After they had arrived on Oceana Six, Adam and Lorelie went and toured the venue that would be holding her concert this time around.
It took Adam a few moments to get used to breathing underwater without a waterbreather because, at first, his mind was still expecting him to possibly drown. However, Lorelie explained to him the way that she and other Merinmians used their gills, and after a few minutes of practice, Adam got the hang of it.
Lorelie was in an especially good mood as the two of them explored the venue because this time she was fully able to converse with Adam while they did, and she also knew that he had undergone the surgery for the gills purely so that he could converse and breathe when he was with her underwater.
After exploring the venue and granting Spector access to the arena's surveillance system, Lorelie dragged Adam to her dressing room before showing her gratitude at what he had done for her by once more sucking him off before making passionate love to him in her true form again.
After they finished, they returned to the surface and met up with the other girls and joined them as they all relaxed on the beach, though Stacey did at one point drag Adam off behind some rocks before bending over and having him fuck her from behind, after which they returned to the others to wait until Lorelie's concert started.
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"That's right, folks, Diva Lorelie has once again been gracious enough to grant Musiccast live coverage of her Genre Tour concert, this time coming from Oceana Six's Rainbow Reef arena." The same female Merinmian presenter as before said excitedly towards the camera.
"I'm sure, like myself and my guests, you are all excited to listen to Diva Lorelie sing and find out if she will once again grace us with any new songs."
As the music started and Lorelie swam above the stage, the crowd once again burst into cheers and began to dance as she started to sing."
💫💫💫
"Hello, my little princess," a male Solarian said with a smile as he appeared on a holographic screen and saw Liluth.
"Father, why are you calling all of a sudden?" Liluth said in mild surprise.
"Can't a father call his daughter now and then? Though I am surprised to see that you're not working."
"I'm watching the Diva Lorelie concert," Liluth said as her eyes returned to the holographic screen that showed Lorelie's concert live.
"I had no idea you were a Diva Lorelie fan."
"I think almost everyone is after hearing her new genre of music, now, why don't you tell me why you're really calling me father?"
"Seriously, can't a father check up on his daughter?"
"Oh god, it's another marriage proposal, isn't it?"
"What are you talking about? I never said anything about a marriage proposal."
"No, but you only ever avoid answering my questions when they relate to marriage proposals. I already told you and Grandfather that I have no plans to marry Kafziel or anyone else you pick for me. I plan to choose my own husband."
"Come now, daughter, we are only looking out for your best interests, and Kafziel is the son of a Nonpareilus councillor."
"I am aware of that, Father, since you mention that to me every time we talk about this, it makes me wonder if you're really looking out for my best interests or the interests of our race."
"Can they not be one and the same? I am both your father and the King of our race after all."
"Then let me spell it out for you clearly, King father, I will not accept any marriage proposals you decide upon, and if you try to force me into any, I will leave the Galamedees Galaxy and take my research elsewhere to a race that wont badger me about marriage proposals."
"Come now, daughter, is there a reason to make such meaningless threats?"
"Is it meaningless? Try betrothing me to someone and see if it's still meaningless?" Liluth said angrily before ending the holocall and opening a drawer in her desk.
From the drawer, Liluth pulled a square, tightly sealed box that seemed to be made of some kind of metal. The box was so tightly sealed that not even air could enter it until she pressed her finger against a certain part of the box that suddenly glowed before the box clicked open.
Inside the box lay several more airtight metal boxes. All of them were around the same size, except for one that was much larger.
The numerous smaller airtight metal boxes were all labelled; however, Liluth ignored them for now and picked up the largest airtight metal box and withdrew it before opening it the same way she had the original.
Inside was an aged-looking green notepad whose colour was starting to fade. As Liluth carefully picked it up, she began to examine it as if it were her most prized possession, and as she turned it over, a few worn-out words could be made out on the very bottom of the back cover.
'This product is published by Hopkins Group LTD, Alamo City, Western Continent © 2020. All Rights Reserved.'
Liluth gently placed the book down on the desk before her, carefully opening it to the page that was bookmarked.
Inside were many handwritten notes that had obviously faded with time, but were still legible.
"I thought so, it's nearing time for me to take a more active role," Liluth said quietly to herself.
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Andromeda awoke from her sleep and stretched while yawning, but suddenly stopped as her hand collided with something beside her.
As she slowly turned her head, her eyes widened in shock at seeing the naked man lying in her own bed next to her naked self.
Her mind reeled as she tried to understand what was happening. No man had ever shared her bed, let alone touched her. She was the Nonpareilus oracle after all.
As she moved to sit up, she suddenly felt a pain from between her legs and looking down, she was shocked to see that part of the bed was stained with blood.
She stared in shock at the blood because she knew what it and the pain between her represented. She just couldn't for the life of her remember what had happened the night before.
While she was lost in thought, a pair of strong arms curled around her waist before pulling her into a hug.
"Good morning, Romy, I hope you slept well." The man who had previously been asleep said softly into her ear.
Andromeda didn't know why, but the way he held and spoke to her comforted her so much that she leaned back into his chest and closed her eyes.
The next moment, Andromeda woke up in her own bed wearing her nightclothes with no sign of the man, the blood or the pain between her legs.
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Several dozen TISF ships of various sizes dropped out of FTL at the edge of the asteroid belt near the planet Thuaria.
On the bridge of the capital ship, the Admiral suddenly stood up and said, "All ships are to proceed into the asteroid belt at the best possible speed.
Sensor operator, sensors to max and watch for ambushes.
Weapons control, target and destroy any asteroids that may threaten your ship, while being prepared to counterattack should we come under fire.
Recon squadrons are to advance ahead and report back on what they discover."
"Yes, sir," All the bridge officers replied before getting to work.
The large ships proceeded slowly into the asteroid belt while using their weapons to clear out any of the larger asteroids that threatened their ships.
The smaller ships, meanwhile, used their manoeuvrability to avoid the asteroids and quickly head deeper into the belt towards the suspected location of the research station.
"Admiral, the first of the advanced scouts will reach the coordinates momentarily." A bridge officer reported.
"Bring their ships feed up on the viewscreen," the admiral ordered before the viewscreen displayed the nose of a TISF fighter that was swerving around asteroids, before a large open area devoid of any asteroids suddenly appeared.
"What the fuck is this?" The admiral asked as he stared at the viewscreen.
Instead of the expected research station appearing on the viewscreen, what was visible was the debris of a destroyed space station floating in space.
The debris floated over a small area of the asteroid-free zone while slowly moving further apart.
Mixed in with the debris were bodies, or what remained of bodies, as most of them were no longer whole.
"What happened?" The admiral asked with a frown.
"Judging by the pattern of the debris and the energy signatures the scouts' sensors are picking up, it's plausible to assume that the research station's self-destruct was used.
Also, since the debris is still rather localised, and we can still detect the residual energy signature of the self-destruct, it is likely that it was only just recently used."
"How recently?" The admiral asked.
"Within the last few hours, I would say. Considering how many bodies there are, it's likely only the leaders and important personnel had time to evacuate."
"That means there might be valuable information or evidence that survived the explosion," The admiral said before ordering.
"All ships are to perform detailed analysis and retrieval operations once we arrive, and also have the scout ships begin patrolling the asteroid belt in case any of the enemy remained behind."