“The armies of the Imperium are advancing on these two flanks, cautiously avoiding the heavily guarded worlds and picking off the less defended.  They have an army positioned to attack and divide us down the center if we move our forces to the flanks. Our army as a whole is deadlocked, but we are differed. Our unit acts separately from the rest of the ranks. We are the closest to an Imperium army. There is a fleet stationed two systems away. Here we can actually do something,” David Jorian stopped and scanned the room, looking at his son and nieces and nephews. They were children he had been forced to train into the killing machines they needed to be for the tasks ahead of them. “Welcome, my very young apprentices, to the front.”

            The silence in the room pounded in the fair-haired and hazel-eyed David Jorian’s ears.

            “You’ve volunteered to take on and destroy one of the most horrific armies in recorded history. Failure is not an option. With our failure would come the downfall of everything the first war was won for: peace, freedom, and life. Therefore, we cannot fail.” He paused to let this soak in. “Woods, Bennett, and Victoria, you are to be assigned to our Alpha squadron. They fly SA-31s, the most elite star craft in the DGA’s possession. The Alphas fly cover for our most sensitive missions, pulling our agents out if things get too hairy. Calling the Alphas is always a last resort.”

            He turned to his youngest nephew and the princess he’d come to accept as a niece, as he’d called her aunt a sister. Through his link to A’tala they shone brightly with promise and destiny, outshone only by their intense love.

            “It pains me to put you two where I must, but your abilities cannot be denied. You will be infiltrators and saboteurs. While the pilots hold your fates in their hands, you hold the fate of our people in yours.”

            “We’re spies,” Adriana said rather bluntly.

            “That’s one way of looking at it. I don’t want to put either of you in that danger, but combine Alexander’s computer skills and your prowess with languages and people with your shared talent with crystblade and other combat techniques and your deep link to each other. You make the ideal infiltration team, my dear princess.”

            Before any of them could respond, the door swung open and a young soldier in full Plutonian uniform barreled into the room, saluting Jorian briefly.

            “Message for M’Lady, sir. Straight from my Admiral ‘imself.”

            Jorian nodded. The soldier dropped to his knees before his princess so quickly he slid so he was almost on top of her. He folded his first finger down in the three fingered salute and snapped his right hand to his left shoulder.

            “Su Majestad,” he began bowing his head so his chin touched his sternum, then looked up at the faces around him, “¿En Plutoňa o la idioma común, Mi Princesa?” (In Plutonian or the common language, my princess?)

            Only Adriana understood all of what he said for Alex’s Plutonian was weak and the others knew none at all.

            “¿De que importa está tu mesaje?” she asked quickly. (Of what importance is your message?)

            “De la más importa, Su Majestad,” was his subservient reply. (Of the most importance, Your Majesty.)

            “La idioma común, mi amigo,” she smiled. (The common language, my friend.)

            “Yes, Su Majestad. The Admiral ‘as received intelligence that an Imperium army will move against a small, but strategic, planet called Dané IV in two standard days. Your army is only a day and an ‘alf away. We wish to use our element of surprise to catch the Imperium off guard and defend the Dané system.”

            Adriana withheld a sigh, wishing this soldier hadn’t had to cross part of the galaxy just to ask her permission but knowing he had to due to ancient protocol.

            What are you going to tell him?

            To act as quickly as possible. And to tell the Admiral he needn’t ask me if they can defend a planet again.

            You know, you don’t have a Plutonian accent. You put your “h”s where they belong.

            She rolled her eyes discreetly in his direction.

            I’ve been around you ‘eathens on the outside too long. It ‘as been too long since I ‘ave spoken my native tongue, she over exaggerated the slight remnant of an accent she retained.

            You spoke it rather fluently when you jammed your finger the other day…

            “Su Majestad?”

            “Tell Admiral Jeremiah that he must hasten to the aide of Dané IV and in the future to defend as many planets as possible without endangering too many of our men’s lives. He does not need to send a messenger unless there is a crisis or he is planning something major.”

            “Sí, Su Majestad. Your message will be delivered with the utmost ‘aste. Gracias, Princesa, personas nobeles.”

            With that he was on his feet and out the door.

            “He said ‘thank you, noble persons,’” she translated.

            David Jorian gave the young leader a once over, noticing the grace and power that remained after she addressed her soldier. “I rest my case, Su Majestad.”