Chapter Text
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Aja couldn’t sleep, she felt herself toss and turn in her stasis pod before letting out a groan of annoyance and opening the chamber. She should have been exhausted, she spent most of the day running from Mama and Papa, from her ‘responsibilities’. They’d woken her up and explained they planned to have her meet a marriage candidate later that day, some rich guy whose family owned a successful company, they’d made deals with the Tarrons in the past.
As soon as they left her room to let her change into something nice for the meeting, she grabbed her hoverboard and cloak, jumping out the window into the city. Trying to hide her second set of arms under the cloak had been hard, but the people in the capital were used to her shenanigans and mostly ignored any slip-ups. It had been a fun day, ignoring the marriage stuff, she bet on some skeltag fights and played a few games with some of the students from a public school.
The only thing she hadn’t done was practice her hoverboarding at a skate park. Unfortunately her Mama and Papa caught her near the end of the day and berated her about ‘ignoring’ her responsibility as a Princess. It was a stupid spiel, one she had heard before, so she spent most of the time nodding and ignoring them.
That's how she got here, the second moon already half way across the sky, and still wide awake. Her mind drifted off to the missed hoverboarding practice, there was a new trick she’d been wanting to try. As she sat up looking around her room, her serrator lay on the table next to the stasis bed, a couple posters hung around her room, but her hoverboard was nowhere to be found. Mama and Papa confiscated it, metaphorically and literally grounding her. It was most definitely in the parking bay but if she wanted to get it she would need to go past her parents room, and they were not heavy sleepers.
As she debated her next step she looked down to see her leg bouncing, she was so bored, it was worth the risk if Mama and Papa caught her. Grabbing her serrator as a shield in case she was mistaken as an intruder sneaking around at night, she approached the room to her door, watching as it silently slid open. As if in a spy movie she clung to the sides of the walls as she got closer and closer to the end of the hallway where her parents room was and towards the opening where the rest of the house lay. As she looked towards the room she was surprised to see their door slightly ajar and the light on. That would definitely make things harder, she thought as she crept closer, close enough to make out mumbles of a conversation inside. She planned to make a run for it, hoping they wouldn’t see her shadow through the light, but paused when she heard her name.
“–Aja is never going to agree with this! You know how she is, all she wants to do is mess around, no work, all play.” The tail end of her mother’s words caught her attention.
“That is why she isn’t going to find out.” Her father replied.
“How, there is no possible way we can make her Queen in Waiting without the ceremony! It is quite the obvious festival.” Mama asked, annoyed.
“Of course we can’t hide the ceremony itself, but if we don’t tell her ahead of time and say we're going to a family bonding activity of some sort, she won't have the time to run away when she realizes what the ‘bonding activity’ is.” He explained.
Aja felt her mouth drop open slightly, brows furrowing, they were going to force her to do something she didn’t want, something as important as sentencing her to a life as a queen till her core finally crumbled. She was outraged. They know I don’t want this, this life, I am a warrior, not some royal who sits on their butt all day dealing with mindless political drama!
After a beat of silence her mother responded, “It feels cruel, not giving her a choice about something this important.” Aja felt hope for a moment, then, “But I understand she needs to grow up, she is not a child anymore, she is almost of age. She is old enough to understand the weight and power we must carry as royalty. And I don’t know how Akiridion-5 would do without a ruler.”
How stupid! It is not like I am their only child, just because I am the eldest does not mean Krel could not be a leader. A great leader even, he is always messing around with tech and nerd things, being a leader is right up his alley. Aja bitterly thought. It was annoying how her parents never thought about what she wanted. But.. their plan’s never going to work now, I already know what’s coming! She had a moment of triumph at this thought before her face fell. This was never something that would go away, even if she ran away then, they would find her and try again until she finally gave in and became queen in waiting. Not if Krel became king in waiting first, then the pressure on her would lessen. But how? Her mind was brought back to running away. That was it!
If she ran away from the planet, they would not be able to find her, Krel could go through the ceremony and then she would come back. Suddenly her trip to the parking bay made her feel more nervous than before. She could run away tonight. Her grip on the serrator in her hands tightened, she could still hear her parents talking, but her mind raced too much to make out anything but mumbles. She already knew what she was going to do. Quickly, she moved from her place next to their door, making it across without them noticing. Her pace quickened, half running half walking she slipped through the house till she arrived at the bay. After entering a code, the giant door opened upwards revealing a menagerie of various ships, large and small, old and new, and in the corner her hoverboard.
She walked over picking it up and looking at the various ships, a V-Stryker, the Mothership, both too large and bulky, they would definitely be noticed. There, a small ship, an escape pod sat near where her hoverboard was kept. On the side of the ship she read its name, the 8R-0. Opening its door she looked at the controls. It was perfect, small but fast, self driving, light speed capabilities, and best of all could be cloaked to avoid detection. Booting it up the controls were basked in light, and it began to hover. She grabbed the steering handle and flew it towards the exit which opened automatically, sensing her ship. Then she headed towards the sky where the shield encompassing all of the planet stood. She made a small tear in the shield, just small enough for her to get through.
It was marvelous, space, her eyes were used to the harsh tones of blue and the occasional green on Akiridion-5, and it had been years since Mama and Papa took her and Krel off planet. The beautiful purples, blues, reds, even yellows were painted across the sky in a spiral of colors, as she took in the sight, she failed to notice the larger ship next to her, one basked in red light, and had yet to close the tear in the shield. It wasn’t until the pod rocked, throwing her odd balance, blasts from the ship hitting the cold metal, did she look. Turning towards the source of the attack, she saw inside the ship, sitting at the controls coldly looking straight at her was General Morando.
She froze in fear, her parents definitely had not learned of his escape from banishment or she would have known of it too. She scrambled to grab the controls and dodge the blasts still coming towards her, but her hesitation had been a moment too long and once again blasts hit the pod, one hitting the motion sensors on the outside of the ship meant for self driving, and another breaking the glass at the front, aiming straight at her core. It hit, she absorbed the blast, and felt her physical body glitch in pain as she began to power down. Stumbling she tried to steady herself, hands hitting various buttons on the panel then suddenly the ship lurched, not due to damage, but forwards, using the last of her strength she held on as the pod shot forward into the unknown at the speed of light. The last thing she saw before space blurred around her and she slipped into unconsciousness was General Morando’s ship approaching the tear in the shield she had created and hadn’t had time to close.
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