Meanwhile,

    "Father this is absurd, I am heir to the throne. I deserve every right to be at whatever secret meeting you are heading to." The first prince was as usual being a nuisance. He had learned about the meeting only earlier today and that was because the emperor had to arrange for a landing zone within the place to be reserved for the ship that would be arriving to take him off planet.

    The emperor was currently sitting on his throne in the throne room. He had just finished with a budgetary meeting. There was a gap between the budget meeting and the arranged pickup time so he decided to oblige his son''s request for a meeting. His daughter had come to watch the fireworks when she learned what her brother was going to ask about. If the emperor had known what his son would be asking about he would have never accepted the meeting in the first place.

    "Son, it is a pleasure to see you as well. How can I help you this fine morning?" The emperor asked delight in the prince''s expression turning a bright shade of red. He glanced over and saw his daughter, the princess, was smiling in a similar expression as him enjoying the show. Perhaps she inherited that habit of reveling in another person''s stupidity. Was that hereditary? Or maybe just a habit that was built up from watching her father.

    "Father! This is serious. You are leaving the planet for a secret meeting that none of the nobles know about! Where are you going? Why was I not asked to come along?" The prince demanded in an annoyed tone that cracked somewhere in the middle.

    The emperor had to quietly bite his lip to keep from laughing. While out of the corner of his eye he saw his daughter quitely chuckle at her brother''s despair. Hiding it behind a hand like any proper noble lady would.

    "Daughter of mine, how about you? Do you wish to accompany me to this supposedly secret meeting that I am going to?" The emperor asked, drawing his son''s attention to his daughter who quickly composed herself. He was regretting not being a bit more discreet but it was part of the plan that they were noticed and watched ahead of time.

    "Not particularly father, although if it was a business meeting I would like to go. You do know how much I enjoy good business meetings." His daughter joyfully responded. Pressing the knife into the wound about the prince''s lack of business acumen while the princess had forgered her own faction using her talent for business.

    "Hmm…" The emperor made a show of thinking for a second. "Then no, I do not think you would enjoy this meeting. It is just a very boring and standard treaty talk with the federation. I doubt it will amount to anything. But I am planning to visit my concubine on the way back." The emperor nodded as he explained.

    "Then I will definitely pass." The princess smiled, "give aunty Fenrir my regards though. I would love to see her and talk about trade blockade fleets again." Sёarch* The n?vel_Fire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The emperor smiled and then looked at the prince who was only getting even redder in the face. He looked like a tomato that was about to burst. "My son, how about you? Do you wish to accompany me?"

    "Yes!" The prince yelled with enthusiasm.

    The emperor nodded, "then you should at least be as adept as one of my guards. So you can spar with one of them when they arrive." Almost as if he timed it, the throne room doors opened and two lines of ten people walked in.

    All of them were armored in the latest infantry armor version from the Echo System. It was two generations ahead of anything the military had currently in use. The armor was all in a green and black combination that would make them hidden among most forested terrain. On their right arm there was a pauldron with a symbol. The symbol was of a wolf head that was half dead and half alive, like it was in a zombie state.

    There were four at the front who were different. They had a white pauldron and white helmet. One of them stepped forward and saluted the emperor, completely ignoring the prince and princess.

    "Your majesty, we have arrived to escort you." The voice coming from the soldier was female and young from the sound of it.

    The emperor went to speak but was beaten to the punch when the prince finally snapped in anger. He really had a short fuse.

    "What about me? You come in here and just ignore me. What is your rank? And where did you get that armor?" The prince demanded while yelling in anger.

    The soldier looked at the prince for a moment before turning back to the emperor. "Whose tomato is this?" The emperor burst into laughter of the loud and raucous variety while the princess quite literally dropped her teacup in surprise, shattering it on the ground.

    "I AM THE FIRST PRINCE OF THIS EMPIRE AND YOU WILL SHOW ME THE RESPECT AND ADMIRATION THAT MY POSITION HAS! NOW KNEEL!" The prince practically screamed in anger.

    "No." The soldier answered while turning to the prince and stepping toward him. "You may be the prince but you are not part of the military. So you hold no control over me. If you demand something from me again, I will break your nose." She answered in a chillingly calm tone.

    Maybe as the emperor he should stop the girl before she kills his son.

    The prince growled and backed up a step recognizing her lack of fear. He turned to the entrance of the throne room. "GUARDS! ARREST THESE UNLOYAL INGRATES!" The room was flooded with imperial guards most of which were loyal only to the prince.

    The imperial guards pointed their weapons at the Shock Troopers. The Shock Troopers pulled out weapons that were a number of generations ahead of anything the imperial guards had. The emperor sighed but then had to restrain his laughter again as the soldier stepped forward and grabbed the prince by the collar.

    CRACK!

    She headbutted the prince causing him to fall unconscious. Blood smeared his face as his body fell to the ground. While her pristine white helmet now had a splash of color on it. She turned back to the emperor and saluted again.

    "Your majesty, I will remind you that we are on a timetable. As much fun as it would be to slaughter every imperial guard in the palace, it would take up far too much time." The female Spectre pointed out.

    "That''s the issue you have?" The princess was holding her stomach from how much she was laughing. "What a riot? Dad, you should have told me you had such a fun unit of soldiers."

    The emperor chuckled as he stood up and removed the royal robes revealing the armor he was wearing underneath the heavy robes he wore over his clothes when he was on the throne. He tossed the robe onto the chair and grabbed his helmet from the side table next to the throne. "Okay, let''s go. Imperial guards stand down and drag my dullard of a son to his room." The emperor then turned to the princess. "Do not tease your brother too much about his ineptitude. But do make sure this does not cause any issues in my absence."

    The princess stood up and bowed as the emperor walked out of the throne room while putting on his helmet. "Yes, your majesty."

    The emperor walked past the confused imperial guards with the shock troopers marching around him as a protective detail. They walked right to the front entrance past many onlookers and nobles who had come to the palace to do business or their job.

    In front of the entrance was an open courtyard that was usually open and unreserved since it was used for emergency ship landings. But the emperor had the spot kept unoccupied ahead of time for the spaceship that would be transporting him. But now it was occupied by a small ship that was twice as big as a military transport ship. Around it standing on guard were the rest of the shock troopers that would be going with them.

    The transport itself was the latest in space ship manufacturing coming out of the Echo System. Instead of flap wings it had two curved wings that wrapped around to connect to both the bottom and top of the transport with an empty center area between them. It had a long body with a pilot''s cabin in the front for a pilot and copilot. The rear area was the troop transport area with a ramp leading and out of the ship being the entrance or exit to the ship.

    The emperor proudly walked up and took a seat deeper in the ship near the pilots while the shock troopers moved into the ship as well, quickly taking their seats as the rear ramp closed.

    "You seem rather chipper, your majesty." The same female soldier from before pointed out. As she and the other white helmets sat near him.

    The emperor shrugged happily, "She slipped up and called me Dad."