"Hello, Princess Lucilia, and hello to you, soon-to-be Prince Ren. My name is Tsukiko; it's a pleasure."
Tsukiko bowed, greeting both Ren and Lucilia, before sitting on the last cushion.
"It's good to see you too, Queen Tsukiko; it's been awhile, maybe since... what my 15th birthday?" Lucilia said.
"Has it really been that long?" Tsukiko said with a little laugh. "Well, you have grown into a beautiful girl, Lucilia. You remind me of your mother."
As Lucilia and Tsukiko exchanged pleasantries, Ren stayed silent, waiting for a time to speak. It was then that Tsukiko turned to Ren and asked.
"Ren, you did an impressive job in the fight." Tsukiko said. "I hope to get to know you better since you're going to be married to Lucilia."
"Oh, uhm, thank you...uhm Queen-" Ren was about to say before Tsukiko cut him off.
"Just call me Tsukiko; there is no need for formalities right now." Tsukiko said.
"Sorry, thank you, Tsukiko." Ren said, correcting himself.
"So, Tsukiko, why did you ask to meet with us?" Lucilia asked Tsukiko.
Tsukiko's face turned serious before she took a deep breath. "I need your help," she said with a worried expression in her eyes.
"Our help?" Ren asked.
"Yes, and it's of the upmost urgency." Tsukiko said before pulling out an envelope she had next to her.
Lucilia opened the envelope, pulled out three papers, and began reading them. Ren stayed silent and drank some tea while waiting for Lucilia to finish.
Lucilia then read something that caused her to gasp "Are these reports accurate?" She asked in a worrying voice.
"Yes..." Tsukiko said with sadness in her voice.
"What's going on?" Ren asked.
"Tsukiko's daughters...were kidnapped by one of the rebel groups." Lucilia explained.
Ren could see Tsukiko shed a tear down her cheek.
Ren knew this situation was serious. Tsukiko was the queen of her people, and if her daughters were taken, it would mean some group made a serious play against not just Tsukiko but possibly the empire itself.
"Has this group made any demands of you?" Ren asked.
"Yes...they want me to secede from the Empire." Tsukiko said.
"What happens if you don't? Lucilia asked.
Another tear ran down Tsukiko's cheek "They said they would make sure I would never see them again."
Ren looked over at Lucilia, who had her eyes closed as she was contemplating all the information she had. "Did they tell you a meeting place? She asked, still thinking.
"No, they said once I leave the empire, they will tell me where my daughters are." Tsukiko said.
Ren then chimed in "I'm going to play devil's advocate here, but why don't you just do it?" Ren asked.
Tsukiko looked over at Ren and said "If I were anyone else, I would, but I'm still a queen, and my people need the Empire's support to maintain our way of life. If I left the Empire, my planet would erupt into chaos, so much chaos that my people may even attempt to take my life."
"So you need us to do what you can't?" Lucilia asked.
"Yes...that's right." Tsukiko replied.
"But why us?" Ren asked.
Tsukiko smiled for the first time since they began this conversation. "Because I need people who act outside of the Empire's military. Luckily, your personal guard and Ren aren't part of the military, meaning the emperor would have no say in this matter. So you are my best options that I can trust, especially you, Lucilia."
"So basically, you're hiring us as mercenaries." Ren said.
"Yes...I will reward you, of course. I wouldn't ask any of you to risk your lives without a reward." Tsukiko said.
"But how can we find this group without a location?" Ren asked.
"Do you have anything that can lead us to the group that did this? Lucilia asked.
"We have a video of part of the kidnapping, but we couldn't identify the logo that the kidnappers used." Tsukiko explained before handing Ren and Lucilia a piece of paper that had an image of a solider on it, wearing black armor and a small patch on the shoulder of the uniform.
"I don't recognize this insignia..." Lucilia said.
"Is it possibly a new group? or maybe a more unknown one?" Ren asked.
"Maybe...but question is if they are a smaller group or a completely new one who's backing them..." Lucilia questioned.
Tsukiko didn't say anything, but Ren could see the worry on her face. She was scared about what might happen to her daughters.
Ren looked over at Lucilia, who nodded her head, almost as if she were reading his thoughts.
"Tsukiko?" Ren asked.
"Yes Ren?" Tsukiko answered.
"What's your daughter's names?" Ren asked in a serious tone.
Tsukiko was taken aback by the question; she didn't expect Ren to ask in such a serious manner.
"Rei and Rin. They are twins." Tsukiko responded.
Ren stood up and walked over to the side of the table that Tsukiko was sitting at "Tsukiko, I promise we will do everything we can to find your daughters."
"Really?" Tsukiko responded in surprise and looked at Lucilia for confirmation.
"Of course, Tsukiko. We have no issue helping you out. Of course I will only be asking my crew to help if they volunteer; much like you, I want to force them to risk their lives for something they personally don't have any stake in." Lucilia explained.
"That's more than enough, Lucilia. Thank you." Tsukiko responded as wiped away one of her tears with a tissue.
"But now the issue is...what's our first step?" Ren asked.
"I will reach out to my sources in the government to see if anyone recognizes this symbol. Meanwhile, Ren, I want you to talk to Mae and tell her to get started on a secret project of ours. Just tell her the codeword "Gate" and she should understand. After that, I have another favor to ask of you, and it's a big one." Lucilia explained and looked at Ren with a worried expression.
"What is it, Lucilia?" Ren asked.
Lucilia took a second to gather her thoughts before asking "Do you think your friends from Earth would be willing to help?"
"My friends?" Ren asked.
"Yes, while my personal guard does have capable fighters, we may need more than what we have. At most, we can back a little over a dozen pilots, but with the addition of your friends, our firepower should increase." Lucilia said.
Ren put his hand on the back of his head as he thought about her proposition "I will ask, but like you, I won't force any of them. Would that be okay?"
Lucilia smiled "Of course, Ren, even if they don't wish to fight, they are more than welcome to help elsewhere around the ship. I don't recommend any of them stay here on Volaria, however, not without my or my sister Aurelia's protection."
"What's going on with Aurelia?" Ren asked.
"She has her own mission to accomplish. I don't believe it has anything to do with Earth, so don't worry about that, Ren." Lucilia explained.
"Alright, well, should we get going?" Ren asked.
"You can go, Ren; I want to talk with Tsukiko some more." Lucilia explained.
"Alright, well, I'll be leaving then." Ren said.
"Love you, Ren!" Lucilia said with a giant smile on her face.
"I love you too, Lucilia." Ren responded with a similar smile before leaving.
Lucilia turned back to Tsukiko before asking "So, since we heard out your request, would you here out my own request?"
Tsukiko looked at Lucilia with a confused look on her face. "Well, I can't very well turn down hearing you out now, can I?"
The door closed to the room, and Tsukiko and Lucilia were letting nobody on the outside hear what was happening inside that room. Little did anyone know that what was being said would lead to the first step in a massive change in the galaxy.
Ren walked to where Lucilia's ship was, and he could see Mae working, instructing some of the engineers on maintenance on the ship.
Mae turned around and looked at Ren "Hey Ren, what's up?"
"Lucilia asked me to tell you something; she said to work on a project with the codeword "gate." Ren told Mae to was immediately taken aback by him using the codeword.
"Did she now? and I suppose you don't know what the project is?" Mae asked.
"Not a clue." Ren stated.
"Well, it's of no importance right now; the only thing I can really tell you is that things are happening behind the scenes. Just be ready...for anything, Ren." Mae said.
Ren's thoughts got more and more confused "What's going on...and why hasn't Lucilia told me?" He thought to himself.
Lucilia normally told him everything, and if she was hiding something, it would have to be something insane.
Ren put the thoughts in the back of his mind before leaving the ship and heading back to Lucilia's mansion. He now had to figure out how to ask everyone to help them on their new mission.
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