"Armed Vessels approachng." Castle's voice echoed through the bridge. Boss's Crew became eerily silent as the forward view screens began having red triangles appear. There were so many directly ahead of us that it was just a blob of red along our flight path.

"Are they escorts?" I ask quickly, trying to seem calm.

"They are sending the escort transponder codes." Castle says again.

"Parade staff. Everyone get ready for a formation flight. Castle, I want you to broadcast that no one is to be within one kilometer of your hull in any direction, can you teleport the people inside the ship along with the ships themselves?"

"I can, what do you have in mind?"

"The first ship that gets within a kilometer, I want you to teleport to the empty mining claim; if you can."

"It would be a blind teleport, if the drift of the area has changed much then I may accedentally teleport them into the middle of an asteroid. I have current drift charts for Frejer, and her moons, I could do that; it would be the first time in at least a hundred years that a royal guard ship has been seen outside the Tal Oz Fortress Line."

I feel myself smile. "Sounds good to me; it should take them a while to return, and the ships around us wouldn't know where they went."

"I have enough energy to be able to transport about 600 of the approaching ships that far." she tells me.

"Only teleport them if they get within the one kilometer line." I answer to her. "Once the first ship disappears, they will move further away rather than pushing the boundry; but they will push the line as close as they can until then."

"Do I need to do anything?" Kat asks from the medical officer's bridge station.

"Right now no." Castle answers for me. "We have seven hours of formation flight ahead of us. Since we will be arriving at Tal Oz just over twelve hours from now, everyone should get some sleep. That includes you, Sweets."

"I don't think I could sleep right now."

Castle's body comes out of the chamber and walks toward me, her hand touches my mouth, and I remember nothing else until I awoke in the captain's quarters, not even knowing how much time had passed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Anyone else think they can't sleep?" Castle asks as soon as Sweets collapsed. "You will all need to look rested when this farce stops. leave the bridge." I don't think I have seen my crew move so fast before.

As I pass Castle to exit the bridge, she grabs my arm and turns to look at me. "Because of the parade staff, everyone's chances of surviving this has gone up, only slightly. And because of how fast they responded, I think we were expected. Be on your guard, we are completely in enemy territory."

"I am a salvager, not a soldier."

"You are a bad liar, your Grandfather was a Fleet Admiral last time I was active. The things he taught you will end up being more useful over the next few days than when you were on your little salvage ship. Everyone's quarters will have formal uniforms in them when they wake up; make sure they are worn."

"How do you know about Pappy?" I ask, then realize I am basically asking an independent information broker how they breath. she just grins at me, and lets me go.

"Everyone of your crew has roots in the war that marked me as sunk. Its rather easy to see what happens when families try to leave service. go get some sleep." she turns and picks Sweets up from the floor, and walks toward the captain's quarter's door.

When my ship was pulled aboard, we were all assigned quarters here on Castle, as I walked into the room I had been given, a white uniform of the personal guardsmen was hanging in front of my closet. I have no idea what half of the medals on the uniform were for, but the two gold bars under the stamped name plate I recognized quickly, each gold bar represents each generation of unbroken service to the royal family. With two gold bars, it means that my father's two years of service didn't go unnoticed, at least by Castle's research.

"Any questions?" I heard Castle's voice over the room's intercom.

"I have no idea what these medals are for, or even what they are." I tell her.

"The majority of them are the minimums for being able to stand in the presence of a member of the Royal Family, and not be required to kneel. Not even Candice's father would ask it of you, or any of your crew members. Two of the medals are for actions taken to protect her even when you didn't know who she was; I am guessing you know about the generation bars, you actually have the fewest of your crew; and the bars on the sleeve for sunk ships, well technically each seperate salvage job could be considered your crew permenantly sinking a ship."

"So we all look like war heros because of technicalities of the descriptions of all of these medals, and awards."

"Yep. I can't let you guys go in unprotected, and these uniforms, on top of nobody being able to tell you to do something aside from protecting Candice; they are actually rather intimidating, and even some of the palace guard will clear halways so as to not seem as though they might block your way."

"Seems like you are gearing up for war."

"I am." I can tell she is being dead serious. "And sadly I had to manipulate Candice in coming back; she doesn't need to be here for any of this; and I need to legally sell a whole bunch of ores."

"So she doesn't need to be here?"

"No; but, if she finds out, I think she would never trust me again. Now, as your crew's uniforms mark each of them a personal guard of her highness; there must always be at least one of your crew within arms length of her, even when she is with her mother; well especially in the presence of the queen. I would recomend Kat to be the one next to her during the first meeting with the Queen; and three guardsmen at any time, with at least one being a woman so she can have a guard even in the restrooms. The orders have to come from you, as Guard Captain, but I can give you a schedule, if you want, by the time you wake up that will work out."

"I would appreciate that." I tell her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Holo projectors all over the galaxy were broadcasting a royal parade for the past six hours; news announcers telling everyone what was going on, The Lost Princess had returned. The ship she was returning on was an elegant design, with no hard edges aside from the engines, and the heat sheilding protection around them. Every anouncer in every Holo was speculating on the origin of the ship, and as to wether or not a new shipyard had opened and designed this ship that was easily larger than the Royal Guard Battleships. Three hours in, when the Royal Guard Dreadnaught joined the parade; it was easily seen that the new ship was even larger than Ark.

A Dreadnaught class Royal Yacht.

Several pirate groups who were watching the Holos began hatching plans for stealing this massive new ship to add to their fleets. Suddenly a pink flash flaired through the hull of the new ship, and several of the escort ships disappeared from the scene, and the remaining ships took some distance from it; making it clear that this ship had a new weapon they hadn't seen before, making them want it all the more, at least until the news crews made an announcement that sent chills through their bones, making them want nothing to do with the ship.

The Princess had tamed a ghost ship, worse; this ship had just been publically been confirmed as the Butcher of Battle herself: Castle.