A woman’s short black hair was draped over the white satin pillow. Her light-blue eyes opened, and she cast the bed sheet aside. Yawning, she stretched her arms and looked back at the bed. A pinkish orange-haired woman, whose hair was a mix of antique brass, old rose, rose taupe, laid next to her. That woman's hair color slightly changed if it was illuminated. She snored, with her messy hair covering the pillow. This woman slept different than our black-haired protagonist, who slept with two pillows, the first to lay one’s head on, and another to cover her ear, while her head was turned to the side. Our protagonist draped their bed sheet above both pillows, creating a cocoon of sorts. She slept like a mummy, with her arms in an X, and on her back, even though most people slept on their side. She could care less about what “most people” did. This way of sleeping was due to her training as a royal guard, or something else in her past. Only she knew why she slept that way.

Our protagonist opened a walking closet and smiled. Inside were two elaborate but ornate uniforms of sorts, one of which she wore every day. Unashamed to undress in front of the other woman, she quickly fit into her outfit, with knee-high black boots, a skirt, and white blouse, and smiled. She breathed deeply and began her daily affirmations:

“I am strong.”

“I am smart.”

“I am beautiful.”

“I am confident.”

She did these affirmations every morning. Some people would do pump-up music, but she did this instead. She then stepped over to the sleeping woman with pinkish orange hair and kissed her on the forehead. She whispered, “Marika, sweetie, I’m gonna head down to the bridge. See you later and get your sleep.” Turning toward her, Marika opened her eyes a little. Pulling her arm out from under the bed sheet, she tussled the other woman’s hair. She told the woman, “Aw, Cassie, you look so cute this morning. I was just tired from what we did yesterday.” She liked when Marika was kind in this way. This had been why, in part, she had agreed to be part of the crew in the first place. She grinned and said softly, “you’re the only one who can call me Cassie, remember, Marika. I don’t like when anyone else says it.”

Marika nodded. She threw aside the bed sheet and stood up. She said, in a loud booming voice, “I’ll do whatever I can to be the best girlfriend for you!” Cass laughed. She recognized that Marika, yet again, made one of these bold declarations without wearing anything at all. This attitude was one of the many reasons she liked her. “Marika, sweetie, I love you but…you can’t be the best girlfriend if you…don’t put on your clothes.”

Quickly, she wrapped the bed sheet around her and blushed. When other people were around and she wasn’t wearing anything, she got embarrassed. In her mind, this made her vulnerable, an understandable and valid feeling. Cass recognized this and hugged her. She couldn’t be annoyed with Marika for being . She had seen another woman, a magical princess who was next in line to be queen of the kingdom, without clothes on, before, and they had sat in a hot tub together. As such, she didn’t mind women, not all. In fact, she kinda liked it. “Sweetie there’s no need to be ashamed. You don’t need to hide any part of yourself from me. I care about you no matter if you are wearing clothes or not.” Marika hugged her back. Cass was the best person she could ever have met. She was so grateful that she knew her, even though Cass hadn’t said much about her past since she had joined the crew over a year ago. “Aw, thanks, Cassie. I’ll always love you too, no matter what. See you on the bridge!” Cass smiled. She knew that she’d see her girlfriend later. As she stepped outside the captain’s quarters, into the captain’s room, the artificial light shone on her mahogany skin. She confidentially strode to the bridge, ready to start another day as a swashbuckler.

Coming to the bridge was always a magical experience. There was a cyborg tactical officer named Schnitzer, the electronic warfare specialist with glasses, Coorie, the ship’s psychic navigator, Luca, the medic, Misa, and the engineer, San-Daime. Differences between those on the crew were irrelevant. Everyone respected each other for who they were, not judging anyone by their gender, species, skin color, or any characteristics like that. Before she could sit down, Hyakume approached her. “Lieutenant Cassandra, we picked up a faint distress call from the RRD.” Cass knew what this meant. The instrument had never been used since it had been installed. She had held out hope that the Raps’ Rapping Device would someday bring her back to the woman she once loved. She regretted that she hadn’t been as direct in her feelings as she could have been. Hyakume, the sensor and radar specialist on the ship, motioned to her and handed her a set of headphones. “Since this concerns you know who, I thought I’d let you would like to listen to it first.” She agreed. The device has translated the message into a hip-hop/rap song. Cass believed that everyone else, but Hyakume, had forgotten the device existed. Sitting in Hyakume’s chair, Cass began listening to the recording.

“Yo! I’m Raps and I’ve gotta say/

Corona’s in a bad way!

Something bad had come to stay/

It has gotta go away!”

Following this were verses about a mysterious virus which infected people, making them either very sick, mildly sick, deathly ill, or having no effect at all. While the possible long-term effects were not known, Corona was in crisis. The city had been cordoned off from the rest of the kingdom, a stringent lockdown had been imposed, with no one allowed to leave, and wearing of face coverings had been mandated. Otherwise, this fast-spreading disease continued to be studied and caused tensions among the populace. Cass shook her head. She hoped all this time to hear from Raps, but she never knew it would happen this soon, or that the circumstances would be this dire. Could she face Raps again, after what she did to her? Could she really go back to Corona? She wanted to move past that part of her life because, in her view, she hadn’t made amends for all the people she had hurt when she had used the moonstone. She believed that she had to atone her past misdeeds.

When Marika walked into the room, Hyakume told her, “Captain Marika, Lieutenant Cassandra is listening to a distress call on the RRD.” She acknowledged this by nodding. She snuck up on Cass and tapped her on the shoulder. She was caught off guard and took off her headphones. With all that happened, she could be a little jumpy at times. “Hey…Cass, what did the RRD say?” She pulled Marika aside and whispered in her ear, “its from the lady I told you about…I don’t like to talk about that part of my past.”

Marika understood. She didn’t want to make Cass to feel uncomfortable. She tried to be as caring and respectful as she could. She took Cass off the ship bridge and to a private place where no one would find them. She wanted to honor her wishes. She would never hurt her. “Can you tell me a little about this? Then we can decide, together, if we should proceed.” 

This made sense to Cass. She breathed deeply. She explained how she had liked this woman and that she had been manipulated by an enchanted blue fairy, otherwise known as Zhan Tri, who had caused her to hurt many people in Corona. Marika was intrigued. “A princess? I know a little about that.” She explained what she meant. “I was tasked by Jenny, an heir of a huge conglomerate and a princess, to stop her from entering an arranged marriage with a bore that her dad wanted her to marry." She continued, adding, "as pirates, we helped and she reunited with her lover, Lynn, one of my friends...kissing her right in front of me!” Cass hadn’t heard this story, but it put her at ease.

She had a strategy of only revealing bits and pieces of her past life. She did not want to burden anyone with the mistakes she made in the past. She wanted to start with a blank slate on the Bentenmaru . That’s what Marika offered her, and she agreed to do it. She wanted to start fresh after all she had done when Zhan Tri manipulated her, with the moonstone channeling her anger and frustration at Raps. Her feelings were exploited and amplified. Even so, her sentiments of being underappreciated and pushed aside were justified. They were understandable based on how Raps had treated her before that point.

“Ok, Marika, we can do it. Don't make it a big deal…as I had a thing for her…and I think she had some feelings for me too.” Marika was completely accepting of this and had no problem with it. Prior to Cass coming onto the scene, she had never been in a romantic relationship with anyone. But she had given friends, who were in relationships, advice. She had even helped some of them come out as gay and admit their feelings to those they liked. Putting her hand on Cass’s shoulder, she remarked, “Cassie, no matter what, I’ll be there by your side.” Smiling back, Cass whispered, “thanks, Marika.” Both walked back onto the ship bridge, holding each other’s hands.

Marika stepped forward first. She shouted. “Attention!” Everyone stopped what they were doing and saluted. They all respected her authority and that of Cass. “Helmsman McDougal, set out course for Corona.” He nodded and acknowledged her, searching for the location in the available star charts and databases. In no time at all, he found the planet that Corona was located on, Enchancia. She then declared “Let’s go pirating!” There were sounds of “rah” from the crew members. The Bentenmaru’s engines powered up and the ship sped through space. No one knew what awaited them in Corona. Cass hoped for the best as this would be one eventful reunion with Raps, no matter what.

Raps paced back and forth. She was unsure what to do. She turned to her loyal royal scientist, who was just as befuddled. “Varian, are you sure that this radio thing you made will work? Is anyone gonna help us?” She sighed, adding, “if this sickness spreads more, then people will accuse me of having blood on my hands!” He shook his head. He didn’t know what to tell her. This was perhaps the worst crisis that had ever befallen Corona, even worse than Cass’s temporary overthrow of the kingdom, or his attempts to get back at Raps for “betraying” him. “I don’t know, Rapunzel, I have never seen anything like this…but I hope someone will come to our aid…I really am at a loss for what to do.” Just then, the radio device Varian had constructed, connected to a crude radio tower he had installed, crackled. Raps and Varian looked at each other. Raps came close to the microphone and said, “Hello? Is anyone there? This is Queen Rapunzel Fitzherbert of Corona.” The response she received surprised her.

“This is Marika Kato, captain of the space pirate vessel Bentenmaru. We are here to assist you.”

Raps was unsure what she should say in response. Should she trust these space pirates? Staring at Varian, he shrugged back at her. Pascal, who sat on her shoulder, like always, did the same. She grumbled. She decided to accept their offer. “Ms. Kato, as the Queen of Corona, you have my permission to proceed with your mission.” The radio crackled after Raps put the receiver down on the table. She waited impatiently for a response. Marika cracked her knuckles and responded gleefully. “Thank you, Ms. Fitzherbert. We will be there shortly. Our ship just dropped out of hyperspace and entered your planet’s orbit.”

Raps was confused. What did “hyperspace” and “planet’s orbit” mean? Even after her time in the science academy and hearing from well-regarded scientists, or those who claimed to be, she had never heard any of those words. She had no idea what they might mean. However, she believed that Marika was being sincere. “I look forward to meeting you and your crew, Ms. Kato.” As soon as she stopped speaking, we received a response. It made her shake a little. “Ms. Fitzherbert, we will be glad to become acquainted with you as well.” A chorus of cheering crew members, while one person softly said something else, which made her happy. She put down the receiver, joyfully, glad that someone was coming to their aid. Varian then turned off the machine with the flip of a switch. 

He came close to Raps and whispered in her ear. “I’m pretty sure that someone in that last message said, ‘I love Raps.’” She turned to him, her face as red as a tomato, bewildering. What had he just told her? Had he been joking? “Someone said…WHAT?!?...WHO would say that to a queen?” Varian shook his head. He half-expected that she’d act this way. He also guessed that she’d forget that voice, after everything that happened, even though the woman had been her close confidante. “It was…Cass…andra…I believe.” That was a name that Raps hadn’t heard in a long time, at least since the day that Cass left Corona to go on her own journey. They told each other that they loved each other, but she believed this was platonic in nature rather than romantic. She thought about the possibility that Cass saw it differently. In any case, she prepared herself for the inevitable reunion, assuming that Varian was right and that he had heard her voice at all. If he really had, then she would be overjoyed, because she had a lot to catch Cass up on in the year that they had been apart.

Meanwhile, the crew of the Bentenmaru had made their way to the hangar bay. They climbed aboard medical dinghys, smaller ships outfitted with medical supplies. It would be too cumbersome to land the Bentenmaru on the planet’s surface, so a few tiny vessels would be better for the mission at hand. Misa, the helmsman Kane, San-Daime, and Hyakume, stayed on the ship. The latter wanted to spend his time assembling model ships instead of going down to the planet’s surface. San-Daime’s passion to collect teddy bears was a similar hobby, which is why both were good friends. On the other hand, Marika, Cass, Schnitzer, Luca, and the very nerdy Coorie were on the ship. Coorie constantly dressed in pajamas, wore thick glasses, and often ate snacks, hoping to hide from everyone that she was very pretty and attractive. “Best of Luck, Marika!” Misa remarked. She saluted. Misa, along with Kane, San-Daime, and Hyakume, understood to keep the ship operational until she returned.

This wouldn’t be like any other mission, as it wasn’t just for show, but a real crisis with risks for the whole crew. Marika hoped it would further cement the reputation of the Bentenmaru . Cass was a bit nervous but prepared herself for seeing Raps again. Marika hugged her as their three-person dinghy moved away from the Bentenmaru and whispered, “it will be okay, Cassie. I’ll make sure of it.” Staring deeply into Marika’s light blue eyes, she smiled. She came closer and asked if she could kiss her, to which Marika nodded enthusiastically. She smooched her on the mouth, with Marika doing the same in response. They both looked out the ship’s cockpit at the atmosphere of the planet, Enchancia. No matter what, they would stay together, even after meeting Raps.