by Alma Nilsson
“Unfortunately, it just looks like you put up very little fight there to prove coercion.”
“You’re saying I should have let one of my crew members die to prove that I was forced to marry Admiral Tir?”
“Captain Rainer, I find it difficult to believe that you, a fearless and outstanding captain in our fleet, would have been so easily fooled unless there was something in this for you too. It just doesn’t make sense. You gave not only yourself to the Alliance for months, but your female crew forever.”
“In exchange for their lives, they are all still alive. Imprisoned but alive.”
“That is true, but for how long and what kind of lives are those women leading in the Alliance? Are they able to freely return home? No, they are not, you sold them.”
Kara looked at the prosecutor defiantly and said evenly, “I have always been loyal to Earth and would never sell one of our own.”
The prosecutor knew that he had already proved his point then, and they moved on, “How would you describe your time on the Alliance ship?”
“I was a prisoner.”
“Really? Were you kept in the brig? Beaten? Harmed in any way?”
“No, but I was restricted to quarters with armed guards.”
“Your quarters?”
“No, I had been forced to marry Admiral Tir, and so he kept me a prisoner in his quarters, none of this was my choice.”
“I might believe you if you had not been found wearing an Alliance dress and jewelry and pregnant with his baby when you escaped. Do you deny any of that?”
“I was forced to do all of that.”
“How many times during the war did you try and escape?”
“Many times.”
“So, it is just coincidence that you escaped during the last battle? I find this difficult to believe, and so do your rescuers, and I quote from Captain Jackson’s report, ‘It was almost too easy of a rescue from one of the Alliance’s best ships. We should keep an eye on Captain Rainer as there is something here that is not right.’”
“I was only able to access communications days before I escaped. I was given more freedom after I became pregnant.”
“Yes, about that, are you still pregnant with this hybrid child?”
Kara looked at the prosecutor and said nothing. She knew this would be damning if she were.
“Captain, we are waiting for your answer.”
“I sought an abortion aboard the Silverado.”
“Yes, I have the report that says you went to sickbay, but I have no confirmation of what happened there. Something like a hybrid child would have been studied, and there is no record of it. Are you still carrying the child?”
Kara did not speak.
“You will answer the question, Captain,” the judge said firmly.
“I did not have the abortion because I wanted to wait until I returned to Earth. Before I could organize it, I was arrested.”
“Would you like to have the abortion now? I am sure it can be organized easily.”
Kara did not speak.
“As I thought, you are reluctant to abort the child because you plan on returning to your lover. I am sorry, your husband,” he spat out the words as if she had committed the most horrible crime by marrying someone.
“No, I am only reluctant to abort the fetus because it is innocent.”
“You have killed so many. It is difficult for me to believe you would want a hybrid zombie monstrosity growing inside of you if you did not love this Admiral Tir. There is no place for this child on Earth. Every patriot would kill it, yet you don’t, and then you sit there and have the gall to tell all of us you are not a spy.”
“You don’t understand.” Kara felt betrayed on all sides now, but she had already been prewarned about this so she decided this was her moment to say what she needed to say and hoped she would not be silenced too soon. “The Alliance believes they can solve their demographics problem by integrating human women into their society,” The judge slammed down his hammer for silence, but she ignored him and continued, “They are very religious and believe we are the same species, but what is affecting their women will kill us too.”
“That is enough, Captain Rainer,” the judge said and motioned to the guards to take her, but Kara kept talking.
“Listen, we are all in danger. Why are you trying to confuse people and pretend that you think I am a spy? The government is going to make a deal to …”
Kara was led out of the room then by guards who were covering her mouth so she could not speak. She hoped that her outburst had been covered on the world broadcast and that people listened to her. The guards led her back to her cell roughly. However, when they saw the Alliance guards step forward, they were much gentler. She was left in her cell then. A robot administered her food and water. All she could do was sit and wait to see what would become of her.
Kara was sleeping badly, there was no window, and the robot seemed to her to come at random times with food, so she became confused about time. She tried to sleep, but it was difficult because she was haunted by her thoughts. Finally, she drifted off to sleep thinking about whether or not Tir and the Alliance delegation had arrived yet and then her dream took over.
Tir was coming to get her, apologizing for everything, and he said that she could live here on Earth and that it had all just been a misunderstanding. When they reached her apartment, she invited him in.
He looked around her apartment, “It looks exactly how you said it would look.”
She smiled and asked, “Is it too much red for you?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen all the rooms yet. Maybe you can show me the bedroom?”
Kara took Tir’s cool, grey hand and led him into the bedroom, to her old four-poster bed with the velvet curtains and asked, “Now what do you think?”
Tir took her in his arms then and said, “Not too much red at all, but I am very curious how it would feel to lie down in such an ancient bed.” Then he kissed her, and she realized that she had missed him so much then.
Kara began undressing him then and he her.
“You always look so sexy in your uniform,” he said as he unzipped it.
When they had removed each other’s clothing, she led him to her old-fashioned bed. She closed the heavy, velvet curtains, and they were almost in the dark. “I hope you don’t mind,” she said in between kisses, “I don’t want to give the neighbors an alien and human sex show.”
“I can see in the dark just as well as in the light,” Tir revealed to her and then began caressing one of her breasts so gently while he kissed her. Then his hand moved lower and began caressing her in such a familiar way, it was not long before she orgasmed, and he was slowly moving in and out of her. “I have missed you so much.”
“Stay on Earth with me,” she was saying in her dream and then suddenly she woke up. She was sweaty and a bit embarrassed. The robot was there delivering some food for her. She watched it and wondered if she had a fever to create such a dream. She also then wondered if Tir had been having sex with Sera while she was gone and became unnecessarily jealous, but as soon as she identified her reaction, she tried to reason with herself, What do you care? You do not want to be married to him. You want your life back. Come on, Rainer, get it together.
But she had been told by both her human councilor and the Alliance ambassador that they could not see any scenario that she would walk out and have her old life on Earth back, that she would be sold to Tir and have to return with him. She could not help herself then and began to cry for her lost human future and everything that had happened.
Tir and the delegation from the Alliance went down to their embassy immediately upon reaching Earth. Tir, of course, wanted to see Kara directly but both ambassadors bid him wait until they had reached some agreement with the humans. He did write a note to her in Alliance though and summoned a guard to take it to her. It read,
Kara, I am here. You will be released today. Please say nothing more. Tir
&n
bsp; A few hours later, they were all sitting at a table with the humans, calmly discussing war reparations and what was to be done with the human women and as expected the humans were demanding compensation for those abducted women.
“We cannot just let you take some of our women. They can go freely of course, but to take is against Galactic Law,” the President of Earth said.
The old Alliance Ambassador answered him, “First, they were taken as prisoners during wartime, and now, I have reports here that say the female crew from the Dakota that was relocated to the Alliance capital planet are happy and content to remain there and now serve with the Alliance Fleet. So, you could say they are, there by their wishes.”
“Captain Rainer reported they were forced,” the President said but was interrupted by Tir.
“You will refer to her as Captain Kara, she is my wife,” Tir said evenly.
The President was annoyed, “Your wife, yes, the spy. She had been tried and found guilty of being a spy. I assume you think she will return with you?”
“Come now, President, this is all about plus and minuses. The Alliance is willing to give Earth, 700,000 universal credits, 25 model 15 laser weapons and 18 eternal batteries in return for letting the human women from the Dakota remain on our capital planet, the release of Captain Kara and a constant stream of human women coming to the Alliance for work, if they so choose.”
The President, the Vice President and the Human Ambassador to the Alliance all whispered together, and the President replied, “For the release of Captain Kara alone, we would ask for that. We need more. And a steady supply of women to create half-breeds well, we need a lot more Admiral. A million universal credits, 50 model 15 laser weapons, 20 eternal batteries, a seat on the Galaxy Court for the next twenty years and two Alpha starships.”
“For that, we would also require that one-hundred human fertility experts are relocated to the Alliance, and we also take one-thousand human women with us now. Willingly, of course,” the new Alliance ambassador added.
The President of Earth looked at his team and then nodded, “Done. It will take us a couple weeks to organize…” he was interrupted by Tir.
“You have one week,” Tir said sternly. “Now release my wife.”
Kara heard lots of footsteps down the hallway that led to her cell. She stood up, trying to see who was coming. It was a mixture of both Alliance and human guards as well as two Alliance men who were obviously officers and three humans, two who were her superiors in the fleet and one government official she had never seen before.
Kara stood up, waiting to see what was going to happen.
They stopped in front of her cell, the forcefield was lowered, and one of her commanding officers began to speak formally, “Captain Kara Rainer of Alliance Imperial House Zu, you are formally and dishonorably discharged from the human fleet as of today. You have been found guilty of espionage. However, your prison sentence has been commuted from imprisonment in the Europa mines to banishment from Earth and all human colonies. You have one week to settle your affairs here and leave forever.”
Kara just looked at the General who spoke and said nothing because she was so shocked at what he had just said, even though a voice inside her head said, ‘Everyone told you this was going to happen.’ In those few seconds it took for the Alliance officer to stand forward she was losing her mind, trying to keep her composure. Then finally she asking scathingly, “What did you sell me for General? After all, I have done for humanity, and you just sold me? I won’t forget this. I’ll not rest until I’ve my due for what you have done to me today.”
None of her fellow humans answered her or made eye contact. They just stood there, looking everywhere but in her eyes. She was quiet then waiting to see what would happen next.
Then an Alliance officer she did not recognize stepped forward and said, “Captain Kara of House Zu, you have been given a commission in the Alliance fleet under Admiral Tir that will commence after a suitable amount of training in the Empire. Now if you will come with us. We will escort you to the Alliance Embassy so that you may formally accepted and pledge yourself to the Empire.”
She looked at them and thought, This is it. I have been sold by my own people. “Wait, I want to go home first and put my things in order.”
The Alliance officer assured her that she would be able to do that afterward and that she would be accompanied at all times by Alliance guards for her safety.
Kara was led to the Alliance Embassy. She was led into a big room where five Alliance men were waiting. She recognized two of them. One of the men was Doctor Siu, and the other was Ambassador Tui. She wondered where Tir was, Why isn’t he here? No doubt he orchestrated all of this. I did this for him and he isn’t even here. Everything was almost becoming too much for Kara, she struggled to keep her emotions in check.
Doctor Siu greeted her first, “Captain Kara, it’s good to see you free and,” he was holding out his scanner, “reasonably healthy.” He smiled when he passed her abdomen with the scanner but said nothing more.
“Doctor, I’m surprised by the way events have played out. I never thought to see you again, especially under these circumstances.”
“Captain Kara,” Ambassador Tui addressed her. “Now that Doctor Siu has deemed you healthy, you must take an oath to the Alliance. After all of these small formalities, you will have a week to put your affairs in order. Are you ready to begin?”
She looked at the old ambassador, “Yes,” but could not help but think, Please do not let it involve blood or anything barbaric. As soon as she had thought it, the ambassador brought out a sword, and she knew that was not just for show. My new people are absolute barbarians.
“Captain Kara, take the sword in your right hand and repeat these words to me, I Captain Kara of House Zu of planet Earth do pledge my life and soul to the Alliance. I solemnly vow to follow the will of the gods for the enduring survival of the everlasting Empire.”
Kara took the sword and thought, Maybe I hold it, “I, Captain Kara Zu of planet Earth do pledge my life and soul to the Alliance. I solemnly vow to follow the will of the gods for the enduring survival of the everlasting Empire.” As soon as she had finished, the ambassador took a strong grip on both of her hands and quickly cut the center palm of her left hand with the sword. Blood dripped to the floor, and someone brought a small candle so that the blood would drip on it until it was out. And of course, there was going to be something with blood, the gods and a sword. Welcome to the Alliance, I am a barbarian now, she reflected as her hand hurt.
When the candle went out, it seemed to be finished.
Doctor Siu came over and said, “I’m sorry I cannot heal that wound as it is ceremonial and must heal according to the will of the gods.”
Kara took the disinfectant gauze in his outstretched hand and held it against her left palm, “It’s fine. It was just a bit of a surprise,” she lied.
“I will see you aboard the ship at the end of the week. Come and see me then,” Siu said and then left.
“As I promised you, Captain,” said Ambassador Tui, handing her a small reader, “Here are the Obligations and Rights of an Alliance marriage in English, all our laws, religion and a little of our history.”
She took the reader from him and thanked him. Then she was assigned two guards who escorted her back to her apartment. They waited outside her door and would presumably be there all week as she had a week to put her affairs in order.
The first thing she did was open her messages, and there was one from Tir.
Kara,
I am finishing up everything with your government and will come to you tonight for dinner.
Tir
Kara looked at the message again and began to cry. Am I just going to accept him back? she wondered, but then reminded herself, He freed me, but he got me into this mess, to begin with. But my own people sold me. She thought about that for a long time. Her people sold her.
She hit reply.
Tir,
As I
have one week left on Earth and no food in my apartment, we are not eating here. Make a reservation at the restaurant Mirazur, where our regions called France and Spain meet. The restaurant is very old, and it is legendary. You will have to bribe them, something, you no doubt are good at now. I will meet you there.
Kara.
She did not need to specify a time. Alliance people always ate at the same time, but she smiled thinking about how uncomfortable he was going to be when the meal did not end precisely after an hour. She was almost looking forward to him, saying, ‘This goes against the gods.’
Kara looked at the clock. She had two hours to get ready and get there by transport. She assumed that she had the use of the Alliance transport she had used with the guards to come to her apartment. She sighed and thought, One week left on my home planet.
After a couple of sad minutes, during which time she allowed herself to uncharacteristically feeling sorry for herself, she rallied and thought, It is done. It was out of my control. I must make the best of this. My life with the human fleet and my future on Earth ended the day I was taken, prisoner. I could have died. I will see it as my old self died then and this is the new me. Banished from Earth, married to an alien and pregnant with a hybrid. Why not? Then she got into a hot shower and began thinking about what her new life would be like in the Alliance. She wondered how long she would be kept as a prisoner now that she was banished from Earth and had no job to go back to. She wondered if she should escape and become a pirate.
After her shower, she stood in front of her closet. She still had the Alliance dress that she escaped in, but as she assumed, she would have to wear one of those for the rest of her life, she opted for a human dress. She pulled out her favorite black dress, it had a collar with silver embellishments with matching embellishments on the arm cuffs and across her breasts, but her décolletage was only covered by black transparent silk. The rest of her breasts and midriff down to her thighs were covered by more embellishments and regular black silk, but after the dress reached her mid-thighs, it was purely transparent black silk again down to her ankles. She wore no undergarments with this dress, not even stockings as they would take away from the flashes of flesh through the transparent sections of the dress.