9. The night is young

The queen continued to chat amiably with the young entreneuse as they made their way to the elevators. During the ride, Harlock crossed the gaze of some of the men in the big cabin who were staring at him in deep envy.
It was certainly uncommon to be seen in company of such two beautiful women at the same time…

Once in front of their suite, the captain opened the door with the supplied chip and the three entered quickly. Once inside, Raflesia deactivated the projection device to be seen with her real features. At the sight of the queen the young woman blanched and bowed to her:

"My queen and my sovereign, it is an honor for me to confer with your Majesty! I humbly apologize for having spoken to you with so much freedom and impudence. How can I, humble servant, help you?".

The girl was clearly a born and raised mazonian of the old school.

The queen helped her stand up taking her by the hand, which quite surprised the young agent. From now on, only call me Raflesia, but rather tell me your name and your mission":

"My name is Amalia and I am Agent No. 4539 of the special secret services of the Omnipotent Mazone! My mission is to investigate and collect elements and information to preserve the security of the Queen and the Kingdom!".

The Queen smiled, for the young woman was obviously not yet aware of the great changes that had taken place in their kingdom and probably her contacts had kept information from her, in order to continue using her.

"You and I need a long talk. Then you will give us the information you had for us."
Harlock let the queen confer with her loyal subject in the living room and took advantage of that moment to contact the Arcadia on an encrypted channel through the transceiver that he kept in the room. He updated Galia on the latest events and made sure that everything was quiet in the free port.

When he returned to the two, he noticed that Amalia was slightly dazed, obviously the news she had just received disturbed her a little. In seeing the captain, she exclaimed: "So, you are Harlock, Mazone's greatest enemy, the terrestrial who defeated us!".
"He is no longer our enemy" said Raflesia "but he is helping us to find out who wants to kill me and seize power. You can tell him too what you just told me.". Amalia hesitated for a moment and then she began: "About six months ago I was contacted by my superior. The orders were to keep an eye on some patrons of the hotel, regular customers, who were suspected of having to deal with an unspecified plot. The news we had received were very vague. In fact, even the most simple information about the new Mazone set-up has always been rather lacking. In this place it is rare to see people from our land and get news of first hand. However, of the people who were reported only one was actually involved. A rich Salarian merchant named Nadir who is constantly rolling around the most important cities of the new Mazonian settlements and has direct contacts with dignitaries and council comes here every month because he has a weakness (thing) for one of my colleagues… This work is an excellent cover for an agent as well as an ideal way to retrieve information. In certain situations… men become very talkative. Well, I had only one occasion to rummage among his stuff one evening while he was enjoying himself in a club with my friend. I discovered, on his photonic computer, a series of data referring to a plot to overthrow the queen. But I did not have time to make a copy of that data or even to examine it, but for sure there were names and references precisely registered."
"We must find that computer!" said Raflesia excitedly. "This is why I had you come here today." – said Amalia,"the person in question will arrive tomorrow morning and will leave the following day. I can not expose myself directly in order not to put my cover at risk, but you will have free way to steal that computer that he's always carrying with himself. I will make sure that my friend keeps him properly occupied. You'll have to deal with the rest.

Also, tomorrow the hotel is organizing a big costume party, and it will be easier to move around in the confusion of all those masked people."

They stayed for another hour discussing the details of the plan for the next day, after which they said goodbye to the young woman. In order not to arouse suspicion, right out their door the girl sensually kissed the queen first and then Harlock: "Good night, it was a very pleasant evening!" - she said, moving away.

"Well, She's really good at this" the captain commented, wiping away the traces of flavored lipstick that marked his lips. "Of course!" - Raflesia answered – "First because she's a mazonian, second because she's a well-trained agent." "So you are telling me that you are better at "certain" things than all other women - he resumed teasingly – "Naturally! I remind you that our society is matriarchal and that for us the males are some kind of prey." "I'm not interested in becoming object of the conquest of a female, even less of a mazonian" - the captain replied. "The opposite: you should try…" - she added with a little smile.
"What is it that I should try? tell me. Maybe some of those sadomasochistic role games you played in the brothels of Drellius eh?" he resumed angrily. "What do you know about the games we played? Definitely less boring than yours, anyway, you look like you must be a mortal boredom in bed" - she said more and more amused.

"Well" - thought Harlock forlorn "this is already looking like a long night!".

But the worst feelings of the captain were proven wrong. So great was the tension and the fatigue accumulated on that day, that right under the covers they both immediately fell into a deep sleep. It was the captain who awoke first, in the middle of the night. Raflesia was again in the throes of nightmares, but this time it seemed even more serious. The lamentations had almost become cries, desperate cries: "No, no! I beg you all! Forgive me!" he heard her saying, in the mix of other incomprehensible phrases. The queen was stirring more and more, almost as an epileptic, so that Harlock began to worry.

He went closer her, covering the wide distance that separated them in that huge bed. Meanwhile she was wagging more and more:
"Help! Please! Harlock! Harlock!" She had begun to shake her arms too, and the captain managed to hold them and block them.
"Wake up Raflesia! It's just a nightmare!" - he yelled. "Oh Harlock! Help me!" she kept repeating as she was still immersed in her sleep. He tried to shake her lightly, hugging her. At that moment she half-closed her eyes and stopped moaning. A moment of silence that seemed like an eternity passed. Their faces were very close and almost touched. Harlock could feel the warm breath of the woman who was still panting. Then slightly, imperceptibly but inexorably they slid towards each other and their lips joined in a tender kiss.

They went back to sleep like that, gently squeezed as if nothing had happened but a simple embrace.

In the morning, when he woke up, Harlock found himself alone in the bed. "Well, I knew it! The disaster happened." - he began to despair "What's wrong with me? She's surely gone."
He dressed quickly and rushed out the room when he realized she was still there. She had simply gone out on the terrace, and she was leaning on the windowsill to contemplate the white sunrise of that planet, her gaze lost in the suggestive dawn.

"How are you" - he asked worried – "I'm fine, Harlock, do not worry about me..." - she answered calmly. "Forgive me, Raflesia, I should have never..."

"It happened because it had to, so the gods wanted, or fate if you prefer" - she continued – "It was fate that in the end our dreams would meet in reality.

You know, maybe I finally understood something about our story, well, I mean yours and mine…" - Harlock winced for a moment:"Mine and yours?" "Yes" – she continued "Do you know when you really defeated me, Harlock?" "Well, during our duel, I guess…" - answered the captain. "No, you're wrong, you defeated me from way before. You won me over that time when, regardless of the risks that you and your companions were running, you stopped to rescue those civilians of the tribe of Toga and you helped their woman who was giving birth. If you remember, all other civil spaceships, in spite of my orders, gathered around your ship to prevent it from being struck. And then I, in my mad determination to defeat you, ordered my militaries to target all those civilian ships guilty of treason, but the soldiers - and I still thank the gods for this - did not obey and everything remained still, immobile, in an unreal silence. Silence that was broken only by the cry of that newborn. Well, that was the true victory of life over death, and it was my defeat, the defeat of evil disguised as a lunatic, bloody queen.

From that moment everything was lost, I should have realized it earlier and spare my people more sufferings, surrendering with honor.

Harlock had remained silent listening to her, and only at the end he replied:

"Listen to me, Raflesia, now it does not matter who won or lost and in what way, for me the past is buried, what really matters it is the present and our ability to live it fully. The only thing we can do is always look forward, trying, if possible, to make up for the mistakes we made.

Which is just what you did, committing yourself to always give the best for your people, without sparing youself even for a moment. Through these years you have changed, Raflesia, or rather you returned to be the wise and mild queen of the past, the one Galia loved and admired. Now you're a good queen and that's just what matters."

"Do you really think so, Franklyn?"
"I do" - he answered, taking her hands.