“Horos.”
Khar smiled. Now he knew exactly how to frame it.
As he turned toward the control room to place the call, Lily stopped him.
“What’s your first favorite thing?”
He glanced back over his shoulder.
“You are.”
The memory of her Harmun-red blush lingered long after he walked away.
The negotiation went well.
At one point, Vegrun muttered something about organized rebellion, and Khar realized that orchestrating one might also rank among his favorite activities.
Despite the magnate’s bluster, Khar never broke character. He presented himself as a concerned worker simply drawing attention to Horos’s serious oversight. Clearly, the responsibility lay with Horos alone. Vegrun, after all, was just as much a victim as Lily.
Whether Vegrun truly had not known or simply reacted to Khar’s polite threats hardly mattered. He agreed quickly to amend the contract.
Khar did not stop there.
He assured Vegrun that he himself had been reluctant to finish the paint job on time. Lily, he explained, had insisted.
Then he deployed heavy artillery.
They would, he suggested, conduct a full deep sanitation of the pool area. As Vegrun surely knew, the Mokra, Silomarila’s species, were mortal enemies of the Goror, to whom Lady Iroxella belonged. Mokra olfactory sensitivity was legendary across the galaxy. It would be tragic if all their work were ruined by such a minor oversight.
Vegrun’s tone changed immediately.
“Khar,” he said warmly, “you are like a son to me from another sea. I knew I could always rely on you. Handle this matter. And please convey my sincerest apologies to Lily. I will personally ensure her compensation is corrected.”
Khar judged Vegrun’s apology to be about as sincere as his own concern over pool sanitation, but the mission was complete.
So was the sanitation, the moment Iroxella left the ship.
Khar could not tolerate Goror stench, and he needed something to occupy himself while Horos temporarily separated him from Lily.
She was exactly where he had left her, sitting atop a paint crate, visibly trapped in dark thoughts.
Khar sat beside her.
“It’s settled. Vegrun regrets what happened and will correct it shortly.”
As if on command, Lily’s VoidBrace chimed. She read the message, then looked up at him in disbelief, joy breaking through.
“They’ve already updated it. Six thousand five hundred credits. They deduct one thousand for Helios docking, but still. Starting this chrono-cycle.”
Khar nodded with satisfaction.
“Correct. You deserve no less.”
She smiled at him, eyes shining. “Thank you for doing this.”
He waved it off. “It should have been handled long ago, but something has taken all of my attention lately. I tried for retroactive adjustment, but Vegrun resisted.”
This time, she did not bite at the obvious flirt.
