Aboard the Qingqiu, a research vessel and cruise ship with a sleek, spindle-shaped hull, she had never fallen out of the top five of the "Most Beautiful Spaceships in the Universe" rankings since her construction was completed five years ago. Her overall finish was bright silver, and thanks to her latest fluid armor, when she cruised through space at near-light speed, starlight reflected off its flowing mirror surface and was instantly split into its primary colors, leaving behind a shimmering rainbow.
Seen from afar, she looked like a goddess driving a rainbow chariot through the vast heavens, the most beautiful beacon of civilization in the endless universe.
So, the moment she was launched for her maiden voyage, she had already earned the nickname "Rose Princess."
The rose, of course, referred to the "Rainbow Rose" of the Berenkest family. Anyone with a discerning eye knew that this ship had been built as an adulthood gift for the family's beloved little princess, who ruled over half the universe.
Naturally, since the little princess was the well-read sort, she had given her flagship an obscure name that nonetheless sounded rather elegant.
In the five years since the construction of this gorgeous ship, she had participated in the excavation of the "G12" Dawn Relic as a research command vessel, tracked the migration of the Tiyangkai space-whale pods, and visited the Galactic Empire as an envoy ship.
In the banquet hall of this research vessel known as the "Rose Princess," Amyda Senge Berenkest, then the Alliance's trade representative to the Empire, had hosted almost every Privy Council minister and representatives from most of the Empire's major trading houses. To this day, that banquet remained the talk of high society.
No one knew that this elegant-looking, elegantly named vessel, whose functions seemed intended to serve peace,