We all make mistakes

Lord Admiral Felix Antares recognized that he had made a grave mistake. It rarely happened to him, he wouldn't have survived this long and become one of the most famous commanders in the galaxy and a hero of the Known Worlds if he had made mistakes. He made one serious mistake in his life, but it influenced his future. Perhaps there was one more, but the final effect exceeded his wildest expectations, so could it be considered a mistake? This time, his mistake could have wiped out all his previous successes. Getting rid of Queen Glimmer was necessary, but he definitely didn't have to do it now, and it certainly could have been done much more subtly. Now he risked death for his daughter-in-law in exchange for the uncertain possibility of paving the way for his daughter to the throne. Now he was going to take her with him to the war against Horde Prime's heirs anyway. Adora was extremely powerful, from what he had learned she was able to fight a warship and win, but he suspected that was only part of what she was capable of. She finally defeated Horde Prime ... In addition, she was dedicated and honorable, which was extremely rare among people so powerful. He always said that honorable people should be protected, because it is much easier to be a pragmatist surrounded by those who are guided by honor rather than by other pragmatists. When he heard Lady Sorrowflame warning him of the evil approaching Brightmoon, he should have warned everyone. Thanks to this, he would gain in his daughter's eyes, and he would also gain Glimmer's trust, which would be useful to him in the future. He became overconfident, which was understandable after so much success. Now he had to cut his losses. He contacted Commodore Hendrix, who was in command of the small fleet that arrived on Etheria, via communicator and ordered a corvette to be sent here to aid Adora in the fight, and then found Lady Sorrowflame. He had previously ordered his personal guard to help evacuate civilians. It will improve his image, and they won't be very useful against what's coming, and he didn't expect an attack from someone else.

Lady Sorrowflame on the outskirts of town. She was just undressing, to the astonishment of several guards.

„You don't have to undress, there are ways to make your clothes change with you." She was a beautiful woman, extremely attractive, but not entirely to his taste. He valued other things in his partners than appearance... For example, a beating heart.

"Clothes have never come naturally to me," she said with amusement, and he nodded in understanding. "Have you come with new orders?" she asked in Necri , the language of the undead. He knew this language, as well as eight others. However, he supposed that no one on Etheri, least of all in Brightmoon, knew that language.

„Change of plans. Just kill this monster or whatever it is and protect my daughter-in-law. Above all, protect her." his voice was hard and cold.

„So you don't want the little queen to die anymore?" asked the dragon, showing two long fangs.

„I want to, but not now. For a terrible accident, the time will come... „ he said, smiling at his memories. He rarely smiled, maybe he should do it more often?

Lady Sorrowflame nodded and moved away from everyone and began to transform into her true form. It was always a wonderful sight to him, even though others might find it terrifying. Brightmoon's guardsmen took up arms as they saw the woman's body torn apart and then reassembled into a winged monster straight from the darkest of tales. Resh with him howled, and then the two of them moved towards the castle as the terror of ancient times soared into the Dark Night.

Eti felt a fire ignite in her heart as she kissed Sparklepaw. However, it was a completely different flame than the one that had recently raged inside her. He was not painfully cold and full of bitter anger, but sweetly warm and radiant with joy. She didn't care that others were looking at her, she had no intention of hiding her true self anymore, even if it meant her father's servants discover her. In Castle Crypto, she finally realized that she could be herself... That she wanted to be herself, with the girl she loved so much. She loves Sparklepaw... She loves Rosie and what's most beautiful, Rosie loved her, she could see it in her light blue eyes. When their lips separated, the whitehaired girl clung to her. Feeling its warmth, she began to purr.

„I love you so much, Sparklepaw... „ she said quietly, although she was fully aware that the girl couldn't hear her. She didn't have to, after all, the purring was eloquent enough. Usually she didn't like purring, it was associated with weakness, and she hated it when others saw her weak and defenseless, saw her as a small kitten, an animal that could be traded... But with Sparklepaw, she could show weakness...

Unfortunately, she knew it couldn't last forever. She heard whispers, more curious than agitated, and saw people pointing at her, quite discreetly, she had to admit. After they discovered that their Grand Marshal had a human father, a Grand Admiral from outside Etheria, the fact that there could be someone other like her didn't really seem strange. From what she had noticed, the people of Brightmoon, unlike her former colleagues, liked Catra. They would probably like her and her friends and girlfriend. Yes! Sparklepaw… Rosie was her girlfriend! She felt another wave of joy flooding inside her.

She couldn't allow herself to continue dancing. She had a job to do, in fact, everyone of them had. She didn't care much about the Rebellion, she didn't even really understand it, but Itel was right. They needed Lonnie and her soldiers to fight her father, or at least protect them from him. She moved away from Rosie and started talking to her in sign language.

„We have to go now, Rosie, we have a mission to do."

The white-haired girl nodded seriously and went outside... She didn't see Itel anywhere, that didn't bode well... Lilka and Alatar were nowhere to be found either... Although they had to blend in with the crowd, and Dragonkin was probably staring at some pretty elf, and Lilka did something very orcish. They will have to act on their own, but what's the problem for them? After all, they were only supposed to steal an extremely valuable Artifact sword created by an extinct, almost extinct, race. Simple task.

It wasn't difficult to sneak through the city filled with celebrating people, no one paid them the slightest attention, although she dressed mask anyway. There weren't that many Fearless Armada soldiers here, and some of those she saw joined in the general celebration. For a moment she thought she saw Dilayla and wanted to call her, because the mercenary was friends with Rosie, but she decided that explaining to her what was happening to them would take too much time. They had to hurry!

But when they reached the museum, she pulled Rosie to the ground because she heard voices coming from inside. She wasn't sure who they could be, but in their situation they had to be extremely careful, because if they raised an alarm, they could have serious problems... She explained everything to Rose, who nodded her head. Then they quietly began to creep towards the large ornate gates. There was almost no one around, Eti assumed that everyone preferred to have fun instead of looking at old stuff. As she approached the entrance, she looked inside and whistled softly. There were beaten and tied guards there, and dark silhouettes stood over them. She recognized the huge one-eyed Veska with a mighty hammer, the elf-drow with a sly smile, the serious-looking Nuar with nanotech claws, and Her, Captain Wingy … the Queen… She still thought she was much nicer than her witch daughter. However, this greatly complicated the situation. Even if she wanted to, the two of them couldn't fight all four pirates, especially dangerous like them. Actually, Rosie could try, she was an incredibly good fighter, but she and Wingy could cause such a ruckus that it would attract the attention of half the town and, most importantly, her father. Besides, she believed that she shouldn't rob thieves, especially nice ones.

And then the alarm sounded. Of course, Rosie didn't notice anything, but the pirates jumped up and started nervously packing the looted goods. After a while, however, Captain Wingy said.

„It's not because of us... in fact, it might help us, it will distract the guards."

The remaining pirates nodded with satisfaction and continued the robbery, but the former queen was staring at the remains of a sword, similar to the one wielded by the BLONDE. She guess this was the gadget they were looking for for Lonnie? I think so. Although now she would have to forget about him, especially since she was probably the one who caused this commotion... They had to go, but first they would find Lilka, Alatar and Itel. Especially Itel. She felt like she had betrayed her a little, even though she knew it was terribly stupid.

Suddenly she heard someone coming towards them. She turned around and saw a small figure in a very strange suit running towards them. Or towards the museum... before she could warn Rosie, the person bumped into the white-haired girl, who did what one would expect her to do , its mean punched the other with her glowing fist, knocking her to the ground.

„I did it again!" said Rosie, making a distraught face. She leaned over the fallen figure and checked its pulse.. She was alive. She looked human, although very strange, maybe mutated? She wasn't sure. She also smelled different. Not as nasty as Stinka, but still weird, like she was sick or something. She thought for a moment. The other one was running towards the museum... Was she working with Captain Wingy? She hadn't seen her among pirates before, but she didn't look like someone who would be taken to fight, she didn't look like a space raider. But she reminded her of someone completely different. Not literally, but still... She thought about it and took out a notebook from the tails of her coat, they were lucky that she took it with her and started writing something, and then she turned to Rosie.

„We'll tie her up and carry her to the meeting point, and then we'll go get Itel, Lilka and Alatar. I have an idea how we can get the sword without a fight, almost without a fight.

The plan was going well, surprisingly well, and that was what worried her. They had separated so as not to arouse anyone's suspicions, neither of them had been apprehended by anyone, she knew that because they were in constant radio contact... She had disguised herself as a thickly robed traveler of the Scarlet Sands when they had been living for several months, so she had a pretty good idea of how their imitate. At least the pukis wouldn't encounter another of the travelers, but that wasn't going to happen. They didn't visit Brightmoon, Of course she also was here for the first time in her life. Not counting the Battle of Brightmoon, of course, although even then they watched the city from afar because they served in the second line, which was never thrown into combat. The city was crowded due to the holiday, but she had to reluctantly admit that it was very neat. The Fright Zone looked like a combination of a factory and a scrapyard, and the Valley of the Lost was a den of bandits and crooks. And it was nice and somehow charming here... She guesses she should try to make their headquarters look less like barracks and more like something like that? She though everyone would be happier, especially Kyle. They were no longer those cadets who did not know life beyond the war. They have changed and deserved more...

But she'll think about it when it's all over. This mission was extremely important, a belief reinforced when she saw the Lord Admiral's soldier. They looked well trained, no worse than they were, and certainly much better than ordinary Horde soldiers. They were mainly humans and Saihe , but they also belonged to many other peoples, completely unknown on Etheria . But not always completely unknown. For Example tall reptile people similar to Vaste from Crimson Wastes.

They found themselves at the place where they were supposed to carry out the kidnapping attempt. Scarlet looked pleased, Kyle and Regelio looked concerned. So it's the same as always in recent days. Only the Imp seemed calm, although they had to hide him because he was well known among the former Horde members, of whom there were quite a lot in the city.

„Catra looked quite lovely at the wedding, don't you think?" Kyle asked, smiling dreamily. She snorted as she remembered it. Catra has developed some of the worst princess habits while still maintaining her typical nastiness. The wedding also showed how little the feline girl's loyalty to her friends was worth. Catra had always only cared about her personal happiness and was willing to cooperate with even the biggest bastards if she saw a personal benefit in it. She was just like Shadow Weaver, mother fucking daughter. She will never become like that! He will always work for the good of those she loves! She will sacrifice everything for this goal. She used to consider Adora a traitor, but she was simply the first to see clearly and make the right choice before all, but Catra always wanted nothing but power... Did she already sense, when she overthrew the Dark Sorceress, that the blood of tyrants flowed in her veins? She was sure of one thing, they truly looked like father and daughter.

„Rugh!" Rogelio said nodding to Kyle as he talked about his feelings about the wedding."

„Yes, it would be truly wonderful to stand like that, dressed in a beautiful dress, illuminated by the moonlight." said Scarlet with a dreamy face. She frowned and asked with irritation in her voice.

„What are you talking about?"

Then the imp opened his mouth and spoke in Kyle's voice

„You know, Rogelio, it would be nice to marry Lonnie someday... And you too... And even Scarlet, she's quite nice! And very beautiful."

She felt her face begin to burn, and Kyle and even Scarlet blushed.

„Seriously, Kyle , even in moments like this you fill your head with nonsense! We don't have time for this and why did you even meet Rogelio before we got to the meeting point?!" she scolded her boyfriend, but then Scarlet interjected.

Leave him alone, each of us has the right to dream. And that was very nice Kyle . – She smiled with a strange, slightly painful sadness on her face.

„I'm sorry to interrupt your important matrimonial discussions, but Empress of Eridani has just gone to the garden." Dr. Moors said over the communicator in an amused voice. She was a bit grateful to him because she didn't like the direction this conversation was taking. They set off, but after a while they were stopped by a pair of lizardmen . They were similar to Rogelio , probably even part of the same people, although they were taller than him, the perks of growing up in the toxic and tight Fright Zone. They waved to Rogelio and began to speak to him in a language they did not know. Her boyfriend's eyes widened as he listened to them. She would have liked to have ignored them, but they were well armed and decked out in modern armor. More guests brought here by Catra's father... Wonderful! After a while, they looked at each other and switched to common conversation.

„And you are one of the local Vesks ! It's terrible that you have to live away from Veskarium ! How do you maintain your honor here without the enlightened guidance of the Empire!" he spoke with a terrible accent, but it seemed to her that there was genuine sympathy in his voice... Rogelio tried to explain something to them, but of course he couldn't. This is also something she should deal with in the future... And then the alarm rang out. The soldiers looked at each other and ran towards its source. When they left them, she cursed and ordered her... friends.

„Quickly, maybe we'll still be able to capture the Empress!"

Abigail Delespada, the Great Empress of Eridani Above And Below, was somewhat confused by the Royal Wedding ceremony. Yes, the bride and groom looked quite nice, but no priest led the ceremony and no gods were invoked. It was so strange, after all, they lived on a blessed planet, among wonders worthy of gods. Glimmer had Celestial blood flowing in her veins! And purer than any of the Eridanian aristocrats! She was a true Nephalim! A figure from myth, and she acted like she was her equal... In fact, she treated all her subjects that way... And then there was Adora She-Ra, the living incarnation of Iomdi walking the earth! But they treated gods and faith with such reserve. They even doubted their existence... When she tried to tell them about them. They eyed her suspiciously, and Catra even seemed to suggest that their religion was very similar to what Horde Prime was saying. How could they not understand this! Their faith allowed them to survive the difficult years of occupation and allowed her to come to terms with the death of her entire family, which was murdered before her eyes.

When she remembered the fate that had befallen her family, she lost the will to continue dancing. So she went to the royal garden to stretch her wings. Her guards followed her. They were ordinary Gnomos, because aristocrats did not serve anyone, not even the Empress. Now she towered over her surroundings again. Those in whose veins flowed the blood of heaven were much taller than the children of earth, but even among them it was considered very high. Here, however, her height was not even considered average. Her cousin remained in the main hall, still unable to take her eyes off the queen. She sent her here on purpose, hoping that Glimmer would come to her senses and break off her engagement to this Bow guy. Her cousin was only a bastard, but she was still a much better match than this man... Glimmer could always make him her favorite.

She was staring at the statue of Queen Angela, wishing she had never had the chance to meet a real angel, when the Alarm rang out. She had a hard time controlling her panic, and during the occupation, when she was hiding underground in her homeland, she often had to evacuate when bots and clones were looking for her, leaving her safe shelter to wander for hours through dark tunnels.. But then she decided that she was safe here, because she was protected by the daughter of heaven and the chosen one of Iomdi. What could be the threat to her here?

The guards would take her to her ship, where she would wait until it was safe, or if the threat was too great, fly back to Eridani. She was one of the very few people on her planet who had her own spaceship, and one that wasn't part of the Horde at that! It was an old ship belonging to the imperial family that had managed to hide from the invading forces. It wasn't armed, or even very comfortable, but it was extremely fast and difficult to detect using traditional detection systems. She had four guards. More, in her opinion, could be considered an insult. They were armed with laser pikes and shock picks. They wore white plate armor. It wasn't as good equipment as the ones worn by Catra's father's soldiers, but after all, it was the traditional weapon that had been used by guardsmen for a hundred years. They were running through a side street that was narrow and dark, but like all Brightmoon streets it was clean and safe, or so they thought, because as soon as they were halfway there, a black metal cylinder with lots of tentacles descended on one of her men and grabbed him. knocked down. They were approached from behind by a large man and a lizard, both armed with strange, organic weapons, and the man had a sword at his belt. Her guards turned to face them as she began to cast a spell. The power came to her after Horde Prime was defeated and the Heart of Etheria was destroyed. She regretted that it happened too late for her to save so many of her subjects. She summoned a spirit blade that charged at the attackers, who seemed surprised that she could do magic, which was understandable, even her friends from Etheria had no idea about it. It was a gift from Iomdi, and she wasn't sure she had the right to show off this skill to anyone. She pushed the attackers away with her weapon. They opened fire, although she had the impression that they weren't trying to hit anyone, but she couldn't say the same about her guards. The attackers tried to avoid the fire from laser shots One of the energy beams accidentally hit a large barrel with the inscription "Real moonshine from the technical department", which started burning. At that moment, more enemies attacked them from the other side. They were two women belonging to the Big People, both armed with staffs. One of them began to cast a spell, while the other suddenly disappeared and reappeared next to her, then touched her with the tip of her staff. She suddenly felt strange, as if she had drunk too much alcohol.

„Tell them to lower their weapons!" said the woman. She nodded in agreement, this command sounded completely logical.

„Drop your weapons." she said, and when her guards hesitated to carry out the order, she added. "This is order of your empress!"

Reluctantly and with some reluctance, they obeyed her orders, and her new friend's companions tied them up.

„Are you going with us!" her new friend said firmly, and she nodded in agreement. Then the barrel exploded...

The Lord Admiral had just come to the main square to watch his daughter command the army. He was proud of her, she commanded first the Horde army and now the forces of Etheria. She will still have to learn a lot to become his successor. Now he had to wait to see what the future would bring. It was so strange. For the first time in many years, victory did not depend on him, but on someone else. There was something invigorating and character-building in such abandonment to the mercy of fate. Part of him wanted to take over the command. However, he didn't want to take away Catra's glory, maybe he would even submit to her command? Let him see what the soldiers of the Fearless Armada can do.

As he was thinking as he walked to the spot, he saw a short woman with purple hair running towards him. I think it was the inventor princess... I think her name was Entrapta or something like that.

„I would like to talk to you about the equipment you wear... Your eye is amazing! And this gun is fascinating." she said in a high-pitched voice, paying no attention to Resh. He had to stop the Nightmare Hunter from attacking her, and then he smiled at her too and said in a gentle voice.

„This eye is much more advanced than it seems at first glance. It was specially designed to look more traditional. This gun emits a lethal dose of radiation. This weapon is somewhat controversial in the interplanetary community due to effects of its usage, but it is extremely effective in the fight against the most dangerous enemy in the Galaxy, The Swarm." he patiently explained to this woman, because she was potentially very useful. He had already heard something about her achievements, despite the low technological advancement of this planet. If she could be convinced to work for him, and there was a chance, if she was as fond of technology as it seemed, her skills would give him a great advantage. Lady Sorrowflame will probably be a little angry, after all, she always said that if you want your position to be safe, you have to make yourself irreplaceable. But he, in turn, reiterated that you could never afford to rely on just one person was unwise. Besides, her husband could be useful in his future plans. However, he had to be careful not to tell her what else his weapon could be used for.

Then there was an explosion

Itel was determined to accomplish what she set out to do. She had been preparing for this for so many years. To murder. Lord Admiral Felix Antares had to die that night, by the hand of one of those he had betrayed on the day of his greatest victory. She has already taken lives , more than once, and not always from those who did not deserve it. This time, however, it will be different, she will take revenge. No one stopped her along the way. At first it was because everyone was celebrating, but then the alarm rang out and everyone tried to understand what was happening. But she didn't stop. It didn't matter to her if it was an attack or if Lonnie just messed up or Eti did something crazy. Nothing and no one could stop her . She was so close to her goal.

She saw him talking to a strange woman with purple hair that seemed to move on its own, as if it were tentacles or something. She was probably friend of Eti's sister. A huge wolf stood next to Antares . The beast was cybernetically enhanced and resembled a monster straight out of one's worst nightmare. She hesitated for a moment. Killing Antares had seemed so easy before , but now she realized how much of a risk she was taking. Even if she kills him, she might be caught. And then he may end up either in the Etherian prison or in the "care" of the Lord Admiral's subordinates. They would force everything she knows out of her, she had no illusions about that. She began to wonder whether she should back out after all. She was about to take a step back and give up when an explosion rang out. The Lord Admiral and his companions turned towards it, revealing their backs. She realized that the gods were giving her a sign, for the first time in her life, or maybe it was just an incredible twist of fate? Never mind! She couldn't help but take advantage of it. She gritted her teeth, summoned her blade, and charged at the man she hated so much. She jumped and threw a punch... which bounced off the energy shield. The Lord Admiral turned towards her and looked at her with surprise that turned into amusement.

„Who do we have here, a real elf solarian. Something I didn't expect on this planet." he said in a calm voice, as if he was not afraid of her at all. At this time, the woman jumped back in fear, and the wolf began to walk around her to attack her, but the Lord Admiral ordered him to step back, and then he drew his saber and charged at her. He landed blow after blow, his attacks were lightning fast. She felt like he was playing with her... She thought she had no chance against this man, but how could she escape? If she just turned her back on him, she would die... What could she do?

The decision was made for her. Suddenly she felt a terrible pain in her back and her muscles gave out. She fell on her back, unable to move. A woman stood over her. For a moment she thought it was Bina, but she wouldn't serve the Lord Admiral for anything in the world. It had to be someone else... And then she looked at the mask covering half of her face. She already knew who she was dealing with. She shuddered.

„These Horde toys are really cool!" she said, smiling nastily with half of her mouth visible.

„I do not agree. It's extremely painful and terrifying experience. I found this out empirically!" the purple"haired woman walked up to her and looked at her with concern. "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

„That's what we hope." Lady Ka said with a promise of pain in her voice.