by Alma Nilsson
Jane spent the rest of the day in a daze, not believing that in the last 12 hours she was almost raped and even more shockingly that she killed the man who had attempted to rape her with a medieval weapon as the Alliance system of justice.
After she was off duty, she went directly back to her quarters, poured herself some scotch, and VMed Kara, the only other woman who would understand this strange situation. Luckily, Kara was available for a live chat, and she accepted Jane’s call.
“Day drinking?” Kara asked wondering what was wrong with her friend. Jane was never one to drink during the day unless something was terribly wrong.
“I’ve had a dreadful day, no, a horrendous 15 hours. I just got off duty, so it’s not truly ‘day drinking.’ It just happens to still be day.”
“What happened?” Kara was wondering if it was something with her children or Jim.
“Someone tried to rape me, and I killed him this morning before my shift,” Jane just blurted out.
“With your gun? In a struggle?”
“No, with a sword for Alliance justice. Publically,” Jane picked up his sword off her bed and pointed to his House’s emblem on it. “And now I have his sword to remember the justice I served today by the gods’ hands.” She said the last bit sarcastically. Jane was traumatized by what she had done.
“Well, he did try to rape you, didn’t he?”
“Yes, and he had his sword to my throat.”
“So, justice was served. Thanks be to the gods,” Kara replied seriously. She didn’t believe in the Alliance gods, but she did prefer their methods of justice. It was quick and sensible as long as you were good with a sword.
“Yes, let the gods be praised, indeed,” Jane replied sarcastically. “I feel like I’m someone else. Someone I don’t know. I executed a man this morning with a sword. I’ve never felt so alone in the Alliance as I did this morning.”
“Were you one of those kids that stopped drinking milk when you found out it came from a cow?”
“Possibly, I don’t remember.”
“In the Alliance, you have to make your own justice, and you did. If you had let him go, he would have attacked you again and probably killed you. Or even worse, you would have shown that you are weak, and then by association that humans are weak, and then more men would have begun attacking you and other human women because they would know you would do nothing. Don’t worry Jane, you did exactly the right thing and you’re going to be okay. People die every day and he tried to rape you. He was not innocent.”
“I just can’t believe I killed that man and then went straight back to work as if it was nothing.”
“Did you expect to get the day off? And come on, women have babies and then get on with their lives, why should executions be any different? It’s all life and death. Both happen every day. I’m surprised you’re so melancholy about this.”
“It’s just different doling out the justice by your own hand rather than having someone whose job it is to do just that. I know he was a criminal through my own experience, but it was just strange. I don’t know what I expected to happen actually.”
“Did you expect to receive a certificate and the day off?”
“Stop now.”
“Stop yourself, you’re being a little ridiculous. Good riddance to him. What kind of man tries to rape a woman when there are prostitutes on board the ship anyway? He was obviously very disturbed.”
“He said he hated humans and that we weren’t the Lost People.”
“Did you agree with him?”
“Yes, and he was so shocked that is how I managed to not die.”
“Hilarious,” Kara laughed. “Thanks be to the gods for the racist rapist.”
Jane wasn’t laughing, “And that’s not even the worst part. I tried to behead him with my sword, and it didn’t work, so he died in a pool of blood in the gymnasium over about ten minutes while we all watched.”
“Remind me never to be executed by you. Who taught you that?”
“No one, I saw it in that play about Anne Boylen,” Jane said defensively. She wanted to add, ‘I’m not killer,’ but she would never say that to Kara. It was Kara’s strength that had already saved them more than enough times because she never hesitated to kill.
“In the play, that man was supposed to be an expert executioner. The king was doing his wife a favor by using him rather than the usual axe man. But you’re a novice with only the gods know what kind of sword? Is it still that piece of crap Madame Bai gave us?”
Jane nodded.
“No wonder. Next time get some tips first, so you don’t just watch the person bleed out over several minutes. And definitely invest some UCs in a new sword.”
“There won’t be a next time,” Jane replied quickly.
“Oh, never say ‘never’ to death, murder and hypocrisy in the mighty Alliance Empire.”
Jane heard Andrew scream in the background, “How is Andrew?”
“Oh, you know, he misses his daddy and doesn’t want to be with humans right now. It’s charming.”
“It’s just a stage,” Jane tried to say comfortingly, not missing having a toddler around herself. “Everything is a stage. He will grow out of this one and then it will be something else. In a couple months it will be all about mommy.”
Kara didn’t want to talk about Andrew, he was the only thing that made her vulnerable. And she felt that Tir was using Andrew against her and it was working. Kara didn’t want to share that with anyone, not even Jane, “I’ve got to run. Rest easy now. You did the right thing. No one has the right to rape human women. I’ll message you later.”
Two weeks later the Kzi was back at the Alliance Capital Planet for the most important religious festival in the calendar year. Admiral Jei was being honored by the High Council for his conquering of new colonies and his devotion to the Empire in general. As a result, the Kzi was scheduled to remain in orbit around the Capital Planet for a week during the religious festivities. This suited Jane as she had a lot to do with her new human charges, and she would like personally to check in on them. However, before she could disembark at Space Port One, she was surprisingly met by two guards with Alliance uniforms but with purple details that marked them as being from the Second Alliance Planet.
“Jane of House Human?” one of them asked her as she tried to get past them.
“Yes?” she wondered if they were going to ask her directions or if they were looking for Admiral Jei as he was from the Second Alliance Planet.
“We are your security guards while you are on the planet. I’m Gio, and this is Sra.”
“Oh, I think there’s been a mistake. I don’t need any guards.”
“No mistake. Admiral Jei gave us orders. We are to stay with you at all times,” Gio said.
“That’s really not necessary,” the last thing Jane wanted was Admiral Jei’s personal guards trailing her every move.
“Orders are orders,” Sra replied gruffly. “You must speak to Admiral Jei if you want our orders changed.”
“Fine,” Jane and found a console on a corridor wall and to her dismay, found that Admiral Jei had already gone down to the Capital Planet. Jane looked at her IC. She could call him, but she didn’t want to sound ungrateful, or be difficult, so she put her IC back in her pocket and admitted defeat. She was reminded then of what Kara told her about Alliance men wanting to take care of women too much.
Jane walked back over to the two guards waiting for her, “The first stop we must make is here to see the Chief Medical Doctor.”
The guards nodded and followed her silently.
Jane began walking through Space Port One, when she saw a passing doctor, she stopped her. “Excuse me, Doctor. I’m looking for Doctor Anu, is she here today?”
The Doctor was surprised to be stopped by Jane. “Lieutenant Commander Jane, yes, she’s in the medical screening area.”
Jane thanked her, “May the gods be great” and changed directions to go to the medical screening area. Once there,
she found Doctor Anu in her office. Jane stood at the door, “The gods have been great today that we are both here at the same time.”
Doctor Anu was not surprised to see Jane as they had arranged this meeting, but to all ears, it should look and sound like a chance meeting, “Yes, the gods’ present many great opportunities for the humble, come in and close the door.”
“Have you completed the initial phases of your work?” Jane asked, seriously not wanting to waste any time.
“Yes, but it took longer than I thought because of Doctor Drusilla, I mean Doctor James, Oh, you know who I mean. She began asking too many questions, and then other people began to take an interest as well.”
“And the human women? They said nothing to me when I met them right after you had released them from quarantine.”
“Good. When I explained it to them initially, they assumed it was all just part of the process of them coming here voluntarily. They all signed the compromises and went through with the procedures. I believe they could also see the logic in it. Afterward, their memories were all erased. They believe they had caught a galactic virus as you know. Don’t worry, our skills at changing memories are unparalleled”
“And James?”
“You know she lied about her age?” Anu asked trying to change the subject a little. To sway the argument in her favor.
“What do you mean?” Jane asked.
“Drusilla was only 20 Earth years old when she came here. She is not even eligible to be married to Doctor Ket now by Alliance years. We cross-referenced it with medical records we received from Earth and from the new one thousand. When she began asking too many questions, I told her I would annul her marriage if she didn’t back off.”
“Did she back off?”
“Of course, she did, she’s not stupid, but she is still suspicious and of course she is close with her mother in-law who is the Imperial Doctor to the Empress.”
“That’s inconvenient.”
“I’m surprised she didn’t mention it to you?”
“She did mention it a couple of times. I told her that I had been in contact with you and trusted you to make the right decision as your interests were in our best interests too.” Jane looked into Anu’s green eyes and said, “I don’t think she suspects anything more than a little foul play, and even if she did, I don’t know that she would be wholly against what we did after her own terrible experiences with integration.”
“Well, I don’t trust her. I’ve seen into that little one’s mind. She has a tremendous amount of anger that she barely keeps under control. She’s the kind of person who could do anything if something were to disrupt that slippery control. And she is too close with Captain Kara, who would definitely see this as a betrayal. Don’t you agree?”
It just occurred to Jane then that it had been Anu, not Rez, who had tried to kill James with the Uli virus from Alpha Four and the gravity of the kind of lengths Doctor Anu would go to to get what she wanted. All of which Jane didn't even pretend to know the extent of, “I don’t think James is that big of a threat. She wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize her marriage or daughter now. I think she really loves Doctor Ket. And as for Kara, I don’t know how she would feel about this. In some ways, we are sparing more human women from ‘volunteering,’ and it’s not as if she believes in the Alliance religion, so there is no trouble on that end of betraying the gods. And I think it’s really only the religious zealots who would be against this.”
Anu just shrugged, not knowing what would happen, “Well, if they discover the truth, who’s to say what they will or won’t do. And by they, I mean, Captain Kara, Doctor Drusilla and the High Priestess and her zealous followers.”
Jane took a deep breath, “But why are we even talking about this. No one will really find out. They’re all too preoccupied with other things at the moment, and hopefully, they will just forget about all these few strange things as long as we lay low, and no one’s memories come back to them.”
“Oh, don’t worry, there is no way any of the new 1,000 women are going to remember anything but their boring days being treated in the Space Port One Hospital. My staff have excellent skills in memory replacement.”
Jane gave her a hard look, “Have you used it on me or any of the other women from the Dakota?”
“Of course not,” Anu replied too quickly for Jane to believe her.
Jane just stared at Anu and Anu stared back, after a minute she said, “Well, there’s nothing I can do about it now. Tell me about the human men.”
“They were more than willing.”
“And their memories?”
“Changed, of course. The men thought they were with slave artists. And don't worry, we found enough men on the planet and pirates nearby who were more than willing to be with some women of their own kind at the time and kept the gene pool healthy.” Anu looked at Jane carefully then and asked, “Does he know?”
“Who?” she asked innocently.
“Admiral Jei.”
“Stop reading my thoughts. Isn’t that against the law?”
“When we are all risking our lives, I’m going to read your thoughts, I’d be a fool not to.”
“He doesn’t know. Of course, not.”
“Do you want to marry him?” Anu asked skeptically.
“No, I’m not even thinking about it like that,” Jane said defensively.
“I know your thoughts, you’re in love with him. Oh, you are trying to convince yourself it’s lust, but it’s not. When people are in love, it’s like a soft sheen of mild madness that surrounds them. You can’t hide it from any doctors here. We can pass people in the corridors and quickly read their thoughts to find out who they are newly in love with. It’s like a sickness, Jane.”
“That’s an invasion of privacy.”
Anu shrugged, “I can’t help it. It’s really one of the only joys of being telepathic.”
“Okay, well, I’ll tell you then. No, I don’t want to marry him, and no, he doesn’t know I like him.”
Anu smirked, “You don’t think he knows you love him? Has he given you a gift?”
Jane didn’t answer, but she didn’t need to.
“A hairpin from Juio's? And did you post it to your social media? No, of course, you didn’t. Stupid human. But then he transferred you to his ship anyway, to keep you close.”
“Is there anything else you want to know?” Jane did not want to talk about her love life with Doctor Anu.
Anu smiled, “Oh no, I’ve enough to satisfy me now. I’m going to enjoy watching this play out,” she said smugly. “I’m so glad that the Kzi is here all week.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“I look forward to seeing you two on the military feed. I’m sure the gossip columns are going to pick this up as well. It’s romantic, actually.”
“Stop. There’s not going to be any kind of a romance going on this week. I’m very busy with House Human and I don’t even know what he has planned, but I doubt I will even see him. I’ve got to go now,” Jane stood up, and her guards moved forward to meet her.
Anu laughed, “But you’ve got his with you guards as well, but you don’t think you will see him?”
“No.”
“Stupid human,” Doctor Anu replied.
Jane just sighed, “Thank you, Doctor Anu, may the gods light your path.”
“May the gods allow you to be fruitful again,” she replied with a grin. “Walk in their light.”
Jane left the medical screening area and then went towards the hired taxi transports to go down to the Capital Planet. She was prepared to take taxi transport, but Gio lead her to one of House Rega’s transports.
“Admiral Jei has instructed me that we should use House Rega’s transports. They are more secure and have clearance for landing at all the landing pads on the planet.”
“Is there anything else he has instructed you that I should know about?” Jane asked.
Gio shrugged, “There is a lot of unspoken informati
on. I guess we will just let it unravel as it comes.”
Jane sighed and then said, “We are going to House Human now in Residential Ring Four in the Capital City.”
Leld and the Promenade
Jane entered House Human and left Jei’s guards to find their own place, which they did after speaking to a passing slave. She knew the guards were not slave class, but it just occurred to her that she didn’t know what class most guards were in nor where they went in situations like this. It was just another reminder of how much she still didn’t know about the Alliance even after being there for over a year.
Jane went upstairs to her old room and the door unlocked simply by her presence in front of it. She walked in, and everything was as she left it, bare. She had nothing personal here except for a few pieces of clothing in her closet. She was glad to have it though otherwise she assumed she would have to stay with Kara or James while she was on planet. Alliance citizens were forbidden from staying in hotels anywhere on any the five homeworld planets. Jane thought it was an odd law, but one that they followed through on for whatever reason. It was a pity because she would have liked to try one of the modern luxury hotels in the Shopping District of the Capital City, but of course it was forbidden. Just as it was forbidden for any non-Alliance citizen to stay in the personal home of an Alliance citizen.
Jane put her bag on her bed and then sat down at her desk to check her messages. None required her immediate attention, so she decided to have a shower. She knew that some of the women in House Human there wanted to speak to her, but she thought that would just have to wait until tomorrow. She was emotionally exhausted. She didn’t like what she had done to these 1,000 women. Not the procedures and definitely not the memory-erasing, but she said out loud as she entered the bathroom, “Just one more thing to add to the list of, I-had-to-make-the-best-decision-of-a-no-win-situation-in-the-Alliance.”