It was an important day on Xelia and it was a day that would be written into history, the news channels were constantly filled with interviews, discussing the upcoming events with the various politicians.
Currently, the president of Xelia, Juel Merdoff had taken a spot on the show for a five-minute interview.
"Next on Xelia live we bring to you the president of Xelia himself Juel Merdoff."
The president walked out in front of the cameras and took a seat across from the reporter.
"Thank you for having me, I'm glad to see you here Natasha I watch your broadcasts all the time, well most of my cabinet push your stuff in front of me and at this point, I don't who does more work, you or my entire cabinet combined.", he joked and smiled for the cameras.
The reporter laughed softly but in a second her serious face was on, "Mr President since we have little time for this I'd like to get straight to the point, we've been hearing a lot about a visit from the empress of the empire and the people are dying to know the details and what this entails for Xelia."
The president nodded his head and wiped the smile from his face, he pushed his tie into place and faced the cameras seriously, "The answer to all your questions is a simple yes, the empress will be coming to Xelia however it's not for a simple visit as she has issued orders for a full-time retinue of servants to be positioned in the imperial manor, and all the servants have been given a twenty-year contract. It appears that the empress will be staying here for a while."
The reporter couldn't hide her surprise but she still continued with professionalism, "Is this the reason for the truce between you and Morgan, I must say that your seize fire with him has been a source of public criticism and many of your supports now think that you are planning to go back on your promise for better inter-galactic trading rights."
Juel looked around with a trace of discomfort on his face, "Yes this is the reason, as all of you know we are Xelia and while I maybe it's president in the eyes of the empire I'm nothing more than a glorified house keeper for the planet, and when the real owners come home, it is my duty to present a spotless home to the owner."
The mood on the air turned awkward as the president referred to himself as 'glorified house keeper', the reporter pushed forward to get past the situation, "Mr President do you have any idea why the empress has decided to temporarily settle down on Xelia?"
"Not exactly, the details have not yet been disclosed to me, however, what we do know is that the empress's aide Anya Capriska arrived earlier today on a transport vessel for war orphans from the empress's home world after speaking with a few members of the crew we were unable to learn much, they seemed to be unable to say anything the only thing we know is that their ship had been delayed by three days, and as everyone already knows we prepared for the empress's arrival three days ago but it was unfortunately delayed till today."
"Now I know that everyone has their speculations on the meaning of this but that is none of my business, I just want to point out to everyone that your empress will be here and I hope that everyone can be on their best behaviour to present our world to the empress."
"Thank you, Mr President, for your words we will return after the break at Xelia Live."
---
As soon as the president left one of his secretaries handed him a tablet with a sat feed on it one massive command ship could be seen in the centre of a fleet with 50 flagships and 300 motherships escorting it, and that was just the empress's personal guard.
"Have the city hangars been emptied out?"
"Yes sir, and the hangar has been prepared for her majesties arrival."
"Good, send a message to the fleet and tell them that we are ready to receive her majesty."
Once the message was sent out, he rushed towards the city hangar prepared himself for a long ceremony and waiting for the fleets to dock but to his surprise only the command ship descended into the atmosphere, the rest of the fleet remained in a fixed formation and rotated in the skies even the people could make out the ships as they hovered above the world.
As the command ship entered the hangar waves of air rushed to the people making their clothes flutter wildly in the wind, and the ocean outside lapped backwards as waves formed rushing against the tide.
The ship docked and the massive hatch locked into the hangar forming a perfect ramp down from the ship, and from there fifty servants dressed in court formal clothing rushed down with their leader and went to the president to receive instructions and after pointing out the vehicles arranged for the empress, he turned to the other servants and rushed to prepare the empress's walkway.
A golden carpet woven out of gold with exquisite designs was rolled from the hatch to the limousine that waited, the rest of them pulled out trumpets and lined up alongside the carpet not daring to set one foot on it.
The leader of the servants stood by the hatch as a team inspected the limousine. When he got the signal that the vehicle was safe, he raised his hand to his head and saluted, "Attention!" he shouted and his voice carried throughout the hangar.
"Positions!", at his command the servant all moved in unison the left leg straight the other pointed forward, they cocked their head over their right shoulder, and their trumpets positioned before their mouths.
"Begin!" the sound of trumpets being played filled the hangar one would have been loud enough but fifty made most people incapable of hearing their own thoughts.
On the ship, Belinda stood beside the empress a small smile could be seen on her lips as the empress placed noise-cancelling headphones over her head.
"Your majesty," Belinda spoke in the empress's mind, "Don't you think those will ruin your hair, it took a full hour to get it to sit right."
"Tsk.", Taliyah clicked her tongue, "Do you know that in the court every single person agrees with me that a violin is the is the classiest instrument that is portable."
Belinda rolled her eyes and thought here we go again.
"After that, I tried to petition everyone to change the welcoming ceremony of royals to use a lovely soothing violin instead of a loud ear bleed inducing trumpet, but only 70% agreed to it, and as you know for ancient customs unless it's completely agreed upon by everyone it cannot be changed, and thanks to that we have to endure this mind-numbing sound that makes me want to claw out my ears."
"So, yes Belinda I know that it will ruin my hair a little but I do not care and send a message to the barker have him skip my hundred titles and just do a simple introduction.", she knew that it went against tradition, but she was feeling impatient, all of this should have already been completed days ago.
In the hangar, the trumpets quieted down and their leader pulled out a short walking cane, he tapped it trice against the ground.
~Tap.
~Tap.
~Tap.
"Introducing the Saviour of Scavanor, The Giver of...", as he was about to continue, he felt a tread of killing intent from his back, it was because he tried to start with the titles of the empress despite being told not to.
"~cough~cough~," he cleared his throat and continued, "The 8th Empress of the 52nd core of the Clovis empire, her majesty Taliyah Clovis."
Taliyah walked forward and down the ramp with the confidence and grace befitting her position, a golden muslin dress wrapped around her eloquently, it wrapped around her neck and left her shoulders and back bare, and two matching gloves on her hands.
Her bronze skin was the envy of every woman and the desire of every man, her hair of white and black was braided beautifully and looked like a magnificent crown unto itself. Lastly upon her head was The Gilded-Rose Crown, which only the empress could wear.
When he finished the barker fell to one knee raised his right fist to his heart and curled his head down, soon every person present followed his every action.
Taliyah stood motionless and after an appropriate amount of time passed, she gestured with her hand, "You may rise."
After her brief words, she walked down the golden carpet when she reached the limo, she waved in greeting to the president and stepped into the limo.