START OF ARC TWO
Chapter 13: Unforeseen Consequences
Endymion delicately pulled the top of the square black box off, exposing the brown lid of a round jar. He pried his fingers down into the corners of the box to pull the jar out.
"It's funny, you know. Every other day of the year, I'm convinced that Neptune has nothing but contempt for us," he mused, holding the jar up in his hands. It was transparent, letting him easily see the small brown squares that filled the entire inside, each one maybe the size of his thumbnail. "They barely communicate with us, our trade agreements are basically based off complete necessity and nothing else, they don't respond to invitations to meet for meals or theater shows, just...seems like they hate us. But every year, I'm getting a package from them on my birthday."
"What is it?" Serenity asked, looking at the jar, Endymion holding it up in his hands.
"Horse treats," he answered.
"Most horses I've seen could eat that whole jar in two bites," Serenity remarked as Endymion handed the jar over to her.
"No no, you just put one of the squares in with their feed," Endymion explained. "They're really strong, so just one square can affect the flavor of the whole meal. They stimulate muscle growth, expand the lungs, increase the strength and stamina of the horse. But they're not steroids in the strict sense, so you don't have the bad side effects of typical growth hormones." He nodded. "Can only find those on Neptune, very rare, very expensive."
"Ooooh." Serenity went over to set the jar on the floor, alongside a slew of other assorted gifts that Endymion had already opened, books and clothes and valued objects and artifacts and everything else under the sun, so it seemed. And yet, there was a giant pile of boxes and wrapped objects sitting there, all the same, waiting to have their contents revealed.
"So, when Helios produces offspring, we might feed that offspring those treats with his food when he's growing up, so when he's full-sized, he's a true stallion. That, plus his strong stock, will make him a champion."
Endymion, wearing his purple bathrobe and nothing else, was sitting up on his bed, back resting against the headboard, left foot crossed over his right foot, the very picture of a relaxed, at-ease young man, basking in the glow of his twentieth birthday.
"Alright, how about the long thin one?" Endymion said, pointing over towards the pile of boxes.
"Hey, now that I think about it, why am I shuttling your gifts to you?" Serenity stood up, putting her hands on her hips. "They're your gifts!"
"Um, because you're my wife and we love each other and you live for those moments where you can do things to make my life easier?" Endymion suggested jokingly. "And also, it's my birthday, and I'm not leaving my bed unless I'm properly incentivized."
"I'm pregnant!" Serenity protested, pointing down at her belly, which was starting to show clear signs of a bulge that marked that she was carrying a child. "You should be carrying stuff to me!"
"But it's not your birthday, now is it?" Endymion said with a grin.
Serenity rolled her eyes. "And I don't think a birthday is a good reason to not get out of bed!" She went up to Endymion's side, grabbing his left arm and tugging on it, leaning back to try to use her weight to pry him from the bed. "Come on, let's go, lazy!"
Endymion, however, was quick to turn the tables on his wife, reaching forward to grab the sleeve of her blouse and pull her over towards him. She gave a playful little shriek as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her up onto his bed. Tightly caressing her, placing her in his lap, he started to kiss the top of her head.
"Oh, you are just the worst," she teased, nevertheless quickly melting in his grasp, leaning back as he snuggled up against her.
"Twenty is a pretty big number, you know," Endymion said, whispering as he stroked his fingers gently through her hair. "If it was...twenty-three or nineteen, or something like that, maybe I wouldn't care so much. But, twenty, I mean, that's a big milestone, give me something for that one!"
Serenity giggled, leaning her head back into his chest and craning it back to look up at him. "You know, it's your fault I'm pregnant. I even warned you, remember?"
"Oh...worse things have happened," Endymion replied. "Anyway, if you absolutely insist on not being a team player, I suppose I'll just have that maid called up here to bring me my gifts. What was her name? Julia?"
"Oh, you are the stone worst," Serenity muttered. She squirmed out of his grip, getting to her feet. "Fine, fine."
A series of knocks at the bedroom door interrupted the playful intimacy.
"Who goes there?" Endymion called out.
"Someone who's going to beat your ass if you're still in bed," a voice replied.
"Come in, dad," Endymion said casually, leaning back and accepting whatever assbeating he might be due.
King Kasios entered the room with a click of the door swinging open, frowning over at his son. "You haven't even bathed yet? You know it's mid-day already."
"Yes, mid-day. The middle of the day. This day. Hm, what's significant about this day in particular, I wonder?" Endymion put his finger to his chin in pretend thought.
"Alright son, wash up and put some clothes on if you want my present," Kasios insisted, glancing over his shoulder at the bathing room door.
Endymion gave a mock sigh. "Alright, if you insist." He looked over at his wife. "Serenity, go get the sponges and get to work."
Serenity stuck her tongue out at Endymion at this remark.
"Alright, I don't have time to stand around and watch you act like a bum," Kasios said. "Meet you down in the garage."
Endymion's eyes immediately widened at this final word, snapping his head over to look at his father as the older man retreated from the room. "Garage?!" he practically squealed, rocketing up to his feet and making a mad dash for the bathing chamber.
Serenity watched him, eyebrow raised in amused confusion. "All I had to do was say that one word to get him up?" She put her hands on her hips as Endymion quickly disappeared into the adjacent room.
Kasios stuck his head back into the room, looking over at the pregnant Princess. "You might wanna come see this one too."
"
Practically staggering forward, eyes wide and mouth open, Endymion looked like a five-year-old having just been presented the latest and greatest toy by his parents. It was almost charming.
In front of him, a sparkling-new silver spaceship was perched on a docking port, body sleek and vaguely tube-like, with the nose and sides tapered down. Endymion ran up to the side, running his right hand along the smooth surface.
"Cutting edge doesn't even do it justice," Kasios said, putting his hands on his lips. "In about ten years, this thing will be on the cutting edge. Right now, it's beyond even that edge."
"Beautiful," Endymion marveled. "I'll almost feel bad flying the thing."
"I thought about having it pre-decorated, but...I figured it'd be better if you got to customize it," Kasios said. "So, just think about how you want to deck it out, we'll have a couple guys from the factory swing by soon to handle it. And, you can name it."
Endymion bent down, looking at the landing gear, deployed and contacting the concrete floor. "What are we talking? Cruising speed, point oh oh one speed of light?"
"Point oh oh one five," Kasios replied. "Cruising speed, we're talking from Earth to Moon in maybe...fifty secundas?"
"Less than a minuta," Endymion said breathlessly.
"Not that it matters, not when you can just jump there in a matter of beats," Kasios said casually.
Endymion stood back up straight, looking over at his father. "What are you talking about?"
"I just mean, why take fifty secundas to get somewhere when you don't even need one?" He pointed up at the brand new ship. "Just jump it."
"Bullshit," Endymion rasped, quickly stalking back over towards his father.
"Hey!" Serenity interrupted, standing right next to the King of Earth, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh, yes, my deepest apologies, we all know that the pure maiden Princess Serenity of the Moon has never had her angelic ears befouled by such loathsome, brutish language," Endymion said dramatically, voice dripping with sarcasm.
Wordlessly, Serenity pointed down at her bulging belly.
"Oh." Endymion rolled his eyes, but went up to his wife nevertheless and placed his palm on her stomach, bending over towards it. "Sorry, you didn't hear that," he whispered.
"Son, this sucker can jump," Kasios re-iterated, pointing up at the ship. "Believe me, with what I paid for it, it had better."
Endymion spun back around, looking at the ship. "You gotta be...what does this seat? Eight?"
"Ten," Kasios corrected.
"This is a Class A!" Endymion exclaimed. "Class A starships can't jump, it's not safe."
"Not anymore," Kasios said. "Although you might not see Class A starships that can pull it off on the market for the general public for awhile...it is possible. You're looking right at the evidence of it."
"So, what you're saying is that this tiny little ship could...get me through the asteroid belt? Get me to Jupiter in...what, one-sixth of an Earth day?" He scratched his nose. "Be real with me, what are the odds that I end up a clump of goo that has to get peeled off the seat?"
"Oh, knock it off," Kasios said, cuffing Endymion around his head. "I'd say at least sixty, sixty-five percent of the time it's totally safe."
Endymion cocked his head to the right a bit. "Dad. You don't have any other heirs."
"It's safe, son," Kasios insisted. "You think I'd give it to you without the technology being tested?"
A low whistle drew Endymion's gaze, coming from his left. Four grey uniformed figures approached. Jadeite's eyes were on the new ship, marvelling in it's sleek and modern design.
"I do love them when they're naked," Jadeite remarked. "I understand, a good-looking set of decals and paints has its appeal, but there's something so pure about a brand-new starship, just off the assembly line."
"Oh, there's no assembly line for a ship like this," Endymion said, looking back up at it proudly as his four guardians approached. "This is one-of-a-kind."
"Shall we?" Kasios suggested, beckoning towards the open hatch.
"
Endymion, Serenity, Kasios, and the four Earth generals were now giving the interior of the ship a visual inspection. Endymion had his focus on the main console, up just in front of the pilot's chair, a panel of buttons, levers and lights, with two large joysticks on either side of it.
"Seamless transition from atmosphere to non-atmosphere environments, so this baby can serve as a planet-based shuttle just as well as an interplanetary one," Kasios said, pulling the floor panel up to expose the large cargo holds below. "Cargo holds grade out perfect as far as Class A ships go, in terms of capacity it's as much as an average B ship."
"I just can't imagine the Prince ever using this room," Nephrite commented, stepping out of a small side chamber, just big enough for one person to stand up in and not much else. "Class A ship with a latrine and shower, what'll they think of next?"
"Hey, it may not be a five-star spa and sauna," Zoisite agreed. "But, when you've absolutely got to go, you'll be happy it's there."
"This autopilot system is quite something," Kunzite said, holding a couple of sheets of paper in his hands, scanning the instructions within. "Complete customization, you can...plot out a course for the ship to follow over years and years and it'll do it without any human interaction."
"Vostek Systems," Kasios said. "Doing some insane stuff with autopilot systems lately. It even detects obstacles in real-time, changes course to avoid crashing and then goes back to the original course."
"Emergency beacon," Jadeite commented, pointing up at a square handle hanging from the ceiling. "What's the range?"
"Whole galaxy," Kasios replied. "You end up stranded in the middle of space, run out of fuel or the engines get damaged, you just fire it off and someone'll come and find you."
"Oooh, I found the food and drink compartment!" Serenity called out, pulling a rack out of the left-side wall, exposing a small refridged chamber and a couple shelves.
"That's where the good stuff goes," Kasios remarked. "You reach over to the right side of where you pulled the rack out of, you'll find the survival rations."
"Well, if the Prince ever has to use those, then he'll definitely be needing that latrine," Kunzite muttered.
Kasios went over to Endymion, tapping him on the shoulder and putting his hand out in front of him, supporting a small cylindrical crystal in his palm. "You'll be needing this to start it."
Endymion took the little crystal, examining it for a moment, and then finding a circular hole in the main console. He slowly inserted the crystal into the gap, giving it a twist to the left, causing it to start to glow green. The console also lit up, various buttons and indicator lights flickering on.
"The little flap on the right covers the seat controls," Kasios explained. "You tap the switches underneath there, you can make the nine other seats come up from below. Like I said, seats ten. Meaning you can have up to four kids, and after that you're getting snipped."
"Oh, I'm pretty sure there's enough room for...thirty or forty more kids in the cargo hold if need be," Endymion joked.
"Just what, exactly, are you planning on doing with my womb?" Serenity asked warily, pushing the rack back into the wall.
"Too late, sweetie," Endymion said quickly. "We're already married, can't back out now, too late to start asking questions."
"Well, there's plenty more cool stuff on this ship, but I'll let you figure it out for yourself as you use it," Kasios said. "But, uh, pretty sweet ride. So, what're you gonna name it?"
Endymion swallowed, slowly glancing around the ship's interior. "How about...The Bastion?"
Kasios puckered his lips a bit in thought. "That's pretty good."
"I'll think about it, but I kind of like that one," Endymion said.
Kasios reached down into his right pocket, pulling out a round, flat device with a little earpiece dangling off the edge. He gave the earpiece a gentle tug, extending it out from the device on a thin cord, and then placing it in his ear. "Kasios speaking," he said, holding the device up to his mouth. "I...yes, I'm still the King, but it's not relevant." He took a couple steps away from his son, moving down the chamber towards the back. "Yes, High King, whatever, just...what's going on?"
Endymion flicked the little panel up on the right side of the console, exposing two lines of switches. He moved the top right one up, causing a little trap door on the floor to his right to open up and a chair to unfold up from it.
"Ninety-nine percent?!"
Endymion head perked up slightly.
"No, no, there's...that's impossible," Kasios muttered. "That would...that would mean...shit." He put his hand up to his forehead. "Hold on, let me...let me go somewhere quiet." He went over to the ship's exit hatch, tapping his foot on one of the floor panels a few times. The panel he was standing on started to slowly descend down a pole, to the floor of the garage. "You've run every test?"
Endymion slowly turned around, eyes meeting Kunzite's for a brief moment. He quickly pushed the illicit thoughts from his mind, however, looking around at his guardians and his wife. "How about a test drive? Moon and back?"
"Sounds like a plan to me," Zoisite concurred.
"No autopilot on this one," Endymion said. "First time, I'm doing it as the Gods intended. With my hands."
"Unless your plan involves standing on the wing and paddling to the Moon with your hands, that's not happening," Jadeite cracked. "But yes, let's do it."
"Soon as my father's off the call, we'll go," Endymion said, clapping his hands together.
"What about the rest of the presents?" Serenity asked.
"Oh, plenty of time tonight for that," Endymion replied.
Suddenly, Kasios reappeared from down below, pocketing the communicator as he rose up from the garage level. "Hey, uh, son, I hate to do this to you, but...we've got a situation, they've asked for me up on The Savery as soon as possible." He looked rather uncomfortable. "I doubt I'll be back tonight, so...whenever I get back, if you wanna do your birthday dinner then, we can do that."
"Dad, don't worry about it," Endymion insisted. "We have dinner together two hundred times a year, maybe more, I'll be fine. You do what you need to do."
"Sorry, we've just got a serious development and people are freaking out," Kasios explained. "Too much for me to try to work remotely, I need to be up there." He nodded over at his son. "You take her out for a ride if you want, I'm heading out now."
Kasios again started to descend down on the automatic lifter, leaving Endymion to jump into the pilot seat. Quickly flipping a few switches to deploy enough seats for everyone present, he waited for his father to be clear of the landing gear before he sealed up the hatch and began to gently lift the ship up from the parking slot.
"Alright, we're cruising to the Moon, I want to test out the throttle," Endymion said, pushing a couple little levers up in front of him, then reaching forward to the joysticks to turn the ship to the right. "As soon as we break the atmosphere, I'm pushing it to the maximum. And then we jump back, I'll believe this thing can jump when I see it."
With that, he guided the ship out of the large opening to the outside world, pointing the nose up towards the sky. An eye on the radar up to his right, he began to push it upward, speeding off into the clear blue skies above.
"
"Good twentieth, Your Highness," Kunzite said, leaning up to Endymion's shoulder as the Crown Prince engaged automatic cruise on the ship, letting it coast aimlessly through space, gently puttering about in orbit around the Earth. Everyone else had been dropped off back in the garage for the Earth Palace, leaving just Endymion and his closest general.
"Thank you." Endymion leaned back in the chair, looking up at the roof of the ship. "So, what's the good word?"
Kunzite quickly pulled a rectangular piece of equipment from his uniform, turning a knob atop it and pressing down on a button in the center of the face. "Test, test." He glanced at a tiny little screen on the face of the device, then pocketed it again. "Okay, we're clear."
"It's been fifteen days since Mimete got taken out, I think we've laid low long enough," Endymion said, spinning his seat around to face Kunzite. "What have you heard?"
"We organized the assassination of a high-level imperium Kingpin, Your Majesty. You could easily argue that we should be planning on laying low for many years before we try anything," Kunzite pointed out.
"Well, we don't have years," Endymion countered. "We've got more than twenty-three libras of product left, nearly twenty-six million creds worth, and it's not doing anyone any good hiding in your safehouse. Me and Serenity are good, too, we've patched things up, she probably doesn't even remember the friction. Now, what's going on out there? What have you heard?"
"Well...the news is all quite good, actually," Kunzite admitted. "So. The Mimete situation."
"
With a powerful little slap, Kasios placed a large, square picture up on the wall with a little clip to keep it in place. It was an artist's rendition of a woman's face, orange hair falling just short of her shoulders, and a couple of large white earrings hanging from her ears.
"So. The Mimete situation," Kasios called out, turning to the room, populated mostly by a long wooden table with all of the agency council members present on either side of it. "Obviously, she's charcoal. Cancel the cremation, she took care of it for us."
The room gave a couple light laughs.
"We've been after this one for years. Always managed to elude us, smart enough to stay on the move. Didn't help that it took us awhile to realize that she looks like a banker's trophy wife. High-level distributor, got networks of dealers in hundreds of towns on Earth. And fifteen Earth-days ago, we wiped out her and a pack of her lieutenants."
"Must have crippled close to...forty percent of the black market on Earth," Naxos commented from the right side of the table. "That's one of the biggest wins we've had this century."
"You say that," Kasios replied. "Might be a reasonable assumption." Kasios walked over to the head of the table, grabbing a red folder and holding it up in the air. "And yet, according to the information from our agents, delivered earlier today, Mimete's distribution network—"
"
"—is still active," Kunzite said, leaning up towards Endymion. "Nephrite's network has reports of the same dealers dealing in cities all across the Earth, as if nothing's changed."
"So the distribution ran largely independent of the one in charge," Endymion reasoned thoughtfully.
"No, this was...too smooth," Kunzite objected. "Mimete's death was a very public affair, big firefight like that, everybody knows about it. There's no way the distribution network would just keep running like that without a hitch, unless she wasn't really the one in charge."
"So, Mimete was working for someone?" Endymion asked.
"Perhaps...someone with distribution networks on multiple planets and moons, and Mimete ran things on the ground level on Earth. And this person was able to immediately implement a new boss when Mimete left, that's...it's the only way you could get all those dealers to remain loyal." Kunzite nodded. "Mimete answered to someone, and that someone was able to replace her quickly."
"Replace her with who?" Endymion leaned forward a bit towards Kunzite.
Kunzite shrugged. "No way to know yet. More interesting might be who—"
"
"—was Mimete working for?" Kasios tapped the artist's rendering of Mimete's face with his fingers a few times. "These are the questions that need answering."
"An interplanetary imperium Kingpin," Galen mused. "Maybe, anyway. That's a loooooot of money, if that's actually what we're dealing with."
"Okay, now, the clear stuff," Kasios continued. "Originally, we were working under the assumption that it was being distributed by a new group, given that it was only being sold in one city at a time. And yet, the supply dried up basically right after Mimete broiled herself, so now we're reconsidering. Today was actually the first time we found a trace of the new stuff since the shootout. All our other busts, we're getting fifty-five percent garbage, at best."
"Alright." Timon hand his hand wrapped around his chin, leaning forward onto the table. "So, this master chemist...uh, Tuxedo Mask or whatever, they were in the building when it went up? That's what I'm thinking."
"Possible," Kasios acknowledged. "That definitely occurred to me."
"Maybe Mimete was the only point of contact with this chemist? She's gone, they can't contact him?" Jorja suggested. "Maybe they're just laying low with the good stuff for a bit, given they just had a big bite taken out of their operation?"
"Possible, possible." Kasios nodded. "It's just, something occurs to me." He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder at the picture. "How'd we get her? She's been eluding us for years, and then suddenly an angel comes down on us from above, delivers an anonymous tip that happens to lead to exactly where she's holed up? Just a couple cycles after this new stuff hits the market?" He shrugged. "Seems like there might be some sort of connection there."
"So…" Naxos paused, thinking. "Getting rid of competition. This Tuxedo Mask character tips us off so we take out Mimete?"
Kasios put his right hand up in front of his chest, shaking it back and forth, face wrinkled a bit. "Ehhh, maybe. Me, personally, I'm thinking that they were working together. He was coming up with the clear product, she was distributing it. Maybe they had a limited supply, could only go one city at a time. Then, maybe they had a falling out, and our mysterious Tuxedo Mask tipped us off to get her out of the way."
"It lines up," Galen acknowledged. "Explains why things have dried up so much since we took her out."
"Now, if I'm right about all that, our...Tuxedo Mask is out there somewhere, chilling out, laying low, waiting for things to cool off, maybe trying to secure a—"
"
"—new distributor," Kunzite said. "Not...whoever replaced Mimete, obviously. I'm sure they're at least highly suspicious that we were the ones who tipped off the agency." He gave a half-hearted little shrug. "Although, Nephrite's spies say they haven't heard anything about there being some sort of underground hunt for us for a revenge hit."
"Maybe they don't think it was us," Endymion suggested, passing one of the glass bottles over Kunzite's shoulder, allowing the general to take it. "It's a high-risk profession, people get arrested all the time, maybe they just chalk it up to bad luck."
"Still, maybe we'll have better luck trying to find a smaller-scope distributor," Kunzite suggested. "I can start looking around for something immediately, if you'd like. And, I feel like we should at least note that if we were to turn our find into the agency now, the Kingdom of Earth would receive the reward, and the Moon would be unable to do anything about it."
Endymion ripped the cap off his own glass bottle, taking a gulp from it, thinking to himself. "Noted. Now, why do we need a distributor?"
"Is that a real question?" Kunzite asked, taking the cap off his own bottle, then lifting the mouth up to his nose and sniffing.
"No no no, I mean...I know why we need distribution. But why do we need a distributor?" Endymion clarified as Kunzite took a drink from the bottle. "How much money was Mimete making off of us? I know the markup was more than a hundred percent, close to one-fifty."
"Are...are you proposing that I start selling our product on the street?" Kunzite said. "Like, walking around the streets at night, selling it one carat at a time?"
"No, I'm proposing that we should be the new Mimete," Endymion said. "We should be the distributors. We'd make money a lot faster, and we'd be in better control."
"Yes, but we don't have thousands of people, living among the populace, ready to sell our imperium to customers," Kunzite said.
"No. No we don't," Endymion admitted. "Not thousands…" he glanced up at his general. "...almost a thousand, though."
Kunzite paused mid-drink, slowly lowering the bottle down in front of him. "You want...Nephrite's spies to distribute imperium?"
"It's perfect," Endymion mused. "They're out there, spread out all around the Earth, normal members of society, not suspicious at all. Nothing official connects them to Nephrite or the palace. They've been vetted by Nephrite himself for competency and loyalty."
Kunzite's forehead wrinkled. "It's not what they're intended for. We'd be putting them at risk, potentially. And I don't just mean from the agency. But...it's not unreasonable."
"I mean, why should we be going through a middleman who ends up with half the profit? We go out there, search for another distributor, maybe we strike up a deal, maybe they're more sane than Mimete was, maybe they don't get busted, maybe our relationship stays positive...lot of maybes in there." He put his hands up to his chest. "Let's be the boss here. Besides, this way we should be able to move the product faster. Remember, we've still got that big barrel of—"
"
"—boron crystal fluid." Galen, now standing up at the head of the table next to Kasios, looked around at the many present council members. "Whoever stole it was a smooth operator, took them awhile to realize it was gone. Now, until today, it wasn't our problem." He pointed at the table surface right in front of him, where a tiny paper envelope was sitting. "Today, this turned up. Three carats of refined, synthesized imperium. Ninety-nine point oh-one percent pure."
"So, our Tuxedo Mask character either has our formula, or he's come up with another one that works about as well," Kasios interjected.
"It's our formula," Galen said. "So, what I'm about to say doesn't leave this room. I don't care to have to say this, information about the formula has never extended beyond the Grandmaster and the lab chemists ever since the agency formed, but given this development I have no choice." He cleared his throat. "Boron crystal fluid is the catalyst for our formula. It doesn't have that many other uses, so there's no way this is a coincidence."
Timon frustratedly thumped his forearms down on the table. "Great. So now we've got a leak inside the agency?"
Jorja shook her head. "Only a few people we can even accuse, if that's what it is. Only one person in this room has access to that formula."
"And I don't hate this job nearly enough to try to accuse that person," Kasios added, shooting Galen a wry look.
"Alright, do we put the lab chemists under increased surveillance?" Naxos asked. "It must be from them."
"Must is a bit strong," Kasios replied. "We can't rule out someone managing to figure it out on their own. Expert-level chemistry knowledge and a whole lot of luck, it could happen."
"Not much of a lead," Solomon pointed out from the very end of the table. "I guess we could investigate everyone who ever had perfect scores on their advanced chemistry level ten exams."
"Well." Kasios, hands on his lips, spun around to face the back wall of the conference room. "Maybe we turn our focus to Mercury, then. I mean, we all know it, even if we can't get them to admit it. They've got the formula down in those vaults somewhere. Maybe Tuxedo Mask got it from there? Could start there, maybe. Mercury, and Jupiter, since that's where the fluid got stolen from. It's a start anyway."
"Also of note," Galen said, voice raising just a tad. "As I said, our thief made off with a big barrel of boron fluid. Not a bottle, not a jug, a barrel. Half a culeus. Enough for over a thousand libras of imperium if the chemist is skilled, and this one certainly is. And why bother taking a barrel when a jug would suffice? This tells us that this Tuxedo Mask has enough raw product to justify taking that much. Meaning, we can't expect this particular imperium strain to just dry up and disappear. If I had to guess, I'd say we're just getting started, and it's only a matter of time before this Tuxedo Mask is back—"
"
"—in business." Endymion tossed the two empty bottles into a little chute on the right wall of the ship. "And this time, we're calling the shots. No unknown variables that can get in our way and muck up the works. We make the product, we sell it."
"I'll see about bringing Nephrite on board," Kunzite offered. "We're using his network so much in this anyway, may as well just tell him what's going on."
Endymion nodded, closing the chute. He took a couple steps over to Kunzite, clapping him on the shoulder. "I know it's been bumpy, Kunzite. We've both put ourselves in danger, taken some risks, it's...it's been stressful. But now, we get to do everything safely. It's just business from here on out. We're making a product that we sell for money."
"We should get back to the palace. You have other gifts to open, Serenity's waiting," Kunzite pointed out, gesturing up to the pilot chair with a jerk of his head.
Endymion went over to the chair. "But seriously, Kunzite. It's totally different from here on out. Nobody gets hurt from now on."
"
Lyra slowly ran the butt end of her pen down the left side of the sheet of paper, past columns of numerical figures. "So, the left column is for the amounts, these are in culeuses, and...next to that we have the income from the transaction. Next to that, income per culeus."
Queen Jupiter bent her head down, resting it in her palms. "Lyra, I understand that I'm the Queen now, and I know that I should be...generally aware of these things, but please, please, please tell me that I'm not going to have to spend the rest of my life looking at numbers like this."
"No, not all the time, but you should have an understanding of our exports," Lyra assured her.
"I know enough to know that we probably have...a thousand sheets like this every cycle. If I actually have to start going over all of those, I'll just...sell the planet to Mercury, go start a dojo on Mars or something." She rolled her eyes.
"No no, you just need proper context so you can understand what we're talking about when we discuss hiking some of the rates."
Queen Jupiter's study was practically a packed house, with perhaps twenty different aides and advisors crowded around a sturdy wooden desk.
"If Venus is going to hike the price on extremia, which we require in order to make the tools to harvest silvia gas, then it follows logically that we need to raise the going rate on silvia gas," one of the voices from the crowd of the Queen's assistants spoke up.
"Okay, that...that makes sense to me," Jupiter replied, nodding slowly. "We should do that, yes."
"The alternative would be, seek some sort of arrangement with Venus, some way they could...bring us to some sort of equilibrium. Keep the rest of the galaxy from being involved in this, just keep it between us and them." Another of the advisors raised her hand up in the air as she spoke.
Jupiter nodded. "That might be good too."
"Now, if we go that way, we could avoid blowback from the other Kingdoms, they wouldn't like the silvia rates getting pushed up," Lyra said slowly. "Could be some consequences there. On the other hand, it would mean a bigger surplus."
The door at the far end of the room slid open, distracting everyone from the topic at hand. A head poked into the room, looking at the sea of royal advisors. The Queen stood up, managing to get up a bit higher than everyone else's head so that she could be seen.
"Pardon me, Your Highness, some men are here from the Galactic Imperium Agency. They're very insistent about seeing you now," the man said.
Jupiter gave an annoyed grunt. "Can't even call ahead? Rude."
"Um, I agree, Your Highness," Lyra said quietly. "But we're best off cooperating with the agency as much as we can, uh, you should see them."
Queen Jupiter scowled, but then lifted her head up towards the door. "Invite them in," she instructed.
"Oh, uh, put your shoes on, please," Lyra said as the door across the room shut. Jupiter looked down, and with a sigh, slipped her feet into a pair of brown, ankle-cut boots.
"We'll continue the silvia discussion after this," Jupiter announced out to the room of advisors. "I plan on making it quick."
However, hopes of that were significantly reduced on the door re-opening, allowing at least fifteen uniformed agency representatives to enter. All of them wearing black, tight-fitting uniforms, they flooded into the room, spreading out into the crowd of royal advisors, little regard for manners or etiquette.
"Queen Jupiter," one of them said, giving a tiny bow towards her after pushing to the front of the crowd. "I'm Special Agent Felix, we're here concerning the theft of boron crystal fluid from one of your chemical warehouses recently."
Jupiter's face went blank, mind racing through the assorted news updates her many assistants had delivered to her in recent days.
"Y-yes, we're familiar with the theft," Lyra said, raising her right hand up a bit in the air. "Eighty congii of boron crystal fluid from warehouse number eight—"
"I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to the Queen," Felix said dismissively, waving Lyra off. "Now, we have some questions for you and your staff of advisors. Background information, financials, that sort of thing."
"Uh...I…" Queen Jupiter blinked dully a few times, quickly overwhelmed.
"What do we have to do with chemical theft, why are you questioning us?" Lyra interrupted. "And how is even an agency issue?"
"Again, I'm not talking to you," Felix repeated sternly. "Queen Jupiter, we believe that the theft of fluid from your warehouse is related to another series of crimes, that's all we can say at this time. We need to conduct individual interviews with you, all of your advisors, and all high-ranking officials in your regime. Immediately."
Queen Jupiter flinched at this command. "That's...probably three hundred people!"
"Yes, so we need to get started now." He gestured behind him at the thick crowd. "We can start with the people in this room, kindly call in everyone else. If you cooperate, we can conduct these interviews here, and not on The Savery."
"H-how long is this going to take?" Jupiter asked, going slightly pale.
"I can't answer that, Your Highness, but the sooner we get started the sooner we can finish."
With a mighty sigh, Jupiter plunked back down in her seat. With a frustrated frown on her face, Jupiter gave a small nod. "I'll...I'll round everyone up." She covered her face with her hands.
"Thank you," Felix said. "Alright, everyone!" He turned around. "Okay, we can take eight people at a time, let's...let's go alphabetically, everyone please line up in alphabetical order and we'll go from there!"
Jupiter shook her head slowly from behind her hands. "Oh, just what I needed."
"
"For the last time. Our vault is off-limits to all outsiders."
Queen Mercury had risen to her feet from the head of the ornate, bejeweled dinner table, turned away from her half-eaten plate of dinner, trying to put up a strong front against the demanding agency representative. Wearing a tight black suit, he stood there, holding a clipboard in his right hand and his arms crossed over his chest.
Princess Mercury sat there on the left side of the table, nervously glancing over at the confrontation while picking at her dinner.
"Well, Your Highness, then we have no choice but to make assumptions. We need a list of everyone who has been allowed inside the vault, at any point, for any duration of time," Special Agent Octavian said evenly, glancing down at the clipboard.
"Everyone?" Queen Mercury repeated. "Everyone?"
"Everyone alive," Octavian clarified.
"For...for what purpose?"
Octavian glanced over his shoulder at the pair of royal Mercury guards, stationed by the door. "We believe there might be a connection to a recently committed crime, that's all I can divulge. The agency needs to interview everyone who's ever been in that vault." He gestured over at Princess Mercury. "Obviously, that includes you and your daughter, but I'm assuming you've kept records of everyone who's been allowed in there?"
"W-what are we being accused of, exactly?" Queen Mercury demanded. "I...we're talking about hundreds of people here! You come in here, no appointment, no warning, no call-ahead, you walk in on me in the middle of dinner, and you demand all of this information, I...what are you accusing me of?"
"Nothing. And if you want to keep it that way, you'll cooperate with our investigation." He uncoiled his arms. "Alright, we'll leave you and your daughter to dinner, but we expect a list of people to interview sometime tonight. And you and your daughter should gather information about your private financials for the interview."
Queen Mercury's mouth fell open slightly. "Private financials?! Are...you do realize who we are, right?"
"Your Highness, if you want this to be over with quickly, the best thing you can do is help us get this over with by facilitating this process to the best of your abilities." He spun around on his heel.
"I...what does our vault possibly have to do with agency business?!" Queen Mercury said under her breath, quickly taking her seat again and turning back to the table, scowling. "Oh, they don't know how to take no for an answer...probably doing this just to annoy me since I won't let them in there." She aggressively stabbed at a slice of roasted duck on her plate with her fork. "This is just what we needed right now, too."
Princess Mercury, left hand up to the left side of her face, looking at her mother out of the corner of her eyes, absentmindedly poked at her food.