Page 15 of Her Alien Captain
TEN
“You must be hungry,” Zeke said. “I know I am. Bonding takes a lot of energy.”
“But it sure is fun,” Jenna giggled. “Will we always be this…this horny?”
“It is said we will be less obsessed, but I will always want you.” He assured her. “What would you like to eat? My suite has a food processor that can make Earth food.”
“How about a ham sandwich? I don’t ever want chicken nuggets again,” she laughed.
“That sounds good. I think I’ll make it two. I haven’t had one of those since I was stationed on Earth in covert operations.”
“You were on Earth? When? Where?” she asked in surprise.
“I spent a year and a half there about ten years ago, a place called West Virginia deep in the mountains. Alliance Law Enforcement has a base there in a remote mountain. I left the force when my term was up and bought this freighter. I take freight and passengers wherever I’m paid to.”
They walked out into the bedroom where Zeke picked up his cargo pants and Jenna’s cloth drape. He handed it to her then pulled on his pants fastened them. Jenna found the hole for her head and put it on. Had she some way to fasten the sides, leaving openings for her arms, it would make a nice caftan. As it was, every time she moved, it billowed open and revealed her nudity under it.
Zeke astutely saw the problem and frowned. “Let’s eat then we will see what we can do about your cloth. Anything we have here will be too big for you or the other women.”
Jenna followed him to the small built-in table in the lounge and sat in the seat opposite him. He gave voice commands, and minutes later a tray with two ham sandwiches on rye bread emerged on a small tray. They each took one and bit into it right away.
“If you’re not in Law Enforcement anymore, how did you get roped into rescuing us?” Jenna asked then took another bite.
“Coercion. They planted contraband on my ship, and then offered to forget about the charges if I helped them,” he grumbled. “They could have just asked. I hate slavers!”
“I can’t believe that slavery is still legal among people with technology to travel between the stars.”
“It’s not in the Alliance, but that doesn’t stop the Tenzari from doing it. We’ve been fighting them on it for centuries. Every time we shut one base down, they open another. We’re not sure how many they have on Earth. Their cloaking tech is as good as ours is.
“Earth is well within the coordinates of Alliance space, but close to Drayid space---very convenient for the Tenzari to raid Earth for slaves and get them out of Alliance Territory out of Law Enforcement jurisdiction before we can catch them.”
“So, they sent you in to buy us back?”
“Yes.” He replied and gave another voice command to the food processor, and two glasses of greenish liquid emerged. “We call thisshleku. It is like lightly sweetened tea. Try it; I think you’ll like it.”
He pushed one of the glasses toward her. She picked it up and took a sip. “Not bad, it’s kind of herbal with a hint of ginger.”
“What was the contraband they hid on your ship?”
“Napeta Cataria---catnip.”
“Catnip?” Jenna almost choked on her drink as she started laughing. “Catnip is illegal?” she laughed hysterically. “On Earth, it’s a weed people give to theircats.”
Zeke just smiled at her as she kept laughing, “And you are a cat man. That’s too funny.”
“I don’t use it myself, but I am told it affects felines like a combination of cannabis and LSD affects humans,” he explained. “Luckily, I insisted that Captain Javitt let us keep it because we lost the bid on Susan. I sold it for enough to buy her from the Vrootomian who bought her.”
“I’m sure Susan is grateful---those Vrootomian’s are ugly,” she said.
“They also treat women worse than domestic animals especially other species of females. They are both sexist and racist, and they are the ones who frequent the slave auctions. They were only allowed into the Alliance because they agreed to limit their customs to their home planet. But they don’t. They have been smuggling humans bought from the auctions on Se’Nar for years. Their appetite for sex slaves makes it lucrative for the Tenzari to keep stealing them.”
“Who are the Drayids?”
“They are an insectoid race with no use for humanoids---except as a delicacy.” Zeke paused as Jenna gasped. “The Alliance has a treaty with them---basically we leave them alone, and they leave us alone. We couldn’t risk seizing the Tenzari ship in Drayid space, but I could go in as a trader with a questionable reputation to buy you all back.”
Jenna frowned at the last.
“No worries,meomee.My reputation is questionable, but I am an honorable man.” He paused to take a sip from his glass. “I will do my best to make a good life for us.” His facial expression softened as he met her gaze.
