Dysfunctional Imperials
Copyright© 2025 by Ogreface
Chapter 21: Matters of State - The Judge Slater Case
Once the excitement of the departure of Jason and his extended family came to a sudden end, shortly after the booster trials were no longer visible, the party at the palace also came to an end. By that time, all the guests who didn’t live there already left. Jason found himself alone in his office. He was alone, and in charge of a whole system, with the added responsibility of serving on the Imperial Council, as an advisor to the emperor, and his eighteenth birthday was only a few days in the past.
After examining his old medallion for the final time, he packed it in its wooden box and locked it in a drawer, to await the sixteenth birthday of his oldest son, who has not even been conceived yet. Then he and two of the body protectors headed to his suite.
The party seemed to have been moved to his bedroom. Olaf could hear the sounds of music, giggling and feminine exclamations as he entered his suite, soon to be his old suite, his old wing. He was in the position of calling that whole wing home for two years but never really settled down there. The same was true about his dorm room at school, and the condominium in the city, which seemed to have become Gwen’s and Molly’s home.
Olaf’s bed was wall to wall women. Luckily none of them were nude yet since not all of them were his women. Molly saw him first and just about jumped into his arms. Gwen was sitting on the love seat and instantly stood as Olaf walked in. The rest of his concubines, and his new wife, stayed where they were, lounging casually on the huge bed. Lady Chloe, Ruth, and Mia were there as well. Mia followed Gwen’s example, but Chloe stayed seated.
“We were just discussing the move into the ducal wing, Your Grace,” Duchess Lorena said.
“I assume that will only happen after breakfast tomorrow, Your Grace,” Olaf teased her back.
“Actually, we were discussing the fact that the children’s floor of the ducal wing has not been in use for a very long time,” Vanessa said.
“Somebody is more than eager to start decorating that floor,” Ruth giggled, causing a number of the women, including Gwen and Chloe but not Lorena, Vanessa, or Aster, to blush. Molly and Mia just looked on with wide eyes.
There was nothing that could clear out a room full of young girls as quickly as when Olaf started stripping in order to go grab a shower. He could hear as Molly offered to wash his legs, and getting silenced, probably by her mother. Seconds later Vanessa and Lorena joined him under the shower. When he got back to the bedroom, the bed was neat but empty of women.
After a very pleasant session of pleasing two of his four wives, Olaf was relaxing under them as he contemplated his motives as compared to their motives to initiate and encourage the lovemaking. While he and Lorena seemed more intent on enjoying the act of sex, Vanessa was much more focused on receiving deposits from Olaf. He was convinced that she had an extreme case of wanting to be pregnant. He hoped it was not a case of wanting to show up the new duchess.
The next morning was the first of what soon became the new standard. Olaf, his body protectors, his cute female militia aide, and most of his Ceres Militia palace guards, flew down to the beach where they met up with most of the local battalion for a run on the beach. Even the higher-ranking officers joined in and proved that they were not Olaf’s age anymore.
After showering with his now-awake bed partners, he had a leisurely breakfast with all his women, even Diane, Ruth, and Mia. While Mia was trying hard to act as assistant and servant to Lorena, Aster managed to convince her to join them. Duchess Victoria was chatting quietly with Lorena and Vanessa, while Ruth and her mother asked Olaf about his plans for the day, or lack thereof.
“Your Grace, we suggest you go spend some time in your office, either here or in Government Hall,” Vanessa said as breakfast wound down. “We will be taking care of moving your household into the ducal wing.”
“Any requests for appointments?” Olaf asked Diane.
“Two, Your Grace,” Diane said. “My husband would like to discuss the results of his investigation into some issue you asked he and Dame Valerie Kemp to look into. Then there is a bit of a weird request for an interview from the steward of the Baron of Jutland. He is managing a large and mostly underutilized county towards the north along the coast. From what I can figure out, Jutland is mostly forest with a few small holiday towns and vacation cottages on the coast; no farming or industry. The baron is also quite old, in his eighties, I think.”
“Maybe he wants a favor after he allowed us to use one of his lodges when we were checking up on the islands after that storm,” Olaf said. “Okay, Derick first, and then the baron’s steward. I will see both of them in my office in Government Hall.”
The people staffing the fifth and sixth floors were the same people and did their jobs like before, but this was the first day that Olaf went back to his office after the news of the death of the duke. Olaf had Diane and his new regular security team, as well as his newest shadow, Lieutenant Jenna Purcell, his official Ceres Militia Aide de Camp. Olaf had been using the office for a couple of months, but the staff was definitely behaving a bit differently now that he was the new duke; they seemed subtly more differential and respectful towards him.
Lieutenant Jenna Purcell was cute, pretty, and seemed to like being around him. Her job used to be a part of his security team but as his aide de camp, her roll had changed rather drastically. She was like an organizer for any of his activities that involved the Militia. She was responsible for summoning his transport, liaising with his security team, and even carrying cash in case he needs to pay for anything.
Olaf knew he would need other aides; Jenna might have the ear of the entire command structure of the Ceres Militia and could order the top commanders to do just about anything if he asked her, but she lacked the background and contacts with the people on the Ceres Space Station, which was under the control of the Imperial Navy. If Olaf wanted to go inspect Ceres property in outer space, he needed the help of the Imperial Navy, and an Imperial Navy aide as well as an Imperial Marine aide. He liked the idea of being able to ‘punish’ Anika’s husband by making him the navy aide.
Derick Preston was waiting for them in the reception area, where a shy Gwen was on duty behind her desk. She jumped up and came around the desk towards Olaf and curtsied when she got close to her. For a moment it looked as if she wanted to hug him but then she hung back.
“Derick, go hug your wife in her office, then we can talk in my office,” Olaf said as he pulled a shy but willing Gwen into a sisterly hug. Gwen didn’t resist and pressed her face to his chest as he held her in his arms. “How is my favorite receptionist?” Olaf asked softly as most of the body protectors fanned out to inspect the entire floor, with only Ham Rider staying back.
“Honored and surprised to find myself working for the duke,” she said with a giggle. “Glenda Palmer has been asking about the relationship I have with you. She seemed mildly disappointed when I told her that you are too honorable to do anything with anybody who is not your wife or concubine.” Her comment made him wonder if Gwen was at all inclined to be more than his receptionist, but he was a bit too shy to actually ask her; he knew she might say yes because of his position over her, or more exactly, she might be too intimidated to say no.
When Olaf walked into his own office a while later, after leaving a smiling and blushing Gwen in the reception area, he found a blushing Diane jumping out of her husband’s arms. They were standing in the open doorway of Diane’s office. Olaf just smirked at them as he waved at Derick to join him in the informal seating area.
“We found some definite signs of corruption and bribery surrounding Sir Jameson Slater, Your Grace,” Derick said after they sat down, with Diane also joining them.
“We, meaning you and Dame Valerie?” Olaf asked.
“As well as your resource assistant, Glenda Palmer,” Derick said. “She and Sir William Kent have both been very helpful.”
“As a matter of fact, both of them were relatively close to Duke Eric, and know the judge fairly well,” Diane added. “Both of them were rather shocked and quite angry at the judge about the evidence they found.”
“The evidence we found was rather well hidden, until after Duke Eric’s death,” Derick said. “After his death, the judge seemed to become more blatant and open.”
“Who was blackmailing him?” Olaf asked.
“It started off with a small company, Wisker & Wilson Asteroid Mining company, a rather obscure asteroid mining company. They bribed the judge to ignore evidence against them and make judgments in their favor,” Derick said. “It started small, a defective beacon, then a misplaced beacon, from there it escalated. After the death of Duke Eric, Judge Slater started demanding payments from them in order to continue their illegal activities. He started blackmailing them. Since then, they have become quite large, with Sir Slater being a controlling member on their board. They even got a baron to join them. Baron Rowen Tomlin of Birkendal is also on the executive board of WWAM. There is evidence that he at least knows about the illegal activities, which under Ceres law makes him at least partially guilty.”
“Let me get this straight,” Olaf replied as he sat upright, “This WWAM started off bribing Slater, and then he turned around and blackmailed them? When did this baron join the scene?”
“Yes, Your Grace” Derick said. “Baron Birkendal joined the company around the time that Duke Eric died. They were quite good at trying to hide their activities, but Sir Slater was doing the blackmailing quite openly. There are numerous references where W&W Asteroid Mining directors discussed grabbing new asteroids by planting defective beacons on them after they had been claimed by other companies, with Baron Birkendal’s signature on the meeting records.”
“Let’s get Glenda and Sir William in here as well,” Olaf said.
Over the next few hours, Derick Preston and Sir William, with Glenda Palmer contributing, laid out the sequence of events starting nearly ten years earlier with a relatively obscure asteroid mining company slowly working their way up the food chain by stealing viable asteroids from other companies, and then using Judge Slater to take the other mining companies to court, and winning every time, with them ending up owning not only the stolen asteroid, but also all the assets of their opponents.
“The real question is what now, Your Grace,” Sir William asked at the end.
“First we need a new judge,” Olaf said. “I accept that I am the final judge in the Ceres system, but we still need somebody who knows the law. Then we need to get rid of Slater and shut down this mining corporation. Would it be possible to find and reimburse all their victims?”
“Getting rid of Slater is easy. He is not an imperial judge,” Sir William said. “Getting a new judge might mean we need to recruit an imperial judge if we want experience or recruit a new judicial student. The only real issue we see is the rogue baron.”
“Glenda, I want you to make a list of these mining companies who were targeted by this W&W Asteroid Mining and the judge,” Olaf said. “Once we have a list of companies, or even owners of disbanded companies, we can figure out if it is possible to reimburse them.”
“How would you propose reimbursing them, Your Grace?” Glenda asked.
“I am planning on disbanding this W&W Asteroid Mining and passing all their assets to their victims.” Olaf said. “Before we get there, I would like to know the extent of resources and properties of this W&W Asteroid Mining, and how many other companies are still in existence.”
“Your Grace, would you approve a move to stop Sir Slater from being in a position where he can destroy any evidence?” Sir William asked.
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