More like she didn’t say…
↓ Transcript
Ace
OK. Now we can talk. As much as I like the Orions, I don’t want to spend the next few months taking the long way home.
Akane
You are certain they do not watch now?
Ace
Absolutely. Not only because many of them are almost fanatical about civil rights, but they need our departure to officially be a surprise.
Luna
You have an escape plan! And you asked your cousin to leave because he’s staying. He needs deniability.
Jaz
But, Captain Peach said it’s too dangerous to use the transporter or fly down in a lander.
Ace
Actually, the Cap- Er, Admiral just told me exactly how we’ll be going home...
OK. Now we can talk. As much as I like the Orions, I don’t want to spend the next few months taking the long way home.
Akane
You are certain they do not watch now?
Ace
Absolutely. Not only because many of them are almost fanatical about civil rights, but they need our departure to officially be a surprise.
Luna
You have an escape plan! And you asked your cousin to leave because he’s staying. He needs deniability.
Jaz
But, Captain Peach said it’s too dangerous to use the transporter or fly down in a lander.
Ace
Actually, the Cap- Er, Admiral just told me exactly how we’ll be going home...
When your space relatives are almost as sneaky as you are and probably have the same suspicions.
An assault shuttle with effective stealth ability, but it cannot be under Orion control.
https://www.tmi-comic.com/comic/no-space-for-trouble/
If Gina, Ace, and company are in control there is no violation of Terran space… But Peach cannot entrust foreign nationals with an Orion Assault Shuttle.
Ace and co. take the shuttle. Ace, protected by his special social status, cannot be prosecuted for taking it. Princess and co. are on record explaining that Ace and co. would have to wait, so they are off the hook.
Gina gets to return with the Orion shuttle, which will make her superiors happy.
Ace can likely make the case that he owns the shuttle.
It is all politics. If an Orion were to fly an armed Assault Shuttle into the Pacific Northwest, it would be an act of aggression, or at the very least an insult against national sovereignty. If a U.S. citizen pilots it in, and turns it over to the government, they would be a hero. If Ace flies it in and hides it somewhere, after dropping his mother off so she doesn’t know and can’t be made to tell, he can claim he sent it back on autopilot.
The shuttle owns herself, she is not insensate property but a sentient being.
Shh! Let them find out for themselves! 😉
Of course, the shuttle can certainly be fired upon well before anyone asks who’s piloting it. One hopes it’s “stealth capability” is very VERY impressive.
Like, more impressive than relay pods’ stealth mode.
Admiral?
Yeah, she got promoted