Copyright J.B. Norman
Sitting at the bar of the Hotel Bezlotek, Kraken Special Squadron Operative Asiago glances over and blinks in disbelief as a woman with a dark ponytail, a ginger kid, and a strangely familiar Alvaraean woman walk past towards the main door of the Hotel.
“Hey,” he asks, nudging the member of his fireteam seated beside him. “Isn’t that the Princess we’re supposed to be looking for?”
His companion queues up a hologram from his wrist communicator. “I mean, I’m sure there are plenty of blonde Alvaraeans, but it sure looks like her.”
“No, that’s definitely her,” Asiago says, pointing to the hologram. “That’s the exact same necklace she’s wearing.”
“Okay,” his teammate says. “What do we do now? Should we just jump them.”
“No. That didn’t go so hot for Colby and Gruyere back on the Ring. She does some kind of Space-Magic,” Asiago says. “So… you, like, follow them and keep reporting in — but, like, don’t look like you’re trying to follow them. I’ll go tell the Lieutenant.”
“Right,” his teammate says. “They won’t see me coming.”
He pulls out the cutting edge of camouflage technology: a pair of glasses with a fake nose and moustache and puts them on before slinking away after Amarantha, Kathryn, and Dunstella.
Asiago downs the remnants of his drink bolts from the bar towards the elevator.
“Quack!” the Penguinian bartender indignantly calls after him.
“Oh, sorry,” he calls back, pressing a button on his wrist communicator to transfer the payment for his drink.
“Quack!”
“Oh, yeah. Tip.” He presses the button again to transfer over a tip.
Asiago runs back to the conference room the Kraken Special Squadron has booked to plan out their operations on Ledu. As he bursts through the door, the Squadron’s First Lieutenant Crem looks up at him.
“Lieutenant! Lieutenant!”
She wearily rubs the bridge of her nose. “I keep telling you,” the Lieutenant sighs in her Syntaxian accent. “It’s leff-tenant. In this Squadron, we speak His Majesty the King of Syntax IV’s Galactic Standard.”
“Sorry, um, Leff-tentant,” Asiago continues. “But it’s her! The Alvaraean Princess! She just walked by with a couple friends.”
“She’s here?” Crem asks.
“Yes, Lieu… Leff-tenant,” Asiago continues. “I’ve got Slyce tailing them and reporting in.”
“Excellent work, Asiago,” First Lieutenant Crem says. “Tell Slyce to deliver his reports directly to me as he tails them. In the meantime, put Fireteams 1,2, and 3 on alert. I want them to move as soon as we have something concrete to act on.”
First Lieutenant makes a few additions to the holographic mission brief she’s working and a smiles crosses her face.
“She’s not getting away from us this time,” she mutters. “The Kraken Special Squadron always gets the job done.”
She frowns.
“Well, except that first time on the Ring…”
“Um, Leff-tenant?” Asiago asks.
“Yes, Operative Asiago?”
“So, I was in a bit of a hurry and all, but I tipped the bartender 15%? Is that the right amount.”
“Yes, Operative Asiago,” First Lieutenant Crem ansers. “15% is the standard rate for tipping in this Sector.”
Now, in His Majesty’s English, it is, in fact, pronounced “leff-tenant.”
Also, while the Kraken Special Squad isn’t necessarily based on the Ginyu Force, the name definitely is — the original in Japanese is “Ginyu Tokusentai” which literally means “Ginyu Special Squad.” So, based on that, I’ve followed Akira Toriyama’s example and named them after kinds of cheese.
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