-That is six votes in favor of dismissal,- Li'ren counted. -All in favor of indictment?-
Though it was largely a symbolic gesture now, the remaining three officers, Admiral Te'rou, and the remaining three civilian members stood. Li'ren eyed each on of them in turn, making sure that they were sincere in their votes. Then she nodded.
-And we have seven votes in favor of indictment,- she said. -The vote has been tallied. Lieutenant Me'lia, please stand.-
Her legs slightly weak, Aria stood up. Major Tal'in stood with her. Aria closed her eyes briefly, taking a deep breath. After all, she had already been reasonably certain that this would be the outcome. She was just relieved not to have been executed straight off. Though she had, for just a moment, allowed herself to believe that she might be exonerated.
-Lieutenant Aria Me'lia, One Hundred and Eighty-First Patrol Detachment, Fifth Fleet, Ascendancy Navy, the vote of this court martial stands thus,- Li'ren said in a loud, clear voice. Aria noticed that her ears were slightly lowered, an involuntary sign of her own disapproval. -This court finds sufficient evidence to bring against you the charges of treason and fraternization with the enemy. Therefore you are formally charged, with trial to begin in no later than one month's time. The exact date shall be decided later. Until that time, Lieutenant Me'lia, you will be conditionally freed, though confined to the city of Hayikwiir on pain of immediate execution.- Li'ren manipulated a control in front of her, dimming the lights slightly. -On behalf of Her Majesty Empress Kri'a Solan the Fourth, I declare this hearing concluded.-
-Wait!- Aria said, unable to restrain herself any longer. The other occupants of the room, who had been moving as though to leave, stopped and looked at her. Major Tal'in grabbed her arm, shaking her head in warning, but Aria shrugged her commander's hand away.
-Have a care, Lieutenant,- Li'ren said, her voice containing the same warning tone. -You do not have leave to speak at this assembly.-
-But I must,- Aria said earnestly. -I request permission to speak, m'lady.-
Li'ren gazed at her for a moment, and then she returned the lights to their previous level of illumination. The court members resumed their seats. -Then you may do so. But be brief.-
Aria swallowed, her chest feeling very tight. She felt short of breath, but she found the strength to speak. -The human...What is to be done with him?-
-He has already been dealt with,- Admiral Te'rou said. He leaned forward in his chair. -The human was deemed worthless as a source of information or military intelligence. As such, he has been transferred to the custody of a slave dealer, as is the procedure for captured civilians.-
-No!- Aria growled, her voice suddenly heated. -You cannot do that! I am claiming him for my own!-
A surprised murmuring spread through the room. Major Tal'in covered her face with one hand, shaking her head slightly. The officers looked among each other, disapproving looks evident on their faces, and Admiral Te'rou had an odd look of satisfaction on his face. He clearly considered this statement of Aria's damning evidence against her. The civilians merely looked shocked.
-You have no authority to make that claim, Lieutenant,- Admiral Te'rou said, smirking at her. -You technically hold no rank. While facing charges, you are not an active member of the Ascendancy's navy. Your claim is denied.-
Aria slapped both of her hands on the table in front of her. -My claim predates those charges!- she insisted. -I took the human prisoner prior to any of the actions which you are indicting me for! I captured him fairly and properly in my capacity as a patrol ship officer, and if he holds no intelligence value then he is rightfully my property as spoils of war. I am claiming him as such!-
-That is a crude twisting of the spirit of military law...-
-Admiral.-
The admiral stopped speaking, and he turned in his seat to look at Li'ren, who had spoken. She was looking at Aria with new found respect in her eyes, and was leaning forward in her seat with one hand cupping her chin thoughtfully. Her tail tip could be seen behind her, waving back and forth in slight amusement.
-Lieutenant Me'lia may be rather insolent in her speech, but she cites military law correctly,- Li'ren said. -She has laid a claim on the human, Jack Squier. On behalf of Her Majesty, I rule that her claim is valid. If the human has not already been sold, he is to be remanded to her as spoils of war to serve as her slave.-
Admiral Te'rou's mouth worked furiously for several moments, but he could think of no objection to make. He abruptly stood and left his spot at the table, walking towards an exit. -Very well, then,- he growled angrily. -Do as you wish. But he has likely been sold already. Gods know the demand for slaves is high.-
Li'ren nodded to his back serenely. -Then,
now
I declare this hearing adjourned. Take care, Lieutenant Me'lia. Please do not do anything foolish before your trial. Her Majesty would be displeased.- With that, the members of the court left, leaving Aria alone with Major Tal'in and the guard force.
Letting her breath out in a long sigh, Major Tal'in looked at Aria. -That was a stupid thing to do, Lieutenant,- she said. She shook her head slowly, though, a slight smile crossing her face. -But if you live through this, you might think about a career in the court system. I have a feeling you'd make a hell of a lawyer...-
Aria was too relieved to respond to that, so she settled for a smile of her own.
-Alright, then, come on,- Major Tal'in said. She took Aria's arm, leading her away from the table. -I'll place a call to your family, so they can come to take you home. And we'll see about retrieving your slave. For his sake and yours, I hope he hasn't been sold already.-
Aria allowed herself to be taken from the hearing room. She felt a lot better than she had coming in, though of course she was not in the clear by any means. Still, her tail was waving peacefully behind her as she walked, and her pointed feline ears stood straight on her head. Maybe, if she had a few more strokes of luck like this, she could get out of this mess in one piece.
- 3 -
Jack was thrown, rather unceremoniously, from his feet and onto a hard, warm stone floor. He cried out in pain as his shoulder hit the stones, and he rolled to a stop against a sandy wall. Hauling himself up, he put his back against the wall, looking towards the door he had just been thrown through. The Ailians who had been “escorting” him looked at him briefly, and then the door clanked shut, leaving him in relative darkness.
Groaning, Jack rubbed his shoulder, a dull ache still throbbing there as well as in his leg. Though the Ailian medics on board the rescue ship had treated the injuries he'd sustained on the uncharted planet, he still was not fully healed. At least he wasn't dead. This seemed like the longest day of his life, and it still wasn't over. When he thought about what was likely to happen next, and what had already happened, Jack could hardly believe it...
******
After being taken off of the Ailian ship, Jack had been transported away from the Mat'aar Airbase in a wheeled ground transport, guarded by a small squad of Ascendancy soldiers. They wouldn't tell him where they were going, but Jack remembered what Li'ren had said to him back on the ship several days ago. The most likely outcome for him, since he couldn't tell them any useful information, was that he would be made a slave. From what Jack understood, this was the common practice for human civilians who were captured.
The ride in the transport lasted for nearly an hour. There were no windows for Jack to see out of, so he had no idea of what might be outside. He knew it was probably desert, especially since air conditioning seemed to be a low priority for Ailian military vehicles. The temperature inside the transport was brutal, and Jack soon found himself wishing for a drink of water. Thankfully, they didn't seem to want him to die. When one of the soldiers noticed how much the human was sweating, he opened a compartment in the wall of the transport and withdrew a small flask of water, which he handed to Jack. That helped for a little while, but it was still tough going. At least they'd taken the restraints off of him, letting his arms free. His wrists had been getting a little sore.
When the vehicle came to a halt, Jack was full of a sense of uncertain terror. He had no idea what exactly to expect, but he had a feeling that he wouldn't like it, no matter what it was. One of the soldiers with him opened the hatch to the vehicle, and sunlight flooded the interior, along with a new wave of desert heat. Jack craned his neck, trying to see outside, and what he saw was a surprise. He'd expected to see expanses of sand and barren landscape, but instead he was greeted by short, green grass and tall, thin trees that seemed similar to Earth palm trees. In the background he saw tall buildings, and he realized that they must be at the city, Hayikwiir, that had been mentioned to him earlier. They seemed to have stopped near the outskirts, in a small complex of buildings that looked kind of like a marketplace.
“Out,” the squad leader said to him. She rose from her seat, stepping out of the hatch and then turning to reach back in. She grabbed Jack's right arm, jerking him out of his seat. He was starting to get tired of all this manhandling, and his frustration finally boiled over.
“Goddammit, stop treating me like an animal!” he yelled at the female. He lashed out with his free left hand, clenching his fingers into as tight a fist as he could manage and socking the Ailian right in the jaw. She lurched back from him, uttering a startled yowl of pain. One of the other soldiers half rose from his seat, and Jack shot his elbow back, catching him square on the nose and rocking him back.
“Se na po'krai!”
the squad leader snarled. She grabbed Jack by his neck and yanked him out of the transport before he could do anything else. Spinning him around, she slammed him back against the side of the vehicle one, two, three times, until stars exploded in his eyes. The Ailian let him go and he dropped to the ground, dazed.
“Lek te pa'na!”
She drew her leg back, preparing to kick him.
“Na la!”
The squad leader stopped, teetering a little on one leg, before putting her foot down and turning away. Jack looked up, trying to blink the spots out of his vision and doing his best not to pass out. He saw a female Ailian walking towards them. She seemed shorter than most he had seen before, closer to human height, and she was a lot fatter than any he had seen. Obviously she was not a soldier, and he would have been surprised if she ever had been. She was wearing what he took to be casual clothing, a short sandy tan wrap skirt and a tan top that wrapped around her upper body, leaving much of her belly and shoulders bare, and exposing a good deal of her dark brown fur. The clothes made sense for a desert environment for a furred species, and were probably much more comfortable than the military uniforms the soldiers were wearing.
The female walked up to Jack and the squad leader, and she knelt next to him, straightening him up. When she spoke next, she spoke in English. “She hurt you badly?”
Still a little dizzy, but otherwise feeling alright, Jack shook his head. “No, I...I don't think so...”
“Good,” the Ailian said. She smiled at him. “She damage my merchandise, I very upset.” The brown female stood back up, and said something to the squad leader that sounded very angry. The other Ailian stiffened, looking abashed, and she nodded. Jack felt strong arms lift him up to his feet, and he managed to keep his balance.
At a gesture from the short female, two soldiers marched Jack towards one of the nearby buildings. Inside, Jack saw what looked, ludicrously, like a livestock stable at a county fair. The area was one large room, divided by metal bars into individual stalls. In each stall, though, instead of farm animals, were people. Mostly humans, though there seemed to be a few Ailians scattered here and there as well.
Jack had been taken to a slave market, just as Li'ren had foretold.
He was taken through the building, the group he was with making their way through the stalls and towards the rear of the large room. He looked from side to side as he went, looking at all of the slaves for sale. The humans stared back at him, obviously curious about him, but they didn't say anything. The Ailian slaves just ignored him. Buyers were walking here and there, going into stalls occasionally to examine slaves more closely, exactly like how someone might examine a horse or a cow for sale. It was all very disconcerting.
The brown-furred female, who was apparently the owner of the market, led them to a separate room, which was set up like an office. There the soldiers parted ways with them, and the slave dealer sat down behind a desk. Two other Ailians, presumably employees, showed Jack to a simple chair in front of the desk and then took up guard positions near the door.
“So...,” the dealer said, leaning forward at her desk. “Welcome to my market. I am Pe'lia, and you now my property.”
Thoroughly confused and a little overwhelmed, Jack wasn't sure what to say. “...Okay?” He looked around the room, trying to see if there might be a way out. But there were no windows, and no doors other than the one he had come in by.
Pe'lia smiled at him. “There no reason to be so scared. I treat my slaves well, until they sold. Not my problem after that.” She shuffled through a few papers on her desk, then clasped her hands together. “We start, yes? What kind of skills you have?”
“Skills?” Jack blinked. “I'm a pilot. That's all I really know how to do.”
The Ailian clucked her tongue, shaking her head a little. “That not do at all...No slave allowed to fly...” She stood up, looking him over and coming around her desk. She walked around Jack, her eyes scanning up and down his body. “You seem fit enough...Strip.”
Jack looked up at her, arching an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“Take you clothes off. Want good look at you.”
“Fuck off!” Jack snapped, not liking that idea at all. “You want me to strip, you're gonna have to do it first, you crazy bitch!”
He was instantly reprimanded by a strong smack to the face from Pe'lia. She came around to stand in front of him, leaning back against her desk and crossing her arms. Her expression had darkened considerably.
“Not like beating slaves, but not above doing it,” she warned him, waving a finger at him. “This much easier if you just do what I say, yes?”
“Well, tough shit, I'm not taking off my clothes for anybody!” Jack rubbed his face where she'd smacked him, feeling the heat from the blood rushing to the surface of his skin.
Pe'lia sighed, then she nodded to her two employees. Before Jack could react, one of them grabbed his arms and held them behind his back in a very strong grip. As Jack struggled fruitlessly, the other quickly and efficiently stripped his clothes off of him. When he was completely naked, they stood him up, keeping a firm hold of him. Pe'lia then began inspecting him very closely, muttering in her own language as she did so. Not having much of a choice, Jack was forced to tolerate her inspection as his face reddened.
When she cupped a hand over his groin, however, that was a little too much for him, and he tore one arm out of a guard's grip to swat at Pe'lia's hand. “Hey, keep your fucking hands to yourself!” he yelled. That earned him a second rough smack to the face.
“You learn respect,” Pe'lia cautioned him. She sighed while shaking her head. “Too spirited...Not like that. But maybe you valuable for breeding...” She sat back down behind her desk, nodding to the guards.
“Le ke'li te maz'te a'nala.”
One of the guards handed Jack his clothes. He snatched them away, furious, and got dressed as quickly as he could. When he was dressed again, he sat back down, staring daggers at Pe'lia. He wanted nothing more than to jump across that desk and strangle her with his bare hands, but he was wary of the two guards, and the memory of how the soldier outside had dealt with his rebellion was fresh in his mind. The last thing he wanted was to get his head bashed in for his troubles.
“Now, you too wild to put on display...,” Pe'lia said, leaning back in her seat. “But I add you to catalog anyway. Meantime, you go down below. Few days in confinement soften you up, I think.” She waved a hand to her employees. One of them produced a collar, placing it around Jack's neck and fastening it securely. The collar seemed to be made of some sort of leathery material, and it had a small metallic stud on the front of it that he guessed was some kind of tracking device. Then the guards grabbed Jack, hauling him off his feet. They dragged him out of the room, back out of the building, and to a smaller building next door, where a long staircase led below ground...
******
Now that he'd been down in the darkened room for a little while, Jack's eyes started to adjust to the gloom. He could very slowly start to see around him, though it was still too dim to really make out any details. He didn't even want to stand up, so he just rested his head against the stone wall. His hand came up to finger the collar around his neck. The thing wasn't tight, but it was sufficiently strange enough to him that it was uncomfortable. He wasn't sure exactly how it had been fastened, but running his fingers around it he couldn't feel a seam, so he imagined there wasn't any way to easily remove it. Jack tried not to think about it. Whenever he thought about his situation, it just depressed him even more. Especially since, he now figured, he wasn't ever going to get see Aria again.
“Hello?”
Jack nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the voice. He looked around, but couldn't see much further than a few feet away because of how dark the room was. He half thought he might have imagined the voice, but it had sounded very real, and it sounded human. “Is...someone else there?”
“Yes...” A shuffling sound was heard, and a figure crawled out of the darkness into Jack's field of vision.
The voice belonged to a girl, a human girl. Jack couldn't see very much detail, but she looked younger than him. She might have been fifteen years old, he couldn't be sure. He hadn't seen another human in person since before he left Earth almost a month ago. The girl crawled close to Jack, and sat on the floor near his feet. He wasn't able to make out her face.
“My name's Brooke,” the girl said. She had a very small voice, quiet but high pitched. “What's yours?”
“Uh...Jack...,” he responded. “My name's Jack.”
“I haven't seen another person in ages...,” Brooke said. “Where are you from?”
“Earth,” Jack said.
“Earth? What's that? I've never heard of that place...Is that a town?”
Jack was completely taken aback by that. “No, it's...It's a planet. Don't you know? That's where humans...we...come from.”
“Oh,” Brooke said, sounding apologetic. “I'm sorry, I...I didn't know that.”
“No, it's okay,” Jack assured her, not wanting to upset the girl. He paused for a moment. “Er...so...Where are you from?”
Brooke's voice sounded a little distressed. “I...don't know. I can't remember that far back...The only place I've ever known I lived was here, on Lirna. I've always been a slave, so far as I can remember.”
“Really?”
Jack felt a wave of pity wash over him. If Brooke couldn't even remember where she had been born, she must be a lot younger than he though, perhaps as young as twelve or thirteen. The war had only lasted for about ten years, so far. Since Brooke had never heard of Earth, she must have been taken as a slave from a colony world before she was old enough to remember much of anything. This poor girl had been a slave for almost her entire life.