Avistra looked out the window of her palace, observing what little of the sky she could see from the island in the deep and wide fjord that the palace was nestled in. There was not a lot of visibility on top of that. After a while of antsy waiting, she at last spotted the lights from the elven-class carrier inbound and landing on the platform atop the palace.

"Dinia" she said to her servant who was nursing her newborn infant prince "take my baby to the nursery to finish feeding him. I don't want to disturb him."

"Yes your highness" she said leaving the room at once. The carrier landed on the pad right outside Avistra's door and out walked a tall, light-green-skinned reptilia who walked briskly to meet Avistra at the entrance.

"My lady" Strigwire said with a phony excitedness in his voice. "It's been too long. I was wondering if you had forgotten about our little pact." Avistra gave the lizard a visibly annoyed look.

"Our technicians had to be extra careful that Zardin's system was cleaned. And he still might pose a risk to us. Zardin says he doesn't know who rebuilt him, and even if he's telling the truth, we have to be very cautious."

"So you've had Zardin all these weeks and are no closer to finding out how to reactivate the talisman. I could've had some of the great technologists in the Night Lizard get the job done by now."

"It was quite challenging to do, even with all of the knowledge and files my technologists have on intellichines that you lizards don't have" Avistra replied sternly. Strigwire glared at Avistra. "Let's question him, shall we?" she asked putting her thumbprint on the wall, opening a door into bright room with several computer screens, a desk, and on top of the one of the tables was a silver, ellipsoid-shaped object on top of what looked like two stilt-like legs. Avistra stood up on a stool and flipped a switch on the ellipsoid part, and a few of the lights came on around the head.

"Can you hear me, Zardin?" Avistra asked.

"Yes, my lady. I am at your service" he said in a very robotic-sounding voice.

"At her service?" Strigwire remarked, acting like the robot had just cursed at him.

"Who is this lizard, my lady?"

"Zardin, this is the chief of the Fire Flower clan, Strigwire. His clan is a faithful servant of the goddess."

"As you should also be, Zardin" Strigwire growled.

"You are mistaken, lizard. I was created to serve the elven nobility" Zardin replied. Strigwire gave off a soft growl.

"Zardin" Avistra said. "Where is the talisman of the goddess now?"

"It is sealed away in the Floating Castle of Quildalar, I am almost certain. My lady would you mind telling me what the current date is? I think some of my most recent memories have been erased."

"How do we activate it?" Avistra asked, ignoring his question.

"I don't know the answer to that question. The Science and Technology Minister Geerhil Golmad did something to it. He would know how to reactivate it."

"I see. That is what I suspected. We will not be able get the talisman working again until I am the princess of the kingdom."

"Of course my lady" Strigwire said sarcastically. "Me and my clan would love nothing more than to get tied up in your battle for the throne." Avistra narrowed her eyes at him.

"You might not have noticed, lizard, but your Dragon Claw comrades created quite a mess here. They knew that we were in possession of the intellichines we took. I could stand here and try and pry from you the answer of how they knew they were here, but we're running out of time because not only does Turraski probably suspect you have Zardin, but Zorthia and Grand Admiral Gall probably suspects I do as well. I need you and you need me and there's no time for any doubt." Avistra turned toward Zardin. "Zardin, do you have any ideas of how we can overthrow Zorthia?"

"I can't do that, my lady" the robot said. "First of all, my memories end a good while ago and I wouldn't be making a decision based upon the most up-to-date information and the political state of the kingdom and royal forces. And second and more importantly, I am programmed to remain neutral in any battles for the throne within the kingdom. You're on your own."

"I thought as much" she said. "Luckily I have a plan of my own, but it will be a little, shall I say, messy."

"What is it?" Strigwire asked not seeming very eager or excited.

"You may or may not have heard of the R196 star system. It is a lifeless system located in the inner portion of the elven sector, only several hundred light years from Quildalar. It has a rather large star and is the primary site for neutrino and muon harvesting, gravitium production, and some major harvesting from gas giants. It's one of the key lifebloods of the elven armada. You will inform Lord Krall that you have found the location of this system by chance. Krall being the overly aggressive fool that he is, he'll attack it with or without Turraski's approval. Once they attack I will arrive with the ships from my fiefdom and…deal with them." Strigwire gave Avistra a surprised look.

"You want me to allow the Dragon Claw clan to fall into a trap and let you be the hero of the day" Strigwire asked.

"Yes" Avistra answered not even attempting to spin or sugar-coat the idea.

"And what if this doesn't work?" the lizard asked.

"Her power is hanging on by a thread. If we do this we will deal the final blow." Strigwire just stood silent for a moment, thinking.

"I'll do it" he said. "I've never much liked Lord Krall anyways."

"Excellent" Avistra said with a small grin on her face. "I will have the location of R196 and the SPG pathways put in your ship's computer." She and Strigwire walked out of the room.