by Alma Nilsson
Married to the Alien with No House
Renascence Alliance Series Book 3
Alma Nilsson
Married to the Alien with No House, Renascence Alliance Series Book 3 © 2019 by Alma Nilsson. All Rights Reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Cover designed by Alma Nilsson, Photo 104479448 © Anna Ivanova - Dreamstime.com
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing: November 2019
ISBN: 9781697129809
Abbreviations:
Universal Credits:UC
Instant Commicator: IC
Video Messaging: VM
Real Time Video Messaging: RVM
In Orbit Around Earth
Alliance Date: 4th day of the 37th week of the year 18904, Earth date: March 24th, 2635
“People think I should’ve you killed for abandoning me during the war,” Admiral Tir said to his wife while holding his small short sword up to her neck. They were in Tir’s private candlelit gymnasium on the Alliance Warship Refa orbiting Earth.
Captain Kara Rainer could not help herself; she took a small step forward and let her husband’s blade softly puncture her skin. Warm, red blood began to run down her neck and onto her dark clothing. She made eye contact with Tir, his eyes reflecting slightly like a cat’s due to the dark room, “Go ahead then, kill your pregnant wife. I’m daring you.”
Tir did not move his sword; he held it steady, and his eyes steady with Kara’s. He knew she was still incredibly frustrated about the uncertainty of her future. And cross with him for wanting to take more human women back to the Alliance homeworlds. But he was not going to apologize. His actions were done to save the Alliance Empire, and he would do anything to see that goal successfully achieved.
“What’s taking you so long?” she baited him.
“I’m considering it,” answered Tir, lying. If fact, he was thinking about what his mother had said. She wanted Kara dead. Standing here now in this situation, he felt more conviction than ever in keeping Kara with him rather than forcing her to live on the Capital Planet, as Alliance women traditionally did. He knew that if he forced Kara to stay on the planet, either his mother, Kara, or both of them would end up dead sooner rather than later. And despite everything that had happened between them, he was inexplicably drawn to her, this difficult human woman.
“Will you do the will of your people then or your own?” Kara baited him again. He was the successor to the Alliance Imperial Throne. Unlikely that he would take it now that he had married a human, as that would make her Empress, but it left them both in precarious circumstances.
“Don’t mock me, Kara. You know everything I’ve done since I met you has been for you alone. If I was obeying the will of my people rather than the will of the gods, you would have died during the war with the Jahay. I’ve saved you twice now. Once from the Alliance and now from your own people. And where is your gratitude?”
Kara said nothing. She felt no gratitude towards anyone. She assumed that he had owed her this rescue, and his saving her before, during the war, had been his choice, not hers. She and her crew had been prepared to die. If anything he stole that little human honor she away from her to transform her into this human traitor.
Tir removed his sword and then stepped closer to Kara. He rubbed his thumb against the tiny wound. “I’ve never had human blood on my sword before, and I don’t ever want to have yours on it again.”
Kara couldn’t help but laugh, “Yes, you have had my blood on your sword before.” She suddenly jumped on him then, pushing him to the ground.
Tir was taken off guard as he had been thinking about her comment, trying to remember a time he had killed a human. Then he let her take him down and straddle him. He couldn’t help but remember the first time he was teaching her how to spare swords in this room, and he put his hands on her hips.
Kara was pleased with herself and leaned down to kiss him and then said, in-between kisses, “I’m so annoyed with you right now, if you were anyone else in the galaxy I would kill you. But my body won’t listen to my mind.”
“Because we are the will of the gods Kara. Stop fighting destiny.” Tir thought about her earlier comment then, “When have I cut you before with my sword?”
Kara sighed, “Tir, think about it. Your sword could be a metaphor for something else. Are you following me?”
Tir was an Alliance man through and through. Swords, which everyone wielded, were almost sacred in the culture. No one would ever metaphorically link their sword to a sexual organ. It would be as unlikely as relating it to an action such as using the bathroom. Their swords and customs around them were as sacred as the gods. “No, I’m not following you at all.” He looked into her human brown eyes and brushed her short hair behind her ears, “But, I’m glad to have you back, even if you aren’t necessarily so pleased to be here.”
“And will you fulfill your promise and give me an alpha warship?” He had promised her a ship if she pledged her loyalty to him and the Alliance Empire.
“You know you’ve not pledged your loyalty to me, only to the Empire.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course, I have. I married you. I didn’t kill our hybrid baby. I’m here.”
Tir put his hands on either side of her warm face and brought her head down millimeters from his. He looked into her eyes for a couple seconds and then said, “Nice try. Beta ship in my fleet. When you pledge your loyalty to me, and I believe it. When you are living your true Alliance life, then you can have an alpha ship.” The truth was, Tir still didn’t trust her, but he wanted to allow her an opportunity to earn his trust.
“And my crew?”
“When we reach the Alliance Capital Planet, you can recruit some of your old crew from House Human.”
“What the hell is House Human? That sounds terrible.”
“It’s the name we have given humans for their house. We couldn’t just make up an Alliance name.”
“Why not we are Alliance? Or allow us to decide our own name then? House Human sounds like we are animals. But then again, I guess in Alliance eyes we are like animals.” Kara couldn’t keep the bitterness from her voice.
“Kara, you are making too much out of this. It’s just a name and one that you don’t have to use either. You’re a part of my house, an Imperial House.”
“I consider all of the human women brought to the Alliance my responsibility. And I don’t want the them to suffer under that dreadful name. I’m sure life in the Alliance on the Capital Planet is already awful enough. And wait, can we talk about the extra 1,000 women you want to bring with us?”
“We’ve already discussed this. The 1,000 addition human women will all be volunteers,” Tir said, defending himself again. “You saw the advertisement. As we speak, interviews and tests are being conducted at the Alliance Embassy. I know you might not believe it, but a lot of women wouldn’t mind marrying Alliance men if it meant they got to move to one of the Alliance homeworlds.”
“Of course, they are all ‘volunteers,’” Kara said disbelievingly. She suspected that the advertisement
which not only promised universal credits, UCs, and work for those women accepted to the program, also contained subliminal messages. Tir had sworn to her that it didn’t, but she knew already that Alliance people often hid the truth when not asked the exact question to expose their actions. “I know I can’t do anything about those poor women who will be chosen as volunteers now. But what I can do something about and what I’m really concerned with is what all those women are going to do in the Alliance. They aren’t’ going to be a part of the fleet. I can’t integrate them with me. But I don’t want them just to become living and breathing baby-making machines for the Alliance.”
“If we were going to do that, we wouldn’t bother with the pretense of asking for volunteers. These women will be given the same rights as any other Alliance woman of maximum class. And as we have had a shortage of women, we’ve many unfilled jobs across the Empire that these women will be trained for. I promise you; they will live full lives in the Alliance.”
“And you won’t force them to marry?”
“No, we will allow them to choose, just as Alliance women are allowed to choose.”
“Just like I was able to choose?” Kara asked sarcastically.
Tir touched one finger to his heart, “We are destiny.”
She shook her head in disbelief at his unwavering religious conviction.
“Stop denying the gods.”
“How am I denying them? I’m here, aren’t I? Isn’t this what they wanted?”
“You oppose them at every turn, stop resisting.”
“I’m just living my life, Tir. I’m only resisting this religious nonsense you’re trying to use to justify the abduction of human women.”
“Stop,” he ordered her and then brought her head down to kiss him.
They kissed passionately for some minutes, and then she said, laying her cheek against his, “When we are close is the only time, I feel anything for the gods.”
Tir put his hands on her back and held her close. He didn’t know what to tell her. For him, everything was so clear. But then he reminded himself, he had only told her a third of his plans. He purposely was keeping her in the dark. He considered whether or not he should reassess this. That if telling her more would allow her some peace with her destiny, but in the end, he just did not trust her enough and decided against telling her any more now.
As if reading his thoughts, she asked, “Why do you make me suffer?”
Tir momentarily froze at the poignancy of her question but then reassured himself she was not clairvoyant, “What do you mean? I don’t see you suffering.”
“You know what I mean. A beta ship in your fleet.”
Tir smiled.
Kara felt his smile and moved to get off of him, “Do you think because I’m human that I’m a joke?”
“No,” he quickly grabbed her shoulders. He knew that she was toying with him to get her way. He had been around her enough to know that. He would give her something else she desired instead as he could not give her an alpha ship. “Turn off your translator,” He spoke to her in the men’s language now. It was forbidden, “I will give you an alpha ship when you’ve earned it.”
Kara was surprised. She knew this was the men’s language — the key to the Alliance military. The secret language Alliance men used that the women had never condescended to learn. “What did you say? Are you going to teach me?”
He nodded, “Turn your translator on.”
“I don’t need to, tell me in standard Alliance,” Kara had a pretty good grasp on the Alliance spoken language.
“I said,” he spoke slowly and looking earnestly into her eyes, “I will give you an alpha ship when you’ve earned it. Understand?”
She nodded. Wondering, Is it more significant to give me an alpha ship than to teach me the men’s language? A language that she would be executed for if any man ever heard her speak it. That Tir would be executed for teaching to her. But then it occurred to her that maybe she needed the men’s language to operate some of the command codes on the ship. She had assumed before when she had begun learning the standard Alliance language that she would need to speak in the original language to access data and steal a transport or fighter to escape. Even human fleet ships’ commands such as a self-destruct function, or any classified files could only be accessed with natively spoken command codes, not through translation. And on the human ships, the overrides were challenging and time-consuming. As far as Kara knew, every species in the galaxy did this to make it next to impossible for most other species to commandeer their ships. It was possible the Alliance took this even a step further, making these codes in the men’s language so that even the Alliance women couldn’t access them. Then Tir broke her train of thought and said something to her she couldn’t understand. Kara mentally turned her translator back on, “What did you say?”
“We should go. I want you to be there tonight at the reception with the human government in Alliance clothing.”
“Don’t you think I’ve done enough?”
“No. It’s not for your government. Who cares? They have their UCs and technology. I want you to go so that the women who might be considering volunteering to join us see that you are with me freely. That you’re not a prisoner.”
She laughed, “People are going to think what they already assume, whether they see me or not. People who already assume I’m a prisoner will think you are forcing me to go, and people who think I’m doing this out of choice will also be more resolute in their opinion. So, you see, it doesn’t matter, and I don’t want to go. I might take my gun and shoot the President in the head, I’m so angry.”
“Well, I’ll definitely make sure you are unarmed then. Gods Kara don’t say things like that. Everyone did what they needed to do. You know that. I’ve no doubt you would have sold your president if roles would have been reversed so why are you so surprised that he did the same to you?”
Kara slapped him.
Tir grabbed her wrists tightly. “Is this an invitation to punish you? I’ve told you before I’ll not stand for human barbarisms.”
Kara futilely struggled against him, “I’d never sell out another human.”
Tir let go of her then, and she tried to slap him again, but he caught her wrist, “Yes, you would. You sold the women of the Dakota for your male crew. No one in the galaxy is ever innocent. Please recognize yourself as just as guilty as the rest of us sinners for all the awful things we do. That is why the gods punish us.”
“I didn’t sell anyone. You gave me the choice of life or death for my crew.” Kara hated how Tir brought the Alliance religion into everything, but she could see that she was on the verge of really making him angry now so she resisted in insulting his religious beliefs.
“Yes, I gave you a choice. Just like I’m giving you a choice now. Civilize yourself or face the consequences.” Tir looked down at Kara. Her cheeks were flushed with pink. He knew she was angry, and he was frustrated with her and was momentarily baffled about what to say. “Kara,” he tried to speak patiently to her so that she might hear reason, “your government did what any other reasonable government in this situation would have done. You need to understand the rules of the galaxy and your part in them. What happened to you wasn’t personal and what you did wasn’t personal either. But how you respond outside those actions, when you aren't making life-altering choices is. Don’t embarrass yourself or me with this ridiculous and selfish behavior thinking that you are some savior of the human race. You are an Alliance citizen now, an Alliance officer, and my wife. You will put on your Alliance uniform and attend the event tonight. You will talk with the other humans kindly, and you will play your part in all of this.”
Kara struggled, and he let her arms go. She could not help it, she had tears in her eyes from everything that had happened and maybe from the pregnancy hormones too, “How do I play such a part and how do you know how to play your part?”
Tir felt sorry for her for a second, but he cautioned himself as he didn’t know
if this was a human trick to gain sympathy. He looked at her adorable face with her big eyes and pink lips, and couldn’t help but hold her to him in a firm embrace, “I know because I’ve made all the wrong choices before. Now I make the right ones. And I’m trying to help you make those right choices too.”
Kara actually didn’t want to listen. All she wanted to do was be held by him as contrary as that desire was given how she disliked what he was making her do. But she felt so right with him, despite everything. She blamed herself for everything and thought, If only I had died in the war, none of this would be happening. But she knew that wasn’t true. It would just be another human woman who would be in her position now. She didn’t believe in the Alliance religion or destiny. She drew away from Tir, regaining her composure, wiped her tears, and said, “I’m fine now. I hear you and I’ll do what needs to be done. Not for you, not for the Empire and certainly not for my government.”
“For what then?”
“For these women that are coming with us and the ones that will follow. For the humans that must suffer the same fate. I know I can’t save them from coming. If they don’t volunteer, I know the Empire will just take. I like you, want them to have this illusion of choice for their suffering.”
“All this talk of suffering,” Tir said irritated. “You act like Alliance citizenship is a prison sentence. Alliance citizenship is the greatest gift in the galaxy. Now,” he took her warm hand in his, “let’s make sure your formal uniform fits Captain Kara of House Zu of the Alliance Empire. “
A Volunteer
Babette used the toilet and then looked in the breakroom mirror while she washed her hands. Her long, light blonde hair was messily pulled up attractively, and her eyes didn’t look too tired. But she had not slept well the night before. She had had nightmares. They had been terrifying, but she couldn’t remember what they were about. She had just woken up crying, shaking and scared. She looked at her reflection in the mirror letting the water run over her hands, as if looking at herself intently in the mirror would trigger her memory allowing her to recall what had scared her so much in her dreams. After a few seconds, disappointed that she was just as ignorant now as she was last night, she turned the water off and walked back into the breakroom, made herself a cup of coffee, and sat down with three other women who were also shop assistants in the one high-end clothing store that the small city of Natchez had to offer. The other women looked as Babette came to the table and smiled at her. It made her feel good to belong here with these other women.
