her."
"Alright, to the hangar!" Princess Saturn called out, sounding as if she thought nothing of the request.
"WAIT! Wait, wait!" Cassini called out, turning around and holding his arm out towards the Princess. "Just...Your HIghness, could we…" he gestured over towards the vacated northwest corner of the room, shuffling over towards it. Endymion relented, following.
"Your Highness, I…" Cassini spoke in hushed tones now, trying to keep their conversation between the two of them only. "I can assure you, I'm the highest power in this Kingdom right now. She—"
"You've made that very clear already," Endymion cut him off. "I understand how the power structure is here, but I need to talk to her, and I need it to be on my terms. You can't give me the assurance that I need."
"She...doesn't leave the palace very often," Cassini whispered. "A-assorted reasons, safety chief among them, she actually doesn't have much..experience on starships, much less without any of her aides present. I'd really, really prefer that we found another way to—"
"Well, my ship is top-of-the-line and one of the smoothest rides in the galaxy, so there's no better place for her to start getting a little experience," Endymion deftly deflected, starting to lose the last bits of his casual and light demeanor. "And I won't go any further than orbit above Saturn. Cassini, I want us to be friends, but I'm going to be blunt, this isn't something that can be negotiated. Me and my generals are about to head down to the hangar to board my ship. Either Princess Saturn will be accompanying us, or this meeting never happened and you get to spend the rest of your day explaining to her why this war is going to end in three years instead of six cycles."
Cassini closed his eyes, exhaling loudly. "Your Highness, I—"
"Kunzite, Nephrite," Endymion called out, a final hard glare given at Cassini before he began to take large strides away from him. "We're going."
"And the Princess will be right behind you!" Cassini forced out loudly.
Immediately, Endymion's stiff gait seemed to suddenly loosen up, and he cast a warm smile over towards Princess Saturn. It felt like the room had suddenly brightened a shade as Endymion's gruff edge dulled.
"I'll be waiting, then," he said, pointing over at Princess Saturn. "We'll have fun, my ship's great, I promise."
Cassini held a pasted-on smile as the Prince and his two-person entourage moved to depart the room, just managing the hold back the obvious external signs of stress. Indeed, all the adult members of the Saturn royal chain of command looked rather concerned.
The moment the Earth Prince left the meeting room for the outside hall, Cassini discarded his disingenuous smile. "Gods!" he snapped, right hand reaching up to rub at his forehead.
"I'll be fine!" Princess Saturn said, taking her tiara off and running her fingers through her black hair.
"You have no way of knowing that!" Cassini retorted. "You haven't been on a starship in nearly a decade, these are not the circumstances under which I wanted to introduce you to it!"
"This is going to save billions of lives, I think it's worth me potentially being uncomfortable for a few secundas," Saturn argued.
Cassini grumbled. "Royal eccentrics," he hissed to himself. "Negotiated entirely on one party's territory, have you ever heard of such a thing?" He stalked over towards Princess Saturn. "Alright, Your Highness, just listen to me carefully. Try to not look too long at any of the lights inside his ship, they're going to be a lot more intense than the ones you're used to. Don't look out any windows after the ship takes off."
He pulled a small black tube out of his left tunic pocket, pointing one end of it right at Princess Saturn's face and twisting the other end gently. A puff of purple smoke flew right into her nose. She purposefully inhaled it.
"If he offers you any food or drink, say you're not hungry. And whatever it is he wants, just try to give it to him as fast as possible so you can get back down here."
The Princess was immune to his rather dour fear-mongering, however, seemingly just happy that for once she had an opportunity to actually contribute to the war effort in a meaningful way.
"I won't let us down!" she said energetically, bringing her right arm up to her forehead in a mock salute. Cassini could only give an exasperated sigh.
"
Zoisite reached his left hand over to tap Jadeite on the shoulder, weaving his small arm through the bramble-like bush that the two Earth generals were using to conceal themselves. Now just a few dozen paces north of Hangar A, giving themselves a nice view of the entire tarmac. The green travel bag was right next to Jadeite, waiting to play its part in this complex maneuver.
"That's it, that's it!" Zoisite called out, pointing over to the left, at an elongated trolley hovering a little above the concrete of the tarmac, made up of half-a-dozen connected carts linked together, loaded to capacity with various luggage containers. It was puttering towards a large F-class starship, parked up against the side of the airport boarding lobby.
Jadeite, a pair of black binoculars up on his eyes, narrowed his focus onto the luggage trolley. With a flick of his left index finger, several of the containers fell off the left side of the trolley, scattering around on the tarmac, one of the suitcases popping open.
"What the fu—" The man driving the trolley startled up from the front seat and spun around, quickly spotting the mess and jamming down on the brake to stop the cart. "Damnit!"
The rest of his annoyed expletives, Zoisite and Jadeite could only guess, as they were too far away to hear anything else. The man jumped out of the driver's seat and began the task of reloading the luggage.
"Alright, alright," Zoisite said quietly, scanning the surrounding area with his own pair of binoculars. "Someone's working on the control panel by station three, distract him."
Jadeite quickly found the mechanic with his field glasses, raising his left index finger straight up into the air. The control panel lid suddenly slammed down on his fingers as he was reaching in to manipulate the wires, drawing a cry of pain from him. As he crouched over in mild agony, Zoisite pulled a black tube from his chest pocket.
"Now!" As he pressed the top of the tube with the pad of his thumb, Jadeite raised his left hand up and sent the green case speeding over towards the trolley, skating silently across the ground.
They only had one shot at this. Cronus had no doubt arrived at the palace by now, figured out one way or another that Endymion had absconded with Princess Saturn, and was now trying to get back to his ship as fast as he could. If they had estimated times properly, he'd be here in a matter of secundas. The case had to be aboard that F-class ship by the time he showed up and found out his ship was gone.
Just as the trolley driver was begrudgingly finishing his cleanup task, the green container came to rest right next to the back right corner of the long cart. With a final twitch of Jadeite's fingers, a few of the luggage pieces on this back corner fell off the trolley as well, on top of his.
"Son of a bitch!" the driver cried as he heard yet another part of his cart overflow. "The hell's going on here?!"
"I think that worked," Zoisite said, unable to hide the fact that he was shocked. Jadeite carefully rolled over onto his back and exhaled deeply, worn out by the rapid-fire series of psychic tricks he had had to pull off today. "Wow, I...that worked!"
"You sound surprised," Jadeite mumbled.
"I am!" Zoisite admitted, still keeping close tabs on the angry driver as he tossed the luggage back on board. "This is...this might actually work!"
"Out of our hands now," Jadeite said.
"Good job, by the way," Zoisite commended. "Yeah, he loaded our case on the trolley, didn't think anything of it, we're good!"
Jadeite opened his eyes again. "If the cameras didn't get interfered with properly, it's not getting anywhere near that ship."
"Don't worry about the cameras, I'm positive I got them," he answered. "Oh, he's here!"
Zoisite twisted his body around to orient himself to look to the right, over towards Hangar A. He focused his binoculars over towards the scene fast developing right in front of it. Cronus was giving a bewildered look inside the large garage, no doubt discovering his ship was not where he had left it. He held a small grey pistol in his right hand, and was swinging it around emphatically to express his anger and rage as he yelled at someone. His jacket was smeared with blood.
Tellu had a short, young-looking man in a headlock, his face smeared with blood. She was pressing a black handgun right into the man's temple. Ptilol was bearing a large plasma rifle that was strapped over her shoulder. Eudial, who had apparently joined the proceedings somewhere around the palace, had a bloodied hostage of her own, hand wrapped around his collar tightly and a pistol to the back of his head.
"He's got another woman with him!" Zoisite said breathlessly. "Remember, there was supposed to be a third one? She's there! We're going to get all of them!"
No less than twenty palace guards were in formation, each one with a plasma rifle pointed at Cronus and his lackeys, half making up the front row and the other half over the front row's shoulders. Each time Cronus's crew moved a step towards the hangar entrance, the guards moved to keep pace, but resisted the temptation to open fire or get too close due to the hostage situation. A couple of airport employees were also present, talking to Cronus, clearly trying to calm him down.
"He's got hostages!" Zoisite whispered. "Jadeite, you've got to see this, half the royal palace guard is pointing guns at him! He's completely lost his mind!"
"Umm...Zoisite?"
The small blond Earth general's giddiness was nipped in the bud at the sound of Jadeite's unease, and Zoisite looked over. "What?"
"Um…" He slowly pointed up at the F-class starship over on the other side of the tarmac. The first thing Zoisite took note of was that the trolley was now completely empty, having loaded everything onto the cargo hold of the vessel, but in the next instant he realized that the tube connecting the ship to the airport building had been extended out.
"Shit," Zoisite hissed.
"How long do you think we have?" Jadeite asked.
"Not long enough," Zoisite answered, turning back around just in time to see Cronus slug the airport employee in the face.
"What do we do?" Jadeite rubbed his left temple, weighing the possibility that he could damage the boarding tube from here. "Maybe I could detach it, make it fall."
"No, no, not from this distance, you don't even know how the tunnel is attached," Zoisite dismissed quickly. "I...I don't know. Just...don't do anything." He turned back to spy on Cronus. "Come on, come on, come on. Hurry up."
"
"I didn't ask for my ship to be washed, get it out here now!" Cronus snapped, drawing up to his full height in an attempt to further intimidate the hangar manager.
"S-sir, no problem at all, just give us a minuta, at most!" he replied, turning around and trying to scurry off.
"What do you mean, a minuta?!" Cronus roared, face sweating and eyes bulging.
"Sir, put the weapon down and instruct these two to release those men!" one of the palace guards yelled, somehow managing to sound steady and professional despite the absurd sight of someone like Cronus having such an over-the-top public meltdown and brandishing a weapon. "We can talk about this, but only—"
"Shut up!" Cronus snapped. "And stay back!" He kept his death glare focused right on the hangar manager. "What do you mean?!"
"It's...it's getting the full treatment, the whole engine's going to be flooded right now, we have to dry it out, it won't be flight-ready for—"
Cronus's audible seething ended that explanation. Immediately, the pharmaceutical Kingpin took a couple steps towards the manager, who jumped back, expecting to be on the receiving end of another physical assault, but Cronus instead pointed at one of the other parked ships within Hangar A.
"Get that one down and start it, then," he ordered through gritted teeth.
"U-uh...sir, we don't have the starter keys for any of those, they're private!" the manager protested, wincing as he expected another violent reaction from Cronus. "We'd have to hotwire it, it wouldn't take any less time, we—"
Cronus could have been exhaling out lava. Luckily, instead of taking it out on the hangar manager, he instead decided to focus his efforts on solving the issue at hand. He spun around, still brusquely ignoring the squadron of heavily-armed soldiers who were pointing their weapons right at him, trusting that they wouldn't actually put the lives of the hostages at risk. Quickly, he found the nearest visible ship, an F-class passenger vessel parked up against the side of the airport building.
"That one, then," he demanded. "That one's ready to fly, isn't it?!"
"U-uh...sir, that's a commercial ship, holds nearly six hundred passengers, you can't honestly—"
Cronus lunged forward and grabbed the man by the collar and yanked him close. "Either it'll be over your dead body, or it won't, but I'm commandeering that ship, right now."
Tossing the man to the concrete tarmac carelessly, he took off in a sprint towards the ship. Tellu, Ptilol, and Eudial attempted to follow, but it was a rather awkward endeavor due to the need to maintain hold of their hostages and keep the squad of soldiers from getting an obvious opening to shoot them.
"Alright, alright!" the hangar manager called out, scrambling to his feet and breaking into a dead run in an attempt to catch up. "Just give me a little time to evacuate the passengers—"
"I don't have any time!" Cronus yelled. "And neither will you, if I'm not able to board that vessel! Get the ground-level doors open!"
The manager gave up the pursuit, slowing to a halt to watch, wishing he was able to appreciate the comedy in the sight of so many uniformed soldiers awkwardly pursuing Cronus. With a huff, he pulled a communicator off his belt and lifted it to his mouth.
"Code eight-five-four, we have a hostage situation. Open the ground-level doors on The Bulg immediately," he panted out. "Repeat, eight-five-four, hostage situation. Open the ground-level doors on The Bulg."
"
"You haven't met my daughter, have you?" Endymion asked, crouching down slightly to be on Princess Saturn's level, while also allowing himself to be in very close proximity to her. "She's a good deal younger than you, of course, but I'd love for her to take after you."
"I...I haven't been outside the palace since I can remember," Saturn admitted, blushing slightly.
The two royals were crowded together on the aft side of Endymion's personal vessel, Saturn seated on a cushioned stool, hands on her knees and back straight.
"Oh, that won't do," Endymion said charmingly. "You've got to get out sometimes, see the galaxy. Don't let that Cassini guy boss you around, you know he works for you. If you give him an order, he'll follow it."
"Well...sort of," Saturn said.
While Saturn's dark purple gown looked good on her, contrasting with her pale skin in an eye-catching manner, it's relative simplicity, as well as her shoes not having elevated heels, betrayed a humble delicacy of the girl that, no matter how much her aides tried to hide, Endymion was easily able to pick up on. He had noticed her grip her gown rather tightly when the ship jumped up to high speeds in order to get into orbit, and even now she seemed focused on trying to keep as still as possible. Endymion, of course, had no ill will towards the girl, and took no pleasure in causing her any degree of discomfort, so the sooner he could get her back in her palace, the better.
"Anyway, Princess, to business," Endymion said. Saturn was quick to wipe the playful smile off her face. "I wanted you here because I have a simple question. And I really need to see how you answer it. Not...not any of your aides or assistants or helpers. You specifically."
She nodded, putting a determined look on her face.
"Five years from now, your life is going to be great," Endymion continued. "This war will seem like a bad dream, things will be cleaned up, Saturn will be a superpower, flush with money and resources. You'll take the throne, a beautiful young woman with her whole life in front of her. And you'll be the one in charge." He crouched down in front of her again. "And when that happens, Princess, I want to know if you're going to remember the people who helped you when things didn't look so good."
"O-oh, of course!" Princess Saturn emphatically answered, nodding. "Your Highness—"
"And none of that 'Your Highness' nonsense, thank you," Endymion chided.
"...E-Endymion. I know how to be appreciative and grateful. If you need any proof of that, just ask the countless heroes who have served on the side of the Saturn royal house over the last ten years. I've personally insisted that they all be commended, awarded, and recognized for their efforts. I know the cost of this war. I'm told about it every day. Cassini tells me I shouldn't insist on being informed about it, says I'm too young to be thinking about things like this. But I think it's important for me to know what this is costing us, who it's hurting. I know that if the Earth offers their assistance in ending it, the lives that will be saved are too numerous to count. And I know that we will owe you a debt that we'll never truly be able to repay. But, when this is all over, I give my word that I'll do everything I can to try."
Endymion gave her a warm smile, reaching up to rub the top of her head. "That's very good, Princess. That's exactly what I wanted to hear."
She beamed up at him.
"You're going to be a wonderful Queen, you know," Endymion added, looking over his shoulder at the otherwise-empty cabin. "Could you...wait right here, please? I need to have a word with my generals in the cockpit."
"Mmhmm," she replied, relaxing fractionally and allowing her posture to ease. Endymion quickly cross the room, absentmindedly tugging on his collar as he approached the cockpit door. Everything they had spent this day working towards was about to either bear fruit or blow up in his face, with no middle ground.
With a tight tap of his finger on the pad right next to the cockpit door, it slid open, both of his strongest generals slowly spinning around in their passenger seat.
The front window was pointed down towards the planet Saturn, with quite a few other ships and satellites in orbit visible through the view portal. Endymion briefly scanned it.
"Well?" he asked.
"We've got him," Kunzite answered. Without looking, he reached behind him and tapped one of the red buttons on the center console. A small red dot started to flash on the windshield, indicating an approaching ship. "The Bulg was not scheduled to take off for another two minutas, and it's destination is Uranus, so it should be headed towards the other side of the planet." He pointed at the red dot. "And here it is, already in the air, approaching us. Only one reason why that would be the case."
Endymion slowly puffed out a large breath, then broke into a cocky smile.
"There's one problem," Kunzite added. "The ship must have started to board before Cronus commandeered it. The scan shows about twelve life forms aboard, so there are some civilians."
Endymion nodded. "I didn't expect everything to go completely perfect," he admitted.
"We're still a go?" Kunzite asked, eyes trained closely on Endymion as he reacted to this bit of bad news.
"That depends," Endymion replied dryly. "Do you have another idea that can guarantee Cronus's death, with no collateral damage at all, that we can execute in the next three minutas?"
Kunzite sighed, gritting his teeth. "Very well."
Endymion put his right hand on his hip, staring out at the faint outline of the approaching F-class vessel, getting larger with each passing moment in the window.
"Any time," Endymion said softly.
"
Cronus roughly untangled his tie from around his neck, ripping the decorative piece of clothing off and using it to wipe the beading sweat off his forehead. He grunted, shaking his head around, then giving a wild-eyed look at the main control console of The Bulg.
He had never personally flown a ship of this size, and his current mental state was not particularly good for attempting to learn something on the fly. The panel was much bigger than he was used to, with controls he didn't understand the purpose of, so it was all he could do to figure out the basics of moving and stopping.
"What the hell is he up to?!" he snapped to himself, reaching forward towards the integrated communicator and spamming his right index finger on one of the buttons repeatedly.
A completely useless effort, and he knew it, but he was mad enough to continue to try. He was certain that Endymion's ship had received his previous eight attempts at a hail and had purposefully declined all of them, so there was no reason for them to suddenly answer his ninth. Yet, somehow, he felt compelled to keep trying. All it was doing was increasing the intense rage he felt, which could very well have been the reason why he kept doing it.
"Come on, what do you want?!" he continued to mutter to himself. He could see the B-class luxury cruiser on his display, not too far away now, simply floating in orbit. He was right there, with her. He was in a ship well over a hundred times larger than his. And yet, he was still struggling to come up with a way to turn the situation to his favor. What could he do that wouldn't just endanger his daughter?
He whipped his tie across the cockpit, unsatisfied with the soft little thud of it hitting the wall, wishing he had something of weight and substance to throw in frustration. Now that he was so close, yet so far away from what he wanted, he started to feel the uncomfortable weight of having no real plan. He hadn't thought past this point. The best he could come up with was to negotiate. Here he was, out in the open, on a ship that he had never seen before today, and he didn't even know what he was doing.
Just as he was starting to consider his actions of the last few minutas, his mad rush to Saturn, scramble to the palace, violent confrontation with the guards and secretaries in the palace, dash back to the airport, and desperate theft of this massive passenger ship, and just as he began to think there might have been a better course of action if he had thought things through more, it happened. Too fast for him to really process. Every single alarm on the center console went off at once, a series of bright red lights and an ear-piercing ring. And immediately following that, the cockpit was effectively blasted open.
The explosion had started in the cargo hold, instantly disintegrating every bit of luggage and blowing through the walls like they were tissue paper. The destructive blast ripped through the hull along the bottom of the ship and spread rapidly through the passenger cabin, immolating everything in a flash. The central computing unit of the ship had just enough time to complain about the sudden countless hull breaches before it, too, was destroyed by the eruption.
Cronus had just enough time to be shocked. Enough for his mouth to open with a shocked yell, but not enough to actually yell. The explosion swallowed him up, same as it had his three trusted underlings and assorted handful of hostages.
The King of the Underworld was dead.