Return

[Dayos]

The corvette landed safely on one of the landing pads scattered across the palace. We disembarked and made our way to the headquarters of the Imperis Battavyesch. It was a sprawling structure; extending deep beneath the planet's crust.

As my team and I entered the great hall, eyes bored into us. They stared and gazed at our tired forms with disappointment. I paid them no heed. They weren't the ones who did the work. We did.

We dragged ourselves to an elevator and headed down to sub-level 10, the lowest level of the headquarters. Upon arriving, we wearily approached a conference room and entered it.

We were greeted by an onslaught of screaming generals, all of them arguing with one another. They barely even noticed us walk in. We sat down and enjoyed the spectacle before us. It took them ten whole minutes to even acknowledge our presence. Then it took them another five minutes to sort out their differences.

"Have you guys stopped bitching around?" I asked.

The generals offered no reply, only bowing their heads in shame.

"Well, here's the briefing," I threw a tablet onto the table before me, "We'll get going now. We're exhausted."

I got up, and my men followed. We left the generals in silence. As soon as I closed the door, the generals began to feud again. We let them be and took the elevator back up to the surface.

Then came the stares again. Were these people bored out of their minds that they HAD to look at us? And once again, I paid no attention to their piercing stares.

My men and I made our way to our quarters. Along the way, a few people gave us disappointed looks and mocked our ineptitude. "Failures," "incompetent," "useless." I've heard far worse.

As we entered the room, four men greeted us. Clad in golden armor, the ones issued to the Imperis Di'Battresch. Their chest plates bore the crest of my family. They were mother's guards.

"A message from her Grace, the Empress," Their leader stepped forward and handed me a parchment.

I read its contents and crumpled it before tossing it into a nearby bin.

"So, she's finally here?" a wicked smile formed at the ends of my lips.

"The Empress requests your presence this afternoon for tea. She would like you to join her and Lady Samina during their discussion," He said.

"Yes, tell mother I'll join them. I have a lot to say to them," I responded.

The guard bowed and exited the room with his companions.

"The girl is here?" One of my men asked.

"Thanks to this mishap, we'll be the joke of the Battacvyesch for weeks, months, or even years!" Another one chimed in.

"Calm down," I ordered.

Now that the brat is here, it'll be much easier to find out who she truly is. But I can't act rashly. A bit of torture should be enough to get back at her for all the trouble she caused. Anyways, I also have A LOT to discuss with Samina. Maybe she'll explain why this dilemma happened in the first place.

After all that my men and I had to endure, everything's finally starting to look good.