Sometimes, Yu Lian really couldn't help admiring Earth's esteemed leaders. Even something as wonderful as the delivery of a new Dreadnought, they somehow managed to turn into such a mess.
But whatever happened, work and life had to go on. So, after spending forty-eight hours in Gibraltar, Yu Lian and his team officially boarded the Friendship, the diplomatic vessel the Foreign Affairs Committee had assigned them. They were preparing to make the final leg of their journey to Nefi, the Alliance capital.
Normally, a diplomatic vessel with such an elegant design and decor was reserved for consuls and other senior foreign affairs personnel on overseas assignments. Yu Lian remembered that when he'd last gone to take up his post in the Empire, he'd traveled on an ordinary merchant ship chartered by an imperial cultural exchange troupe. The government had paid for first class, of course, but it was still nowhere near the standard of a dedicated passenger vessel.
"I've become such a big shot without even realizing it!"
"You certainly have," Rozers said. "Your opinion is now the first-hand reference for the Defense Committee's future military procurement, involving orders worth trillions of star credits. I'd guess all the Alliance's military-industrial giants are waiting to bribe you."
Yu Lian tried to picture that scene, only to find that, for the first time, his imagination was rather lacking.
"For example, think of Mr. Belmont. He invited you aboard his ship just a couple of days ago."
Naturally, he meant Creil Belmont. The man had arrived in Gibraltar aboard the same military transport as Yu Lian and his team. The moment he reached port, he'd discovered that the famous luxury liner Black Cloud had been waiting at the spaceport for nearly a week.
Looking at the liner, whose name was on a par