Page 7 of Mated on Live

Serval

“As you can see behind me, there really is no hope for the Karkaros rebels. Coalition troops are sweeping through the battle lines, utterly decimating their numbers. Contacts within the Coalition army tell me that they expect to have this region fully cleared of rebels by tonight. By tomorrow morning, civilians in this area can expect aid to arrive. No further battle plans were shared with me, but I imagine that the Coalition army will continue to press their advantage, pushing forward into the mountains, which the rebels are known to use as their base of operation. More updates will come in the following days, even the coming marks, on the status of the combat situation here on the front lines. Make sure you’re staying up to date with all the latest in this, and many other stories, by following the channel. And I’ll be back with a new update soon.”

Serval gestured, motioning his hand up, across his chest, as though striking through it. The hand sign he had designated for his combots to finish recording. The little device flashed red, confirming that recording had, in fact, stopped.

“Perfect,” he said, lifting his arm to access the controller within the armored vambrace. He had to be armored or Coalition forces wouldn’t let him this near an active battlefield.

He paid the explosions, laser fire, and cries of the wounded no mind as he hit the commands to open the box he had resting by his feet. Five more combots, exactly like the one already floating, zipped out and lingered in the air.

“Alright,” he muttered to himself, opening the individual command screens. “You keep watch on the northern half of the field, you take the south, you two cover the central area, you keep watch for the Coalition leaders at the back. Lucky, you go see if you can pick up anything on the retreating lines.”

His combots weren’t sentient, of course, their AIs were very simple, but he had a bad habit of talking to himself – and, thus, them. Too many years on his own, he supposed.

The combots flashed once before their colors dimmed and they zipped out into the air. He didn’t need anyone firing upon them, so they were designed to go dark when in active use. Still, it wasn’t uncommon for him to lose a combot or two – especially in an active battle zone.

Not Lucky, of course. That little combot continued to survive even when every other combot in rotation had been replaced twice over. He had been beaten around, struck by a plasma bolt once, and nearly crushed by an avalanche. Yet, somehow, Lucky always managed to come back. It was no wonder Serval had gotten a little attached to it.

With his six flying companions off getting their footage, Serval dropped to his knees in front of the box they had been charging in. He dropped one of the side panels, revealing another computer. He used it to finish uploading the recording he had just made to his boss, who would then post it on the netsite.

But it was a race against time. Serval certainly wasn’t the only one trying to cover this story. So, he had to make sure it was sent to his boss quickly.

The upload dinged, finishing, and he put through a comm patch.

“I got it,” Nox said in that rough, sharp tone of his the moment he answered. “It’s getting posted now. Good work.”

He smirked. “I got the bots out, getting more footage. I’ll have that back to you soon. When the battlefield changes again, I’ll do another update.”

“That’s enough, Serval. Get out of there before anything happens to you.”

“I’ll leave when I’m done,” Serval assured him, ending the comm before he could insist. Serval would escape when the story was complete, not a moment beforehand.

***

In the end, it took more than a few days for the rebels to be completely driven back and rooted out from under the mountain. Serval was there the entire time, getting interviews with the highest ranked officers that would speak to him, capturing distant combot footage of the rebel leaders being arrested, and following the frontlines.

When he finally let himself climb back into his landing pod and take off from the planet, into space, to his waiting starship, he was exhausted but satisfied. He bit back a yawn as he stepped out of the pod and into his refuge, his home, his peaceful palace of rest and respite.

The starship Ha Valol had been his home for years. It was big for a single male, but it was comfortable and state of the art. He pushed the combot case into its charging port on the wall, all twenty of his bots – including Lucky – finally resting after days of near nonstop use.

All Serval wanted was a long soak in the ship’s pool – to ease the heat under his skin after being on that dry, warm planet for so long. But he needed to get to his next story. He’d have to settle for a cool wash in the cleansing mist instead. Which was nowhere near as good, but it was what he had time for.

However, when he stopped in the cockpit to set the autopilot to take him to his next destination, his comm system began beeping. He frowned at the familiar number.

“What the hech do you want?” He asked no one even as he answered the comm.

“There you are! Hey, Serval!” A loud mouthed, obnoxious male laughed when his face appeared on the screen in front of him.

“Korvii,” he greeted, voice tight. Already annoyed.

The male on the other end of the comm laughed loudly – sensing his irritation. He was a domini, a color changing idiot, with more gumption than brains. He had his own news show, in direct contest with Serval. Most times, the universe was big enough that they could follow their own, respective stories without interfering with each other. However, there were also times when they both caught scent of the same, big story, and their paths crossed.

And when that happened, Korvii always had to make it a competition. To see who broke the story first. To see who got the best bits of the story. Who got the best footage, who presented the story the best, who interviewed the most interesting witness or person involved.

It was so aggravating. It was such a typical domini move.

And Serval couldn’t help but want to beat him.

Even now, he smirked. “If you’re after the Karkaros rebellion, it’s already over. I got the entire story. You’re too late.”

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