Due to the recent mess, Plynx had decided she wanted to take Svetlana out on a date somewhere more interesting and romantic than usual. After some hunting on the terrestrial internet, she’d apparently decided Niagara Falls was the most romantic spot in the region. 

Plynx had been a bit reluctant when Svetlana asked if O’tmyil could actually join them on the date, rather than sleeping in Svetlana’s pocket, wanting it to be one on one time. She’d given in after initial hesitation, though, after realising it was good practice for the future of the relationship, and now the three of them were sitting on the train together.

As they slipped through the tunnel under the city, connecting the art deco central station of Hammer City to the rail line out to Niagara Falls, Svetlana decided the trip would be the perfect chance to ask something that had been nagging at her. Seeing that Kobarian man on the subway had sparked her to think more about the actual situation in the galaxy. 

“So, I know I wasn’t thrilled about the whole ‘galactic emperor’ thing before, but… since being empress is so much more fun sounding… like, what’s actually going on out there?” Svetlana asked. “Issiod’rians are the good guys, right?”

Plynx nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, yes. We follow the government model of the Second Imperial Dynasty.”

Svetlana blinked. “There was more than one dynasty?”

“Yes. The Second Dynasty are your ancestors,” O’tmyil explained.

“Ohh… and they were better than the First Dynasty?” Svetlana asked.

O’tmyil and Plynx both nodded slowly.

“Much,” Plynx replied.

The explanation turned into a full history lesson of the rise and fall of the Galactic Empire. Svetlana maybe started to get distracted at points by the passing landscapes of the Niagara Peninsula (that really wasn’t a peninsula, though that was a whole different matter), but she was pretty sure she got the gist of it.

The First Dynasty was, in a word, terrible: ruling with fear and absolutism. One of her ancestors (who wasn’t human… a fact she still found weird) had organized a coup and reformed the Galactic Empire into something more democratic and decentralized. Apparently everyone had been pretty happy for… a decent chunk of time. Both alien girls gave exact dates, but they were Galactic Calendar dates that Svetlana still couldn’t make heads or tails of. She was pretty sure it was at least a few generations. Then there was a hyperspace accident of some sort (or… something like that), the royal family and O’tmyil ended up crashing on Earth (she had known already), no one knew where they were, and things fell apart. 

The ‘things fell apart’ explanation was pretty long and the part where Svetlana had zoned out the most. But she followed enough to hear that the Kobarians had apparently been more or less the group with the most legitimate claim to being the true government. They were just… not very good at it.

Apparently they were a very honest and open people, as well as being very long lived. Something you wanted in advisors (which was why they’d been left in charge of a good chunk of the Imperial core). Not something you wanted in diplomats, where their poor negotiating skills and long grudges were why they’d lost most of the Empire over the past few centuries. 

The Issiod’rians had held loyal to the Kobarian led government until when Plynx’s parents were young. Plynx’s grandmother had led a secession movement with a few of the remaining loyal provinces, trying to rebuild the Empire on their own. 

Apparently they’d been doing quite well, though still hadn’t caught up to what the Kobarian’s held. The Kobarians also considered them traitors of the worst sort and so conflict between the two factions were frequent.

Svetlana pulled out a smile and nodded as Plynx mentioned a few of the modern wars going on, and how they were sparked by events she’d mentioned earlier that Svetlana had definitely missed. 

She was saved by them pulling into Niagara Falls’ train station then, and the disembarking process. As the throngs of commuters saw Plynx lost in the crowd for a bit, Svetlana found O’tmyil close at her side.

“You’ll be good at public appearances, your grace,” the android girl whispered.

“Pardon?”

“You can fake having paid attention well,” O’tmyil explained with a grin.

Svetlana forced a grin of her own, awkwardly laughing the comment off as they caught back up to Plynx.

“Come, Svetlana-dearest and O’tmyil-friend,” Plynx said, her smile far less dangerous than O’tmyil’s. “The hotel bus is this very way. The restaurant has a view of the waterfalls.”

“It sounds lovely,” Svetlana replied, following Plynx to the shuttle bus stop.

It was only three kilometres to the main area around the falls, but it was still far enough to be an annoying walk. Svetlana briefly wondered why on earth the old downtown and train station were so far from the falls, but was not curious enough to mention the question to O’tmyil. She knew her android girlfriend’s constant internet connection meant she’d download the entire history of the city if prompted, and give Svetlana a lecture on it. 

Sure, it was educational, but, after the train ride over, Svetlana’s brain needed to rest.

---

Reaching the hotel restaurant, Svetlana was then left with the impression she was severely under dressed. Sometimes she forgot that Plynx wasn’t just royalty, but likely had access to a fortune larger than most Earth nations, so could afford to visit the most expensive restaurants in the country when she wanted to.

Well, at least being the only human in the group meant Svetlana’s outfit was probably going to be the last thing other patrons noticed. 

The trio were led to a seat beside the window, and handed menus. Menus without any prices listed. 

“You’re, um… you’re paying, right Plynx?” Svetlana asked, just wanting to make sure.

“Oh, Svetlana-dearest, no,” Plynx said, causing Svetlana’s body temperature to dip dangerously towards hypothermia as fear overwhelmed her. At least until Plynx continued. “When father-brother last visited he loved the view so much that he bought the hotel. We-us don’t have to pay.”

Svetlana blinked. She’d just assumed Plynx’s uncle had slept in either Plynx’s spaceship or his own during the two day visit he’d done a few months ago. She wasn’t sure if the news he’d stayed in an actual hotel, or that he’d bought the hotel on a whim, surprised her more.

At least she felt less nervous about ordering her meal while having no idea what the price was. 

The food arrived after a short wait. There was, however, barely anything on the plate. It was displayed artfully, sure. But she was hungry. Plynx seemed similarly disappointed and asked for their menus back so they could order more. In the end they got a spread of a few dishes. Plynx’s choices were generally meaty, to the surprise of no one.

“Ooh, this is amazing,” Svetlana said, after swallowing a bit of bison in avocado sauce.

“It is?” Plynx asked. “May I have some?”

Svetlana nodded and sliced a little off, reaching over with it on her fork to feed to Plynx. The feline girl happily accepted the forkful, chewing and swallowing with a happy purr. 

“Could I as well?” O’tmyil asked from Svetlana’s other side.

“Oh, su—” Svetlana began to say, before blushing and wondering what other restaurant goers might think.

Only to realise who else was in the restaurant. Dozens of the most generic people she had ever seen, all wearing black suits and sunglasses, untouched meals sitting on their tables. In other words…

“The restaurant has been full of FETMA agents for a while,” O’tmyil said.

The blush on Svetlana’s cheeks shifted to a red of outrage as she stood up. “What the heck!? Why are you guys being so nosy!?”

A man turned to her, Svetlana realising he was Agent Lee only as he spoke. “You are near the border. That requires close monitoring.”

She let out a whine of annoyance as her eye twitched. “You could monitor from outside the restaurant. Just set up a surveillance van or something, like normal cops!”

“Unfortunately that is not an option,” Agent Lee replied. “Our activities are too classified to share with regular police, but an unmarked van sitting in one place inevitably sees local police called. The ensuing paperwork is a nightmare.”

“Fine, but there’s got to be other—I… Plynx? Help?” Svetlana said, annoyed at how her date had been turned sideways.

The lynx-like girl clapped her hands, and the maitre d’ appeared by her side.

“As a relative of the owner, I request you-good-employee remove these folks-annoying from the hotel. Call the police if they refuse,” Plynx said.

The man nodded and turned to Agent Lee.

“You can not kick us out,” Lee said.

“And why not?” the man asked.

“We have not yet paid. It would be economically unsound to remove us before we pay,” Lee explained.

Svetlana stared as the maitre d’ offered to mail them the bill. Agent Lee countered that FETMA’s address was classified and so mailing them was impractical. The argument continued on much the same manner as waiters and security showed most of the agents out. 

She let out a sigh as the mood had been firmly ruined.

---

While the dinner/brunch had been spoiled (the name for the meal being controversial depending on if you defined it by the time or how long Svetlana had been awake), the walk down to near the falls was much nicer. Svetlana was able to embrace having two hands by holding Plynx’s in one and O’tmyil’s in the other. In the fading light of the setting son, the falls were beautiful and relaxing to watch. 

At least as long as they ignored the FETMA agents following about 10 to 15m behind them.

The trio headed off to Clifton Hill after a bit. With Plynx paying, the trio went on a tour of the various attractions. The most memorable bit was a haunted house, where Svetlana and Plynx had both ended up clinging to O’tmyil at a few points. Svetlana was glad she wasn’t in the middle due to Plynx’s claws coming out at a few points.

Then it was on to a casino, where Plynx and Svetlana had a bit to drink while they watched O’tmyil’s calculating brain win money left and right. That lasted until confused security guards asked them to leave, clearly unsure how O’tmyil was cheating at roulette, but sure she was. 

The trio were a giggling mess as they headed off to the large ferris wheel before it closed for the night. The two mildly inebriated girls decided to pepper O’tmyil with kisses on the ride up the ferris wheel, only pausing to enjoy the view they’d paid for near the top. Distracted by the sight of the falls and the shimmering lights of the tourist trap of a city, Svetlana was unprepared when both her girlfriends decided to kiss her now. She became the centre of the affection the entire ride back down. 

Plynx then led the way when they reached the ground, her pupils wide with excitement as she darted about, looking at all the brightly lit attractions.

“Knockers? That is a most strange name for a restaurant,” Plynx said, staring over at one of the restaurants on the Victoria Avenue strip. 

Svetlana caught up to her, and nodded. “It’s a very specific type of restaurant. It’s honestly… actually, let’s go. It would be silly, as girls.”

She marched over, grabbed the door handle, and… it didn’t budge. She made one more attempt, before turning to look at the schedule on display.

“They closed at eleven? I thought they were a bar and would be open until 1 or 2…” Svetlana muttered, confused.

“Come on,” O’tmyil said. “We can find somewhere else.”

Svetlana nodded, realising that she was starting to feel genuinely hungry. One disadvantage to how much she worked out these days was how hungry she got. Even if switching from testosterone to estrogen had helped a bit with that, she still needed a lot of food these days.

The trio decided to cut across a parking lot, lured by the smell of cooking meat at a nearby sports grill when a small metallic sphere fell from places unknown, clinking along the asphalt. The trio stared at it for a moment, when it turned to point a glass side of it skyward.

The air above was suddenly filled with the three metre tall holographic form of a Kobarian woman, long forest green hair draped over her broad and muscular shoulders as she stared down at them. Her eyes were filled with a dismissive attitude similar to that Augusta frequently wore, though there was more power to it due to the muscular build of the alien woman. Her outfit vaguely reminded Svetlana of officer’s uniforms in roughly Napoleonic period pieces. Or a surprising amount of sci fi anime.

“Imperial pretender,” the holograph boomed in a rich and deep voice. “This is your final chance to surrender her excellence, the imperial combat assistant O’tmyil, to my forces as well as distance yourself from the Issiod’rian traitors.”

Svetlana turned, and realised they were surrounded, not just by combat drones, but what looked to be a half dozen actual Kobarians. She let out a sigh.

“Does it always have to be when I go on a date?” she groaned.