Cassandra / Brittany: Coronation
The pictured scene drifted down through sparse clouds and moved languidly high over New Buckinghamshire's tortured cinder landscape, the remote taking time to take in the beauty and majesty of Victoria's ring system in conjunction with New Buckinghamshire's twin suns; a once in a decade experience, widely acknowledged as one of the most beautiful natural phenomena yet encountered during Humanities expansion across the stars.
Lens flair flashed briefly as the remote dipped down through the toxic atmosphere and sped across the landscape towards the Yorkshire Chasm, twisted rocky minarets flashing past until the chasm and the dark mass of its space elevators loomed large before the vision mixer scene shifted to another remote inside the cathedral-like subterranean caverns of York City itself
"Welcome back" a warm voiced commentator crooned as the scene segued yet again to an aerial view of a wide boulevard inside York's main cavern, packed with thousands upon thousands of wildly cheering onlookers
"For those of you joining us, you've arrived just in time to catch Queen Brittany's cortege proceeding down Grand Piccadilly towards the coronation site."
"That's right Barry" another voice interjected "As I'm sure everyone knows, the coronation itself is to be held in York Minster, one of the cities few structures near the surface with a glasteel diamondoid roof offering an unparalleled view of Victoria's rings, and a superbly traditional setting for such an auspicious event"
"Indeed it is Terry; completed just seven years ago, the cathedral currently stands as the largest subterranean place of worship in the galaxy; if that's your kind of thing, of course"
"Yes Barry, now you mention it: I wonder how our Queen actually feels about being the leader of her very own church?"
"I suppose only she'd be able to tell us the answer to that, but let's go and join our roving reporter, Jenny Anderson, who's mingling with the crowds of happy well-wishers currently thronging the streets..."
The picture cut to a harassed looking reporter surrounded by a happily drunken crowd of imbeciles, all wearing curly red white and blue wigs and jumping up and down, throwing beer into the air
"Thank you Terry" Jenny shouted into her microphone above the noise of the crowd
"'Oo are ya? 'Oo are ya? 'Oo are ya?" the cheeky members of the great British public chanted in unison, while spraying Jenny with beer as she held a hand to one ear
"I understand that that we should be able to... Oh, yes, there she is now!" Jenny shouted excitedly above several spurious invitations to show everyone her norks "Queen Brittany's cavalcade has just come into view!"
The crowd erupted into cheers, as the camera panned around to show armoured car after armoured car driving past, Brittany's vehicle towards the front of the cavalcade flanked by the traditional escort of ten gentlemen at arms; their massive black, powered armoured exoskeletons trudging along either side of her car, each bristling with enough exotic weaponry to level half a city
Brittany was one smegging saved queen
"Smegging hell! Crap!" Cassandra slurred, cig dangling from her lips as she changed channel away from the coronation, only to scowl at the disturbing image of colliding flesh on the next channel and flick over again. She wasn't happy about having been left on the Blue Dwarf while Brittany got to go swaning around getting coroneted, but there was little she could do about it other than bitterly abuse the suites well stocked drinks cabinet and sneer
Sipping a martini for the next twenty minutes she alternated between watching a classic episode of "Leave it to Reaver" and an old "Heckler and Koch" that she had seen before (the one where the two gay cops get a new roommate to help out with the rent) before she finally flicked back onto the coronation by accident
Brittany had just been crowned again (or for the first time depending on your viewpoint) to ringing cries of "God save the queen"
"Huh" Cassandra sneered "Alright for some"
The suites main door chimed
"Smeg's sake" Cassandra muttered before raising her voice "Butler!?"
There was no reply
"Butler!?" she shouted again, wondering where the smeg the man had got to
The door chimed again
"Oh, for smeg's sake..." Cassandra hauled herself up off the sofa and sauntered over towards the door, opening it on the Captain
"Yes...?" she enquired
Captain Castillo smiled and proffered a bottle of wine
"Bon soir" she began "Ah 'ope Ah'm not interrupting anything?"
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