CHAPTER 28

POLITICS

Luke entered his suite. He and Leia had discussed the situation for longer than he had intended. He went to his sleeping area, stripped his uniform and threw it on the floor of his sleeping area as he went into the bath area.

He stopped a few moments later as he re-entered the sleeping area. His uniform had been picked up from the floor and placed in the recycling bin. He saw a movement on his bed and smiled.

"I told Amethyst that I'd come in as soon as I got back. Did you get tired of waiting?"

Luke used the light panel to increase the light level. Amazed, he stopped and stared at the young girl that sat naked on his bed.

"What are you doing here? How'd you get in here?" he demanded hastily grabbing a sleeping robe and covering his own nakedness.

"I am here to serve you," Dorcine responded.

"Put your clothes on!" he ordered.

His own embarrassment made his voice sound harsher than he had actually intended.

"But, Lord ..."

"I am not your Lord – and I'm not going to be!" Luke stormed out of his suite yelling, "Zar-komev!"

He continued calling for the ambassador as he hurried through the palace halls. Hearing Luke's raised voice, Callista came to the living area. She followed Luke out of the suite.

"Luke? What's wrong?" she asked.

Han and Lando both came out of their respective suites in response to Luke's yells as he charged down the hallway of the palace.

"Luke? What's going on?" Han questioned.

"Where's that Ambassador?" Luke demanded.

"Luke?" Amethyst joined Callista in the hallway.

Luke turned and saw his wives standing in the hallway in their sleeping robes.

"Go get dressed!" he ordered harshly.

Leia joined the others in the hallway.

"What's happened?" she asked.

Ignoring her, Luke went down to the door of the guest suite and began to pound on the door. "Zar-komev, I want to talk to you – now!" he yelled.

The Ambassador angrily opened his door.

"What is the meaning of this?" the Ambassador demanded as he opened the door.

"Did you have anything to do with that child coming to my suite?" Luke demanded.

"Of course. She came back in tears when you dismissed her earlier. My wife came to tell me what had happened. I explained that she'd probably embarrassed you in front of your wives and that she must wait until you returned to your suite and then approach you when you were alone."

Dorcine emerged from Luke's suite, wrapped only in a loose, thin robe. Behind her came an angry Callista and Amethyst.

"What is she doing in here?" Callista demanded.

"She's not fit to be a concubine," Amethyst hissed loudly. "She does not have the virtue of a flesh seller."

"Amethyst," Luke spoke sharply, "until tomorrow morning, these people are our guests. Dorcine, you are to go to your suite. Hodges," Luke looked at his ensign as he came hurriedly up the stairs to the third floor, "Double the guards at these doors. These people are under quarters arrest until I release them in the morning. And I want a guard on my suite until these people leave."

"Yes, sir! I'll see to it immediately," Hodges saluted.

Luke turned to the Ambassador. "You have insulted my wives by bringing a woman into my Household without proper negotiations and assuming that she would be acceptable. You have insulted me by bringing a child and expecting me to take her to my bed. And you have insulted the government I represent by trying to form an alliance with my House while refusing to acknowledge the republic which I have sworn to serve. Your presence offends me. The presence of this child on my base offends my wives. You will be ready to depart at 0700 hours tomorrow morning."

"But, Star Marshall ... the negotiations!" the Ambassador exclaimed.

"I want to hear nothing from you," Luke interrupted.

Luke turned around and started toward his suite. "I told you two to cover yourselves," he snapped as he approached.

Callista and Amethyst hurried back inside the suite, leaving the door opened so Luke could follow them. He did so, slamming it shut.

"What in the galaxy happened?" Callista asked.

"When I came out of the shower, she was sitting naked on my bed!" he told them as he paced angrily around the living area.

"And you weren't tempted?" Callista baited Luke lightly.

"She's a chi ..." Luke stopped and smiled at her as he recognized her teasing tone.

He nodded slowly as he realized that she was trying to divert his anger. Amethyst shook her head.

"How could they have possibly offered her to you? She behaves like a slut."

Luke raised an eyebrow. "A little harsh, aren't you?"

"She came uninvited to you while you were with your wives. When she is told she is not acceptable, she sneaks into your private sleeping area. She doesn't have the proper manners to be in the Household of a Lord."

Luke suppressed a smile. "Maybe they thought you could teach her."

"Raise her would be more like it," Callista commented sarcastically.

"I know," he agreed. "Can you imagine being willing to send a child to a man you've never met – whom you know nothing about."

There was a knock on the door.

"What now?" Callista asked.

"That's Hodges," Amethyst told her as Luke went to answer the knock.

"Excuse me, sir," Hodges said as Luke opened the door.

"What is it?" Luke inquired.

"The older woman is most insistent that she speak to you. I told her that I couldn't allow that. She asked me if I'd ask you to allow her to talk to one of your wives."

Luke looked over his shoulder. "What do you think?" he asked his wives.

"She's really upset, sir, ladies" Hodges added. "I feel kind of sorry for her."

After a moment, Luke said with a sigh, "Tell her she can come down here. I'll allow her one minute."

A few moments later, Hodges escorted the older woman into the living area. Amethyst and Callista sat side-by-side on the couch. Luke stood near them.

The older woman hurried over to Luke and fell to her knees in front of him bowing her forehead to the floor.

"Great Lord, please forgive my intrusion," she pleaded.

"Sit up," Amethyst ordered gently.

The woman sat up and looked at her. "Please, noble lady, ask your husband to reconsider. She is so young!"

"Yes, she is," Luke stated. "She's too young. Even if I wanted to add another woman to my Household – which I don't – it would be a woman, not a child."

"But you cannot send her back!"

Luke studied her a moment. He could sense her repressed hysteria just beneath the surface of her careful control.

"Why not?" he asked slowly.

"Surely you cannot wish the death of one so young – especially since she has not given offence. She told me that you wouldn't even allow her to try to please you."

"What are you talking about?" Luke demanded.

The woman looked at him uncertainly. "Lord, she is a royal daughter. She has been sent to you to begin negotiations. If she fails to please you and causes the negations to fail, her life will be forfeited."

"But she hasn't," he replied.

"But the result is the same. She cannot be offered to another man ... she has already been rejected by a lord. It would be an insult to offer her to any other lord. She is a royal daughter ... she cannot be given to a commoner. She'll be expected to either become a temple whore or to kill herself, whichever pleases her father."

Luke swore and turned angrily away from the woman. He stood staring out the balcony doorway.

"Go back to your suite," Callista told her.

"You will not save my young mistress?" the older woman cried.

"The girl will not die," Luke assured her, not turning toward her.

The woman began to smile. "You will take her into your Household!"

"She has been given as a gift to my husband," Amethyst told her. "How he disposes of her is no longer your concern. Have the girl report to me at once."

Luke waited until the woman had hurried from the room and then smiled at Amethyst.

"Maternal instinct?" he joked.

"I can't let them destroy that child's life." She stood up and stood directly in front of him. "But I will make sure that she understands that I will personally take her back to her father if she's ever found naked in your bed again!"

Luke waited on the tarmac as the Ambassador and his party were escorted to their ship. He confronted the Ambassador.

"Is it true that if I refuse to take Dorcine into my Household that she will be killed upon her return home?"

"She will not be killed," the Ambassador retorted. "However," he added slowly under Luke's hostile stare, "it is true that she will ... no longer have a ... position ... within her father's court. She will be ... encouraged to ... find a solution."

"To kill herself," Luke stated firmly.

The Ambassador shrugged but avoided Luke's eyes.

Luke sighed. "I will take Dorcine as a member of my Household – as an adopted sister or a maid to my wives or something." He pointed a finger at the Ambassador. "Make sure her father understands, she is accepted into the Household – not into my harem. She is a child and will be treated as a child. When she has reached maturity, she will be granted her freedom."

The Ambassador smiled. "It is your right to do what ever you wish with the girl. Now, if we can go to the conference room?"

"Why?"

"To conclude our negotiations, of course!"

"There will be no negotiations," Luke stated.

"But you have accepted the girl!"

"I have rescued a child from death."

"But it will be a great insult to the Dagoon to take his daughter and offer nothing in return."

"I offer to allow the Dagoon to remain on his throne. I offer to allow you to return to your planet instead of having you arrested as a slaver. I offer to stay away from your world – because when I come to your world, I will come as a liberator – I will stop the slave trade in which you indulge. Are those good enough terms for you to take back?"

The Ambassador had paled. "Slaver? I am not ..."

"Get in your ship ... Get off of my base ... Stay out of Alliance territory. The next time I see you, you will stand trial for human merchandising."

Amethyst stood on the balcony and watched Dorcine as she walked in the gardens below.

"What are you going to do with her?" she asked Luke.

He chuckled. "You asked for her. As far as I am concerned, she's yours."

Amethyst came into the living area and walked over to Luke. He was concerned to see how pale she looked.

"She asked me at breakfast if she is going to be my handmaiden. And if so, since I am obvious repulsive to you in my current physical condition, would I not like her to assume my nuptial duties until I no longer offend your eyes."

Trying to suppress a smile, Luke put his arms around her. "She doesn't understand how beautiful you are ... and how precious." He kissed her deeply. "The old woman said that Dorcine has been trained since she was two years old to please men."

"Considering how you were raised and some of the dim-witted ideas you have, I'd think you could understand Dorcine's situation," Callista commented looking up from the holo-cube she was watching.

Amethyst, still in Luke's arms, leaned over just enough to swat the back of Callista's head.

"Hey!" Callista yelled in mock indignation.

"You two, settle down or I'll use Dorcine to replace you both," Luke joked.

Amethyst punched his arm as Callista hit him in the head with a throw pillow.

"That is not amusing," Amethyst stated.

"I'd rather have Mara," Callista commented.

Luke laughed, gave Amethyst a tight hug and then released her. He walked over to the balcony door and watched Dorcine for a while.

"We are going to have to decide what to do with her. Because of the way she was raised and her age, I'm afraid to let her take off on her own – we'll have to be careful where we send her," he stated.

"She must be taught manners," Amethyst insisted. "To have been raised for this kind of service, she knows almost none of the proper behavior of a harem. I don't see how she could survive for long in the household of a stern lord."

Luke swung around to stare at her.

"Suppose I'd taken her as a concubine," Luke asked coming over to sit down beside Callista. "What would've happened if she'd come in here the other night when we were together?"

"Without you having sent for her?" Callista asked.

Luke nodded.

Amethyst gave a slight shrug as she lowered herself into an easy chair. "If you didn't discipline her, it would've been Callista's right to do so."

"And what would that have been?" he inquired.

"Anything from being locked in her rooms for a few days to being beaten – depending upon how often she'd offended in the past, how often she'd been told," Amethyst answered. She added with a shrug, "Depending on the culture and the time in history. Now things are more lax but ..."

"Beaten?" Luke questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Amethyst nodded. "And that would've been gentle compared to the stunt she pulled later."

"You mean being in my bed?"

"To have been told by the lord of the household that she wasn't wanted and then to present herself like that ... a beating would've probably been one of the better things that could've happened to her."

"Unless, of course," Callista added, "she really is as accomplished in bed as she claims to be. It's possible that she could've overcome a man's anger."

"Even so," Amethyst told her, "to directly defy her lord's order ... and to ensnare him in that manner ... even during the time of the Empire, during most cultures the wives and the established concubines would've make her life miserable."

Luke looked thoughtful for a long moment.

"Callista, yell for Dorcine to join us," he said finally.

He sat still, waiting for Dorcine to reply to Callista's summons. He motioned Dorcine into a chair when she arrived.

"Dorcine, has Callista and Amethyst explained to you what happened last night and this morning?" he asked.

She smiled brilliantly. "Yes, Lord! They have told me that you have agreed to accept me into your Household. I am so grateful!"

"Did they explain that you are here as my kid sister – not as a member of my ... ah ... harem?"

Her eyes clouded. "I thought they said this because they were jealous – because of their great age."

Luke struggled not to show his amusement as he saw the angry looks both wives directed at the young girl.

"Dorcine, have you ever known any other girl who's been trained the way you've been?" he asked.

"Of course ... there were several of my cousins who were trained with me. All royal daughters are trained."

"And have any of them been sent to a lord's house yet."

"Yes ... two of them."

"And have you had any contact with them ... since they went to live with their new lord?"

"Well ..."

"Tell me what you know about them," Luke encouraged her.

"My cousin Talsamai went to the Household of Lord Benn-sukaz. But she ..."

"What happened to her?" Luke asked.

"We do not know for sure. It is believed that she angered one of the Lord's wives. Her body was sent back to my Uncle."

"What happened when your uncle learned of his daughter's death?"

"Naturally, he attacked the Lord Benn-sukaz."

"And your other cousin?" he pressed.

"She was refused ... she is ..." Dorcine lowered her eyes. "She would not honor her father's wish. She serves in the temples. I am not allowed to mention her name."

Luke looked at the girl for a moment. "And how did her father revenge this dishonor to his daughter?"

Dorcine looked up at him in surprise. "Naturally, he waged war on the man to whom his daughter had been offered."

Luke looked over the head of the girl and gave his two wives a knowing smile. Amethyst walked around to Luke's side and sat on the arm of his chair.

"Are you purposefully taught to cause dissension within a lord's household?" she asked Dorcine.

"No, lady! We are trained to please the master of the house to whom we are presented."

"How many of the girls trained as you are live happily with their lords?" Callista questioned as she began to understand where Luke was going with his questions.

"I don't know the answer to that, lady."

Luke tugged gently on a lock of Amethyst's hair that hung against his shoulder. "The security guard is still outside the door. Have him to go ask Leia if she and Han can come over here."

It was some time later that Luke, his wives, Dorcine, Leia and Han sat in the living area of Luke's suite.

"Dorcine has told us some very interesting things regarding her planet and their culture," Luke informed Leia and Han. "I've asked her to explain more fully about the structure of her civilization."

Dorcine looked at the people who sat facing her.

"I'm not sure how to start," Dorcine admitted to them.

"What I want," Luke told her, "is for you to tell us what life would've been like on your planet for you normally. In other words, if you hadn't been sent to me, what would you've done?"

"I probably would have been purchased as a wife or given to another lord."

"Purchased as a wife? What would have happened then?"

"If I had been able to show signs of a child by the end of the first year, I would have been made a Maniish – a permanent wife."

"And if you weren't?"

"I would be removed so the man could take another wife."

"Removed? To where? A dungeon? A prison? A grave?"

"No. Only a Maniish would have her ashes respected by her lord. My body would simply be removed ... out into the wilderness."

Luke's family exchanged looks of disbelief.

"Okay, so you have enough children to be allowed to live. What would happen next?"

"If my lord were a young man – without a daughter old enough to offer for alliances to other lords, eventually some lord would offer a daughter to our household."

"And what would happen if the new girl insulted you or your husband?"

Dorcine shrugged. "She would be punished ... perhaps returned ... perhaps put to death. It would depend upon her behavior."

"And what would a lord do if one of his daughters had been insulted?"

"He would wage war against the offender."

"And what happens to the loser?"

"The lord would be killed, his property would belong to the winning lord, his retainers hired and his household disposed of."

"Killed?"

She shrugged. "It depends."

"Okay, suppose your father wages war on me and I lose. What would happen to my wives?"

"With Callista, if she pleased my father, she would be taken into his household. If she had daughters, they would be adopted. That is often how young lords obtain daughters until his own are old enough to offer – he takes the older wife of a conquered lord. If, however, the older wife had a daughter who pleased my father, she would be taken and then the mother and siblings would be killed."

Luke sighed. "And Amethyst?"

"She carries another man's child. She would not even be taken before my father. She would be sacrificed to our god."

Luke spun around as he felt a wave of revulsion and horror from Amethyst.

"Get her out of here," Luke ordered, waving an arm toward Dorcine. He grabbed Amethyst up in his arms as if to protect her from the horrors that filled her mind. Han grabbed the arm of a stunned Dorcine and half drug her across the room to the front door. He handed her to the security guard at the outer door of the suite.

"Take her somewhere and keep her there … as far away from this suite as you can," Han ordered and then turned back to the living area.

Luke was holding Amethyst. "Are you all right?" he asked anxiously.

"She is a barbarian!" Amethyst gasped.

Callista joined Luke as he comforted Amethyst who clung tightly to him.

"I do not want her near me! Promise me you will remove her! Please, Luke!"

Luke looked over at Leia and Han.

"I don't know," Leia said softly. "I feel like Amethyst. She comes from a completely uncivilized planet. I don't know what we can ..."

Her voice trailed off in horror. She shuttered and pressed against Han.

"I can't send her back," Luke stated.

"Why not?" Amethyst demanded pushing away from him. "Her father sent her in order to provoke you into a war. They want to destroy your Household!"

She buried her face in her hands and began to sob.

"Darling, nothing is going to happen," Luke told Amethyst as he drew her back into his arms. "As long as Dorcine is here, her father will have no excuse to bother us."

Han came over to her. "And even if he does," he told Amethyst, "these are petty warlords. There's an entire Navy that would sacrifice every ship, every man to protect you. You know that."

She looked up at him with frightened eyes. "Really?"

"You know that every man that sees you, falls in love with you and would do anything necessary to see that you are safe and happy," Han told her, a slight teasing tone in his voice, a big boyish grin on his face.

Luke smiled his thanks to Han. "Come on ... Let me take you into your room ... you can lie down and rest."

Amethyst leaned heavily against Luke as he led her into the sleeping area.

Han turned to Callista and Leia. "He ought to send her head back to her father," he stated sourly as soon as Luke had shut the door. "I'd blast anyone who upset you like that."

Leia shook her head as they all sat down again. They all sat in silence for some time reflecting on the abominations Dorcine had told them about.

"How can a technologically advanced civilization still have slavery and human sacrifice?" Callista whispered finally.

Han shook his head, with one arm around Leia, he reached out to hold his sister-in-law's hand. Callista smiled her thanks for the comfort his hand offered.

"I don't know," Leia said after a moment. "But I think Luke's right. We have to keep her."

"And do what?" Callista asked. "We can't turn her lose on society. And Luke will never let her stay here now."

TBC