Authorization for the use of a shuttle and the diplomatic lanes down to North American air space came back within the hour. Not long after that Alex, Carbon, and a fireteam for security were waiting in the back of a far more opulent shuttle than the one that had brought them up.
The trip down didn’t take long, just about thirty minutes by Alex’s constant clock-checking. They set down on Deck 8, their escort ship landing in the next berth. It looked almost identical, save for the name and numbers on the wings, though Alex assumed it was loaded out very differently.
Carbon hugged him, gave him a kiss on the cheek and told him he could do it. He believed her. Mostly.
One of the soldiers from the forward compartment came back in full gear - grey-black urban camo, plate armor, helmet with tinted visor, boots with the steel toe on the outside... though notably lacking firearms and the related equipment. He introduced himself as Specialist Amalu, Alex’s escort. Too valuable to be left alone, but not so valuable as to skirt Confed regulations about foreign militaries operating on Earth.
He didn’t even try to make small talk on the funicular down to Deck 5. It was weird enough having someone he didn’t really know with him, but the bubble of space everybody gave the severe looking alien in what was clearly combat armor standing next to him made it worse. The ONI badge Alex had clipped to his translator, should he need to go anywhere that those credentials were useful, didn’t really help that ‘leave us alone’ vibe they had going on.
Right now? Probably for the best.
They walked in silence to his parents apartment, the home he grew up in, every turn of the residential zone as familiar as when he was a kid. Yeah, they had repainted it a few years ago, beefed up the aircon system - the vents had gone from nearly flush with the walls to a sort of angular blister that held fully modernized cleaning systems. Berkley was one of the older arcologies.
He stopped before the door that he’d gone through a million times before, Specialist Amalu taking up station beside it. Alex shifted from one foot to the other, jaw set as his hand hesitated over the control panel of his parents front door. The idea of speaking to his parents alone at first, leaving Carbon with the shuttle, felt like an increasingly bad idea. He knew it was all nerves, but that didn’t calm them down any.
He could think of a hundred ways that trying to ease them into the idea of their younger son being suddenly married... and to an alien, could go wrong. Yes, they'd always been understanding, accepting people. They would deal well with this. He was sure of it.
He still found it very hard to ring the doorbell, nearly jumping at the sound of the chime as his outstretched finger brushed the panel on accident. No turning back now.
The door shushed open into the wall, an unexpected face greeting him. "Well, look who’s decided to grace us with his presence. Got tired of the royal treatment already?"
"Oh, shit." Alex cleared his throat and his face twisted into a nervous grin at the sight of his older brother. "Yeah, you might say that, Pete."
Peter stepped back and let Alex in, closing the door behind him with a wave of his hand. “Looking pretty good for someone with severe plasma burns.”
“Mediboards do some pretty impressive stuff.” His parents had been told that a small explosion from a plasma conduit was what had injured him on the Sword of the Morning Light in lieu of telling them that someone had tried to assassinate him. Presumably they had told that to Peter as well. Alex followed him through into the living room. “Hey Dad!”
“Alex, you’re just in time. Milly and Jason are coming over in a bit, we’re all going out to dinner.” His father waved him into a chair. “Good to see you no worse for wear... Did you get your ears pierced?”
“Yeah, I did.” He sank into the same overstuffed chair he’d been sitting in a week ago. Milly and Jason were Peter’s wife and son... looks like the entire family would be here before too long. “It was unexpected. A lot of unexpected stuff happening lately.”
“Tell me about it. Did you see the news at all?” Ambrose popped himself down onto his preferred end of the couch and relaxed. “Do they have any Human news on board that ship?”
“No.” Well, not that he was aware of at least. Other than himself. “I’ve had a pretty busy week anyway.”
“Rassmussen’s been acting uppity for months. A couple of days ago he starts talking like he wants to secede, but Eneceladus is right smack in Sol.” His dad absolutely loved keeping up with all this stuff. “Even if they did, who’s he going to trade with? Nobody needs Enceladus that much anymore except for tourists, and they barely go.”
“Wow, weird.” Of all the political news Alex might have heard about while aboard the Sword, a governor trying to rattle sabers on an icy moon was not going to be near the top. He glanced over at Peter, who had taken up residence on the other end of the couch. “So when are Milly and Jason showing up?”
Peter checked his phone. “They left Monterey a little bit ago, so maybe an hour. Hour and a half at the most.”
Alex’s leg bounced as he started to second guess himself. His mother finally came out of the back room and greeted him with a hug before heading towards the kitchen. His jaw tightened as he resolved to say what he needed to say. He wasn’t going to come all this way just to act like nothing had changed and Pete was going to find out eventually anyway. “Mom, hang on a second... Come have a seat. I need to talk to you guys.”
That changed the demeanor in the room instantly. His mother sat down between Peter and his father, all three of them watching him with concern. That was something. “Go on, Alex. What is it?”
“Alright, I’m about to say some stuff that you have to promise me will not leave this room.” He tented his fingers in front of his chest, and sucked in a breath through set teeth. “Some of it’s going to come out later, some of it might have to stay forever.”
That didn’t do anything to ease the mood. Made it worse, based on the worried looks the rest of his family was sharing with each other. His father was the first to reply, nodding his agreement. “Of course.” Peter and his mother echoed the sentiment a moment later.
“Hah, alright. Some big stuff has happened in the last week. In the last few weeks, really.” He stared down at his hands, knuckles pulled white. “You know that I came back from my tour early... Some things happened and the situation got pretty dire for a while and my relationship with Shipmaster Tshalen became, uh, romantic.”
They didn't say anything for several seconds, his mother the first to break the silence. She picked her words carefully, the question delicate. “You two... are involved romantically? So you’re dating?”
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“Oh, we were. Kind of. I was going to tell you guys last time I was here, but that visit got cut short.”
The care she had taken with her first question rapidly gave way to confusion. “So you’re not involved with her anymore?”
“No no, I still am. There’s more. I had this all laid out in my head on the way down.” He pursed his lips and went with the biggest item first. “We’re actually married now. Entwined, in their language, basically the same thing. It was sort of a shotgun wedding. Neither of us were really expecting it, or I’d have told you guys sooner.”
He could hear them breathing as he waited for someone to say something. Pete just had this smirk he was trying to keep hidden that said plenty. His father’s brow furrowed and he started and stopped several times. “When you say shotgun wedding... She- You didn’t... She’s not pregnant, is she?”
“No! It’s not like that. Humans and Tsla’o can’t reproduce. I think. I know for sure that we’re not compatible at a genetic level.” At least, his body went through hyperacute rejection of Tsla’o tissue when they tried to shore up the stab wounds. He imagined that fertilization was pretty much out of the question. “Shouldn’t be, anyway.”
“Well then, what possessed you to get married?” His father didn’t exactly raise his voice, but his hands were starting to get animated.
“That’s the other thing. I am marked for death by a group of Tslao isola-”
“You’re what?!” His parents blurted it out at the same time, his mother horrified while his father had a particular gleam in his eye that indicated he might be inclined to go set someone straight, despite the fact that someone was a small terrorist organization partway across the Orion arm. It did wipe that smile off Pete’s face, at least.
“Marked for death. There are some isolationists who wish to break the alliance between our races. Since Carbon is a member of the royal family, I am now afforded the same level of protection as she is. These guys aren’t screwing around, but you all should be safe. Earth is too heavily defended. They want isolation, not a hot war.” That came out much more nonchalantly than he was expecting. Eleya had assured him that family were generally off the table, particularly if they had no power. The isolationists needed the public to believe them to be honorable, a better path forward, and blowing up a couple of old people was not that.
His father leaned back into the couch, nodding. “I assume they are doing everything they can to protec-”
“She’s a member of the royal family?” His mother burst out, this apparently the most surprising thing he’s said so far, which tracked for his mom. She was the closest thing they had to a historian in the family.
“Yes, the Empress is her aunt. Though, according to their rules of succession, we’re next in line now.” That was more matter of fact than he expected as well. He pointed at his ears. “That’s what those are about. They show rank in the family and are symbolic of the commitment to the Tsla’o people and always carrying one’s duty.”
“You’re a member of the royal family?” She asked.
“Effectively, I am the crown prince. The Empress thinks it’ll play well back home.” He neglected to mention the various other reasons that he has heard used to justify his marriage and title. He suspected a lot of finer details were going to be skipped over in this conversation.
“Goodness.” She seemed to have settled on being proud of that.
His father cleared his throat. “As I was saying... They’re doing everything they can to protect you now?”
“Now, yes. There was a little... hiccup at first, right when everything had been set up.” As soon as Alex said it he knew his dad wasn’t going to approve of that phrasing.
His eyebrow went up, and he leaned in. “Which means?”
Alex looked at his hands and tapped his fingertips together. “There was no accident, an attempt was made on my life shortly after I arrived onboard.”
His father sort of bristled at that, but otherwise kept his cool. “I assume they caught the bastard?”
“Yeah. Yeah, they caught him and another guy working with him. They were executed yesterday.” Definitely not mentioning that Eleya had considered the execution a ‘gift’ for their marriage.
Eyebrows went up all around, but his father voiced the question. “They executed him?”
“Like I said, everything had been set up. When I was attacked, I was a member of the royal family. That’s high treason. I’m not exactly happy about what happened, but I didn’t have any say in it.” Eleya had made it clear that she was still calling the shots, literally and figuratively.
“Well, none of that was what I was expecting.” His father still looked a bit like he was going to pick a fight with someone, but his expression had softened. “How are you doing?”
“Pretty good. Aside from the almost dying, it’s been interesting. And confusing. Weird a lot of the time, too.” He managed a laugh and a smile but didn’t get his hopes up too much. All of this was still new and they hadn’t had much time to process it yet.
His mother piped up next, “this thing with Carbon... You’re OK with this?”
“Yeah, I am. When we got back, I wasn’t sure how things would pan out - like I said, it was an intense situation. There had been a couple of times where I don’t think either of us were sure we were coming back.” He was pretty sure that Carbon wouldn’t have even considered anyone as dating material if not for the circumstances they had found themselves in, let alone some pilot. “It’s not all smooth sailing, we are both literally alien to each other. The other side of that is we communicate well and we’re a pretty good fit for each other. I don’t even think of her as alien most of the time, if that makes sense? I just love her.”
“I- Still not what I was expecting. But if she makes you happy and you’re happy with your situation, I’m happy for you. For both of you.” His father elbowed his mother gently, “you liked her, didn’t you?”
Audrey nodded in reply. “Yes, she was very pleasant. This does explain why she brightened up so much when she saw you. I had thought that maybe there was more than respect there, but I hadn’t expected that kind of relationship.”
“I really was going to tell you guys before... I guess it wouldn’t have changed too much considering how everything played out.” Alex finally relaxed a little bit, his assumptions about his parents holding true. Peter was keeping quiet but he seemed entirely amused by this.
“So far, I approve of her. Seems very intelligent and polite.” His mother got a sort of wry smile. “How was the ceremony? Did you at least get some nice pictures since we weren’t invited?”
“No, the ceremony was...” Invasive? Unsettling? Was there an actual ceremony that they had skipped because he was busy trying to die? Would Carbon even want to do that? That was entirely too many questions. He shook his head. “You didn’t miss anything. Mostly it was just some paperwork.”
His father rolled his eyes as she continued. “That’s a shame, I would like to see their ceremonies even if it isn’t much to look at. I notice you’re not wearing a ring... Do they do that?”
“Not... sort of.” He pulled the collar of his shirt to the side to expose the edge of his bite mark, the salve peeled off earlier, a row of puncture wounds standing out in partially healed pink skin. “It’s a pretty permanent gesture.”
They all recoiled from the sight but his mother continued, otherwise undaunted. “I assume we will be meeting her parents at some point, as well?”
Alex balked at that. “That’s still up in the air. Her father didn’t take the news as well as you guys did.”
His dad grumbled something Alex couldn’t hear under his breath, but Audrey stayed the course. “What about her mother?”
“She died in the disaster. Most of her family did, actually. All she’s got left is her dad and aunt now.” He spread his hands out. Nothing to do about that now, as nice as it would be to reverse those deaths. They’d have to make due with what was left.
“Oh, poor girl. You let her know she’s welcome here.” She gave Ambrose a poke with her elbow, electing a gruff sound of agreement from him. “Speaking of, why didn’t you bring her?”
“She’s back at the shuttle. I expected you guys to be good with this, but I wanted to make sure. She took her dad’s reaction really hard, I didn’t want her to get a second dose of that.”
His mother shook her head, clicking her tongue in disapproval at Carbon’s father’s behavior. “Well, go get her. If she’s part of the family she had better start acting like it.”