Chapter 38: Sins of the Father

Endymion, face buried into his pillow, stirred as Serenity pressed into his right shoulder.

"What did you do yesterday, run a marathon?" Serenity asked. "You know you've been asleep for about...forty minutas now."

"Mmmm," Endymion grumbled, in no hurry to get up despite Serenity's urging.

"Come on, I've let this go more than long enough," Serenity said, nudging him back and forth underneath the blanket. "You need to eat something."

Slowly, he rolled over, inching his right eye open to look around his bedroom. Serenity gave a little shriek, jumping away from the bed in shock. That little action was enough to get Endymion to vault up into an upright position, tossing his blankets to the side as Serenity pointed right at his face.

"W-what the...what?!" she gasped.

"What?! What?!" Endymion asked, reaching up towards his face and feeling around his cheeks with both hands.

"Y-your eyes!" Serenity answered. "What…"

Although the answer was already dawning on him as his brain slowly started working faster, he reached up and grazed his fingertips along the roughened skin around his retinas. He twisted his body around, looking up at his pillow, which was streaked with tan-colored makeup marks. He sighed.

"Ah...huh," he grunted. "Yeah."

"Endymion?!" Serenity snapped. "How did...what happened?"

Slowly, the Prince pushed out a large breath, staring at the makeup smears on his pillow, then turned back to his wife. "I—"

"Endy, you promised!" Serenity snapped. "You said you'd stop lying! Tell me the truth!"

"I haven't said anything yet," Endymion said slowly, posture slouching a bit.

"W-well...just, tell me what happened!" Serenity demanded.

"Um...well," Endymion started, swallowing a lump in his throat. "Serenity, I...I got punched in the face. This…" he gestured up towards his eyes, "...this is what happens sometimes when you get punched in the face—"

"I know!" Serenity interrupted. "I...who punched you?! Why did you get punched?!" Her more sympathetic instincts kicked in and she walked right up to her husband, hands reaching out towards his eyes. Endymion put his right arm up and pushed her back.

"No, no, don't touch them, that's not good for them…" he leaned back slightly. "Um...yeah, I got punched."

Serenity scoffed. "You practically collapsed onto the mattress as soon as you got back last night, I almost asked you if something happened, but...what are you doing, cage fighting now?!"

Endymion closed his eyes. "Your imagination goes to some curious places," he said under his breath.

"Okay, fine, what happened?" Serenity continued to goad. She spun around and ran off towards the bar on the far side of the room. "Who punched you?!"

"A...a co-worker," Endymion explained. Serenity stopped just before scurrying behind the bar, looking back over her shoulder.

"A co-worker?" Serenity repeated. "A...Endy, you said—"

"It's not like that," Endymion interrupted. "One of the people who I work with in the laboratory, someone...involved in the business, he...we had a disagreement about the direction that we would be taking things in the future. And things got a little heated, and...well, he punched me."

Serenity did not look comforted or eased by Endymion's explanation.

"It was somebody who I've had no issue with before, in fact, I...I've had a good relationship with him previously. It's not a big deal, he just got angry for a minute. I'm sure next time I see him, he'll feel very silly about the whole thing and apologize."

"U-uh…" Serenity went behind the bar, kneeling down to grab a cloth napkin from one of the shelves, then splaying it out on the counter. "Endymion, you told me that...that you'd be safe, and there wasn't any risk, or—"

"There isn't!" Endymion said, watching Serenity begin to dump ice cubes onto the napkin, then roll it up into a closed bundle. "Serenity, when...when men are making decisions over...hundreds of billions of creds, sometimes emotions run high. That's all this was. I'm not in danger, that's silly to think. I've never been more safe."

"Well, how safe can you be if you're working with someone who thinks that...that punching someone in the face over a disagreement is an okay thing to do?!" Serenity asked, rushing over with the bundle of ice cubes.

"Serenity, it happens," Endymion assured her. "It's not a problem, just chalk it up to a...a thing that happens between men, sometimes. When I'm in the lab, I'm not the Prince of Earth, I'm just a person there to do a job. Sometimes things just get heated."

Serenity placed her right hand on the back of Endymion's head, then gently pressed the ice pack into his eyes. Endymion reached up, taking the napkin from her hand.

"Just...just hold it there," she said with a sigh. "So...what happened after?"

"Hm?" Endymion prompted. "Well, I mean, things cooled down a bit after that—"

"D-did you...punch him?" she asked.

"No!" Endymion said quickly, shaking his head. "No, no, I...I'm not...this person, who punched me, is significantly older than me. I didn't think it would be appropriate, so I didn't retaliate."

Serenity closed her eyes and shook her head. "Endy, I...Gods, you scared me."

"I have no intention of making a habit of it," the Prince grunted. "Just calm down, it's part and parcel of working with people in a business like this." He waved his left hand up towards the bathing room door. "Just go take your shower, and don't worry about it. B-but, don't tell anyone about this either."

Serenity grimaced. "If it does become a habit, Endy, then that's going to be a problem. You told me there wasn't any more danger, I'm holding you to that."

He nodded, leaning back into the mattress as Serenity walked off. His ears were on high alert as she softly padded across the carpet, listening for the bathing room door to click open. A few moments later, it did, and Endymion slowly pulled the ice pack off his face. He tilted his head back, looking over to verify that Serenity had left the room, just in time to see her disappear into the side room.

A blank smile on his face, he looked up at the ceiling.

"I'm a dead man," he muttered under his breath.

"

Endymion powerfully slammed his knuckles into the steel door repeatedly, each knock causing a non-trivial degree of pain in his fingers. After perhaps a dozen knocks, the door slid open, admitting the Prince into Kunzite's private chambers, still as simple and plain as ever. The general sat on the edge of the bed, holding the black door remote in his right hand.

"Oh, Gods," Endymion grunted, stumbling in hurriedly, Kunzite quickly hitting a button on the remote to zip the door shut behind him. A giant pair of heavily-tinted sunglasses were perched on his nose, covering his eyes. Immediately, Kunzite's face fell.

"It came off?!" Kunzite asked, Endymion quickly answering the question by removing the glasses to expose his bruised face. "You should have—"

"Kunzite, we have bigger problems right now," Endymion said quickly, setting the glasses down on the table right by the head of Kunzite's bed and sitting down next to his general.

"A...agreed, but, this is still a problem," Kunzite countered.

"It's handled," Endymion insisted, gesturing towards the sunglasses he had just set down.

"People saw you walking around the palace with giant sunglasses on, that's not handled," Kunzite pointed out.

"Okay, fine, if anyone asks, I have a hangover," Endymion said brusquely.

"What about Serenity? Did she see it?" Kunzite asked.

Endymion gave annoyed grunt. "Yes, she did. I explained it, it's fine."

"What did you tell her?" Kunzite continued to press, despite the Prince clearly being eager to move from the topic. "Your Highness, this is important."

"I told her...mostly the truth, with a couple omissions, now can we move on to something more important?" Endymion asked, patience running thin. "Look, um...next moves, what are our next moves? We need to get on the same page here."

Kunzite's nose wrinkled a bit, trying to appraise Endymion state of mind, observing the Prince hunch over a bit and intertwine his fingers together. "Well, Your Highness, it's going to be a difficult situation. Seems to me that there's only one move to make. As soon as Cronus decides he no longer needs us, he's going to try to eliminate us both. Accurate or not, he seems to believe that he can get away with it. So, we'll have to get to him first."

"Yes, I understand that, but how?" Endymion asked. "How are we...what's our plan of attack? Suppose we did something to make sure that he understands that he won't be getting away with it? You know, make it clear that if he does...eliminate us, that he'll go down with us."

Kunzite shrugged. "For all we know, his plan of how to get away with it would involve him simply disappearing off the grid. He certainly has the money to do it. No, I think...there's no other way for this to go. He's going to kill us. We have to kill him first."

Endymion rattled out a loud sigh. "Right. Right, right, right." He steepled his fingers together and pressed them up to his nose. "Okay. So, where is he? Where is...where does he live?"

"Difficult to really answer, he's constantly moving from one place to another for his work responsibilities. He's rarely in one location long enough for it to really constitute home. His personal starship is probably as close to a residence as he has. But, surely, after yesterday, he'll probably be taking extra measures to protect himself, so—"

A brisk little ringtone interrupted Kunzite, and Endymion's eyes darted down to his belt. In short order, he ripped his communicator off of his belt and lifted it up in front of his face. "Hello?"

"Hey, hey, son. How are you doing?"

"O-oh, dad!" Endymion said, jumping up to his feet. "Dad, uh, what's up?"

Kasios cleared his throat. "Oh, well...are you busy right now? I wanted to meet, in-person. There's something we need to discuss. Is now a good time?"

Endymion seemed a little taken aback by the serious, almost somber tone in Kasios's voice. Immediately, the Prince seemed to recognize that this was more important than a typical afternoon get together.

"Yes, yes, I can certainly do that. Now?"

"If you can manage, no time like the present," Kasios replied.

"Should Kunzite come?" Endymion asked, glancing over at his guardian.

"Sure, sure, he should probably be here too, bring him along. Just come to the primary tea room, soon as you can, I'll be waiting." The call was cut off immediately after Kasios concluded his sentence. Endymion raised his eyebrows down at the device in his hand, then looked over at Kunzite.

"Doesn't sound good," Endymion grunted. "Something's not right."

Kunzite pointed up towards Endymion's eyes. "Let me take care of that first."

"

Kasios pulled the two sides of the door together, sealing the threshold shut and blocking the small side room off from the rest of the palace. Endymion was seated near the center of the room, right up next to a round wooden table with a thick folder laying on it. Kunzite sat directly behind his charge, both of the young men training their eyes directly on the High King.

To their surprise, the King was not alone. Queen Serenity had also taken a seat around the wooden table, bringing the population of the room up to four. Her posture and expression reflected a certain somberness as well, reinforcing the sense that something serious was happening.

Kasios sighed. "I don't really know where to start with this one, um…" he stalked over to one of the empty chairs and fell back into it. "Alright, I've tried to keep this one to myself for as long as possible, because it was completely my situation, but...well, at this point, if you don't hear it from me now, you'll be finding out about it on the news soon."

"Dad, who died?" Endymion asked. "Come on, just come out with it, the suspense is worse than whatever the news might be."

"Oh, I doubt that," Kasios said grimly. "Alright. Well, I suppose it all starts with the deep space program." He nervously clenched his hands together in his lap. "Massive undertaking, obviously. I'm sure you're both familiar with the scope here. Required contributions from the whole galaxy. The technology, construction, planning, no one company or kingdom could have done it by themselves."

"Sure," Endymion said slowly. "I definitely know all of that."

"Right," Kasios said. "Also, extremely necessary, that's...very clear," he continued. "Our galaxy is running out of resources, we're starting to become taxed for space, we're a couple generations away from reverting most of the way back to the caveman days, it's...it's not optional. It has to be done."

"Dad, I know all of this," Endymion said. "W-what's going on? Are the deep space probes failing? Is that what this is about?"

"No," Kasios said. "Thank the Gods, at least we still have that. Sorry, sorry, I know I'm...rambling back and forth, but I really want to explain why this happened." He sighed. "So, I was the driving force behind building the deep space program back at the very beginning. Somebody had to take charge, we were running out of time. We might have already run out of time. And, um, well, let's just say that the rest of the galaxy didn't seem to share my sense of urgency."

Endymion leaned forward towards his father, focusing closely on his words.

"It's so easy to kick the can down the road. These people I was trying to work with, um, Kings, Queens, Dukes, businessmen, investors, pretty much all of them knew they were going to be long dead before things got too bad, it's hard to really get them to grasp the severity of a crisis that will never affect them. And convincing them to spend money and tie up resources for a long-term, open-ended project with fluid goals and a return on investment that was basically the roll of a dice, it was a tough sell." He rolled his eyes. "You try telling potential investors that your project will take anywhere from ten to a hundred years to start paying off and see how many stick around."

"But you pulled it off," Endymion reminded him. "Obviously. We've got hundreds of probes exploring the universe right now that prove it. So what's this all about?"

"Ahhh…" Kasios bit down on his lower lip. "Look, promises were made. Made by me, it was the only way. With the rare exception, nobody was willing to commit to the program unless their risk could be mitigated. So, I insured their investments."

Endymion cocked his head to the right a bit. "Okay?" He hadn't seen his father this shaky and unsure of himself in a very long time, and it would have been fascinating to view were it not also foreboding.

"I, um, I agreed to take on a huge portion of the risk that...Mercury and Jupiter and Uranus took on when they joined the project. The, the wealthy investors, a lot of them too. Basically, if the program failed to show concrete evidence of profitability on a reasonable timeline, I'd be responsible for a good portion of their investment. I'd have to basically buy them out." He cleared his throat. "Well, we're not where we thought we'd be, those probes have been out there for well over a decade now and we've got nothing concrete. Some interesting finds, things that are definitely scientifically valuable, but...nothing you can put a monetary value on. So, some of the investors are dropping out."

"Some?" Endymion repeated, starting to look more alarmed by the moment.

"Well, more than I would have expected, particularly all coming at once like this," Kasios muttered. "I suspect someone has been spreading horror stories of the project being a dead end, with no realistic possibility of actual return on investment." He rubbed at his face, scoffing loudly. "There's a whole universe out there of...stars and planets, that's established fact, our galaxy accounts for such a small percentage of what exists it can hardly be quantified, and somehow, it's believable that there's nothing out there worth finding, I really...I don't—"

"Dad?" Endymion prompted sternly. "What do you mean by some?"

He shook his head back and forth harshly. "Right, right, well...suffice to say, there's a long line of people with their hands out in my direction right now, and I'm contractually obligated to make them whole." He gesticulated around with his hands haphazardly. "I've spent the last decade trying to ease concerns about the program, convince people it would be worth it, and these last few cycles I've done all I can to persuade people to not panic, but...well, things are happening now."

Endymion sighed. "Okay. Well, we have a big surplus right now—"

"Had," Kasios corrected. "Believe me, whatever we had for a cushion, it's already gone, or been promised to someone. And that's the issue, there are still hands out, and we've run out of things to put in them."

Endymion's mouth drooped, his face crooked with a mixture of shock and disgust. "Dad! You mean to tell me insured investments and then didn't keep enough capital around to cover it?!"

"Oh, I never had enough capital to cover the insurance, not even...not even close." He shook his head. "N-nobody does, really, it was just so much I had to cover."

The Crown Prince continued to give his father a highly judgemental look. "So, what exactly was the plan then?!"

Kasios grunted. "The plan was for the deep space program to keep to a timeline that satisfied everyone involved so that my insurance clauses would never be invoked. I...obviously, that was the plan!"

Endymion rose to his feet, getting up to his full height. "Probing deep space doesn't have a timeline, dad! And you know that!" He pointed up at the ceiling. "What in existence right now is more of an unknown than what lies beyond our galaxy?! Insuring other investors is one thing, but...doing it with capital you don't even have?!"

Kasios scowled. "Son, it was the only way, believe me, I...I saw the problem, nobody else wanted to! Whatever it took to get the program off the ground, it had to be done!" He furtively looked down at the floor in front of him.

Endymion rattled out a sigh. "The problem, the problem...the problem was for the entire galaxy! Not just you! Why would you put that all on you, as if...as if Earth was the only planet in the galaxy that had something to lose?!" He glanced behind him over at Kunzite, who remained stoic, absorbing the conversation without reacting to the subject matter.

Kasios just heaved another sigh, staring at the massive folder on the table in front of him.

"Okay. So, where does this leave us, what...what now?" Endymion asked, arms out wide to his sides. "Are we downsizing the palace? Cutting back on meals? Selling the silverware?"

"Son, I know you're upset, but sarcasm doesn't suit you, and it's not going to help," Kasios said sternly. "And, no, the issue is bigger than that, much bigger." The High King swallowed a lump in his throat. "I've...I've turned over every rock, checked every nook and cranny, pulled together every bit of capital I can to pay off the insurance, but like I said...the well is dry, and I've still got clauses to honor. Frankly, patience is in short supply with these people right now, so most likely, we're looking at a claim on collateral."

"Collateral?" Endymion repeated, squatting down back into the chair. "What's the collateral? The planet?"

After a long pause, Kasios responded only with a grim nod. Endymion kicked his head back, looking up at the ceiling in exasperation.

"Holy Mother of—"

"Endymion, hear me out!" Kasios said, a touch of pleading in his tone now. "Look, I can't know for sure, but most likely...we'll come to an arrangement with the remaining investors where they...how should I put this, uh...take control of certain regions on Earth." He pointed at Endymion. "Temporarily! Temporarily! It's not a permanent thing, not at all. But, anyway, they'll take ownership of areas of Earth, to use as they see fit. Harvest resources, collect taxes on people who live there, whatever they see as serving their own interests the best."

Endymion reached up, placing his hands over his eyes, just barely able to remember to not disturb the paint around his eyes that was covering up his bruises.

"And, like I said, temporary!" Kasios repeated. "It'll all get sorted out, we'll just have to accept things being a little...different for awhile."

"Well, I have to hand it to you," Endymion said darkly, slumping back in his chair. "The galaxy won't be set back three thousand years thanks to you. Just Earth."

"Son, we buy it back!" Kasios protested. "Over time, we build the surplus back up, get everything square, and eventually we can start buying back whatever we have to give up now!" He shook his head. "It's not going to be a big deal, history...history would barely even remember it!"

"Buy it back?" Endymion said incredulously. "In four hundred years, maybe? At best? Do you have any idea how long it'll take to build up capital when half the planet is being controlled by third parties?"

Kasios put his palms out towards his son. "Son, I—"

"You know what's actually going to happen? Most realistic case?" Endymion continued. "We go back to before Aethnos. Before the planet was united. A hundred factions, scattered across the planet, constantly at war with each other, fighting for territory and survival, that's where this is going! Buy it back?" He shook his head. "In twenty years, nobody will even remember how Earth got divided, they won't be able to remember anything but fighting!"

"Endymion, please," Queen Serenity said softly, finally frayed enough to try to settle the budding argument. "Your father—"

"We'll be the laughingstock of the galaxy!" Endymion snapped. "Oh, look at those clowns on Earth, so busy fighting with themselves over...food and shelter!" He gave his father a frightening looking. "And what do you think happens when it gets out that you promised insurance against investments that you didn't have capital for?! You think anyone will ever trust us again?!"

Kasios put his hand up to cover his face, eyes closed in exasperation. "Okay. Son. Listen, I...I made choices. Choices that...well, clearly, have consequences that come with them. There are often consequences for difficult choices, and maybe these ones are massive, but...understand this. I stand by those choices. They were the only choices I could make. And I know that, on some level, you know I'm right."

Endymion pointed an accusing figure over at Kasios. "You chose to put all this on you, you didn't have to do that. Every Kingdom in this galaxy needed the deep space program, you think they didn't all know that?! They all knew exactly what was at stake! But they knew, they knew your hero complex would kick in if they dragged their heels a bit, and did it ever!"

"Hero complex?" Kasios said. "Son, you—"

"Yeah," Endymion said, nodding. "You think you can do it all. Take on the whole burden, carry everyone, make all the sacrifices."

"Endymion, you are making assumptions about things that happened when you were very, very young," Kasios countered. "And even if you're right, I didn't have the luxury of playing chicken. I did what I had to do."

"Why?" Endymion shrugged. "So when they write books about you, they can add a chapter about the time you took the entire deep space project on your shoulders? So you can get 'Savior of the Galaxy' carved on your mausoleum wall one day?!"

"Endymion, come on!" Kasios snapped. "You think I wanted any of this?!"

"Or, is your head always up there—" he pointed to the ceiling again, "—on The Savery, instead of down here, where it belongs?"

"Endymion, don't start with that!" Kasios barked. "Don't."

An extended, awkward, tense silence was broken when the Crown Prince groaned, looking over at the rightmost wall. "Why'd you...keep this secret for so long?! Even a year ago, we could have taken steps to try to protect against this! We could have raised taxes, taken out loans from entities that didn't know about this, something! Don't tell me you were just...tied to a rail this whole time, completely unable to do anything to mitigate this."

"I did raise taxes last year," Kasios said tersely. "Believe me, I was preparing for something like this to happen. Just, not this much, and not all at once. I tried, okay? I really did. Sometimes, you can't plan for a tsunami."

Endymion finally seemed to have vented enough to simmer down. Exhaling sharply, he sank into the cushioned seat beneath him slightly. "This was irresponsible, dad. Justify it however you want, insist it was the lesser of two evils...it was irresponsible. And you know that I'm right."

"Well, believe me, I'm going to be paying for it, if it makes you feel any better," Kasios muttered darkly.

"You're paying for it?" Endymion snapped, scowling over at his father. "You think you're the only one who pays for this?" He pointed at himself. "No, dad, I'm paying for this. Probably more than you, when this is all over!" His eyes went wide. "Trust me, dad, I know exactly where this is going, and I'm going to pay for…"

The Prince trailed off, as if he had suddenly lost his train of thought. The High King took this as an invitation to continue.

"Alright, we pay for it, fine." He coughed a bit. "In any case, I'm doing everything I can to convince investors to stay on the project, delay things as much as possible, but...most likely, in a couple cycles, I'm going to have to start making some creative deals."

Endymion's head tilted down towards the massive folder, still closed on the table, holding together a massive stack of assorted papers. Kunzite couldn't help but notice his focus on the documents, even though Kasios seemed more concerned with trying to explain the situation.

"It's not what anyone wanted, obviously, and I'm sorry it has to be this way, but your worse-case scenario is pure paranoia, and you're best served to not think about it. There's a very good chance that the deep space program will start to reap valuable returns in the next few years. And, in the silver lining department, investors dropping out of the project mean I get to take on their stake as well, so we'll be entitled to a bigger share of things once we actually find them." Kasios put his hand beneath his chin. "Ten years, maybe fifteen, we'll be swimming in capital, and we'll have the whole planet back easily. So, anyway, obviously, emotions are running high right now, so why don't we both just go cool off, and tomorrow—"

Endymion pointed at the folder. "Can I take this?"

"...huh?" Kasios grunted, eyes flickering over to look at the folder. "Uh, s-sure, I guess."

Endymion, in one fluid motion, got to his feet and stepped forward, grabbing the light brown folder in both hands and hugging it up to his chest. Without another word, he spun around and made for the door back out into the hallway.

"You're not going to read that whole thing, are you?" Kasios asked, sounding a little wary as Endymion moved with purpose. "That'll take a cycle, it's a lot of data."

"If I have to, I will," Endymion grunted. "Whatever it takes to fix this."

Kasios immediately gave an exasperated sigh. "Son, you can't...this isn't something that can be fixed. Believe me, I've tried. If I can't make it work, how will you?"

Fumbling with the massive collection of documents, Endymion managed to get the sliding door open and push it back into the recess in the wall. "It's like my grandfather used to say. You don't want to die wondering." With that, he turned to the right, disappearing out into the hall, the faint sound of his footsteps marking his departure.

Maybe three beats later, during which the remaining trio sat in a mildly-shocked silence, a violent crash right outside shocked everyone out of their depressed miasma. Sure enough, it was quickly followed by a loud profanity from the Prince.

Kunzite got to his feet. "Could you possibly send the Prince a...digital copy of all that, please, Your Highness?" he asked. Getting a quick nod from the High King, Kunzite retreated out into the hall, peering out to find Endymion muttering to himself, the foldered documents having scattered all across the floor in both directions. The Prince was bending over, trying to scoop the loose papers back up into one pile.

"

Zoisite held a piece of heavily-inked paper in either hand, eyes shifting back and forth between either rapidly. The giant folder was open in front of him, perhaps hundreds of more pages beckoning for his attention next. His silent examination of the documents had an audience, with Prince Endymion, Kunzite, Nephrite, and Princess Serenity all gathered nearby. Endymion's bedroom was typically not so crowded, but the high stakes of the current situation demanded such a presence.

"It's completely absurd," Endymion grumbled, hands on his hips and standing right next to Kunzite. "I've got massive mountains of capital under the floorboards in safehouses all over the planet, there has to be a way to leverage that! We just have to find it."

"Your Highness, we should scale back expectations here," Kunzite said warningly. "That 'capital' could just as easily expose everything you've done over the last year if we try to throw it at this problem."

"What good is any of this if I can't even use the money I've earned to protect my birthright?" Endymion questioned. "This is an emergency. If we don't find a way out, Earth may be splintered beyond repair." He pointed at the bedroom door. "I don't care what my father says, if Earth get chopped up into factions, it'll be the end of the Kingdom forever."

"Possible, but that doesn't change the fact that we can't just pull hundreds of billions of creds out of thin air and not have people asking questions," Kunzite countered.

"Yeah, so, why exactly is that?" Serenity asked, leaning over from her seat on the left edge of the bed. "Why can't we just use that money?"

"Um, I'll explain later, sweetie," Endymion said dismissively. "It's complicated. But, either way, there has to be a way. If there was ever a reason to come up with a way, no matter how complicated and risky it is, this is that reason!"

"Are these supposed to be in some sort of order?" Zoisite asked, shuffling through the papers. "Because some of this is a little confusing."

Endymion winced hard. "Just...I don't need an exact solution right this moment, just try to get a general gist of the size of the problem and go from there!"

"I'm having a bit of a hard time believing it," Nephrite said, leaning up against the wall next to the bed, arms crossed over his chest. "High King Kasios, putting his entire Kingdom at risk like this."

"You're telling me," Endymion muttered, grimacing. "Talk about kicking the can down the road. It's not him who'll have to deal with the fallout of this. I'm the one who gets to take control of a Kingdom with half of its territory out on 'loan'."

"Well, from my initial reading here, I must say...this is highly irresponsible," Zoisite said quietly, giving a reflexive look over his shoulder.

"That's what I said!" Endymion agreed. "He, uh, he never mentioned any of this to you, did he?"

"No, definitely not, Your Highness," Zoisite answered. "And if he had made it known to me that he was signing off on guaranteeing capital that didn't exist, I...well...I mean...I would have...strongly objected to that," he said, quickly turning his attention back to the spread of documents in front of him.

Endymion sighed, stepping over closer to the bed and powerfully sitting down on the edge, next to Serenity. "It's just...it's unbelievable, that he would let something like this get to this point."

Serenity gave a non-committal little grunt, sidling up closer to her husband. "Jeez, you think...did the Moon merger have something to do with this?"

"Well if it did, that's on him too!" Endymion growled. "He's an adult, and...his whole life is about making those kinds of decisions correctly. If the deal with the Moon played a part in this, then...no, Serenity, none of this comes back to you at all. He owns this. What was he thinking?!"

Serenity frowned. "Well, mistakes were made, but...Endy, he was trying to do what was best for the galaxy. Of course he didn't want any of this to happen. Try to...just please, don't be mad at him." She placed her right hand up on his shoulder. "This is how he is, he's always trying to do whatever it takes to do what's best for everyone."

Endymion scoffed. "There comes a point when you've taken so many steps back, trying to see the big picture, you end up falling off a cliff. My father is King of Earth, not...King of the Galaxy. When you're on a sinking boat, you're supposed to put on your own life vest before you help other people with theirs."

"You can't even say it's because of old age, he did this nearly two decades ago," Nephrite mused. "Although, just sitting there and...letting it happen, not doing enough to prepare for the possibility, maybe that."

"Gods, it's just like the story," Endymion said. "The, the story, um...what was it? The Man Who Gave Everything. I remember reading it, I...it's just like that."

Serenity leaned over towards her husband. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"The Man Who Gave Everything, they don't have that one on the Moon?" Endymion asked. "It's a fairy tale, I read it when I was eight."

Serenity slowly shook her head. "Must have missed that one."

"Oh, uh, it was just…" he thought for a moment. "There's a wealthy man, and he's watching the news, and sees how the world is full of misery. He thinks, I have money, I should help. He gives away all of his money, but then he watches the news, and he sees that the world is still full of misery. He still wants to help, so then he...uh, he goes to the doctor, says he wants to donate a kidney. So he does, he has the surgery, donates his kidney, but then he watches the news, and he sees that the world is still full of misery. He goes back to the doctor, and this time he says he wants to donate his, his liver, his heart, blood, everything he has. The doctor tells him that that's insane, and he can't do that, since it'd be suicide. He'd have to be dead first. So the man, he just...he can't live with himself, knowing that there's still misery in the world. So he commits suicide. He gives the only thing he has left, his life, to try to help ease the misery."

Serenity blinked a couple times. "Does that work? Did he, did the misery end?"

Endymion gave a wry smile. "Go watch the news, you tell me."

She looked mildly distressed. "What kind of fairy tale is that?!"

"It's trying to teach a lesson," Endymion explained. "It's making a point."

"Okay." Serenity pointed at Endymion. "You're not allowed to read Chibiusa fairy tales. Ever. What, the guy just kills himself for nothing?"

"The point is, only a fool thinks that he can solve the world's problems on their own," Endymion continued. "That's the lesson, that's the moral, and...I can't stop thinking about it, ever since the talk with dad today. It's the same thing. Only a fool thinks that he can solve the world's problems."

Serenity pursed her lips. "I mean...don't you still have to try?"

Zoisite cleared his throat. "Your Highness."

Endymion immediately got to his feet, looking over at his most intelligent guardian.

"Well, it's definitely a big problem," he started. "It's trillions of creds worth of a hole. It actually could have been much worse. Could still get much worse, honestly, there are a ton of investors who could drop out still. Terrifying to think about, he could easily get into debt that exceeds the worth of the entire planet if more people get cold feet."

"But?" Endymion prompted impatiently.

"As is...it's still bad. But, the way I see it, there's a path. We're going to have to be far more aggressive with laundering and expansion. A lot of business flipping, pump and dumps, some very risky and high-variance maneuvers. Maybe even unethical. We'll need these investors to be willing to meet us halfway, maybe we'll have to come up with some sort of credible excuse for why we don't currently have the capital to honor the agreement immediately. But, assuming the goal is to avoid having to hand over territory as collateral, then I think it's possible."

Endymion clapped his hands together violently. "Thank you!"

"Possible!" Zoisite repeated. "I really want to stress, this discrepancy is...I mean, it's many times larger than all the money you've made in your side business so far. To just say we can throw that money at this problem and it'll go away, not even close. We'll need many other things to go our way."

"Alright. What do we need?" Endymion asked. "Because whatever it is, we'll have it."

"For starters, we're going to need all hands on deck, Your Highness," Zoisite answered. "Every single person who you trust, they need to be involved in this. The growth we need, we need everyone's help."

Endymion nodded, then turned to look over at Nephrite. "Sooner the better then. Can you go round him up?"

The brunette general nodded, coming up off the wall and heading for the bedroom door. "Well, at least we won't have to keep secrets from him anymore."

Just as quickly, Endymion was back to addressing Zoisite. "Whatever you need, you make those needs known as soon as possible. I am not letting this planet get split up into factions, whatever it takes."

"Well, a digital copy of these documents would be a good start," Zoisite said, eyes darting down and scanning the spread of pages before him. "I really don't think these are in a sensible order."

"

Half a dozen men, each of them wearing grey jumpsuits marked with an emblem on the back of a red flame inside a yellow circle, stood around the metal table that had a large, sealed black bag laid across it. One of the men held a large clipboard in his right hand.

"Alright, that's that, then," he said, looking over the tiny print on the document.

"Make sure you get everything right on this one, Marcellus." Another of the men came up closer to the side of the table, studying the closed up bag. "This is a big one, and I have a feeling our work will be double-checked."

"Believe me, I did," Marcellus countered. "And I treat every autopsy with an equal amount of care and attention, I do everything in my power to not get anything wrong."

"She was a big deal," one of the men muttered. "One of the best scientists in the galaxy. Crying shame that she doesn't get to spend the next sixty years launching us into the future with technological and scientific innovations." He looked over at Marcellus. "What killed her, head trauma or exposure?"

"Exposure," he answered. "Although, I will say, whatever she hit her head on...cracked the skull. If the exposure hadn't gotten her, head trauma was not far behind." He shook his head. "So, did we ever dig up any family connections, Augustus?"

One of the other men present shook their head. "Nothing. The only person that makes any sense to contact about the body is Cronus. So, I guess we do that now?"

"Oh!" Marcellus tapped the clipboard a couple times. "After I thawed her out, I was able to search the body a bit, check for any possessions. They're in a bag inside." He pointed down at the bodybag. "There wasn't much, but I thought I'd go ahead and make a note of it."

"What'd you find?" Augustus asked. "Might be important, this has foul play written all over it. Law enforcement is going to want to know all about whatever she might have had on her."

"Well, she had a little device on her, I had to do some research to figure out what it was. Turns out it was one of those tools that detects the purity level of imperium. An advanced one, not the cheap ones that you can buy at the store. This one actually would break the product down and really test the percentage reliably." Marcellus shrugged. "I mean, she was a scientist, so I suppose it's not that surprising."

"Hm," Augustus grunted. "Probably."

"So, anyway—"

"Hey, when you file that autopsy report, make sure a copy gets sent to the Galactic Imperium Agency, huh?" Augustus asked. "It's a little thin, but her having that device provides at least a little connection to imperium that they should at least be informed of."

"Really?" Marcellus scratched the back of his head. "Seems a little thin."

"Hey, worst thing that happens is it ends up wasting a tiny bit of server space up on The Savery for a year," Augustus pointed out. "It's a professional courtesy."

"Alright, no problem." Marcellus made a note on the clipboard. "Okay, next body, moving on!"

The six men moved in a herd to another identical table with a similar bagged corpse, slowly working through the barren, cold, sterile-feeling room, each of them eager to conclude their work and get away from all the death.