1
Life in House Rega
Ellie swished the black chair back and forth with both feet on the yellow stone floor while she waited for Admiral Jei’s RVM. He was both her guardian and her mother’s murderer, but despite the odd circumstances, she wasn’t his prisoner. They called her ‘the Ward of House Rega’ and the Empire had made her mother into the goddess of humanity. Unfortunately, her mother’s divine status could not undo the guilt Ellie felt. In her mind, she was equally to blame for her mother’s fate, and this is what kept her from returning to Earth, but at the same time, it also made her an uncomfortable guest in the Empire.
Naturally, Ellie used to despise Jei for what she had seen him do at her mother’s public trial, but after her half-sister, Magnolia, had been born, posthumously, saved by Jei from her mother’s dying body, learning more about Alliance culture, and accessing her mother’s personal logs, at Jei’s insistence, Ellie was more understanding of his position, his culture, and had come to the conclusion that he was not completely evil. And Jei always defended himself by standing behind Alliance culture, explaining that he did what he had to do, and that her mother knew full-well the consequences of her actions. Ellie could not outright say that Alliance culture was wrong as it had saved her from who-knows-what-fate-in-the-galaxy after she had traveled over to be with her mother illegally. Had she been turned away from the Empire, she knew now, she would have definitely been picked up by slave traders, as she had no UCs to speak of for passage back to Earth, and she would have been sold just like the other human woman who had traveled over with her on the Diablo. Ellie also blamed herself for those other women’s deaths. Had she not been on that ship, her mother would have never alerted the Empire to their existence and they would have been smuggled in, maybe even secretly working now.
As for her mother’s death, , Ellie blamed herself and her father, just as much as she blamed Jei. She saw the event like a line of dominos with Jei standing at the end with his sword. Had she never come to the Empire, her mother would have married Jei and been happy. But even more so, had her father never asked Sandra, her mother’s best friend, to move into their house on Earth, her mother would have never taken the forget-me-not-drug and then she would have never ended up in any kind of situation with Admiral Jei to begin with. Had her father stayed true to her mother none of this would have happened, none of the bullying from people calling her mother a ‘zombie whore,’ to herself almost being raped because of her mother’s actions on the other side of the galaxy. Ellie would have never left Earth and her mother would be alive and well in the Empire, still sending UCs home, weekly messages and having the occasional RVM. Instead, her reality was that she had an awkward weekly RVM with Jei.
Ellie felt alone and adrift despite all of House Rega’s efforts to stabilize her. They provided her not only with food and shelter, but with purpose and pastoral care. She had countless Alliance private tutors and doctors all working towards the goal of making her a functioning member of Alliance society. Just like her mother, she excelled in engineering and her tutors gave her top marks. The doctors she saw prescribed her no drugs, but Ellie knew that they used an Alliance telepathic method called, ‘influence’ to help her through some of her more difficult emotions. But it wasn’t enough. She reckoned she would carry this pain and guilt for the rest of her life. Ellie wished she could erase the terrible memory of seeing her mother die, but the doctors, and Jei, absolutely refused to allow her the forget-me-not-drug. But every time Ellie walked into any kind of government building, temple, shrine or even the House Rega shrine and saw the statue of her mother, now the goddess of humanity, flashbacks haunted her as she remembered Jei’s shiny, silver sword coming down on her mother’s perfect neck, a neck she had held and kissed since she was a baby. A soft neck she could still remember the smell of her mother by. But now that memory was always followed by the coppery smell of her mother’s blood. Her scream at being struck. Followed by her mother falling and the life leaving her body. Then confusion and chaos. The trial ended as Jei barked orders and then Ellie remembered being dragged away by Doctor James.
Ellie played with her Alliance ID necklace as she waited, it read, ‘Ellie Johnson Ward of House Rega.’ She swung her necklace back and forth as if it were an acrobat on a trapeze about to do a jump or trick. She wore no other jewelry because she still was a few weeks shy of being of age to be considered a true adult in the Empire. Her tutors and doctors had lectured her about her responsibilities to marry, but also made it clear that she should take her time choosing someone she really liked. The Alliance she realized was like this, people said one thing and then openly contradicted themselves. She reckoned she only really understood a quarter of the culture and even less of her place in it. To better understand what was going on around her, Ellie often read the gossip columns from the five different planets in the Empire. And as a young woman she was taken up with the idea of Assemblies and courting. She was looking forward to being old enough to simply getting out of House Rega and meeting more people. She didn’t think she was ready to be married, but the idea of mingling with people her age and having some fun, maybe some flirting, was possibly what she needed to make her feel more at home in the Empire and maybe even to get past her mother’s death.
Chime.
Chime.
Chime.
Ellie activated the RVM on the 3D computer.
“May the gods be blessed,” Admiral Jei said as he looked at his young ward. She resembled a young version of her mother, except her coloring was different, she had blonde hair and blue eyes. People said she was more attractive than Jane, but Jei didn’t think about that. She was his ward and every day he promised the goddess of humanity with his own blood in his private shrine onboard the Kzi that he would do right by Ellie as if she were his own daughter.
“May we walk in their light,” Ellie replied obediently looking at the grey haired, grey skinned and grey eyed older man on the other side of the screen. He was wearing his uniform and had she not known him personally, she might have been intimidated. He had a gruff look about him and his manner could be very abrupt. But Ellie had become accustomed to his attitude and even found it comforting as ironic as that was, as he was the murderer of her mother and the Admiral of the Alliance Empire’s Fleet and one of the most powerful and dangerous men in the galaxy.
“How are you this week?” Jei asked trying to gauge her face expression, wondering if she had already heard through the gossip mills about the surprise he had arranged for her.
“Fine. And you?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary. Just a minor uprising on a colony, but they gave up quickly when our diplomat negotiated a generous new deal.” Jei quickly changed the subject, “Have you read any news from the Capital City lately?”
“Not much,” she answered wondering where he was going with this. Jei was never one to repeat gossip and she knew next to nothing about Imperial politics.
“Have you heard about the restaurant called ‘Human Food’ in the Capital City?”
“Of course,” said Ellie, gaining some enthusiasm for the conversation now. “I think every human in the Empire watched Jade’s human marriage ceremony to Nicholas in the Capital City.” She had thought Jade and Nicholas looked so perfect and in love. Ellie imagined that Jade was so lucky having the best of both worlds, her chosen career and the men she loved. Ellie secretly prayed to the Alliance gods that she would find someone to love, but only one man, as she knew she was an extremely jealous person and couldn’t share her emotions. But based on what she had seen she had decided that when she married, she wanted to be close to her husband both intellectually and emotionally. To laugh with him as well as be romantic, just like she saw Jade and Nicholas doing on their wedding day, how she remembered her parents from when she was very young.