Dead Star Dockyards

Petunia started shaking ever so slightly once Diana yielded the floor to her. She hadn't forgotten the questions she wanted to ask the Terrans over the course of their interrogation, she just hadn't expected to be thrust into this position so quickly. Petunia was tired, both from speaking and the terror that this Arc person presented her. She wasn't prepared.

"M-may I be given some time to collect myself before I start?"

"Of course." Diana did not hesitate to oblige her request, which Petunia was thankful for. It demonstrated to her that Diana held no ill will. "Would you perhaps like a drink? I think Cherry is on call."

"If I may be permitted the luxury."

"Perfect, I will go call her. Any preferences?"

"Tea, please."

"Sweetened?"

Petunia's ears flattened slightly. She wasn't sure if Diana had read into her habits upon arriving or if it was just a courtesy, but she had been quite pleased by the existence of a sweet drink. Sugar crops, really just anything sweet, was an incredibly low priority for the farmers of the Nekh. With the failure rate of the crops as was, all efforts needed to be focused on hardier crops that provided more nutrition and had even a marginally higher chance of surviving to harvest. Almost every harvest of sweet foodstuffs globally was presented as tribute to the Strappers, who were expected to distribute this precious resource for their increasingly infrequent festivals. By the time Titanyana had left, the average Nekh might expect to receive at most half a teaspoon of a delicious syrup each year - carefully mixed into a bowl of flavorless gruel that would be licked clean by adult and child alike. 

She had tried to drink some fruit juice at an earlier point in time, however she had recoiled at it. It was too sweet. Despite the claims of the one who had served it to her that the specimen was on the blander and more diluted side of the available options, it was repulsively sweet to her. The tea, on the other hand, was an acceptable blend of bitter and sweet. The sweetness made her shiver with joy, but the bitterness kept it from overpowering her capacity to handle it. 

"Y-yes, please."

"Alright." Diana made for the door before stopping. "Do we need to change rooms or. . ."

"It's all waterproof, so we don't need to worry about spills. Just make sure that you don't tug on any of the wires."

"Wonderful, Cherry?"

- - - - -

By Petunia's estimation, it shouldn't take long for Cherry to prepare and return with their beverages. Even the hot ones. The tour of the kitchen she had been granted revealed a constantly boiling source of water, a luxury the Nekh could never have afforded. All that needed to be done was to extract some water and put in the leaves, whatever they used as sweetener came in later.

In the mean time, a few changes had taken place within the room. For one, Diana had abandoned her more formal stature and leaned into Donovan. They were speaking, but she couldn't understand them. The pale light from the model Nekh and box floating in the middle also disappeared, replaced instead by a series of glowing marbles. It was a much gentler light, one that didn't hurt her eyes as much.

This display of floating marbles, eight smaller colored marbles circling the big one in the center, was beautiful. One in particular stood out, appearing to be more vibrant than the rest with a color palette that did not seem to fit whatever theme this set represented. The display piqued her curiosity, but it was clear by the moods of both Diana and Titanyana that now was not the time. She couldn't escape the feeling that this display was not one meant to invoke wonder.

"Lady Diana?" Cherry's muffled voice came from beyond the door, and Diana jumped up to meet her. Shockingly, Diana was the one who carried the tray in to serve the drinks. If it weren't for Titanyana's timid acceptance of her drink, she would have panicked for real.

Even then, they did not immediately move into their next discussion. Diana seemed perfectly content to provide Petunia time to rest, while Donovan appeared to be indifferent to the delay. Was it because they were good people? Were they trying to get on her good side? Did they need a break themselves? Petunia couldn't tell from a glance, and it wasn't her job to find out. As Titanyana's maid and caretaker, Petunia's priorities were to act in a way that would best serve her goals. Given what she knew of their current relationship, that meant she had to grit her teeth and endure whatever the Terrans put her through.

In no time flat, Petunia found she had finished her cup of tea. Likely due to a combination of stress and an addiction to the sweet sensation, Petunia was left to nervously play with her cup while the other three in the room casually sipped away. It was at this time that she noticed another change in the room, the marbles were gone. In their place was the unmistakable figure of a chandelier, translucent yet emanating light, humbly floating. It was beautiful, really, not overly flashy but sufficiently detailed to evoke an air of sophistication, all while being completely alien to her in both form and functionality. In a way, that chandelier was representative of the Terrans themselves, strange people who didn't conform to any sort of norm she had learned of. It also made her nervous. How could a chandelier float? Wouldn't it fall?

"If you would like to begin asking questions now, we won't mind." Diana smiled in between sips, finally providing her the opportunity to shake off the building worry in her mind. "I am perfectly capable of putting my drink down to address your concerns."

"A-ah, thank you." Petunia was beginning to believe Diana to be some sort of angel, she had been incredibly accommodating towards her deficiencies to date. "T-the first question I would like to ask is, um, I would like to ask what your intentions towards us are. The Nekh, I mean."

"We intend to treat you as citizens, with the caveat that you need to pass a naturalization test of sorts." Diana moved her cup around to stir the liquid inside. "It won't be anything difficult, Arc and I have decided that the test will be nothing more than a simple English exam and a quiz on a few basic laws, but until then you will be relegated to the status of 'subject'. In the future we intend to assign conquered peoples that subject status with the promotion to citizen similarly locked behind a naturalization test. Oh, don't worry about the children. Any child that can be proven to have a parent with the status of citizen will inherit that status."

"I-I see." Petunia didn't quite understand this 'naturalization' Diana spoke of, but she wasn't going to probe about it now. She could reassure any Nekh she spoke of their future with the promise of Citizenship. "Then my next question. What is the relationship between Lord Strauss and Lady Titanyana."

"Amicably professional is what I probably should say, though I personally consider her to be a valued friend." Donovan didn't hesitate to answer. Petunia could have sworn Titanyana's ears drooped slightly.

"Oh . . . what of the future then?"

"Hm? I plan to maintain a friendly relationship and delegate some elements of political and military control to her. She is an incredibly important person to us, after all."

"I-is there . . . anything else?" Petunia pushed a little bit further, trying to ask the question without really asking it. 

"Um . . . I don't think so?" Donovan raised an eyebrow and looked to Diana, likely searching for something to say in response. She simply smiled at Petunia, which was a little unsettling.

"A-ah ahaha, uh, um. Hmm. How should I . . ." Petunia sighed, steeling herself. She could deal with the consequences of her action later. "Lord Strauss, I apologize in advance."

"Hm? I don't much care about perceived insults or whatever. Just go ahead and get it off your chest." Donovan brought his glass up to finish off his drink.

"Do you have any intentions to take on her Majesty Titanyana as your bride and mate?"

"fPSSsshhh!!!" Donovan spit out what remained of his juice in shock, completely unprepared for that question. Titanyana too reacted quite violently, though the violence could really only be seen in the shade of red her face assumed. She had already sunken deep into her seat, ears flat, before Donovan was done spitting all over the floor.

"I-I-I understand that this arrangement my not be the most palatable, but I-I sincerely believe that such a union would be beneficial for both of our races! A child born to the two of you would certainly cement your authority over my kin!" In stark contrast to those reacting violently to either side of her, Diana was peacefully seated with a grin that stretched from ear to ear. "T-the bloodline of the Strappers must continue no matter what may occur, and now I fear there is no man among our number worthy of assuming the position of King. P-please! I beg you!"

"P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-Petunia!?!?!" Titanyana couldn't take it, finally jumping forward to put her hand over the offending orifice. She was shaking. Blushing a deep red, her ears and tail betraying just how deep her embarrassment actually went.

"I think we should save that topic for a later date. A much later date." Diana had moved her free hand to cover the giggles escaping her chest. "Even if we agreed to such a proposition, other matters take a much higher priority at the moment. Personally, I would be perfectly fine with such an arrangement on the condition that I am the first to have his child, however I also believe that this form of arrangement can not work without the consent of all parties. I am fine with it, the same cannot be said for them."

"Concubinage would be acceptable!" Petunia somehow managed to remove the hand placed over her mouth for long enough to get a few words out. "Please!"

"Stop it!!!"

"As I said Petunia, another time." Diana tugged a coughing Donovan back into an upright position. "If you are done with your questions, I think now would be a good time to consider a more colorful topic. Titanyana, please take a seat."

It took a few seconds for Titanyana to remove herself from Petunia, her embarassed eyes clearly communicating to the maid that she did not approve of her actions.

"Lady Helmsguard, I beg you to-" Petunia was stopped by a raised hand.

"Not. Now. I understand your desire for haste on this subject, but it is not one that requires it. We have time, you have time. That time is better spent considering other problems, if only for now."

"I understand. . ."

"Thank you. Now, what should the name of our planet be?"

"Pardon?" "Hm?"

"Oh don't be surprised, I've been wanting to figure this out for a while now. While we are at it, we should also come up with a name for our star and nation."

"Really? I thought we were just going to go with something generic like New Earth or Neoterra. I was totally prepared to call the star something like Sol II."

"Which is exactly why I'm not letting you be the deciding factor in what we call them. Right now we have four people, two Nekh and two Terrans. I think that should be enough to come up with something good." Diana swiped a hand a few times, a keyboard showing up in front of her moments after. "You haven't expressed an interest in anything specific, Arc. Am I to assume you have nothing to say on the subject matter?"

"I may provide suggestions and veto names I feel extremely unbecoming of our capital, but I plan on referring to it by an alphanumeric celestial body designation anyways."

"Ah, okay. If that's the case, do you have any ideas Titanyana?"

"Me?!"

"Yes, you. Donovan and I have already offered a few, Gaia, Neo-Terra, Retra, Hyperborea, Alfheim, Zenith, Azimuth, Galileo, Magellan, Nezha, Hestia, Demeter, Quetzalcoatl, Vajra, and a few others. We were thinking of basing the star's name off of whatever we decided to call the planet, not the other way around. For example, if we chose Neo-Terra the star would be Neo-Sol, Alfheim would be Yggdrasil, Galileo would be Galilei, Hestia would be Hearth, and so on."

Titanyana had absolutely zero clue what the correlation between those names was, and she knew that Diana was aware of that. If she had to guess, it was her way of pressuring Titanyana into thinking about a name for the star at the same time. The only problem was that Titanyana had not named a single thing in her entire life, and she did not know what constituted a good name. All she knew was her own planet, Nekh, which was the name of her race as well as the name of her star. Was that a good name?

"H-how about something more representative of both of our peoples. Maybe something like . . ." Titanyana choked on her suggestion, the embarrassment from the indirect marriage proposal being replaced by her stupid idea. ". . . Terra-Nekh?"

She gritted her teeth, cringing from how dumb it sounded. It didn't fit. It flowed terribly, the beginning and end of the word being sharper sounds grating in an unpleasant way against her ears. She regretted submitting a recommendation so early.

"Terra-Nekh? If I may be permitted the offense, that one doesn't feel quite right in comparison to the names provided." Petunia subtly shot down the suggestion of her Queen. Titanyana's heart sank a little more after what she felt was another betrayal from what amounted to her closest family member, though she could see it was done to protect her from scrutiny by Diana.

"How about Nekh-Terra then?" Donovan's immediate suggestion was a simple reversal of the terms. "We could also make an anagram of sorts like we did with Retra."

"Hm."

"I don't think any of the available combinations are particularly enlightening." A series of random words appeared in the air, Donovan looking at each of them in disappointment. "That said, Nekh-Terra is not a particularly bad name. The only question would be the name of the star."

"N-no!" Titanyana's heart beat in a panic. "It would be improper for our race to come before your own! This is your planet!"

"What was that word again?" Diana had been stuck in though ever since Donovan suggested the reversal, trying to grab hold of whatever word was teasing her brain. "Nekh-Terra. NekhTerra. Negter? Nectera? Necter? Nectar! Nectar, that's it! Arc, what about Nectar!?"

"As in the sweet fluid flowers secrete to attract pollinators?"

"Uh, yeah, I think. What about that one?"

"Well, considering the repopulation and agricultural plants we have planned, it would hardly be inappropriate. The other definition also fits quite well alongside one of the conditions you set, a divine figure related to discovery, conquest, fertility, or home."

"Really?"

"Yes. Nectar was the mythological drink of the Greco-Roman pantheon, an invigorating substance that tasted sweeter than anything man could make. It's counterpart was Ambrosia, which is the food they ate."

"So that would make the name of the star either Ambrosia or some other word for flower. Fleur, perhaps?" Diana leaned back in her seat, satisfied with the work she had done. "I think we should go with this one, Donny. The subject of the star aside, Nectar makes for a pretty satisfying and relevant double entendre, no?"

"I think it's pretty neat. If we do go with Nectar, I would definitely like for the star to be called Ambrosia. I feel it fits the supposed value of a 'Verdant Globe' better than Flower does."

"Oh, yeah. Let's go with that then. Are Nectar and Ambrosia sufficient names for the two of you?"

Petunia and Titanyana silently nodded. Neither truly believed they deserved a say in the matter, nor did they really understand the cultural relevance of these terms. All they really cared about was that the Nekh survived. 

"Nectar it is then!"