POV: Lyra
At morning consumption the next day, Christian was still going nova [extremely angry]. The only consolation he got was that Annie didn't believe he did any of those things alleged by the so-called 'victims'. Yarrington and Weaver assured the High Commander they were looking into the complaints made against him first, and asked for an alibi for the dates and times mentioned in the ten complaints.
He and Annie went through their holo-captures in their Data Archive, and managed to negate the validity of two complaints. Then they accessed their physical image storage, where Annie had a habit of encoding dates on every capture. Christian began regretting not making time to upload every image they captured together to the Archive.
They scoured through thousands of images captured over the cycles, praying there would be a date and time matching the ones in the allegations. After four hours, they managed to negate another three complaints.
Orion and I cross-checked the dates and times with government assemblies recorded on Orion's data pad, and managed to negate the credibility of another three complaints. That left two more complaints standing against the High Commander.
What made Christian's temperament worse was that the anonymous informant's frequency that the media feeds and reporters gave him turned out to be unreachable. Chief Dalloway and his security force tracked the device to a waste disposal unit, retrieved it, and sent it to the lab for bio-signature scanning. Alas, the scan turned out fruitless because no registered citizen's bio-signatures matched the ones found on the burner device.
"I honestly can't see how my match is so calm about this. I could terminate, and I mean literally terminate right now, cuz, you know what I mean?" Christian said after swallowing his nutrients.
Orion gave his cousin an encouraging pat on his shoulder. "They're looking into it. Yarrington and Weaver have always been efficient. They'll crack this case soon, Christian."
Christian's eyes went black. "The only thing I'm going to crack is the complainants' craniums over these fake complaints. All ten of them. I don't care if you put me in detention, cuz."
"I could break you out if you do it," I offered.
That seemed to calm Christian a little. He managed a small smile as he bowed slightly my way. "Thank you, my Empress."
Orion looked at me in mock disapproval. "My Empress, that's no way to treat a terminator. And do you even know how to break someone out of detention, sweetheart?"
I shook my head adorably. "No. But there's a first time for everything."
The cousins chuckled lightly. I felt bad for Christian having to go through the frustration of being blamed for something he would never even think of doing, so I was glad I could lighten his mood, even momentarily.
I'd spoken to Annie before consumption, and the High Commander's match was more worried about him losing his temper in public than about the harassment allegations made against him.
Just when things couldn't get worse, Chief Dalloway and two security officers stood at the entrance of the dining chamber. I was first to notice their presence. The Chief spoke discreetly to the event coordinator who came to greet them. She looked uneasy as she nodded before walking toward our table.
I stood, and when Orion and Christian saw me standing, they too stood without knowing who they were expecting. After exchanging bows with the event coordinator, she said, "Your Eminences, Your Grace, Chief Dalloway from the security force is requesting a private audience. He said it's urgent."
The three of us glanced at the Chief, who looked exhausted and fearful. I said, "Let's not keep him waiting, then."
We left our unfinished nutrients on the table and exited the chamber, ignoring all the whispers and stares we were garnering. The coordinator got her staff to clear a small conference pod down the corridor.
As we sat around the synthetic wood platform, Chief Dalloway cleared his throat uneasily. "Your Eminences, Your Grace. There's no easy way of saying this. I'm sorry to report that Sasha Cummings was taken two nights ago."
"I'm sorry, what?" I asked in disbelief.
"What do you mean 'taken'?" Orion asked more ferociously.
The Chief chose to avert Orion's glare and locked eyes with me instead. "Two nights ago, close to midnight, one of our own people unlocked her cell and let her out, handing her over to someone we're still trying to track down. The...infiltrator among us then made his way to solitary confinement, where we held the Rogue, and requested to meet the prisoner."
"And you let him?" Christian hissed.
"No, Your Grace, my officers didn't, which was why the infiltrator shot one of the three guards outside the Rogue's chamber."
The Chief paused before continuing, "The other two guards restrained him, forcing him to the ground. What we didn't predict was that his accomplice would enter from the ceiling and shoot the other two guards who were pressing the infiltrator's body down."
"The infiltrator, his accomplice, and the Rogue then sought to escape through the ceiling. By then, we were all alerted by those watching the surveillance feeds. I ordered complete lockdown of the detention facility, but they commandeered one of our shuttles to escape. Only six hours ago, our trackers found the shuttle on a deserted moon fifteen units from here. We managed to find a tunnel underneath the moon's surface, but it's been blocked by a large boulder. I've just returned from that moon in the last hour. Further investigations are still underway. I am deeply sorry for this debacle, Your Eminence."
"Don't be. You did everything you could," I muttered as soon as he finished. Both cousins were about to throw a fit, but seeing as I didn't criticize the incompetence of the security force, they chose to silence themselves.
I stared at the platform and pondered before asking, "The ones who were shot, did they survive?"