"I will come get you in a few hours." Maximus had said. "There's a party tonight."
The party, as it turns out, was at the Royal Palace. "This is perfect." The Doctor whispered to Rose. "Just play along for a bit longer." He encouraged. "I am certain, the answers we seek will be found at the palace."
Maximus had brought along Raven, the slave from the bath house. She was apparently a favorite of his. She was put on a leash just as Rose had been doing for the Doctor. They were going to the palace and all but the Emperor's own slaves would be required to be tethered to their Masters here.
But as the two couples, Maximus with Raven and the Doctor with Rose walked through the palace, the Doctor was surprised to find that he encountered no untethered slaves. Every slave was with a Master and the Emperor's only staff appeared to be his guard. This seemed very strange. In a world where women were slaves by imperial decree, the Emperor himself kept no slaves. It made no sense.
Some guards came up to take Rose's and Raven's tethers from the men, the Doctor was reluctant to relinquish his. Maximus explains. "No women are permitted to have audience with the Emperor. They will be taken to a large sitting room to wait for us together. They will be quite safe."
"It's nice, Rose. Don't be afraid." Raven adds in encouragement.
Hearing Raven confirm Maximus's words helps the Doctor relax a bit. He leans in and speaks to Rose. "Maybe if you have Raven by herself you can learn something. See what you can find out." the Doctor whispers to her before handing her tether to a waiting guard.
Rose and Raven and other women are led away towards the sitting room while the Doctor and Maximus along with other men move the opposite direction towards the emperor's audience chamber.
Rose was a little more relaxed after her alone time with The Doctor although she was still a little uneasy about what was going on. At first Rose became extremely nervous and frightened when one of the guards approached her, she looked at The Doctor worried. She eventually relaxed when Raven reassured her that she would be alright.
As the guard led them to the huge waiting room, Rose sat down on a couch next to Raven. She smiled warmly at Raven and looked at her with curious eyes wondering if it was safe to talk here. Raven sat close to Rose, placing an arm around her shoulder so that they could whisper together and have a private chat without the other girls in the room overhearing. Other girls grouped together similarly to talk and no one was paying too much attention to Rose and Raven.
"I saw. You had clothes on when you came here." Raven said to Rose with a tone that seemed almost awstruck. "And the way you look into your Master's eyes." she adds. "I can tell, you are not a slave, Rose. ... Who are you?" Rose was not really surprised when Raven found her out. "Raven if I tell you the truth can you keep it between us? I don't want you getting hurt." She needed to find out what was going on and she knew the only way was to tell Raven the truth and why they were here.
"We can help you but in order for us to do that I need you to tell me what is going on here." Raven sat close to Rose and whispered to her. She couldn't explain it, but there was something about Rose that made her instinctively trust her.
"Maybe where you are from, men can defy the Emperor's laws." Raven tells Rose. "But here, we do not dare. The Emperor hates women. When he first came to power 30 years ago, he was going to have all women rounded up and killed as a waste of military resources." Raven reveals.
"It was my parents and others like them that negotiated with the Emperer to allow women to live. By serving men, we can make them happy ... keep up morale and therefore serve a military purpose. But, we live as property. It's the only way." Rose closed her eyes in sadness for these women and shook her head. She then leaned in and whispered. "What happened to the last Emperor?" She had a feeling now that she knew the reason for all of this that they could finally do something and save the women. "The Star Emperor killed him and took the throne by right of conquest." Raven explains. "It is said that the Star Emperor stepped out of a star that fell from the sky. That he killed 2000 Centurions before he reached the Imperial palace. They say that he is unbeatable."
The Doctor walks with Maximus and other similarly prestigious Roman citizens back towards the sitting room where Rose and Raven and the others wait to be retrieved. He had learned a little, but not nearly as much as he had hoped. He thought they were supposed to meet with the Emperor, but instead they were addressed by a lackey ... a pawn. He was a man, but no less a slave than Raven and the other women of the empire. His eyes were glazed over ... dilated. He was under some form of mind control ... Alien technology, of that the Doctor was certain.
Maybe Rose had learned more, the Doctor hoped, as the Centurion guards opened the doors to the sitting room and began leading women out by their leashes. Rose nodded at raven as she looked into her eyes reassuring her that they will help. She then saw The Doctor and Raven's Master walk into the room and she did her best to hide the worry in her eyes as both her and Raven were retrieved. When the guard gave The Doctor Rose's leash she waited til the guard was away and leaned in close to The Doctor to whisper, "Can you find out a way we can be alone without anyone spying?" The Doctor nodded to Rose and whispered back, "Just follow my lead."
With that the Doctor lead Rose by her leash back into the now mostly vacated sitting room. He sat on one of the sofas near the back of the room so that he could see the entire room, then abruptly pulled Rose down flopping her on her belly across his lap.
Her ass now on display before him the Doctor brought his hand down in a wide arc to smack Rose's bottom with a "pop." He cupped his palm to form an air pocket to amplify the sound and made large visible motions with his arms as he spanked Rose over his knee several more times.
The swats were loud and should have looked menacing, but hopefully not too hard. Maybe hard enough to produce a squeal or two.
The Centurion guards at the door look back at the Doctor in surprise.
"Do you mind?!" The Doctor chides.
Of few of the other masters chuckle openly at Rose's predicament. The guards nod and close the door leaving the Doctor and Rose alone in the sitting room. Rose almost looked suprised when she felt The Doctor's hand come down on her ass. A quiet squeal came from her lips as she felt her toes curl slightly. She did her best to look like she knew she was being punished for something. A small shiver shot down her spine once more. She shook her head a little, trying to remind herself to stay focused. As the Doctor found himself and Rose alone at last he stared down at the naked ass in his lap. His hand had left a red print on Rose's pale skin. It took an enormous amount of willpower for the Doctor to stop spanking Rose. He found that he rather enjoyed it.
The Doctor helped Rose sit up beside him, but he held a finger over her lips indicating that she should still remain silent. He pulled his sonic screwdriver from some hidden pocket under his toga and walked quickly around the room brandishing the tool. It's familiar whine filled the air as he walked from one side of the room to the other.
"Just as I thought." The Doctor confirmed. "There's no surveillance in this room. This emperor, whoever or whatever he is, doesn't consider women to be any sort of a threat." He adds as he returns to sit at Rose's side.
"We are free to talk all we want here." The Doctor says to Rose with a triumphant grin.
Rose let out a sigh of relief. "Finally..." She ran her hand through her hair and began explaining, "Raven told me 30 years ago when the Emperor first took over he was going to have every woman killed as a waste of military resources but the parents along with hers negotiated with him that if he kept them alive that the women could become slaves and please the men." "Right!" The Doctor exclaims as Rose shares with him what she has learned.
"That jives with what I have suspected and the reason we can talk here without being observed. Rose, we need to keep up this charade just a little while longer. There is going to be some kind of "party" tonight and the Emperor is supposed to be in attendance in person. I am sure that whatever we are dealing with isn't human, but I need to get a look at him to figure out what our next move should be."
The Doctor takes Rose by the hand and looks her in the eyes. "As long as our enemy thinks of women as nothing more than slaves who don't pose any sort of a threat, you're my ace in the hole, Rose. Whatever happens, you may have to play a very big role in taking down this threat. Do you think you can do that?" Rose smiles as she squeezes his hand and kisses him. "Doctor I've gone this far I won't turn back now. I'm willing to go through whatever it takes to make these place safe again and I promised Raven I will help her and I meant every word."
