by Alma Nilsson
The next morning Captain Jackson was at her door with his doctor. She sat up. She thought The fates are cruel. The Silverado’s doctor was her former lover, Micah. They had been madly in love until she had abruptly ended it because she didn’t want to have to think about him during the war. Kara ran her fingers through her short hair and then looked down and realized she was still wearing Alliance clothing, and nothing was more repellant to human men than Alliance dresses.
“Captain Jackson, thank you for retrieving me,” Kara said and then to the doctor, “Micah, you don’t know how good it is to see a familiar face.”
“We could not let those zombies take one of our best, Captain,” ‘zombies’ was a derogatory term humans used to refer to Alliance citizens because of their grey skin. “I am just happy to see that you are mostly unharmed. We ran some tests on you when you came onboard. The doctor is willing to abort that hybrid now. Micah insisted we wait for your consent, but I tried to tell him you would want it out of you as soon as possible.” Captain Jackson was happy that he was not female as he could not imagine anything worse than having an alien growing inside of him.
“We can do it right now,” said Micah. He put a hand on her shoulder, sympathetically, “I am sorry for what they have put you through Kara. It must have been terrible.” Micah imagined her being tied down and raped or restrained in a medical bed and artificially inseminated at best.
“I am sorry we had to knock you unconscious, we had to make it look like pirates so that it did not look like a human operation,” Captain Jackson explained. “It is so strange that they took you all prisoner, to begin with. Your crew told us some crazy story about wanting human women, but we couldn’t believe it until now,” he trailed off with a disgusted look on his face.
Kara nodded understanding and then wanted to explain, “The Alliance has a demographics problem. They are at least at a 7% decrease in the female population, and they want to use human women to fill in the gaps.”
“What the …” Captain Jackson said, his blue eyes reflecting his anger. “So, they want to create half Alliance half-humans because their fertility is failing? Over my dead body. Doctor abort this abomination. There will be no hybrid zombie kids in the galaxy just because the Alliance has a problem.”
“They believe we are some Lost People from their ancient mythology. They believe humans and Alliance are the same species.”
“Religious fanatics. I am sure they are suffering from too much inbreeding or something,” said Captain Jackson with disdain. “The war is over as of this morning. Yesterday was the final battle. Admiral Tir and his crew were too busy to notice your abduction until it was too late. It is a good thing that no one in the galaxy has figured out yet that we have cloaking technology. Just one more human trick, it is so convenient the rest of the galaxy thinking we know nothing and have nothing.”
“I just wish we had cloaking technology on all of our ships,” said Kara, “including mine. Where is the Dakota?”
“Waiting for you in orbit around Earth.”
“Are we on our way there now?”
“Yes. Once you are on Earth, I doubt they will pursue you further, but now we need to be concerned about them abducting women. If it is not one thing, it is another.”
Kara had no idea how long Tir would pursue her or what he would do now, “I had so much information that would have helped the Jahay in the war, what a waste.”
“It was doomed from the beginning, Captain. Thankfully, the Jahay are no longer a threat on our doorstep anymore, and I guess we can thank the Alliance for that at least. It is a pity we won’t’ slip back into obscurity now if they pursue this Lost People nonsense. It will be good to say the baby died as soon as we reach Earth, maybe then they will think it is too difficult to hold on to human women and too difficult to combine the species.”
“I will message the Admiral that the baby died as soon as we reach Earth to stop the search for me, maybe then the Alliance will pursue another avenue for their demographics issue, and we can work on getting my female crew off their capital planet.”
“We will have to leave your female crew to the diplomats. There is no way we could get them off the Alliance capital planet. No doubt some deal can be struck when they come for the war reparations.”
“Is it his, Admiral Tir’s child?” Micah was horrified, “Kara, I promise you, if I ever get the chance, I will murder him for raping you,” he said fervently.
Kara wanted to tell them that it was far from rape, but she couldn’t. She knew if she admitted that then she would be subjecting herself to suspicion of being a spy, so she said nothing, and she felt guilty about that because she knew Tir was one of the last men in the galaxy who would ever rape a woman. I am sorry Tir, but I must do this, or risk being accused of being a spy by my own people. They would never understand. Humans are just as racist as Alliance. She thought, hoping in a futile way, her thoughts would somehow reach him.
Micah looked at Kara, “Everything looks fine, I will prep sickbay and come and get you when I am ready. In the meantime, you should try and take it easy now. I will have some other clothing brought to you, so you can burn that,” he said, looking at her Alliance dress with revulsion.
She thanked them both, and then the Captain left her with an invitation to dinner for tomorrow evening. She, of course, accepted. She needed to find out everything that had happened in the months that she had been away.
The doctor lingered, “Kara, is there anything else you need?”
Kara looked at Micah. They had been passionate lovers the year before. She could not deny that she still found him very attractive; he was tall and muscular with brown skin and light brown eyes.
Micah looked at Kara, and his heart was beating fast. He was still very much in love with her. He wanted to take her in his arms now and tell her that it would all be okay. She was looking at him now in a way familiar to him. So, he took a chance, and he sat next to her on the bed and put his hand on her cheek lightly, “What a mess,” he said softly, “but we have you now,” and then he slowly kissed her. Chastely at first but then soon his tongue was testing her lips, her mouth and it felt so right for him, to have his Kara back.
Am I really kissing Micah now? She mentally questioned her morals and sanity. His mouth felt so warm compared to Tir’s and the stubble on his face rubbing against her skin a little roughly, made her question what she used to found attractive now somewhat repulsive. Have I forgotten what it is like to be with a human man so quickly? She found his touch soothing but not right sexually. She gently pulled back but was still touching his chest. “Micah, it is so good to see you, I cannot even express it properly, but I have been through a lot. I don’t think I can do this now.”
“Let me comfort you Kara. Let me bring you back to humanity,” he began kissing her again, and she consented for a time until she pulled back again.
Kara could see the desire in his light brown eyes and for a couple of seconds she thought that maybe she should do this to separate herself in a completely physical and intimate action away from Tir. That by sleeping with Micah, it would end her confusion. But then, she brought herself back to reality. “I can’t do this. I am pregnant with another man’s baby. I feel terrible.” And I married him, she thought, but she was not going to mention that barbaric act, but she could not help but look down at the bracelet.
“Not another man, a zombie, an Alliance, and he raped you. You owe him nothing.” Micah felt sorry for her and just held her close to him. He noticed that she smelled differently and concluded it must be the different soap she had to use or food that she had had to eat with the Alliance.
“I still feel…” she trailed off, she did not know what she felt, except that to sleep with him would be wrong, even though her body thought it was a good idea. She realized that she really did have feelings for Tir and that as much as she wanted to escape and be free, she would still miss him and his touch. She didn’t want to be married, of course, but she wished that things co
uld have been different, and they could just be together, but that would never be. She was going to go back to her old life, and if anyone ever tried to take her again, she would die fighting.
“I understand. We can take care of the pregnancy. I understand that none of this is easy. This child represents too much to the Alliance to let it live. Think of what would happen if those floodgates opened; we would not be able to protect ourselves.”
“I can’t explain this feeling. I feel like I am going to kill an innocent, and I know I will regret this for the rest of my life, but I cannot keep it either. I just wish all of this had never happened.”
“How could you regret killing a child begotten of rape from a monster….” Kara interrupted him.
“He is not a monster.”
“Don’t tell me you have feelings for him? Was it rape or not Kara?” Captain Jackson had questioned him about what kind of woman Kara was before they decided to help her. He was concerned that she was a spy for the Alliance.
“I don’t know,” she admitted quietly looking into his eyes hoping she would find some understanding there.
“Stockholm Syndrome,” he said confidently diagnosing her and hoping that she was not a spy. “Stop thinking about him. He has convinced you to think that you liked him, maybe loved him, by the way, you are talking. Kara, listen to me, we have rescued you. It will take some time, but you will recover and see your captors for what they truly are, barbaric criminals. They abducted you and raped you for their greedy purposes. Give yourself time to readjust. I am going now and will return shortly. Relax, you have survived this. You are strong, and you are safe.”
When Kara was alone, she opened the computer and accessed her messages, she had so many, but there was one that stood out that was sent only five hours ago. She could read the sender’s name in Alliance, ‘Admiral Tir Zu,’ she opened it, not knowing what to expect.
Kara,
I know you were taken and are unable to return. I will come to Earth for you.
Tir
Kara looked at the message written in Alliance. She knew he had done that on purpose. Her tears began to fall silently and hit her hands as she hesitated to send a reply. If she replied, he would know where she was, but she decided he was not coming after her now anyway, so she wrote,
Tir,
The baby, died. Don’t come for me.
Kara
Bought
Tir read Kara’s message and wondered two things, first if she had been forced to have an abortion and second if she never wanted him to find her. He got up from his desk and went to pray in front of his small shrine in his quarters. He moved the fertility goddess back and moved the god of war forward. He lit a small candle and prayed for forgiveness. He unsheathed his short sword and cut the center of his left palm, letting the blood put out the candle flame.
He was angry. Angry with himself for not taking better care of Kara. He prayed out loud, “Please forgive my negligence and allow me, my wife, back. I’ll not be so neglectful ever again.”
Tir had gone over their last day together in his mind over and over again. He realized now that he should have addressed her concerns about their child being the catalyst to destroy humanity more seriously. He had thought it was so absurd. He had just dismissed her worries. And because he had not taken her fears seriously, he had not bothered explaining to her that that was not what the Alliance had in mind. Tir tried to console himself that his mind had been preoccupied, that they had been at war and he had not had the time or patience for her small human concerns. But he could not forgive himself for the death of their child, and he only had himself to blame. It did not matter if she chose to have the abortion, if she was forced to do it or if she lost the child from the stress of the escape itself, he put the fault on himself, for not being able to convince her of their destiny adequately. That should have been his priority. His fleet could have done their part and won the war without him.
Tir had thought a lot about their relationship as well. Physically they were well-matched, suitably sexually attracted to each other, but again, he blamed himself for not being as emotionally attentive as he should have been when she was onboard. He knew that she was struggling with everything that had happened to her, but he thought there would be time after the war to help her settle into her new position as his wife in the Alliance. For this misstep, he only had himself to blame for her running away. He knew humans’ reputation well enough to know they would make it look like an abduction so that no one could be blamed, but Tir knew in his heart, she had chosen to leave. She had escaped.
Furthermore, he had interrogated her doctor who pretended to know nothing about it, but as Siu confirmed later, Kara had told him she was leaving. Tir did not think it was worth threatening the man over it, though. Doctor John did not go and seemed genuinely interested in trading human medical knowledge for Alliance, which made Tir even more angry with himself, that Kara had chosen to go when her crewman chose to stay.
Tir looked directly across at the small white statue of the god of war and said quietly, “I’ll go to Earth and bring her back. I’ll right this wrong. Do not give up on us. We will fulfill our destiny.”
The gods heard Tir’s prayers in their palace in the Alliance heavens. The goddess of home rose and took the god of war’s hand, all the while saying, “I must admit, you were right. This will be the making of Tir.”
It had been the god of war’s idea to separate Kara and Tir. He did not think that Tir valued Kara as much as he would need to accomplish what they needed both of them to do. “Trust a man to know a man’s heart,” the god of war replied. “Now, it’s time you make sure that Kara doesn’t die or kill the first baby that will reunite the Lost People with their Alliance brethren.”
“She won’t. I made the enchantment so strong, and there’s not a chance she will doubt her connection to Tir.”
“You’ve been wrong before,” the god of war pointed out.
“A millennia ago,” the goddess of home replied as she disappeared into smoke.
After Tir finished praying, he returned to his computer. He rebuttoned the collar on his uniform which he had loosened after his shift and opened a video message, RVM, to his mother who was a senior member on the High Council. His fleet was not far from the Alliance border so that they could talk in real-time.
“Tir,” she said pleased to see him on the screen. “You’re not coming home, are you?”
“No, I’ve requested that I be the one to go to Earth and oversee the war reparations and at the same time retrieve my wife,” this would normally be left to someone below him.
“Are you going to kill her for leaving you? It is your right and the law.” Tir’s mother had been shocked when he had told her that he had married Kara. So much so that she had not replied to his message for days.
“No,” he looked at his mother, scandalized. “I’m going to bring her back. She was abducted. She didn’t leave me,” this was a lie. They both knew she escaped but to run away from your spouse carried heavy consequences in the Alliance.
“Are you sure you want her back alive?”
“Mother, have some sympathy.”
“Tir, I do. But I think you are so blinded by your infatuation for this human you can’t see the situation clearly. The rumors of you two have even reached us here on the Capital Planet. All of your fights and your love-making during a war. Everyone thinks that this wild human has driven mad, seduced you with witchcraft, no doubt that was your plan all along, I know you my boy. You want to make human women look so sexually irresistible that every Alliance man would want to marry one, despite their low social standing. And if I’m going to give you anything, it was well-played until she ran away, that is. I’m sorry, I mean, was abducted.”
“Abducted. She was abducted. She didn’t run away from me. Please remember that. Now, I need the High Council’s permission to offer the human government UCs, weapons, and technology. I’ll be there in three days.”
Tir’s mother l
ooked at him and sighed, “How much do you think they will ask for? Remember they did lose this war, you shouldn’t have to offer them much.”
“You know this is about our future relationship with Earth too? We want humans to like us so that more women will volunteer to come to the Alliance. I don’t want to make it a habit of targeting human ships just to take the women and send them to our homeworlds. I’ll offer the human government minimal compensation, but for Earth, of course, this will seem extravagant as they are so poor. I’ll also need access to our family accounts to secure the release of Kara. She has been arrested and is being tried as a spy. There’s no doubt they are doing it to make it extra expensive to get her back.”
“Humans certainly are living up to their reputation in the galaxy as being untrustworthy and impulsive, aren’t they? And you are sure you want her back? Maybe you should let her stay in prison to teach her a lesson. Or do what you should do as her husband and execute her.”
Tir sighed, his mother could be intolerable sometimes, “Mother, do I have access to the accounts or not?”
“Of course, you do. I hate to see you having to buy your wife back though. It’s embarrassing for us all. After you get her back, I do think you should kill her as is your right. We need to send a message that our culture and laws are not to be trifled with.”
“I don’t think that is the right message to send. We want human women to come to us. That is what was decided in the High Council as you well know. If we start executing wives, no one will come.”
“Maybe that’s how it should be then. Maybe it’s better men share wives.”
“No,” said Tir firmly. “It is my fault Kara let herself be taken. I wasn’t the best husband to her when she was onboard.”
“You were at war. You had other things on your mind Tir. She should have honored her marital pledge to you.”
“That’s true, but I also made the mistake of assuming she would be happy to be married to me, which was not the case. She did not feel honored to be an Alliance citizen or to be my wife. And she’s not religious either, so she had nothing to guide her and I didn’t take the time to explain things to her properly. I thought our physical connection would be enough for her to accept her destiny, but it wasn’t. This is my fault, and because of this I’ll bring her back and comfort her, not kill her. Furthermore, I’ll not bring her home directly. I plan to keep her with me on the Refa and make amends for my past behavior.”