Valterion: The Space/Arch? Mage

Location: Solar System; Above Earth; VS Stargazer

More and more ships arrive over the next hour. On our side, everything's ready… We've got a plan on where to start, and we're in position above the planet. We're just waiting for the green light from Vic.

The blonde woman in question enters the bridge a few hours after Lisa and I decided on where to go first. The two of us look up from the console before us, where we're currently doing some finer planning, and look at Vic.

"Is it time now?" I ask expectantly, but unfortunately, she shakes her head.

"No, not yet… But I do have good news. It starts tomorrow morning, which gives you a three-day head start over those arriving with the wormhole. So if you haven't decided yet, I'd suggest doing so now. I'll be informing the others in the meantime."

Lisa smiles broadly. "Finally! All this waiting here is so agonizing. Oh, and we already decided where to go first. Wanna know where?"

"Sure, just give me a minute to make my calls," Vic holds up a finger, and I feel a spell being cast. There's less power leaking than I'm used to with other Mages and, admittedly, myself. Vic must be training to be more subtle at casting. Now that I think of it, there's probably a way to cast spells without any power leaking… A real stealth build. That would have been really useful back on Vexton 2 with the dinosaurs.

Anyway, Vic finishes her call and joins us at the console. "Soo, what do you have planned?"

Lisa and I start explaining that we want to look through the remnants of Song Medical first because of Lisa's familial ties to the company. We also share our thoughts on how we want to approach.

Vic seems to approve. "That's a solid plan. Especially the part where you want to send our archaeologists to the ruined planetary headquarters of Song Medical. They might be able to find something you missed back then, Sara. I also like the idea of your group exploring the outskirts of old Shanghai and the surrounding areas in the meantime. Who knows what might be hidden there… I mean secret research facilities or whatever else are often where you don't expect them."

I grin at her. "My thoughts exactly! And if we find something, we have Lisa as our hidden ace. Our ancestors seem to have liked to lock their things behind DNA-coded doors after all."

Lisa snorts. "Just because you found two of them… But sure, I can imagine Ancestor Li-Ming doing the same."

That has us all laughing, and we sit together until the end of our shift on the bridge. Tim and Alina enter to replace us, and we share the news that everything is starting tomorrow. They cheer and take our place to watch the surrounding space.

I go to the mess hall to grab something to eat while Lisa and Vic directly head to their cabins. I talk a while with Lena and Kylie while eating, and then go to my cabin too. Time to catch a little bit of sleep before we start tomorrow morning.

I'm about to undress and lie down when Clara speaks up in my ear.

"One of the other ships is approaching. They are not supposed to, so Maja is moving the Andala to get ready to possibly intercept them. Alina is trying to contact them at the moment, so I suggest you stay clothed for a few minutes to see how the situation develops."

Dammit, why is it always when I want to sleep? "Thanks for letting me know, Clara. Please keep me updated."

"Will do."

It takes just a few minutes until Clara reports back. "Okay, that's unexpected… The approaching ship is the SKS Duskstar, the personal starship of His Royal Highness Prince Kai Opalia. They ask for a rendezvous before the race down to Earth begins."

The Prince? The almost Archmage? What could he possibly want from us? Ah, right… Lisa. She's practically Royalty in her own right. I guess I'm too, but the Prince shouldn't know that, and if he does, Grandma Amelia's network would have a gigantic leak.

"Let me guess, he wants to meet Lisa?"

"What, no crazy reaction from you besides that minute of silent comprehension? But yes, you're exactly right."

I chuckle at her antics. "Oh, I'm used to crazy stuff happening around me by now. Anyway, I don't see a reason why we shouldn't meet with the Prince… Can you and Alina take care of that? I'll check on Lisa in the meantime. Wait, Maja didn't engage them, right?"

"Yeah, we can do that. And no, Maja immediately stopped when they identified themselves."

"That's good, I'll be on the bridge with Lisa as soon as we're ready."

"Take your time, I'll be a little while until both ships are lined up to dock… I'm assuming you don't want them to simply jump over here, right?"

"Yeah, I'd prefer them coming here the normal way… Or even better, us going to their ship... If the Prince is half a good Mage as the rumors suggest, he'll certainly feel our insanely big magical batteries if he comes aboard."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"That's a good point, I'll try to make it happen."

"Thanks again," I say while leaving my cabin. It's a short walk, as we gave Lisa the other slightly larger cabin on the Stargazer, straight across from mine. I knock at the door and wait for her to answer.

It takes a few minutes and another few knocks until Lisa opens the door. She looks at me, bleary-eyed with a full-on bed head. "What the hell, Sara? I just fell asleep…"

"I'm sorry, Lisa, but we do have a situation that requires your presence."

It takes a few seconds until my words register. "Huh? What is it?"

"Prince Kai wants to meet you."

I watch her face go through various expressions until it settles on a little bit of shock. "Well, damn! Give me a few minutes to get myself presentable."

I nod at her. "Take your time, I'll be on the bridge, waiting for you."

Lisa closes the door again to get ready. I take the elevator to my left that leads directly to the bridge. What a mess!

I sit on my grav chair on the bridge, waiting for Lisa to arrive, when Clara has some news for me.

"Just got confirmation from the Prince. He agrees to a meeting on his ship and asks for our team leaders to come over as soon as the docking is finished. Should be in about ten minutes if things continue smoothly."

Perfect, I send her a silent thanks along the AI Call spell and continue to watch Tim and Alina maneuvering the Stargazer in space. I know they're heavily supported by Clara's superb flying skills, but it still amazes me how everyone around me seems to learn how to fly my ship extremely fast… Not that I was any different, but still.

Lisa exits the bridge elevator five minutes later and takes a seat right next to me. I relay to her what Clara just told me, and she straightens up. "Then we should get going." She looks at me, and her nose wrinkles. "That won't do at all! Follow me."

She turns and walks back toward the elevator. I just stand there, flabbergasted. "What?"

"Your outfit, silly… You're meeting a Prince, you can't go there with sweatpants, now come, we don't have much time!"

I look down at myself and blush. She's right, I'm still in my "chill and relax" outfit… That would have been embarrassing. I quickly follow her and we take the elevator back down to the cabins. When the door closes, I think I'm hearing Alina's suppressed giggles, but that can't be, right?

Anyway, Lisa basically pulls me into my own cabin and raids my closet. She throws me various items and tells me to put them on immediately. Once I'm finished, she looks me up and down again and mutters under her breath while shaking her head. Then she throws me another set of clothes to put on. This continues three more times until she throws her hands up in frustration.

"Why is everything purple here? Seriously, why? This doesn't match your hair at all!"

I just stare at her with a deadpan expression while quickly casting a simple Disguise spell. Once it's finished, I just point at my real face and red hair.

Lisa looks from me to my purple dresses and back. "Right… But that doesn't help us right now… Wait here, I have an idea."

She leaves the room, and I cancel the Disguise spell again. The door opens again a few minutes later, and Lisa enters, carrying a black dress. "That's Lucy's. She was so kind to lend it to you, and she's also the only one roughly your size."

She hands it over, and I put it on. Luckily, it fits and looks quite good. It accentuates my figure a bit more than I like, and so I put an elegant dark jacket above it. My look is finalized by a pair of heels, then I'm ready… Just in time, as Clara announces that we're now successfully docked to the Duskstar.

I look at Lisa, and we both nod at the same time. We exit my cabin and walk toward the airlock. On the way, I finalize my look with a few Vanity spells. My hair is now all wavy, and I'm wearing a very light touch of makeup to accentuate my eyes. Lisa gives me an approving look when we reach the airlock.

I notify Clara to open up, and we step into the docking tube. The hatch on the Duskstar opens up when we're close to it, and we cycle through another airlock. Then we're aboard the other ship. A young man greets us and then leads us down the hallway toward an elevator.

He shoots Lisa a few nervous glances along the way, while ignoring me completely. Lisa doesn't seem bothered by it, so I stay silent. After a few minutes of walking, the man stops at a door and motions for us to enter. He himself stays outside. I let Lisa go first and enter the room behind her.

It reminds me a bit of Grandpa John's "man-cave" room on Benson Moon with dark wooden bookshelves on the walls and very comfortable-looking armchairs around a small table in the middle of the room.

One of those armchairs is occupied by another young man. He's got dark skin with dark hair and wears it in tight braids, going down toward the back of his head. A slight smile is on his face, and his silvery eyes reflect the light coming from the roof. He gets up and smooths out his crème-colored suit. It's a fashion statement, and he wears it with confidence!

He steps around the table and approaches Lisa. That's when I notice the slight pressure extending from him, and I frown. He feels strong, but this pressure also feels deliberate. His grin gets wider when he notices my reaction, and he winks at me. I quickly smooth out my expression, which seems to amuse him even more.

My eyes narrow, and I let a bit of my own power leak. I keep a tight leash on it, as I don't want to spill my most important secret, but it's more than enough to show him I'm a well-established Master. Adding in the Space aspect makes even the tall and confident guy hesitate for half a step. I smirk back at him. Two can play that game!

Lisa seems unaware of our silent exchange and extends her hand for the man to shake. Instead, he takes it, bends down, and gives her a kiss on the hand in the old gentlemanly manner. Lisa blushes a little, especially when he speaks up.

"You're even more beautiful in person, Lady Song. Please be welcome to my humble abode." He releases Lisa's hand and turns to me to repeat the same thing. "The same goes for you, Miss Green."

Both Lisa and I do a short curtsy, and Lisa speaks up. "Thank you, it's our pleasure to be here, Prince Kai."

The prince smiles playfully and indicates the armchairs. "Please have a seat, Hector will be right here with refreshments."

That's probably the guy who brought us here… He seems to be the prince's butler or something. To each their own, I guess. As soon as we're seated, the door opens and the guy from earlier, Hector, enters with a tray of teacups and sets it down on the table between us.

Prince Kai leans back and studies the two of us. "You're probably asking yourselves why I asked to meet before we go down to the planet, so let me explain." He focuses on Lisa. "I know what the reward for winning this competition is for you imperials… I guess becoming a Countess isn't that appealing for you, right?"

Lisa frowns. "I guess so? But I'm not a one-woman team… What do you want to say? I'm not sure I'm following you."

He chuckles and grabs his cup of tea for a sip. "Ahh, right, that would be you, Miss Green. Say, do you want to become the Countess of the Solar System?"

I share Lisa's sentiment. What's his goal? What does he want to say? I shrug. "I don't know…"

His annoying smirk is back when he notices my discomfort. "Well, you still have enough time to think about it. It's also not what I'm after." He looks back at Lisa. "No, what I'm after is making all this more interesting for those teams among us that don't really benefit from the prize of gaining a Noble title within The Empire. I propose adding additional stakes to the competition!" His silvery eyes almost sparkle, and his grin swallows his face. "So tell me, Lady Song, what do you think?"