Chapter 1 revision 2
Ok, I've made slight revisions in the first part of chapter one and added the rest of the chapter where Ylana meets the crew.
Planetside - Chimera Space Date: 2417.08.07
It had been a good night. Rob had been winning at poker and was looking for one last hand to get the total up to what he needed for GEM’s parts. Of course it helped that he and Gelb were pretty damn good at cheating. So far the mark hadn’t even noticed anything odd. "Well, maybe he’s used to losing big," Rob thought.
Robert Mitchells was a pragmatist. If cheating was what it took to keep GEM running, then cheating he would do. Because GEM was all he had left and nothing would stop him from keeping her healthy. It didn’t hurt that his victim this evening was a rich, slave-owning, government flunky bastard. Hell, he’d have been willing to fleece this guy even if GEM hadn’t needed parts. He looked over at the poor girl who was waiting on his lordship and, for the thousandth time that night, wished there was something he could do to free her.
"You like my girl, do you? I could arrange for you to have her if you choose to return some of your winnings to me."
"No, thanks. I have other plans for the evening. Deal."
Gelb looked the girl over thoroughly as if the exchange had awakened some sort of academic interest. "So is this what you human males would consider an attractive mate? Why? She seems like little more than a tasty snack to me." He flashed his rather large teeth at her and licked his lips. The fact that his teeth were blood red made them look quite menacing. The slave girl cringed away as far as her chains would allow.
"Gelb, stop that. It isn’t considered polite to eat other people’s property."
"You take all the fun out of life, Captain, sir. Did you know that?"
Rob shook his head. He’d never quite figured out why the big gunner had joined his crew. Usually Delebians were not inclined to mix much with other races. But Gelb ‘marched to the beat of a different drummer’ and did lots of things frowned on in polite Delebian society including cheating at cards. And he was the best damn gunner Rob had ever seen. Too bad he had to put up with his sense of humor. He’d have to talk to him about this one though. Frightening a poor little slave girl who had no way of defending herself and who probably had no idea that he was a strict vegetarian was pretty low, even for Gelb.
Rob picked up the cards his lordship had dealt. It took all the skill he had to hide his reaction. A Royal flush, how the hell did he get dealt that? Then it hit him. That sneaky, oversized otter had created such a good distraction, even he had fallen for it.
As the betting continued, his lordship seemed oddly unwilling to fold his cards. Damn that Gelb must have snuck him a good hand too, just to make sure to clean him out. Well ,Rob was certainly more than willing to cooperate in that venture.
"I seem to be low on funds. Perhaps if I throw in the girl that would be acceptable to call?"
Rob look at his lordship, startled. He certainly hadn’t been planning on playing for people. On the other hand, when he won her, he could free her. While he considered the matter, the naked girl posed very provocatively. He knew she wasn’t really interested in him, just doing that at her master’s orders, but damn she was attractive. Anger at her slavery fought arousal at her looks and for a second there, Rob thought arousal might win. It had been several months, after all. But anger won and he decided that the lousy bastard who owned her wouldn’t get to use her as a play toy ever again. Rob accepted the bet and laid down his cards.
"ROYAL FLUSH! How the hell did you get a royal flush?" You could hear his lordship squawk probably five miles away. It was kind of funny.
"Hey, you dealt the cards, not me. Why don’t you sign the young lady’s papers over to me and we’ll get going seeing as how you don’t seem to have any other assets to continue the game with." Rob was busy shoveling his winnings into his pockets just in case his lordship got tetchy. Best to make sure he could leave with as much as possible if things went sour on him.
A few minutes later, he left with the girl in tow and Gelb running beside him making the squeeing noise that served as a laugh for Delebians. The poor thing was still cringing away from Gelb, obviously terrified. She’d just have to stick it out for a few minutes; Rob wasn’t stopping for anything short of the safety of the ship after the trick they’d just pulled on the planetary governor. In fact, he wasn’t stopping till the ship was out of orbit. He’d best make sure that happened as soon as possible, too. Rob called the ship on his personal comm. "Hey kiddo, get the engines fired up and ready. We’re leaving this rock as soon as Gelb and I are on board."
"Yes sir, Captain, sir." Sara Conkwright hated being called kiddo, but couldn’t seem to break Rob of the habit. She was more than willing to beat the crap out of anyone else on board who tried it though as she had proven on one memorable occasion. She hit the code for the all-ship circuit. "Attention, Rob and Gelb are on their way back and, surprise, surprise, we are in a hurry to leave. Secure everything for immediate liftoff. Kate, better get those engines warmed up."
Just as she finished the take off checklist, Rob called up to let her know they were on board and ready for takeoff. Sara hit the switch that started the liftoff sequence and they took off like a bat out of hell.
Rob sat in his office off the cargo bay with his slave girl waiting for the initial acceleration of liftoff to finish. When the ship was moving easy and normal gravity was restored, he pulled out her slave papers in order to sign over her freedom. She looked at him quizzically as he hadn’t yet said what he intended to do. He saw her look and decided to explain. "I’m planing to free you, girl. Don’t much care for slavery. But don’t worry; I’ll give you a stake to get you started right on the next planet we get to." As he was talking, he was searching the papers for the proper place to sign.
"But master…"
"Where the hell is the … oh shit." Rob finally reached the part of the papers which read: By Order of the United Planets Government; this person is not allowed to be freed under any circumstances.
Rob looked over at the girl who was staring at the floor. "You want to tell me why the government thinks you’re so dangerous, that you can’t ever be freed?"
"I’m sorry, master."
"Don’t call me that. My name is Rob."
"Yes, Rob. I didn’t do anything." There was a long pause while she tried to come up with the best way to explain. She didn’t know him enough to know how mad he would get by hearing the truth, but she suspected he didn’t really much care for the UP government, so she plunged ahead with the explanation. "It was my parents. My father was the planetary governor of Chimera. He was instrumental in the planet seceding during the war. When the UP soldiers took it back, they punished him and my mom by making me a slave for life before they hung them. I was only 12 when it happened." The look of suppressed fear on her face told Rob that she wasn’t too sure that he’d be real accepting of that explanation. Hell if he was a UP supporter, he’d probably be right mad at her for such a statement. So Rob guessed the fear was justified.
"Girl, I fought for the Rebellion, too. Could have been my sister in your shoes if I’d have been anyone important." He could see the tension ease in her body with those words. "I can’t keep calling you girl, what’s your name?"
"Call me whatever you like. Slaves don’t have names."
"What was the name your parents gave you?" His tone was patient, a lot more patient than Rob usually was, if the truth be known.
"Ylana."
"Then that’s what you’ll be called on this ship. You see, Ylana, I got a problem here. I don’t think slavery is right, so what am I to do with you? I can’t sell you; that just wouldn’t be right and I surely don’t want to have a slave. God, my head hurts." Rob held his head in his hands, thinking hard. Ylana timidly got up and walked behind him and started giving him a back massage.
"Damn that feels good. Hey Ylana, you don’t have to do that, you know."
"Yes sir, I know. I thought it might help your headache."
"Thank you." Rob turned around to face her. "You know, here’s a plan. See what you think. As far as I‘m concerned, you’re free. OK, the damn government doesn’t think so, but who cares what they think anyway. I’ll tell everyone on the ship, I freed you and offered you a job. That way you have a reason to stay and no one will know you are officially still my property. I promise I won’t ever sell you unless you ask me to. I guess that’s all the freedom I can give you. It really isn’t enough, but it’s the best I can do."
"But I don’t have any job skills, except as a prostitute. Is that what you want me to do?"
"No Ylana, you won’t have to have sex with anyone you don’t want to ever again. I think I can train you for a different job. You do know how to read and write, don’t you?"
"Yes sir, but it’s been a long time. I’m probably pretty rusty at it."
"Don’t see where there’s a rush. If you were really free, I’d have given you some time to get your skills in place before I expected you to be able to support yourself. So that’s no different here really. Anyway, I’ve been doing the job of the supply officer because we didn’t have anyone else to do it and, to be honest, I really don’t much care for it. So would you like to keep the accounting records and buy supplies and such? I’d show you everything to do."
Ylana looked up at Rob, stunned. Her green eyes filled with tears. The chance to behave like a free woman and have a real, responsible, respectable job was more than she had ever imagined. And to chose not to have sex, that was almost totally unimaginable. She just stood there staring at him, unable to find the words to respond to his offer. Finally she just nodded, still too stunned to speak.
"Good, that’s settled then. Let me take you up to crew quarters and get you set up with a room. My engineer is about your size. I imagine I can persuade her to lend you some clothes until we get to the next stop. Then I’ll give you a pay advance so you can buy your own stuff."
"Sir, you don’t have to pay me. You own me."
"Ylana, don’t you think the crew might find it odd if I didn’t pay you? I told you, you may officially still be a slave, but as far as I’m concerned you’re free on this ship. I really, truly, meant that. Look, Ylana, I know this is a big adjustment for you. But you really can trust that no one will treat you like a slave here. Come on, let’s go get you set up and then I’ll introduce you to the rest of the crew."
******
Ylana just stared at the room Rob showed her. Thoughts of having privacy, her own bed, and her own bathroom were almost more than she could take.
The stunned disbelief in her eyes just about broke Rob’s heart. He’d never understood the institution of slavery. "How could anyone have treated this frightened young woman so poorly that a 4X4 meter room would seem such a palace to her? All it had a was a bed, some storage cabinets and a bathroom. Wasn’t like it was fancy or even decorated. Hell, he’d even have to go search out some linens for the bed. Maybe Kate would bring some when she brought down some clothes. Oh yeah, Kate doesn’t know about Ylana and her need for some actual clothing. Best give her a call soon. And then get the crew together in the dining room so they could meet the newest addition to the crew." Rob’s thoughts raced around in circles as he watched Ylana investigate the room. "Slavery is wrong, he now owed a slave and planned to keep her. Just how was he gonna reconcile that one to himself?"
"This is really my room? I don’t have to share it," Ylana asked softly.
"That’s right. I know it’s not much now. But we’ll be stopping on Rumi soon and they have a pretty good market. You can get some nice stuff to decorate to your taste. Should be able to pick up some clothes for you there, too. In the meantime, let me call my engineer. She should have some stuff that will fit and she can bring up some clean bedding too." Rob went to the com on the bulkhead and paged Kate.
"Yes, boss. What do you need? Everything is running just fine and we’re on course for Rumi. Sara says we’ll be there in three days. Hey, what are you doing in the empty crew quarters anyway?"
"Kate, we have a new crew member. Unfortunately our precipitous departure means that she has no luggage. Actually…pretty much no clothes at all to speak of. She looks to be about your size. Can I borrow enough of your clothes to keep her dressed till we get to Rumi? Oh and could you bring up some bedding too? These quarters aren’t made up at all."
"Let me get that straight, Rob. You have a naked woman up there and you’re putting her in her own quarters? Are you OK? That doesn’t really sound like you."
"Hey, I’m not that bad. Anyway the lady isn’t naked by choice… It’s a long story, Kate. I’ll explain it to you and the rest of the crew later. Could you just bring up some clothes?"
"Sure thing. Be there in a trice. Kate out."
"What’s a trice," Ylana asked, her curiosity winning out over her fear of asking questions.
"Beats me. It’s a phrase she uses all the time. Must mean something on her homeworld. She means she’ll be up her shortly."
For a minute, neither said anything. They just stood there staring at each other. Clearly something was bothering Ylana though. So Rob just waited her out.
"Rob…if you usually have sex with women you bring on board, I’m certainly available to you."
"No. Ylana. You ‘re a beautiful woman and normally I’d be pleased to share my bed with you. But you’ve never been given the choice and it would be wrong for me to coerce you right now. You get used to being able to say yes or no as you please and then maybe we can discuss it again. But not till I know for sure that you can say no if that’s what you want."
"Nice speech, Rob, old man."
"Didn’t make it for you, Kate. Come here, I want you to meet Ylana."
Kate threw the bedding to Rob who started making the bed. Then she held out some clothes to the naked woman. Kate was completely perplexed, but trusted Rob would explain when the crew was together. She knew he hated making explanations multiple times, so she’d hang in there until he gave the whole group the story. But this one sure looked to be a lulu. Rob had picked up strays before, but she couldn’t remember any of them showing up naked wearing only some fancy jewelry and a chain.
Ylana took the clothes warily. She had often found women treated slaves worse than men did. And Kate was nothing like she expected. Of course she wasn’t used to women who held jobs. Mostly she knew free women as the wives of her owners. Pretty, pampered and petty. But this woman was middle-aged and not very attractive. Her grayish, brownish hair was a mess with no real style to the cut. She didn’t even wear makeup. And she was wearing pants, greasy pants. Here was a person totally beyond her experience and Ylana had no idea how to behave around her. She certainly didn’t seem very respectful of her boss. And Rob didn’t seem to mind. She decided she would never understand these people.
"We’ll give you some privacy to get dressed. Kate I’m going to the dining room to get the rest of the crew together. Would you show Ylana the way when she’s finished dressing?" On that note, Rob left. A few seconds later, an all-hands message came over the com, "Everyone, get your butts to the dining room. I got someone to introduce to you. Rob, Out."
******
As usual, his crew answered Rob’s all-hands request with all the urgency of a kid headed to the dentist. Even with having to put on some clothes, Ylana got there first, still in Kate’s formidable custody. He indicated the chair next to his and she immediately sat down.
His medic, Harrison Knowles, sauntered in next, trying not to look too eager to find out what was going on. Try as he might, Rob just couldn’t warm up to the little slimeball. In fact, no one on the crew trusted him. And they all liked him even less than they trusted him. But carrying a UP doctor on board was one of the criteria for keeping their license to trade, so the scurvy little spy stayed. At least he was a competent doctor ,even if he wasn’t so successful as a spy.
Kate’s engineering apprentices bolted in next, playing music and chattering incessantly. Her twin nephews, Ian and Brian, were tall, blond and sulky, as only teenagers can be. In the three months they had been on board, Rob had become convinced they were Kate’s punishment for abandoning her family’s ships after the war. Either that or they wanted his engineer back and they’d sent the twins to drive her away from GEM. Sometimes Rob wondered if he could convince Doc Kowles to sew their mouths shut. He noted that today’s hair color of orange and black stripes was relatively conservative. This made him suspicious that they had done something they didn’t want noticed again. The last time they’d sported conservative colors, the still started spitting out soda instead of booze.
Gelb skittered in next, grinned at Ylana and started rooting through the cabinets for food. Ylana flinched and moved her chair closer to Rob. "Damn," Rob thought, "I forget to tell her that he’s a vegetarian."
Joam and Stev came in together, quietly discussing something technical. It sounded like Stev wanted Joam to secure the cargo to test some new maneuvers he and Sara had worked out on the flight simulator. The UP permanently prohibited ex-Rebel pilots like Stev from flying, so he took out his frustrations by designing new and exciting ways for Sara to fly. In Rob’s estimation, Sara was probably the only merchant pilot around who could fly any UP pilot into the ground. Stev’s arrival last year had improved Sara’s skills at least a 120% and she’d been a good pilot to begin with.
As if she read minds, thinking about Sara brought her into the room. GEM’s first shift pilot was probably the most beautiful woman Rob had ever seen. Tall, with just the right amount of curves, Sara had fiery red hair that hung down to her hips. Rob would have bedded her in an instant, but he wasn’t a good enough pilot to attract her attention. He didn’t really begrudge Stev the honor though. He deserved something good in his life after all he’d been through. And Sara was definitely something good.
Well, that was the whole crew, except… "Heeeeyaww!" Rob’s night shift pilot made her usual demure entrance, flying in low and fast. It was Rob’s understanding that Valkyrie’s coloring made her almost invisible on her home world. But it was quite a sight to see a purple and teal avian wing through the ship. Her entrance startled Ylana so badly she jumped about two feet in the air, causing the twins to snicker. Val was quite a pilot though and it had been worth every penny his uncle had spent installing controls specific to her race to get a pilot who never needed to sleep and who flew instinctively. Sometimes it was hard for Rob to believe she was over a 100 years old when she acted like she was five. But she had helped raise him when he was a kid in trouble and their bond was pretty tight.
"OK, people, listen up." Everyone immediately got quiet except the twins. Stev, expecting this, had sat net to them and whacked Ian on the chest. The twins shut up.
"This is Ylana. I’ll be training her to be the Supply Officer."
"And what will she be training you to do?" Harrison leered at Ylana as he spoke.
Joam glared at him. "Back off slimeball."
"No, Joam, you mussst not sssspeak sssso to our esttteemed physssician. He desssserves more respectttt than ttttthat," whistled Val in her most exaggerated trill. "Lettt me demonsssstrate how to corrrrectly phrassse that. BACK OFF, DOCTOR SLIME BALL. … Ssssee isssn’t ttthat betttter?" She tilted her head. The twins snickered, Harrison scowled, and Rob put his head in his hands. "Truly," Rob thought, "no one could make keep this crew under control."
Ylana just stared wide-eyed at the lot of them. She had never seen anyone treat any of her previous masters with so little public respect. Yet Rob kept his temper. It seemed so very strange to her. Somehow the very informal nature of the interactions made her think that perhaps the true respect these people had for Rob was greater than any of her other masters had from their people.
"Are we all done being snarky now? In that case, let me finish this and you can all go back to whatever degenerate activities you were participating in when I called this meeting. And please don’t tell me what they were. I don’t want to know. Anyway, this is Ylana, like I said. Now she got here because the guy I was playing poker with threw her into the kitty and I won the hand. Now you all know, I don’t much care for slavery, so I freed her. But she doesn’t have anywhere to go, so I gave her a job. Is that clear now to everybody?" Most of the crew nodded their heads. "Now, she’s been a slave since she was a little girl and this will take some adjusting on her part. So I want everybody to cut her some slack. And guys, you know how pretty slave women are treated. She’s conditioned to say yes right now and I don’t want to hear that any of you tried to take advantage of that." Rob glared directly at the doctor. "So for the next six months at least, consider her off limits. No asking and no accepting any offers she makes either. Not til she has learned it’s OK to say no if she wants to." Harrison opened his mouth to speak, but Rob cut him off. "and yes, that applies to me, too."
"OK everybody introduce yourself and tell her what you job on the ship is."
"I’m Steven Kurakin, but folks mostly call me Stev. I’m the first officer on the boat." He grinned at Ylana and winked. She shyly smiled in return.
"Sara Conkwright here. I’m the day shift pilot and Stev’s girlfriend."
"You already met me, but I’m Kate O’Neil and I keep this bucket of bolts flying. And these two hellions are my nephews, Ian and Brian. They are supposed to be my assistants, but they don’t do much assisting." She reached out and ruffled Brian’s hair. "Aw, Aunt Kate, stop that." Brian quickly moved out of reach.
"Doctor Knowles. Rob, it might be a good idea if she had a physical exam. Some of those slaves get pretty rough treatment."
Rob grimaced; he didn’t really want the doctor near Ylana. But the man had a point. "Yeah, good idea. Kate, you sit in on it." She nodded, well aware that the doc wouldn’t try anything funny if she was present.
Gelb grinned at her. She shrank back. Rob gave him a warning look. Gelb shrugged. "Really, I’m harmless. Delebians are vegetarians. I’m Gelb, I’m the gunner. I shoot people who try to pirate the ship. Well, I guess that means I’m not harmless. Hmmmm. What I meant to say was I don’t harm other crew members. I think you have already learned how well I cheat at poker. You can thank me later. I like my back scratched."
"Nice to meet you, Ylana. I’m Joam Imitre. I’m sort of a jack of all trades or maybe you might even call me the flunky. I do the stuff nobody else wants to do, like cooking and cleaning and painting and loading cargo." He grinned at the doctor who scrunched down in his chair. "And oh yes, I like to beat up the doctor. It’s a little hobby of mine." Rob just rolled his eyes. Nothing could keep his boyhood friend under control. He’d long since accepted that.
The alien avian strolled up to Ylana, put her formidable beak right up against Ylana’s nose and stared straight into her eyes. After a minute, she backed off. "Good, you will stand your ground if you must. I am Valkyrie, called Val. If you are not familiar with my people, we are the I’tersa. Like Sara, I am also a pilot, but on night shift. Do not be afraid to seek out my eyrie during the day if you need someone to talk to. I do not sleep and would be most grateful for the company." With that she flew off, screeching, "Heeeeyaww!"
"OK people that’s all for now. It’s late. Go to bed. Doc, Ylana and Kate will be there first thing after breakfast." On that note the crew dispersed with somewhat more alacrity than they had come to the meeting. In ten seconds, Rob and Ylana were the only two people in the room.
"I imagine you’re pretty tired, too. Go get some sleep."
"Yes, Rob" Ylana headed for the exit, the stopped and turned back to Rob. "Thank you," she said and left.
You’re welcome," Rob softly said to the empty room.
Planetside - Chimera Space Date: 2417.08.07
It had been a good night. Rob had been winning at poker and was looking for one last hand to get the total up to what he needed for GEM’s parts. Of course it helped that he and Gelb were pretty damn good at cheating. So far the mark hadn’t even noticed anything odd. "Well, maybe he’s used to losing big," Rob thought.
Robert Mitchells was a pragmatist. If cheating was what it took to keep GEM running, then cheating he would do. Because GEM was all he had left and nothing would stop him from keeping her healthy. It didn’t hurt that his victim this evening was a rich, slave-owning, government flunky bastard. Hell, he’d have been willing to fleece this guy even if GEM hadn’t needed parts. He looked over at the poor girl who was waiting on his lordship and, for the thousandth time that night, wished there was something he could do to free her.
"You like my girl, do you? I could arrange for you to have her if you choose to return some of your winnings to me."
"No, thanks. I have other plans for the evening. Deal."
Gelb looked the girl over thoroughly as if the exchange had awakened some sort of academic interest. "So is this what you human males would consider an attractive mate? Why? She seems like little more than a tasty snack to me." He flashed his rather large teeth at her and licked his lips. The fact that his teeth were blood red made them look quite menacing. The slave girl cringed away as far as her chains would allow.
"Gelb, stop that. It isn’t considered polite to eat other people’s property."
"You take all the fun out of life, Captain, sir. Did you know that?"
Rob shook his head. He’d never quite figured out why the big gunner had joined his crew. Usually Delebians were not inclined to mix much with other races. But Gelb ‘marched to the beat of a different drummer’ and did lots of things frowned on in polite Delebian society including cheating at cards. And he was the best damn gunner Rob had ever seen. Too bad he had to put up with his sense of humor. He’d have to talk to him about this one though. Frightening a poor little slave girl who had no way of defending herself and who probably had no idea that he was a strict vegetarian was pretty low, even for Gelb.
Rob picked up the cards his lordship had dealt. It took all the skill he had to hide his reaction. A Royal flush, how the hell did he get dealt that? Then it hit him. That sneaky, oversized otter had created such a good distraction, even he had fallen for it.
As the betting continued, his lordship seemed oddly unwilling to fold his cards. Damn that Gelb must have snuck him a good hand too, just to make sure to clean him out. Well ,Rob was certainly more than willing to cooperate in that venture.
"I seem to be low on funds. Perhaps if I throw in the girl that would be acceptable to call?"
Rob look at his lordship, startled. He certainly hadn’t been planning on playing for people. On the other hand, when he won her, he could free her. While he considered the matter, the naked girl posed very provocatively. He knew she wasn’t really interested in him, just doing that at her master’s orders, but damn she was attractive. Anger at her slavery fought arousal at her looks and for a second there, Rob thought arousal might win. It had been several months, after all. But anger won and he decided that the lousy bastard who owned her wouldn’t get to use her as a play toy ever again. Rob accepted the bet and laid down his cards.
"ROYAL FLUSH! How the hell did you get a royal flush?" You could hear his lordship squawk probably five miles away. It was kind of funny.
"Hey, you dealt the cards, not me. Why don’t you sign the young lady’s papers over to me and we’ll get going seeing as how you don’t seem to have any other assets to continue the game with." Rob was busy shoveling his winnings into his pockets just in case his lordship got tetchy. Best to make sure he could leave with as much as possible if things went sour on him.
A few minutes later, he left with the girl in tow and Gelb running beside him making the squeeing noise that served as a laugh for Delebians. The poor thing was still cringing away from Gelb, obviously terrified. She’d just have to stick it out for a few minutes; Rob wasn’t stopping for anything short of the safety of the ship after the trick they’d just pulled on the planetary governor. In fact, he wasn’t stopping till the ship was out of orbit. He’d best make sure that happened as soon as possible, too. Rob called the ship on his personal comm. "Hey kiddo, get the engines fired up and ready. We’re leaving this rock as soon as Gelb and I are on board."
"Yes sir, Captain, sir." Sara Conkwright hated being called kiddo, but couldn’t seem to break Rob of the habit. She was more than willing to beat the crap out of anyone else on board who tried it though as she had proven on one memorable occasion. She hit the code for the all-ship circuit. "Attention, Rob and Gelb are on their way back and, surprise, surprise, we are in a hurry to leave. Secure everything for immediate liftoff. Kate, better get those engines warmed up."
Just as she finished the take off checklist, Rob called up to let her know they were on board and ready for takeoff. Sara hit the switch that started the liftoff sequence and they took off like a bat out of hell.
Rob sat in his office off the cargo bay with his slave girl waiting for the initial acceleration of liftoff to finish. When the ship was moving easy and normal gravity was restored, he pulled out her slave papers in order to sign over her freedom. She looked at him quizzically as he hadn’t yet said what he intended to do. He saw her look and decided to explain. "I’m planing to free you, girl. Don’t much care for slavery. But don’t worry; I’ll give you a stake to get you started right on the next planet we get to." As he was talking, he was searching the papers for the proper place to sign.
"But master…"
"Where the hell is the … oh shit." Rob finally reached the part of the papers which read: By Order of the United Planets Government; this person is not allowed to be freed under any circumstances.
Rob looked over at the girl who was staring at the floor. "You want to tell me why the government thinks you’re so dangerous, that you can’t ever be freed?"
"I’m sorry, master."
"Don’t call me that. My name is Rob."
"Yes, Rob. I didn’t do anything." There was a long pause while she tried to come up with the best way to explain. She didn’t know him enough to know how mad he would get by hearing the truth, but she suspected he didn’t really much care for the UP government, so she plunged ahead with the explanation. "It was my parents. My father was the planetary governor of Chimera. He was instrumental in the planet seceding during the war. When the UP soldiers took it back, they punished him and my mom by making me a slave for life before they hung them. I was only 12 when it happened." The look of suppressed fear on her face told Rob that she wasn’t too sure that he’d be real accepting of that explanation. Hell if he was a UP supporter, he’d probably be right mad at her for such a statement. So Rob guessed the fear was justified.
"Girl, I fought for the Rebellion, too. Could have been my sister in your shoes if I’d have been anyone important." He could see the tension ease in her body with those words. "I can’t keep calling you girl, what’s your name?"
"Call me whatever you like. Slaves don’t have names."
"What was the name your parents gave you?" His tone was patient, a lot more patient than Rob usually was, if the truth be known.
"Ylana."
"Then that’s what you’ll be called on this ship. You see, Ylana, I got a problem here. I don’t think slavery is right, so what am I to do with you? I can’t sell you; that just wouldn’t be right and I surely don’t want to have a slave. God, my head hurts." Rob held his head in his hands, thinking hard. Ylana timidly got up and walked behind him and started giving him a back massage.
"Damn that feels good. Hey Ylana, you don’t have to do that, you know."
"Yes sir, I know. I thought it might help your headache."
"Thank you." Rob turned around to face her. "You know, here’s a plan. See what you think. As far as I‘m concerned, you’re free. OK, the damn government doesn’t think so, but who cares what they think anyway. I’ll tell everyone on the ship, I freed you and offered you a job. That way you have a reason to stay and no one will know you are officially still my property. I promise I won’t ever sell you unless you ask me to. I guess that’s all the freedom I can give you. It really isn’t enough, but it’s the best I can do."
"But I don’t have any job skills, except as a prostitute. Is that what you want me to do?"
"No Ylana, you won’t have to have sex with anyone you don’t want to ever again. I think I can train you for a different job. You do know how to read and write, don’t you?"
"Yes sir, but it’s been a long time. I’m probably pretty rusty at it."
"Don’t see where there’s a rush. If you were really free, I’d have given you some time to get your skills in place before I expected you to be able to support yourself. So that’s no different here really. Anyway, I’ve been doing the job of the supply officer because we didn’t have anyone else to do it and, to be honest, I really don’t much care for it. So would you like to keep the accounting records and buy supplies and such? I’d show you everything to do."
Ylana looked up at Rob, stunned. Her green eyes filled with tears. The chance to behave like a free woman and have a real, responsible, respectable job was more than she had ever imagined. And to chose not to have sex, that was almost totally unimaginable. She just stood there staring at him, unable to find the words to respond to his offer. Finally she just nodded, still too stunned to speak.
"Good, that’s settled then. Let me take you up to crew quarters and get you set up with a room. My engineer is about your size. I imagine I can persuade her to lend you some clothes until we get to the next stop. Then I’ll give you a pay advance so you can buy your own stuff."
"Sir, you don’t have to pay me. You own me."
"Ylana, don’t you think the crew might find it odd if I didn’t pay you? I told you, you may officially still be a slave, but as far as I’m concerned you’re free on this ship. I really, truly, meant that. Look, Ylana, I know this is a big adjustment for you. But you really can trust that no one will treat you like a slave here. Come on, let’s go get you set up and then I’ll introduce you to the rest of the crew."
******
Ylana just stared at the room Rob showed her. Thoughts of having privacy, her own bed, and her own bathroom were almost more than she could take.
The stunned disbelief in her eyes just about broke Rob’s heart. He’d never understood the institution of slavery. "How could anyone have treated this frightened young woman so poorly that a 4X4 meter room would seem such a palace to her? All it had a was a bed, some storage cabinets and a bathroom. Wasn’t like it was fancy or even decorated. Hell, he’d even have to go search out some linens for the bed. Maybe Kate would bring some when she brought down some clothes. Oh yeah, Kate doesn’t know about Ylana and her need for some actual clothing. Best give her a call soon. And then get the crew together in the dining room so they could meet the newest addition to the crew." Rob’s thoughts raced around in circles as he watched Ylana investigate the room. "Slavery is wrong, he now owed a slave and planned to keep her. Just how was he gonna reconcile that one to himself?"
"This is really my room? I don’t have to share it," Ylana asked softly.
"That’s right. I know it’s not much now. But we’ll be stopping on Rumi soon and they have a pretty good market. You can get some nice stuff to decorate to your taste. Should be able to pick up some clothes for you there, too. In the meantime, let me call my engineer. She should have some stuff that will fit and she can bring up some clean bedding too." Rob went to the com on the bulkhead and paged Kate.
"Yes, boss. What do you need? Everything is running just fine and we’re on course for Rumi. Sara says we’ll be there in three days. Hey, what are you doing in the empty crew quarters anyway?"
"Kate, we have a new crew member. Unfortunately our precipitous departure means that she has no luggage. Actually…pretty much no clothes at all to speak of. She looks to be about your size. Can I borrow enough of your clothes to keep her dressed till we get to Rumi? Oh and could you bring up some bedding too? These quarters aren’t made up at all."
"Let me get that straight, Rob. You have a naked woman up there and you’re putting her in her own quarters? Are you OK? That doesn’t really sound like you."
"Hey, I’m not that bad. Anyway the lady isn’t naked by choice… It’s a long story, Kate. I’ll explain it to you and the rest of the crew later. Could you just bring up some clothes?"
"Sure thing. Be there in a trice. Kate out."
"What’s a trice," Ylana asked, her curiosity winning out over her fear of asking questions.
"Beats me. It’s a phrase she uses all the time. Must mean something on her homeworld. She means she’ll be up her shortly."
For a minute, neither said anything. They just stood there staring at each other. Clearly something was bothering Ylana though. So Rob just waited her out.
"Rob…if you usually have sex with women you bring on board, I’m certainly available to you."
"No. Ylana. You ‘re a beautiful woman and normally I’d be pleased to share my bed with you. But you’ve never been given the choice and it would be wrong for me to coerce you right now. You get used to being able to say yes or no as you please and then maybe we can discuss it again. But not till I know for sure that you can say no if that’s what you want."
"Nice speech, Rob, old man."
"Didn’t make it for you, Kate. Come here, I want you to meet Ylana."
Kate threw the bedding to Rob who started making the bed. Then she held out some clothes to the naked woman. Kate was completely perplexed, but trusted Rob would explain when the crew was together. She knew he hated making explanations multiple times, so she’d hang in there until he gave the whole group the story. But this one sure looked to be a lulu. Rob had picked up strays before, but she couldn’t remember any of them showing up naked wearing only some fancy jewelry and a chain.
Ylana took the clothes warily. She had often found women treated slaves worse than men did. And Kate was nothing like she expected. Of course she wasn’t used to women who held jobs. Mostly she knew free women as the wives of her owners. Pretty, pampered and petty. But this woman was middle-aged and not very attractive. Her grayish, brownish hair was a mess with no real style to the cut. She didn’t even wear makeup. And she was wearing pants, greasy pants. Here was a person totally beyond her experience and Ylana had no idea how to behave around her. She certainly didn’t seem very respectful of her boss. And Rob didn’t seem to mind. She decided she would never understand these people.
"We’ll give you some privacy to get dressed. Kate I’m going to the dining room to get the rest of the crew together. Would you show Ylana the way when she’s finished dressing?" On that note, Rob left. A few seconds later, an all-hands message came over the com, "Everyone, get your butts to the dining room. I got someone to introduce to you. Rob, Out."
******
As usual, his crew answered Rob’s all-hands request with all the urgency of a kid headed to the dentist. Even with having to put on some clothes, Ylana got there first, still in Kate’s formidable custody. He indicated the chair next to his and she immediately sat down.
His medic, Harrison Knowles, sauntered in next, trying not to look too eager to find out what was going on. Try as he might, Rob just couldn’t warm up to the little slimeball. In fact, no one on the crew trusted him. And they all liked him even less than they trusted him. But carrying a UP doctor on board was one of the criteria for keeping their license to trade, so the scurvy little spy stayed. At least he was a competent doctor ,even if he wasn’t so successful as a spy.
Kate’s engineering apprentices bolted in next, playing music and chattering incessantly. Her twin nephews, Ian and Brian, were tall, blond and sulky, as only teenagers can be. In the three months they had been on board, Rob had become convinced they were Kate’s punishment for abandoning her family’s ships after the war. Either that or they wanted his engineer back and they’d sent the twins to drive her away from GEM. Sometimes Rob wondered if he could convince Doc Kowles to sew their mouths shut. He noted that today’s hair color of orange and black stripes was relatively conservative. This made him suspicious that they had done something they didn’t want noticed again. The last time they’d sported conservative colors, the still started spitting out soda instead of booze.
Gelb skittered in next, grinned at Ylana and started rooting through the cabinets for food. Ylana flinched and moved her chair closer to Rob. "Damn," Rob thought, "I forget to tell her that he’s a vegetarian."
Joam and Stev came in together, quietly discussing something technical. It sounded like Stev wanted Joam to secure the cargo to test some new maneuvers he and Sara had worked out on the flight simulator. The UP permanently prohibited ex-Rebel pilots like Stev from flying, so he took out his frustrations by designing new and exciting ways for Sara to fly. In Rob’s estimation, Sara was probably the only merchant pilot around who could fly any UP pilot into the ground. Stev’s arrival last year had improved Sara’s skills at least a 120% and she’d been a good pilot to begin with.
As if she read minds, thinking about Sara brought her into the room. GEM’s first shift pilot was probably the most beautiful woman Rob had ever seen. Tall, with just the right amount of curves, Sara had fiery red hair that hung down to her hips. Rob would have bedded her in an instant, but he wasn’t a good enough pilot to attract her attention. He didn’t really begrudge Stev the honor though. He deserved something good in his life after all he’d been through. And Sara was definitely something good.
Well, that was the whole crew, except… "Heeeeyaww!" Rob’s night shift pilot made her usual demure entrance, flying in low and fast. It was Rob’s understanding that Valkyrie’s coloring made her almost invisible on her home world. But it was quite a sight to see a purple and teal avian wing through the ship. Her entrance startled Ylana so badly she jumped about two feet in the air, causing the twins to snicker. Val was quite a pilot though and it had been worth every penny his uncle had spent installing controls specific to her race to get a pilot who never needed to sleep and who flew instinctively. Sometimes it was hard for Rob to believe she was over a 100 years old when she acted like she was five. But she had helped raise him when he was a kid in trouble and their bond was pretty tight.
"OK, people, listen up." Everyone immediately got quiet except the twins. Stev, expecting this, had sat net to them and whacked Ian on the chest. The twins shut up.
"This is Ylana. I’ll be training her to be the Supply Officer."
"And what will she be training you to do?" Harrison leered at Ylana as he spoke.
Joam glared at him. "Back off slimeball."
"No, Joam, you mussst not sssspeak sssso to our esttteemed physssician. He desssserves more respectttt than ttttthat," whistled Val in her most exaggerated trill. "Lettt me demonsssstrate how to corrrrectly phrassse that. BACK OFF, DOCTOR SLIME BALL. … Ssssee isssn’t ttthat betttter?" She tilted her head. The twins snickered, Harrison scowled, and Rob put his head in his hands. "Truly," Rob thought, "no one could make keep this crew under control."
Ylana just stared wide-eyed at the lot of them. She had never seen anyone treat any of her previous masters with so little public respect. Yet Rob kept his temper. It seemed so very strange to her. Somehow the very informal nature of the interactions made her think that perhaps the true respect these people had for Rob was greater than any of her other masters had from their people.
"Are we all done being snarky now? In that case, let me finish this and you can all go back to whatever degenerate activities you were participating in when I called this meeting. And please don’t tell me what they were. I don’t want to know. Anyway, this is Ylana, like I said. Now she got here because the guy I was playing poker with threw her into the kitty and I won the hand. Now you all know, I don’t much care for slavery, so I freed her. But she doesn’t have anywhere to go, so I gave her a job. Is that clear now to everybody?" Most of the crew nodded their heads. "Now, she’s been a slave since she was a little girl and this will take some adjusting on her part. So I want everybody to cut her some slack. And guys, you know how pretty slave women are treated. She’s conditioned to say yes right now and I don’t want to hear that any of you tried to take advantage of that." Rob glared directly at the doctor. "So for the next six months at least, consider her off limits. No asking and no accepting any offers she makes either. Not til she has learned it’s OK to say no if she wants to." Harrison opened his mouth to speak, but Rob cut him off. "and yes, that applies to me, too."
"OK everybody introduce yourself and tell her what you job on the ship is."
"I’m Steven Kurakin, but folks mostly call me Stev. I’m the first officer on the boat." He grinned at Ylana and winked. She shyly smiled in return.
"Sara Conkwright here. I’m the day shift pilot and Stev’s girlfriend."
"You already met me, but I’m Kate O’Neil and I keep this bucket of bolts flying. And these two hellions are my nephews, Ian and Brian. They are supposed to be my assistants, but they don’t do much assisting." She reached out and ruffled Brian’s hair. "Aw, Aunt Kate, stop that." Brian quickly moved out of reach.
"Doctor Knowles. Rob, it might be a good idea if she had a physical exam. Some of those slaves get pretty rough treatment."
Rob grimaced; he didn’t really want the doctor near Ylana. But the man had a point. "Yeah, good idea. Kate, you sit in on it." She nodded, well aware that the doc wouldn’t try anything funny if she was present.
Gelb grinned at her. She shrank back. Rob gave him a warning look. Gelb shrugged. "Really, I’m harmless. Delebians are vegetarians. I’m Gelb, I’m the gunner. I shoot people who try to pirate the ship. Well, I guess that means I’m not harmless. Hmmmm. What I meant to say was I don’t harm other crew members. I think you have already learned how well I cheat at poker. You can thank me later. I like my back scratched."
"Nice to meet you, Ylana. I’m Joam Imitre. I’m sort of a jack of all trades or maybe you might even call me the flunky. I do the stuff nobody else wants to do, like cooking and cleaning and painting and loading cargo." He grinned at the doctor who scrunched down in his chair. "And oh yes, I like to beat up the doctor. It’s a little hobby of mine." Rob just rolled his eyes. Nothing could keep his boyhood friend under control. He’d long since accepted that.
The alien avian strolled up to Ylana, put her formidable beak right up against Ylana’s nose and stared straight into her eyes. After a minute, she backed off. "Good, you will stand your ground if you must. I am Valkyrie, called Val. If you are not familiar with my people, we are the I’tersa. Like Sara, I am also a pilot, but on night shift. Do not be afraid to seek out my eyrie during the day if you need someone to talk to. I do not sleep and would be most grateful for the company." With that she flew off, screeching, "Heeeeyaww!"
"OK people that’s all for now. It’s late. Go to bed. Doc, Ylana and Kate will be there first thing after breakfast." On that note the crew dispersed with somewhat more alacrity than they had come to the meeting. In ten seconds, Rob and Ylana were the only two people in the room.
"I imagine you’re pretty tired, too. Go get some sleep."
"Yes, Rob" Ylana headed for the exit, the stopped and turned back to Rob. "Thank you," she said and left.
You’re welcome," Rob softly said to the empty room.