by Nicole Rae
There was silence and I began to wonder if she hadn’t thought of every detail.
“At approximately 89 minutes after your arrival, the final target will be hit,” she said without looking at me.
I guess she had it all figured out. I entered a few notes into my comtal and asked if the meeting was complete. Ruth asked me to stay again and watch a movie. I couldn’t refuse the offer.
Ruth ordered food from the Executive Kitchen, which was a treat as it meant it wasn’t freeze dried food. She decided that since it was nearing my last night as Ambassador, she would make sure I experienced all that OrbForce had to offer. I joked about wanting to go back to Earth the following night, since it would be my last night as Ambassador.
“So you can go have a rendezvous with your friend Abby?” Ruth asked.
“Well, maybe,” I smiled back.
“I did some research,” Ruth said.
“On what?” I asked. “On Abby?”
“Well you should know she is involved in a huge contraband ring. I could have her picked up and prosecuted tonight if I wanted,” Ruth said.
“Oh it’s just music. It’s not weapons or religious material,” I pleaded.
“Stay away from her until your mission is complete,” Ruth said.
“Or what? You will have her picked up?” I asked.
“Maybe,” she said with a hint of sarcasm. The door buzzed and the food arrived. It smelled amazing and was hot and served on actual plates with old-fashioned silverware. We both took a place at the table in Ruth’s dining area while the staff placed our meals and drinks before us. This was a level of service I could get used to. “So do you like her?” Ruth asked after the OrbForce Executive Kitchen staff left.
“Who?” I asked.
“Abby,” she said.
“Oh,” I said.
“Is that your answer?” Ruth asked smiling.
I smiled back and explained that I had lost the love of my life seven years prior so I wasn’t planning on jumping into anything as my heart was still aching from the loss. Ruth listened intently before acknowledging that she had already read my psychological evaluations following the death. She asked me if I wanted to talk about her and I declined. I had worked hard to move on. I wanted to tell Ruth that the only person who stirred my insides like my former lover, was her. I wanted to tell her that I hadn’t felt so safe and comfortable with anyone since, as I did with her. I didn’t say anything though. Ruth had made it clear there would be no us, at least not a romantic version of us. But the chemistry was undeniable and I prodded her to admit to it while we ate our warm meals.
I felt like we had been transported to another time as we dined together with candles glowing. It felt like we had been taken back in time and for a moment I wished that were possible. I wished we were in another time and I could freely express my feelings for her and she could let her guard down and share herself with me fully. I wanted to feel her and touch her and the more we talked the more I wanted to stay lost in the moment forever. We talked about the following night and Ruth joked about this being my last meal, which I thought was odd. Once I went back to Earth I would enjoy hot meals more frequently. But she insisted, so I indulged her sense of humor.
I left after the movie. Ruth wanted me to stay but it was too hard to be so close to her and not be able to touch her or kiss her. Her presence was a force for me and I was not strong enough to resist. She understood my position and let me go without much of a fight. I made my way back to my suite and decided to stay up and study more of the notes from the intelligence. I only had 36 hours to go as Ambassador and I needed to make sure I was prepared for any twist or turn in my encounter with A001 and the rest of Ulum leadership. I was hoping to leave behind a legacy. I wasn’t sure how the future relations with Ulum and Earth would work. I know that Earth was done playing nice and so perhaps there would never be another Ambassador. Commander Callow was certainly capable of handling the communication between Ulum and Earth and I would always be available for consulting. There wouldn’t be much to discuss after Ulum would be obliterated in the attack.
As I read more about A001 and her ability to feel human emotions, my own human emotions started to weigh on me. I started feeling heavy about this whole set-up, but I also have dreamt of vengeance since my lover was killed seven years ago. I wanted to avenge her death myself and was even given the opportunity to experience it virtually during therapy. The experience felt very real, but those responsible for her death were still very much alive and would be at the table with me in less than two days. Despite the anger and rage I felt toward them, I learned from the virtual experience that my conscience and my heart were not equipped to carry the burden of death.
I was struggling to rest my mind and decided to take a walk down the galaxy corridor and hopefully clear my head. When I arrived at the start of the star walk, I saw Ruth looking up at all the stars that surrounded us. She turned and looked at me.
“You couldn’t sleep either?” she asked.
“No,” I said and joined her near the entrance.
“It’s funny you know? Life….” she said.
“Like ha-ha funny or ironic kind of funny?” I asked.
“Ironic,” she said. “I don’t think it’s possible to have it all. Do you?”
“No,” I said.
We sat quietly on a bench staring at the stars ahead of us.
“Do you ever think life is playing a joke on you?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Just when you think you know exactly what you want, someone….or something it could be, comes along and obliterates your reality. You know what I mean?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said and reached over to squeeze her hand reassuringly.
I held her hand as we sat in silence. I wanted to ask what was weighing on her mind, but I didn’t. I just sat there staring straight ahead like her, watching the stars float past us. We sat for some time like this and exhaustion started to settle into my body. Ruth must have felt it too as she stood up and said good night to me with a warm hug. As she turned to walk away, I saw a tear streaming down her cheek. She moved faster than usual and I saw her hands go toward her face as she walked down the hallway back toward her quarters. I wanted to call out to her or chase after her and demand answers. She was shedding more tears in my presence and it was clear that something was hanging over her and my presence seemed to be a reminder. I wanted to know but I did not move. I watched her disappear around the corridor, my heart heavy for her and my body aching for her touch.
I returned to my room and quickly fell asleep in my pod. I awoke early and was startled to see the Commander sitting in a chair facing me.
“Commander?” I asked.
“We need to talk,” she said.
“Did something happen? Are there new developments?” I asked.
“No, we need to talk about us,” she looked at me.
“Oh,” I said.
“I just thought you should know that I am attracted to you too. It is mutual and when I am near you I never want to leave you,” she said.
“I don’t know what to say,” I was struggling to respond.
“Say you feel it too,” she said.
“I already have. I have said it and even shown it. I am very attracted to you,” I was now sitting up and had reached across to touch her hand. Every time our skin touched I felt electricity from my chest to my thighs.
“Well I wanted you to know that. I mean I don’t think I ever said the words and I wanted you to know that,” she said.
I leaned in and held my face close to hers waiting for a second to see if she pulled away but she did not. I could feel her breath on my face and I grazed her lips with mine and gently touched the side of her face with my hand. She leaned into me and I pressed my lips hard against hers. Her tongue penetrated my mouth and a surge of ecstasy shot through my body. I stood her up, never breaking our kiss and turned her around to sit her on my bed. I pulled away from her and
looked into her eyes and asked for confirmation that this is what she wanted.
“Yes,” she whispered. “But first…” she pressed a code into her comtal and I realized she was shutting down my room surveillance, “I don’t like an audience.”
I kissed her hard, feeling the pressure mounting inside of me causing me to feel like I could explode. I laid her slowly down on my bed and pressed my body on top of her kissing her hard. I pressed my knee between her legs and spread her beneath me as she gasped with pleasure.
“I want to make love to you, Ruth,” I whispered in her ear before kissing her neck.
“I want that too,” she whispered as she sank her fingers into my hair and pressed my head against her. I kissed her neck and down her chest pulling back her uniform at the buttons to expose more of her skin. I carefully removed her uniform top, exposing her erect nipples to my mouth. I traced her soft breasts with my tongue teasing each nipple that hardened against my tongue. She pulled at my shirt until it was off and my bare skin was warm against hers. She moaned as she felt my breasts pressed against hers. I traced her body with my mouth laying gentle kisses down her chest, between her breasts and over her stomach stopping at the top of her pants to look at her once more. My body was anxious for more, but I moved my face back up to hers and asked once more for permission. I slid my hand beneath her zipper while staring deep into her eyes.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” I asked as I pressed my fingers against her wetness.
“Please,” she moaned.
I slipped my hand back out and smiled hungrily at her as I slowly pulled her pants down. Her underwear were not standard uniform and it became clear that she wanted this to happen tonight. The black bikini cut revealed her wetness and my heart was pounding to expose her completely. She insisted I remove my pants so that she could feel every inch of our skin touching. I kissed her again gently on her lips while I maneuvered my hand between her legs feeling her wetness again and causing her to moan softly. I touched her gently at first feeling her push her hips to me before I plunged my fingers deep inside of her forcing her to arch her back and cry out. I kissed her as I made love to her with my fingers bringing her to climax. I tasted her as she came and made love to her again with my tongue until my mouth was full of her taste. Her moans made me wet with desire and I longed to feel her touching me, but I pulled my body up next to hers and lay quietly holding her against my chest and kissing the back of her neck until she dozed off from exhaustion.
I lay awake thinking about her and about what had happened and how it would affect my future. I really wanted to be with her, but my heart was telling me that this was not going to happen. My mind reasoned that anything was possible and anything could work if two people really wanted it, but my heart argued that the Commander did not want anything long-term. I started to wonder why she came to my room this night, of all nights. First she had me stay for a cooked meal and then she gave me what she knew I was craving from her. Why was this all happening? I knew she had entered my room with intentions of giving herself to me and I could not figure out why she had changed her mind, so close to the end of our mission. I wanted to believe that she was falling in love with me as I was with her, but doubts about her motivations were lingering in my thoughts like dark clouds. I really was falling in love with Ruth and I wanted her to love me back.
Chapter Three
When I woke up in the morning Ruth was gone. I felt the sting of hurt shoot through me as I reached for her and felt the emptiness next to me. I wondered if she was now watching me via surveillance. I was sitting up looking around my suite just to be sure she wasn’t still there and then plopped myself back against my pillow and closed my eyes. What if she saw the desperation in my eyes as I scanned the room? I felt vulnerable, tired, and anxious.
I had to get up and use the restroom and collect myself in there, since that was the only room in my suite not monitored by surveillance. I found a note attached to the sink that simply read:
Z, Didn’t want to wake you. Thank you for everything. –Ruth
We had a meeting scheduled before lunch with her intelligence team to review my plan and one final meeting tonight before I departed at 2:00 a.m. for transport to Ulum. I brewed a cup of coffee and checked my comtal and saw that I had received a message from Abby. She invited me to be her date to a gala in two days. I was available, I thought. She also sent me a masked non-static IP address, which gave me links to three contraband songs. I smiled when I saw the songs she had selected. It was clear she remembered everything I said the first night we met even though we were both intoxicated. I couldn’t resist clicking on the links and listening. She also wrote that prior to meeting me she never watched the news because it was too depressing, but started following it just to see me and hear about me and she wished me luck on my summit with Ulum leadership. Her note was flirtatious and sincere. She had a kindness to her that warmed my heart. I wasn’t as drawn to her as I was to the Commander, but I felt like we could be great friends in the future and possibly more.
I was halfway through the second song when a notification came through on my comtal from the Commander requesting my presence in her office. I responded that I would be there shortly.
“Contraband songs on OrbForce? Really?” she asked as I walked through her office doors.
“I knew you would find out,” I admitted. I downloaded them knowing she would find out because I was being so closely monitored and I wanted to make her jealous to see if there was more to us than last night.
“No more Abby and no more music until the mission is complete,” she said.
“For the record, she initiated conversation with me,” I said.
“I’m aware, but you responded. No more until the mission is over.”
“And then what?” I asked.
“And then you are free to do whatever you want. Your time with OrbForce will be over. I have nowhere else to put you,” she was cold.
“I appreciate you trying,” I returned with a gracious response.
“I am sorry if I led you on last night,” she said.
“You didn’t,” I said.
“I just can’t do a relationship. There is too much…”
“You don’t need to explain. I get it,” I cut her off.
“Very well then. I will see you this afternoon to review any last minute intel,” she said.
“See you then,” I turned to leave but waited.
“Do you have a question?” She asked.
“I was waiting to be dismissed. Protocols and all,” I smiled.
“You are dismissed.” The door opened.
I felt like I had been kicked in the gut, but I wasn’t about to show that to Ruth. I left smiling and walked back to my suite to re-read the message from Abby. Ruth’s coldness sent chills through my body and I wondered if this was her defense mechanism to avoid getting attached. Whatever it was, I was done. I would complete the mission and move on with my life away from OrbForce and away from Commander Callow. Abby would be the perfect distraction to forget about the world I had known for so long.
As the door closed I heard Commander Callow’s voice and again I heard my name. I stopped and listened closely. The conversation was broken up possibly because she saw me still outside her door on surveillance, but I heard her say something about granting me my final wishes. Final wishes? What was that about? Were they throwing me a party? That would be a horrible idea if it were to be leaked to Ulum. Surely, that was not it. Was that her description of what took place between us? My stomach twisted in knots at the thought. It was best that I was moving on from OrbForce as long as Commander Callow was going to be in charge. She was in my head and I needed to focus on the mission.
I cleaned out my suite and sent my personal belongings via OrbTransport to my vacation home in the United States territory on Earth. I sent Abby a quick note through a private messenger that I would be in touch soon and would love to join her at the gala.
I had appointments with
MedShield to get medical clearance for the mission and afterward I would meet with my pilot to review logistics of our arrival and departure. Then I had one final meeting with Commander Callow and the Intelligence Captain to brief me on any last minute changes before departing to Ulum to meet with General A001 and the rest of Ulum leaders.
I had no issues getting medical clearance. All scans and tissue tests proved I was in perfect health, which is for some reason always comforting to hear. My pilot waited for me in a shared use conference room that I had booked to review the plans with her. She notified me that the Commander had already briefed her and she was clear on her orders. She stated that she was told under no uncertain terms to follow the Commander’s orders without question. I thought the break in protocol was odd, but I was done challenging the Commander. I just needed to get through this last mission and move on from OrbForce. I did not like how she was handling things and if this was a sign of the future, then it was clearly time for me to move on from my role as Ambassador.
I stopped for a quick snack in the cafeteria and ran into my old high school friend who worked in HR. She told me that everyone was anxious about the mission and she wished me luck. I told her that I was certain that this would be my last mission and my time with OrbForce would soon be over as the Commander made it clear that there would be no other position for me. My friend stated that she hadn’t even seen an inquiry from the Commander come through HR but we brushed it off as likely a higher-level inquiry than what she would see in her position. We reminisced a bit about the good old days over a cup of coffee before I had to go to meet with the Commander and Intelligence Captain.
I took a deep breath as I stood outside of the Commander’s door. It slid open before I had a chance to place my eye over the scanner. The Commander and the I.C. took turns shaking my hand with cordial professionalism. Ruth avoided eye contact and was quiet during the meeting. I found her disposition disheartening and cold and I couldn’t wait to finish up and be done with her. In less than eight hours the mission would be complete and I would be on transport back to planet Earth. The I.C. encouraged me to change my position on being armed, but I as always, refused to carry weaponry into peace talks. I felt like it was the perfect example of hypocrisy and would exemplify one of the very issues that the Ulumese had with humans. He was emphatic that I change my position, but I stood my ground. I had completed hundreds of talks with the Ulumese and never needed a weapon and I was not about to start. The Commander chimed in her support for me taking at least a small nerve paralyzer or some sort of protective equipment, but I was firm with her as well. In the end, they knew that I would leave any weaponry that they fitted me with aboard my transport craft. The meeting was coordinated and uneventful beyond the push for weaponry. The schedule of targets and strikes was reviewed again and I felt confident that there was sufficient time to leave Ulum before communications of the attack made it to the summit. I was sure this mission would run like a well-oiled machine. The Commander had a well thought out and perfectly coordinated plan and planet Ulum would be completely broken by the strikes. Defeat and surrender were certain. She may not make a great friend, but she was a very competent Commander and I gave her tremendous respect for the mission she had put together. After today, humans on planet Earth would be able to sleep better knowing that the threat that Ulum once posed was no more. This was a mission for the history books.