All That Glitters Ch. 41

Aurelia had enough. Near the end of the debacle, she finally stood. The Chair, impatient with the actions of the members, recognized her immediately.

"I cannot believe that I am listening to the Landstradt," she snapped. "It sounds more like a pack of teenage boys belaboring the fact that their dinner is cold, rather than reasoning men attempting to find a solution to their problems.

"We are the Landstradt! We need to move forward on this issue, not bemoan the facts as they are. We will not get an increase in available slaves nor will we see a reduction in the price of slaves over the immediate future.

"You are demanding that those who have slaves be punished for their good fortune. The Great Raid has also significantly effected house Adenomere. We are not complaining about our lot in life. Instead, we are seeking to move forward.

"House Adenomere has already invested heavily in farm equipment for large scale farming. We will be acting to better our slaves working and living conditions, including providing more appropriate levels of food and medical support, and training on the new farm equipment.

"We are working to find new methods of doing business with what we have, not with what we want to have.

"The price of slaves will increase not decrease over the next few months. We will lose more slaves in the immediate future as the Union attempts to force our hand on the issue of returning its citizens.

"House Adenomere will likely be affected more in the future because of these issues, as will many members of the Great Houses. Yet this House is not seeking to punish those who have had better fortune then some of us.

"We, the members of the Landstradt, are the governing body of the Alliance, and we must act like it. We must work to figure out what we can do with what we have!"

When Aurelia had finished speaking and sat, the Landstradt erupted. The Chair quickly gavelled down the uproar, standing to shout over the din.

"ENOUGH!!" he shouted. "I agree completely with all that Lady Adenomere has asserted, including how we have not acted as our position of leadership in the Landstradt dictates.

"For too long, the Landstradt has been the domain of the elite, especially the Great Houses. That needs to change. The level of spitefulness and pettiness in this institution is unbelievable. This attitude has culminated in the actions recently witnessed by the Landstradt by House Adenomere, House Burling, and House Climb.

"The Landstradt is not the plaything of the Great and Lesser Houses of the Alliance. It is meant to be our governing body. A change of attitude is needed!"

The Chair let his words hang for several moments before he slammed his gavel down a final time.

"We will recess until tomorrow at 09:00." The Chair turned in disgust and fled the floor.

Members immediately converged on Lady Adenomere, who sat her ground unmoving. She listened to and noted those who yelled at her, nodding absently to them as they spoke. She was finally left with more than twenty members of the Landstradt, who wanted to know more about the actions she was taking.

She gave a quick but thorough explanation of her future actions, getting nods of understanding from the listeners. She also noted that some of those who had yelled at her were listening on the periphery. They too were nodding in understanding, though some had hardened faces.

She was finally left with the other three Matriarchs: Lady Handren, Lady Marshal, and the Yunki Twins.

"Ladies, I think that we should take our conversation elsewhere," Aurelia stated.

"We can use my estate here in the capital," Lady Handren suggested. "It is only a kilometer distant."

The group landed not long afterwards, at the Adenomere City estate house of Lady Handren, all transported in Aurelia's new limo. The ladies cheerfully entered the house as Katryana had her people provide an afternoon tea.

"So what do you think will happen now?" Sylvie Marshal asked the group at large.

"I think that the Greater Houses will try to push their agenda at least once more. They want to blame the Union for all of the Alliance woes going forward and not blame the Landstradt, its members, nor themselves, for any of the ongoing issues," Aurelia stated.

"Agreed," Katryana Handren replied. "I think they're afraid to try new things, which is why they want the Union to be the boogey man."

"That will only work so long as the Landstradt is in session. Once they have to deal with reality, they will quickly find that they need to adapt," Mei Yunki spoke.

"Quite correct," Katryana answered. "They need to be reminded that they live in the real universe. How long do you think they can continue business as usual before some of these houses collapse?"

"Not very long," May answered. "My sister and I have seen things from both sides, from that of the privileged to that of the slave. The situation is out of hand now for the Great Houses, and for many of the Lesser Houses as well. I predict that they will begin to collapse in a month if they continue to insist on the status quo."

"May is right," Aurelia interjected. "The situation was bad before the Union raid. Nobody wanted to admit that, but the signs were there for all to see."

"Yes, but the Patriarchs are not interested in being told they cannot continue as they have in the past," Katryana informed them. "How do you think they will evade the issue?"

"That's easy. They will bring out the captives and conduct a trial in the Landstradt," Aurelia explained. "That will focus the Landstradt and the citizens of the Alliance on the punishment of the captives."

"They need to get that started early if they want to conduct anything near a successful trial before the afternoon session," May countered. "That is when the Union Ambassador is supposed to arrive."

"They may seek to push the Ambassador's presence to another day. How is the Union following the events in the Landstradt?" Sylvie asked.

"That is a good question," Katryana admitted. "There is a lot of new technology coming out in the Union thanks to their involvement with the aliens. I wonder of new comms technology is included in that?"

"We might see that tomorrow," Aurelia stated. "If I were the Ambassador, I would want to flaunt the new capabilities to the Alliance, telling us that we cannot participate in this new technology unless we co-operate with the Union."

"Wouldn't that raise the feathers on our roosters!" Mei commented, getting laughter from the other ladies.

"What happened to you when you took over the controls of the House Handren, Katryana?" Aurelia wanted to know.

"I took over control because my uncles all decided that they were a better fit than I was as head of the family," Katryana told them. "They didn't realize that I could easily see what they were up to. They looked at me as just another female, one that they could ignore, until I stood up and bit them in their collective asses.

"Once the uncles were disposed of, I had to deal with my male cousins. Some of them were at least intelligent enough to give me a run for my position. However, those were also the one in every branch of the family who became the Patriarch of that branch and could not openly contest the issue of Head of House with me. They didn't want to lose their position if they lost.

"That meant that the lesser capable cousins were the ones I had to deal with. I suspect that it will be the same for you, Aurelia. They will want to depose you as Matriarch of the main branch of the family and place one of their own in the position of Patriarch.

"Of all of the sons of Adenomere, most of them are not very bright, especially Adolphus. Right now, the Patriarchs of the branches are the more capable second sons. The remainder are not overly intelligent. They will likely attempt to push you out of your position in the Landstradt, where you are very popular at the moment," Katryana mused. "They will prefer to eliminate you as Matriarch and place one of their own as the new Patriarch of the House. Which means another assassination attempt is likely."

Aurelia agreed with her and put in a call to her security firm, explaining her thoughts.

The ladies worked together for another hour before Aurelia had to return to the Adenomere estate, inviting the Yunki twins to give them a place to stay until they had place of their own. Aurelia had a lot of work to do to implement changes at the Adenomere estate...

NS Dewfall, In Orbit Planet Varus, Clément System

Cmdre Dostier was participating in a strategy session with her team. Included were Ambassador Flynet, Fayad, Junelliya, Capt. Bellany, commanding The Trine, and several of the captains that were listed as team leads for the 500 ships still in orbit around Planet Varus.

These 500 ships were the nucleus of the blockade that would be enacted against the Alliance if it chose not to cooperate with the Union. A very distinct possibility. They were broken down into groups of fifty, which meant that there were ten captains in the strategy session.

"I miss the input from Raymond," Dostier lamented. "He could always see things that most of us would miss."

"Agreed. However, our goal is to retrieve him and the others," Fayad replied.

"You think that the Landstradt will put them on trial tomorrow," Dostier demanded of Fayad.

"Yes. The Landstradt wants to avoid a protracted debate into what they should and should not do vis-à-vis the ongoing situation and how they manage their slaves," Fayad explained. "They will want to continue the status-quo and will not want to acknowledge that they have handled things wrong for years."

"So they will avoid tomorrow's session by initiating a show trial?" Capt. William Stahl, commanding NS Agrippa, asked.

"I think that they will have little choice," Fayad answered. "They will likely get into a bit of a tiff tomorrow. The Landstradt will need something to take the current mindset out of the session.

"The only thing that can serve that purpose is the show trial. They will need to start the trial before Ambassador Flynet arrives for the afternoon session as they know that we will be interested in getting our people out."

"What could the Ambassador do, after he arrives, to include them as part of the deal?" one of the lead captains asked.

"That is what we are here to plan," Dostier answered. "We need a list of options that the Ambassador can use, up to and including blockading Planet Adenomere. Tomorrow will be a busy day and one that will make or break our attempt to get all of our citizens, our Marines, and a navy captain out alive, and all of our dead returned to us."

Adenomere Air Limo, Outside Adenomere City, Planet Adenomere, The Adenomere System

Aurelia, with the Yunki twins, and their entourage, were in Aurelia's new air limo heading to the main estate. They had just left Adenomere City air control space when they received a warning alarm.

"Missiles inbound!" Allen yelled to the rear. His co-pilot, Kodani, instantly called up the aircar's defensive systems. She waited for the missiles to close in and sent out two pairs of countermeasures hoping to attracted the missiles. That would only work if they were simple missiles, however, it proved to be the case.

The two inbound missiles homed in on one of the countermeasures and exploded not far from it as the aircar veered in the opposite direction. The air limo was well outside the shrapnel circle so was safe, for now.

Allen dove for the ground, staying just above the treeline as he pushed the engines to the stops, bringing the ship up to it's maximum speed at just under mach.

They got no other indicators for missiles.

"Aren't countermeasures on private aircars illegal?" asked May Yunki, smiling.

"So are shoulder-launched, Surface-to-Air Missiles in private hands," Aurelia retorted. She put in a call to her security team.

They had been following her limo and were able to capture the four man missile team. She would learn later that they were from the same company that had unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate her the first time. She sincerely hoped that there would not be a third time...

Adenomere Estate, Planet Adenomere, The Adenomere System

Aurelia, the Yunki twins, and the members of their respective retinues arrived back at the estate in the early evening. The first thing Aurelia did was to have her personal effects moved from her current apartments to the Master's Apartment for the estate and have Jaar and Marius' personal affects moved into storage.

"Until you have arranged for a place of your own, you are welcome to remain here in my former apartments. I can arrange for some household slaves to be made available to address your needs," Aurelia told the twins. "You may either use them at your discretion as a gift from me or purchase them in much the same manner that I purchased my entourage from Jaar Adenomere. Unlike with Jaar, you do not have to fear me using the household slaves against you."

Korman was efficient and had everything arranged quickly, with Aurelia displaced within half-an-hour of her arrival at the estate. Aurelia went quickly to the computers and used her back door entrance to circumvent the computer's defences. She did not let Korman enter any of the codes that Jaar had given him in the event of his death or displacement as Patriarch of House Adenomere. She simply didn't know what any of those codes would do and couldn't take the chance that they would destroy Jaar's records or send out electronic bombs to other House's computers.

She looked for and found several built-in bombs and hidden files designed to prevent certain information from being discovered, most of it within Jaar Adenomere's personal files, though some interesting items were also found on Marius' files, including his thoughts on his future wife, Aurelia.

Aurelia was not surprised to find the level of hatred the man had for her, especially when he thought that Aurelia was displacing him in the eyes of his father, Jaar. It was readily apparent when reading his notes that Marius had a low opinion of himself and had to lord it over all others in order not to be overlooked, especially by his father.

She quickly defused the little tricks to damage the computer and looked for and found the triggers for the codes that Korman had. Aurelia removed them from the programs, ending their threat. She now had total control over the Adenomere computers.

Her next task was to eliminate the hidden spy programs from within the house computers. She easily found where they were and used a more complex code to determine where they had originated from. Not surprisingly, the spy programs that was on the computers the longest was linked to the Attorney General's Office. She immediately ended that threat by shunting it to a new, small computer she set up to gather information on what the program was looking for. It superficially gave the impression that the program was still on the House computers, while trapping the program in a safe location.

The other spy programs were more mundane in nature, linking to other houses that were known rivals to House Adenomere. These too were shunted over to the new computer, though not before she followed those programs back to their original computers and placed her own more sophisticated spy programs in them.

Next, Aurelia called the senior cooks to her new office and asked them what it would take to bring up the standard of calories for the staff. She was surprised to find that, while the price of food stocks would rise, it would not rise as significantly as she expected. She was ashamed to realize that the cost of food for her slaves was not the real excuse that other houses used to reduce their slaves calories.

She told the cooks to start bringing in extra food and to prepare a feast for later tomorrow evening. The cooks were ecstatic, happy to be cooking proper food for the staff. The next few days would be exciting ones for the Adenomere household, they all thought. They didn't know just how true those thoughts would be.

Hollern Prison, Adenomere City, Planet Adenomere, Adenomere System

Raymond had originally scoffed at the key in the door, but found that it worked like a Pavlovian Bell, rendering him instantly awake when the key was turned in the door. He was fully awake now as the door opened.

Expecting the entrance of Inquisitor Harold Inquisitor he was surprised by what entered his cell.

One of the guards came in, followed by what Raymond recognized as a group of young and pretty Alliance Party Girls, women who had been genetically, medically, and mentally altered to be nothing more than sexual playthings for the rich of the Alliance. His hunch was immediately confirmed when one of the women cried out at seeing his wounds...

"Oh! He's hurt," the woman whimpered, her words triggering the other ladies with her who broke into sobs at seeing such a 'pretty man' injured.

"Clean him up," snarled the guard, who was repulsed by the fact that these nearly naked women could fancy such a man such as Raymond, a known criminal and enemy of the Alliance.

The women squealed in fright at the anger in the guard's voice and swiftly addressed Raymond, offering words of encouragement and sympathy to him as they tended to his body.

Raymond was lowered to his feet, allowing him relief to his legs, which had been straining to hold him up for several hours. He was quickly released from his chains and a chair was brought forward as the women began to wash him with soap and water, playfully using their bodies to rub him up and down. They were disappointed when he didn't respond to their ministrations. After being tortured for more than a week, his body was not reacting at all to the presence of the women.

Raymond caught the guard smirking at the fact that he wasn't responding. "One of those, are we?" he asked with a scathing look of derision on his face.

To the guard, these women were the elite of the Alliance sexual playthings. They were young, beautiful, and only wearing an almost transparent apron which hid virtually nothing. For the guard, they were the epitome of lust. So when Raymond didn't respond, he presumed Raymond was into men.

The women swiftly washed and dried Raymond, bringing salves for his wounds, not that those did much, though it did take away some of the stinging. It was a nice gesture as far as Raymond was concerned.

A table was brought in and a bowl of the gruel that was normal fare for prisoners was placed on the table. Instantly one of the women picked up a spoon and dipped it into the gruel, bringing it before Raymond, who shied away from it.

The woman rebuked him and took a taste of the gruel, to reassure him that it was good, only to quickly spit out what she had in her mouth. That brought laughter to Raymond. The ladies all stopped and looked at him as he laughed. It was the first laugh he had voiced since before his capture. He couldn't help it. His body needed it, so he let it out.

He laughed at the absurdity of the situation, watching the women faun over him, taking in their simple delight at washing him, watching one of the young women finding out the gruel really wasn't all that good.

His laughter was infectious, and the women began to laugh with him, delighted that they had brought him pleasure in one form or another, though obviously not understanding why he was laughing.

The woman with the bowl of gruel brought up another spoonful for him, and he ate it. While it was far from palatable, it was food. He wasn't fed often enough to refuse the foul tasting meal.

Raymond could see a tear slide down the cheek of the young woman as she fed him. She knew how bad the food tasted, and yet she dutifully fed him the bowl. When he finished, she leaned forward and kissed him on his brow.