Page 102 of Mated on Live

And now that the authorities were storming the facility, capturing those who hadn’t managed to escape and recovering the trafficked people and sleeping animals in pods, she was capturing everything. Getting it all on video.

She kept Lucky with Serval. So that she always had an eye on him. Korvii and Hela stayed with him, the three of them supervising everything. She couldn’t communicate with them verbally, but when Hela suggested doing their report now, Sophie bobbed Lucky up and down.

Serval looked uncertain. Which made her smirk. He clearly knew that he was in trouble. He wasn’t going to make that suggestion himself. But he had gotten himself in trouble to chase this story, he might as well get what he paid for.

She brought three of the combots around and set them up in front of each person. They separated just enough that they couldn’t be overheard on each other’s camera. Sophie monitored as all three of them immediately shifted into their on-screen persona – professional and formal and emotionless. Despite the large cut on Korvii’s forehead, the bruises on Hela’s face and neck, the long, inflamed scrapes on Serval’s olules, they presented their stories like they hadn’t been involved.

But of course they were, and the B-roll footage of the three of them being captured, Serval and Korvii in shackles, and Hela fighting a whole group, was going to be great behind their calm voices as they described their roles and what brought them there.

Sophie was annoyed with Serval, but she would not deny him this once-in-a-lifetime chance to be such a big part of his story. That was going to get them extra views alone. The fact that all three of them came together in an impromptu collab would be even better. She was not going to miss a single second of it.

But she was also not giving any footage to him until he apologized.

She was supportive, not a doormat.

The three of them remained planetside until it got dark. They finished their segments; she got more footage of the peacekeepers. Korvii did an interview with the contact Sophie had commed for him while Serval did one with another officer as he turned over all the contents of the prince’s combot to him.

Sophie was pretty sure that was illegally obtained evidence. Or at least it would have been on Earth, she thought. But laws in space were different, and Serval handing over his illegally gotten info was apparently just fine.

She needed to learn alien laws. But she put a pin in that thought as she got more B-roll of the three of them being given first aid. More great footage.

Then, to her surprise, the three of them were put on one big landing shuttle. She watched it happen, confused until Serval asked her to bring the fleet inside. He had grabbed their case from the landing pod she had sent down, but he wasn’t taking the pod back.

“They’re going to search the landings pods,” Serval explained to her through Lucky as the combots all came flying in to return to their case. “Including ours. They’re going to want to try to track down their owners. We can get ours back, but it will be awhile. We’ll be out of the way and more comfortable if we come back up to my ship.”

“We’re going to have a sleepover!” Korvii announced, throwing his arm around Serval, beaming at her through Lucky as the door shut behind them. They were going to be flown by a peacekeeper pilot, so they only had to sit back and relax.

“Get off me!” Serval grumbled, leading to the two boys wrestling.

“Do you have any food on board?” Hela asked, leaning into frame. She smiled. “I can’t wait to meet you, Sophie!”

Sophie couldn’t stop herself from grinning. They were silly. With the combot fleet all returned, only Lucky left to float around, she got to her feet and went to start the synthesizer. It had been hours since Serval left. No doubt, they’d all be hungry. She also peaked into the second room, making sure that it was still set up since Serval moved out.

After that was done, she returned to the bridge and sat cross-legged on the chair again, sitting back and waiting.

The landing shuttle moved pretty fast. It wasn’t long before she felt it connecting to their ship. The entry rooms connected together, allowing people aboard their ship to walk into hers. It was quick and easy and one of the benefits of everything in Coalition space being Standardized. The ships were of such different designs, but they could still communicate – both physically and electronically.

She turned the seat towards the door, folded her hands in her lap, fixed her face into an impassive expression, and waited.

She was glad he was alright, and she was happy to help with his career, but that didn’t mean she suddenly forgot what he had said.

She didn’t have to wait long.

The door into the bridge slid open. Serval rushed through, Korvii and Hela at his back.

“Sophie!” Korvii beamed, walking past Serval who came up short.

Sophie gave him a smile as he stopped in front of her.

“You’re even lovelier in person,” he declared grandly.

“Nice to meet you both,” she smiled at them without standing. “I have the synthesizer warmed up and your bed is ready in the guest room.”

“Oh, thank you!” Korvii beamed excitedly. “You’re amazing, Sophie. And those tricks with the combots? You have to teach me how you did that. You’re too good for Serval.”

She chuckled. “You’re sweet. You two go relax.”

“Thank you,” Hela said, taking Korvii by the arm, her gaze darting between her and Serval, obviously sensing something was up. “We’ll take you up on that hospitality. We’ll reconvene after we have a chance to rest, and we can get some work done then.”

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