Married to the Alien Admiral: Renascence Alliance Series Book 1

by Alma Nilsson

  Kara was awestruck then, “The Empress is the supreme ruler, not the Emperor?”

  “Of course.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Kara said. “Why would Alliance men allow themselves to be so secondary to women? They are the ones who keep their women at home.”

  Sera laughed, “You see this all backward. Alliance women don’t want to risk their precious lives out in the galaxy, and because of this, they’ve always made the men sacrifice themselves for the Empire.”

  Everything was becoming more clear to Kara now. It was as if she had been looking at a book upside down, and now it had been righted for her. “As an Alliance woman now, I’ve more rights that Admiral Tir?”

  “On planet, yes. It’s all very complicated. There are a set of long rules called The Contracts that set out the compromises made between men and women over the centuries in an attempt to make things more equal. But what it amounts to is that men are dominant off-planet and women on the planet.”

  “Then why do you chose to live off-planet?”

  “Look at me? I was meant to be a slave artist. I’m richer than I ever dreamed I could be. I’ll return soon enough to live a different chapter of my life. As the gods’ will it.”

  “And do you believe we are the Lost People?”

  “Many people believe, and many more don’t say for fear of being ridiculed, but if Admiral Tir were to bring you back with a child and take the throne, I think there would be some unrest.”

  “And I would be killed with whatever offspring.”

  “We never kill children.”

  “That is reassuring,” said Kara sarcastically.

  Sera gave her a disapproving look, “But I’m sure Tir is going to do his best and make excuses to keep you out here for as long as possible before the exchange. His fleet is loyal to him, and no matter what they may personally feel about him marrying you, they would never let any harm come to you or sell you to the highest bidder of abductors.”

  “People want to abduct me to get to him?” Kara had never played a political game in her life. This suddenly was all so new to her.

  “Yes, to prove a point that religion might not be real, that he’s not as strong as he thinks he is marrying a human and getting away with it.”

  “I thought humans were supposed to be Alliance citizens now? I’ve just sent my female crew on the word of Tir. They would be treated well there. Now, what are you saying?”

  “They’ll be treated well there, but Admiral Tir is supposed to be Emperor. No one wants him marrying a lowly human, no matter how beautiful, no offense.” Kara showed she didn’t care with her hand and nodded for Sera to continue, “Humans are meant to be for lower-ranking members of the maximum who could not find an Alliance wife. Not to be Empress, the Alliance nor the galaxy would stand for it.”

  It was all becoming clearer now why he was adamant that she also memorize some religious prayers to say in public. He told her she need not believe, but she gives the appearance of believing, “This seems like it won’t end well at all.”

  “It’s not easy, but I think Admiral Tir is right in marrying you. You’ll see.”

  “Is there anyone else to take his place so that he can just remain in the military?”

  “There are some others, but they are much lower than he is and the Empress does not like them as she likes Tir. It’s a problem. It’s the Empress who wants you to disappear now.”

  “What do you think Tir wants to do?”

  “I don’t know. You know I just speculate. He’s never shared any of his private thoughts about anything with me. I’m only a slave artist.”

  “Thank you for being so candid,” Kara lied.

  “This is common knowledge, Kara. You don’t mind if I call you that as we have been intimate?”

  “Kara is fine. Since we have been intimate I want to know about intimate things in the Alliance,” Kara smiled at Sera, “Tell me now about periods. Doctor Siu mentioned a thing called ‘the tab’?”

  “Yes, it’s a tiny machine that used to be shaped like a tab on clothing, but now it is the size of a very small line of three balls, and they go into your vagina and take care of all the blood and alleviate the pain until the end of your bleeding, and then they come out.”

  “Does it fall to the floor? You don’t wear underwear.”

  “Underwear is unhealthy. No, it just waits for you to take it from the entrance to your vagina. You’ll see.” Then she looked over at Tir’s small shrine and said, “Or maybe not. Tir has the fertility goddess front and center. I’d say he wants you to get pregnant as soon as possible.”

  “Yes, he does. But I don’t think anything is going to happen as soon as he would like.”

  Sera looked at her then and asked, “What do human women do for their periods?” She always so curious about other species, but especially now about humans as they were genetically the same.

  “We have a little cup, and it catches the blood.”

  “Oh, that sounds…”

  “It’s not nearly as bad as it sounds.”

  “I’m sure it is. No offense but I don’t think anyone in the galaxy understands humanity’s desire to ‘remain close to nature’ as you call it.”

  “We’ve no religion but a strong culture that focuses on the connection between us and our planet. It’s difficult to explain to off-worlders. Tell me about yourself Sera. How is it that you came to be on the Refa?”

  “I simply made arrangements to come onboard when Admiral Tir took command.”

  “Have you known the Admiral for a long time?”

  “No, only for about a year,” Sera was enjoying the look on Kara’s face, she could not decide which would win over, jealousy or curiosity.

  “And how well do you know him?” Kara wanted to know how many times she had slept with Tir.

  “Well, I know him by reputation, of course, and I have met him privately twice, and that includes yesterday.”

  “What kind of reputation does he have?”

  “Religious, honorable and efficient,” Sera could see that these things did not seem to mean much to Kara, so she continued, “He believes in the Alliance Empire and will do anything, even marry a human, to see it survive.”

  “Do you think bringing in human women is going to help boost your female birth rates?”

  “I’m no doctor,” Sera laughed, “but we must try something. The rate of females being born continues to fall, and we are beginning to reach critical levels.” Then she paused and continued conspiratorially, “I know that it was always planned from the onset of this war that human women would be taken back to the capital as a trial.”

  “A trial to see if it biologically works?”

  “No, we already know that it will biologically work. This is a trial to see if Alliance citizens would accept human females in society. There were other options, like polygamy.”

  Kara laughed, “So men like Tir would rather have a human wife than have to share with another man?”

  Sera smiled, “Admiral Tir was so against polygamy he spoke in the High Council for human women, this was all his idea actually, to take you during the war. He said that military women would be emotionally stronger and more open-minded than a human that has never left Earth.”

  “Yes, that is probably true in some ways,” she did not want to mention that a lot of the women she knew who would probably like to be married to an Alliance man were are all still on Earth, she did not want to give any of them any ideas about just taking more human women. “But what do you think his long-term plan is with us?”

  “I think just to show that human women, if willing, can adapt and serve as a stopgap to fortify the Alliance civilization against further decay until we figure out why less and less females are being born.”

  “I wish I could get word to my people about this so that we could have some negotiation points, if that is even possible before you begin just taking us, maybe to appeal to the Alliance’s moral side of this. It’s not right to force us
into it.”

  Sera shrugged, “It is tough being bullied, but if I can say anything for the Alliance, most of us do believe that you are the Lost People, so you’ll be treated with as much respect as we can give you. This is why you are here married to Admiral Tir and not chained up to a medical bed as they do fertility experiments on you.”

  “I don’t even want to ask if the Alliance has done that to other species.”

  “No, because you know we have. We did not become rulers of the galaxy by being nice.”

  “I know, it’s just the image you just put in my head was terrible.”

  “Because it’s a terrible thing, but the galaxy can be that way, you of all people must know that? Life cannot be easy for humans, always being the last.” Sera paused, taking in Kara’s sad expression, “Have you told your family the good news?”

  “What good news?” Kara was bewildered.

  “That you are married to Admiral Tir.”

  Kara laughed, “I’d not call that good news. Humans don’t marry anymore; we see it as an archaic practice that has no place in the modern world. My family and friends would be horrified. I’m assuming my first officer will let my parents know what has happened to me. Tir, of course, only allows me access to internal communications onboard ship and to access the children’s learning programs so I can learn to read.”

  Sera smiled, “And I’m sure learning our spoken language too. I’ve heard that humans like languages of the galaxy and you can turn your translators on and off.” When Sera saw that she had guessed correctly, she said, “Don’t trouble yourself, it’s nothing to me. I also use every opportunity I can to make my situation more favorable. Can you say something in Alliance? I want to hear what it would sound like.”

  Kara looked at her and said seriously, “Chapter one, first hieroglyphic,” in what she hoped was acceptable Alliance pronunciation to be understood.

  Sera smiled at her and said sarcastically, “Totally useful in everyday conversation.”

  “Did it sound clear, nothing came out as nonsense?” If the translators could not translate something, it was registered as gibberish. Kara turned her translator back on then.

  “Clear but with a slight human accent of course. So strange to hear an accent.” Sera looked at her and then said, “Say this, ‘I am human. My name is Kara.’”

  “I am … My name is Kara,” she struggled with the unfamiliar sounds.

  “Human,” Sera said, and Kara repeated the word about six times and then was able to say both sentences correctly. “Gods, you are so adorable,” she then said to herself more than to Kara. “Don’t let Admiral Tir know. He’ll become more obsessed with you than he already is if he hears you speaking with that accent.”

  “’ Obsessed’ is a strong word.”

  “That’s what everyone is saying. He almost messed up yesterday, which is something he has never done, and it’s all because of you.”

  “But he didn’t make a mistake in the end.”

  “No, but …” Sera trailed off. “I think he’s struggling with wanting to be with you all the time and introduce you to our ways, to show to everyone that he is correct and that it works with a human, but then at the same time, remembering as well that we are in the middle of a war. And he knows that one of these things, either you or the war, will have to wait, as he cannot focus all of his attention on both at the same time, which is what he wants to do. Or rather focus all of his attention on you,” she smiled. “And I don’t blame him,” she said suggestively.

  Kara blushed remembering what they had done sexually the last time she met Sera.

  Sera rose and took Kara’s hand and guided her back to the bedroom as she said, “You’re a prisoner here, you might as well just enjoy some of the benefits of always being so close to a bedroom with not much else to do.” Kara resisted a bit, and then Sera kissed her, quite expertly and said quietly in her ear, “I will teach you to speak Alliance like a native if you teach me how to love a human. We both need these things. What do you say?” Sera asked as her hand was already up Kara’s dress caressing her sex.

  Kara turned to kiss Sera as her answer.

  Escape

  Kara looked at Tir across the dining table, “Is that all you are going to say?” She had been alone all day and was desperate for some conversation.

  “I’m not going to share classified information with you. When the Jahay lose this war, which they undoubtedly will, Earth will pay reparations with the rest of the Jahay allies. I’m not going into any details about it.”

  Kara frowned. She was exasperated with her monotonous existence as a prisoner on her husband’s ship. Every day was almost the same. She was confined to his quarters without any communication off-ship. In the mornings, she studied both the Alliance spoken and written language, and she frequently practiced speaking Alliance with the smart mirror in the bathroom. In the afternoons, she would try and break into her husband’s computer to access outside communication or anything that might aid in her escape. Escape was constantly on her mind. Sometimes she was allowed to meet her doctor, John, the only other human onboard, for the midday meal in the mess hall, but that rarely happened anymore after she tried to run away from her guards and succeeded for about ten minutes to allude them. Ten minutes is a long time to be gone on an Alliance Starship. Occasionally when she was very lonely, she would ask Sera, the slave artist, aka prostitute, to visit. But Kara tried to limit those intimate visits to once a week because the shame of paying for someone to see you was exhausting as well. “I am going crazy here. Am I your wife or prisoner? You must choose.”

  “If I could trust you, you would not be confined to my quarters, but every time I have given you a bit of freedom, you have proved that you have no loyalty to me. I saved you, Kara. I saved your ship and crew. I have not treated you unjustly. If you were me, would you let me roam around your ship in the middle of a war?” he asked.

  “I’d never be in your position. I would never keep a prisoner-wife-husband-whatever, you know what I mean, in the first place.”

  “And you honestly can’t imagine a scenario where you would have rescued me, and we would have fallen in love?”

  “I’m not in love with you,” she said defiantly. “This is lust.” She looked into his green eyes and then said, “And if I would have rescued you and we fell in love, then you would not want to escape. You would follow me to Earth, and we’d live there forever.”

  “I like your confidence, that I’d just give up everything to live on a little insignificant planet on the edge of the galaxy. I like this fantasy, tell me more about our human home,” he said softly.

  “It wouldn’t be cold and muted like here, human homes are warm and colorful, and we can eat when we want. We can do what we want anytime.”

  “It is unfair to compare life on a ship in the middle of a war to your home during peacetime.”

  She ignored him because she suspected that life on any of the Alliance planets would not be too different from life on his ship, organized, unbending and predictable. “I have the sweetest little apartment we would live in, with a yellow kitchen that has a balcony that overlooks a busy street below where the trams go by. I love the sound of the bell the tram makes before leaving the stop. In the early mornings in summer, I open those balcony doors and drink my coffee and watch the people go by, and I am so happy then.” She looked up at him, and he seemed genuinely interested, so she continued, “In my sitting room, there is a sofa which I made myself from a patchwork of old fabrics with different patterns and needlework. I am not an artist, but both of my parents are, so I do like to create things sometimes. In the bedroom, I have a four-poster bed that has been in my family for a long time. It hardly fits in my room, but I like it. I have curtains on it because the light can be so bright in the summer mornings and I’d rather have three heavy curtains on the bed than on my beautiful windows where I have curtains for show.”

  “It sounds very old-fashioned for a starship captain.”

 
; Kara shrugged, “Humans value beauty over all else and some of the most beautiful things were created centuries ago. What is your home like on the capital planet? I am assuming that is where you are from?”

  He nodded, “It is modern and functional. As you probably know, in the Alliance, most art, with the exception of religious pieces or jewelry, is considered frivolous. We use the colors of our planet in all homes, grey, yellow, and black. Some more modern people have begun painting a room red here and there, but that is considered almost scandalous.”

  “Do you have a red room in your home?”

  “No, but I have a feeling if I sent you there, you would paint the whole thing red.”

  She laughed, “But you are not going to send me there, are you?”

  “I don’t want to, but you need to accept your new life. I know that you can feel that this is your destiny. Why do you resist?”

  “Tir, destiny does not exist. We all control our fates. We are at war, as stupid as that is for humans to be, and I have an obligation to my people, just as you do to yours. Why don’t you just let me go and then after the war, let’s see?”

  “Do you ever wonder in a different timeline if that is how it would have been? Maybe we met and married under different circumstances.”

  “Sometimes,” she admitted. “But this is the situation now, and I want to go.”

  “I understand that, but I can’t let you go, and even if I did, your people would accuse you of being a spy.” He didn’t think she realized that she was young and still very idealistic.

  “No, they would know you coerced me into marrying you, and I was kept a prisoner.”

  “No, they wouldn’t believe you. This is your future now.”

  “I can’t accept that,” she said very determinedly.

  “There is a story, I will not tell it to you in its entirety now, but the gist of it is that all people used to have four arms and legs, but we so angered the gods they split us in two as punishment, and so now we are always looking for our other half,” he paused making sure she was listening. “When you have what we have, you have been one of the rare people in the world to find your other true half. Whether it is fate, or we have been blessed by the gods, I do not know, but you are my true half, Kara. I know you feel it too.”