The Princess Crisis

Prologue

Captain Orlando Bennett swore softly when he heard the three clicks in his earpiece. He was in full tactical gear and was leading his command, the 2nd Company, Kings Own Regiment, on the final night of a three day tactics exercise in the forest of Hadent. The 2nd Company was listed as a regular line unit, but that was partially a cover, they were all trained as Tier One special operators. His body was pressed against a rock and his selected ambush team was spread out ten meters in front of him. His second in command, Sub Lieutenant Sava Joy was leading the remainder of the unit on a search mission not knowing that an ambush was the planned tactic exercise for the night.

"Go for Bennett," he replied after what some might consider too long. Three clicks was the signal for incoming priority traffic and needed to be answered immediately. He had left strict instructions with the communications tech that he and his team were not to be disturbed during the exercise.

"Captian, you have an immediate summons to return to Skyriar."

"Corporal, can you ask the general if it can wait till we return tomorrow ..."

Bennett was cut off by the Corporal, "Sir, it's from Skyvein, sir."

Bennett swore again to himself, that was the Queen's residence. He hadn't been called to the royal residence in over six years, and that was by the Queen's father, King Estonos. There had been five years of peace in the system since the King had unilaterally ended the Valzoth war and negotiated a peace treaty. That had held through the King's sudden passing, that many, including Bennett, felt wasn't natural.

"Copy that ..." He responded, "ETA?"

"The bird should be landing now, sir."

"Fuck ..." came from Bennett, out loud and into the microphone. He heard a slight chuckle from the tech before the signal ended.

Bennett changed the frequency to one that connected directly to Joy. He triggered the three clicks and waited for the response.

"Yes sir."

"I have a priority summons, I have to flake out now. Wrap this up and get everybody back to quarters. Then meet me at my Skyriar quarters. I don't know what's going on, but it's from the top."

"Yes sir." Came instantly in return.

Bennett then turned to his comm tech, two meters away, who had heard everything he'd told Joy, gave him a nod, and headed to the pickup coordinates that popped into his visor's heads-up display.

The Grunwell Shuttle, commonly known as 'the bird' was right where his HUD said it would be. Standing next to the crew chief was a Queens Guard officer who didn't look happy. As Bennett got closer he could tell who the officer was, Lt. Laria Bhael. There was history between them, it had been good up until Bennett told her he wasn't ready for a life partner. Since then they'd been professional but cold. She had risen to third in command of the Queen's Guard, which meant that like Bennett, she did a lot of the grunt work for the guard.

"Let's move it ..." came from Bhael. Even though Bennett outranked her, a Queens Guard officer held some higher privileges. Bennett was jogging at top pace, it wasn't a full-out sprint, but he was in full gear that added twenty kilos to his weight, and sprinting was usually saved for life or death situations.

"Nice to see you too, Laria ..." Bennett said between breaths as he climbed into the bird.

Lt. Bhael looked at the crew chief and didn't need to say anything, he was already telling the pilot to lift off.

Bennett switched his channel to the internal bird's, "Can we stop at my quarters, I haven't showered in three ... "

"Negative," Bhael fired back, "when the Queen requests your presence and says now, it means now." Glaring at Bennett as she finished her sentence.