But to her surprise, it was Earth’s ambassador who Jenn found herself leaning on. She hadn’t expected it, not when their conversation earlier had ended on a less than conciliatory note. It seemed that the same no-nonsense attitude that had been some massively irritating served Jenn more than once when Eliza kept a reasonable leash on the round of questioning, providing Jenn numerous breaks as she needed.
All throughout her testimony, Ambassador Eliza stood at Jenn’s side, a presence of solidarity and a champion when Jenn required moments of respite. Although Jenn had gone in believing that the ambassador would be either ineffectual or unnecessary, as the day wore on, she became more grateful for the woman’s tireless presence. Eliza seemed to be the only one in the room who really pushed for the welfare of the women.
It wasn’t that the rest of the council were unfeeling toward their plight, but they were more interested in punishing the Agraak for breaking intergalactic law than prioritizing the welfare of the captive women. Eliza pushed for sanctions to be placed upon the Agraak as well as immediate evacuation of all humans from Agraadax, despite the way several of the council seemed to pussyfoot around the issue of removing “mates.” None of them wished to set precedents for interfering with mate-bonds until Eliza reminded them that false mate claims hurt the stability of the Union if it would be allowed that one could kidnap mates without the risk of punishment.
Although Jenn wanted the Agraak punished as much as anyone else in the room, it was for the sake of the women stuck on Agraadax that she submitted to hours of interrogation as the council asked questions about the most intimate details. No matter what they asked her, whether it was humiliating or a traumatic memory, she’d answered without hesitation. A few times she fell into tears and Eliza called a halt to the proceedings so that she could regain her composure, but she never refused to answer a single question as she kept the fate of those women firmly in her mind.
She even went so far as to pull aside the fabric of the simple Vori robe to show the terrible mauling she’d been subjected to during their farce of a mating. Several members of the council gasped and commented on the terrible mass of scar tissue.
A delicately-scaled male with the palest iridescent colors leaned forward, his brow furrowing with concern as he posed his question. “You have given testimony of the abuses you suffered at the hands of the male you said you were assigned to, but how can we be certain that this was commonplace?”
“Sir, I most strenuously object,” Eliza protested, utterly appalled.
The ambassador was obviously surprised by the attitude, but Jenn was not. It was nothing she hadn’t expected to hear once word had gotten around about the lies the Agraak spun regarding their human hostages. They had known the council would have difficulty believing anyone wholesale against their claims. Eventually the ambassador would understand just how vulnerable their situation was. Eliza’s protest however was joined by a tentacled female of considerable size at the male’s side.
The female bared her teeth with an angry snarl. “Councilor Chal, do you suggest that these females are happy to be used as breeding chattel?”
“You know I am not suggesting anything of the kind,” the male sniffed. “I was first among us to vote in favor of investigating the matter regarding Agraadax—I am just stating the obvious. Not every female is happy to come to our planet and yet most eventually adjust after they’ve had time among the Calystii as mates. I saw it myself with my own offspring’s human mate. What guarantee do we have that acting against Agraadax is warranted? After all, there were allegations made against the VaDorok and every female that had been present vouched for her wellbeing with her mate. Now is not the time to make a hasty judgment on such matters.”
Jenn ground her teeth. While the council was sympathetic, not everyone was convinced that stripping Agraadax of its mating-rights protections was necessary. While she could understand the hesitancy in part, she was bewildered at just how difficult it was to sway the council as a whole. She swept the council with a contemptuous look, lingering on those who seemed on the fence regarding the matter.
“While it’s possible that there are some humans who might love their Agraak mates, you’re talking about two completely different situations here. We didn’t go to Agraadax willingly, nor did we volunteer to be mates. We’re not treated as beloved mates but as livestock. To attempt to compare it with the situation on your planet is an insult to all of us who suffered and died on Agraadax.”
Jenn closed her eyes, wrestling with the pain of her memories. Once she was certain she was in control again, she opened her eyes and met the councilor’s gaze.
“The fact that they have a termination clause in their agreements that allows the Agraak to return females for extermination, and the disgusting conditions of the facility kept solely for treating women as breeding livestock, points to a terrible situation. I don’t think we’ll ever know how many women are happy with their mates and wish to remain with them unless they are given the opportunity to speak freely in a safe place.”
Councilor Chal’s brow rose and he murmured as he made a note on his comm pad. He wasn’t the only one. Her statement caused a ripple through the council.
“I am certain that those females who wish to stay with their mates can make their case known after they are removed from their respective households,” said the chancellor.
Finally, they were starting to get somewhere. She’d been answering questions for hours over every tiny detail but it wasn’t until now that she started to have hope that maybe some good would come of it.
The chancellor clasped his arms behind his back, and he stood up from his seat and turned to look upon the others, his demeanor grave.
“I believe Jennifer Stacey has provided us with thorough details of her time on Agraadax and the conditions she faced at the hands of the Agraak. This calls into question the legitimacy of the mate protections that Agraadax invoked, not only for herself but the regulations and conditions permitted for what amounts to enslaved breeders. In light of the statement given by the Arobi that we saw earlier this rotation on the practices of the Agraak government to enslave other species for their own use, I cannot say I am surprised to hear this. It is my opinion that the evidence provided here by witness testimony satisfies all requirements to act on this manner. I rule that the conditions of human females on Agraadax void all protections, and that all females of Earth origin be removed immediately from every household by the intergalactic task force.”
A murmur of agreement swept through the council.
“Thank you, Councilor, for your just ruling,” Eliza said with a considerable amount of obvious relief. Jenn herself could barely contain her triumphant smile, her hand squeezing the ambassador’s tightly.
The steely eye of the chancellor swept over the congregated council.
“Does anyone object to this decision? Now is the time to speak.”
The silence that followed, even from Councilor Chal, was gratifying to Jenn. The ambassador’s gaze once again fixed on her at the lack of objection from any quarter.
“Thank you, Jennifer Stacey. The Intergalactic Council is in your debt. There is one matter that I am curious of... you said that your escape was facilitated by the aid of an Agraak guard. I would be very interested in hearing testimony from this female. Do you know her location?”
“I don’t. I really wish I did, because I’d like to thank her and her family for all they risked for me. I hope they got off Agraadax safely. When we parted, she was planning on doing just that. My impression was that they were disappearing offplanet, where the Agraak government would not be able to find them.”
The chancellor sighed. “I was afraid that might be the case. The Agraak Imperial family has a reputation for being brutally efficient when dealing with threats to their power, as you witnessed by the assassin they sent after you. No doubt, the guard was aware of the threat to herself and her family for aiding you. It is quite probable that they will not be found if they got
off the planet, not unless they wish to be. The universe is a very big place.”
His gold eyes closed for a long moment and suddenly Jenn got the impression that he was tired. His next statement confirmed her speculation.
“I will be pleased when this terrible unpleasantness with Agraadax is done with. Thank you.” He returned his attention to his comm pad, all but dismissing her. “Your transport to Earth is on standby. We hope you have a peaceful and uneventful trip. Ambassador Eliza, thank you for attending today.”
Jenn stood as she watched the members of the council file out of the room, talking low to each other. Eliza paused at Jenn’s side, her dark eyes resting thoughtfully on her as if the ambassador were able to see straight through her.
“What’s your plan now?”
“I guess I go home and see what can be done.”
Eliza nodded solemnly, a far-off look in her eye as she stared toward the door. She dropped her head and looked over at Jenn with a wan smile. “I don’t envy you the red tape you’ll have to go through, but I am confident you will find exactly what you need. Good luck, Jenn.”
“Thank you, Madam Ambassador.”
The other woman wrapped Jenn in a tight hug before leaving the room where she was met outside by a winged golden male. She watched them walk away arm in arm with a pang of jealousy as the door slowly slid close behind them.
Disregarding Eliza’s earlier conviction, Jenn fidgeted before bolstering her nerve and clearing her throat. The chancellor looked up, one heavy brow wrinkling in what she assumed was a questioning look.
“Umm, sir, about that... I know that the ambassador explained the regulations to me and all, but I would really like to go back to Vora. Is there any way...”
The chancellor grimaced and shook his massive head. “I regret that I cannot assist you there. After we permitted the VaDorok to keep their human mates, Earth’s ambassador at the time put in several regulations that are still in effect. It requires that all unmated or unlawfully mated, as in the case of the females that will be liberated from Agraadax, human females be returned immediately to Earth.”
Her heart fell, but she pushed on doggedly.
“Here’s the thing. There’s a male on Vora who I want to be with. We just haven’t gotten around to the mating part. Can’t you make an exception and tell them that we are mated, and you can’t force me to return because of that handy mate protection thingy?”
“I’m afraid I have to abide by intergalactic law, as much as I would prefer to help you on this matter. My only advice is to see if you can buy out your Mate Index fee and return to Vora by starship legally.”
Jenn groaned. “That’s probably going to cost a fortune.”
The chancellor’s frowned in displeasure. “Yes, so we have been made aware. That is another matter we are looking into, seeing as how many planets have lodged official complaints. At this moment, there is little we can do about it since we did give power to Earth to regulate its own affairs when it comes to their citizens. Unless we become aware of activity that is deemed illegal by the council—how does the human phrase go? Ah, our hands are tied.”
Jenn muttered a few choice expletives under her breath about what Earth could do with its regulations but smiled at the chancellor.
“Well, it was worth a shot. I’m guessing you have an escort waiting for me on the other side of the door, don’t you?”
The chancellor’s lips quirked with barely restrained amusement. “Your supposition is correct. Have a safe trip home.”
“Thank you, Chancellor.”
Disappointed, but not surprised, Jenn left the chambers and came face to face with her escort from Earth. It immediately became obvious that Earth had benefited quite a lot technologically from joining the Intergalactic Union. She wondered what other technologies Earth was selling to the populace at extortionist prices. If the weapons carried by the soldiers were any indication, she had a pretty good guess that many common goods were slowly making an appearance on Earth.
The soldiers waiting for her were simply clad, but each of them wore a blaster and armor similar to that of the team who’d retrieved her from Vora. In fact, to her relief, she recognized a few of them from her trip to the space station.
“Hey, boys. I guess you’re my official babysitters until we reach Earth. Protecting the universe, one crazy woman at a time?”
The men cracked an easy smile, but Rodriguez looked positively impish as he laughed.
“You’ve got us pegged. The big bosses don’t want any of you ladies running around wreaking havoc through the cosmos, so we are here to make sure you get home safe and sound.”
“Hate to break it to you but keeping us quarantined on Earth won’t keep us in, if you get my meaning. The universe is opening up.”
Rodriguez shrugged. “That’s above my paygrade. If you want to terrorize the universe from your couch, that is none of my business. Besides, I have a feeling that ladies who really want to leave aren’t going to be stopped by a bit of bureaucracy. The governments just want their pound of flesh first, if you get my meaning.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get you,” she said.
He held up his palms as he paced easily by her side. “Don’t shoot the messenger. Personally, I’m on your side. My sister hooked up with a pretty decent guy from Telif Prime. They got a passel of little ones already.”
He reached into his back pocket as the entire group began to move down the corridor toward the lift that would take them to the docking bay. The baby-faced young soldier who had hovered around her when she’d first gotten to the space station groaned.
“Geez, here we go again. How many times are we going to have to see those photos, Rodriguez?” The chorus of moans in agreement got little reaction outside of an offered middle finger.
“Very funny, Martins. Come on, even you cretins can see that they’re cute. Don’t hate.”
Without prompting, he whipped out a small, flexible flat screen. On it was an automatic slideshow rotating through photos of a short woman with dark, curly hair and laughing eyes who appeared in many photos with a large stone-gray male with neon green eyes. His facial features were sharp, as if carved from granite with prominent chiseled cheekbones and what looked like bony protrusions of natural armor running down his arms and shoulders. The coloring was off, but he looked a bit like the chancellor. In contrast, the three toddlers were chubby, the boy with just the studs of horns and protrusions.
“They are awfully cute,” she agreed and handed the screen back to the soldier. He folded it and stuck it back into his pocket with a pleased look on his face.
“Will your nieces also get the horns and such?”
“Nah, that’s a thing with the guys for that species. I’m not going to lie—her mate nearly scared the piss out of me the first time we met. I’ve faced down many big bastards in my time, but nothing is quite like a Teril. Especially not one who is mad as hell because he misjudged a bit of sibling fooling around as a threat to his mate. Protective motherfucker. I couldn’t ask for better. All the same, it was worth seeing her unleash that temper in another direction, though.”
“I hope so, considering the commander assigned you to shit detail for a week for inciting a Teril into destroying the loading bay,” another chuckled.
“Still worth it,” Rodriguez said with a smirk. “I’m just saying that if Earth thinks they’ll be able to control things forever, we may all be in for an unpleasant surprise.” He veered to the left and saluted what she assumed was the captain standing at the head of a small, nondescript vessel. Jenn eyed it, wondering just how safe it was compared to the larger vessels. Even the bucket of bolts that belonged to the Budo had looked more like a starship and less like a kid’s toy. The captain took note of her disparaging eye and gave her a stilted smile.
“Don’t worry, Miss Stacey. She may not look like much, what the Union likes to call a functional model for newly admitted pre-star-faring planets. They don’t quite have the power as those developed by other p
lanets, but it’s a good starting point for us. Soon enough, we will be working toward developing our own. Until then, this will get us where we need to go.”
Martins whispered from behind her left shoulder, “What he isn’t telling you is that the trip takes twice as long and is about a smooth as a freight train, but yeah, we will get there.”
“Martins, since you are in the mood to volunteer, please escort Miss Stacey aboard and prepare for the standard preflight routine.”
“Yes, sir,” Martins said as he steered Jenn up the ramp.
The interior of the ship was the same dull gray as the outside of the ship. Martins led her to a seat and once she was seated, he leaned forward to clip the harness and tighten the straps. His pale blue eyes looked up into hers as he worked, his voice low as he whispered to her urgently.
“I have to ask you... you’ve been to Agraadax. Did you have any information on a woman named Alisha Martins? She would have been five foot four, dirty-blond hair, gray eyes.”
Jenn narrowed her eyes on him. “Why do you ask? Who is this Alisha to you?”
“She’s my sister. She was among the women who volunteered for the Budo’s ‘study program.’ Please take a look at her picture and tell me if you know anything. She is all I have left in the world.”
He shoved a worn photo in her hands of a young woman matching the given description. She was beaming at the camera.
“This was taken the morning before she left. She thought it was going to be this grand adventure. Our mother died two years ago, never knowing what happened to her youngest child. Please... if you know anything...”
Her gaze softened with sympathy. “I’m so sorry. Your description sounds vaguely familiar, someone I might have seen in passing, maybe at the lab, but she wasn’t in my group. Even if she had been, I haven’t seen any of the women in my test group for years. I wish I could help,” she whispered as she pushed the picture back into his gloved hand.
The Vori's Secret Page 20