by Alma Nilsson
“Yet.”
“Not today, tomorrow or next year,” Jane smiled at Dru then and brought out her bag. “I’ve something for you that will make this easier.” Then she brought out a bottle of tequila.
“What?”
“Come on. I have some limes too. Let’s go to the kitchen.”
“I don’t want to drink before I do this,” Dru said while she followed Jane into the kitchen.
“But I think you should and as Head of House Human, which you are still a member, I’m insisting that you do one shot with me. Maybe two. Just to make this all a bit easier on the senses.”
“One,” Dru said.
They entered the kitchen and all three slaves looked at them and then went back to talking amongst themselves. Jane cut a lime, took out the salt and then poured four shots of white tequila. She handed one to Dru.
“To not dying by grey Alliance hands,” Jane said and Dru repeated her toast.
Then Jane picked up another glass and handed it to Dru, “To not dying by the Captain’s hands either,” and they both frowned and drank.
“One more,” said Dru.
Jane poured two more shots, “To making it through tonight.”
When they finished, they left everything in the kitchen for the slaves to tidy up and left the building. They took Jane’s transport which was from the Zuin.
“It must be nice to be on an Alpha Warship?”
“You have no idea James,” she said nonchalantly. “But the crew is another matter. We’ve had some real issues with integration. I’ll tell you about it another time,” Jane didn’t want to mention all the punishments Captain Kara had had to administer herself.
Within minutes the transport landed outside the Zu compound in the Imperial Ring. They got out of the transport and were let in by guards. Then they still had a 20-minute walk to Captain Kara’s large mansion. When they began walking towards a large red house, Dru asked, “Are you sure it’s this one?”
“Yes, Captain told me she painted the whole thing red to make Admiral Tir angry.” Then she added quietly, “They have a lot of angry sex.”
Dru half smiled at that last comment as they continued walking.
Before they could ring the bell, the front door was opened by a slave in green who led them through many large rooms, all painted red, finally leaving them in what looked like a very formal reception room which was also painted red. The Empress, Admiral Tir, Captain Kara and a small group of Imperial Officials were all waiting for them inside the room.
Jane bowed and motioned for James to do the same. Then she addressed everyone in the room formally, “I, Jane Johnson, Head of House Human do present Drusilla James to be formally adopted by Captain Kara of House Zu.”
Kara replied, “Gods, and can we change your first name too, James? I always forget it is so terrible.”
Tir looked at his wife in disbelief and then prompted her, “It doesn’t matter what her name is. Just say the words Kara.”
“I, Kara of House Zu, do commit to adopting Drusilla James,” she sighed, “into House Zu as my daughter from this day forth. “James come here, kneel before me,” Kara commanded, and Dru obeyed.
She knelt in front of Captain Kara and waited.
Kara drew her sword, “Take my sword and draw blood. Then repeat these words…”
Dru took the sword, her hands were shaking and cut the palm of her hand. Blood began to flow.
“I give my blood oath to be indebted to you for saving my life. I will only be released when you die or when I am able to repay the debt. I will act as a daughter to you. If you ask, I will give my life for yours.”
Dru repeated the oath and then remained kneeling, blood dripping from her hand.
“Now, you will be tattooed with this blood oath so that you, Drusilla James, can never murder me to get out of it.”
Dru looked up surprised, she was not expecting a blood oath tattoo. She wanted to say, ‘I would never try and kill you,’ but she knew it was futile. Admiral Tir and Captain Kara were risking a lot by doing this for her and she needed to do whatever was required of her to stay alive.
“Take off your dress,” Kara commanded.
Dru stood up and took off her dress. She was wearing a bra and underwear, so she did not really care.
“All of it. You must be completely naked when you receive the tattoo.”
Dru frowned but obeyed. She was not a particularly modest person, but she was not an exhibitionist either. She took off her undergarments and put them on top of her dress.
Kara knew that James did not need to remove all of her clothes, but she wanted to make this as painful as possible for her. She was risking a lot. She could die and she wanted James to fully understand this was not just her fight but all of the human women’s fight and they must stand united. She didn’t want James’s loyalty to ever stray which was a possibility as she was the only human from her crew on planet. Already she was concerned about the closeness between James and her betrothed’s sister.
“Kneel.”
Dru obeyed. The cold stone floor bit into her knees and her breasts were tight from the cold. She was grateful she had had three shots of tequila before coming or else she worried she might have protested more or looked less nonchalant about this change in events.
Kara nodded to a slave and he came over with a tattoo pen and began tattooing Kara’s husband’s family symbol onto James’s back left shoulder. Then cut her own palm and dripped some blood on the tattoo. “You will be bound to me until I release you by death Drusilla James.” Then hurriedly Kara added in before James could reply, “And I rename you James of House Zu.”
“I, James of House Zu, will honor the blood oath to you Captain Kara.”
“Mother,” supplied Admiral Tir. “You must call her Mother now.”
Both Dru and Kara looked at him in disbelief and he nodded, “You must. Say it again.”
“Admiral Tir, if you can’t get your humans to do this correctly, I’m making this whole thing null and void now,” came the Empress’s voice from a corner.
Dru looked up at Kara and said loudly, “I, James of House Zu, will honor the blood oath to you Mother.” A shiver passed through her body when she said those last words.
Kara tapped James’s shoulder, “Get up now and put your clothes on, James.”
“Not yet, James, House of Zu. Remain where you are,” the Empress commanded.
Dru bowed, still kneeling. Her face next to the floor. All she could remember were Ket’s words, ‘Try to stay in the shadows,’ and think, Snap, I’ve completely failed at that now, haven’t I?
“You and your captain think you are so clever, infiltrating the highest ranks of Alliance society this way. But let me make it clear to you who is still really in charge.” The Empress nodded to another slave and a long black whip was brought out. “Captain Kara, you will whip your charge for planning this duel in the first place.”
Kara was angry and tried to say something but Tir stopped her.
Tir whispered in her ear, “There is nothing you can do now. You’ll only make it worse for the girl.”
Kara didn’t acknowledge Tir but then walked over and took the whip from the slave and asked sweetly, “How many lashes, Your Grace?”
Dru was still kneeling, completely stunned.
“Seven. It’s just a reminder to you all.”
“Your Grace,” Zol, the First Imperial Doctor spoke, and everyone looked over at her for the first time.
The Empress nodded allowing her to speak.
“May I suggest another punishment for James? Something that wouldn’t mar her skin. If the gods side with her she is meant to be my son’s wife.”
The Empress didn’t want to really harm this human doctor. She knew as well as everyone else, she had done nothing wrong, but the Empress could think of nothing else to get to Captain Kara. “What do you suggest then?”
“Let me mentally shame her.”
While the Empress considered this Dru looked
at Captain Kara for clarification and she shrugged her shoulders.
Kara mouthed the words, “If you don’t know, I surely don’t know.”
After some time, the Empress nodded, and the whip was taken out of Kara’s hands. Dru was told to get dressed and sit down. Next Zol pulled up a chair in front of her and said telepathically, I’m so sorry for this, but it’s the less of the two evils. Then she put a bracelet on Drusilla’s wrist that could project her memories like a movie for everyone to see. Zol then took Drusilla’s hands and began searching her memories for something that would be shameful but not too shameful, she wanted to protect the girl.
Dru resisted Zol searching her memories. She didn’t want anyone knowing anything about her life especially from before she joined the fleet.
Let me in, let me find something, Zol was projecting to Drusilla.
Dru was resisting with everything she had, and it was tiring her, but she wouldn’t give up.
Zol finally managed to break through Drusilla’s defenses and began projecting the memory of her escaping the Exterior. Zol wished she could have found another one but without Drusilla’s assistance this was the easiest one to access as it was at the top of her mind and connected to a lot of her decisions.
The whole room watched as Dru walked up to the guards’ house at the Exterior gates. Listened as she propositioned the guards with her body for her escape. Drusilla was crying as Zol made her relive the entire memory minute by minute in real time, just as it was happening again. The five men taking her in her mouth, her anus and her vagina. Taunting her when they discovered she was a virgin and telling her that she would be a good prostitute in the modern world, that she built for it. All the terrible things. The memory stopped when she got up and walked down the path to her freedom.
Zol didn’t let go of her hands though, she healed Drusilla then. She used all of her influence to bring Drusilla back to the stable mental place she had been at before she had brought the hurtful memory forward. And when she had succeeded, she projected, Act sad now, really sad, as she simultaneously took the mental bracelet off of Drusilla’s wrist.
Dru did as she was bid by Zol and began to cry. She was not hurt anymore by what had happened, she was immune to it. Just like she was immune to this room seeing it, as if it happened to someone else.
Zol got up and bowed to the Empress.
The Empress wished she would have had Captain Kara whip the young doctor. This only hurt her, Captain Kara was unmoved by the terrible things that happened on their barbaric planet.
Kara, of course, knew where James had come from. It was an unspoken secret they all shared. She felt for James having to relive such a nightmare. No wonder she didn’t mind an alien’s touch now. How could she ever want to be with a human man again after that? Kara thought.
Jane had always suspected that James came from humble beginnings, but she had no idea it was the Exterior. The Exterior was full of criminals and religious fanatics. Jane didn’t know what to think of James now and so she stood back in shock. She wanted to go to her but couldn’t.
Kara stepped forward and took one of James’s hands, “It’s done now, and you did the right thing. I hope I can do the same for you tomorrow. Meet me an hour beforehand in the preparation room of the arena. Now go home and sleep. We’ve all done things we wish had turned out differently and we’ll continue to do them.”
Dru looked up, “Yes Captain.”
“Mother,” Admiral Tir supplied.
“Mother,” Dru was quick to say not wanting another punishment from the Empress.
Kara touched the top of her head and said quietly, “You did well, James.”
Dru’s alarm went off the next morning, “Good morning James. Today you have a duel scheduled at ten o’clock. The time now is seven o’clock.” Apparently, it’s all registered that I am officially Captain Kara’s daughter now, she thought as the computer had referred to her as ‘James’ the name Captain Kara had given her and not ‘Drusilla’ as it normally did. The Alliance was efficient.
Dru opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling thinking about everything that had happened yesterday. She got up and went into the bathroom. While she was brushing her teeth something black caught her eye and she turned to look at the tattoo with the House Zu symbol on it. Adopted by the most terrifying woman I know, she thought, but then reminded herself, but at least I probably won’t be dead.
Dru took a longer shower than usual. She didn’t’ need to hurry, she was not going to eat breakfast today. When she stood in front of her wardrobe, she remembered that she needed to wear her more formal dress, so she took it out and put it on. She thought of Ket and Dera and wondered if she would see Dera today at the duel. She wondered if the day would get any stranger, like it did yesterday. She went into the bathroom and had the mirror do her hair in an Alliance fashion with intricate braids and then she added one of the hairpins Ket had given her. Next, she put on the necklace she had worn everyday but then stopped. No, now I have to wear this one, she thought as she took the necklace Captain Kara, no Mother, had given her. It now showed her to be a part of House Zu. This is so messed up, she thought as she put it on.
Dru left the house and went to the Grand Arena just outside the Imperial Palace. She got a little lost inside the large building trying to find the preparation room where the Captain would be waiting. When she finally found the Captain and some of the other women from her old crew, she was relieved.
James walked into the room and Kara said, “Good, you are looking the part of the Alliance fair maiden today.” Kara was dressed in tight black athletic pants and a tight black sports bra. Both had ‘House Zu’ written in red on them. She had a small women’s sword in her right hand.
“Aren’t’ you going to wear any armor or anything?” Dru asked and everyone laughed.
“Women don’t wear armor or use shields, but we do thankfully wear clothing. I heard that the men have to fight naked,” Kara explained.
Dru knew this to be true from Ket’s shared memory and nodded.
Kara continued, “Don’t worry James, I may not have been using these little swords long, but I’m a natural fighter and I’ve had much more experience killing when it really matters than your little classmate who has had her head in books for most of her life.”
“Will you offer her mercy, Captain?”
Kara stopped warming up then and looked at Dru in disbelief, “No. She will not be offered any mercy. Did the Alliance offer us mercy? No. Did our own government offer us mercy when they sold us? No. We must fight for a new place in this new world. No retreat. No surrender. No mercy. Are we clear?”
“Yes,” Dru looked into Captain Kara’s brown eyes and was terrified. Terrified of this new world she had been thrust into and terrified of the woman she was bound to now and where and what she would lead her to if Kara became Empress. But then she remembered her own anger from last week when Rez had originally challenged her to the duel and in that moment, she could have killed Rez. She wondered now if Captain Kara always carried that kind of anger in her.
“Don’t look so scared James,” Kara said starting to warm up again, “I know you’re a doctor and took the Hippocratic oath to do no harm. And I won’t ask you to break that oath unless I absolutely have to. Obviously, Alliance doctors take no such oath.” All the other women laughed at Kara’s comment except for James.
“What happens after you win then? Does anyone know? I mean what do they do with the body?” Dru asked. “I think you get to keep her sword though.”
“I assume her family members will deal with it. Who knows? It’s not something we need to think about. And it will be you who keeps her sword as you were the one challenged. I don’t want it. I don’t know this woman.” Kara stopped warming up and stood in front of James, “All you need to concentrate on is not looking scared. Everyone will be watching our behavior today. They all think that human women are weak and below them. Don’t let our ignorance of their traditions prove their racism to
be true. We know enough about today to just pass the minimum requirement for doing this right. So, all of you, listen up. We hold our heads high and no matter what happens there will be no fear, James, look at me, no fear, no tears and to you all, everything plays out exactly as you expect it to. Understood?”
“Aye Captain,” they all said and then it was silent.
“Captain, it’s almost time,” said Jane after many minutes.
“Captain,” Dru almost forgot, “Rez will try and use her telepathy to trick you.”
“Well you better block her then,” Kara replied as they all left the room.
“Listen for my voice in your head,” said Dru as they walked down the hallway.
Kara stopped and looked at her then, “It’s really true then? You can also read minds?”
Dru nodded, “Better than most. Better than Rez.”
“Good. All of you go and take your places. James, it’s time, be strong.”
Dru nodded and then she and Captain Kara walked through some corridors and out onto the floor of the large arena. The stands were full of Alliance women with a small section for the humans. The Empress stood in front of them on the arena floor with so much jewelry Dru wondered how she could move. She was surrounded by her female guards, all dressed in the most elaborate armor. Rez was already there standing before the Empress by herself. She wore a similar outfit to Captain Kara’s but with her House name on it in white writing.
Everyone bowed to the Empress. After a few seconds the Empress addressed them all, “Today we are here to settle a matter of witchcraft. Rez of House Uz has accused James of House Zu of using witchcraft to entice Ket of House Vo to marry her. Rez is so confident in her claim that she has challenged James to a duel today. However, James has taken the right to name her own champion from her own family and has named Captain Kara of House Zu. The duel today will be to the death. James kiss your champion and then come and sit with me in the Imperial Box.”