As if I thought the last two days could get any busier, I was now dealing with a potential terror crisis in addition to the scandal. It had only been ten minutes since the Izanagi went sublight over Xarra. I didn’t want to waste time going planetside, so I held the meeting on board the ship. I leaned forward in the Second Throne, resting my hands on the desk. Adryx leaned against the wall in the corner, and one very sweaty and tired Kiyana sat across from me. The data-drive sat, still dormant, on the desk.

  Adryx spoke up first, shaking his head. “With all due respect, can you turn that off?” The classic metal playlist was providing background music, much to the three-eyed Grand Master’s dismay.

  I shook my head as I leaned in further and smiled. “I thought you liked this stuff.”

  Adryx uncrossed his arms and stepped over to the desk. “Not while I’m working, sir,” he responded. He pressed his hand down on the desk and hit pause the second the holographic controls came up. Coincidentally, this happened just as I saw what was happening on my social media feed. I leaned back and closed my eyes, giving a small smile. “Looks like Tanaka’s trying to cancel me.”

  Kiyana spoke up next as she leaned in. “Pfft, keyword ‘trying’, don’t you think?” I shrugged as I pressed play on the video Tanaka had posted. It was a recording from his ocular implant, showing our conversation at the party where I’d thoroughly dismantled him. However, the video continued into a deepfaked segment where I pinned him against the bar and choked him nearly to death. The comments section was filled with replies calling me out on assaulting him, claiming I had abused my power and needed to be held responsible. Of course, there were plenty of very creative insults layered in which I mentally filed away for later use. The worst part, though? There were people talking crap in the comments who were actually there. People who knew what really happened.

  Needless to say, I was simultaneously frustrated and impressed. I quickly typed out my own response on my page, linking the video: “Say what you want but this video is fake. We’re investigating and will release information as it’s found.” I sighed, leaning back in my chair.

  “That clever bastard,” I said as I looked over at Adryx. “He even got the pores on my face right.” It was an extremely well-done deepfake. Nobody would be able to tell by looking, and I was pretty sure Tanaka had scrubbed all the markers. “Think you can deal with this for me?”

  Adryx nodded. “Yeah, but it’s gonna be a pain to figure out.” Without asking, he closed the page. “Division Three should be able to handle it.” Adryx smirked, his third eye glowing just a bit brighter.

  I just stared for a few seconds before responding. I knew that look. “You’re gonna do something absolutely wild, aren’t you?”

  “My lord, I have ten thousand alternate accounts. Either way, let’s table this.” Adryx shook his head as he set down his notebook, flipped it open, and started drawing something. “We need to get to the main event.”

  “Shoot then. I’d rather not wait if it’s what I think it is.” My eyes locked with Adryx for a second before I glanced over at Kiyana, who was still sitting in and listening intently. She’d rested her chin on her hand as she leaned over the desk. “And Kiki, I need you to wait outside.”

  Kiyana pouted as she put on the classic puppy eyes expression. “But dad, I wanted to do… cool emperor stuff with you!”

  I saw it coming a hundred parsecs away. I’d promised to spend time with her earlier, but I didn’t exactly think exposing my teenage daughter to classified information was a good idea. Well, there’d always be time after this mess got resolved. I smiled as I answered her. “Technically we already did. Why don’t you go and finish that game you got hooked on last week or something?”

  Kiyana rolled her eyes and stood up. “Alright, dad,” she said, exasperated, as she turned to leave. “Hornless, promise breaking… ugh.”

  That last part definitely wasn’t meant for me to hear. I chuckled and waited until the door closed. I raised an eyebrow and turned to Adryx again. “Three eyes. Did you hear that?”

  “Yeah,” Adryx casually acknowledged as he stopped flipping through his notebook. “Anyway, look at this.”

  I leaned in as Adryx pushed the notebook forward. “Well, at least your art’s gotten better.” In the minute and fifteen seconds it had taken for me to get Kiyana to leave, Adryx had already sketched out a small but detailed conspiracy board, complete with a very unflattering chibi drawing of Prefect Tanaka at the center.

  “Well”, Adryx continued. “You already know Tanaka’s gotten buddy-buddy with at least a dozen big-name companies.”

  “Yeah,” I nodded. “Kickbacks, contracts, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he was embezzling half the sector budget too.” I leaned in closer. “How did you find all this in eight hours, anyway?”

  “Eh, contacts.” Adryx shrugged as he began pointing out parts of the diagram. “Anyway, notice the theme here?”

  I knew Tsubaki had something going on with Kin-Taiyo, but as I delved into Adryx’s conspiracy web, it only became clearer. Sunai Assembly. Othala Biotech. Blacksteel Combat Arms. All of these companies had, either currently or otherwise, military contracts. I didn’t even look up, speaking under my breath as my eyes were glued to the page. “You’re kidding, right?”

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  He wasn’t.

  Adryx crossed his arms, waiting for a real answer. My eyes narrowed as I spoke again.

  “Well, he’s either a military buff, or he’s planning some grade-A violence.”

  Adryx nodded and replied. “Pretty sure it’s the second one. Watch this.” The three-eyed man looked down at the data-drive. “Authorization. Kalyn, Adryx. Grand Master. Origami seven six two, malachite, dragon.”

  The drive blinked and projected a holographic display. I leaned back in my chair, crossed my arms behind my head, and watched. “Huh, now we’re just missing the refreshments.”

  Adryx smirked. “Good one, my lord.”

  The video began with a security feed of the door to the men’s restroom at the venue from earlier. A timestamp read 4 PM. That was four hours before the party’s end, exactly five minutes and thirty two seconds after Tanaka had talked crap and bailed out. My smile widened. “Oh, I know exactly where this is going.”

  Adryx just nodded.

  Sure enough, Tanaka stepped out of the restroom, still adjusting the sash of his kimono. When I asked at the party, pretty much everyone told me he hadn’t even left the toilet and probably had the runs. “I think he may have kept everyone in the dark,” I mused. “Or somehow, all the guests were in on it.” The video switched to another security camera. Tanaka proceeded to, sure enough, head in the opposite direction of the party. Four of his bodyguards, clad in legion surplus combat armor and wielding standard issue Impaler carbines, flanked him.

  “Just watch,” Adryx said as he crossed his arms.

  Tanaka and his bodyguards got in an elevator and the camera switched again. He pressed the button for the ground floor. That was the cargo area. “Let me guess, this is where he does something shady,” I deadpanned.

  The camera switched again. Loading area. A huge tracked cargo truck sat idling. It was labeled “Rohan’s Bulk Delivery.” Probably the same truck that delivered the pretentious party gear. Tanaka knocked on the truck’s cargo door, which opened soon after. The five men stepped in, and the vehicle trundled off. As it pulled out onto the street, I could see that its reg-plate had been removed. As soon as the truck was out of sight, the video ended.

  I stood up and looked over to Adryx. “What do you have on Rohan’s?”

  “Well,” Adryx flipped to the next page of his notebook. I was greeted by a detailed two-page spread of a very cute anime girl.

  I shook my head and locked eyes with him. “Dude, really?”

  “Sorry, wrong page.” Adryx quickly flipped to the next one: information on Rohan’s Bulk Delivery. It was a no-name company local to the one specific city on Kinako-IV where Tanaka lived. The Prefect pretty much used it exclusively for all of his deliveries.

  “Clever,” I said. “Low profile. For all we know, he probably owns it.” Sure enough, that was the next thing on the page. Officially, it was owned by a guy named Rohan Minamori, but he was on Tanaka’s payroll. I slowly turned my head. “Adryx, I swear, if he’s laundering money-”

  “Yeah,” Adryx cut me off.

  I sighed and fell backwards into my chair, sinking into it. “How many companies does this guy even own?”

  Adryx rested his hands on the desk. “I don’t even know at this point. However, look at this.” He slapped his hand onto the data-drive and another video began to play.

  This time, it was pure, uninterrupted footage of the loading dock from last week. Four Rohan’s trucks pulled up and a large crew unloaded them. Every truck was stuffed past its max safe weight with metal storage crates, all of which were labeled as either food, booze, or decorations. I counted every single one. It was four times what he’d need to store the party stuff.

  “I think you’re right, Adryx,” I looked over to him again. “He’s up to something.”

  Adryx nodded, crossing his arms again. “Yeah, and that was the raw footage. The official security record had it deepfaked to one truck.”

  “Figures. Got anything else?”

  He nodded yet again and slapped the data-drive. “One more, but this is the money shot.”

  The display shifted to some text as Adryx explained. “Division Two intercepted an encrypted transmission from Tanaka’s phone while he was in the restroom. Took us the whole eight hours to crack.”

  “He’s working with some serious stuff,” I commented. Shifting my gaze back to the text, I began reading. “From ‘SenseiSei’ to ‘Stormbeast’, 3:55 PM. ‘He didn’t even let me pitch my ideas. We’re commencing the attack.’”

  I picked up the data-drive and held it out to Adryx. “Listen, because I’m only gonna say this once.”

  Adryx nodded, but he didn’t take the drive.

  “I want all of Division Two, literally all of it, on this ‘Stormbeast’ guy. Find out his name, where he lives, where he works, everything down to his taste in freaking ramen.” I set the drive back down and stood up. “Get Division One on Rohan’s. I need a man inside, a stakeout, anything you can to find out what he’s been shipping and how the heck he’s been using a no-name company for it.”

  I vaulted over the desk and walked past Adryx as I continued. “And for crying out loud, get the raw footage from that deepfake of me.” Only then did I look back at him. “Let the galaxy know that I’m uncancellable.”

  Adryx turned and followed me as I left the office and stepped into my living room. He cracked his knuckles and winked with both his left eye and his third eye. “I take it we’ll need to handle the main man too.”

  I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes. “If we assassinate him, I’m pretty sure he has more deepfakes just in case. Next thing you know, the galaxy knows me as the emperor who killed his own prefect over a lame party.”

  “So we beat him at his own game, first?” Adryx asked.

  I smiled and locked eyes with him. “Exactly. Now stop wasting time and get some results.”