Laness typed at his com and winced as the neuro link uploaded the language. He turned to my Emily, placed one hand over his heart and bowed. “My lady, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“Thank you, you as well,” my mate said softly.
“Please inform the household to upload my mate’s language,” I told Laness. “Paperwork for our mating will need to be filed as soon as possible. Her species is preflight, so it might cause difficulties.”
Laness didn’t so much as blink at the information. A professional to his core. I’d been trying to get him to laugh since we started working together, but so far I hadn’t even seen him smile.
“I will make it happen, sir,” he said.
“Thank you. My mate and I will be returning to Monai tomorrow to help with the efforts to rescue her people. We’ll need proper supplies to enter the forest. Clothes, footwear, food. She will also need things for when we return. If you can have the tailor sent up shortly.” I sighed and continued my instructions. My Emily sat quietly at my side, occasionally eating from the prepared foods.
The tailor arrived before I finished with Laness, and the kind older woman took my mate’s measurements while asking her about colors and fabrics.
When at last my orders for Laness were complete, I took my mate to the family medical rooms so she could be properly scanned. I knew her shoulder still pained her, and she had other aches and bruises. If I was taking her back into Monai, I had to ensure there was nothing else ailing her.
While the medic’s scans ran over my mate, Laness returned with details about my mating filings. I held in my growl and stepped out of the room with the steward.
“There are issues?” I asked.
“Yes,” Laness started. “As we knew there would be. Her people are not identified in the database. The language is present, but it is tagged as unknown origin. Human is not a recognized species and the planet, Earth, has no details apart from the language entry. While it is not unprecedented to file a mating with a preflight species, their species needs to be identified in the galactic database.”
“Whoever added their language bypassed any other documentation, likely to avoid legal ramifications,” I guessed.
“Indeed.”
I sighed. “So we’ll need to register her species. It needs to happen regardless. Once her people are retrieved from Monai they will need to be supported while they integrate into society.Without proper papers including species documentation, they would be at risk of unsavory individuals.”
“Indeed.”
What wasn’t he saying? Did he expect me to just know what he was thinking? Did my grandfather read his mind? “Is there an issue with filing the species documentation?”
“Two pieces. First, we need homeworld coordinates. Second, the species documentation needs the Global Representative’s signature.”
“Fuck,” I said.
“Indeed,” Laness repeated.
“Start the paperwork, I’ll work on the rest.”
“The paperwork for the inheritance?—”
“Just—” I started, cutting him off. I sighed. “Start all the paperwork, but don’t file anything until we get back.
“Yes, sir.”
Laness left, and I returned to my mate. She stood in the med pod, as the lasers worked over her body. Her cheeks were pink, and she stared at the ground. When I moved closer she glanced up at me, then away quickly. “Everything okay, my heart?”
“Yep, totally,” she said. “Everything okay with you?”
I sighed. “It will be.”
She nodded.
“Please hold still for a few more moments,” the medic called.
“Yes, sorry.”
The pod finished its work, and I helped my mate back into my tunic. She needed clothes of her own, and they would be made, but I loved seeing her in my clothes. It touched some part of my inner self and filled me with satisfaction.