if she did have her elder sister taking care of her. Mariko wished, not for the first time, that she’d listened to their mother. If they’d stayed on Edo, they would never have been enslaved...but they would have been bored. Now, of course, boredom was not a problem. Boredom was good.
She allowed Mai to lead her over to the store and started trying on various outfits with the help of a pair of maids. Some of them were just too shocking, even for her; other outfits were really nothing more than overpriced nightgowns. Eventually, she selected a handful of bras and panties for herself and Mai, vetoing half of Mai’s choices. Her sister seemed to have turned into a silly girl overnight. Mariko felt another twinge of guilt to add to the problems already facing her. She had brought Mai to this world. She was to blame for her sister being molested and nearly raped by the police. And she was to blame for their current state of enslavement. All of the fancy clothes in the entire galaxy wouldn't change the fact that they were slaves, even if the chains were made of golden silk. They might never be free again.
A noise from outside brought her back to herself. All around them, the store owners were shutting up hastily, pulling down shutters and locking their doors. The maids who had been helping them looked nervous as the noise grew louder, clearly expecting them to pay quickly and then depart before the source of the noise came closer. It sounded like an angry mob shouting the same words over and over again.
“ Independence! Freedom! Liberty! Independence! Freedom! Liberty! ”
They took the packages from the store and headed out towards the lobby. A handful of armed security guards had already sealed the main entrance into the mall, leaving them trapped inside. Lord Fitzgerald was seated in one chair by a small cafe, drinking something from a delicate cup. He looked up at them as they arrived and motioned for them to take the other two chairs.
“You’re just in time for the show,” he said, airily. “The Secessionists are in town.”
Chapter Three
“Independence! Freedom! Liberty!”
Mariko watched in surprise as the crowd slowly came into view, marching right through the richest part of the city with a solid determination that seemed to push through all opposition. The police – and the private security guards – were fingering their weapons, but clearly unwilling to risk provoking an incident with the crowd. Not all of the crowd was even human, she realised as they marched past the mall; there were at least a dozen different alien races represented in the march. But then, the Secessionist League had always pushed for alien rights as well as independence from the decaying Imperium.
She hadn't paid much attention to local politics, but she had heard of the League – and of its enemies. The League believed that the systems along the Rim were poor because their masters on Homeworld deliberately kept them poor, not least by piling crushing regulations and red-tape on any attempt to create a proper business. Meanwhile, the massive interstellar corporations, with the clout to have the Imperium’s laws rewritten in their favour, moved in and took over, exploiting the locals mercilessly. It was hard not to sympathise with the League for wanting to change the system. She’d certainly had to spend days trying to fill in the forms for ownership of her own private freighter.
On Dorado, she guessed, the League would also be pushing against the established power order, including Carlos’s father. They’d want to crack down on the League, but with so many of their own citizens joining the League a crackdown could have disastrous effects. If the entire population, human and alien, rose in revolt, they’d never be able to maintain their power. The Imperium would probably respond by dispatching a unit of Imperial