Olyver threw the door open and stalked towards Quinn's desk. He growled as he slammed his hands down on it. "Where's Caitlin?"

Quinn ignored Olyver's outburst as he flipped through his documents. "Does it matter, Olyver?"

He pulled a file from his coat and snarled. "We are not making progress on the draft or the ships."

"They're not ready to be completed."

Olyver slapped the papers out of Quinn's hands before throwing his stack into his fellow triumvir's chest, "We've had this drafted for a month, and we haven't ratified it."

Quinn leaned back, lifting the document. "What makes you expect it'll be approved?"

Olyver's scowl intensified as he loomed over Quinn. "We agreed—"

"No, we didn't." Quinn gathered the scattered papers around his desk. Once he retrieved the last sheet, he placed it on top of his skewed pile. He folded his hands together and glared at Olyver. "What needs to happen first is perfecting and completing the federation's charter."

"Even if I agree with that, it circles back to Caitlin's whereabouts."

The triumvir groaned and rounded his desk, encroaching into Olyver's space. "Why are you in such a rush, Olyver?"

"I'm not impatient." Olyver pushed Quinn away as his eyes narrowed. "Why are you two sandbagging this?"

Quinn shook his head before sitting on his desk's edge. He snatched Olyver's documents as he offered them to the other triumvir. "This draft is still three to five years from being implemented. You've seen the construction projections, Olyver."

"Stop using that as an excuse for dragging this agreement through your roadblocks!" Olyver shoved the papers off Quinn's desk as he retrieved his. He slammed them onto the empty space and thumped Quinn's chest. "I'm tired of you and Caitlin trying to circumvent this crucial work with that trite argument!"

"There's nothing dismissive with reality, Olyver." Quinn brushed Olyver's fingers off before he reclaimed the scattered papers. "Truth helps our cause."

"Bah," Olyver said as he stormed off to his desk. "I need to bring something more substantial to my constituents."

With his papers recovered, Quinn brandished them like a conductor's baton. "While the colonization ships have been designed, construction is still multiple years off. We cannot return to the stars until they are finished. You reviewed the same reports I did."

Olyver slammed his palm against his desk, his eyes narrowing to slits. "If you two had not dragged your heels on everything, we would've already completed the first colonization ship."

Dropping the stack down, Quinn slipped into his seat and leaned back, lifting the front legs just off the floor. He folded his arms across his chest and stared at the ceiling. "If we'd spent our time with the ships, we wouldn't have flourished."

"But at what cost?"

"I will not argue this point with you again, Olyver." Quinn's chair thumped down as he slammed the documents Olyver had given him...