After Lucilia showed everyone their new knights, she and Ren headed to their personal room. Lucilia sat in the bed while Ren sat at the desk on the chair. Ren looked at Lucilia, who was expecting him to ask her some questions.
"Lucilia, there has been one thing that's been bothering me..." Ren said.
"What would that be, Ren?" Lucilia asked.
"Why do this? Why create a faction? And, most importantly, what's the main objective of this group? Don't tell me what you told everyone else; tell me the honest truth coming from you." Ren pleaded with Lucilia. He only wanted to hear everything she thought about the situation and exactly why she did all of this.
Lucilia took a deep breath before looking at Ren with tears in her eyes.
"It's all to protect you..." she said, as a tear rolled down her cheek.
"To protect me?" Ren asked.
"Yes..." Lucilia replied "My father, he's not going to let you winning the fight against Ignis go. He's going to try everything he can to kill you. He'd order you to fight on the frontlines without any breaks, so you die in battle. His hands would be "clean" and he wouldn't have broken the rules of the fight. Then he'd marry me to someone else, and his plans would work out. This way, we keep you out of his reach for as long as we can."
"But wouldn't he still try to kill me?" Ren asked.
"Yes...but at least this way we have people we trust on this ship. Your friends and my loyal guards. I can protect you better." Lucilia said.
"You don't need to-" Ren was trying to say before Lucilia interrupted him "I DO"
Lucilia looked at Ren, tears flowing down from her eyes "I love you, Ren, your mine. I won't let anyone, not even my father, hurt you. I'd do anything to protect you, Ren. I failed once with Cilan, and I was powerless to stop my father from throwing you into the arena. I refuse to let myself fail or be powerless again."
Ren was left speechless as he just let Lucilia let out all of her feelings.
"Ren, I know you care about Scarlet, Ashastha, and Lily. I know they love you, and while I am not happy about it I've accepted the fact that they would be a part of...whatever all of us are grouped together, but I am your first, and I will not let anyone or anything stop me from being by your side. If there's a war, I'll be there by your side; if you just need someone to lay down next to you, I will be right there; if you die, I will drag you out of death and back to me, so if my father or anyone else wants to hurt you, I will stop them by any means necessary."
Ren, after hearing this, closed his eyes briefly before opening them up as he stood up out of the chair and walked over to Lucilia.
Ren sat down next to her and put his arm around her, bringing her close to him as he put one hand that was around her on her arm and held her hand with the other.
"Lucilia, I love you, and I really do love the fact that you won't protect me, but I also want to protect you. Your father is a very dangerous man, and if he thinks that either of us are doing something against him or even any of our allies, it could be them in that arena or even worse. I don't want to see him try anything against you or any of our friends and allies. So like you, I will do everything I can to stop that from happening."
Lucilia snuggled closer to Ren "Can you just stay here with me?"
Ren smiled upon hearing this "Of course." he said before kissing her on the top of my head.
Lucilia looked up at him and said "Those weren't my lips..."
Ren chucked before kissing her passionately on the lips, causing Lucilia's cheeks to blush.
"Ren?" Lucilia asked.
"Yeah?" Ren responded.
"I want to get married soon." Lucilia said.
Ren smiled and said "Just say when."
Lucilia smiled hearing this; she gripped his hand tighter before saying "When this mission is over, That's when."
"Then that's when." Ren responded.
Lucilia's smile could not get brighter after hearing this.
"I can't wait..." Lucilia said.
Ren and Lucilia enjoyed each other's company, just holding each other before they had to separate, with Ren and Lucilia heading to the bridge to start diagnosing the plan to save Tsukiko's daughters.
Rumia was there as well, directing the idea for the assault.
"Tsukiko has told the rebels that she has left the empire, and her intelligence division on her planet sent out a false flag report saying that they have surrendered. Luckily, this group was fooled and sent her the coordinates of where they are at."
Rumia pointed at a star system on the holographic map in the bridge. "They are here in the system of Anatos. A four-planet system on the outside of the empire, the base is located on the system's second planet, the Anatos II moon. From what we know, the system doesn't have any advanced species."
"Advanced?" Ren asked.
Lucilia chimed in "Advanced means their civilization has developed to a certain degree; really, once a species discovers space flight, they reach the advanced level."
"So does this system have any non-advanced life?" Ren asked.
"We call them primitive species, and yes, on Anatos III, there are species who are still very young." Rumia said.
"So they aren't going to be a factor in this..." Ren said.
"Precisely, all we need to focus on is the moon of Anatos II. Now Tsukiko said they would meet in the main hangar of their flag ship that is currently hovering above the base, but obviously we cannot do that." Rumia said.
Eleonora, who was also at the meeting, said "Can't go loud either; as soon as they discover we are attacking them, the princesses safety is no longer guaranteed."
"So we go in quiet." Ren said. "But how?"
"Well, I have an idea; according to Tsukiko, they won't bring the princesses out to meet her until she arrives, meaning they are in one of the holding cells. We will have to sneak a small team onto the ship who can secure the princesses; once that happens, we can carry out a full-scale assault." Lucilia said.
"Who's on the team that sneaks in, though? and most importantly, how?" Ren asked.
Rumia then moved her hands on the holographic table and pointed at a certain point on the ship model that the rebels use; right here, that's where you guys can sneak in. It's an access duct that mechanics use to repair outside damage to the ship. You guys would have to sneak into that access hatch, but after that, we will lose all sight and communications."
"Two problems. One, how do we sneak in without being spotted by the base, and secondly, if there's no communication, how can we contact you once the princesses are secure?" Ren asked.
"Well, the answer to your second problem is this." Rumia said as he took two sticks out of her bag. The sticks were black in color but had two clear pieces at the ends of the sticks.
"What are those?" Ren asked.
"Old school communication devices the empire uses. Mae, luckily, still had a few around. Basically, the infiltration team will be given one of these, and me on the bridge will have the other. Once the infiltration team secures the two princesses, they will twist one of the ends of the stick, and the stick on my end will have one side glow green. After receiving this signal, I will twist the other side, and that will turn green, sending an identical response to the infiltration team stick. Once both sides are green. Things get loud."
Ren was surprised something like that would exist "What are the chances it fails?"
"It will only fail if one of the sticks breaks; otherwise, it will work." Rumia said.
"So who goes in?" Lucilia asked.
"I will." Ren said.
"No." Lucilia responded.
"Lucilia..." Ren looked at her in the eyes, almost as if he were having an entire conversation with her through a look.
"You know I'm going to do this." Ren said.
"Doesn't mean I like it." Lucilia responded while pouting.
"I'll make it up to you later, but I'll go. Being on the field is what I'm best at." Ren said.
"So, who goes with you?" Rumia asked.
"I need a team that can be quiet but can also fight our way out if things go bad. We can't be a big team either since we have to sneak around. Eleonora, would you be okay coming with me?" Ren asked.
"I'll go, but who else?" Eleonora asked.
"Laelli, we could need the strength of her people, and Ashastha and Sthora wouldn't be great at sneaking around due to Asha's height and Sthora's wings. Laelli is our best option. I'll also take Serenity too." Ren said.
"So Ren, Eleonora, Laelli, and Serenity sneak in. Who's on standby for the assault?" Rumia asked.
"I'll lead it." Lucilia said. "I'll be damned if I don't help in this operation somehow."
"So we have the personnel decided...now it's just the finer points of the strategy to settle out, and then it's time to execute the plan." Rumia said.
The group on the bridge talked for two hours about the strategy; all that was left...was to save the princesses.
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