"What have you told your men?"

"We've told them that we landed to pick up trusted allies," replied Stephano. "Most of them haven't seen you or those with you."

"You didn't tell them who I am?"

Stephano took his time answering this. "No, Your Majesty. To be frank, I don't see why they would believe me. I'm still not sure what I believe myself."

"I can swap bodies with you again if you like."

"No! No. That's fine. All I'm saying is I've decided to defer to your judgement regarding what to tell my men."

"I see," Victoria said. She and Captain Stephano were speaking in the captain's ready room off the bridge. It was cramped enough that those two alone had their knees bumping together. Add in Stephano's executive officer Rivera and High Exemplar Bishop, and the meeting was practically a telephone booth stuffing. Real-estate on a supersonic high-altitude vessel was expensive, and the ready room was only meant as a place for the captain to take calls or work privately.

As such, Winnie was not invited, not that it stopped her from listening in. Victoria's first rule went out the window the moment Winnie learned Victoria's plans for her daughter. She listened from her assigned rack. It used to belong to one of the marines who'd died on the Capital Tower, which put Winnie sleeping in the midst of a dozen men. Uncomfortable, but the men left her alone after she showed them her exemplar ID.

"We will tell the men," Victoria said. "Bishop tells me that even they have those blasted hacked plaques. They'll find out sooner rather than later. Let's not let rumor complicate things."

"They may not believe it?" Rivera said.

"They will. Don't you two believe I'm the queen?"

"Yes," Stephano said, "but we've been working closely with High Exemplar Bishop. It was good enough for me when he vouched for you. The crew don't know him that well."

"We will convince them all the same. We can't expect them to act against the empire without knowing they're on the correct side. They need to know that the current queen is not their ruler."

"And who is this imposter, ma'am?" Stephano asked. "Sakhr, right? Bishop tells me he was someone you kept captive in the body of a tortoise, along with others."

Victoria leveled a gaze at Bishop.

Bishop shrugged sheepishly. "I thought you were dead, Your Majesty."

"He didn't tell us enough," Stephano added. "We've been trying to formulate a plan against this person, but he's a complete unknown. What can you tell us about him?"

"He's a two thousand year old flair."

"...I see."

"He was Nubian, captured at a young age by slavers and sent to Egypt, where he spent years in servitude before discovering his power. Since then, he's been wandering the earth collecting others like him. He's careful. He's paranoid, and he doesn't like to take chances. At all."

"Ah. Hmm. And he... if he's in your daughter's body, your daughter is..."

"A hostage."

"So alive then?"

"Yes."

Stephano nodded. "That complicates things." Winnie wondered if he was taking it at face value. If he dwelled on it, he'd come to the troublesome question of: why let your daughter inherit your throne if you can live forever. If he had, he wasn't asking, just as Victoria hadn't volunteered the part where she started the war that caused all these problems in the first place.

"What plans did you have before I contacted you?" Victoria asked.

"We didn't have much of a plan until recently. I believe these hacked plaques represent an opportunity. If we can get our hands on them, we'd be able to communicate the truth about Sakhr to others. Because of the mind reading, there wouldn't be any doubt as to the veracity of our claims."

"You would have told the world about Sakhr and body swapping?" She looked at Bishop. "And you went along with this?"

"I thought you were dead."

"I take it these are not secrets you wish divulged?" Stephano asked.

"Not unless absolutely necessary."

"I understand, ma'am. Do you have a plan?"

"Yes, but we'll need to pick up a few more people."

"That'll be a risk," Rivera said. "Every time we land this craft, the empire might intercept us. As long as we stay at maximum speed up here, they can't touch us. Is it possible for us to contact these other parties remotely? We have access to satellite internet. It's spotty, but it'll work. The empire can't take that away from us."

"No. These people I need to see in person. It will be a long overdue meeting."