by Alma Nilsson
“Kara,” he put his hand on her knee, “I don’t think this is going to be the green light to destroy humanity. Remember, these people are still quite racist. None of our female crew has even married on the capital planet yet. And they have all told me that they are fine.”
“You’ve spoken to them? When?”
“About two weeks ago. They wanted to speak with you, but the Admiral would not allow them.”
“Typical.”
“He allowed them to speak to me for medical reasons.”
“Good.”
“And they were all fine. They are living in a little guarded apartment-type building in the capital with teachers that come in daily.”
“Teachers for what?”
“I don’t remember exactly, nothing out of the ordinary, culture, reading, you can imagine. They were told that they would be back in space again, but with the Alliance Fleet. The High Council has allowed human women the right to maintain their jobs on starships if they want, even though apparently, all human women are now considered Alliance women.”
“How can they do that? You would think the GC would do something. We didn’t ask for this, nor do we want it.”
“I guess they can because no one can tell the Alliance ‘no.’ The best we can hope for is that they abandon this plan and sort their demographics issue another way. First as to not destroy human civilization and second, because humans won’t solve the issue, it is something in their environment, of that I am almost sure of, but it must be so close to them, their daily lives, they are not even considering it,” John was lost in thought then.
“Well me being pregnant is not helping in the hopes they will give human women up, quite the opposite,” she frowned. “I am worried about my female crew. It is not right what the Alliance is doing.”
“I agree, but there is little we can do here and now.”
Kara felt guilty then because she could do more, she could submit and possibly gain some influence with Tir to get her people home. Or she could kill herself and the hybrid child growing inside of her to show that human women would not be subjected like this. “It would be better if they just took us by force, I think than trying to marry us and integrate us in this strange manner. At least then we would know what we were fighting against.”
“Maybe the Alliance is not as terrible as we imagine them to be?” John suggested.
“I don’t know,” Kara answered, “I feel this is all a test to see how docile we are or something.”
They were all quiet for a minute, and then John gave her a hypo-spray of some vitamins, “Eat well and take it easy, Captain.”
When John returned to sickbay, he decided to tell Admiral Tir about the pregnancy in person. He contacted the Admiral through the ship’s internal communications and asked him for a couple of minutes privately.
Tir was waiting for him in the conference room, “Captain Rainer,” John began, but Tir interrupted him.
“Captain Kara, she is married to me now, and we rarely use our surnames.”
“Captain Kara is pregnant. Both are healthy. She should be monitored, though, as this is the first hybrid.”
“Good,” the Admiral said and then dismissed John. He would speak to Siu later about the details. He now needed to decide what to do with Kara. He wanted her to stay with him, but it was unheard of for a pregnant woman to be on a starship in the middle of a war. However, sending her back to the capital planet was not necessarily the best idea either given his enemies would use her against him if they could.
Just as John was leaving the Admiral called him back.
“Do human doctors know about female bodies?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know how babies are born? What I mean is, would you be able to help Captain Kara deliver this baby here?”
“Of course, Admiral.”
“Fine,” then he dismissed the human doctor and thought, This changes everything now. I can keep her here, safe, close to me and prove to everyone the gods’ want us to bring humans back into the fold.
After a couple of hours, Kara went to the internal communications and called Sera to come and see her. Within 10 minutes, Sera entered, and Kara told her about the pregnancy.
Sera looked at Kara seriously, “The gods have blessed you.”
Kara just looked at Sera and said nothing. She did not feel blessed. She felt scared for what ramifications this may have for humans. She didn’t want to think about it. She wanted to just be with Sera now, like a drug.
Sera picked up on her feelings, “But you’ve not called me here as a friend today or for the deal we made? You have called me here professionally.”
“I have called you here to make me forget what I have just learned. To take my thoughts away from myself.”
Sera stood up and took Kara’s warm hands without saying anything and led her into the bedroom. Once there, she quietly began undressing Kara. Her cool soft hands tenderly taking off her dress and lingering here and there all over her shoulders, arms, and torso indiscriminately. “Turn off your translator Kara. I want you to hear me in my language as I touch you.”
Kara nodded and mentally turned off her translator.
Sera slowly pulled Kara’s dress down to her hips and then stopped, edging her fingers around her soft, warm waist. “I also can’t believe that you have a child here. There is hardly any sign. You still look so firm, but there is still a long way to go.” Then her hands rose to her breasts, holding them gently, “But I should have noticed these, they are bigger, I think.” She kissed one and looked up at Kara, making eye contact. “How could you have not noticed? They are more sensitive too,” she said as she blew on her wet nipple and it became very hard.
Kara felt she was in a different world when Sera was touching her body and speaking to her in Alliance. It was so different being with Sera, trying to comprehend a new language and a new kind of sexual partner all at once, she couldn’t think of anything else but the present when they were together. “I don’t wear undergarments with this dress. I thought my breasts hurt because why.”
Sera smiled at her bad grammar, “I understand, my beauty,” Sera began massaging her breasts very gently then and lightly licking and kissing them. “Alliance women would kill to have a body like yours. You are truly blessed.”
Kara put her hands down to Sera’s face and brought her up for a kiss, but Sera stopped her.
“You must ask me.”
“Kiss me,” she asked, and Sera obliged. She adored Kara’s accent on Alliance and this secret that only they shared, that Kara could speak as well as read. She also adored just being with Kara. It had been a year since she had been with a woman regularly and she enjoyed a woman’s touch as much as a man’s because it was so different. Sera liked to have variety, which she had missed being aboard a warship with only men. She began running her fingers through Kara’s hair while they kissed, cupping the back of her head. She felt Kara’s warm hands taking off her green slave clothing, and even she was anticipating their lovemaking.
Kara’s mouth moved away from Sera’s mouth and found one of her earlobes. She tenderly touched the long, ornate earring with her hand and kissed her ear, then whispered, “I love all your embellishments. They are so exotic.” She then began kissing her way down her neck, past many necklaces to one of her breasts that were also pierced, and a long piece of jewelry hang exquisitely from the nipple. She kissed the nipple, as she had done her ear lobe and put her hand on the jewelry, tugging just a little to bring a ripple of pleasure and pain through Sera. Then she put her mouth on her breast and licked her nipple.
Sera wondered if she was addicted to Kara’s warm mouth. It was amazing the difference a couple degrees made. Kara’s hot mouth and then the cold air brought a new level of oral sensations to Sera’s skin.
Kara began kissing her again, and then Sera pulled off the rest of her dress, falling to her knees. She brought her hands up both of Kara’s stocking legs, stopping where the stockings ended on her upper thi
ghs. She ran her fingers around the top of the stockings, looking up at Kara, who was looking down, watching her. Then she moved one of her hands over Kara’s vulva and pulled a bit on the brown hair there. “I love your hair here. It is so exotic. Never remove it.” Sera was running her fingers through her nether hair, enjoying the look of increased desire in Kara’s eyes. Then she moved her hands back to the tops of her stockings and said, “I remember you don’t want me to pull these down as you get cold,” she said kissing all around her inner thighs, around the top of the stockings. Sera then moved to begin licking all around Kara’s vulva.
Kara could feel herself becoming so wet in anticipation of what Sera was going to do. This was exactly what she needed, this pleasure and to be with someone who had no say in her decision or future. Just someone to give her pleasure.
Sera finally moved to licking Kara’s clitoris and then moved to put her tongue in her vagina as she continued to stroke her sex. It was not long until she was bringing Kara to climax and then cooling her down with slow light strokes across her vulva, admiring the hair that had become wet from her arousal. Sera looked up at Kara then, “Your cheeks are so pink.”
Kara looked into Sera’s grey eyes, “I know you like that.”
“There is so much I like about humans,” Sera said as Kara guided her onto her back and began kissing her down her body as she talked. “I love your patches of hair, your warmth, your different colors,” then Kara reached her clitoris directly, and Sera gasped and put her hands on Kara’s head, “And your hot tongues. Yes, right there. You are so naughty going in and then leaving,” Kara had begun licking her elsewhere, “teasing my clitoris like that.”
“I know you like it,” Kara then urged her to turn over on her stomach and began licking her vagina, first just skimming the outside but then thrust her tongue in and out with her hands on her bottom, spreading her. Again, Kara thought she tasted like some kind of exotic flower, not like a human woman at all, not that Kara had any experience with human women beyond herself, but she knew what she tasted like and then she wondered if this were some slave artist thing. Something they purposely did to make themselves smell and taste like flowers.
“Will you put your fingers inside of me?” Sera asked.
Kara put one finger inside of her vagina and moved it slowly in and out, looking for the sensitive area that would bring Sera a blended orgasm. When she found it, she had Sera move her hips up and had one hand on her clitoris and the other going in and out of her to give her as much pleasure as possible. “Do you like my fingers on your Alliance skin?”
“In my Alliance vagina,” she corrected Kara, and then she orgasmed. Kara let her hands gently moving for a minute, then retracted them to move up and to lie next to Sera. Kara caressed her beautiful grey body lightly and casually as they lay next to one another on Tir’s bed.
Sera kissed Kara and then held her while she stroked her soft human hair. “Tir will be back soon.”
“Yes,” Kara said reluctantly.
Then Sera disentangled herself from Kara and got out of the bed and put her clothes back on. “He won’t want to see me here when he arrives, not today.” She looked at Kara and felt pity for her; she did not believe in the gods and felt she was betraying her people by doing this. “Kara, the gods give each one of us free will. Make a decision.”
Kara just nodded. She knew what Sera meant. She must decide about her life and the baby’s life.
Sera kissed her on the forehead as she lay naked on the bed and then left.
Tir entered sickbay, and Siu led him into his office to speak privately. Siu began, “You should send her to the capital planet.”
“I have thought about it, and I want to keep her onboard. It is too dangerous at home. People will use her against me. I have also spoken to the human doctor, and he says he can oversee the birth.”
“This is unprecedented, men watching a birth. People will say we have lost our minds and what if she or the baby dies? It is too risky.”
“They won’t die. This is meant to be. She is healthy, and their doctor is knowledgeable, right? You have been working next to him for months now.”
“Yes, I believe him when he says he can do something.”
“It is settled then. She will remain here. We will keep this all as secret as possible until the baby is born. I worry about my enemies wanting to prove that humans are not the Lost People by separating Kara from me and killing her, the child, or both.”
Siu nodded, “I understand, she could not be anywhere that is safer than on our ship right now. My only concern is her health. An Alliance baby has never been born off-planet before, and I worry we are tempting the fates.”
“Or maybe the gods are trying to show us the way forward. We must keep our eyes open.”
Tir went directly to his quarters from sickbay and found Kara in the sitting room studying hieroglyphics. He did not interrupt her but sat down next to her while she finished. He loved watching her concentrate on something. He found her serious demeanor intoxicating, the way her big eyes focused on understanding the problem in front of her. She looked the same when she was strategizing battles.
Kara closed the program, “I assume John told you I am pregnant.”
He looked in her eyes and asked, “Are you not the least bit excited by this news?”
“If it was just about us,” she pointed between them, “then maybe I would be. But this is about you and a myth that you have somehow turned into a law to subjugate human women for your purposes.”
“This is about us too. You cannot pretend to be so emotionally cut off from me or us. We are destined for each other,” he took her in his arms. “And this is about the future of both our civilizations, we are one species,” he said quietly. “This is the gods’ will whether humans believe it or not. I believe, and I will make this happen to save us all.”
Kara wanted to say, ‘But humans were doing just fine without you,’ but she couldn’t because the truth was that they weren’t. They were barely hanging on to their own independence year after year. They weren’t strong enough yet to protect themselves in a galaxy that was filled with civilizations bent on conquering as much territory as possible. And humans were thousands of years behind technologically in the galaxy. Human technology was the running joke of most other species. The only thing that had kept them safe was their obscure location in the galaxy, but those days were coming to an end. Humanity needed a new defense. She knew that Tir recognized this, and that is why he believed he was saving humans too. However, Kara, like most humans, given a choice, would rather die than enter into an outrageous partnership focused on hybrid children with the Alliance.
“We must go to the public shrine onboard and thank the gods for this blessing. Do you remember the prayer?” Tir asked her.
“I am not doing that.”
“Kara, stop acting like a child.”
Kara did not respond to that. She decided she didn’t care actually. She went to the bedroom and got the necklace, put it on and then they walked out of his quarters.
She walked behind him through the corridors to the main shrine. It was a small room with very little decoration, but some white statues of what Kara assumed were the Alliance gods lined up perfectly in the front of the room and along the walls. There was a large candle burning at one end of the room, and the smell of incense burning from somewhere else in the room Kara couldn’t see. There were a few other people there that looked up when Tir and Kara entered, but no one saluted him as they had done in other areas of the ship.
Tir pushed Kara forward and nodded at her. She dutifully said the short prayer he had made her memorize to the goddess of fertility, who she assumed she was standing in front of, and then he did the same and went to go light a candle. After a couple of minutes of silence, they left. They did not speak to each other on the way back.
Once in his quarters he went directly to his own shrine and kneeled before it lighting a candle. She sat on the sofa and watched him. She wante
d to be respectful, but she just could not believe that he would have faith in religion, something humans had given up years before.
Tir finished praying and sat across from her, “I want you to be seen in the shrine every day, giving thanks to the gods.”
“Only if I get to go by myself,” she did not expect him to grant this request, but she had to try.
“No, the guards will, of course, follow you.”
She reckoned that it was still better than nothing. “Is there any particular time of day I should be doing this?” All she could think about was medieval women having nothing better to do than go to church and pray as an activity during their days.
“An hour before the midday meal.”
“Anything else?” she asked with a sharp tone. He didn’t answer her and looked deep in thought. After a few minutes, she asked, “What are you thinking about? You look so severe. I thought this is all that you wanted?”
“It is, but now I am concerned about keeping you safe and this a secret until the baby is born.”
“Are there any onboard who would like to harm me?”
“A few I imagine, but my guards are good and loyal. This is a dangerous time. Everything, I have worked for will fall if anything happens to you now.”
“We have nothing to worry about except me going crazy from boredom.”
“Kara, I know you like to make light of serious situations, but please, not now. I don’t want you doing much or seeing anyone, not even Sera until the baby is born.”
“That is a bit overprotective, don’t you think? Sera is one of the only people you let me talk to. You cannot deny me her visits.”
“We cannot risk anything right now. Sera can be bought as many people can be. I will be more than pleased to grant all the freedoms of an Alliance wife once you are holding a healthy baby in your arms and have proven yourself loyal.”
“I want a translator,” Kara recognized she had some bargaining power now.
“After the baby is born, I promise you an Alliance translator.”
“I want to have communication with my female crew that you sent to the capital planet.”