Somewhere in deep space, there was a huge structure spreading a few tens of kilometers. Looking from outside someone would mistook it for one of those Space museums but they would be shocked to know that it was the highest security space prison in the whole universe or that's what the owner claimed.
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Inside the prison, there were guards patrolling in Black uniforms carrying weapons that fired plasma bullets. [This was a common weapon any soldier would use in space. Typical guns firing projectiles were used by civilizations that were still not technologically advanced. Earth was one of them. That's a story for another time.]
"Hey, do you know who's behind that door? " one guard asked his partner who was on his duty to guard the only cell on this floor. They both had green skin with big yellow eyes and sharp nails which looked like claws and pink nose.
"You don't need to know about that. We were given strict orders not to blink for a moment when guarding that cell. So whoever he might be, he must be a very dangerous person for being sent here." "You're right. This is level 10 floor , deepest floor in our prison security. It's the first time I have seen someone being sent here. Whoever he is, he must have done some terrible crime."
"What crime he could have possibly committed when even the Emperor's younger brother was sent to level 9 for an attempt to assassinate him?"
"If you ask me there is only one thing a man holds more precious than his life"
"Do you mean by being cuckolded?" he didn't believe what his partner was saying. His partner nodded giving his confirmation. "You can't be serious. No one would dare to cuckold the Galactic Emperor. Not even Yobok would have a such thought!!"
"That's the only thing I could think of." "Just who might be this great man?" the guard felt some respect for the prisoner as a fellow man to do something so dangerous to fulfil his desires. He was a man among men!!
While they were having their discussion, behind the door there was a man who was sleeping on the ground, eyes closed with careless attitude.There was no facilities provided inside.
"How can you just sleep here so calmly?" a voice next to him asked. He opened his eyes slowly and turned his head slightly to look over his shoulder. There was palm sized holographic projection of a girl. "Why I won't be so calm when you are always with me?" he smiled at her.
"Hmph! don't play with me. It's useless, I have been with you for so long so I can easily tell what you are thinking. " she said as she looked around the cell.
"You forgot to add Captain, little Cecily" he corrected her but she didn't follow him. "Only when you are on the ship. I will call you Captain when you return to the ship."
"So how long are you planning to make me wait?" he made an upset face to fool her but she has been by his side for years so she wasn't fooled by such trick. "Just a min. I have already hacked into their system."
"Oh that was fast, I think their claim for this being the highest security prison was all made up." he had a disappointed face. He felt low because his fun was about to be over. "I won't say it was all made up. This is indeed one of the best security I have seen. But you forgot who I am!" Cecily retorted, not happy that her intelligence and hard work was misplaced with the low security!.
"I was just joking. How can I forget that for you breaking through any security is child's play. You are the eldest princess of 'Galvin species' after all. Your brain has no equal across the whole universe, except your parents obviously." Stream complimented her with a proud expression . And he was not exaggerating one bit. She was indeed unparalleled in intelligence across space not counting her parents who had God-like minds.
"You better remember it well then!" she said with a wide smile as a 'beep' sound was heard. The door was unlocked.
"So what's the plan now?" Cecily asked excited about some action. But she was soon to be disappointed as he was feeling differently "I don't want to get into mindless brawl. We would just sneak out silently. You take care of the surveillance" he got up and prepared for his plan.
"Fine" she made an unhappy face. She was expecting Stream to show her some good action. "Next time you get locked inside, I am not helping you!" she shut down the surveillance of the whole place. "It's done. Now you can move out" he didn't wait for her to finish and already moved towards the door. She followed him hovering over his shoulder.
Noticing the sound coming from the cell, the guards got alert and raised their weapons pointing it towards the gate in case something unexpected happened. But nothing happened. No one came out.
"What are you doing there!?" one of them shouted expecting a reply but didn't get one. Feeling something bad was going on they decided to take some action.
They exchanged looks with each other and turned again towards the door and moved there. The door opened when they reached in front of it and they looked around to see nothing out of the ordinary, just an empty cell. 'Empty cell!' they cried in their hearts and turned to rush out to press the alarm. "Too late" a voice came from above them as Stream jumped from above and kicked them in the gut. That sent them flying and they crashed at the cell wall opposite side and dropped on the ground unconscious.
Stream walked out and used his shape shifting ability to turn himself to one of those fallen guards.
"What's with this pink nose? They look more like clowns than guards" he said touching his pink nose. "They are clowns indeed. They are the Goinder species, more than half of them do business in the entertainment and mostly in circus. I don't know why these two became guards." she told him about those clowns. "A gift from the Empress, huh?" he smiled when he realized it was all her doing. "You mean she knew you would try to escape and sent those idiots to guard you so it would be much easier for us?"
"Indeed. I am very certain about this" he reached the elevator which worked on magnetic field. A guard was stationed there and he immediately stopped him before he could get inside. " You were told not to leave your position in any case. So why are you here?" he narrowed his eyes as he stared at him. The guard had one horn on his head and huge body with rippling muscles. He was not a clown certainly.
"I have something urgent I must report to the Empress directly." Stream said calmly looking in his eyes. "You can say that to me. I will pass it to her" the guard didn't go easy on him. "Fine, if you want to be dead, I don't mind telling you" "what do mean by that? " the guard got alerted and asked why he would be dead if got to know about the news.
"You must know about the reason for what the criminal in level 10 is here, right?" Stream tried to make him fall for his talks. "I know the gist of it. It had something to with him cuckolding the Emperor. And?" he asked how that was related to this. "And he asked for an audience with the Empress hoping for a chance to get out from here and even told me about some private moments he had with her which no one should know about. You get what I mean right?" Stream asked looking at the guard with a serious face. The guard didn't take long before understanding what he was trying to say. The Empress would kill anyone who knew about her time with that criminal. After getting the news even the guard who was standing before him and was tasked to deliver the news wouldn't be spared. And he didn't want to join him!!
"No need to tell me anything! You may go. I will inform rest of the security to clear their way for you. No one will stop you!!" he exclaimed as he didn't want to get involved in any of this.
"Thanks for understanding" Stream said with a sad face. "No need for such thing. We will always remember your sacrifice!" bowing his head in respect the guard said loudly. Giving a last sad smile and waving his hand towards the guard he got on the flying elevator barely holding his laugh inside.
As he crossed through the floors going up, he saw guards lowering their heads in respect who didn't try to stop him as they were detailed about the situation by the first guard. Reaching the top floor he made his way to the dock. He got inside a MEG33, a small spaceship for intra-stellar travel.
"Take me Home and turn off your control of the surveillance." he finally relaxed and stretched his arms giving instructions to Cecily. She didn't wait long and put the coordinates and started the ship and turned off her control over the surveillance. And soon the sound of alarms were heard {the prison has a atmosphere of its own, so sound can travel} with red lights covering the area. The ship hovered over the ground for a few seconds, when the thrusters got ready to make the space jump, Cecily said "We are ready to go, Captain" "I thought you wouldn't call me that until we boarded our ship" he didn't miss his chance to tease her. And that worked as she went silent. "I am just playing. Don't be so tensed" he tried to bring her back.
"Leave about me. What about you?"she asked hurriedly. "What about me?"
"You know. Sleeping with the 'Empress'. Cuckolding the Galactic Emperor. And living the life of a fugitive" she asked him playfully as she prepared for the space jump. "Fugitive? Me?? Your choice of words is incorrect. I am not running from anyone"
Stream looked outside the window to see guards rushing in their direction with weapons ready to fire." I had always been chased by men and women the same but for different things" he laughed as he looked straight in deep space. "Make the jump" he instructed as he closed his eyes. Cecily didn't wait long and started the space jump. The ship disappeared before the guards could catch them leaving them with wide eyes. The ship travelled at the speed of 3 pars (pars is the speed of light) and after 5 minutes the space jump stopped travelling 1.80 AU (1 Au is the distance between Sun and Earth) "We have reached!" Cecily said excitedly as she stopped the ship before their own. Stream slowly opened his eyes and fixed it on his beloved Battleship 'EL Drago'.