All That Glitters Ch. 38

"We will be using a tighter grid on the ship, which, combined with the extra length, should produce a longer jump capacity as well. The Trine class will be a much sought after vessel once it is completed," Pallanders finished.

"Very well, we may not be on Liramor-23 when the ship is finished," Fayad stated. "You can bring it to us wherever we may be?"

"I believe I know where you are going and why. Yes, we can bring it even there. Once again, I wish to convey my sincerest regrets over this situation, Mrs. Anar. Please know that we are doing everything in our power to ensure that you will have a bigger, better, vessel when you receive the new ship," Pallanders ended with a bow and closed the link.

"Well, that was unexpected," Junelliya said.

"I liked that ship," Urano told the family. "She was a good size for you, though it was a little crowded with all the guests you had on board on our last trip."

That got a laugh from the family, just what was needed to break the tension.

"What was that about the family not being here?" Junelliya demanded of her husband.

"You know what I am involved with, you have been specifically requested for security reasons. I told them that I would ask you if you would like to participate, however, if you do, we will go as a whole family. I do not want to be separated more than a few days from all of you," Fayad stated simply.

Junelliya looked at Hanalei, who gave her a nod.

"Very well. We will go as a family then. I assume that Raymond made arrangements for us?" Junelliya asked.

Fayad smiled. "Using your new powers, assel (honey)?"

"Simple deductive reasoning," Junelliya replied, returning his smile. "There are only so many ships we could go on and Raymond's has the most space available."

"I'll let them know that we will be participating," Fayad told her. "That might put a crimp on your training though."

"We'll probably have one opportunity to have the complete Fellowship together," Junelliya replied. "We will have a good portion of the Fellowship on the task force, including the three GME's, so that will mean that I can still do training, though that means less time with the Toolend.

"The Toolend are especially interested in me now that I opened the door without touching it. They want to scan my mind in order to see what has changed in it.

"Not that I mind but the last time they scanned me that deep, it caused some headaches for a while. I think this time, the headaches will be a little worse as they will be doing a serious mental probing," Junelliya finished.

Military Control Conference Room, Liramor-23

"I have just received the signal from Adm. Ramison," Fiona said the next afternoon.

"Raymond, you will be taking some of the hospital's medical staff with you. You will have to find a lot more medical staff to fill out the needs for this raid," Fiona advised.

"I have a plan for that, but I will not implement it immediately," Raymond reassured her.

"Good. I will begin sending my ships to the Punarjanm System tomorrow afternoon, with the exception of my personal ship, which I will send next week, after the other ships have had a chance to look at the plan and begin their rehearsals," Fiona told him.

"The Wanderer will leave the day after tomorrow, that will give us time to complete some of the final planning strategies for the rehearsal," Raymond advised. "We don't know which ships the various sector commanders will send us and that will have an impact on our planning. We will need a good mix of ships to accomplish this task."

"Understood. There is nothing more that I can say now," Fiona told those in the conference room. "The hopes of all those people that we know about, and many more that we do not, now lay in your capable hands. Good luck to you all, may the Gods be with us and grace us with their benevolence."

Fiona dismissed them and went to her private office, where she closed and locked the door and closed the blinds. For the second time in a little over a year and a half, she had a long cry, this one over the people that she knew who were about to risk those lives in the service of Union Citizens held illegally by the Alliance. Her only regret was that she could not be there with them. This, was not her battle...

Adenomere City, Planet Adenomere, Adenomere System, 182 Light Years from Terra

Aurelia Elizabeth Gordon, the only daughter of Armstrong Gordon, the head of the Gordon Companies Ltd. and head of the senior branch of the Gordon family on New Hadria, arrived at the shuttle port of Adenomere City and passed swiftly through customs. On the other side, she saw a slave carrying a placard with her name on it.

Really? A placard! How decidedly low techs, she thought, then noticed that he was not wearing a wrist comp.

"I am Mistress Aurelia," she informed the slave.

"Mistress, I am Allen, I am to bring you to the Adenomere estates," Allen explained.

"Wait, my fiancé or a member of the family are not here to collect me?" Aurelia demanded.

"No, Mistress. I am the only one they sent to collect you, Mistress," Allen confirmed.

Aurelia was shocked. One mere slave to pick up the bride-to-be of a member of the senior branch of the Adenomere family? A light went on in the back of her mind.

This was decidedly not the way things were done. Fortunately, she was not bereft of funds. She watched as Allen picked up her bags. There were a few of them. After all, she was moving out of the Gordon family and into the Adenomere family, so she was bringing her past life with her.

Her second shock of the day was the vehicle she would be travelling in. A ground car, basically, a van of the type that would be used to move a few slaves and one that was not in the best of conditions.

So this is what the Adenomeres think of me. Aurelia mused silently.

"What routes are you permitted to use, Allen?" Aurelia asked.

"Only one route, Mistress," Allen replied.

"Then I want you to stop at this location here in the city," she ordered, giving him the address from her comp. "No need to inform the boss of this before we depart the city, Allen."

"No, Mistress Aurelia," Allen replied, deadpan.

They were less than fifteen minutes at the new location and then they began the return voyage to the Adenomere estates an hour's drive outside of the capital.

Adenomere Estates, Outside Adenomere City, Planet Adenomere

"Father?" Marius Adenomere asked of his father, Jaar Adenomere as he took a private call.

"Aurelia has been picked up at the shuttle port," the elder Adenomere answered. "I do hope that you don't mind if she doesn't reach the estate?"

"No, father," Marius answered with a smile. "The important part is her dowry. That was quite the contract you made with Armstrong Gordon."

"Well, he actually made the contract himself," Jaar told his son with a laugh. "Imagine that fool offering a dowry of ten million Alliance Pounds in order to have his daughter become part of the Adenomere family and cement his relationship with us. The man was so desperate to keep our allegiance! As if we, Adenomere would ever give our allegiance to another.

"After all 'One for all'," Jaar began...

"And all for Adenomere!" his son finished with a laugh.

"Where are they now, father?" Marius asked.

"The signal from Allen's collar shows them to be twenty-eight kilometers from here, in the heart of the forest," Jaar answered.

He opened his comp and sent a message to a specific person, advising them that action was imminent...

************

Aurelia was taking tea in the back of the van when the action started. From the trees on one side of the road, a series of pulse rifles fired at the van, peppering it with holes. The van veered out of control and crashed into the trees on the other side, away from the assault.

The nine-man assault team immediately sprang into action, seeking to confirm the kill or to capture Aurelia Gordon. They broke open the side doors to the van, only to find it empty.

Two vehicles came up on the group with some speed. There was no sound from the vehicles, which meant they were air-transport craft. The vehicles braked hard as combatants jumped from the open doors, stun weapons firing even before they hit the ground. The original assault team, caught by surprise, went down fast.

Aurelia Gordon stepped from the back of another air-transport van, Allen holding her teacup and saucer for her.

"Their condition?" Aurelia asked the lead of her assault team.

"All are unconscious," he replied. "We hit them with multiple stun doses. They will be out for some time."

"Good, pack them up and bring them back to your headquarters," Aurelia ordered. "I don't care what you do to them, however, I want answers as to who hired them and to their purpose. I leave it to you to clean up this mess and get these fools out of here."

The assault team lead nodded as the van carrying Aurelia's luggage came up and stopped, a member of the support team driving.

Aurelia finished her tea. "Excellent tea, by the way," she stated to the team lead as Allen opened the rear door to the original Adenomere van.

A moment later, they resumed their drive to the Adenomere estates.

************

"Sir, an Adenomere ground vehicle has entered the estate," Jaar Adenomere's Personal Assistant, Korman, relayed the message he had just received over his discreet earpiece.

Jaar and Marius both looked at each other, surprise on the faces of both men. They swiftly moved to the main door as the old van came around the fountain roundabout in front of the house.

Slaves jumped down the steps to the van and opened the rear door. Aurelia Gordon stepped daintily from the back of the van and demurely bowed her head to Jaar Adenomere and her fiancé, Marius, standing in front of the door at the top of the steps, while the slaves removed her baggage from the rear of the vehicle.

"Good-morning, gentlemen," Aurelia simpered. "I was surprised when you provided a ground vehicle for my trip from the shuttle port, even more surprised that I was dropped off in the capital, Adenomere, vice at the estate's shuttle pad. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the trip from the capital with the beautiful scenery and unusual flora and fauna, though there seemed to have been an accident along the road. I hope the vehicle was not part of the Adenomere estate, however, I saw no livery on it."

"I am pleased you enjoyed the trip then, my bride-to-be," Marius returned after a very brief pause, understanding the unspoken wording of Aurelia's statement.

"As your fiancée, it pleases me that you are happy, sir," Aurelia replied, once again demurely dipping her head.

"Welcome to the Adenomere Estate, Aurelia," Jaar finally spoke, having swiftly recovered from his surprise. "Do you wish to retire for a bit before the evening meal, or would you like to see the estate?"

"If you would not mind, sir, I would speak to you about my personal retainers. Allen, the driver you sent for me, has impressed me and I would like to have him as one of my staff, if he can be made available?" Aurelia asked.

"That can be done," the elder Adenomere assured her. "We have some staff lined up in the main foyer for you to interview. You may take your pick of them as personal retainers."

"I will not keep a large group of retainers, sir, only a footman, which will be Allen, a maid, a personal assistant, and two female retainers for my personal needs," Aurelia assured him.

While travelling together in the back of the combat team's van, she had a long talk with Allen, after checking to ensure that he was not bugged for conversations. She informed him that he had been sent to retrieve her with the intent of being killed along with her. Allen had been grateful to her for his life and had willingly told Aurelia everything he knew about the estate's slaves and their relationships with the Adenomeres.

The small group entered the foyer where many slaves were waiting. The slaves all bowed to the three.

"Please feel free to choose from this group of slaves for your retainers, Aurelia. All are part of the household staff and well-trained in their tasks. The six at the front of the line are our best selection for you, though we have others here should you wish to make use of them," Jaar Adenomere said, expecting her to immediately accept the six he had pointed out.

Aurelia went down the double row of slaves and asked questions of all of them. She took her time going over all of the details, while the men waited impatiently for her to finish. Finally, she made her choices. She did not choose any of the six suggested by her soon-to-be father-in-law.

"I will take these two as my female retainers, if you do not mind, sir," Aurelia stated, pointing to two younger looking slaves of Asian background named, Mei and May.

"This one will be my personal aide," she told them, indicating a slave named Cierra.

"On the advice of my new PA, I will take on two maids. Jirani, and Kodani will be my personal maids," she told the men.

"Now, I will haggle over the purchase price, sir," she spoke to Jaar Adenomere.

"Begging your pardon, Aurelia, I thought you said you wanted to purchase these slaves from me?" Jaar said, his voice getting suddenly hard.

"That is correct, sir," Aurelia replied. "I cannot have slaves with divided loyalties working for me. They will be my retainers or they will not. If not, I will have nothing to do with them and will be content to live in a modest room that I can tend to myself."

Both men blinked, surprised at the statement they had just heard. In Alliance society, all the owner's needs were tended to by slaves. Only the abject poor, who could not afford slaves to work for them and, of course, the slaves themselves, tended to their own needs. To have a situation where the future wife of an Adenomere was tending to her own needs was something that Jaar Adenomere could not even fathom. His surprise at Aurelia's statement was absolute.

"How dare you speak of this House in this manner!" he shouted.

"In what manner, sir?" Aurelia asked sweetly.

Jaar paused, looking at the girl before him. Girl? No, this was a wolf in sheep's clothing!

"You are a member of the House of Adenomere, girl," Marius snarled. "You will refrain from speaking to the elder members of this house in such a manner."

"Again, I will ask in what manner, sir?" Aurelia asked, keeping her voice sweet and the volume level. "I ask of you, sir, not to address me as you would a common slave. I am Mistress Aurelia in this house, sir, to all. I will not condone being addressed as 'girl' by anyone in this house, sir, especially the owners."

Once again, Jaar paused, listening to how Aurelia had admonished his son. She had not raised her voice, nor changed her demeanor, however, she had let them both know in no uncertain terms, that she was not pleased. Jaar did not know how to address this wolf.

"The price for your personal assistant is 20,000 Alliance Pounds. I will charge you 12,000 AP for each of the other slaves," Jaar stated, once again recovering swiftly.

"Oh please, sir. The price of an unskilled labourer is between 6,000 and 8,000 AP, each. Cierra is not a PA, just a household slave that I think has promise. I will need to train her up to my standards, which will take considerable time and effort. At that point, she MIGHT be worth 20,000 AP. Not before. I will give you 6,000 AP for each of the other slaves, whom I will also have to train to serve MY particular needs," Aurelia returned.

"8,000 AP each, not a cent less for the servers, 16,000 for Cierra," Jaar replied.

"6,000 for each and I will give you 10,000 for Cierra, who will be much more competent when I finish training her," Aurelia countered. "Consider it a wedding present for me, sir," Aurelia smiled sweetly.

Jaar paused once again. He was surprised at this one's boldness.

Damn! Armstrong sold this one off? What the hell was he thinking? Jaar thought to himself.

"Very well, as a wedding gift, I will accept your proposal. Once I have the funds, I will transfer ownership of the slaves," Jaar stated.

"That should not be a problem, sir. I took the time while I was in Adenomere City to open a personal account. I can transfer the 40,000 AP immediately to you if you wish," Aurelia explained, extending her arm to show her comp unit.

Jaar looked surprised. Then shook his head ruefully. "Very well," he replied, extending his arm, hearing the beep and feeling the rumble on his comp. He looked and saw that the money had been transferred. He would have to check to see what kind of funds she now had available to herself here on Adenomere.

"Now, sir, if you would transfer the ownership of my slaves to me, I will ask them to show me to my apartment," Aurelia simpered, once again extending her comp unit.

Jaar pointed to his PA, who went to each of the slaves and entered their numbers into the house's control system, then transferred the numbers to a new account made specifically for Aurelia. The names and numbers showed up on her comp immediately.

"Thank-you, sir, for doing business with me," Aurelia said, giving a shallow curtsy to the elder Adenomere. She turned and gestured to her new staff. Her new PA slipped in beside Aurelia, while the rest of the staff trailed behind her to her new rooms.

"That one will be a problem for us," Jaar stated to his son Marius.

"Yes, but please don't kill her before I have had the pleasure of bedding her, father," Marius said, a gleam in his eye. "I will take great delight in breaking that one."

"Very well, Marius. I will give you until you have bedded her before I have her killed," Jaar stated. "However, I do not believe she will give in to you before the wedding. So we will plan to kill her after the nuptials."

"I may surprise you, father," Marius said with assurance.

"I doubt it, son. No reflection on your abilities, however, I doubt that one will step out of her role as virgin bride until her wedding night. I do look forward to being surprised, though," Jaar said with a feral grin.

Aurelia's Apartment, Adenomere Estate, Planet Adenomere

Cierra led the way to Aurelia's new apartments, where Aurelia was happy to see her baggage, and Allen, already waiting. She immediately opened a certain piece of luggage and a seal on an inside panel, removing eight items.

There were seven detectors and one master control unit. With a finger to her mouth to admonish silence, she gave each person a detector and showed them how to use it. The seven then moved around the rooms of the apartments to find any hidden bugs. Much to Aurelia's surprise, they found over two dozen, four with spy-eyes in her bedroom and bathroom.

Really? Aurelia thought. How juvenile!

Aurelia destroyed each of the devices before she spoke to her staff. "You are to ensure that these apartments and anything that comes into them, are scanned every day without exception. It is the only way we can ensure some level of privacy when we are here," she told her staff.

"I will teach each of you things that will help you in the future," Aurelia began. "You will become skilled in your jobs and also in many other things under my tutelage. However, in return, I demand absolute loyalty. I guarantee, that if you are returned to the household staff, your lives will be worth nothing."

"Mistress Aurelia, the Adenomere's are not kind to their slaves. They will undoubtedly attempt to 'persuade us' to tell them things about you," Cierra said for the members of the staff.

"I expect nothing less from these buffoons and morons," Aurelia told them. "Play along with them, doing whatever they ask of you. You will, of course, keep me informed of anything they do to you or ask of you when dealing with me.