POV: Lyra
The Minister's voice through Orion's neural implant was nervous and apologetic. "I apologize for bothering you right now, Your Eminence. But a lot of Kaelari are asking me whether the complaint can be made against the sons of government officials who've attended the collaboration with their parents. Should I tell them that those would be a separate complaint since the sons are technically not government officials, or can we just include them with what we're doing now?"
"Include them." Orion said without hesitation but he was pinching the bridge of his nose. Those good-for-nothing idiots actually used their collaborations to hit on females?! This is a government function, not a pleasure station for cosmos' sake!
"Alright. Thank you, Your Eminence. I'll let them know. Have a good night."
"You too, Yarrington. Thank you for your assistance in this matter."
The minister was undoubtedly shocked that the Emperor was expressing his gratitude when he literally exploded less than thirty minutes ago. So Yarrington uttered, "Well, it's always a pleasure to serve, my Emperor. And give my best to the Empress."
"Will do. Goodnight, Yarrington." He disconnected the neural link.
I had stopped inputting data but my eyes were still focused on the holo-screen. Orion got up and walked to me. He stood behind me and started caressing my shoulders as I scrutinized my written work with a serious look.
Orion then bent down and kissed my cheek from the side before whispering into my ear, "Yarrington sends his regards. We're now expanding the net to include the sons of ministers."
My focused eyes suddenly blinked, and I looked at Orion and exclaimed, "Really? That's great!" I then turned back to my screen and muttered, "Let me just add those in."
Orion's hands stopped moving on my shoulders and his grip tightened as his body stiffened. His pathways started pulsing darker. His match was harassed by more than one male Lyrokan?! Through our bond, I could feel his rage building. Cosmos, no wonder the Kaelari hated them! Even he hated his own species after knowing about this.
As he continued thinking about it, his grip on my shoulders tightened more and more. I had to stop inputting, and my hands reached out to stroke his hands as I said, "Orion, darling, breathe. Just breathe, okay? Breathe."
It was only when Orion loosened his hold on me did he realize he was applying too much pressure on my shoulders. When I began inputting again, he bent down to press a kiss on both my shoulders before returning to the rest platform to wait. It felt like an eternity later when I said, "Here, have a read. You can submit it after you're done."
He was at my side even before I got out of my chair completely. I stood next to him, and Orion held me close to his body as he read the words on the holo-screen. I stroked his shoulder gently, sending calming neural pulses, trying to keep him as calm as possible.
When he read until the end, he asked, "You sure that's everyone? Is there anyone else?"
"No. It's just three of them. I'm sure." I then pressed a kiss on his cheek, and Orion swiftly put me on his lap before skimming through the document one more time and activating 'Submit'. I then powered down my holo-pad and snuggled into Orion's chest. I listened to his heartbeat through our bond, and was relieved that it wasn't as rapid as how it was when he lost control in the dining facility.
I then asked, "Have Ellia and the others settled in yet? Did Christian say anything?"
Orion's eyes widened, his pathways flickering with embarrassment. He completely forgot about that! He kissed my forehead before saying, "Hold on, baby. Just give me a minute. Let me ask him."
He then sent a mind-touch to his cousin, 'Christian, how are the families? Have they moved in yet?'
'Cuz…h-how did you do that?! The transport literally just entered through the gates! Seriously, how did you time that?'
Orion sheepishly responded through their neural link, 'I actually…forgot. Lyra got me to ask.'
There was a pause at Christian's end before his voice of disbelief came through, 'You forgot? How is that possible? Did something happen over dinner?'
'You have no idea.'
'Wait, seriously? How is the Empress? Is she okay? Are you?'
'She's handling it way better than I am, as she always does, despite being the one subjected to another round of injustice.'
Christian's consciousness sighed in despair through their connection, 'Why do these things keep finding their way to her? What is it this time?'
Orion's irritated consciousness was loud and clear, 'Did you know we have ministers and their sons using these collaborations to hit on females like it was a pleasure house? I almost exploded…no, scratch that. I completely exploded in the dining facility when I found out!'
'WHAT?! WHO ARE THEY?!'
'Lyra named three: Caunterberg, and the twin sons of Marie Martin from Finance. That's only Lyra! Imagine who we'll be getting when we receive complaints from all the other Kaelari and Lyrokans.'
Christian groaned through the mind-touch, 'WHAT THE VOID IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?! Wait, Caunterberg…welfare…uh cuz, if she named him…who's in charge now?'
'I put Yarrington on it. I was hoping to rope you in as well. We haven't received all the complaints yet so I honestly don't know who else to trust with the job other than the three of us. Weaver has enough on his plate so I didn't include him.'
'Yeah, yeah. I'll do it. You didn't even have to ask, cuz. So, uh…the Empress, has she submitted her complaint yet?'
'Yeah, just did. So I take it that the families all arrived safely?'
'I did a headcount. It seems everyone's here. And they looked fine. A little shaken but safe. My men are still unloading the audits from the transport. And Annie is settling them in now so I better go help her.'
'Okay, thanks, Christian. Thank Annie for me as well.'
'Will do. Night, cuz.'
When Orion ended the mind-touch, I was looking at him in anticipation. He smiled and pressed a kiss on my lips as he said, "They're all there. They're safe."
I let out a sigh of relief before muttering, "Thank the cosmos." Then I reached out to grab my data chip carrier from the table and looked for the folded note of names Ellia gave me before handing it over to Orion. This was another thing he forgot. I leaned back into Orion's chest as he unfolded the paper with his other hand to read the contents.
Marie Martin. Alfred Cummings. Piere Whitlaw. Patrick Dupont. Helena Tanner.
"Helena Tanner." Orion muttered. He didn't know anyone by that name in his government.
I suggested in a whisper, "She's probably Ellia's boss."
Orion activated his holo-communicator and looked her up on the neural net, and I was right. As he looked at the woman's face on the screen to imprint it into his memory, he asked me, "How did you know?"
I answered in an equal whisper, "Well, you'll have to collude with a person who has the most power in the place you are targeting. And besides, Ellia said 'five names' not 'five ministers'. One of those names had to be her boss, the one who blackmailed her and her assistants."
He smiled, his pathways glowing with admiration. Beautiful. Smart. Composed in the midst of anger. His anger. His pathways dimmed with guilt as he said, "Lyra, I'm sorry for exploding like that tonight. I didn't mean to cause so much fear."
I was getting drowsy against his warm chest, my skin shifting to sleepy blue-grey. "Hm, it happened with a good reason. Besides, it ended with hope, not fear. You gave us a way to do this. It doesn't matter if you exploded. What matters is you've found a good way to go about the…" I let out a cute yawn before continuing, "…the problem."
Orion chuckled at the sound. 'Adorable,' he thought to himself as he watched me snuggle comfortably in his arms.
"Let's get you into bed," he whispered.
I got out from his lap before he could carry me, and stretched a little before saying sleepily, "No. I have to change first. Let Christian know about the names, and…" Another yawn. "…and remember to tell Ben's supervisor about his absence." The third thing Orion forgot. Thank the cosmos he had already arranged bodyguards for the families while they were waiting to see the med-tech earlier, or he would have forgotten that as well.
He pressed a kiss on my forehead and said, "You're amazing, you know that?"
"I know you keep telling me that, does that count?"
He chuckled, "I don't care how long it takes. I will make you believe it one day. Goodnight, baby. I'll go see the facility manager about Ben's issue now. Mind-touch me if you need anything, okay?"
I nodded with a smile. My eyelids were getting heavy as I closed the door after he left. After speaking to the manager, Orion sent Christian the five names through their neural link, and went home to sleep with no difficulty.
Somewhere in the city, there was a mansion with three luxury hover-pods, two diplomatic transports and two other high-end vessels, and a family of four lived in comfort without a care in the world, until tonight.
"What do you mean there's no one there?!" Helena Tanner yelled through the receiver from the quantum communicator on her desk. After listening to the caller on the other end from her home office, she barked, "Of course this is the right address! If you think I'm an idiot then you're the idiot! There are three of them and you can't even find a single one? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I'M PAYIN—"
Her personal holo-communicator on her desk lit up, and she froze when she saw the caller ID. She then told her first caller, "I have to call you back." After disconnecting, she took a deep breath before activating the connection, and mustered as much calmness as she could when she said "Your Grace?"