The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era

OKAY, just what kind of wizardry was this? – Slade thought as he was staring at the captain's ear tip that was now turning bright red.  He turned to the one who caused it – Astrid Townsend. 

The teenager was looking at the captain with interest and amusement in those pretty eyes.  And all Slade could think of was, 'this kid definitely knows what he's doing'.  He turned his gaze back to the captain and thought, 'Captain, you're probably in some deep shit'.

And he wondered just how much the captain understood that.  Or maybe for the captain, this was not 'shit' but a pool of rainbow-colored mud instead.  And the other was very willing to swim and dive in it.

Reas also saw the general's reaction.  But only a slight creased appeared on his forehead.  He even felt only slightly bit irritated.  Which was a huge leap to what he would have felt if the past week didn't happen.  But no matter how slight, it was still irritating nonetheless.

Just like what Slade saw, Astrid was indeed amused by Wulfric's reaction.  But not in a bad way, but in a very good way instead.  Because he thought that the other was really adorable at this moment.  Who would have thought, right? 

But as much as he wanted to follow that up with a little bit of teasing, there's much more important things that needed to be handled right now.

"The person they're planning to kidnap and kill is sitting unconscious at the backseat of the car right now," he started.  "I was hoping that Your Highness could handle this case.  I know it's presumptuous of me to ask this, but I really don't know who else I could ask for help for something like this.  Your Highness was the first person who came to my mind.  And so, I'm here, bothering you like this."

"What are you saying?  You're definitely no bother," Wulfric quickly said.  Although there's nothing that could be clearly seen on his face, he was pretty pleased inside.  The words 'first person who came to my mind' kept repeating inside his head.  And it just made him so… happy.  "Helping you is something that I should do as a member of this Empire's law enforcement."

Astrid smiled.  "Thank you, Your Highness."

Wulfric waved his hand as if saying that it was nothing.  "I take it, you don't know the victim?"

Astrid shook his head.  "No, today was the first time I've seen him.  Would this affect anything?"

"No, I just asked to make sure."  Wulfric then turned to Slade.  "Go and take this car back to the army base.  Put the two low lives in prison, interrogate them once they woke up.  Then, let a doctor take a look at the victim, just to make sure.  Once he regained consciousness, tell him what happened and ask him why he was targeted."

Slade had a lot of things to say.  But he kept it in.  Because from the expression of the captain right now, if he questioned his decision, he would definitely be thrown in a training room with the other and had his ass kicked.  So, he could only say at the end;

"Roger that."

"And make sure not to mention Aster's involvement in this matter," Wulfric added.

Slade only gave a salute. 

"Here's the key," Astrid said, giving the car's key to the red-head captain.

Slade took it.  He walked to the driver's seat and opened the door.  He was about to go in when he thought of something.  He turned to the teenager and asked, "How did you knock out the two guys?"

Astrid looked a bit surprised by his question before giving him a mysterious smile and saying, "I could tell you, Captain, but then I'd have to kill you."

Slade stopped for a moment and then laughed.  "Then, I'd rather not know."

He finally went inside the car.  And as he sat at the driver's seat, he finally understood a little what got the captain so fascinated. 

He shook his head and just entered the address of the military base on the car's GPS system, letting it drive on auto-pilot.  The car slowly floated up and then flew to the direction of the military base.

He took that time to look back and observed his unconscious passenger.  He was slightly surprised to see another pretty teenager.  But unlike Astrid's beauty that was brilliantly shining, this one looked more like a sculpture – cold and almost surreal.  He wondered who wanted this kid dead. 

He took back his gaze, since the captain gave him a job, he might as well do it properly.  Although it would probably be better for Leland to be in-charge. He's better than him at this kind of situation.  But the other took a leave for the day to spend time with his younger brother. 

He couldn't let Hildred or Edmund handled this for obvious reasons.  So, it's up to him.  He sighed and just opened his Terminal to contact some personnel in their army and tell them to prepare what needed to be prepared.  That way, he could immediately start with the interrogation once they arrived at the base.

The three, who was left at the parking lot, watched the car flew away.

"Your Highness, thank you for not letting my involvement in this be known," Astrid said after a while. 

He was actually just about to ask the other for that, he didn't expect that Wulfric would suggest it first.

"Well, your career is only just starting.  It would be bad if something like this was suddenly linked to you. Some people might spin it in a negative manner.  I don't want that to happen.  Especially when you're only starting to gain fans," Wulfric said.

Astrid was momentarily surprised hearing that.  Then, he smiled and said, "How did Your Highness know that I have fans?"

Wulfric quickly glanced away, feeling like his secret had been exposed or something.  He scratched his cheek and answered in a very awkward manner, "I saw you trending on [Cyberspace]."

Astrid's smile deepened upon hearing that answer.  "Oh?  I didn't know Your Highness actually frequent such social media site.  What's Your Highness' username?"