And at the end, of course, the Princess claims back her ancestral treasure thus securing her right to rule, and her love interest (who had secretly helped to steal the treasure because she thought the Princess would be happier without the burden of rulership) sees the light and agrees to rule the galaxy at her side.

A fun romp. Even if the ending is a bit predictable.

"I love a happy ending."

"Dunno. Getting on a ship and running away from it all has a certain appeal..."

"If it was with you, I might consider it."

She laughs. "With you - yeah, I'd be so tempted." And not just because removing the Imperial Princess from the game board might be helpful.

Then she sighs. "I wouldn't be able to stay away from it all, though. Knowing me, I'd go riding off into the sunset and then turn around two days later for the sequel."

Giggle. "A good character to have in a franchise, then."

"Keep people on their toes about if this is actually the last installment."

"Exactly."

"Though eventually you'll stop having suspense and just have a running joke of opening the next holo with our eternally hardworking princess turning her ship around after hearing about the latest nonsense."

"Might have to kill the series before it gets to that point."

"But then how else would you have a plot where her girlfriend runs around intercepting every single possible distraction?"

"Genre swap to a comedy?"

"Keep the franchise fresh."

"Hopefully that won't alienate the fanbase."

"Might draw in new fans."

"Possibly!"

She giggles. "Of course, it might have trouble getting past the censorship committees..."

"If the script's good enough..."

"An advantage to being on the committee."

"A little bit of favoritism is like oil in the bureaucratic machine."

Noncommittal hum.

"You don't agree?"

"Depends on who's being favored, for what, and why."

"If the position needs trust - then you want to appoint people you can trust. If it needs someone who will cooperate with you and the rest of the system - then you want to appoint people you can work with. If the position needs competence - then you want to appoint competent people, even if you don't like them personally."

"You shouldn't give people important roles only because you like them, or only to repay them for some past help that doesn't reflect on their ability to do the job. Pure favoritism introduces friction, because you risk adding poorly fitted parts."

"I did say a little."