Rigel Rising

Stage 19- Lonely Port

"This country really is something else, eh, Rae?"

I looked at my companion, who is staring at the vast blue seas off the shore of the white sand beach where countless vacationers from all nations are just enjoying themselves.

"I agree. The way it brings together people regardless of who they are and where they are from is something else," I agreed as I stretched my arms and smiled a little, "Well, I guess no matter who you are or what your country is, you will appreciate this country and leave all the stress and problems you might have back home and just escape from it all."

He nodded and suddenly looked sad, "Escape it all, huh? Come to think of it, I am just escaping from my problems myself."

"Tempus?"

"Soon, I will have to return to active service. Staying here and waiting for something to appear out of thin air is counterproductive. Our detachment is needed somewhere else. Probably near the frontlines or something."

"Well, everything must end," I replied quietly as I looked at the tropical birds flying away to the vast skies above, "Good times are only good while it lasts. Sooner or later, we have to return to our respective lives and continue doing what we have to do."

He looked at me and smiled, "You speak like you have something to do as hard as a soldier like me to do."

"Do I now? Well, I guess there is. After all, I have to work again with my aunts, and that is something I dread so much," I said rather truthfully since once Candice and Cailee begins working at total capacity in the Rigel, I will have to as well, "Besides, that's just the nature of vacations, right? You will enjoy something fleeting and ephemeral, and then soon enough, it's all gone, and you are left with reality once again."

Tempus nodded and put his arm on my shoulders, "Actually, I have been thinking of something. Why not immigrate to the empire, Rae? You can bring your aunts with you."

"Why?"

"Soon enough, the mainland of Regeinland will be invaded in earnest by Veralia. I don't want you to be caught up in the fighting if I can help it," he answered thoughtfully as he looked at me pleadingly, "You have a better chance of survival in my homeland than in your country. It will only be a matter of time before your whole nation becomes engulfed in the flames of war."

I shook my head and smiled sadly, "I can't. Even if our lives will be in danger, Regeinland is my home. You can't just turn your back from it if you are in my position."

"If something bad happens, we may never meet again, Rae..."

I heaved a sigh and shrugged my shoulders, "Well, that's life. If that's the case, then I am afraid my time's up. Besides, I believe that if it's your time to die, no matter where you are, no matter where you hide, death will come for you anyways."

"Now that's something that I wouldn't want to hear coming from you," he replied ominously, and I just chuckled a little, "Anyways, any day next week, I will have to leave."

"Bon voyage then, Tempus," I said jokingly that made him frown.

"Now that's just plain mean, Rae. And here I thought we have some connection."

I shook my head and smiled at him, "Nah, don't bother speaking about it, Tempus. I think it's better if we talk about that once we meet again. Once this waking nightmare of a war is over, if we are both still alive by the end of it, that is."

"I am sure we will both survive to meet again, Rae," he said earnestly, and I nodded in agreement, "But tell me, if we do meet again, can we stay together permanently?"

"Why not, Tempus? Maybe we can live here?" I asked nonchalantly as I looked at the tiny houses lining up the beautiful beaches of the principality, "Personally, I don't mind settling down here. This place is really a paradise on Gearth."

He nodded slowly as he smiled sweetly at me, "Everything seemed so far away here. All the problems, the pain of living in reality. Everything is just like a dream, and who wouldn't want to live in a dream where you will never have to wake up forever."

Before I can even answer, a uniformed soldier from the empire appeared in front of us and saluted at Tempus, "Sir, we have an immediate order from the headquarters. We have to prepare for departure at once. Details to follow!"

"Acknowledged," my companion quickly answered as he stood up and looked back at me, "Welp, I guess there go our plans for next week."

"That's life, Tempus," I answered simply as I smiled sadly at him.

"I'll never forget what you said, Rae. Let's meet again here once this is all over and never leave."

I nodded quickly and waved him goodbye, "I will wait for that day again, Tempus. See you again..."

-0-

"How about this, Aria dear? Very risque!"

"Oh, no. I wouldn't be called alive wearing those Candy!"

"I think Tres wouldn't be alive after he saw you wearing that, Mariana."

"That's actually accurate, Cai."

"Now, now guys and gals, why don't we try out this delectable street food of Baldur instead?"

"You are gaining more weight than Candice ever since we came here, Red. Forgetting your daily exercise, eh?"

"Ouch, Cai, that's below the belt! I will have you know that I completely forgot about fitness when I tasted the principality's delicacy! Sorry, not sorry!"

"Speaking of gaining weight, I think I would have to ask Aria dear here to adjust most of my skirts. They are bursting at the seams."

"No offense, Candy, but I will destroy the garter and buttons if I adjust it any further. I highly advise that you buy brand new ones instead and accept the truth."

"Ouch! That's rather harsh coming from you!"

"Well, I couldn't stomach trying to save her skirts anymore when her waistline keeps on expanding, Tres."

"Okay, next stop, the department store!"

"Wait, where's Rae?"

"Behind you, Red."

"Oh, jeez! I thought we lost you again! You are so quiet. I thought you wandered off again!"

I blinked at our helmsman and smiled lopsidedly, "Oh, sorry, I am just lost in thoughts."

"Now, now, everyone. It is not nice to pick on Rae like that. We must be here to support him in these trying times of his sacred right of passage to the miserable life of adulthood," my executive officer said solemnly, and our communications officer nodded quickly in agreement.

"True. Nothing hurts like the first time being brokenhearted."

"Brokenhearted and scattered to pieces, Aria," Cai followed as she looks at me sadly, "It also happened so suddenly. I can barely imagine the pain."

Our maintenance officer sighed and shook his head, "And it's a forbidden affair no less. Nothing more painful than that, eh, Red?"

"Exactly, Tres. Nothing hurts more than yearning for someone you can never have. Legally at least..."

I put my foot down and decided to stop them all from teasing me, "Can you all just give me a break? Leave me alone!"

"Fine, fine, we will leave you alone. No need to shout, Rae," Candice said as she shooed away the sighing bridge crew members away with Cailee on the lead, "Just give us a holler if you wanted to go back home already. Okay?"

I nodded and looked down, "Thank you."

"I highly advise that you take into heart the common saying of the natives here, Rae," she said quietly as she lifted my head up, and I saw her smiling sadly at me, "What happens in Baldur stays in Baldur."

-0-

"Well, well, well, look who decided to show up."

"Come now, Candice, don't be like that," Cailee beseeched her elder sister as we all bowed respectfully at the Crown Princess of the Principality of Baldur who arrived while being flanked by a dozen of heavily armed soldiers from the Principal Guardian itself, "An endless honor to meet you once again, Your Serene Highness."

She raised an eyebrow and shook her head, "It sounds really odd to hear you speak like that to me, Cailee. And here I thought we are very close during my time at the Rigel."

"Unlike Candice here, I know where my place is, Your Highness, and that is beneath you," my weapons officer said respectfully before curtsying, "What brings you here if I am allowed to ask?"

Our previous cosmo armor pilot then looked at the gleaming and fully repaired Rigel and smiled mischievously, "Funny you should ask, Cailee. I am actually here to bribe our captain here."

"Bribe me?" I asked in surprise as she inclined her head in my direction.

"I am told by our government that since you all know now my true identity, even if I am a high-ranking royal officer, I can no longer force my way to join your crew again, Caerus."

"Why are you even a Regainlander in the first place anyways when you are a Baldurian?" Trey asked curiously as the princess took a deep breath and sighed.

"Only half. My father was from the kingdom. It's too boring here at the principality, so I decided to enlist in the military of your nation with the blessing of the queen herself, who is a close friend of my mother under the condition that I will assume a disguise and the rest is history."

Drew nodded slowly, "Okay, now that clears up half of it. Next question, why do you still want to join us? You know full well that once we get out of your territorial waters, we will be facing death repeatedly again."

"Just the way I like it, Drew. My people said that I may have inherited the looks of my Baldurian mother, but deep inside, I am a Regainlander through and through," her eyes gleamed mischievously as she looked at her beloved and trusted cosmo armor Ballsgrasper being unloaded from a maintenance truck just outside the cargo hatch of the Rigel, "I relish the thrill of flying and battle. Maybe because my father was once a pilot himself back then. Anyways, back to the main topic. If I want to board your ship again, I have to ask the permission of the captain, which I am sure Caerus will never give."

I quickly nodded in agreement, "The heck, I will allow someone of your position in Rigel. Even if you fought alongside us back then, for which I am eternally grateful, I will not tolerate your presence inside my ship knowing full well that an entire nation will be after my life or corpse if something happened to you under my watch."

"And that's the reason why I didn't arrive here empty-handed," she then raised her right hand and pointed at the hanging cranes above the Rigel, and we all gasped in shock when we saw what they are holding, "If you allow me, Kenji "Justice" Koslov back at your ship, they will all be yours, Caerus. What do you say?"

I am so surprised I didn't even manage to answer her straightaway.

Four brand new Clowder Gravity Boosters are hanging above my ship, ready to be installed at a moment's notice, "How can you have something like that here in the principality?"

"Oh, let me answer that, Caerus," a woman wearing a familiar grease-covered maintenance uniform appeared suddenly beside me and, together with my bridge crew, gaze upon what we thought we lost forever, "It's only natural that we have something like that lying around here, after all, Rigel was born here."

To our surprise, she pointed at her head and winked at us.