by C. F. Harris
That last bit was for the medics surrounding us. No sooner had I said it than the field went up around her again. She scowled at me until the moment her face disappeared behind the glow, leaving a shadowy silhouette behind the glow.
I waited until she was completely hidden before I allowed myself to show any small measure of weakness. I stumbled forward slightly and turned to glare at the medical teams surrounding me.
“Well, what are you waiting for? I’ve been stabbed!” I roared.
They jumped and sprang into action around me. It was as though the very act of denying the pain for that brief moment was enough to lead them to believe I was in no pain at all. I suppose that was a good show, then. Good to remind them that their general was still able to hold back against the pain of battle, even if it had been a wound that was nearly self-inflicted in its stupidity.
That human. I stared at the medical stasis chamber that held her. There was just a shadow where she had been moments ago. I knew she was in there. I wanted to pull her out and have my way with her, but of course that was impossible in her current delicate state. It was impossible in my current state, for that matter.
“Be sure to turn up whatever it is you use to make sure the humans are asleep in there,” I said to no one in particular. “The human shouldn’t have been able to resist to the point of waking inside that field in the first place.”
“Yes sir,” someone muttered from behind me, no doubt wondering if I was going to place blame for this incident on one of them. No, I was irritated, but I wouldn’t go that far. This was entirely my fault. I was the one who let a seemingly injured enemy combatant into my space because I’d been lulled into a false sense of security.
Amazing, even if I was paying for that lull now.
I winced as I felt a medic probing at the wound. I welcomed the pain, though. It was a reminder that I should never let my guard down. Even for something as seemingly frail as the human female who’d just run me through with my own sword.
“Well?” I growled at the medic who was checking my wound.
“It appears she didn’t hit anything vital, general,” he said in a quavering voice. Perhaps there was more growl to my voice than I’d intended. Good. Let them live in fear of me a little. I felt like that was something that needed to be drilled into my crew from time to time. Men who didn’t live in some fear of their commander didn’t perform well, and I’d learned that lesson the hard way.
“I think she intended it that way,” I said.
“With all due respect, general. A human couldn’t possibly know that much about our people,” he said, sounding scandalized that I would even suggest such a thing.
I shook my head. I’d gone up against this human three times now, and she’d bested me two out of those three. It seemed that she was keeping track of those times as well. Which was all the better. I couldn’t wait to get her back to Liviska so that we could begin the next round.
9: Awaken
Talia:
Darkness. A deep voice speaking to me. Filling my mind. Whispering to me and consuming my world. Explosions. The sound of battle all around me. The terrifying sound of metal being torn by forces that could destroy a person in an instant. Pain flaring through my body.
Death. I should be dead right now. Why did I think I should be dead?
I opened my eyes and found myself in a dimly lit room on a massive comfortable mattress that didn’t look like anything I’d ever seen on a human world outside of some of the cheesy orbital motels that promised hourly visitors a “truly out of this world experience.”
I’d had a couple of guys try to get me to one of those orbital hotels. The first time was an upperclassman in my academy days who soon learned what it meant to try and use his rank to get me in the sack. The last had been an admiral trying to take advantage of my disgrace losing my ship. He’d also learned the same lesson, though I suppose he’d had the last laugh since I’d been put on assignment on the outer rim which brought me…
Here.
Wherever in the known galaxy here was. Something told me I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. Hell, I doubted I was in the heliosphere anymore.
Memories came rushing back. The ship falling apart around me. The surprise attack. Waking up in a Livisk medical bay and finding myself face to face with the same Livisk general I’d bested on that terrible day.
Jorav. He said his name was Jorav. I rolled that name around in my mind. It was a nice name. A strong name. A name befitting a man as powerful and sexy as the strange alien general.
Wait, sexy? Did I really just think that? I did not think a Livisk was sexy even if a fluke accident of convergent evolution made that thought a very real possibility. I knew what the Livisk did. Looking around at this lavishly appointed room, it was bigger than any command quarters I’d ever enjoyed, I had no doubt who held me captive and what his intentions were.
The dirty sneaky Livisk bastard. I had to think that way, otherwise different thoughts would intrude. Thoughts of what I would like to do with my captor in this room.
Still, I couldn’t help but think that this was a nice room. Sure it was on an alien world, or maybe on some orbital space station going around some forsaken planet in the middle of enemy territory, but I could get used to living like this. I felt guilty for the thought even as it occurred to me.
I was a member of the human interstellar fleet and this was the enemy. I should not be thinking about all the things I’d like to do with my alien captor, or how comfortable these sheets felt. I should be thinking about a way to escape. A way to find my crew, even if they were the reason I found myself trapped here in the first place.
“Where in the known galaxies are you, Talia,” I muttered to myself as I stood from the bed and made the rounds of the room. The walls were jet black. I wasn’t sure if that was because they were actual walls or if they would fade into viewscreens if I knew the right voodoo to get the alien technology to work.
That there was alien technology embedded in this room somewhere seemed likely. Rooms this swank didn’t get built without toys built into them.
I glanced down at my body as I moved through the room. I felt surprisingly… good. None of the pain that had threatened to overwhelm me the last time I came out of stasis. None of the screaming from broken bones as I forced myself across the room and pulled the sword out of that idiot’s scabbard and…
Oh damn. I’d stabbed him. Right in front of a bunch of Livisk who didn’t seem too happy about watching their precious commander getting stuck like a pig. I smiled thinking of that particularly pleasant memory, even if it did seem like the sort of pleasant memory that would come back to bite me in the ass soon enough.
If I could figure out how to get the hell out of here. I did a complete circuit of the circular room and came up blank. No door in evidence. No advanced technology to be seen anywhere. Just the bed and those sheets with the ridiculous thread count that made me want to dive into them and go back to sleep.
At least if I was asleep I wouldn’t have to worry about reality for a little while.
“Okay Talia, you’ve been in worse scrapes than this. We can figure a way out of this one.”
The only problem? I’d never really been in a situation like this before. I was just putting on a show for any listening device that might be hanging out hidden in the walls trying to gather some intel on yours truly. I didn’t want to let on to the sparkly blue bastards that I was up a black hole without a working FTL drive to get my ass out of this.
I sat down on the bed again. It was the only thing in the room so why the hell not? No way out. No alien in here gloating about how he was going to kill me for daring to defy him. I suppose that last part was a good thing. Sort of.
I was still amazed that I was alive after sticking him like that. His compadres had not looked happy about that. No, not one bit.
“So are you going to tell me what you want from me?” I said to no one in particular. Let’s just say I had a feeling someone was out there li
stening in on me. If I’d captured the enemy then I’d sure as hell be tapping all their communications to make sure I knew what they were thinking.
No response. Nothing. It was as though I was in the galaxy’s cushiest solitary confinement. I suppose it could’ve been worse. I’d heard stories about Livisk brothels where captive human women were sent to work.
I shivered as I thought of being put to work similarly with the alien general who was most likely my captor. I wasn’t sure whether that thought was terrifying or exciting, and I hated how my body was betraying my duty to my species. Even if my species had sort of turned their back on me by posting me in a place where I could get caught like this in the first place.
No. No use getting upset about this. I would get out of here instead. Kill every Livisk motherfucker I came in contact with. Make them regret the day they decided to take me captive just like I let General Jackoff regret the day he let me get into his killbox with his sword at his side. I’d beat this guy twice. I could do it again, damn it.
I fell back against the sheets. I guess this was better than a sterile medical bay or a prison cell. Again my mind wandered to my crew. They might be a bunch of sad sacks who were far from the best the fleet had to offer, but even I had to admit that being taken captive by cranky aliens and sold to a life of slavery wasn’t something they deserved.
Maybe.
“And in other news, fleet officials continue to state unequivocally that the mobilization of a massive amount of fleet resources on the outer rim of the Sol system is nothing more than a fleet readiness exercise that’s part of the extended rescue operation we’ve been reporting on,” a smarmy too-perfect human voice said.
I’ll admit to a moment of confusion. I wasn’t expecting to hear a human voice in here. Maybe the deeper seductive voice that belonged to Jorav, I wouldn’t mind hearing that voice let me tell you, but certainly not the confident voice of Toril Jak, famed news announcer for the Interstellar News Network.
I’d been on a ship assigned to escort him to a war zone early in my career. That was the one time I was a little disappointed that an excursion didn’t end with part of the ship being blown out. Particularly the entire deck given over to him and his entourage as a special privilege because he was considered well above VIP thanks to a minor scandal amongst the Admiralty that mysteriously never turned into a major scandal in the media after Jak got that treatment.
Funny how that worked out. I wish I had an interstellar audience of billions to leverage when I “screwed up” by losing a ship. Lose one lousy ship and they got all pissy.
I sat up. A screen had appeared in the dark well. I grinned. I knew there had to be some sort of technology squirreled away in this room somewhere. Apparently Jorav the alien general wanted to gloat a little bit by showing me the news from back home. I’d sat up just in time, too. My picture appeared on the screen next to Toril Jak. I leaned forward and started grinding my teeth.
That couldn’t be any good.
“The Admiralty hasn’t released many details of the patrol ship that went missing on the outskirts of the system, but they did indicate that the commander of the ship was Talia Tanaka, the commander famed for losing the ship Alemeraine in an engagement on a border colony world of no consequence…”
I let out a growl and would’ve thrown something at the television if there was anything to throw. Maybe it was a good thing there wasn’t anything in the room.
“We’re joined now by Admiral Smith of the Sol Defense branch of the fleet,” Toril said.
My picture disappeared, replaced by the hardassed face of Admiral Smith. A man I recognized well. He was the one who made it clear that my continued advancement in the fleet was contingent entirely upon my willingness to hop into the bunk with him. He was even more ugly on the screen than in person, and that was saying something.
“Right, I don’t have much time. The fleet is continuing search operations on the outer edge of the system and all civilian traffic is being kept out of the region until we can assure safety.”
“But that makes it sound like there’s some danger out there on the edge of the system, Admiral,” Toril said.
The bastard. Of course there was danger out there on the edge of the system. The Livisk were able to jump in, take out a patrol ship, and jump out of the system before the fleet could mobilize to stop their strike force. I imagined that right about now there were a few people with gold bars on their shoulders having kittens and wondering if their career was going to last.
I could take some satisfaction in knowing Smith was at the top of the list.
The screen fuzzed a bit and Smith’s face changed. I looked around the room again but of course there was no one in there controlling the show. I had no doubt that there was someone controlling a recorded show somewhere. That fuzzing meant someone was going through a highlight reel made especially for me.
“As we all know, Captain Tanaka has had trouble in the past. This posting was her last chance before being drummed out of the service, and the loss of her patrol ship is tragic, but unsurprising,” he said.
The recording fuzzed again and then went out. I fell back against the bed. The message was clear enough, and whatever sparkly blue Livisk bastard had decided to record that information and share it with me was smart enough to understand the implications.
The fleet was keeping the old home system from going into hysterics, and keeping their jobs at the same time, by engaging in a good old fashioned cover up. And I was the fall guy. Girl. Captain.
Whatever.
I rolled to the side and felt something different from the bedding. I gathered the material in my fist and held it up. Blinked. It was a sheer blue dress that sparkled. Almost as though someone was trying to make me look as close to a Livisk woman as possible.
Ugh.
There was no way I could’ve missed the thing when I did my first inspection of the room. No, someone was messing with a teleporter or something by putting this here and now. Someone was fucking with me what with showing me that recording showing there would be no help from humanity and then showing me a dress that would be more suited for cocktail hour than anything else.
Damn it.
“Whatever you’re thinking, it isn’t going to happen!” I shouted at the empty room. “I’m not going to be your plaything!”
I looked down at the dress again. Thought about my options. There was no exit to the room. No access to the outside world aside from that brief view of humanity throwing me under the bus, to coin an ancient phrase that had no meaning in modern civilization. If I was going to make my escape and best this Jorav guy then I’d have to meet with him face to face.
And that meant putting on the damn dress. I sighed again and hoped they didn’t have any sort of monitoring equipment on as I started pulling off the tattered remains of my fleet uniform and slipped into something a little more comfortable.
This was ridiculous. I was trapped in enemy territory and I was putting on evening wear. Still, it was necessary if I was going to make my escape, assuming I had any hope of escaping this truly fucked up situation I found myself in.
10: Dinner
Jorav:
I paced back and forth in my dining chamber, one eye on the monitor set up in the human’s room. Already I was thinking of it in those terms even though that room had been a sealed part of my palace for many years now.
I might as well get some use out of this massive relic of a time when my family held influence. Of a time before I let my quest for the glory of the Ascendency get in the way of pesky things like trying to continue my family line.
I glanced at the monitor again. At the human. Ran my eyes over the screen’s approximation of her figure. Even with the distance of the monitors installed in her room she was captivating. A seductive exotic creature from another world. Looking at her I could see what my brothers who preferred the company of humans were thinking.
I’d always thought them a little soft in the armor plating, but now I under
stood.
The door to her chamber opened and I turned to face this woman who had so intrigued me. She’d also stabbed me to be fair, but if anything that just added to the intrigue. Here was a female who was self-assured and had a warrior spirit in a way that I hadn’t seen in any other female since, well, that terrible day when I first met this human.
A day I couldn’t fault her for. After all, she was just exhibiting that warrior spirit and craftiness in a way that I hadn’t expected from a human. I pushed thoughts of that day aside, though, and bowed to her formally. She didn’t return the bow, but that was to be expected. Humans typically didn’t have any concept of what was proper behavior. Not that my people usually spent much time trying to beat those social niceties into them.
Slave labor didn’t have time for social graces. I frowned as I thought of that. Her crew was fated to that labor, and she might not care for it if that was discovered. Best to not mention it. Particularly with the way her eyes cast about the room looking for all the world like a Great Horned Vornsk Beast in the lower tropics that had been cornered in a hunt.
Though she was a far sight more attractive than any Great Horned Vornsk Beast I’d ever taken down in the hunt. This hunt was far more dangerous, at that, despite her lack of claws or pointed teeth.
Her eyes locked on mine and she still had that look of an animal that knows it’s being hunted and is looking for any opportunity to escape. That was only fair, given the circumstances. If I was put in the same situation I would probably be looking around for an escape in much the same way.
“I’m glad you decided to join me,” I said.
Her eyes narrowed. I was familiar enough with human emotion to know that wasn’t a good sign. It certainly wasn’t the look of desire that I needed from this human. A need that I couldn’t explain, but then again there never had been any particular reason to a man’s desire.
