Preserving Perfection: Self-obsessing with body augmentation has left the entire planet of Ramos without children. But to acquire children means interstellar war! (Veiled Destiny Book 2)

by Jason Bourn

Garth could see a scurry of activity on both screens showing the two Kingdom Lords as they read through the trade agreement.

  Lucia was the first to comment, after reading it for less than five minutes. “If I’m reading this correctly, if we agree to these terms, we will become part of your Kingdom again. In addition, we will have to pay a ten percent duty for all transactions, payable to you, Garth. This is exactly what we had agreed to previously, when you conscripted our Kingdom before. Are you saying that we will be no better off than we were before?”

  Garth smiled and said, “Yes, but only if you are the first to agree.”

  Before anyone could say anything else, Trolian spoke up, “I agree to your terms.”

  Smiling even more broadly, Garth said, “Duly noted. Please sign the trade agreement and send it back to me.”

  Turning to the side he said, “Captain Darian, please send over ten additional ships to Lucia’s Kingdom, she obviously needs some convincing on the treaty.” Garth made sure the channel to both Lucia and Trolian was still open and the two could hear his conversation.

  “Ah,” said Garth as the signed trade agreement from Trolian came in. He glanced at it and nodded. “Very good Trolian, we have a deal. I will talk to you again shortly.”

  He closed the channel with Trolian and turned to Lucia. I have another trade agreement to send to you. It will increase the duty you pay us on all transactions by one additional percent. This duty increase will continue to get larger by one percent for every hour you delay. The additional ships should jump within the hour and we will have more than twenty at your main world within the hour.

  Resignedly, Lucia looked up at Garth and nodded her head in defeat. She knew she couldn’t win in any kind of struggle with Garth, and she was sure that he would not hold back, even if he had to crush her Kingdom. She quickly signed the second trade agreement, now wishing that she had signed the first one. Oh well, she thought, you live and you learn not to stand in the way of Garth Nolan.

  – – –

  After successfully getting both of the two smaller Kingdoms back into Garth’s Kingdom, Garth decided the time was right to go after Donald’s Kingdom as well.

  Before returning to his own worlds, Garth had Darian direct his fleet to Donald’s Kingdom. Donald was always very enterprising, but very wary as well. He had succumbed to Garth through brute force the first time, and now he understood how powerful and clever Garth was.

  When Garth’s battle ships, now numbering thirty-one thanks to Lucia’s and Trolian’s contributions, appeared at the jump point at Donald’s main world, Donald knew he was in trouble. He knew that if he waged war with Garth, he would undoubtedly lose. However, he knew that his five ships could do some damage, even more so if he could get the Torval 2 fleet involved, so he felt he held some bargaining power.

  Garth requested a meeting, which didn’t surprise Donald at all.

  When they met, after all the niceties were concluded, Garth surprised Donald with a quick proposal. “Donald, we have always been such good friends.” Donald rolled his eyes, but remained silent. “In that regard,” Garth continued, “I propose that you join my Kingdom with the same terms as our prior agreement, with one large exception. In exchange for signing this trade agreement at this sitting, I will allow you to be the administrator of both Lucia’s and Trolian's worlds, which are now part of my Kingdom.”

  Donald rose his eyebrows at that news. He had heard earlier that neither Lucia nor Trolian would ever enter into another trade agreement with Garth, much less one that would take away their Kingdoms. He was surprised that he was able to get not one, but both to willingly give up their Kingdoms.

  While Donald’s previous trade agreement was not especially good, being the administrator of both Lucia’s and Trolian’s worlds opened up countless possibilities for enriching himself at the expense of those worlds. He would hold the power over what goods and services went where – and with power came money. He could see himself doing very well in this deal. And it wasn’t as if he really had any choice.

  Smiling resignedly, knowing that any other deal coming from Garth would just be worse, he nodded his ascent to the deal.

  Garth, knowing that this little carrot would be enough, smiled back. He quickly sent over the trade agreement, which Donald signed and rapidly sent back.

  Garth said, “It was a pleasure doing business with you. I know that we will both prosper from this arrangement. I wish you well in the future.”

  Donald, knowing that he couldn’t have done any better, wished Garth success in the future as well.

  Garth signed off, satisfied.

  In this one trip he had acquired the worlds and ships from three of four Kingdoms that had not been under his control. That left just Kadar’s Kingdom. And he had a plan for that.

  CHAPTER 27 – KADAR ENCORE

  The meeting started with Nadia’s pointed query to Admiral Badstubner, “How did Garth get three out of four of his old Kingdoms back? And how did he get control of their battle ships?” Normally, Nadia wasn’t so offensive, but she was feeling particularly irritated, having been taken completely off guard by the swift turn of events.

  The admiral was shaken. He had fully believed that the strategy of giving the battle ships to the smaller Kingdoms would protect them. Never in his wildest dreams, which had become nightmares actually, had he envisioned a scenario where three Kingdoms and eleven battle ships would be lost to Garth. “It appears,” he said, “that the Kingdom Lords each voluntarily signed trade agreements with Garth. The agreements have been scrutinized and they appear legitimate. And the now ex-Lords testimony is that they were voluntarily agreed to, which has been corroborated with advanced AI-assisted lie detection equipment. So, it is legally binding and since they controlled the battle ships, it was within their rights to cede control to Garth.”

  Scowling, Nadia couldn’t help but let her frustrations out on the admiral. “I knew it was a mistake to give up control of all the battle ships. I should never have agreed to it.” Sighing, she then went on, “I suppose it is too late for those three Kingdoms and their ships, but we have to focus on the remaining Kingdom, Kadar’s, and the Periphery worlds and ships. We can’t let Garth get control of them. What can we do to stop Garth from continuing his offensive?”

  The admiral, now on more sure ground, immediately said, “We need to set up a sensor network around all the critical worlds so we know when Garth’s ships have jumped there. That way we can respond immediately in force. We can have one hundred battle ships ready to go anywhere at a moment’s notice. I recommend that we do this for all of Kadar’s main worlds. There are far too many Periphery worlds for it to be feasible to set up sensory networks on all of them, so we will only do it for the most strategic Periphery worlds.”

  Nodding, Nadia felt much better about the situation. Still, she had a nagging feeling that Garth was not done with his intimidation.

  – – –

  Kadar’s wedding day had finally arrived. It was four months to the day from when Kadar had taken his Kingdom back, and he couldn’t be happier.

  Heather was dressed in a glowing white chiffon dress that accentuated all her best features, complete with a long, flowing veil and white matching gloves that went up past her elbows. She looked spectacular.

  There were representatives from more than fifty different worlds in attendance at the royal castle. The grounds were immaculate, with white lilies and orchids adorning every spare surface.

  Heather was nervous, however. She knew this was a big day for her and she knew that this would be the happiest day of her life. Unfortunately, she still had not told Kadar about her past, but she had never found the right time to do it. As the wedding day drew closer, she hadn’t wanted to spoil the joy she saw in Kadar’s eyes whenever he looked at her.

  The wedding ceremony itself was beautiful, going off without a hitch.

  Afterwards, after the pictures were taken, the bride and groom were introduced to the joyous assembly in the
reception hall.

  The master of ceremony shouted over the sounds of blaring trumpets, “Introducing for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Kadar Rahib.”

  The doors slowly opened and the elegant couple walked through the doors. Together, the pair looked every bit as royal as their titles professed them to be. More importantly though, the two held hands fiercely, the love in their eyes as they looked at each other was clear for all to see. Their happiness drew smiles on each of their guest’s lips. After all, this was a storybook ending to their whirlwind romance.

  Kadar was ecstatic. Here he was, surrounded by all of his closest friends, with the love of his life standing next to him, holding his hand. He squeezed it gently and she responded by squeezing back fiercely.

  Heather was overjoyed, standing next to Kadar. He was tall, dark and handsome and smarter than almost anyone she knew. She had known early-on that he was special, even before she had met him personally. Thinking back, she shivered, pushing unwanted thoughts out of her head. Today, she would forget all of those thoughts and enjoy the happiness that today was.

  The empty wine bottles and confetti on the ground attested to the success of the reception party. As the last guests left, Heather sagged against Kadar, still smiling happily.

  Kadar drew Heather closer and whispered, “What would you like to do now? Did you want to open some presents, have a little more food or wine, or did you want to do something else?” A gentle squeeze when he said the last part told Heather which one he wanted.

  Heather smiled, pulled him close and whispered in his ear, “Let’s open a few presents until we find something interesting, then we can retire. Truthfully, I am dying of curiosity to see what some of our friends have given us. I have always loved opening presents.”

  He chuckled and said, “OK, but we’re not going to open all of them right now.”

  Gratefully, Heather dashed to the pile of presents and picked out a brightly packaged box and tore the wrappings off. Delightedly she saw a beautiful pair of fluted wine glasses, each shimmering in the light, giving off every color of the rainbow every time the glasses were moved.

  Garth grabbed a long thin box, wrapped in garish blue paper. Roughly tearing off the paper, he smiled and showed Heather a matching pair of swords. Kadar exclaimed, “These are Basket Hilt French Rapiers. See the intricate metal work encrusted with precious stones to protect your hand. These are some of the most beautiful and rare swords in existence.”

  Garth was engrossed in his examination of the features of the swords, so Heather sorted through the presents until she found a combination his/hers present – two boxes each separate, but tied together.

  “Let’s open this one next,” she exclaimed. It should be fun. She broke the ribbons holding the two boxes together and gave him the one with the large “K” on it, while she took the one with the large “H” on it.

  Tearing open their boxes, they both gasped in surprise.

  His box contained an extremely rare Faberge egg, white gold with silver embellishments, with diamonds, pearl and sapphire jewelry. He opened the egg to look inside it, and was totally engrossed as Heather opened her present.

  Her present contained a white scarf with fine threads of silver and gold making up a beautiful ghost-like picture of her own face. As she opened it up, a small piece of paper fell out. She cradled the beautiful scarf with one hand as she scooped up the paper and froze. It said “Meet me two days from the wedding at noon at the space ship ‘Lunarcy’ at the space dock. Do not tell anyone where you are going or I will expose your secret to Kadar.” It was signed, “Garth.”

  She quickly crumpled up the paper and hid it in her wedding gown. She looked up at Kadar to see if he had noticed. She was relieved to see that he was still engrossed in the egg, opening it up to find an elaborate chest, and inside the chest was a jewel-encrusted crown.

  She went over to him and said “I’m tired of opening presents now. Can we retire?”

  A huge grin came over his face and he immediately forgot about the elaborate egg. Picking her up over his shoulder, he marched up the stair to their chambers. She screamed happily, glad that she could forget about her problems for a while.

  – – –

  It was worse than Heather could imagine.

  Heather had made the excuse that she wanted to go shopping in town. She had only a single escort, since she said she wanted to get “women’s things,” which caused Kadar to quench his desire to go along with her.

  She had been to five shops, trying on different outfits in each. Her escort, a big, burly guard with a no-nonsense attitude, politely stayed outside the shop, not letting anyone inside while she was trying clothes on.

  At the sixth shop, she continued her routine, but this shop had a door in the back. Normally used for deliveries, the door was typically shut. However, Heather had been in the store before and she had seen how to disarm to alarm and open it. Opening the door quietly she walked outside and shut the door behind her. She hoped the guard would not get into too much trouble when he came looking for her and found her missing.

  She quickly moved along the alley, skirting the busy streets and finding her way to the space port. It was not too far away, one of the reasons she had chosen that area to do her shopping.

  Holding the hat she had purchased earlier low over her face, she found the Lunarcy ship’s gate and walked as quickly as she could without appearing to hurry. She wanted to be back soon to ensure that Kadar wouldn’t worry too much.

  Entering the gate, she was challenged by the automated gate-keeper. As she looked up and briefly removed her hat, her image was sent to the Lunarcy and she was allowed to proceed. As she entered the ship, she held back a cringe. She needed to do this.

  Garth met her at the ship’s entrance and escorted her to a large room.

  “Welcome Heather, I’m so glad you chose to come. I have something to show you. With that he started the display.

  Heather’s face turned white as she saw herself with Garth. It was when her indoctrination was just beginning. “Heather, this is the next largest Kingdom Lord, Kadar Rahib. I want you to get to know him better than he knows himself. I have great plans for you, but they all revolve around you getting to know Kadar. I need you to pledge your allegiance to me and promise to do whatever it takes to take Kadar down.”

  She responded, “I do swear my allegiance to you and I will do whatever it takes to bring Kadar down.”

  Heather whimpered in frustration. At the time, Garth had told her that Kadar was a cut-throat criminal, using his Kingdom to profit at the expense of others. Of course she had taken that oath. It was only later that she had found that he was a kind and caring man, both smart and considerate to others. She had told Garth later that his assessment of Kadar was wrong. The more she learned, the more she grew to respect him. When Garth finally tricked Kadar into giving up his Kingdom and Garth offered the job of administrator to Heather, she had told him that she could no longer honor her pledge to take Kadar down. Garth had seemed to accept this with grace and allowed her to be Kadar’s administrator anyway, so she assumed that everything was all right. But she had made the mistake of not telling all this to Kadar. And now Garth was going to use the recording he had against her.

  Garth looked at her cruelly and said, “You have two choices.

  “The first option is that I restrain you here and send the recording to Kadar. We will then go back to my Kingdom I’ll get a message to him that you have come to me with everything you know to take him down and that you used him and never loved him. I’ll leak the picture of you coming onboard the Lunarcy of your own free will as proof of that.

  “The second option is that you make a short recording that you were kidnapped by a Periphery spy. Kadar is to send 100000 interstellar credits for your release. This is a lot of money, but really is only a drop in the bucket for Kadar. He can afford this one hundred times over. This will at least recompense me for my wasted work with you. You never had that killer instinct – you
always had a soft side in you that I knew would be a problem.

  “Decide now. Either way works for me. The first choice will make Kadar miserable for life. The second choice makes his wallet a bit thinner, but he gets his precious wife back. What will it be? As I said, decide now or I will decide for you and you may not like the results.”

  Heather knew she had to make a decision quickly, but she was always afraid when she didn’t have time to analyze the situation fully. The only thing she knew for sure was that she didn’t want to lose Kadar. With that she said, “I will take the second option.”

  Nodding Garth said, “OK, let’s get to it so I can get out of here and you can get back to your husband.” With that Garth gave Heather a short script of what to say. “Say these lines and you will be back with your husband before you know it.”

  Garth started recording, ensuring that only Heather could be seen.

  She said into the camera, “Kadar my love, I have been kidnapped by someone from the Periphery. He has been good to me, but he has said that he wants 100000 credits sent to him at the following address in order to allow for my release. I do not recognize him and he has not given me his name. I am so sorry about this. Know that I love you.” She followed up with the secure digital address for the credits to be sent.

  When Garth smiled, it sent a chill down Heather’s back. She hoped she had chosen wisely and had not made a major mistake.

  – – –

  Kadar was yelling with all his might.

  “What do you mean she just disappeared? Your entire job was to watch after her to make sure nothing happened to her.”

  The guard, though big and burly, was thoroughly cowed. Kadar was right in his face trying to get some piece of information so he could find her.

  “She went into the store and tried on clothes, just like she did several times before, then when she didn’t come out in a reasonable amount of time, I went in. She was gone. There was a back door that must have been used to get her out, but I didn’t know of any back door.”