Chapter 50: Done
"I don't believe we've been formally introduced," Princess Venus said, folding her hands together in front of her and giving a cheeky smile up at the two massive men standing right in front of her. Despite her comparatively small stature in comparison, she was able to project the confidence in her stance and posture to make herself look as if she belonged with them. The five women standing behind her in a rough V formation, all of them small, blonde, and beautiful like her, may have helped with that, as none of them looked particularly cowed or intimidated.
Kunzite grunted, glancing over to his right at his colleague. "Nephrite. Fellow Earth General."
"Your Highness." Nephrite gave a small bow in Venus's direction.
The Princess took a step forward towards him, extending her right hand towards his chest. He flinched back a bit, then stared down at her arm for a moment before cautiously taking her hand and shaking it.
"I have to say, I didn't expect you to be here," Kunzite said cautiously, eyeing the Princess.
"And miss the fun?" Venus countered. "Never."
The irregular collection of eight individuals was taking place in the middle of a mass of thick trees, surrounded on all sides by thick wooden trunks, these ones specifically engineered and maintained to survive and thrive in Saturn's atmosphere. The evening had just begun, the sky darkening significantly on the same schedule that it always did in this part of the planet.
"Anyway, these five are my angels," Venus said, turning around and indicating the five women standing behind her. All of them had the general physical traits and look of a Venusian woman. "Isis, Aphrodite, Inanna, Anat, and Astarte. Between them, I'm sure that we have everything we need."
All six girls were dressed in dark black, form-fitting outfits, including Princess Venus, effectively shielding her identity as a royal for anyone who would manage a cursory look at her.
"So, give us the rundown," Aphrodite asked, gripping her left wrist in her right hand and standing up as straight as she could. "What are we doing here?"
"It had better be worth it," Inanna chimed in. "Whatever it is, we're all risking an awful lot even being here."
Kunzite, using the minimal amount of movement required, lifted his right hand up and pointed over to his left, in the southern direction. "There's a chemical warehouse two leugas in that direction, currently being held by The Rings. Saturn is planning to make a push through this territory in an attempt to take it tomorrow, an attempt that seems destined to succeed. So, this is the perfect time to cause some inventory discrepancies that won't be reported."
"What's the security situation look like?" Venus asked.
"Thin," Kunzite answered, crossing his arms over his chest. "Many of the sentries have been reassigned closer to the border to try to blunt the inevitable push from Saturn, I'd expect about fifteen. Most likely, they've been instructed to destroy the warehouse if they believe it's about to be taken. So we'll need stealth until we understand what measures they've taken to make it easy for them to do that."
"Once we secure the area, we quickly round up their supply of boron crystal fluid, and then we leave. The Rings won't have time to comprehend that a theft even occurred, since they're going to lose the warehouse tomorrow," Nephrite continued. "And Saturn will just assume that The Rings didn't keep accurate inventory."
"Perfect crime," Anat mused. "Unless tomorrow's attack fails."
"It won't," Kunzite said. "No witnesses, no survivors. Remember, officially, these people are terrorists and traitors, so don't let it bother you. And, no mistakes. We have to assume we get one chance at this."
"Well, you seem to have a good handle of the situation," Princess Venus said. "So, how are we running this operation?"
"
The first of the grey-uniformed sentries posted on the western perimeter just outside the massive, rectangular warehouse had no opportunity to even contemplate his own death. One moment, he was casually glancing around in front of him, leaning up against the butt of his rifle. And then, with a whisper of a spitting sound that could easily be dismissed as an animal, a ballistic round blew right through his neck, causing him to slump over and fall to the concrete ground.
The second sentry, a couple dozen paces away from the first, had slightly longer to realize something was wrong. But even he was not given the opportunity to understand just how bad things were, as all he got was a glimpse out of the corner of his vision of his colleague falling over, before his own neck was blown open by a second bullet. He fell to the side, hitting the ground hard, dead before he could feel the impact.
Within beats of the two posted guards being disposed of, Anat and Isis emerged from a row of overrun shrubberies to the north and sprinted over to the now-unprotected area. Muted, hurried footsteps softly echoed through the surrounding night air as the pair closed in on a tall metal pole just a few paces outside the western wall of the warehouse, nimbly scaling and jumping over a chain link fence on their way.
Within throwing distance of what had, long ago, been a thriving city, the chemical warehouse had previously served as a public gym for the civilian populace, but had quickly been co-opted into a purpose more immediately important for a global war effort. Over the last decade, the building had been modified heavily to better serve the new intended purpose, all unnecessary elements removed to reduce the structure to little more than four walls and a ceiling, with a chain link fence surrounding it.
Anat made it to the metal pole first, the bottoms of her boots glowing a faint blue as she got up next to the base, temporarily decreasing the pull of gravity on herself so she could easily and quickly climb up the pole. In a matter of beats, she scaled to the top, where a steel-covered box was waiting. Withdrawing a pen-sized, black laser tool from her waist pouch, she ran the tip of it along the latch on the side of the box, destroying it and allowing it to easily swing open.
With a collection of blue-glowing circuitry exposed, Anat wasted no time in withdrawing a tiny metallic claw from the same pouch she had gotten her laser and clipped it onto a metal knob inside the box. The grip-end of the claw was attached to a thin cord, the opposite end of which she pulled out from her waist pouch to reveal it was a long coil of wire. She dropped the coil down, allowing gravity to unravel it.
Isis, hand up over her head, caught the wire before it hit the ground, quickly fumbling for the end of it. An identical little claw clip was attached to this opposite end as well, which she grabbed before hustling over to the western wall of the warehouse. After running along the wall for several beats, she got to a tiny fusebox, which she ripped open before quickly clipping the small claw on the wiring inside.
"Good!" Isis said breathlessly, tilting her head down slightly towards her collar. "It's on!" Anat quickly scaled back down to the ground, careful to not disturb the wiring they had just set up.
A couple beats later, Kunzite and Princess Venus were scaling the fence, the rifles they had each just used to take out the two sentries hitched to their backs.
"Southern side!" Kunzite hissed, his quiet voice coming in clear through the earpieces that Anat and Isis wore. The wiring they had just set up would block all communications going in or coming out of the building, obviously critical for covering up the assault, but the handful of sentries still outside the warehouse walls still posed a minor threat.
The four quickly moved to hug the wall and ran to the south, knowing that every beat counted, and that it wouldn't be long before everyone realized communications had been cut off. Nephrite, Aphrodite, Inanna, and Astarte were handling roughly similar jobs on the other side of the warehouse, and hopefully would be meeting up near the main entrance.
"
Inanna swung around the corner of the warehouse, plasma pistol out to bear as she appraised the scene in front of the main entrance. Fortunately, panic, or even concern, seemed to have not set in yet, as all she saw was a trio of guards, facing away from her, anticipating that any potential disturbances that they would need to concern themselves with would come from the south.
A wheeled truck parked up close to the entrance provided cover for one of the guards, however, him leaning up against the side of the vehicle not allowing Inanna a clean shot. Knowing that there was nothing to gain and everything to lose by delaying, she rushed forward, squaring her weapon towards the closest of the three sentries and firing.
As a white-hot plasma burst spat forward, making just enough noise to draw attention, a second energy projectile rifled out from behind her, which she knew came from Nephrite's pistol, as he had swung out from behind the corner right behind her. Each shot found its mark, neutralizing the two easier targets, Inanna throwing her body forward to line up a shot on the third.
Her left shoulder hit the concrete, both her arms out straight in front of her to point her weapon at the final sentry, who was just starting to react to the attack. She pulled back on the trigger three times, feeling the need to make sure that this volley put him down.
All three of her shots smashed directly into the torso of the guard, putting him down in a heap of acrid, burning flesh. She heard a dull thud, glancing up to see Astarte vaulting on top of the truck to look around, making sure that there was nobody else nearby.
Half a secunda after the area was cleared, Kunzite and his crew came around from the opposite side of the warehouse, immediately going to the metallic double-doors leading inside.
The massive white-haired Earth general saw the right-side door start to swing outward, and took three powerful steps in towards it, throwing his shoulders into the metal barrier and fiercely knocking it back closed. He heard a grunt of pain from inside.
"Let's go!" Kunzite called out, ripping the door open and stepping inside a small antechamber, the sentry he had just prevented from rushing out the door laying on the ground a few steps away. He took those few steps, then brought his right foot up over his chest before bringing it down with as much force as he could. The sounds that came on impact with the man's rib cage made it clear that many important things were now broken.
Not wasting any time on the man's death rattle, Kunzite stepped forward and fiercely kicked the inner door in as hard as he could, blasting it right off its hinges and scattering it down to the floor.
The large main chamber of the warehouse was filled with stacked, multi-colored barrels in haphazard, seemingly random organizational patterns, unfortunately blocking off the line of sight with a good portion of the room. However, Kunzite quickly found two of the remaining sentries, up above him on either side, each one up on a steel platform crudely hanging from the ceiling via chains.
Whisking an specially-shaped dagger out of his belt with his left hand, Kunzite flung the bladed weapon up towards the left-side guard. He was still in the process of bringing his pistol up to bear, and dropped the weapon as the dagger embedded itself into his sternum.
Kunzite moved to the side, glancing to his right just in time to see Nephrite pull off the same knife toss with the opposite guard, then move to the right to open up a lane for Venus and her angels to swarm into the room. It was still uncomfortable, and Kunzite knew that despite their flawless execution so far, it was still delicate. In a room like this, a single misfired round, even a ballistic one, could easily set off an explosion that would destroy the entire city. He hoped that the remaining guards would at least be hesitant to take that chance, and he really hoped they weren't under orders to deliberately attempt to cause such a detonation in the event of an attack.
The six young women moved with unnatural speed and agility. Isis used Anat as a boost to leap up to the top of one of the barrel stacks, precariously balancing atop it and standing up to her full height to try to judge the layout and guard positions. Kunzite rushed forward, nimbly dashing through rows of stacked barrels, to provide backup for Venus and her angels.
As precious beats ticked by, Kunzite was just ready to cringe at the sound of a gun being fired, but even as the unmistakable sound effects accompanying fighting and violence filled the warehouse, nobody seemed to be willing to risk it.
Kunzite came around the corner of a particularly large stack of barrels just in time to have a grey-uniformed sentry tossed right at him, courtesy of Inanna. Kunzite caught the man and deftly spun him around, slamming the top of his head hard down into the concrete floor.
Isis leapt back down from the top of the barrel stack, landing right behind Kunzite. "We're good."
"Check the labels!" Kunzite called out loudly, voice echoing around the giant room. "Organization looks sloppy, so be thorough!"
Princess Venus briskly jogged in from around the corner right in front of Kunzite, falling into line alongside him. "See? Nothing to it."
Kunzite grunted, twisting his head to the right, then tilting it back to try to judge the contents of the stacked barrels right next to him. "You have no idea how easy it would be to trigger an explosion in this room."
"Because obviously, I live my life without ever taking any risks, right?" she said sardonically.
"I found one!"
The Earth General broke out into a quick dash forward, weaving through the thin makeshift hallways between barrels, taking several turns in rapid succession before coming to see Astarte and Aphrodite. Astarte was standing on Aphrodite's shoulders, delicately sliding an anti-gravity pad inbetween two of the high-stacked barrels near the top.
"There will be other chemical warehouses that we can raid on Saturn in the upcoming cycles," Kunzite said as Astarte managed to push the top barrel upward and shift it onto the neighboring stack. "But once we run out of those, I'm not sure what we can turn to."
"We'll find something," Venus said confidently, Astarte hopping off of Aphrodite's shoulders, the two young women now focused on pulling the next barrel off the stack that they had just shortened. "What about the lab?"
"I think we have an idea," Kunzite said. "It's being handled."
"
Endymion silently contemplated the slowly-spinning hologram, hands folded together in front of his chin, leaning forward so his elbows were balanced on his thighs. A massive spaceship, triangular in shape, with a pointed nose and a large back end, lightly detailed by the gentle blue of the hologram. Zoisite was holding his left hand out towards it.
"By no means is this technology viable for anything other than novelty. The output from the engine is far too toxic to be used as a transport within a planet's atmosphere, and the speed makes it unfit for even trips from the Earth to the Moon," Zoisite explained. "However, despite it lacking practical uses, it is quite an amazing piece of technology. By far, the most advanced spaceship ever created that operates without the need for a single shred of imperium."
"Is it safe?" Jadeite asked, sitting on the opposite side of the hologram. "What fuels it?"
"It's most certainly safe. As safe as an imperium-powered ship, at any rate," Zoisite explained. "The fuel is a complicated mixture of crude oil and eugon chips, highly inefficient and not particularly helpful even as a way to preserve resources. But it's been an absolute darling of the scientific community in recent cycles. Some easily-manipulated alarmists are calling it the key to saving our galaxy, as if crude oil is a renewable resource." He rolled his eyes.
"So, it's a science experiment," Endymion said. "Something Aigis Industries put together to put themselves in the good graces of activists and make themselves look smart."
"Right," Zoisite admitted. "But, Your Highness, I believe it's the solution to our problems." Zoisite got to his feet. "Despite grabbing people's attention, nobody is interested in investing in it. So, I propose we buy this ship. It's beyond the prototype stage and is ready to be used immediately."
Jadeite shook his head. "This is our lab? It doesn't make any sense, how can we justify the High King spending so much time on board a worthless ship?"
"Let me finish," Zoisite continued. "Think of this ship as a yacht. An expensive, luxury yacht." He put his hands out on either side of his head in a shrugging motion. "People don't take yachts because they're in a hurry. The yacht itself is the destination. Or maybe a cruise boat. You're not riding on a cruise boat to get to where you're taking your vacation. The vacation is the cruise. So, High King Endymion has decided to make a vanity purchase, and a private yacht just isn't going to cut it. So, he gets a space yacht. And it just so happens to be a cutting-edge piece of technology that promotes the possibility of life after imperium. It's great public relations, like, I'm so confident in this technology I'm willing to routinely ride on a ship that uses it. The doomsday crowd will eat it up."
"So we use the ship as a laboratory?" Endymion asked. "I just...make routine trips on it under the guise of wanting a short vacation, and synthesize while I'm on board? What about the output gasses? We can't just eject it out, obviously people will be watching the ship closely."
"I've already tested it," Zoisite answered. "That waste will be undetectable as long as we eject it out the exhaust along with the output of the engine. The fumes the engine puts out are so toxic and filled with pollutants, there's nothing to notice if we mix a few extra gasses in."
"Lovely invention they've come up with," Jadeite muttered dryly.
"That's an awful lot of vacations I'd be taking," Endymion mused. "Might raise some questions."
"Turn it into a business of sorts," Zoisite suggested. "A yacht for the future, where the rich and powerful mingle amongst each other, a rare opportunity to socialize with the King of Earth. Your frequent trips on it would turn into more of a social obligation."
Endymion couldn't help but smirk a bit. "So, invite the upper crust of the galaxy on board my private ship, and then just sneak off into a side room and synthesize thousands of libras of imperium?"
Zoisite shrugged. "Nobody would suspect it. Of course, the alternative would be for you to allow us to handle synthesization from here on out. It's much easier for us to sneak away for a day."
"Perhaps down the line," Endymion said. "We need the best possible product right now, and that means the two with the most experience have to be in charge of making it." He suddenly stood up. "Zoisite, acquire this ship, and make sure to hammer the engine technology aspect in the media."
"Of course, Your Highness," Zoisite said, getting to his feet as well. Endymion twisted his torso around, looking across his massive luxury bedroom, over at Serenity, seated at the foot of the bed. Her eyes were on the tablet in her lap, her attention obviously not on the discussion between her husband and his two generals. "You hear that, Serenity? We're getting a space yacht."
She glanced up, giving a very brief smile before tilting her head back down.
"Ah, she's excited," Endymion said absentmindedly. "Good job, Zoisite, this is a fantastic idea."
"Thank you, Your Highness," Zoisite said. He and Jadeite both quickly moved to depart the room, Endymion simply meandering about in the center of the large chamber.
"Um, Endy," Serenity said suddenly, just as the two generals were closing the door behind them. "I've had a little idea. Something that I think would be really good for all of us."
"Oh, really?" Endymion said, snapping focus over towards his wife, appreciating a rare interaction between the two that actually started on her end. "Go ahead."
"W-well, I've been thinking about...Chibiusa," Serenity said, uneasily rubbing the back of her neck. "What do you think about, uh, her education?"
Endymion flinched, and he gave Serenity an awkward smile clearly designed to convey confusion. "Her education, I...what about it? She's closing in on eighteen cycles, she's doing four-piece puzzles, reciting nursery rhymes, following short-term directions. Are you seeing something you're concerned about?"
"No, no, but I'm thinking about her future," Serenity said. "Pretty soon she'll actually start reading on her own, and then after that you have...mathematics, conversation, it's about to get more serious."
"Absolutely," Endymion said, swooping down and spinning about to sit on the corner of the bed across from Serenity. "I mean, we might be getting a little ahead of ourselves with—"
"Endy, what do you think about Chibiusa moving to Mercury for a few years?" Serenity blurted out.
Endymion reacted as if he had just been struck on the forehead by a stone, recoiling back before twisting around to shoot Serenity the most befuddled look imaginable. "What was that?"
"It's just...Mercury, you know the reputation they have. The finest educators in the galaxy, it seems like it might be a good idea for her to start her initial education there. Get her off to a good start. A-A lot of wealthy families send their children to Mercury for education," Serenity explained.
"Serenity, I know all of that," Endymion said, sounding mildly annoyed that his wife seemed to be under the impression she was educating him. "T-they don't do it to children before their second birthday, not even the...most disinterested, unloving parent in the galaxy would send their toddler off to another planet!"
"I'm just thinking about what's best for her!" Serenity exclaimed, sounding maybe a quarter of the way to hysteria. Quickly, she calmed herself down, closing her eyes for a moment. "Just, give her the best possible head start on her formal education, you know?"
"Sending her away from her parents before she can even read is certainly not what's best for her," Endymion said. "Besides, Serenity, you're missing the bigger point."
The Queen looked frustrated, but held her lips closed.
"We're royals. I'm the High King." Endymion put his right hand up in the air, mimicking a snapping motion between his middle and index fingers. "I snap my fingers, and ten of Mercury's finest scholars fall all over themselves for the right to move into the palace for the next twenty years to personally oversee her education. We can bring them here." He shrugged. "There's nothing on Mercury that Chibiusa won't be able to have here."
"Um...w-well, Endy, I'll...you know…" Serenity swallowed down hard, an audible gulping sound accompanying it. "I'm just wondering, is it safe here? Is the Earth Palace really a good place for her to be right now, with you...doing all of this?"
Endymion couldn't stop himself from almost chuckling at the insinuation. "Serenity, the Earth Palace is the safest place in the universe for her. Don't be silly."
"I...I'm just not sure she should be here, while we're doing all of this," Serenity said, voice a little shaky as Endymion got to his feet.
"Sweetie, your concern is admirable, but no longer applicable," Endymion insisted. "Cronus is dead. He was the threat. I'm in complete control of everything now, none of us ever has to worry about anything again. Now, if you want to help our daughter, why don't you put out a call for resumes on Mercury for pre-academy educators? Just tell me who you want for Chibiusa, and I'll have them moved here the very next day."
With that, the High King spun back around and made for the bedroom door, leaving his wife there to stew in her own uncertainty.
"
"There will be further opportunities to raid chemical warehouses on Saturn as the war wraps up," Kunzite said, holding his hands behind his back as Endymion peeled the lid off the top of the nearest barrel. "But once that's over, I'm not sure what recourse we have. Stealing boron crystal fluid is very difficult, and even a successful theft will attract a lot of attention from the agency."
Endymion stared down into the open barrel, examining the liquid within, resting his hands on either side of the barrel lip. He glanced over to the right, seeing five identical barrels lined up against the back of the plain storage room, underneath one of Kunzite's safehouses on the southern hemisphere of Earth. Nothing but four concrete walls on all sides and a brown stone floor, it was a place Kunzite would have preferred Endymion never actually visit in person, but the High King was quite insistent on being as hands-on as he could with regards to everything in the imperium operation.
"How many more warehouses to raid?" Endymion asked.
"Maybe...three, four?" Kunzite answered uneasily. "It's hard to know which ones will line up properly, the timing has to be right. And we have no way of knowing for sure how much, if any, boron fluid they'll have. Anyway, each barrel is good for twelve-hundred libras of imperium, so hopefully, we'll collect enough for a year of working with Princess Venus, but after that, I'm not sure what we do."
Endymion drummed his fingers on either side of the barrel a couple times.
"We should come up with something now, since—"
"We're not going to be making money fast enough," Endymion said, forehead condensing slightly into wrinkles. "I need to find another distributor."
"Uh...Your Highness, we have a bottleneck," Kunzite said, masterfully pivoting to address the unexpected and off-topic proclamation from his charge. "What we have isn't even enough for our partnership with Venus, adding another distributor would just accelerate the problem."
"We'll have to find a solution to that soon either way," Endymion deflected. "You said it yourself, seventy billion a year, on just one planet. What good is that qualifier if we don't find a way to sell our product elsewhere?"
"Umm...w-well, we could utilize Nephrite's network again," Kunzite said, glad that Endymion was still looking the barrel's contents over instead of watching him cringe. "But, being somewhat detached from distribution is really a good idea, so we should be cautious about that."
"No, no, you're right, we shouldn't go back to that," Endymion said, relieving a tiny bit of the concern that Kunzite had. "We need something else. It needs to be bigger."
Kunzite gritted his teeth together tightly. "I'm not sure now's the right time for that, we should at least start on Venus first. And, ultimately, it's a big risk. Every person we bring in on this operation is one more person who knows about your involvement in it. And it'll only take one to destroy everything we've built."
Endymion slowly straightened up, then bended down a bit to grab the barrel lid. "Sure, but...what if we brought in someone who already knew?"
"
With a smooth flow of movement that spoke to her royal background and her formal upbringing, Princess Mercury practically floated down the hallway, back straight and head even. Surrounded on all sides by Hermelculus-era paintings, organized in what could easily have been a timeline of the century-long art movement, her elegant dress and flawless gait made her fit right in with the environment.
She wore a pleasant, peaceful smile, walking down the hall and preparing to swing out into the path on her left, out into the Mercury Palace's banquet room.
"Afternoon," Mercury called out, not anticipating anything surprising, knowing only that her mother had called her down here to help receive an important guest. She often sat in on such meetings, as she was rapidly approaching the age where it might be appropriate for her to take the throne herself. The moment her eyes focused on the head of the long redwood table, however, she nearly jumped back right into the hall, her facial expression cracking.
At the very head of the table, her mother, as she had expected, was now eyeing her with an odd look, having seen her very obvious reaction to the person sitting to her immediate right, along the side of the long eating surface. High King Endymion, hands steepled in front of him, twisting his head slightly to look at her.
"Sweetie, are you alright?" Queen Mercury asked, giving a couple side glances over towards Endymion, clearly concerned about being embarrassed in front of him.
"Uh...y-yeah, yes!" the Princess exclaimed, pushing through the vague sense of dread developing in her stomach at the sight of Endymion. "Just surprised, that's all!"
The Queen gave her daughter a bit of a caustic look, clearly not happy with her unprofessional behavior. "Right, well." She furtively gestured towards the chair opposite the High King. "Come on."
"Oh, that won't be necessary," Endymion said quietly, turning to present his most pleasant face towards the Queen. "I was actually hoping to meet with her privately, just me and her. Not here. I have a proposition for her, specifically."
"Oh, well, when?" Queen Mercury asked. "Right now?"
Princess Mercury subtly managed to move her hands behind her, so that her folding her fingers into nervous fists would be hidden from view. She barely managed to plaster a fake smile on her face, all of her social training just barely able to keep it up.
"As soon as possible, that's...the main reason why I'm here." He gestured his right hand towards the Queen. "Of course, catching up with you now that I've taken the throne, always important. These alliances have to be maintained."
"Absolutely," the Queen said, turning to look over at the Princess. "Mercury, darling, how about a minuta?"
"Umm...well, honestly, my...this is awkward," Mercury managed. "My schedule is actually very packed today, I have a lot of...things, I'm not sure if I can make it work. I'm v-very sorry to have to say that."
The Queen blinked a couple times, then turned to face her daughter. "Mercury, what's wrong with you?"
Princess Mercury stood there, stock still, going slightly pale. This was the first time she had personally seen Endymion since that one night on Neptune, and despite happening over a year ago, the events of that night were still fresh in her mind. When virtually every interaction you had with others tended to involve people bowing to you and treating you with the utmost respect, an event like that had a way of sticking in your brain.
"This is the High King," Queen Mercury said, clearly annoyed with having to state something so obvious. "You clear your schedule for the High King."
"Ah...silly me, my apologies," she replied, trying to play it off casually. "O-one minuta, then, Your Highness. Will my study suffice?"
"Yes, I think so," Endymion answered.
"I'll go prepare to receive you," Mercury said, eagerly spinning about and dashing out of the room, happy to buy herself at least a bit of time. She exhaled heavily the moment she was out of sight, stopping for a moment and perking up her ears to try to listen.
"Terribly sorry about my daughter, I'm not sure what's wrong with her," Queen Mercury said in a low voice that she could barely detect.
"Oh, it's quite alright," Endymion insisted.
With a sigh, the Princess walked off, moving much less elegantly this time, almost as if she was trying to outrun something behind her.
"
Princess Mercury's study was pretty much exactly what you would expect given the Princess's reputation. The back wall was made entirely of dark wood shelves, rows and rows of leather-bound and gold-plated books lined up in a carefully curated order, with some crystal figurines acting as bookends. The leftmost wall was covered in galactic and planetary maps, informational charts, and a large blank screen. The right wall was decorated with assorted artwork that was to the Princess's taste, largely paintings of oceans and seas, some depicting mermaids or fishing expeditions. A few steps from the back wall, there was a dark blue desk, a screen built into the surface and a small control panel to the right. A small blue kettle and two small white cups were set out as well.
Princess Mercury sat on the opposite side of the desk from the entry door, watching the High King of Earth shut the large, heavy wooden door behind him. No longer needing to pretend that she was at all comfortable with his presence, she just eyed him tentatively as he turned around and proceeded across the room.
"Afternoon, Princess," Endymion said, his peaceful demeanor trying it's very best to put Mercury at ease. Not that it was having much success. "Can we talk?"
"W-what do you want?" Mercury asked, watching suspiciously as Endymion reached inside his overcoat and pulled out a rectangular black box.
"Are we alone?" he asked, staring down at the front side of the box. "Just us two?"
"Yes, we're alone," she said tersely, tensing up even more as Endymion pulled the chair on the opposite side of the desk out and sat himself down on it. "And I haven't told anyone."
Endymion smiled. "Is that what you think this is about?"
"I haven't!" she reiterated. "I said I wouldn't, and I haven't!"
"Mercury, do you think I'm here to...to kill you, or something?" Endymion said, giving her a somewhat judgemental look. Finally, he shook his head. "Alright, alright, I suppose we need to address the elephant in the room first." He gave a sheepish look. "That, uh...that night on Neptune, I...I hope you can understand, I was trying to protect myself. Protect you too, really, and given circumstances, I felt like it was important to make sure the point got across. I'm sorry that had to happen, I probably went a little over the top."
Mercury didn't take her eyes off of him, not at all comforted by his friendly demeanor and apologetic words.
"Look, Mercury, I've just been crowned High King of Earth, and it's very likely you're going to be crowned Queen of Mercury sometime in the next decade," Endymion continued. "We're going to have to interact and work together at some point, we're allies. Sometimes, people fight, they move past it. You can't just avoid me forever, may as well start getting over it now."
The Princess, after several beats, eased her feet down to the carpeted floor, untensing her body enough to at least allow her to unfurl a bit. "Is that all you wanted to say to me?"
"No," Endymion said. "I actually do have a proposition for you, if you'll hear it."
Princess Mercury slowly reached out towards the tea kettle, grabbing the handle on the side and pulling it up a bit. She poured a small amount of a steaming clear liquid into the cup nearest her. "Go ahead," she said, gaining a little bit of steel in her voice as she managed to settle herself.
"I understand you like to collect things," Endymion started, glancing over towards the paintings on the wall. "Paintings, jewelry, sculptures, trinkets, artifacts. Rare, expensive things, basically." He nodded. "I'm rather fond of it myself."
"Ummm...w-well, building a collection of uncommon, valuable objects is a trait shared by virtually all royal houses," Mercury said.
"But Mercury's reputation for surrounding themselves with the priceless artifacts of galactic history is of particular notability," Endymion pointed out. "Just on my way from the entrance to the banquet hall, I saw some truly breathtaking spreads of decorations."
"I mean, that's more...my mother than me. Our predecessors as well, they've been the ones who have made our palace look the way it does," Mercury said slowly. "I've had rather little say in any of that."
"What, so you plan on breaking with generations of tradition? Suddenly, Mercury's fascination with advertising their wealth and status will just...disappear when you're in charge?"
"I didn't say that," Mercury answered defensively. "I...I imagine that I'll have an interest in expanding the collection." She blinked up at Endymion a couple times. "You're not...actually here to try to shame me for that, are you?"
Endymion gave a couple of dismissive laughs. "Of course not! We're both in the same boat there, you should see my bedroom."
"Then what's your point?" Mercury asked. "What are you trying to get at?"
Endymion reached his right hand into the inside pocket of his overcoat again, this time going to the other side of the garment to pull out a tiny black tablet. Mercury flinched back slightly, fear seizing her for the briefest of moments before the High King placed the tablet screen-up on the desk. With a tap of his finger on the center of the screen, a clear and finely detailed hologram a few finger-lengths tall popped up. A white statue of a man wearing the heavy armor and holding the katana sword that was often associated with a samurai.
"What do you think?" Endymion asked.
"I...I don't know," Mercury said, staring down at the holographic depiction of a warrior. Slowly, she ducked her head down towards it. "What is it, the...the Sventland sculptures?"
"Wow, you're good," Endymion said bemusedly. "That's right. You know they're almost eight hundred years old now? Calacatta marble, and they're taller than me!"
Mercury pursed her lips. "You're offering them to me?"
"Well, not all of them," Endymion said with a chuckle. "But don't you think a few of them would go nice somewhere in this palace? Maybe a museum, I don't know, at that point it'd really be up to you." He smiled. "Trust me, I know there's a particular thrill when you get your hands on a valuable artifact from another culture or Kingdom, it's...it's empowering. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."
Mercury just sat, keeping quite still, not entirely buying what the High King of Earth was selling quite yet.
"Anyway, anyway, sixty statues like this were sculpted on the order of one of my ancestors, and as of today, while the royal house of Earth has parted with about twenty of them to museums and wealthy collectors, none of them have left Earth." Endymion reached forward and tapped the small tablet again, getting the samurai sculpture to change to one of a hammer-wielding blacksmith. "How would you like to make the royal house of Mercury the first to change that?"
"Why aren't you bringing this proposal to my mother?" Mercury asked. "She's still the Queen, she's probably the one you'd want to do this with."
"Ah, at this point, I think it more concerns you than her, what with you standing to take control in the near future," Endymion answered dismissively, tapping the tablet again, getting it to display a sculpture of a man in blue robes and wearing glasses, holding an open book in his hands. "Oh, the scholar, you might like that one. We can certainly negotiate over which ones you'd like, you know each one is unique. But suppose we just said...six of them?"
Mercury examined the new sculpture that Endymion had just put on display. "Maybe," she said, still wary.
"Wonderful," Endymion said. "Now, eighteen cycles ago, one of these pieces was sold at auction for twenty-two and a half million creds. I don't particularly feel the need to squeeze every last cred out of this transaction, this is a symbol of our alliance as much as anything. Let's say twenty million a piece."
"Um, off-hand, sounds fair," Mercury said.
"Or, you can consider them a gift, if we can come to a separate understanding," Endymion added.
Mercury could almost feel the other shoe dropping. The pit of dread in her stomach returned, and the temporarily suppressed memories of her encounter with Endymion on Neptune returned.
"I'm trying to expand my operation," Endymion continued. "Yes, I do mean the one that you so cleverly uncovered last year." He smirked. "Still not sure how you pulled that off. In any case, specifically, I want to expand it to your planet. Mercury is an absolute gold mine for black market imperium."
Princess Mercury's facial expression immediately tightened and her mouth dropped open slightly, uncomfortable even hearing vague details of Endymion's criminal activities. Even worse was the obvious implication that, if he was bothering to tell her about this, it meant that he needed her involvement in some way.
"After all, this planet is where a large percentage of the rich and powerful make their homes, many of whom run large businesses and corporations, titans of industry, if you will," Endymion continued. "And large businesses and corporations need large amounts of imperium in order to operate, meaning the ability to purchase large amounts of high-quality imperium at discounted prices is highly valuable to them."
"Wait wait wait wait wait," Mercury said rapidly, finally snapping out of her shock at Endymion so brazenly telling all of this to her. "Why are you telling me this?! You want me to...to look the other way?! Because you're talking to the wrong person for that, my mother...and, well, no, you shouldn't ask her about this either!"
"Not quite," Endymion said, not showing any reaction at all to her obvious aggravation. "I actually need some help." Slowly, he reached forward, grabbing the tea kettle that was on the desk between the two and starting to pour out some of his own tea into his cup.
"You...you can't be serious!" Mercury snapped. "You think...no, no, absolutely not! If you...if you really want to involve yourself in criminal enterprises like this, then that's your prerogative, but I don't want to hear about it or involve myself in any of it!"
"Princess, please, just hear me out. I assure you, it's much easier than you're thinking," Endymion said wearily, setting the kettle back down and pulling the cup in front of him.
"I don't care what it is!" Mercury rocketed up to her feet, putting her palms down on the desk and leaning forward towards Endymion, now warming up to the point where she could put her rarely-used angry reactions through their paces. "I'm keeping your secret, but you can't honestly expect me to—"
"It's difficult to know who you can trust to see things your way," Endymion said, speaking with enough force to get Mercury to halt her tirade. "Obviously, there are countless people living on this planet who could use cheaper imperium, but in my position, I don't know which ones will jump at the opportunity, and which ones will just turn around and report me to the Galactic Imperium Agency." He shrugged. "You, on the other hand, being who you are, have access to certain personal details of these people, maybe some things in their past, that would make it fairly easy to know who to approach."
"Endymion, no!" Mercury said, irate enough to forget to even address the High King with the proper titles in front of his name. "Not even a consideration, you're out of your mind!"
"Princess, all I need you to do is figure out who among your wealthiest inhabitants would be open to using black market imperium to run their businesses, and then orchestrate the handoff," Endymion continued. "It'll be very easy, the Sventland sculptures are extremely heavy, so adding a couple thousand libras of refined imperium to the package will hardly be noticed. Besides, any package sent directly from me to you will obviously not be examined in any meaningful way, it'd be marked for your eyes only."
"Can you not hear me?!" Mercury hissed. "I don't care if it's easy, it's illegal!"
"Princess, please, just calm down, no harm can come from having a simple discussion," Endymion said, gesturing towards the ornate wooden chair behind Mercury. "You don't have to worry about ever being caught. I know you, you're far too smart to slip up on something like this. And you're far too smart to pass up on an opportunity like this, when I'm offering you twenty percent of the income for such simple work."
The Princess looked incredulous. "Money? Really?"
"Princess, it's billions of creds. Even just a few large corporations, you'll be making hundreds of billions of creds a year, you must realize how valuable this imperium is," Endymion said, taking a sip out of his tea cup.
"I...I don't care, I don't want to hear this anymore," Mercury said, trying to pivot from sounding angry to just being firm and serious, in the hopes that it might better convey her complete lack of interest. "W-what make you think I would ever be interested in something like this?!"
Endymion smiled easily, looking almost exasperated. "Princess Mercury, why do I get the sense that you're not happy to have heard my offer, when all I am trying to do is help provide an easy way for you to make a lot of money?"
"M-money?!" Mercury repeated, tossing her right arm over towards the wall of paintings. "Have a look around this palace, this planet! Check our financial statements and diamond mine outputs! You, you know our reputation in this galaxy, our fiscal standing is the envy of every other Kingdom in the solar system! I don't need money!"
"For now," Endymion said. "Things can change quickly, though, as I'm sure you know. Mercury is a rather small planet, those mines won't produce forever. Things can change quickly, why not work now to secure things as best you can?"
"No! I'm not...not this!" She swept her arms across her chest, swinging them out to her sides in an emphatic gesture of declining. "Even if I needed money, it certainly wouldn't be this! I've heard enough, this conversation is over!" She pointed over towards the door across the room, becoming far more animated and emotional than she typically was. "High King Endymion, I've heard your offer, considered it, and I'm declining it! You want to work in black market imperium, fine, you want to sell on Mercury, that's your business, but I am not getting involved in any of this!" She reached forward, roughly grabbing the small tablet and sticking it out towards Endymion. "F-forget the sculptures, too, thank you for the offer, but no thank you! Please, leave, and forget this meeting ever happened, I don't want to hear anything about your imperium again!"
Slowly, the friendly smile that Endymion had kept on his face for virtually his entire visit to the Mercury Palace faded, replaced by a neutral and blank expression. Slowly, he glanced down to regard the tiny tablet that Mercury was waving around trying to get him to take.
"I said I would keep your secrets, and I will, I won't tell anyone, but our business ends there! Beyond that, we're done!"
Endymion gave a weary sigh, then took the small screen out of Mercury's hand. Quickly, he slipped it back inside his overcoat, then gave an animated little shrug. Then, he got to his feet.
However, instead of turning around to leave, or trying to offer some formal farewell, he instead moved to the right, purposefully stepping around the desk. Princess Mercury unconsciously took a step back, her look of determination immediately faltering.
"Hey, no, no," Mercury said, watching helplessly as Endymion came around to the other side of the desk. She scuttled backwards several steps, reflexively retreating as the High King advanced on her. "Come on," she said, sounding less and less assertive by the syllable.
Endymion was more than a head taller than Mercury, and was able to do a shockingly effective job of transforming into an imposing figure. Even though Princess Mercury was in her study, in her palace, on her planet, and by all measures should have had all the control over this conversation, Endymion needed only a couple beats to intimidate the confidence right out of her. Without so much as laying a finger on her, he was able to back her right into the back wall of the room. Standing there, towering over her, looking down at her with a stern scowl, the Princess felt none of the security that should have come from being so deep in her own territory.
Instinctively, she cowered a bit, averting her gaze from his, making it all the easier for Endymion to use his significant height advantage to intimidate her.
"We're done when I say we're done," Endymion rumbled in a low, gravelly hiss.
Princess Mercury was at least able to hold back the more obvious and weakest of emotional showcases like the last time Endymion had scared her into doing what he wanted her to do. But her slouched posture and fearful eyes made it clear that, all the same, he had succeeded.
"
Serenity's entire body tensed up when she heard the bedroom door open. Even though it could only be one of a few different people, and was overwhelmingly likely to be one particular person, she was almost afraid to roll over to see. Laid out on the edge of the far side bed, on her side, underneath the covers, Serenity had been trying and failing to get to sleep for some time now.
"Sorry I'm late."
Serenity winced a bit when Endymion made it clear that it was him that had just entered. She didn't move to look at him, nor did she respond.
"I was visiting your friend, actually. Mercury. I have some exciting news, actually."
She could hear the whisk of fabrics rubbing up against each other as he started to disrobe. Absentmindedly, she started running the fingertips of her right hand across the sheets right in front of her.
"Long story short, she's going to be part of our little operation. So that's two of your best friends now, participating in this, making money hand over fist. That's kind of nice, isn't it?"
She could feel the massive mattress shift a bit as Endymion put his weight down on the other side of it, but just continued to stare off towards the far side of the room at the wall, face wrinkled with concern and fear.
"It took some plying and convincing for her to understand things, but by the time I left, we were both on the same wavelength. Mercury, she can be a little...stubborn sometimes about certain things, but you can convince her as long as you know how to do it."
Serenity felt his hand softly touch down on her shoulder. She just barely spun her eyeballs to the right to see his fingers before returning her focus to the other side of the room.
"I know you're worried," Endymion said quietly into her ear. "But I want you to know, Serenity, that we have nothing to be concerned about anymore. We do what we do for family. And there's no better reason to do something than for family."
Serenity shifted around uncomfortably as she felt Endymion's body press up against her back, his long slender arms gently wrapping around her shoulders. She felt him lightly kiss the top of her head. She just remained limp and unresponsive.