Zenite Is King - [NS]

[Note: No Sex In This Chapter]
A little after 3 P.M., Commander Smith, Commissioner Anderson, Doctor Boyce, Guardian O'Connell, and Ensign Bauer were all sitting around a large wooden table in the High Advisor's Library, waiting for the arrival of Ishlass. When he entered, the medium height fifty-something man look haggard. Tired. As if he had been up all night. Which he had.

Rubbing the heels of his hand into his bloodshot eyes, he said, "Let's get this over with as quickly as possible, Gentlemen. I really need to get some sleep."

As he took his seat, Smith took Ishlass at his word and came right to the point. "I have made contact with the leader of the Sons and Daughters of Freedom. He has agreed to negotiate a settlement with you about the work slowdown."

"He has agreed to negotiate with me?" Ishlass repeated in shock. "I am not about to sit at the same table with an unwashed, unschooled, uncouth sub-human Troglyte miner!"

"And why is he unwashed and unschooled?" Smith asked. "Because your society keeps them in an oppressed state. You who receive the rewards of the mines are totally separated from those who shoulder the burdens."

"That is the way it has always been," Ishlass answered. "It is the natural order."

"Well your 'natural order' is causing the deaths of hundreds of Merakians every day," Smith shot back. "When word of this reaches other planets, they will demand action. Possibly even take action themselves."

"It will take years, maybe decades, for other worlds to learn of this rebellion," Ishlass scoffed. "By that time this revolt will be all over."

"My ship can be back on Earth within four weeks," Smith said calmly.

The High Advisor stared at the spaceship Captain for several long moments, processing the implications of what Smith was saying. "Are you threatening me, Captain?" he asked in a cold, clipped voice. "Zenite is the basis for so many medications throughout the galaxy. And Ardana is the only known source of it. No one can threaten us. Zenite is King!"

"And you are not delivering it," Smith pressed. "Maybe in the past you could stall and delay, hiding behind the vast distances of space and the great lengths of time needed to transverse it. Those days are over. The EX spacecraft has ended them. Travel that used to take years can now be completed in days."

"And just what are you proposing to do, Captain?" Ishlass pronounced Smith's title as if it was an insult. "Take the Zenite from us?"

"If the United Planets Council authorizes it, yes," was Smith's reply. "Four weeks to reach Earth. Say four weeks for the representatives from Terra, Luna, and Mars to reach a decision. And then four weeks to return. If I leave tonight, I can be back in three months and seize your mines."

"How?" Ishlass's upper lip curled in a snarl. "You'll have . . . what? Six, maybe ten men. Oooo, I'm scared."

"I will also be carrying missiles," Smith answered. "One of which can vaporize your noble City. Blowing this fine example of sustained anti-gravity levitation to atoms. This magnificent engineering marvel will cease to exist. One missile, and there will not be so much as a lace dolly left to mark your exalted culture."

"Assuming you get through our defensive satellite network," Ishlass retorted.

"How old is the technology behind your defensive satellites?" Smith stared into Ishlass's eyes. "Do you not think there have been quantum leaps in technology on Earth? I will return with the ability to cause your satellites to fall from the sky like meteors on a warm summer night."

Smith let all that he had said to sink in. Then he announced, "I. Need. The. Zenite. Now."

The room was silent except for the drumming of Ishlass's fingers on the table top. Finally, while wiping his hand over his neatly trimmed beard, he answered. "Bring the Disruptors' representative around tomorrow. I will talk with him then."

"Why not now?" Smith asked. He pointed to a connecting door to the drawing room. "I have the representative waiting in the next room."

"Fine, fine," Ishlass agreed, eager to wrap this up and get some sleep.

Leaving the table to open the door, Smith waved in a 'come hither' gesture to the occupant.

When Farasha strode into the room, her high heels click-click-clicking on the marble floor, her swinging arms causing her full skirt to wave, all the men at the table stood up. Including Ishlass.

"So you have hired a Lawyer," Ishlass said as he sat back down. "I thought I would be talking with a miner. A Disruptor."

"I am a miner," Farasha announced. "And a member of the Sons of Freedom."

"And Daughters," Smith added. Farasha flashed him a smile.

"What firm do you work for?" Ishlass asked Farasha, ignoring her claims to be a miner. "You should be ashamed of yourself. You are a traitor to your race."

She did not reply right away. Instead, she calmly tugged on her short white gloves, removing them and placing them one on top of the other in front of her. When she held her hands up at the level of her face, the backs facing those present, the men could see that although her nails were painted, they were far shorter than what a 'Lady' would have. Small white lines criss-crossed the skin on the back of her hands, the marks of healed cuts. When she lowered her hands, resting her forearms on the table top, everyone could see the callouses on her palms and fingers.

"Do these look like the hands of an attorney?" she asked. No one replied.

"Very well," Smith announced after several seconds of silence. "I will leave you alone to talk. When you finish here, Guardian O'Connell can escort you back down to the ship." Turning to Commissioner Anderson, Smith added, "If that is o.k. with you."

"Fine," Anderson answered, also standing up. "That'll be just fine . . . You're doing just fine." Addressing the other members of his party, he said, "Let's go, Gentlemen and allow High Advisor Ishlass and Miss Farasha to discuss their differences. Guardian O'Connell, grab a seat out in the hall to escort Miss Farasha down when she finishes."

As the Off-Worlders filed out of the Library, Ishlass called to Eric Bauer, "Ensign, would you mind checking on my daughter? She has been through quite an ordeal, and to make matters worse, her personal maid has run off." He slowly shook his head. "I can't believe that girl betrayed my daughter like that."