It turned out that Zarl had been meticulous to the nth degree when it came to keeping notes on governing Kalquor. Every piece of legislation, every memo he’d sent to assistants and councilmen and ambassadors, every query to every committee, every scrap of research – he’d kept it all accounted for. To call the number of records staggering would be an understatement.
At first Diltan had found the work fascinating. With Zarl keeping such detailed records, Diltan got more than a glimpse into how the former emperor’s mind worked. Zarl had been just and fair in his dealings with people in public. His kindness was legendary, almost to the point where opponents named him weak. Yet from the private communications Zarl had exchanged, Diltan detected examples of a man impatient with those who didn’t see things his way, a crafty persuader who liked to tip the scales in his favor when possible. Slights might be publicly forgiven, but Zarl never forgot them. It was interesting to see how he’d often had to rein in his less kind impulses. One refrain Diltan saw repeated over and over in Zarl’s private messages was, ‘It is killing me to agree with these idiots, but they are right on this occasion. I must swallow my pride and do what is best for the Empire.’
He was just a man underneath it all. Few people saw the moments of indecision, the moments of anger. What Kalquor saw was the sage judgment that happened after Zarl privately vented his frustrations to those he trusted. Once he was able to share his angst, he let honor and duty dictate his course; never personal feelings.
Diltan was awed at Zarl’s iron control over his feelings.
Two weeks had passed since Diltan had been given the files to review. The Dramok had taken to skimming over the more mundane issues of Zarl’s day: budget issues, food and education regulatory matters, and other small items that meant nothing to the Empire’s current well-being. He’d been more careful when it came to border issues with Bi’is, Empire security against the always opportunistic Tragooms, and the first reports of Earther encounters.
Even though Diltan was deep into Zarl’s records about early discussions with officials about Earth, his thoughts kept drifting away. Most of it was the same boring thing over and over anyway: We must keep offering help to Earth, must keep showing them proof we may have a common ancestry, must keep asking to test for breeding compatibility. On and on it went, Zarl’s nonstop hope of coming to a peaceful accord with the other planet. Diltan had to re-read documents because he couldn’t keep his mind on the repetitive memos and missives.
He even switched off his com and all other vids from his three computers, save the one showing the current document he reviewed. Diltan liked to listen to music during his workday, especially the new rimnastin music that was coming out due to the fusion of Kalquorian and Earther cultures. He particularly liked to have it playing when those councilmen who protested the mixing of the two races dropped by to negotiate deals. It amused him to see them ask him for help while being forced to hear evidence that they could not stop integration from happening.
Unfortunately, removing all those diversions left more room for the biggest distraction of them all: Tasha Salter’s call a few days ago setting up a second date. Clan Diltan was getting another chance to impress her tonight.
Diltan’s excitement drew his attention from the files he should have been examining. His hopes of seeing the lovely Tasha again had been growing dimmer as the days passed with no word after their first meeting. Not that he’d expected to hear from her. She’d given no indication that she found his clan enticing. Rolat and Wal had spoken of finding her a bit boring and were more than happy to move on to other potential Mataras. Diltan had to admit he had felt the same way. Still, Tasha had been an acceptable choice of a mate. His urge to gain yet another status symbol signifying his success had wanted things to work out with the empress’ cousin.
It irritated Diltan that part of him still chased a higher standing among his peers. He knew full well it wasn’t others he wanted to prove himself to. He was still grasping for the inner knowledge that he was good enough to warrant the prizes and rank he’d risen to.
Only a fool would not make good on the chance to win Tasha’s favor, though. She was all the things Diltan had hoped for in a mate. Surely he could grow to love the woman if given the chance. Her family ties were secondary.
Yet as Diltan stared unseeing at his vid screen once more, it was Cissy in her scandalous soaksuit that kept popping up in his mind’s eye. Cissy with that spark in her hazel eyes. Cissy with her crude warnings. Cissy with her handprint blazing on a mouthwateringly round ass cheek.
Diltan realized he’d lost another five minutes contemplating the wrong woman. He squeezed his eyes shut and muttered between clenched teeth, “You little rambunctious rascal. I would not clan you in a million years, not that you’d give me the option. Get out of my head.”
The Dramok took a deep breath and opened his eyes to gaze at his small office bar with longing. Lounging on the comfortable seating cushions of the nearby conversation area with a drink in hand would be a wonderful escape from this review drudgery. Enough drinks and he might even be able to drown out thoughts of Cissy. The temptation beckoned.
Instead Diltan leaned forward in his hover chair and re-read the latest document of the review. Then he perused another file. This time he managed to get through some of the work. He scanned yet another list of Zarl’s concerns about proposed legislation that would ban Kalquorian men and clans from taking on AWOL Earther soldiers as live-in companions. Zarl had wanted to give all those Earther men sanctuary since homosexual relations were a death penalty felony on Earth. His wishes had prevailed, thank the ancestors. Who knew how many lives had been saved because of Zarl?
Another document came up, one that concerned a memorial for those killed in past skirmishes with Bi’is. Zarl had signed off on it, probably without a second’s hesitation.
Next came notes on the assignment of a new ambassador to Joshada, made seven years ago. Diltan scowled. He thought he’d already cleared out the small stuff like this and the veterans’ memorial. These nitpicky documents kept slipping through the cracks, however. At least they were easy to get through, he consoled himself.
Who knew that being an emperor was so damned boring? Diltan wondered how much more awful it was for the Nobek of the Imperial Clan. If former emperor Yuder and the present emperor Bevau were forced to deal with so many administrative bits and pieces, it was a wonder they didn’t go crazy and murder the entire Royal Council.
Diltan chuckled to himself a little about that. His own Nobek often came home grouchy when he’d been stuck in the office all day, meeting with staff and regulators. Fortunately Rolat had a couple of Dramok assistants to foist the most meaningless drivel onto. If Diltan remembered correctly, Emperor Bevau’s assistant was also a Dramok. That couldn’t be an accident.
Meanwhile, Diltan still had his own endless documents to wade through. He looked at the time and groaned. Was it still so long until the end of the day? At least he had a date to look forward to.
Maybe I’ll see that scamp Cissy when we pick up Tasha tonight. Maybe for once, I’ll be able to put her in her place.
The thought made Diltan smirk. He opened a letter from Zarl to an unknown recipient and began to read:
Greetings, my dear young friend.
After careful consideration and conversation, I have come to agree – reluctantly – with your assessment regarding Earther women and their potential to assure the Empire’s future. As you have pointed out, we are out of options, especially given the Medical Board’s latest findings in regard to the Fertility Research Project. We are going to go extinct, but our culture does not need to. Therefore, I am giving you permission to move ahead with the assignment of locating and testing an Earther female for breeding compatibility.
Diltan could barely breathe in his shock. Here, right before his eyes, was the smoking gun that opponents of interbreeding with the Earthers had sworn was out there. Laid out as plain as day was Zarl’s plan to capture and test a woman in
order to save the Empire.
Clan Zarl had disavowed all knowledge of who had ordered the abductions that had ultimately resulted in war and Earth’s destruction. Everyone in the Royal Council had done the same. Even those who had clanned the Earther women – most of whom had been Royal Councilmen – had insisted they did not know who was behind the orders to kidnap the alien females. All they knew was that the orders had borne official seals that could have only come from the Imperial Clan, a majority of the council voting in conjunction with territory governors, or leading officials from cabinet departments.
The trail had been a byzantine tangle that sometimes led to governmental departments, sometimes led to the Royal Council, and sometimes indicated the Imperial Clan. Yet everyone claimed to have nothing to do with the official order to seduce, coerce, and even kidnap Earther women once it had been established they were breeding compatible with Kalquorian men. With no real evidence linking any specific person or persons to that mandate, all there had been were accusations and rumors as to who was ultimately responsible.
By the time the Empire had gotten around to allowing unhappy Earther Mataras to leave the clans which had taken them in those first weeks, Clan Clajak had assumed rulership. So few women had elected to de-clan that most Kalquorians dismissed the shouts of men like Councilman Maf to launch a full-fledged investigation into the abductions. Likewise, the Galactic Council of Planets’ requests for information in the wake of Earth’s destruction and the deaths of billions of its inhabitants had been similarly dismissed. With most of the Earther women and their clans happy with their lives, it was hard to prove any victimization. Most of the first Mataras insisted they’d come to Kalquor of their own volition.
Diltan wondered if that was all about to change, especially since not enough Earther women were coming to Kalquor to meet the demand of clans eager to sire children. In their frustration, some disappointed men had taken up the Basma’s cry for a pure Kalquor. What was it that Empress Jessica had grumbled one day in regard to those attitudes? Something like, they’re all saying, ‘if I can’t have a woman, then nobody gets one’. Diltan agreed with her assessment. Jealous disappointment was winning the revolt its share of followers these days.
His heart thumping hard, Diltan resumed reading Zarl’s letter.
If the woman you choose for our other friend and his clan proves to be compatible for our purposes, then you may proceed with the second part of the plan to procure all the Earther women we can. I know you have a few ideas on the best clans to achieve our ends, and I trust you to be discerning with your choices. It is also my wish that you send out as many of those on the council as you find agreeable, as having Mataras of their own will mitigate any outcry of our methods within our own government. Of course I don’t have to warn you of the need for absolute discretion in this matter. No doubt you already have a plan in place that will confound anyone trying to trace those of us responsible. That will be important beyond the Empire’s boundaries as well. The Galactic Council of Planets will take a dim view of the Empire abducting another member planet’s citizenry. Not even their need for our precious ores will circumvent an investigation of that body if any evidence is found.
Diltan’s horror reached its zenith. One word loomed larger than the rest, searing in its baldness: abducting.
Emperor Zarl, probably with the agreement of the rest of the Imperial Clan, had ordered Earther women kidnapped – and not by mercenaries or men of questionable stature. Through some mediator, he’d ordered it of the Royal Council itself.
But who was the mediator? Who was it Zarl had entrusted to carry out such an awful plan?
No matter how Diltan searched and ran programs, he couldn’t figure out who the message had gone to or who had sent out the command on the Empire’s behalf. Whoever the perpetrator was, Zarl had not wanted to expose him. The former emperor was ready to take on all the blame and let this man go free.
The Earther woman who had been tested and found positive for breeding compatibility with Kalquorians had become the Matara to Councilman Rajhir. Rajhir had to be the ‘other friend’ Zarl alluded to in his letter. Like the other councilmen who had stolen the first Earther Mataras, had Rajhir been oblivious to who pulled the strings? To a man, they had all protested ignorance over and over.
No matter who knew what, Diltan reeled at the thought of the repercussions for the Empire. Now that there was black-and-white evidence of the Imperial Clan being behind the Earther abductions, abductions that had indirectly led to the destruction of Earth itself, there would be trouble. With a revolt brewing courtesy of the shadowy Basma, this could mean dire consequences indeed.
Chapter 8
Cissy lay on Tasha’s bed, watching her sister put on makeup. The table her sister sat at did double duty as a desk and a vanity. The top of it was so cluttered, it was a wonder Tasha could find anything.
Cissy found it amusing that as neat and tidy as her twin kept her appearance, she tended to be a slob around her living quarters. Tasha had been a whirlwind of activity earlier, trying to get her greeting room neat enough to be seen by Clan Diltan. That she’d made no attempt to do the same with her bedroom told Cissy that Tasha had no intention of inviting them in for a romp.
Maybe she’ll go home with them tonight, Cissy thought as she watched Tasha make her skin flawless with carefully applied powder. Even if Diltan is something of a jerk and Wal never talks, it would be hard to resist an invitation to get up close and personal.
The three men were a temptation. Even she was willing to admit that, at least to herself. Rolat with his brute masculinity. Wal with his kind face and intelligent eyes. Diltan with his sheer beauty and aura of command. The thought of them naked had her tightening her thighs together.
With determined nonchalance, Cissy hinted, “So, you’re giving that councilman and his buds another try at the Tasha sweepstakes, huh?”
Tasha shrugged. She poked through the debris on her table until she found her rouge. “They were nice enough. There was no spark, but I don’t see the harm in a second date.”
That seemed to sum up Tasha’s courting experience thus far. She had been on several dates since the first one with Clan Diltan but had not seen any of the clans twice. She had yet to show excitement about any of them, though the men had run the gamut of ages, professions, and levels of attractiveness. Cissy wondered if her sister had the slightest clue of what she wanted from a clan.
Not that she had any right to throw stones at her twin. Cissy’s dates thus far had been fun, but there had been little as far as any real connections. It was her own fault. She’d been gravitating to younger clans with rowdy tastes. Cissy had sampled lemanthev and rimnastin concerts by the score, high-speed shuttle races, kurble games, and fighting matches. Tasha teased her about being more like a teenage boy tearing loose with his friends than a grown woman looking to settle down.
Cissy had to admit there might be some truth to her sister’s assessment. After 30 years of being prim and proper on Earth, who wouldn’t revel in her newfound freedom? It was hard to contact the more settled and mature clans, to think of being a boring wife and mother. Life beckoned with too many new experiences never possible before.
Tasha roused her from her ruminations. “Shouldn’t you be getting ready for your date? Fixing your hair, putting on makeup?”
Cissy shrugged. It had occurred to her to pull herself together before Clan Diltan showed up. Would they notice? Would they care? Would Diltan be approving for a change?
The fact that she had been tempted to make herself look nice for that snob had been enough to feed Cissy’s stubborn resolve to do nothing of the sort. Screw Diltan and his high-ranking clan. She shouldn’t care. Until she didn’t, she’d pretend not to.
She stood and gathered her sister’s clothes from their piles on the floor. “The concert doesn’t start for another couple of hours. I’ve got time. For crying out loud, Tasha, the laundry intake is right here in this wall. Would it be so hard for you to put your
dirty drawers in it?”
Tasha ignored Cissy’s complaint against her slovenly ways. “Another concert, huh? Do you really like lemanthev music that much?”
Cissy put an armload of outfits into the chute and gathered more. She was determined to see Tasha’s floor. “I love lemanthev. It’s so raw and energetic. Rimnastin is better, but those bands are few and far between still. Not enough of them know how to play decent guitar. So, lemanthev it is.”
“I’m surprised you still can hear after going to all those shows. Your eardrums should have bled out by now.”
Cissy grinned. “It makes me feel alive. You should try a live show. I bet Dramok Diltan would be tickled to death if you suggested he take you to the concert.”
Tasha chuckled. “Rolat might be into lemanthev. Maybe Wal too. He strikes me as the type who’d try anything at least once. Somehow, I doubt Diltan would be the type to cut loose at such an event though. He might do rimnastin though. I’ll have to ask.”
She stood up and twirled around for Cissy’s inspection. Her pink skirt was a cute, flouncy thing for a garment that ended just below the knees. Tasha’s white blouse was buttoned all the way up to the collar. Her shoes were dressy, but flat. “Do I look okay?”
Cissy sighed. “Impeccable. You’re just right for Clan Uptight.”
“Gee, thanks.” Tasha stuck her tongue out. With the pink ruffles, she looked more like a pouty pre-teen than a woman just sneaking into her thirties.
The only signal Dear Sister is sending out is one that yells Stop, Cissy thought. Has she had any sex since we got here? She was humping like a rabbit the whole trip from Earth. Why this ladylike shit now?
Before Cissy could interrogate her twin, the door announce went off, signaling Clan Diltan’s arrival. Cissy’s mouth went dry and her heart sped up.
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