Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 4

Presidential Pardon

Conversely, with Adam Vir's quick action in stopping the void sites, public opinion has skyrocketed in recent weeks, and the previously acclaimed, once discredited movie about his life story , has now seen a 2,000 percent increase in sales over the last week.

***

Hunt Administration Alexandria Press conference

It is both my relief and pleasure to announce that all active void sites have been stalled and are in the process of being completely exterminated. Our timeframe put that estimate within the next two to three weeks. As always our hearts go out to the families of those who perished during the void invasion, and my administration is doing everything we can to assist those families and help in the recovery following these events.

Additionally I would like to offer a formal and public apology to Adam Vir acting leader of Arcadia and former UNSC admiral who is now exonerated of all pending charges. As the void invasion reached its height, Adam Vir showed himself loyal to earth and provided us use of almost ninety percent of his acting fleet and nearly 500k active members of the Arcadia military who have destroyed at least three void sites and are in the process of cleaning up several more. With Admiral Vir exonerated, and his citizenship reinstated he now has the formal rights to return to Earth.

Following the recent events, my administration has chosen to go in a new direction. It has come to our attention that the decision to promote isolation could have spelled the downfall of earth, and in these trying times it is not feasible to remain as an isolated state. We will soon be recommencing peace talks with the GA."

***

Dish Magazine

ADAM VIR AND LFIL PARTNER CHALAN LANUSDAUGHTER OPEN RETURN TO EARTH

Adam Vir and open LFIL partner Sunny return to earth after three years of exile confirming previous rumors about Adam Vir's involvement in LFIL activities. With them they bring the second natural born hybrid and their son Ka'leen (Kay, which roughly translates to one pride in drev, Vir who is half Drev Half human. Adam and Sunny have stated that Kay is approaching two and a half years old. This month will be their son's first visit to Earth since his father's exile more than three years earlier.

Pictures included on page 10

***

Kay sat on the grass, and Adam sat with him, watching like a hawk to make sure the boy didn't put anything weird in his mouth. That in itself was a challenge, and Adam had to keep both his eyes trained on his son at all times. He admitted now it was certainly just easier to monitor the boy's thoughts. It was great considering it meant Adam practically had eyes in the back of his head, but he didn't want to make a habit of reading his son's mind. If he did that, he had no doubt it would cause problems and trust issues in the future, but for now while kay was still a child, it was something he could indulge in.

Behind him, he could sense Sunny's amusement. Over the past few days he had gotten better at ignoring her inner dialogue or blocking it out, but still her emotions tended to leak through She had indicated that she didn't mind him reading her mind, as there was nothing in there she wouldn't share with him. Still he felt it an invasion of her privacy and tried to stay out as much as possible.

They weren't entirely sure all of what he could do just yet, but the ability to read minds was one of the harder abilities to control and deal with. Crowds were incredibly overwhelming, and the ability to sense strong emotions was becoming more of a hinderance than a boon.

Overhead Sol was high in the sky, and Adam closed his eyes to bask in the familiar warmth of the sun. It was incredible how much he had missed this without knowing it. Luckily Kay had visited Anin on more than one occasion, or Adam might have worried about his son's ability to deal with the bright light. Even so Kay did not seem bothered, and enjoyed playing I the grass golden skin and hair glittering in the light spilling down from above .

He chirped a few times happily to himself as he played with his toys in the grass.

Adam turned to look at Sunny, "Something funny?'

"Funny perhaps, the gossip magazines have gotten ahold of our return to earth. Or so it seems."

Adam sighed, "Oh how fantastic."

"A lot of speculation about your LFIL relationship and Drev wife."

Adam shook his head in annoyance, "Well they can speculate all they want I guess."

Sunny grunted in amusement before continuing with her thoughts, "They have pictures of Kay."

Adam looked up with a frown, "What! How did they get those?"

Sunny shrugged, "hard to hide him from the world completely, Adam, the chatter is pretty interesting though."

She cleared her throat and read, " Awww, Kay is actually pretty cute. His poor parents for having a toddler with four hands."

"You shouldn't read that stuff. I doubt all of them are going to be so nice about it."

She shook her head, "They aren't, but I know they're wrong, so it doesn't bother me."

Kay got up, then deciding to run around yelling at the top of his lungs and making airplane noises both arms held out to his sides like wings.

Adam looked on amused.

"Watching president Hunt try to cover his ass is a lot less amusing."

Adam shook his head, "I am still not convinced he didn't have soemthing to do with Kelly's assassination. In fact if he wasn't involved I will eat my boot, "I have a theory."

"Go on?" Sunny said looking up from her implant.

"I think he made a deal with Kazna to get the presidency. She kills Kelly, and then in return hunt is forced to push us out leaving earth vulnerable. Usually bad guys aren't bad for the sake of being bad so hunt probably believes he is protecting earth by isolating it, so he makes a deal with Kazna that basically says. I kick Adam and Sunny off earth and you don't attack us. But then this whole void thing happens and she admits to lying, and he is forced to come looking for our help because he knows he was wrong the entire time." He went quiet and paused, "I have no proof of this of course.

Sunny tilted her head with a slow nod, "Plausible I suppose. It would make sense with the timeline of events." She paused taping the shaft of her spear idly with one finger, "Do you think hunt will be in the presidency long?"

Adam shook his head, "I doubt it, not if his opinion poles stay this low."

"Hes smart, so maybe he will try something."

Adam laughed, "Oh I have no doubt he is going to try something. I just have my doubts on weather or not that thing si going to work.

Inside his head Adam sensed soemthing, and stood just in time to grab Kay before he bolted towards the woods. Kay squirmed and whined in his arms, but Adam ignored his antics, "Not the forest. You can pay here I the park or on the playground."

Kay didn't seem to agree with that assessment, and flopped himself face down on the ground where he fell into a screaming fit for a few minutes. Adam sighed forced to cover his ow sensitive ears as Kay exercised all the sinus cavities in his body for his tantrum, including reverb. Adam was only glad that the boy wouldn't get his base until he was much, much older.

The fit didn't last long, as It usually didn't.

Kay got distracted to easily and was soon off wandering after a butterfly, which Adam realized the kid probably had never seen before. Looking at kay it was hard to imagine him grown up, and the more he looked the older he felt.

He swore just yesterday he had been graduating the academy.

Where had all the time gone?

And still there was so much to do.