Valentin stopped walking and took her hand and held it over his beating heart. He looked down into her blue eyes, “I’d die before I sold you to anyone. You can trust me. Always. Even if you don’t want me as your husband, you can always trust me to do the right thing.”
Ellie was so taken in by his words, she felt relief spreading through her from her core outwards all the way to her smallest toe, “I thought I could trust Jei, but he just let you take me or me take you,” she was flustered and annoyed she couldn’t articulate herself properly. “Oh, you know what I mean.”
Valentin felt somewhat guilty then and confessed half of what he thought she should know, “I purposely chose this time to approach you about the husband stealing because I knew that Admiral Jei would be indisposed.”
“Oh,” said Ellie, feeling somewhat better about it with that information but still she couldn’t imagine what would be more important to Jei. “What’s so crucial that Jei couldn’t come after me, then?” She asked assuming it must be important Imperial Fleet business.
“A religious ceremony that’s more important to him than even his own life or yours, I’m afraid,” Valentin answered with the truth which would tell any Imperial citizen exactly what Jei was up to, but Valentin realized that Elloisa was still too overwhelmed to understand so he left her in ignorance. “Don’t worry, I can guarantee he’ll be furious with me when he finds out what I’ve done or rather what you have done.”
“How do you know his plans? He didn’t tell me anything. I didn’t even know he was still in the Empire.”
“The Admiral of the Fleet doesn’t make many moves secretly. There are too many people around him and too many people who are easily paid off with sex or UCs.”
“Oh,” Ellie said stupidly thinking about the slave artists aboard the Alliance military vessels. Then she allowed Valentin to take her hand and guide her through the ship’s living quarters’ corridors. They were of a different color than the grey and black of the others. Here it was light purple, and the hallways were more inviting and smaller, like a hotel. None of this was like she imagined. As they walked, she noticed that most of Valentin’s crew was Alliance. “Are all of these people Outcasts or children of Outcasts?”
“Yes,” Valentin replied casually. “The Empire doesn’t publicly keep a record of us, but they do keep an unofficial record just in case you’re worried that we are uncounted.”
Ellie knew that people without a designation were worrying for Imperial people, so she replied, “As a human, being counted or not doesn’t concern me. I was simply curious. I’ve never seen so many grey faces without traditional Imperial clothing and ranking jewelry.”
“I understand. You’ll have to get used to it. Most Outcasts live on Reima Two and we number in the billions as Reima Two has been our home for countless centuries. I’m sure it’s something Imperial people like to keep quiet and if they mentioned us at all in the Empire, I doubt it would be in a kind way.”
“Are all the Outcasts children of human and Alliance parents?” Ellie wondered.
“No, mostly Imperial people who have married outside their class and then the children of Outcasts had children, grandchildren, and so-forth, all intermixing and creating a new civilization,” Valentin said flatly. “In the past any half breed children that would have passed for Imperial, would have lived as an Imperial and no one would have said anything as long as the human parents and traits weren’t seen.”
“But not you, you couldn’t have passed for Alliance,” Ellie couldn’t help but point out. “You have blue eyes.”
“I could have had them corrected at any station, and that kind of technology is centuries old,” Valentin informed her.
“Why didn’t you?”
“Why would I? I’m proud of my parents and my heritage. I think the Empire’s class system is archaic and wrong. I’m glad not to have to live by those outdated rules.”
“I see,” replied Ellie not really understanding at all. Her only experiences were of Earth and the Empire. Having only lived in those places didn’t give her enough information about other civilizations to have a reasonable opinion on the subject.
“Where is Reima One?”
Valentine laughed, “It’s a moon but ancient astronomers didn’t realize it was a moon until it was too late to change the names.”
They stopped in front of a dark purple door then and it opened automatically.
“The door has identified your genetic code by proximity. It will open for you automatically,” Valentin said, holding out his hand into the room, inviting her to enter. These were his ship’s nicest guest quarters and closest to the bridge. He would be just 700 meters away.
“I don’t have to tie you up or anything now for the husband stealing charade?” Ellie asked sarcastically. The quarters were large and attractive. There was a sitting room with a massive window out to the stars and a large bedroom and bathroom. This was nothing like the human ship Diablo she had been on. She had shared a small room with bunks and no window that stank of urine and body odor with seven other women.
Valentin smiled, “No, the Empire can only track our ship, not see inside of it. This isn’t an Imperial vessel, but there are informants everywhere just like in the Empire. Most people have a price, so keep that in mind before letting people know your thoughts out loud. And just so you are aware all of my medical staff are telepaths.” He remembered then he should have one of her doctors see to her and remove any blocks about him an Imperial doctor might have put there. “I’ll send one of my doctors to look you over, make sure you are okay.”
“Thank you I feel fine now that we are on a ship again and not being fired at by Octopods,” Ellie didn’t want Valentin to baby her with doctors the same way Jei had done.
“If you are sure you are fine for now? If you change your mind, just use the internal comms, and let sickbay know. I assure you no one is going to hurt you here in any way.”
Ellie nodded, dismissing his offer of medical attention, “What will happen when we get to Reima Two?”
Valentin smiled, “We’ll get to know each other at my home as per the rules of husband stealing. Technically this is your ship and my home is your home, well, it’ll be your home for the duration of the two weeks, anyway. I had to transfer everything over to your name for the two weeks to make this all legal in the eyes of the Empire. I hope you will like it. I live in an area similar to Earth’s Mediterranean climate, not as much sunshine, but more sunshine than the Empire ever gets.”
“Oh, so that’s why you didn’t want to change your eyes,” Ellie smiled, “the bright light.”
Valentin smiled, “It was a consideration, but not a necessity. We have developed technology to dampen brightness everywhere for our vision.”
“Can I see a picture of the house? I mean my house?” she asked cheekily.
Valentin went to the guest desk and opened the 3D computer. He brought up his GC file, which was extensive and found his house, “Here are the pictures. Now I need to get to the bridge. I’ll return to escort you to supper. If you need anything use the computer to contact me, but please keep it to emergencies. As for anything else, my staff is at your disposal.” Valentin looked into her eyes and thought, Now I will know if there is a block on you if you don’t read my GC file when it’s been left open in front of you.