by Alma Nilsson
“Don’t play the innocent human with me, Jane. Lover to the Admiral of the Fleet, ring any bells?”
Jane looked at him blankly.
“It’s been all over the news. Your daughter was probably bullied a lot for it. You know there is a lot of racism towards the Alliance especially from human men lately. People are calling you even a worse traitor than Kara Rainer, didn’t you know?”
“No,” Jane whispered. She was thinking of her children now. The children she thought were safe on Earth. The children she thought she was protecting. The ones she thought were living normal lives. They hadn’t mentioned anything to her about bullying, but then she tried to remember the last time she VMed with them and it was a few weeks ago. They had sent written messages, but it’s so easy to lie in those.
Jane was at a crossroads now. She could either allow Ellie and her other children to join her in this prison or somehow return Ellie to Earth. She felt the latter was the best course of action, that hopefully this racism towards the Alliance on Earth would pass, but she knew that she had to save Ellie from making this mistake.
“I will pay you whatever you want to take her back to Earth when you pass the other ship.”
“First, I have no plans to pass the other ship that will have her onboard. And second, I know House Human is poor. You don’t have those kinds of UCs to make this worth the risk to me.”
“Admiral Jei does. He is my lover. He will give me UCs.”
“That is as it may be, but there is still nothing I can do.”
Jane frowned, “I don’t believe that. Please, this is my daughter, I don’t want her to be a prisoner here like me.”
Hester laughed, “Are you really a prisoner?”
“Yes, I can’t leave.”
“Have you tried?”
Then is struck Jane, she had never tried. “Take me with you and I will find a way to get to the ship carrying my daughter.”
“And then what?”
“I’ll return her to Earth and face the consequences. I’ll stand trial as a traitor.” Jane knew that this would mean a life imprisonment but at least Ellie would be safe and their lives a bit better knowing she came back to face her punishment.
The Captain looked her over skeptically, “But what about me? You’re not a lowly human woman who’s changed her mind and is leaving. I’ll be killed if I help you escape.”
Jane looked into the man’s brown eyes, “If it was your daughter what would you do?”
“Just tell me this, are you really a prisoner here?”
“I was taken against my will, yes.”
“In every regard?”
Jane knew exactly what he was asking, she didn’t want to say this because she knew it was a lie, but she needed to stop Ellie from ruining her life at all costs. Jane looked Hester in the eyes and said confidently, “Yes, in every regard.”
Hester considered this. He had a daughter and he would never want her to become an Alliance man’s wife and so he said, “I’ll take you as far as our next rendezvous. Leave your transport here. It will look like we abducted you. Just in case, I don’t want all of us to die. And I’ll need every UC that House Human has as we will have to buy a new ship immediately.”
Jane took both of his hands and said, “Thank you Captain Hester, I will be indebted to you forever.”
He smiled, “It’s been a while since I did something truly dangerous and it’s nice to have that rush of adrenaline again. Besides ‘abducting’ the lover of the admiral should bring in some nice UCs and at the same time I can keep another young human from sacrificing herself to a race that doesn’t deserve her. I’d say this is a win-win for everyone as long as we aren’t killed first.”
“Thank you.”
“Come on,” he said rising, “Let me show you a bunk. It’s small and there’s no toilet, but it’s all human-made, if you remember what that looks like?”
“It’s only been a year.”
“A long Alliance year my dear,” Hester replied. “Here we go,” he stopped in front a room so small she could touch both sides at once, but it did have a little bunk and nothing else in it. “You stay here, and we will just go. I’ll organize the rendezvous to get you where you need to go.”
Before Jane could thank him, he was gone. She entered the small room that smelled of familiar human scents, of unwashed human bodies and closed the door behind her. She sat on the small bed and thought about Ellie. And wondered how Jim could have been so stupid to let her escape or have access to the amount of UCs she must have needed to fund such an illegal trip across the galaxy.
Jane thought about Jei then and whispered, “I am so sorry.” She wished she could tell him why she was doing this. She looked at her bracelet and wondered what the consequences for leaving a lover was. She didn’t think it would have the same consequences as leaving a marriage partner, but then she remembered the extra fine for the geriatric kiss and shivered. If she were brought back to the Alliance and it was deemed that she left freely, she would be killed as punishment.
In the middle of the night, Hester entered her room and said, “Jane, get up. You’re transferring ships. This ship the Marianne, will take you to the ship that’s carrying your daughter.”
Jane stood up, she had nothing to change into and nothing to take, “I’m ready.”
Hester and his crew escorted her to the hatch to enter the other ship and they all wished her well.
“Thank you all for your help,” and then she had to stop herself from thanking the Alliance gods as well.
“Humans help humans,” one of them said.
Another replied, “Always.”
And Jane walked through the hatchway with such a heavy heart about what she had done with Doctor Anu she decided she would never return to the Alliance. She had not been able to make up her mind before as she loved Jei so much and as long as she didn’t think about her human family, she had been content. But now, after seeing her own people, she knew how wrong it all was. They were not the Lost People. It was just a ruse for a powerful civilization to get what they wanted, and they had wronged her. And she had not been strong enough to escape until now.
The Captain of the Marianne was a young woman with freckles and red hair.
“I’d like to say I’m not shocked every time I see a human in one of their uniforms, but I can’t help it. You look like a traitor.”
“I’m not,” said Jane defensively. “I didn’t choose this.”
“I’d have killed myself before putting that on,” the Captain spat.
“Well, you’re not me. And you probably don’t have a family back on Earth either. Now I’m risking everything to save my daughter. Are you going to help?”
“Yes, that’s why we’re here. We’re going to rendezvous with the Diablo and then return you and your daughter to Earth. It’s not going to be easy. Already the Alliance has been alerted to your abduction. Hester needs to turn and cross the border into Jahay space. We are all risking a lot for you. Well actually to save your daughter and to see you tried as a traitor. Humanity needs that.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank me when you’re on Earth and safely in prison,” the Captain said and then turned and said, “Jes will show you your quarters.”
A young man presented himself and showed her to the same kind of small room she had onboard the other human vessel. Although when he left, he gave her a warning, “Don’t leave. We don’t trust you. I’ll bring you food and what you need. There’s a toilet here,” he opened a tiny door with a disgusting little toilet and nothing else.
Jei was on the bridge when Captain Ota received a message and sent it across the open computer screens in front of them.
“Humans,” Jei said unenthusiastically as he read the report.
Lieutenant Commander Jane, House Human has been abducted by an Alliance-Human trading vessel called Maggie.
“Where is the Maggie now?” asked Jei. He was of course very troubled by this turn of events, but he would never le
t his crew know this. He needed to treat her as if it was any of his crew that had been abducted. If she were Alliance, he would have been able to show more of his concern but because she wasn’t, he did not want to give any indication that it might not have been an abduction.
“They crossed into Jahay space a few hours ago, but they rendezvoused with another human ship called the Marianne a few hours before which is heading towards the Solar System.”
“Who’s closest?”
“Admiral Tir’s fleet is not far. He could send one of his ships. The Marianne has about the same weapon capabilities as one of our supply ships. They would be nothing up against an Alliance warship.”
“Ask him to send a ship then. Not Captain Kara’s and do not allow Captain Kara or any of the humans to see Lieutenant Jane until she’s been made safe and had a chance to make her official statement.”
“Aye, Admiral,” Captain Ota knew exactly what the Admiral meant. He wanted to know if there was something else going on. If Jane were a spy and planning something more. If they all were. Humans were not to be trusted.
That night Jei looked at some of Jane’s belongings in his wardrobe and asked, “Jane, what are you doing?” Jei knew that she had gone of her own will. He was so hurt. He had to think there was another reason that she abandoned everything. That she wasn’t leaving him per se but leaving the Alliance or going to something on Earth that had moved her so much that she would drop everything. He had checked her personal messages and there was nothing there to lead him to believe anything had changed in her life in the last days he had spoken to her. When he checked the RVMs between her and the human ship it showed that she went there in good faith to return to her transport as she had taken nothing with her. Not even his ring. But he couldn’t quiet his lingering feeling that she had left freely.
Jei knelt on his bedroom floor and prayed to the god of darkness to bring her back to him. They were lovers so this was not for the goddess of home to pass judgement over them. And as he was praying to the god of darkness, that god always demanded blood, so he unsheathed his sword and cut his palm and let the blood drip onto the floor, “God of darkness, I call on you to bring my Jane back to me. She needs your guiding hand now.”
Tir looked at the message from the Kzi and immediately ordered the Fira to intercept the Marianne and take Jane back to the Capital Planet for punishment. He would keep this from Kara for as long as possible. He didn’t want her to be associated with this mess any more than she already would be. He always thought Jane was a traitor. He hoped now that the Admiral would just execute her and show humans that they would be taken as the Alliance needed.
Captain Rerg couldn’t believe it. He looked at his message twice and then ordered his helmsman to change to a new course, “We’ve got a retrieve one of our humans who has been abducted by her own people.”
“Again?” another crewman asked.
“I wouldn’t mind another human woman onboard,” said another bridge officer.
Commander Daz rolled his eyes.
Rerg stopped the comments there, “This particular human is the Admiral’s lover so dismiss any thoughts you have right now.”
The bridge was quiet then. They would intercept the Marianne in about two hours. The little ship would be no match for them. It was nothing, but they all wondered what the Admiral was going to do to Jane when she was returned. As no one really believed she had been abducted. This was a dishonor not only to him but to the Empire itself and to all Alliance men.
When the Fira caught up with the Marianne, she of course opened fire on them. It did no damage. They casually shot back disabling the small human vessel with one shot. Then a transport was sent over to bring back Lieutenant Commander Jane and any other human women of marriageable age. After those passengers were safely onboard, the Marianne was set adrift with its male crew to live or die by their own skills and luck in this remote area of the galaxy.
Jane and the other women were kicking and screaming all the way into the Fira. Jane was put in guest quarters away from the other humans. She had two guards outside her door and was forbidden to leave.
Commander Daz was considered their human expert on the Fira and so he was sent to speak with Jane about everything that had happened with Doctor Hou.
Jane stood up as the door to her quarters opened. In walked two middle-aged Alliance men. One was a doctor by his uniform.
“Lieutenant Jane, this is Doctor Hou and I’m Commander Daz. Please sit down,” he motioned to the small seating area.
“I want you to start from the beginning,” Commander Daz said while he took in her appearance.
“Wait,” Doctor Hou said, “Jane, is there anything you would like me to check before we begin?”
“No, I’ve already been asked and one of your assistants attended me when I came onboard.”
“Yes,” Commander Daz said deciding he would take a more casual approach now, “Why were you fighting us?”
Jane had thought a lot about what she should say now to make it look like an abduction, but with the Doctor there she couldn’t lie. He would read her thoughts anyway. “It wasn’t an abduction. I asked them to take me.”
Commander Daz wasn’t surprised and asked sympathetically, “Why would you do that?”
“I’ve a daughter and she paid some smugglers to bring her to the Alliance. She misses me so much. I was worried for her life, so I wanted to return her to Earth.”
“She didn’t tell you her plan?” Hou asked, he was reading her thoughts to make sure she wasn’t lying now.
“No, I only found out by chance from the human captain while I was waiting at the rendezvous point. I guess he thought I should know. He was a father himself.”
“I see,” said Commander Daz. “And then what did you do?”
“I asked him to take me to her so that I could return her to Earth.”
“But why would you need to go?”
“She left without any exit papers; she would be put in jail if I didn’t return with her. I was going to barter myself,” she left out, ‘Just like Captain Kara did’. “My daughter’s freedom for me turning myself in as a traitor.”
Doctor Hou nodded to Commander Daz so that he knew that she was not lying.
“Where’s my daughter now?”
“Was she among the women taken from the Marianne?”
“No,” Jane began to sob, she was on a ship the Marianne was going to rendezvous with.”
“It’s our standard protocol to disable those ships and just leave them.”
“For anyone passing? She could be sold into slavery or killed! You must find them, it’s a human ship, the Diablo.”
Commander Daz looked at Jane and said solemnly, “I’m sorry we are already on our way back to the Capital Planet where you will have to defend your actions.”
“Is there nothing you can do? I would do anything to keep her safe.”
“I’ll talk to Captain Rerg. Thank the gods you have been returned to us.”
Two days later, on the Capital Planet, Jane was moved into a two-room apartment which was like a prison cell as she couldn’t leave. She had been given fresh clothes but otherwise not much else. She had tried to tell people about her daughter and to bring her to her, but no one showed any sign of listening to her. Jane had no idea what was going on or what was going to happen to her. All she could do was sit in the cell and wait.
Jane was alone for two more days in the cell. Food was brought and taken away, but no one spoke to her. She had no access to anything but prayer and her own thoughts. And her own thoughts were maddening. She imagined the worst for her daughter and for herself. She had no idea what was going on outside her walls but suspected that it wasn’t good.
On the fifth day, the guards opened the door and Jei walked in.
Jane stood when the door was opening not knowing who to expect but she had not expected him. She ran into his strong arms. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” she murmured into his chest and ranking jewelry.
Jei held her. He had heard her report and that it was verified by the Doctor that she had not been lying. He knew that she cared for her family deeply. He only wished she would have told him and then this would have all been sorted nicely behind closed doors. Instead she was going to have to face his punishment for leaving him as she was not abducted. He could kill her for it and that is exactly what his station and the Empire wanted from him. To see a human punished by Alliance laws. They were aching for it. Especially from someone as high profile as they were now.
“I know you are,” Jei said gently. “I know you love your daughter.”
“I just didn’t know what to do.”
“I know,” he said, “It’s okay.”
“Can I go now?” she asked.
Jei realized then that she didn’t understand what she had done. No one had told her the consequences of her actions. He looked at her sadly, “No Jane. You’ve committed one of the worst offenses in the Alliance. You left me and while pregnant.”
“I wasn’t leaving you; I was going to get my daughter.”
“I know, but the law doesn’t see it that way.”
“What do I need to do? Receive punishment from the High Priestess?”
“Unfortunately, it’s way beyond that.”
“What do you mean? Just tell me, I can’t even begin to guess.”
“The punishment is death by my hand.”
“Excuse me?”
“Jane, you know you cannot leave, and you left me pregnant and as an officer,” he sighed, “I’m petitioning the High Council as you didn’t know how many laws you were breaking chasing after your daughter.”
“Is she safe?”
“Yes, she is on an Alliance ship now headed here.”
“What? Jei, no I want her to return to Earth. I never want her to come here.”
“What?” Jei asked surprised.
“She should be on Earth.”
“She wants to be with you and you with her. She will live in the Alliance now. A room has already been allocated to her in House Human. I thought this would make you happy.”
