"What?" Tephe asked as Adam and Emma continued to stare at her.
"What's a concubine?" Aphrodite asked with interest.
"Where on earth did you learn the term concubine?" Adam asked in disbelief.
"I didn't learn about it on Earth, silly, but in orbit," Tephe replied.
"Huh!" Adam replied.
"It was when you were waiting for the five families to do as you had told them and we were relaxing. I found this movie about a Chinese Emperor and how he had to choose one of his concubines to become his empress," Tephe explained.
"I really need to consider limiting your movie rights," Adam said with a sigh as Emma nodded in agreement.
"Awwww, but why? That's no fun," Tephe pouted.
"What's a concubine, Tephe?" Aphrodite asked again, but this time towards Tephe since Adam and Emma hadn't answered.
"From what I could gather, a concubine is the illegitimate lover of a man who is not his married wife," Tephe replied.
"Sounds like the perfect position for you," Stacey remarked as she smirked at Aphrodite.
"Agreed," Aphrodite replied while flashing a wink.
"It's a bit more complicated than just being the Emperor's piece on the side," Adam remarked.
"While I don't particularly agree with Adam's remark, I do agree that it's more complicated," Emma began to explain. "In ancient times, while concubines had a lower status than the legal wife, they still had a status that was above most everyone in the empire. They also had the emperor's ear since they regularly shared his bed.
Some families even used to offer their daughters to the emperor so that they would be rewarded, have a higher station in the empire and if the emperor liked their daughter, have some sway over politics."
Aphrodite was about to say something when Spector suddenly spoke up.
"NOTICE. The operator's brainwave functionality has reduced, most likely due to tiredness and still being in the recovery phase, terminating the virtual reality connection."
As Spector finished speaking, the holographic image of Adam flickered before disappearing.
"Spector, what's going on? Is he alright?" Lorelie asked with concern.
"Affirmative. I just deemed that the operator's brain was beginning to show signs of cognitive fatigue, so I terminated the virtual connection to allow it time to rest. The operator will remain in this way until he awakens," Spector explained.
"Well, that's a relief. He had me worried there for a second," Emma said with a sigh.
"Hope he wakes up soon," Tephe said in a sad tone.
"As do we all," Lorelie replied with a smile before turning to Rowena and Emma and asking, "Can you negotiate with Koki without Adam being present?"
"As long as Spector is willing to provide us with the evidence, it shouldn't be a problem," Rowena replied while Emma nodded in agreement.
"Spector?" Lorelie asked.
"Affirmative," Spector replied simply.
"Good, then…" Lorelie began speaking, but Emma suddenly interrupted her and said.
"While negotiating with Koki is fine, I would advise that we don't contact Matriarch Maiya directly and instead send the data anonymously, since we are trying to avoid being implicated in this."
"Makes sense," Rowena remarked before adding, "We can have Spector send the evidence to Sata, Matriach Maiya's assistant, along with a small message. That way, it will appear as if we are someone who doesn't have the ability to contact Matriarch Maiya directly."
"Then I suppose you should contact Koki first," Lorelie stated, to which Rowena nodded in response before she accessed her uniband.
Felidae Galaxy, Felinia Seven.
Koki sat in her run-down apartment, which had clothes and takeout boxes strewn all over the floor as she went over the data she had acquired from Diva Rowena for what had to be the hundredth time.
"Damn it, it's not enough," She cursed as she leaned back in her chair before she continued speaking out loud to no one in particular.
"I can probably use this to claim some compensation from that bitch, assuming I can find a good lawyer…. Not that I can afford one. But it's nowhere near enough to take that bitch down.
What the fuck am I supposed to do now, that bitch Leiko has definitely tightened security since the Noir Family fucked up the job."
Just as she was trying to think of a solution, her uniband notified her of an incoming call. Koki looked at it lazily without much interest until she saw who the caller was, after which she quickly sent the call to the console on her desk.
"Hello Koki…." Rowena greeted before she stopped as she saw the mess behind Koki and said, "Whoa, have you never heard of cleaning up after yourself?"
"I've been a bit busy, Diva Rowena," Koki replied in embarrassment as she only remembered the state of her apartment after Rowena mentioned it and so instead tried to change the subject by asking, "To what do I owe this call?"
"I know you want to get revenge against Leiko, but living like that isn't good for your health; you're likely to die before you even get your revenge against her if you don't clean up your room," Rowena stated.
"Thanks for the advice, mum, now what do you want?" Koki asked.
"You know you were far more respectful the last time we talked," Rowena stated with a smirk.
"Last time you were not acting like my mum," Koki retorted.
"Fair enough," Rowena conceded before saying, "I have a business proposition for you."
"Unless it involves taking that bitch Leiko down, I'm not interested," Koki replied.
"Well, it's a good thing it does involve that, then," Rowena said with a smile.
"What?" Koki asked in surprise as she sat up straighter.
"Got your attention now, huh?" Rowena teased as she flashed her signature smirk.
"Get to the point already," Koki said in annoyance.
"Ok, here's the deal," Rowena began. "In exchange for becoming the manager of Spector Entertainment, which I might add comes with a decent salary and benefits, we will assist you in not only getting Leiko arrested and imprisoned but also the collapse of Alpha Entertainment."
"You want me to manage Spector Entertainment?" Koki asked in surprise before adding, "Why?"
"Well, our initial plan was to have Emma here run it," Rowena replied as she indicated Emma, who sat next to her, before she continued, "But Emma informed us that she has no experience running an entertainment company. So I instead suggested you and after doing a background check, Emma agrees. Oh, by the way, Emma is going to be in charge of overseeing all our business in the future, so if you take the job, you will be reporting to her."
"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Koki," Emma said in a professional tone.
"Miss?" Koki asked in confusion.
"Oh my apologies, old habits," Emma replied before explaining, "Miss is a title given to women in my world who have yet to be married."
"Oh!" Rowena said with sudden interest before asking, "What other titles are there?"
"There are many titles, but the common ones are Miss, Mrs for those who are married and Ms for those who are no longer married. As for men there almost always called Mr unless they have a special title," Emma explained.
"So I would be Ms Rowena Nosferatu on Earth?" Rowena asked with interest.
"That's correct, though a woman doesn't have to change her title from Mrs to Ms, they can leave it as Mrs if they want," Emma replied.
"I see," Koki said in understanding before adding, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Emma."
"So what do you say?" Rowena asked with a knowing smile.
"What sort of evidence do you have?" Koki asked curiously.
"Errr," Rowena replied.
"Is there something wrong?" Koki asked with a suspicious frown.
"No, no, I just can't remember it all since there was so much of it," Rowena replied before asking, "Spector, can you repeat what you told us before?"
"Affirmative," Spector replied before continuing, "Leiko and Alpha Entertainment's crimes include but are not limited to, Fraudulent Trading & False Accounting, Bribery and Corruption, Money Laundering, Tax Evasion, Misleading Advertising, Corporate Manslaughter, Breaches of Licensing, Cyber-Enabled Fraud, Failure to Prevent Data Breaches, Modern Slavery, Workplace and Harassment/Sexual Misconduct."
Koki gaped in surprise as Spector read the list of criminal activities before she finally managed to ask, "And you have evidence for all of these?"
"Affirmative," Spector replied.
"How did you even get them?" Koki asked.
"Secret," Rowena said while flashing her signature smile before adding, "If you want to know, you will have to accept the job and become one of us."
"Ok, then, if I were to accept, how were you planning to release this information, or did you plan to just give it to me to deal with?" Koki asked.
"Because of Spector Entertainment's tenuous position in the entertainment industry, having just been founded and how the other entertainment companies hate us right now, we have decided to release this information anonymously should you agree to join," Emma explained.
"Anonymously, how?" Koki asked.
"Via Matriarch Maiya," Rowena replied.