If the Sphere of Influence was unorthodox in its construction and design from the outside, it was downright alien to Empress Hope Cellinni inside. She had ascended its lengthy boarding ramp with Axis, Princess DelRose, and Matriarch Nieves into a hangar of sorts which looked the part of a Naval detainment yard. There were some Imperial military vehicles, but the vast majority of the motor pool was comprised of a smattering of armor of no distinct origin and many of which sported a fair amount of combat damage with equally mismatched battlefield slap-dash repair. It had been like walking into the remains of a backwater insurgency camp from her long past days as Crown Princess. But this paled in comparison to the vessel proper. They had ridden a tubeless elevator past two more levels of the bay, and entered corridors unlike anything she had ever experienced.
The exposed, humming cables in the ceiling, the chattering of footfalls on grate flooring, and the ease of access placement of technical components she was both familiar with and expecting. Like all Crown Princesses, she had spent a good portion of her youth aboard Ridley-class cruisers and these things were just how military starships were made. But nothing else was familiar. The halls and corridors were vaulted and rectangular in design over a rounded tunnel shape, doors and access hatches mimicked this design, and any implement along the ship’s interior had been made in pairs: one at the customary talon level, and one closer to the average dragon’s head height. It was a ship that had clearly been made with dragon anatomy as an afterthought, even if it was usable.
Hope supposed she shouldn’t have expected anything less of Axis, notwithstanding the mixed nature of his crew. The Duke, for his part, offered minimalist explanations of the facilities on board as they passed them by. Hope gathered from him that the Influence was a well apportioned ship for her size, but upon overcoming the initial overwhelming otherness that was the interior, her attention was tuned not to the tour, but the reason she had accepted it in the first place. So pre-occupied was her mind that she started when Princess DelRose delicately poked at her side with a concerned, “Your Majesty?”
“Apologies, Charlie, I was lost in thought. What did I miss?” she asked, years of regal decorum folding over her mistake like a protective quilt against a cold night.
“He offered to show us the holding cells,” Chloe Nieves raked, laboriously clearing her throat before continuing, “but understood if you would rather proceed straight to the bridge.” That she was disaffected of this tour she made no attempt to hide, especially now that they were safely removed from the rest of the Sisterhood Court.
“Choice is yours, Hope,” Axis added, turning from his lead position to face her. In the blink of an experienced eye, Empress Cellinni, passed her gaze over her present company. Axis was cool, collected, and far more at ease than she had ever seen him, no doubt brought on by standing within the depths of his cruiser. Princess DelRose was bristling with distaste for him, but that rarely changed. Chloe observed Hope expectantly, but there was a razor in the Matriarch’s eyes that betrayed her desire for one answer whilst anticipating another. And like her, Axis’ lietenant, the overbearing human man Maal, scanned the lot of them, his thoughts imperceptible behind a mask of an emotionless visage.
“You two go on ahead to the bridge,” Hope nodded to Chloe and Charlie, the calculation made and conclusion determined. “I would like a private word with my Duke. We will find you shortly.” Axis didn’t wait, clicking the toes of a front talon together in a wordless command which Maal obeyed just as silently.
“Your Majesty,” Charlie bowed and acquiesced, taking after Maal without fuss.
“As you wish, Your Majesty,” Chloe mirrored the Crown Princess, though she lingered a half second, eyes shifting between Hope and Axis before disappearing around a corner after Maal. Hope allowed herself several long moments before heaving a deep sigh of relief.
“Need to find a place to sit for this?” Axis asked, a knowing sobriety in his words.
“No. I don’t need this taking any longer and becoming more suspicious than it already will be,” Hope answered, gathering her composure.
“What then? I know you didn’t come on board just to see the place,” Axis said, his biting directness something she wished was more common among the court at times.
Hope steadied herself. His response to her query was not going to be well received, that much she knew, but rumor was not a thing the Empress abided. “Where is she, Axis?” she asked, imparting as much sympathy and understanding as she could into the question. “Where has she gone?”
If Hope were a superstitious dragoness, she would have said the clinical white lights of the ship’s halls faded and warmth drained from the space. Axis advanced on her with deliberate purpose and heavy intent, his features darkened by a wrath that unconsciously had her take a step back. She caught herself before she back-pedaled again, and stared down his almost abusively tattooed face, making plain he would not, could not, scare her. “What is it to you?” the low snarled words rippled from his throat even as he was inches from her face.
“Compose your…” the Empress began to command him, but stopped, unable to ignore the single tear that escaped one of his eyes.
“Answer me!” he barked, unrelenting.
“Oh Axis,” Hope ignored him. “I’m so sorry.” She extricated herself around him without protest, and took several strides into the center of the corridor. She had known this was likely a sore subject for Axis but had not truly believed the worst of the hearsay.
“She’s not dead,” her Duke said from behind her, aggression gone but still bitter.
“Oh thank the Progeny!” Hope exclaimed, relieved as he turned to face her again. “Then, where -”
“I don’t know,” Axis cut her short. “And I don’t want to. Probably on the other side of the galaxy by now, far away from the Empire.”
“Why in the Progeny’s name are you here then?!” Hope asked incredulously. “To hell with Chloe and the rest of the Sisterhood. I hardly thought you would need permission to chase after her.”
“Hope, we’ve known each other a while now,” Axis answered, a touch impatience creeping in his tone. “You know I don’t ask for permission.”
“Then get this ship out of -” Hope began to urge him only to be cut off again, only this time, Axis yelled. Not at her. Tenure as Empress had imparted that much natural knowledge. Axis shouted at himself.
“Because I sent her away! Damn it, it was me, Hope!” She said nothing, allowing him the space necessary to comport himself again. “It was better for everyone.”
“My ears tell me otherwise, Duke Mortimer,” Hope gently offered her rebuke.
“Heh…” Axis chuckled at no one in particular, turning away from her before speaking again. “You don’t think I know that? I still hear her voice if I’m not careful.”
“Then you need to go find her,” Hope said with the full weight of her Imperial authority. “I will order you to do it if I must. I will not have my greatest asset languish as half the dragon he is able to be if it can be helped.”
“What, and bring her back to this life?” Axis hissed, wheeling on Hope, anger flashing like a struck flint on brush. “Watch as what I do eats her alive? No.”
“She is not the only one,” the Empress observed.
----------------------------------------
Tiana DelRose had clearly received Charlie’s order before Axis left the conference room as she immediately took the lead through the expanse and levels of DelRose Tower. Axis also guessed she had strict orders to not speak to him in any way as she remained stoically silent for their entire walk. Pi’s room was two levels up and Axis merely nodded when Tiana released the door lock and allowed him inside before disappearing back into the halls of the tower. His sister’s room was stately, and most definitely more befitting of a military officer than a true member of the House DelRose. It still boasted the House colors and patterns as accents, but was mostly plain and purposeful otherwise. The lower floor of the room constituted a variety of cushions, two viewjectors, a rather high end HUD router, and small bar. Two doors on the far wall likely held the washroom and lavatory. The upper floor, made of thick glass and suspended by cables was about a third the space of the lower floor, giving ample room for more than one dragon to glide down. Railless steps for those dragons unable to fly extended over the entryway to the level. From where he stood below, Axis could see a large nest cushion with a copious selection of blankets, a storage closet, and workstation with a smaller viewjector. It was, in a word, cozy.
“Well sister,” Axis mused to himself, “time to see if you still keep to Dad’s habits and if your princess knows about those. If you do and she does… she must be way stupider than I thought or think I’m about as bright as a bag of rocks... or both. First though…” He undid his military outer garments until he stood in only the vacu-form gel armor suit and slinked behind the bar. It was fully and graciously stocked. “Let’s see… does she keep any of the good imports from Incilleron,” he wondered aloud, clinking an unsheathed metal cased talon against the necks of the bottles. Pi’s (or Charlie’s, he wasn’t sure) taste in liquor was not as exquisite as his own but he found a nearly full bottle of Errand Boy whiskey that would almost certainly taste better than usual on account of being free. Axis tucked the bottle under a wing and ascended the steps to the upper level. A quick swipe of talon and hearty gulps later, Axis rested the bottle on the workstation before flinging open the storage closet.
“Sis… we are going to have to have a serious talk about your fashion sense,” Axis nearly gagged as he tossed out gowns, capes, and standalone sleeves. Each item occupied one of two schools of thought, being either incredibly flashy and gaudy or highly exotic and enticing. The singular commonality between all of Pi’s stored clothes was the unmistakable level of quality. All of them were likely gifts from Charlie. “How much of this shit is there?” Axis swore when he found himself almost entirely inside the closet and a substantial pile of clothes on the glass floor outside. “You better have what I’m looking for after digging through all this shit…” He began tossing out velvet jewelry cases next and after fighting a particularly lengthy cape that seemed intent on smothering him let out a triumphant shout, “AHA! Pi you are still my sister!” It took some persuading grunts, but Axis hauled out from the back of the closet a weighty, durable case half as long as he was and clearly of non-draconic origin. He hefted it onto the nest cushion with a notable thud and unclipped its six clasps with the excited giggles of a child receiving gifts on his birthday.
“Well, it’s no harness, but we can work with this, Pi,” Axis said to the air, running a talon along the meticulously clean casing of an ITS SN-4XBD sniper bolt rifle. The rifle was fully broken down in the bottom of the case foam and was not designed for use by a dragon. However, having been trained among humanoids at the Office on Incilleron, Axis could at least utilize it from a static position. He immediately set to work assembling the weapon, loading up the four forty bolt magazines also in the case, and syncing the rangefinder and zoom software to his HUD. To add to his excitement, behind a thin layer of concealing foam in the lid of the case were two ITS PB80 bolt pistols already loaded and in a custom holster strap for a dragon to hide them under folded wings. Where the rifle had been, Pi had also stowed a small away bag. With the pistols strapped to himself, Axis examined his handiwork in the assembled rifle. “This is gonna be fun to lug around without being seen…” he mumbled.
Shaking the thought for a later time, Axis found an acceptable cushion and sat with the viewjector, syncing it to his HUD lenses and appreciating finally being able to power them off. Charlie likely hadn’t restored his clearances for the Machinery Navy network database, but being unable to rely on that line of communication was common in the spec ops field. Not being a military nor royal tether, the viewjector was simple to decouple from the wider Palace system before Axis entered an encrypted text log. It was an ancient relic bit of software, but it was baked into almost every major relay comm satellite and the comm arrays of any decently sized space station across the galaxy. The system was intended for use in emergencies such as natural disasters or nova induced blackouts and could only send and receive text, but Axis found it exceptionally useful when communication away from prying eyes was desirable.
[FM]: Entry code UV72X-90A.
[SYS]: Authorized. Would you like to import previous settings?
[FM]: Y.
[SYS]: Localizing saved settings. Enter recipient.
[FM]: AM.
[SYS]: Recipient valid. Standby. Connection will lock on recipient response.
Axis shifted his haunches in anticipation. It was a long shot he would get a response in time, especially as he had no way of knowing where his lone compatriot even was, and an even greater unlikelihood he would be able to help in the way Axis hoped. His front talon tapped against the workstation as he waited, unable to control the habit he’d unconsciously picked up from his father. The information he was looking for wasn’t strictly necessary. He’d been thrown into worse engagements with less and made it out the other end, but as much as Axis accepted there was always an element of being lucky that came with a successful career in the martial, he also preferred to never hedge his bets on that fact if he could help it.
His talon was half reaching for the bottle of Errand Boy for lack of anything better to do, when the incessantly blinking cursor in the viewjector moved, if ever so briefly.
[AM]: FM confirm ID.
[FM]: Sorry. Gonna have to get back to you. My grandmother is asking for help in the kitchen.
[AM]: Don’t worry about it. Just get some sweets from her for me this time.
[FM]: Status?
[AM]: You always were the type to get straight to business. Guess I should be glad you aren’t rotting in a brig somewhere. Status is mandatory leave. Waiting on assignment to a new command.
[FM]: So you’re off site?
[AM]: Unfortunately.
[FM]: With no accesses?
[AM]: Only the required kind. Nothing useful.
[FM]: And the personal variety?
[AM]: Depends. I don’t know what you’re up to but I know they’re watching me for now.
[FM]: I’ll spare the details. Keep your head down for now. I’ll make things work. I’ll be in touch.
[SYS]: Connection terminated by recipient. Would you like to archive transmissions?
[FM]: N.
[SYS]: Terminating connection. Good-bye.
Axis closed the log and recoupled the viewjector to the Palace tether. And for the first time since Rothbard had come to retrieve him, let his muscles relax and rested his full weight on the seating cushion. A long, low sigh escaped him and he took a few minutes just to order his thoughts. A few more strong swigs of the Errand Boy helped. He contemplated returning Pi’s clothes to the closet, but after a hard glance to the pile behind him and the ornate nature of some of the garments, thought better of it. He wouldn’t know the first place to start with some of them and while wrinkles could be easily removed later, there was no telling what sort of damage he would do to them and what berating onslaught he’d receive from Pi as a result. Best to just let whoever Charlie had keep the room maintained take care of it.
His steadily growing glares to the garments were interrupted by the chirping of the viewjector, to which he returned his attention excitedly. “What a doll you are, Charlie,” he said upon reading the alert that a good portion of his naval clearances had been restored. “Now… let’s find out who’s home…” The viewjector’s Palace tether would not be as comprehensive as a Naval or Duchery one in its access, but Axis was confident it would be more useful than running blind tomorrow. Entering his spec ops access opened up the tether’s back end, and he was proven regrettably correct about the tether’s data grouping. Innumerable file collations existed, but they seemed to predominantly focus on Palace staff, staff assignments, and work and repair orders. Not only that, his access was sufficient for a read only permission and certain file collations were barred behind higher tier access, some of which seemed to be Matriarchal in nature and the rest of which seemed to exceed his Naval permissions, such as they were. A bit of deeper digging revealed he could at least see the Naval commands assigned to the Palace, though a personnel file collation was not forthcoming without a Naval tether and Captain access or higher. “Wonderful… how supremely helpful,” he muttered, scanning through the names of the Ridley-class cruisers currently serving as Palace defense. He recognized none of them, which he supposed was both a blessing and detriment. On the one hand, he would not randomly encounter anyone he had served with that might want to settle a score while on the other, there was no one here he could reliably call in a favor from.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
He shrugged and returned his attention to the visible side of the Palace staff collations. Of course, there was no blatant listing of which Matriarchs were presently residing in the Palace but Axis had hardly been expecting as much. His spec ops access was distinctly not Palace access, and he knew Charlie was frustratingly savvy enough to have made sure he wouldn’t have it nevermind that the layers of security around the Matriarchs likely ensured only a very select few could see that kind of collation, if it was even logged in the Palace system at all. However, he could see the Palace staff collations and notably even with his read only permission, order them based on most recent access and which tethers around the Palace were accessing them. “And done…” he said proudly to himself, organizing the access rate and location to a diagram listing of tether points throughout the Palace. Of the sixty-seven House Towers, at least half of them were a flurry of tether accesses within just the last hour, including Tower DelRose. “Eh… good enough,” Axis said, giving his lenses a link map to the active diagram for later.
He was about to shut down both his lenses and the viewjector for good, ready to start his search for how on earth a dragon found food in the Palace, but a stray thought zipped across his mind that stayed his talon. He closed out his access to the Palace tether and with practiced speed recoupled it to his preferred general use tether before entering a search for news out on the Empire’s border near the star, Dendurri. A slew of topics presented themselves, all of them banal and brimming with time wasting pursuits. Axis’s eyes narrowed and, he tightened the search to public reports of any military actions of significance. Nothing showed for anything more recent than eight months prior. “Busy life you’re leading out there, huh Sis?” he murmured, shutting down the viewjector. “Imagine fawning over a girl so hard you take the Admiralty’s bullshit without breaking a sweat,” he thought aloud, gliding back down to the lower level of the room. “Ron had better be around if I ever get like that so he makes good on his promise to shoot me… The hell does she keep the food in here?” Axis rummaged around behind the bar, pulling up empty floor shelf after empty floor shelf, sliding the final one back down with a bit more force than was necessary after it provided false hope in the form of every manner of drinking bowl a dragon could ask for. “Am I supposed to get room service or some shit…” he asked, scanning the bartop for some kind of switch or buzzer with no luck. The two viewjectors in the lower level were equally unhelpful in finding a means by which he could acquire food.
A veritable string of grumbled swears were beginning to slip from Axis’s lips when a single sound completely eliminated all other thoughts from his head. The distinctive clunk of the room’s door lock unlatching seemed to reverberate through the room followed shortly by the low whir of electric motors recessing it in and beginning to slide it to the side. Before it had even begun to move, Axis had reacted. With wings flared out, he reared back on his haunches, putting his full weight into his hindquarters while his front legs crossed and talons gripped the two holstered bolt pistols. By the time the door to the room had fully opened, Axis had drawn the guns with smooth familiarity, the removed safeties flashing red in his HUDlens and the weapons themselves. The dragon who entered was not Charlie nor one of her servants, slaves, or ladies-in-waiting. The dragoness was the very same who had arrived with Axis for selection and it was the first time Axis cared enough to get a good look at her.
Her violet and gray clothes were a bit dated but still sufficiently fashionable, and notably masked an element of practicality unlike Pi’s closet of dress gowns. The dragoness herself had scales like polished silver while her eyes and feathers were a deep sapphire blue and her four horns curved out at the ends. She initially balked at the sight of Axis leveling two guns in her direction, but her expression had changed to confused incredulity by the time the door hummed closed behind her. They held each other’s stares silently, Axis with a firm glare and scowl and the dragoness with an unimpressed huff. Her voice broke their silent standoff first, a melodic tone to it that weaved straightforward pointedness into a natural professionalism. “You know that you look absolutely ridiculous like that?” she said, taking a seat on one of the larger cushions.
“Who’s holding the guns?” Axis answered, unmoving.
“You’re a Duke selectee just like me,” the dragoness said. “If you were going to shoot me, you would have done so already.”
“Says you,” Axis growled.
“You are in the business of killing dragons, Axis,” she sighed, as if having to explain the obvious to a child. “I really doubt doing so is a difficult decision for you to make.”
“You seem to know me pretty well,” Axis said. “How?”
“That will cost you some trust,” the dragoness answered evenly. “Put those things away and we can talk like equals instead of like I’m somehow a prisoner in interrogation.”
“You first,” Axis snapped back. “Last I checked, there was no strict rule about selectees not eliminating the competition.”
“So what, you want me to strip in front of you?” she asked, making her disgust at the prospect clear.
“Don’t be a twat,” Axis said. “I kill people, not ogle them. Open your wings.” She rolled her eyes but complied, revealing no hidden holsters or other devices. “Now show me your talons, one at a time, slowly.” The dragoness did this as well, also revealing no nefarious additions to her natural weapons. “Okay, but you move, I put enough bolts into your body to give the coroner a solid week of work,” Axis conceded, stowing his guns and dropping back to sitting. “Now, again, you know me. How?”
“If you are in the business of killing things, I am in the business of knowing things,” she replied. “I’m Katya Truminoff by the way, since the concept of polite society seems completely alien to you.”
“Imperial society maybe,” Axis brushed aside her comment. “So you’re an information broker then?”
“Half-right,” Katya said. “I was contractor.”
“Cut the bullshit,” Axis said. “You’re an assassin.”
“Was,” Katya answered with a harsh note of emphasis. “Like you, I’m a Duke selectee now. I heard you were a difficult drake to work with but the damn the Progeny…”
“Refreshing isn’t it? Don’t tell me you like all the pomp in this cess pit,” Axis chuckled. “You mind… ah… illuminating why you’re in my room then?”
“Careful,” Katya kept pace with a small laugh of her own, “This is your sister’s room that the Crown Princess was clearly gracious enough to let you use.”
“Okay, so you actually want me to shoot you, clearly,” Axis shrugged, lifting a wing and reaching for one of the pistols again.
“Oh please, now it’s your turn to cut the bullshit,” Katya snarled. “I’m not like those two idiots in the hangar. Your sister is a major political player to any dragon who doesn’t have her head buried in the sand whether you or your sister want to admit it or not.” Axis eyed Katya warily, but did lower his wing over the holster.
“Your point being?” he asked. “And it had better have something to do with you finding a way to get up here.”
“It’s only a matter of time before your sister becomes the Phoenix’s Blade,” Katya elaborated, still disgruntled. “All the Royal Houses know it. That will make you, by extension, the future brother-in-law to the most powerful dragoness in the Empire. So, for one, you’re not exactly a difficult drake to find information on. Second, it makes you a target… NOT MY TARGET! Good mother…”
“Excuse my apprehension, lady,” Axis said with mock sincerity as he once again hid the bolt pistols. “Explain something else I don’t already know.”
“Has it happened already?” Katya asked, her tone shifting to a sincere curiosity.
“Obviously,” Axis said. “Four attempts I know for sure. Killed all of ‘em. Wasn’t able to ID any though, unfortunately. Being blown to bits or shredded by a brick gun tends to make that just a bit difficult.”
“That’s news to me,” Katya said with a contemplative stare at the cushion before looking back at Axis and continuing, “Someone kept it off the record then.”
“Look…” Axis said, “your concern is very touching and all but I don’t need it or want it.”
“The Crown Princess?” Katya pressed, ignoring Axis entirely.
“You’re the one in the business of knowing things. You tell me,” Axis smirked. “You still haven’t convinced me you aren’t going to off me, so you ain’t gettin’ shit.”
“Fine, you want proof?” Katya replied, “Here.” She cautiously reached into a small pocket on her gown, and once sure Axis was aware she was not reaching for a weapon, tossed a small coin across to him. Axis snatched it from the air and inspected the surprisingly weighty medal as Katya continued, “That’s an Oath Medallion from House Aiza, more specifically from Matriarch Maria Aiza, my sponsor.”
“Wait, sponsor?” Axis blinked rapidly. “We’ve been here less than six hours.”
“You’re not the only one with royal connections Axis,” Katya smiled proudly. “Matriarch Aiza has a vested interest in making sure you live. House Aiza is next in line for the throne after House DelRose, and if you are killed, that makes the path to the Crown Princess that much easier. And if she is killed thanks to her relationship with your sister before she ascends the throne, House Aiza will have to produce a suitable Crown Princess early. Matriarch Aiza has a newhatched granddaughter that is the only natural choice and her mother does not want that for her.”
“I follow,” Axis answered carefully, flipping the coin back to Katya. “So you took an oath in exchange for sponsorship to make sure I remain in play.”
“Oh you’re actually brighter than you act,” Katya nodded.
“Thanks but no thanks,” Axis winced. “I don’t need a bodyguard. And I definitely don’t need anyone sabotaging selection. The competition isn’t very stiff in case ya hadn’t noticed.”
“I’m neither of those things,” Katya said. “I want to pass selection as much as you do, make no mistake. My oath just gives you an ally regardless of what happens. And it’s not really up to you is it? If I had my way, we wouldn’t be speaking at all.”
“Cute…” Axis sneered. “Thanks for the introduction. You can leave now.”
“I think I’ll stay actually,” Katya rebuffed. “If I am to claim the title of Duchess, it will be with the distinction of having bested the future Empress’s brother-in-law to do it.”
“Oh ha ha, very funny,” Axis said, standing and making his way to the stairs back up to the second level. “Leave.”
Katya stayed resolutely put, even lying down on the cushion before asking, “Who is your sponsor?”
“That is None. Of. Your. Business,” Axis stated emphatically from the upper section of the room. “If I have tell you to leave again, I will shoot you for the hell of it.”
“You could try just asking instead of ruining everyone’s morning with an evacuation drill tomorrow,” Katya said lightly. “Just a thought.”
“How about, I dunno, fuck off,” Axis said, leaning over the edge of the suspended glass to glare at Katya, who returned his gaze with a sweet, knowing smile.
“I don’t know what you hope to accomplish with such a stupid idea,” she said matter-of-factly, “but I can guarantee you I have more access around the Palace. That’s something you’ll need.”
Axis groaned and rolled his eyes with a hearty growl before answering, “What kind of access you annoying bitch?”
“Language, please,” Katya said. “If we work together for now, I’d like at least a little bit of respect due me as a dragoness.”
“You’ll get as much respect as I care to give when I care to give it,” Axis snapped. “Now where can you get me that I can’t get on my own.”
“That rifle you’ve got there says you’ll be looking for a good overwatch of the evacuation platform,” Katya inferred with a nod to the gun. “I can get you to the outside of the outer rings, which is reserved for Dukes and Naval personnel stationed here. Not to mention better clothes for moving around the Palace without drawing attention.”
“Without question?” Axis asked harshly.
“Without question,” Katya affirmed with a solid nod. Axis paused in contemplation before dropping onto his stomach with half lidded eyes.
“You are still a bitch,” he said.
“Oh so are you, for the record,” Katya retorted.
“Ya know what, if you’re gonna lay there and do nothing but piss me off, at least find a way to get some food brought up here,” Axis barked before whipping around back to the upper viewjector.
“Your preference? This is the Palace of the Loft, they can make anything,” Katya replied with false cheer Axis found disturbingly akin to his own sarcasm.
“Edible,” he shouted shortly. Katya didn’t answer but he heard her moving about on the lower floor.
He made a stringent point to ignore her for the remainder of the evening, even having the slave who brought the food deliver his to the upper level. She seemed content with the unspoken arrangement as she made no further attempts to engage him in conversation and occupied herself with some form of entertainment on one of the lower level viewjectors. For his part, Axis busied himself with what he could focus on best. Work. He refused to believe even low level access on the Palace tether was restricted from viewing the evacuation plans. It took some time, but he was able to finagle the tether to run a background search of all available collations for any keywords related to said plans. The rest of his of the evening he split between assembling and disassembling the bolt rifle for speed and reading up on any Imperial news of note. Little had happened since he had last checked before his last assignment outside an attack on a slave ship that was suspected to be Marauder in nature. Axis looked through several collations on the attack, but there was no hard evidence to suggest it had been the work of his father’s old friend, Spit Orlon.
Five hours passed, by which point the Loft’s sun had set and Axis was absently and wistfully looking through collations on various specialized bolt canons when an alert obscured his HUDlens, bypassing the viewjector. He started to attention, powering off the viewjector and restoring his lens to full function. The alert was exactly what he had been waiting for, a full list from the Palace tether for anything directly and tangentially linked to evacuating the historic fortress. The immediate results were all nonsense about procedure on how to follow evacuation protocol and the proper channels for amending it, but further in, there was indeed a link map for lenses on the routes to follow. It was absolutely not a fully comprehensive listing, but it was better than nothing at all. The link map synced to his lens in seconds, and rather than open a collation in the lens itself, Axis dug through one of his old personal collations from when he had been stationed on defensive tour at the Palace of the Loft. He opened it and had a full holographic navigation layout of the Palace for military officers. A quick cross reference between it, the evacuation routes, and the access diagram he’d saved earlier gave him a rough idea of where the most evacuation activity would be in the morning. “Oi! Truminoff!” he shouted, but was met with silence. “Truminoff!” he yelled again, this time turning to look below only to find Katya curled up on a cushion, blanket overtop most of her and very much asleep.
“You…” Axis half sighed before clearing his lenses and gliding down with and exasperated, “Why me? Why is always me?”
“Hey, Truminoff,” he hissed once he was closer to her to no avail. “Some assassin you are,” he muttered.
“I heard you the first time,” Katya’s melodic voice answered, not a little peeved and fixing him with a single blue eye. “I’m sure you can forgive a dragoness not casually exposing herself simply because a drake came calling.”
“I’m not the one who decided to sleep bare ass naked,” Axis said, comprehending but unsympathetic. “And silver’s not my color anyway, don’t you worry.”
“Encouraging,” Katya replied, unmoving from her curled and covered state. “Turn around.”
“What?”
“Turn. Around,” Katya reiterated with a hint of impatience. Axis glared at her a moment longer but did as she asked albeit with an irritated rustle of his feathers.
“At least you have some respect for a dragon’s dignity,” Katya said from behind him.
“I don’t,” Axis clarified. “But Charlie and Pi both have given me that look often enough for me know when a girl is being stubbornly uncooperative.”
“Well maybe you wouldn’t get that look so much if you didn’t always say the first thing that came into your head,” Katya answered. “Luckily, I have enough self-respect for the both of us.”
“Really?” Axis chuckled. “You want me to believe you’ve never utilized feminine wiles on a job?”
“Not that you’ll be convinced,” Katya said somewhat wistfully, “but no.”
“Actually,” Axis replied with a surprised appreciation, “if that’s true, I’m impressed.”
“Thank you for the compliment,” Katya said. “But I didn’t avoid it for the sake of a clean record. You can turn back around.”
“Same difference to me,” Axis shrugged as he turned to face her, now back in her clothes from earlier. “Sync your lenses to mine. Time to make good on your claims.” She nodded and Axis switched his back on. “The diagram on the right shows tether access activity for Palace staff. I’m guessing that since there’s a concentration of accesses in some towers over others, those would be the towers belonging to Matriarchs who are actually here in the Palace.”
“Agreed,” Katya said. “This one on the left is the evacuation plan for the entire Palace.”
“As much as I could get anyway. So I want to position myself on either of these outer rings,” Axis explained, motioning to the western quarter of the Palace. “A good portion of the evacuation from the most highly tether accessed towers will funnel onto this one platform that I’ll have a good angle on from either portion of the ring.”
“I can get you to either, easily,” Katya confirmed, desyncing her lenses. “But we won’t be able to stay up there long. Any escort Helephant or Mongoose that sees a dragon aiming a rifle to where Matriarchs are exposed will either throw caution to the wind and fire on us immediately or have us swarmed by Dukes and Palace security.”
“It won’t take long,” Axis reassured her. “I’ll be recording to analyze later.”
“And you’re hoping to see what, exactly?” Katya raised a brow.
“That’s need to know,” Axis smiled. “I took your assist. I didn’t make you my partner and definitely not my friend. You said yourself we’re still competing for selection.”
“Turn about is fair play,” Katya conceded with a grin of her own. “I admit I’d have been disappointed if you didn’t live up to your reputation for playing things close to the chest.”
“Go back to sleep,” Axis said, making his way to the upper level. “And try to wake up before I do. I’m not turning around for you again.”
“I thought silver wasn’t your color?” Katya replied, to which Axis merely shook his head before curling up on the nest cushion, removing his lenses, and closing his eyes for the night.