Chapter 178: Chapter 177: Citizens, Not…

I should mention that Yui could no longer keep up with my social media accounts all by herself ever since the press conference. She has two assistants, Kanna and Hana. I met them one time right after they were hired. Ever since then, I’ve never seen them, so I suppose they work in the background somewhere.

Three days after that, Honoka and I attended an Alliance conference. There was much discussion, read that as literal screaming and yelling arguments, about where to build my palace. Almost everyone wanted it in their country.

That kept up until Prime Minister Koya stood up and said that Japan was willing to allow my island, Yakushima, to be its own little country.

Even then there was another half hour of screaming and yelling until I got sick of it and got up to walk out. Honestly, I feel like I have much better things to do than listen to their childishness. You know me, I don’t suffer idiocy lightly.

With Honoka in tow, I head to the waiting room and sit down beside her. Laying my head on her shoulder, I close my eyes and blow out my breath.

It took them another hour to finally send someone to get us. Once we retook our seats, they informed us that they agreed that Yakushima was the best, meaning most neutral, option.

Then they started arguing about where my coronation would be held, and by then I was simply fed up. I stepped up to the podium and stood there glaring at them until the room was quiet.

“My coronation will be held in London. End of discussion.”

I turn on my heel, and Honoka and I leave.

When we reach the hall, Honoka begins laughing. I look at her questioningly, and she says, “I’m surprised that you didn’t snap at them sooner.”

“Oh, believe me, I felt like it. How adults can act like that is beyond me. Even if my palace or coronation was in their country, what do they think they’d gain from it? Bragging rights?”

On to more important information.

Kazuto has opened up a new division at DTI. One for metallurgy research into much stronger metals, alloys, and composites. Something we’d been talking about for some time, but hadn’t yet done. With General Hastings’ design requests, we don’t really have much of a choice. The titanium alloy composite armor we’re currently using for ships is quite strong, but we need better, stronger armor.

Furthermore, I authorized research into collecting/creating antimatter. I know what I said before, but with the advent of the alliance and possible threats from outside our solar system, I can’t, in good conscience, hold it back.

Think about it: a high-yield antimatter missile capable of 400 g’s of acceleration would be almost impossible to intercept since that would translate to 14,120 km/h per second of acceleration. Another way of looking at it would be: assume your target is 10 seconds away from you. With merely 10 seconds of acceleration, the missile would achieve 141,200 km/h right as it struck the target. The kinetic impact alone would be devastating to a small/medium sized ship, but add in the destructive power of an antimatter warhead, and I couldn’t even begin to calculate the damage it would inflict.

I also set up an engineering design team to research, design, and build new sensor arrays for the ships since radar, lidar, and thermal imaging can only do so much. I gave them a building and a rather generous budget, then told them to think outside the box.

[Monday, July 18]

You should already know what today is. As the News has dubbed it, it’s ‘Connection Day.’ Today is probably as historic as it will be tedious for a lot of viewers. Tedious it may be, but going by what Yui says about all the comments on my social media accounts as well as what Metis reports is being said on many boards, such as Reggit, there is a lot of interest. So, we’re expecting a rather large audience.

Waking up, I wake up Ryu and Chinatsu, and we make our way into the bathroom to shower and bathe.

Everyone wanted to come today, and I saw no reason why they couldn’t. Suwanosejima has alliance military there to safeguard the elevator, and we’ll have our security with us, so we should be perfectly safe.

So, after styling our hair, and putting on our makeup, we re-enter the bedroom to find that Mama has laid out an outfit for me. It’s a blush pink v-neck, fit and flare mini dress, with ultra sheer nude stockings, and my metallic gold, ankle strap, open-toe sandals.

After dressing, we head downstairs to eat with everyone. Then we board the Peregrine for the flight to Suwanosejima.

We land at the base of the elevator near one of the passenger terminal buildings. The passenger terminals have a large slideway that leads out to the carriage to protect passengers from the elements. Think of an airport terminal, and you won’t be far off.

Once we make our way inside, we are led to a large viewing lounge with several large screens scattered around it, which will show the ascent/descent of the carriages. Though, for now, the camera view is showing the small gap between the ends of the tethers.

The makeup stylists are already set up and waiting, so I take a seat, and they apply my eyeshadow, blush and lipstick. Apparently, I had a few stray eyebrow hairs because they plucked them as well. Is it bad that I’m so used to being primped and led around that I don’t even bat an eye over it anymore?

That done, Yui leads me over to stand in front of a mural of our solar system. She leaves me there and takes her usual place behind the camera with her tablet in hand.

Looking up, she tells me, “Your Highness, we have about 20 minutes before the first tether connects. What do you want to do? Do you want to go live now or wait until the 5 minute mark?”

“Now, please.”

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She nods and begins the live stream.

“Hello, everyone!

“Thanks for joining us!”

Again, viewers ask me to twirl to show them my outfit.

I slowly turn around, then ask, “Quite chic, isn’t it? My dress is made by Sophia Dandi, and my sandals are by Generations. If you want more information on my outfit, links will be posted soon on my social media accounts where you can buy similar things to recreate this look, although not as costly.

“I’m sorry that I haven’t done a live stream for the last couple of weeks, but I’ve been super busy. I understand that many of you have questions for me about me being your queen. We have some time before we have to cut over to watch the connection of the tethers, so ask away, and I’ll answer as best as I can, alright?”

Yui puts a question up on my contact and displays it on the stream so that I don’t have to repeat it. ‘You just got married not long ago, and now you’re going to be our Queen. How much pressure does that put you under?’

The question makes me smile. “I wouldn’t say that being married puts me under any pressure since my wife and husband are very supportive. Being asked to be queen? That is a completely different matter, but I would say that it’s more daunting than putting me under pressure.”

‘How aware were you of the significance of what had happened to you? After all, you’ve become a Princess, and ultimately will be our Queen.’

I chuckle. “Believe me, I’m well aware. I’m still trying to get used to being addressed as Your Highness. What I find to be irritating is the increased media attention focused on me, and my family. I was prepared for it to happen to me, but when they started badgering my family? That’s simply wrong.”

‘How does it feel to be the most photographed, as well as the most talked-about, woman in the world?’

I smile slightly and shrug. “I already received a lot of attention, although not as much from the News media outlets until now, but to answer your question, it’s a little disconcerting at times.”

‘It’s been said on TV and in some newspapers that you were largely left to cope with your new status on your own. Is that true?’

I shake my head. “No, not at all. I have massive amounts of support. My family, my regents, and of course, all of you.” Yui taps her watch. “Sorry everyone, but it’s almost time to switch over. I have one favor to ask of all of you. I want all of my citizens, and I do mean all of you, to send me your biggest concerns that you’ve had with your government. You can cite specific instances or just use generalities, but please be truthful. I plan to use your concerns to improve life for everyone.”

‘This is a monarchy, so shouldn’t we be subjects and not citizens?’

I lean towards the camera and frown as I state, “Listen to me. Yes, I will be your Queen, but you will never be subjects. You were born to be free citizens, not answer to a master as subjects.

“Look at it this way. There are two companies that do the exact same thing. In one: the boss tells you what to do, how to do it and won’t allow any opinion other than his. In the other: the boss tells you what needs to be done, but as long as it’s done and done properly, he doesn’t care. Plus, he's open to new ideas. Which company do you think is more likely to succeed?

“What I’m saying is that I’ll certainly be your sovereign and hold a lot of power, but my rule and power come at the consent of the citizens of my kingdom… Now, let’s watch the nanites make the first connection.”

Yui splits the video with me narrating on one side and the view of the tethers coming together fairly quickly on the other. Soon, the first connection is made, and within 5 minutes, the other 3 connect.

Once they have, Yui switches back to a camera view of me.

“Some may think it was boring, but I found it to be exciting. Now comes the next part. Attaching the carriages to the first set of tethers. That should be done within 2 weeks. A couple of days of integration tests after that, to make sure that all the systems are working as they should, and they’ll be ready for their first ascent, which I will be riding on. I do hope that you’ll join me for that as well. I imagine that the view will be phenomenal.

“That’s all we have for today, but I do want to mention that Yui has been me showing some of your comments on your biggest concerns. I’d meant for you to post them on my social media accounts.”

I glance at my contact to read the summary. “Well over a million comments say that the biggest problem people face is government corruption at all levels, followed by judicial and police corruption or accountability. That’s not unexpected, but please, resubmit your concerns on my accounts, and I’ll have Metis create a summary for me to review. I promise to take action on them, if warranted. I meant what I said, you are all free citizens, not subjects, not slaves, and I will not allow any of you to have your rights violated. It’s going to take some time to solve a lot of the issues we face, but we will be doing it, even if it takes proclamations from me to fix them.

“I need to sign off now since I have to go to DTI. Have a good day, everyone. We’ll see you next time.”

[Friday, July 22]

Cameron will be lifting off this afternoon. That also means that a rather large contingent of alliance members will be in attendance. After all, stopping 19274 was one of the primary focuses of the alliance to begin with. We have the ship, crew, nanites, power plant and AI ready to go. Now, we simply need to intercept it, allow the nanites to do their job, and then park it in orbit around Mars.

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