Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 3

Domestic Threat

The others hurried to put on their disguises as well, mostly nondescript clothing of a random assortment suited for the fall weather.

Adam wore a black leather jacket jeans, and his black cap.

Both Ramirez and Maverick wore long black coats with boots. Maverick wore a hat over her viking braided hair.

And now they were ready.

Adam motioned Desmond forward, and he took the lead as the group of them walked out into the hallway. This part would be dangerous but not overtly so. They were walking through the back shipment facilities of the Fort Harmony spaceport, and judging by the few people they saw roaming the halls they were in the civilian sector.

That was fine as they had no desire to go up against the UNSC. This mission was about a mother and her little girl, Adam didn't care about either the president or the UNSC.

"Cameras ahead." Sunny muttered, and Adam stopped in place reaching into his pocket and withdrew what appeared to be a small clear marble.

"on my go we have seven seconds."

The group nodded and Adam gently rolled the little ball onto the floor.

It rolled out of his pam and gently down the hallway before stopping below the waiting cameras. There was a sharp flash and the little red lights on the cameras went dead. Adam motioned towards the others and they hurried down the hall and out through the doors, Adam scooping the little ball up as he went. As the doors were shutting behind them, Adam could hear the soft beeping as the cameras powered back to life.

No one noticed them as they stepped out into the main airport thoroughfare , and from there they managed to make their way casually to the taxi lanes hailing a small hovervan as they did. Desmond was the one to negotiate the trip, as he was the least conspicuous out of all of them, and they kept silent in the van as they made their way to the hotel Adam had booked, using three false names and routing everything through at least two companies that existed and two other companies that didn't. he doubted anyone would look that far into it, but it paid to be a bit paranoid.

They didn't speak until they had checked in at the hotel and made their way to the waiting room. Adam could easily have rented out the presidential suite, but throwing around that sort of money gets you noticed, but still he managed to get a small two bedroom suite with attached living room and kitchen. They didn't need that much space, but with the amount of people in their party it made sense.

They sat together as the sun was setting staring out at the horizon being burned in shades of pink and orange.

The longing looks on all of their faces told a similar story. They may have made Arcadia their home, but that didn't mean they didn't miss a sunrise.

"Think I could hire someone to create an artificial sun. You know maybe something as big as a moon, and we could put it in orbit, and it would be just small enough to build manually and just hot enough to keep the planet warm and give us sunrises."

The group turned to look at him eyebrows, or brow ridges raised.

"I don't think that's how physics works." Desmond offered.

"Just because you're rich now doesn't mean the laws of nature don't apply to you." Maverick was saying

Adam pouted, "You know when you guys became my friends, I assumed that came with the obligation to support all of my hair-brained ideas."

"That was not in the contract Sunny gave us to sign when she paid us o be your friends." Ramirez teased leaning against the window to soak in the warm radiation. There was really only one upside to living on a planet without a sun, no sunburns, and the rate of Melanoma on Arcadia was well below the global average.