Aeva
The whole bridge stood in stunned silence as the words rang out. What were we going to say? The moment that this Admiral knew who Alex was, he would be taken and sentenced to death. Alex had made that much clear to the captain and I since the Terran’s secret came out. Despite the size difference, I could see Alex start to sweat and shift around in my hand. It was clear to me that he felt the same.
“He is a member of my crew under the GC Fair Trade agreement with United Terra,” replied the captain in her best diplomat’s voice. “Any further information given would require a formal request via the proper channels Admiral.”
The admiral leaned back in his chair narrowing his eyes, either impressed by the legal obstacle course thrown in his path or irritated at the minor setback. He motioned to someone off camera, most likely one of the bridge crew. “I don’t remember asking you captain, I’m sure that the man can speak for himself, as he so clearly butted into this official communication. And furthermore, why the fuck aren’t you in your suit?” Alex looked like he wanted to be anywhere else, but he opened his mouth instead.
“Well, I thought that with the secret coming out and the assault on the Strength Through Diplomacy, that it didn’t matter anymore?” he said uncertainly, his voice not projecting nearly as much as he usually did to speak to me.
The admiral’s eyes widened as he heard Alex speak and his mouth drew down in a scowl. My heart dropped into my stomach as he opened his mouth. “YOU!” he snarled with the malice of a person who would call down an orbital strike on a highly populated area just to see the casualty number rise.
Alex looked like he was about to pass out. “I was wondering when you were going to put two and two together,” he said in a small voice.
---
Admiral Elin Chaplain
That’s it, forget the fucking trial, straight to the firing squad with this one. This fucking idiot of a human being didn’t even deserve rights at this point, especially after the hell that his actions put every citizen of United Terra over the last three days.
It was because of him that humanity’s foreign policy is going to be an absolute mess for God knows how many years. It was because of him that the first Sol defense fleet was dragged out here. It was because of him that the Strength Through Diplomacy was attacked, the whole reason that we were in the first war with aliens that we’ve ever had.
And the fact that this bastard had the audacity to see how long it takes for me to figure out who he was? That was crossing a line. I took a deep breath, trying to keep my voice as calm and measured as I could. “Alex Davis, under United Terra’s First Contact Article 7 Section 13B, I hereby place you under arrest for conspiracy to reveal classified materials and the subsequent revelation of classified materials. The Traitor’s Bane will be docking in five minutes, prepare to be boarded.”
“Now hold on one minute!” shouted the captain as she waved her tentacles around wildly. “Alex is a part of my crew and is subject to extradition laws of the GC! You can’t just march onto MY ship and demand that I give up MY crew!” she shouted. As she talked some of the crew on her end were even mumbling agreements with each other. I had to act fast, crush this while I could, otherwise I might have to storm the Shooting Star for the damn man. We didn’t need any more bloodshed, not after today.
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
I took in a sharp breath of air. “I’m sorry to burst your bubble captain, but the request for the extradition of Alex Davis was filed the moment that we had confirmation of this fiasco, and it just came back this morning. Your hands are tied captain.”
“Well, I have seen nothing of the sort from the GC!” she shouted, still fighting to keep Alex on board.
I pinched my nose. Why is she fighting so hard to keep him there? I’m getting rid of a problem for her! She should be thanking me, not shouting me down for this! “Senator Venus has informed me that your side of the paperwork came in about half an hour ago. You can be forgiven for not checking your email during the fireworks show that you could probably see from the relative safety of your ship.” I didn’t try to hold back my contempt this time.
I wasn’t very good at reading alien body language, that was never a part of my job description, but I could tell that the captain was frustrated to say the least as she scooped up a tablet and read through the order.
The alien holding Alex up to the camera, a Cosholay, if I remembered my kaiju’s correctly, turned to the captain, and with desperation in her voice, said, “Captain, are we really doing this?”
The captain gave a flick of her tentacle. “Our hands are tied Aeva.” It sounded like there was genuine remorse in her voice. “Get him prepped for the transfer and keep him company in his cabin. And I don’t want any funny business from either of you.” After saying that, the captain turned back to the camera. “We await further instructions,” before terminating the call.
I sighed and closed my eyes. “Remind the Traitor’s Bane knows that they need to scrub wherever he’s been living of any traces of Terran tech. The last thing we need is Terran tech getting out into the wild.”
Now we’ll see if this bastard will come willingly.
---
Alex
“All things considered, that went a lot better than I was expecting,” I said aloud the moment that the call had been dropped. “I mean, he could have just said ‘blow up the ship’ and be done with it.”
“You’re being arrested, and this is the thing you’re concerned about?” said Aeva without waiting for anyone else to respond.
“It’s called gallows humor. I know that I’m going to die, might as well make a show out of it,” I explained with a shrug.
She was silent for a time, with nothing but the rhythmic tapping of her clawed feet on the metal flooring. “I feel like I’ve asked this question to you a lot, but if it didn’t keep happening, I wouldn’t keep asking it.”
“Ask away,” I said. “After all, this might be the last time that we ever see each other.”
“Are all Terrans like you?” she asked.
“What? Do you mean like in terms of humor?” I asked back. She nodded. “Well, in that case, yes. While there are people that don’t seem to like that kind of humor, they are outweighed by those that do.” Silence fell once more as we got closer and closer to my cabin. It wasn’t long before we stood in front of the door. I looked up at Aeva. “Well, this is it, isn’t it? Might as well hurry up and wait around.”
She nodded. “That’s certainly one way to put it,” she said a tremble in her voice as she slid open the door.
It was strange, going back in there after everything that had happened. I lived here for three months, hiding from the rest of the crew, and the rest of the galaxy, if I’m being honest. The detritus and proof of me living in this place was evident to see, and one thing was clear to me. It’s going to be one hell of a cleanup job for whatever poor son of a bitch is going to be responsible for this.
We sat there for a few minutes, just enjoying each other’s company and waiting. It wasn’t long before there was a knock on the door, one that I immediately recognized as the armored fist of a mech. The door was opened, and in stepped two hulking military mechs. They seemed to stop and regard me with cold mechanical eyes as my own drifted down to their bolters, no doubt ready to gun down any resistance. It was only a moment later when one of them finally spoke, the speaker no doubt wearing a sneer that I couldn’t see. “So you’re the fucker that caused this shit storm.”