Diado handed Veta her robe, almost throwing the ornate cloak at her. “Here,” he said.
She raised her eyebrow and accepted. She slipped on the robe and pulled the headpiece over her head. It caught on one of her braids, and she had to make some adjustments to keep it all covered. The heavy red robe felt foreign to her—she could count on only one hand the number of times she’d had to dress so formally for any mission.
They left the room, Veta in front of the ladies. Diado led the procession out of the suite.
Veta did not like this protocol of them having to be paraded around the ship. It seemed foolish. The servant kept glancing back at them as they went, and Veta kept her face as mean as possible.
Fortunately, the Imperial Princesses remained behind her, and the rest of the group behind them, so no one saw the glares she gave Diado.
Finally, he quit turning back to look and stalked off.
Good riddance,Veta thought. The only sounds now, aside from the soft hum of the ship’s engines, was the sound of their shoes on the hard floor.
“Anyone else feeling like we’ve been let behind the curtain?” Freya broke the silence.
Veta smiled. “Sort of.”
“This is a historic moment,” Bianca said. “We are the first Terrans behind their protection.”
"Mother was behind it," Caoimhe said.
"The shield wasn't active then. It was raised later," Bianca said. "After the fighting began in earnest."
The hall they walked down had an open side, allowing them all to see the planets. Rather, the resource-rich moons of Sol. Moons that orbited the huge gas giant.
The solar system, located on the edge of the Terran Empire, was in the process of being annexed by the Terrans.
Before the Rhimodians came and stole it for themselves.
Even from the ship, Veta could see the wealth in this system.
Even though flying too close to see all five moons, out this window, they could see three. One was the main settlement, Sol-3, the other two, one was green and lush with vegetation. The furthest one, and it seemed further away from the planet, looked to be white, befitting a more frozen environment.
Outside, smaller escort ships were moving around their ship. Some were Terran. Some Rhimodian.
The Rhimodian ships, though, had something the Terran ones did not.
The ships themselves seemed to transform, right before them. Wings pulling in, and adjusting the angles, even the length of the ship transforming to conform as they came into line.
"It's like a magic show, watching the way they move," Freya said.
The ships, especially the Rhimodian ships, had a unity to their movements that the Terran ships didn't. Transformable, they were known in battle to literally come together into one, make a singular attack ship, and then break apart to pick off anything left.
“So maybe we are behind a curtain,” Caoimhe said. "Maybe we will get to see their magic."
“A curtain that’s getting thinner and thinner,” Eleanor added.
“Hopefully, that curtain will stay open after this,” Caoimhe said.
“Maybe,” Veta said.
They remained quiet, contemplating for a moment.
Veta turned and expected to see Diado coming to yell at them to get moving. At this point, she was not against using her new weapon to wound him enough to shut him up.
“Are all the worlds so different?” Freya asked after a moment.
“Yes. Each one of the moons is resource-rich ecosystem. What we cannot see is the moon that is more mountains and rock, and there is another that is almost entirely water.” Bianca stated.
