by M. Garnet
No one knew how long ago it was when someone had first found the strange threads. Back in prehistoric times the threads were close to the surface. Obviously, even without special equipment in ancient times, it was found that these strange little strings produced unlimited power.
The history books do not record who the first one was to install a thread into a ship, but he must have felt like a god when he found that he was on the other side of a different solar system than the one he had oriented in his equipment.
By that time, Dee's personal family had become part of the royal family’s advisors, and the threads had made them and the planet unbelievably rich. Oh, the scientists elsewhere had tried to duplicate the threads, and finally a manufactured thread was used for commercial power plants and vehicles. Still, nothing compared to the real item. It seemed it took whatever had developed within this harsh storm-torn world to make a tiny thread with the power to move ships across the black distance of space with accuracy.
Once the twins were born, and it became known to all that they were the rare Twinned Dissnue, things really got interesting. There were all the different planets, governments, including the Federation that felt they were the only ones that could guide the twins and control the riches of Gigas Vnee.
Well, as Dee looked at the courier for the legal group of the Federation who was holding out a report, he knew that one more ploy for controlling Gigas Vnee was being put into place. Despite the threat of the twins, someone thought they had a way to shake up the present Gigas Vnee government and leave a crack open for the right ones to slip in and start a takeover or at least have some influence.
He accepted the plate, dismissed the courier and sat back to study the words that would mean inconvenience. It was the second paragraph where the deadly word stood out. Slave. Damn.
He immediately called Loralei and the twins and the new General for a private conference. Dee moved to the room that was secured beyond any type of penetration to wait for those he loved to attend.
Dee decided to wait until after the bad news to ask for refreshments. Let everyone chew on the bad taste first and then some well imported liquor would help the thinking juices.
The twins floated in as one and when Loralei entered they immediately moved to seats on each side of her. The General took a seat to the side and behind, perhaps feeling out of place in this group meeting.
Dee threw a copy of the notice upon a big floating screen behind him, but he knew they would want to read it closely later.
"A declaration of violation of Federation Agreement has been filed against Gigas Vnee, its present government and its people by several Augmented members of the Federation Board."
Leant spoke for the twins. "What trick is someone trying now and where can we reach them. Together Bleak and I can clean the mind of anyone stupid enough to think they can try to take over our world with some small rule."
"Well, my son, someone thought this through very carefully. It is not one, but many. A very well organized group of planets with a lot of influential beings at the lead."
Bleak shifted. "They know we will not let them on our planet. What possible violation could they charge us with that would bring out enough to have the whole Federation come after us?"
Dee pointed with a light source. "Well, the main words are bigotry, emancipation, and equality. Unfortunately, there are more such as, illegal theft, illegal restriction and large restitutions."
"Shit." The word was blurted out by the General.
Loralei's cop mode kicked in. "Someone thinks they have some actual evidence. Does that document have anything in it that actually spells out what they are hitting us with that makes them feel they have something to bring to the Federation Courts?"
The twins both got up and went to the window to watch the storm and the ocean. General Sachim watched the two brothers, thinking that they had become something strong. Yet they must feel frustrated to come up against some idiotic charge that they could not just blow away.
Dee took a deep breath and began to answer Loralei's question.
"Okay, let me break this down, so we all know what we have to answer. Bigotry under the Federation laws means we are not complying by the general actions of the majority of Governments of the Federation. Emancipation is a strange word because under Federation laws it means agreeing to treat residents and servants and slaves all the same as ordered by the political restrictions as outlined in the signed Governed Rules. Equality in the Federation rule book means that Gigas Vnee abides by all the Federated Rules as do other planets and moons and satellites." Dee takes a deep breath and looks at the backs of the twins, knowing they are hearing his words.
“The illegal theft is where they are getting down to serious business meaning that someone is claiming that representatives of Gigas Vnee have actually illegally seized an item or items that can be proved to belong to someone else. Illegal restriction is accusing that Gigas Vnee knows that people are being held against their will on this planet, and large restitutions means that the Courts are expecting payment for all of the above violations."
There was silence for a few seconds, but Loralei was still a cop. "Wow, they have pulled out every rule book they could find. I guess most of this is just to keep every one of us tied up in jurisprudence so we won't notice what is going on behind the scenes."
Baloko finally felt he had to ask, as he felt overwhelmed. "Isn't there something in all of those words that are at the bottom of all of this?"
Dee nodded. "Yes, it boils down to one thing. Slaves."
At that word, all hell broke loose. The twins turned, and Loralei was plucked from her chair. She flew across the room in the air to be held by the two males as all three backed up against the floating window. The movement caused Baloko to be thrown backwards off his chair. By the time he got up, he saw Dee pulling himself up behind his desk. Anything that had been on the desk was gone.
Okay, thought Baloko, which makes a statement. These two were protecting their slave no matter what any Federation might bring to the courts. There was some type of wavering glow around the three at the window and Baloko thought that even a ship's back draft would not penetrate that shield.
There was a noise like a strange high whistle coming from the twins, but he saw Loralei moving between the two glowing males. She seemed to be talking, rubbing, and soothing them.
Baloko was not about to move while the twins were in this high energy form, but he did watch with interest as Loralei seemed to be taking the twins down from the anger level to something that would allow Baloko and Dee to breath. The air in the room began to cool to where the two normal men thought it might not blow up with them.
Baloko looked at the door trying to make up his mind if he should leave, but cowardice was not part of his life. He began to move the furniture back in place as he watched Loralei out of the corner of his eye. It looked like she was getting the two twins slowly convinced that no one was coming through the walls for her right this moment.
Slowly the shield disappeared, and Loralei backed up to sit in one of the chairs across from Dee. She looked at the older man she had come to love. "Are you okay? No big bruises?"
Dee smiled as he righted items. "Well, that was impressive."
"Yes." Loralei looked over at the two males she loved most of all. "I think we need to understand that the emphasis is on the word slave. Do the courts want me, or what is involved here that we needed to address?"
A calm voice came from the twins. "We know what it is about."
Bleak looked at Baloko. "You stole the fifteen slaves to save the women.
Leant continued. "Your heart was in the right place, but you brought them here."
They both spoke. "We turned them free, saying in public that we do not have slaves on Gigas Vnee. Some we helped get back to their families and some have stayed here as free residents. We have now laid ourselves open to speak from two faces. That is not a joke since we are joined twins. We say we do not have slaves yet we have
a slave that we will not give freedom."
Baloko swore he would never get use to that multiple voice thing when they both spoke. The twins continued.
"What they want is to embarrass us by forcing us to admit in the public Court that we were wrong. We must allow slaves on our planet for those who wish to own one or more. Of the fifteen that were brought here, any left here must be slaves and either returned to the original slavers or a heavy restitution paid to the slavers by anyone who might want to own one and keep her here.
For those that we returned to their families, we must pay a high restitution to the slavers for their lost profit. Of course, all of the payments must be made in Threads of Targent. Yes, we must do that or turn loose and return to a faraway blue planet our own slave."
For a second Baloko felt the floor shake and guessed that the whole planet had shifted. Okay, that last was not going to happen, even if they could ever find that little planet one more time.
The twins moved their slave three floors up to the large bed in a blink that those in Dee's office did not see. For the men in the office, there was just a gap that drew in air.
Loralei closed her eyes as she felt a wave of dizziness touch her as the fear of the two beside her brought them all to this large bed to have a closeness that sex would help satisfy.
It was not gentle intercourse, as the twins entered Loralei's body, each finding a warm opening to release their anger and frustration and need to prove she was still here with them.
For Loralei it was strangely welcome, two large male members, hot and heavy, but part of the twins that merged and sent to her brain what they felt as they entered her body to feel pleasure and release.
* * * *
The ships began to appear around Gigas Vnee. Each one said almost the same thing.
"We are here in recognition of the Federation Court and wish only peace. We have brought our families to prove that although we have military with us we also have peaceful people representing that we want to discuss your side of this issue."
The twins had thrown up an impregnable screen around the planet. Two attempts after a warning, to enter the screen had caused a complete disappearance of the ships and their personnel. No noise and no traces, not even dust or smoke, just a void where they had been when they touched the screen. If Gigas Vnee chose to remain in isolation, there would be no interference from outside.
But inside the discussions were non-stop. In Dee's office, the top group got very little sleep as Baloko, the Assassin, Loralei and the twins were constantly going over the facts and the fiction.
Bleak and Leant were without weapons. Oh, they could wipe out the circle of odd ball ships hanging in space around their home, except they could not accept the guilt of taking the lives of all the innocents that were also on those ships. It had been so smart that the ones who had come forward had loaded the ships with families along with their military. It also was pure cowardice, to hide behind the ones not responsible for the Court's demands.
It was also noticed that there were some particular groups missing from the blockade. There were no actual Federation Military ships, and none of the ships from the two main banking or money organizations, and there were no black ships from the Assassin Authority.
Loralei spoke in one of the meetings. "It might be important to note who has not shown up to know who might be our friends. It would serve some purpose in the future."
Baloko cleared his throat. "I have some interesting news. One of my most trusted Group Leaders has brought me a notice from several of the women who I brought here. They had asked to talk to me, so I went down to the entry cave to meet personally with them. It seems that they have made a bonding with some males here, and those males said that they would borrow the funds to pay the slave price."
Dee looked over first at the twins then back at Baloko. "Are you suggesting that we accept the ruling of allowing the owning of slaves on Gigas Vnee? In all our history, we have only had two, and they were very special. This world has been a bastion of freedom that stupid slavers did not approach."
Loralei turned to her two twins, looking at them with as much appeal as she could bring. "I think it is time to bring this to the people that it affects. You two are the protectors and the weapons, but you want to be fair. We must let all the ones who are affected have a voice in their future."
Loralei felt the pull of withdrawal from the twins as they stepped out on the landing from their elevator. This landing put them about waist high above everyone else on the floor of the cave and gave them an excellent view of the large crowd gathered. It was the large crowd that took the three of them by surprise.
A long notice in several languages had been posted and sent to as many residents of the city as possible. An audio version had been playing quietly, four times during the two work periods.
Loralei saw that several of the women that had been brought to Gigas Vnee by Baloko were huddled together at one side. There were a couple of males close, and Baloko was also standing next to them. Then there, in a shadow, near one of the women, also stood the dark Assassin.
It was eerily quiet for such a large crowd in a huge hollow cave that often reflected echoes. No one spoke above a whisper, and the shuffling of feet was minimal.
At last a woman, one of the original group of saved slaves stepped forward. "Mistress, we have talked among ourselves. If our votes can count for anything, we do not want this planet to go to war just for us. We also don't want to go back to the slavers. So if there is anyone here that will pay restitution, we will accept the position of slaves to a resident of this planet."
Behind her, a male worker stepped forward. "Mistress, I will have to borrow the money, but I have worked hard and never missed a call time. I will buy this woman for the restitution and keep her as my slave and bond mate."
Several other couples raised their hands showing agreement. Then came two real surprises. The first was from the dark Assassin.
For the first time, Loralei heard him speak in a normal voice. It was deep and attention drawing. "I will take and protect the female Magda. I have enough funds by far to pay whatever restitution is demanded. I will set her up in a home here in this city, and I believe she will want to continue to work for the twins in order to feel she has a use for her life."
Loralei looked back at her two lovers, and they nodded approval showing no surprise.
But for Loralei there was another surprise. General Sachim raised his hand. "I will purchase the restitution for the female named Joo. She is injured and unconscious in the med unit. She will not approve of this as slavery is against everything she values, but I can return her to her home. I have a plan. But it will take all of my retirement funds."
The lady looked over the many faces reflected before her. "Okay, I was not born on this world, but I approve of the way it is treating its people and its people are treating it, so I have an idea. First I must know if it is the majority of the people here that we proceed to protect these women and meet the demands of the Federation Court in the way of Gigas Vnee."
Instantly there was a show of hands, all hands, raised high above the heads as far back as could be seen among the people. Not only that, but incoming on the communication screens from across the planet there was an approval flag.
Loralei smiled. "Okay, we are going to put on an old-fashioned Earth-style show. Everyone gets new clothes as we want to give a special impression to the Judges of the Federation Court when we invite them to our Imperial Home."
Chapter Fifteen
The permission came up from Gigas Vnee that they agreed to the terms of the Federation Court, but needed to set the details. There could only be fifty beings allowed to attend the hearing, the ten top Court Magistrates and forty others to be chosen from among the leaders of the blockade. The entire entourage would be expected at the home cave of the Twinned Dissnue.
The Magistrates arrived quietly and on time in their sleeping pods in a Federation long transfer ship. Gigas Vnee provided
a Royal slip ship to take the Magistrates down in style. Gigas Vnee also provided a comfortable second ship for the additional forty leaders from the blockade who had won the lottery to attend the hearing.
War had almost broken out as to who would be in that ship of forty, even among their own groups. The one thing Gigas Vnee did do to appease everyone was to allow the entire procedure to be broadcast. The screens came on with a blast of music and the show could be seen by the entire entry cave.
A couple hundred Gigas Vnee military, all dressed in bright red ran out to form a double line that would allow the Magistrates to enter. The first thing one noticed beside the red was the fact that each soldier had a weapon wrapped in a single Thread of Targent.
By this time, hundreds of people began to gather, all dressed in red, on the shoulder of each resident was the double headed cat done in the Thread of the Targent.
One of the Magistrates could be heard to speak to his brother. "I can't imagine the fortune we are seeing in this area alone."
By this time, the second small ship had landed and the forty, lucky leaders were unloading. Their greed was showing as they bumped into each other when their eyes bulged to see more and more of the residents with the red clothes adorned with the Threads of Targent in prominent display.
Now there was a real parade as a General, in black polished boots over black trousers topped by a formal red long jacket. There were the normal ribbons and medals awarded to a member who had served well in the Federated Military. But what drew the eyes of all the onlookers was the wide ribbon across the chest that matched the belt to hold a sword on one side and a hand weapon on the other. The ribbon was entwined in Threads of Targent.
He approached with his well-dressed contingent behind him. "Welcome guests, we have the proper arrangement for all of you in the Royal ballroom. If you will be so good as to follow me or my assistants, we will see that none of you get lost."