Renegade

Renegade Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"So you are asking me for permission to enter R'Nari territory, to go after Rex, who is on one of the most dangerous worlds in the galaxy, and in conjunction, Nathan, whom we don't know if he is even in the same place, based on some information your cousin gave you, and you don't even know for certain if Nathan would be in the same place?" Aria's father asked incredulously.

For the better part of fifteen minutes, Aria had been explaining what she had learned in past day about Rex and where he was. It would have only taken a few minutes, but halfway through, General Vanin had felt the need to give a five minute speech about how she should have come to him about looking for Rex, instead of Dacia, who he didn't particularly like as she had left the Intelligence Service. Aria had already gone to Vanin when Rex had first been abducted, but when he had failed to find any leads after three months, she lost faith in the man.

"Yes. I believe that is a fair summary of what I just explained to you," Aria replied to her father. Remembering General Vanin's reaction when she revealed the Dacia was the source of information, Aria thought it wise not to reveal that Dacia got her information from her new boss.

General Vanin cut in again. "How would you even get to that region of space? Do have a ship?" He didn't like the idea of a someone doing something so reckless if they didn't go through his Intelligence Academy, even though he knew of Aria's reputation from her years at the Imperial Military Academy.

Slightly annoyed, Aria now turned to face the general. "Yes, I have a ship. Weren't you at my party two days ago? And Dacia is a fair enough pilot, but she would not take the risks necessary for such a journey. I know someone that has the skill and the balls to get through the more dangerous regions of space," she quipped, temper rising. Who was the general to question the Crown Princess?

"You don't mean..." her father began to ask.

"Yes I do," Aria answered, already knowing what her father was going to ask.

General Vanin cut in now. "What are you two talking about?!" he exclaimed.

The emperor sighed. Once in awhile, the general would get too big for his britches. "General, I am asking you to leave now. This has become private business of the Imperial Family," he said.

Vanin left the room, annoyed, but he didn't say anything on his way out.

"I grant you permission to go and find them, Aria. But on a few conditions," her father announced. "On a few conditions. One, all of your guards go with you. Two, Dacia, because I assume she will be coming with, reports directly back to me every 12 hours on any developments. If even one of those windows is missed, I am sending in my personal fleet after you and your team.

"Third, do whatever you can to get Kokona as your pilot. Offer her a place on the Advisory Council if you have to. Just get her as your pilot."

"I will, Father." Aria got up from the couch and turned to leave.

Before she exited the door, her father called out to her one last time, "Make me proud, Aria."

"Yes, sir."

***

Finding Dacia was easier said than done. When she wanted to be found, it was hard to get rid of her, but when she didn't want to be found, it was like trying to find a container of headlight fluid at the store.

Eventually, the two girls were back on the Guiding Star for the second time in twenty-four hours.

"So we're going to France?" Dacia asked. This time she was dressed in black dress pants and a navy blue button-down shirt, quite the opposite of the outfit she wore to Alice's Kingdom.

"Yes," was Aria's simple reply. Her outfit this time was a blue shirt, black skirt, and white blazer jacket.

"Where in France? Paris? Nice? Bordeaux?"

"Nope," Aria said, smacking her lips at the end of the word.

Nobody would suspect that a tiny, seemingly insignificant town like Bergerac was home to the best pilot in the Terran Empire. The town shared its name with the region of the French province it was in, which is one of the reasons nobody thought to pay attention to it. Another was that it was literally the smallest town in the Terran Empire, by population and area. It didn't have a spaceport for ships to dock in. Instead, they had to put the Guiding Star down in a cleared patch of dirt that the townspeople had cleared for such a purpose.

"Good afternoon, Princess," the middle-aged man that was guarding the lot called out casually. Most of the town's population, which hovered around 150, were familiar with Aria. During her school years she had visited Kokona Erasmus's home often. The two girls were best friends.

Dacia did look severely disappointed that they weren't at one of the big cities. The main road was unpaved and wasn't even named. In the main concentration of buildings, there was the town bar, the Red Dragon, that doubled as the town hall, a handful of small and medium sized houses, a small apartment building that doubled as a motel, the rundown train station with the tracks running east to west, Kokona's mechanic shop, and her brother Gabriel's medical clinic. Outside of this nucleus were farmhouses and barns with fields surrounding them growing various crops.

It took less that five minutes for the two girls to reach Kokona's shop. When they opened the door, a bell chimed, announcing their arrival. Aria had commanded her guards to stay on the ship because in such a small town, Dacia would be enough to keep her safe.

A black haired figure stood up from behind the counter, back still turned to the guests. "Who is it?" the figure asked.

"Kokona! It's me," Aria replied.

Aria's best friend turned around smiling. Kokona Erasmus had black hair, blue eyes, and pale skin that went well together. The top of her purple and grey jumpsuit was tied around her waist, revealing a white t-shirt underneath. She went up to her friend and hugged her.

"How 'have you been, Ria," she said.

Footsteps came from the direction of a door in the wall behind the counter Kokona was behind a few moments ago. Gabriel Erasmus, Kokona's older brother, emerged. Normally a person wouldn't place Kokona and Gabriel as siblings. Kokona looked more like her mother, who came from Osaka in the province of Japan, and Gabriel, with his brown eyes, brown hair, slightly tanned skin, and glasses, looked like their father, who had grown up in Bergerac, and eventually opened the clinic there that Gabriel now operated. Years ago, Kokona's mother had died of cancer, and shortly after Gabriel started working at the clinic, their father had died as well.

"Well, it's been rather confusing," Aria answered Kokona. "That's why I am here. I need to ask you for your help. Hello Gabriel."

"Hello, mademoiselle," the young doctor replied. "You need to ask my sister for something?"

"Actually, I would like to ask both of you for help," Aria clarified.

"Oh?"

"Why don't we go to the Red Dragon and talk?" .