Saving the Royal Federation

Saida

She was never fancy or stylish, but she had honesty. It was a rare quality in the harsh world that they were living in. Saida caught Jack’s attention with her smile and genuine laugh. She thought that he was funny and she was always cheerful. Jack thought that everything makes her laugh, however, after a while he noticed, that she showed him her smile much more often than to others. Jack found his pursuit of happiness in her. The thing that he thought was nearly lost. Before he met Saida, he thought he did not have any reason to live anymore. All the things he claimed dear, were gone: his family, his home.

Jack never thought that he would meet the love of his life in the army. He met her during training, when she started laughing out loud after failing a test. Her character was bubbly, soft, a total clash with the strict army rules. She was a fresh breath of air to all former civilians there.

After Jack saw her that day, he asked what is she doing here, as she does not seem fit for the army. He found out that Saida was a third (!) child in her family. Her parents spent all their money for the citizenship of their second child – Saida’s sister. As Saida did not have enough money to become a citizen, getting into the army was the shortest path to become one. All she had to do, was to serve in the army for 5 years and then she can be a full citizen and have the right to have a citizen child.

It was not shocking to Jack. Gaining the right of citizenship was one of the main reasons why people went to the army in the first place. As he barely knew her, he did not tell her then, that he does not care about the citizenship or anything else for that matter. Jack did not have a reason to live or anything to fight for. The only reason he was in the army, was to avoid jail. He knew that living in jail will be ruthless and excruciating. Here, any combat can be the last one. As a soldier, you can finish the life quickly and quite painlessly. Jack knew that no one would have offered him to change the jail sentence into the training in the army if he had good odds of survival. He looked up and saw that only 41% of the soldiers come back after 5 years of army. While the war progressed this number was falling drastically. That was the reason he agreed to change his sentence into serving in the army. Ending his life faster.

After the first two months of training Jack got the news that his baby sister died. Despite all the things he did to prolong her life: giving her his citizenship, paying for the extra care. It did not matter, everything he tried failed. That’s how he felt, a total failure. He started to feel that it was taking too long. The weight of his past life was too heavy. At that moment he wanted to end it quicker than waiting for a combat. After the days lecture about Clementine droid tactics, he was sure it will be his last day. He went back into the barracks, made sure his bed and clothes were clean, folded everything. He did not want his last place to be a burden for someone. Then he went past several groups of trainees, which were going back to the barracks. They were laughing and speaking very loudly about something that Jack did not care to listen. It was too much on his mind. The pain was too much. All he wanted was for it to stop.

He walked to the nearest bridge in the training territory. He got to the edge of it. Under the bridge, there was a dried-up river, which was now used as a training ground. Jack counted that this will end him the fastest. He looked into his pad, to an old picture of his family. “Soon, we will meet” he thought to himself. “22 years of my life will have to be enough and I will not be alone anymore”. Jack threw the pad over the bridge. It fell for a while and without a sound it crashed into the ground. He hopped onto the bridge rail and sat down, his feet wobbling in the air. He hesitated for a minute and then felt a hit to the ground.

“What the hell?!“ a woman was slapping him. Jack was feeling pain in his back, after he was swept on the ground on the bridge. While getting up Jack whispered:

”I just wanted it to end. The life has no meaning anymore.”

It was the first and last time that he saw Saida this angry. She was shouting and shaking him:

”Don’t let go. Never give up, it’s such a wonderful life!”

She pulled him close, hugged him for a while and then accompanied him into the barracks. She did not let him out of her sight for that night. He was led into the women barracks.

“Sit down here“ she told him while showing the empty chair near the dining table. The dining hall was empty and dark. He sat down confused. She went into the kitchen and came back with two big glasses. Saida put them onto the table and pulled out a small silver flask. She poured a brown beverage into both glasses. “What’s this?“ he asked.

“A drink for a broken soul“ she smirked, closed the flask and looked into him adding “a whiskey“.

“I know what a whiskey is“ Jack asked “Why are you doing this?“

Saida took the glass and took two sips “Because the pain or whatever you are feeling will eventually pass.“

“You don’t know that. What if the pain is so strong that you do not feel anything. Just numbness and never ending misery.“ Jack was now touching the whiskey glass, but he never felt like a big drinker. Jack passed the glass to Saida “I don’t drink“.

She passed the glass back to Jack: “It’s for your nerves. Tonight you tried to kill yourself. I think no one really cares if you drink a glass of whiskey.“

Jack sipped from his glass, feeling the bitter taste in his mouth, then throat and hot feeling in his chest. His face unwillingly frowned. Saida laughed:

“Whiskey wakes up life in you, maybe you are not yet lost! It’s my family recipe, 30 year old homemade whiskey.“

--

Saida’s captivating shoulder was half naked. Jack softly touched the skin from the shoulder to the neck. Saida’s body trembled, she smiled to him and said:

“Can’t sleep?“

Her charming smile filled up his heart with warmth. Jack did not answer, just put his hand on hers.

“I can see, that you are thinking too much again. Putting all the weight of the galaxy on your shoulders.“ Saida looked into Jack’s eyes. They were full of darkness „Jack, pull close and cuddle me tonight. Let’s just feel good together.“

Jack knew she was right and did not try to resist her charms. Saida did not try to talk about it, because she knew it will not help. The best thing they could do, was to be together, to survive the army and move along with their lives.

Jack hugged Saida:

”Today I just want to be with you by my side. I do not want to think about anything.”

Saida did not respond. Cuddled up they fell asleep.

In the morning Saida did not find him in their bed. During the last few days Jack seemed a little more restless than usual. She knew that Jack had a difficult character. He was loud, arrogant, always right, hot-headed, clueless in most social situations. It was not a surprise to her when she found out that he got into fights really fast: In Beltrose bars, the grand markets of Hemit, even in the hospital, and of, course, the army training. However, Saida was not afraid of him. Near her he was soft, calm, pretty silent, always asked her opinion. As Saida was more submissive, she managed to work out most of the conflicts.

Tomorrow is the day. It is their final battle. Surviving the three years of deployment after two years of training, it will be the last battle in the army. After that, they will be free citizens and choose where to live. Saida had all of it planned out: move back to her birth planet, buy a house near her parents, work in the family’s whiskey business. Although, she still did not know what to do with Jack. Everytime she brought up questions about the future together, he fell silent and just kissed her. She knew it was not a good sign. Saida loved him, but she was realistic: Jack was a broken soul and no one besides himself could fix it.

In the evening everyone became restless. This was not unusual before the battle, but Saida felt that it was different somehow. It was the first battle, that they will be attacking Clementine. This was not uncommon for the end of the deployment for Federation Royals to plan an extensive attack on Clementine. The last straw to play on your luck to survive here. During the training Saida and Jack survived more than 5 attacks from Clementine, but being on defensive side was always easier. They still did not know much about them. The only thing they were attacking was their technology, which was top-notch. No one knew how they looked yet and hoped that after these attacks, they will see bodies of the alien Clementine. That was the goal of tomorrows attack – get more information about them. For Saida it seemed pretty stupid to attack something that you did not know.

Saida went back into her room after the last meet up and started to take down her uniform. Jack went in and stopped for a second looking at her. Saida turned around and smiled to him:

“What are you looking at?!“

Jack ran to her and hugged.

“I missed you today. Let’s talk.“ then he kissed her on the lips. At first it was a soft kiss, slowly touching her bare arm, even softer touch to the scars on her forearm, then starting to undress the rest of her uniform.

“That’s not how I imagine talking“ Saida whispered when Jack laid her on the bed.

“Shhh“ Jack put the finger to Saida’s lips “That’s EXACTLY how bodies talk. Let them.“

That said, Jack slide the finger inside her and Saida gasped. “Let the body explain everything to you“ he whispered in her ear. Saida’s body was trembling and asking for more when he finally entered her. Jack put her arms above her head, holding them and kissed her.

“I love you“ he whispered so silently that she barely heard it, then kissed her passionately on the lips while their bodies went into a rhythm together until reaching the release.

It was the first and last time that he said her those words.

Gasping for air, laying down together, Saida and Jack were enjoying the intimate moment of their naked bodies.

“That was a nice talk“ Saida broke the silence. Jack started laughing:

“Well, I was accumulating the arguments the whole day“.

Saida felt it. Jack was feeling happy and so was she. Then Jack stood up and took his pants from the floor. He took something from his pocket and looked Saida into the eyes.

“Speaking of it, I seriously need to talk“ he opened his hand showing what he has there:

“I meant what I said. After all of this is over, I want to spend my life with you, have children together.“

Then she saw the ring in his hand. A small silver ring with tiny red ruby in the middle. It was beautiful.

“Are you proposing to me naked?“ Saida smiled looking to his bottom half. Jack put up his arms:

“Using all the advantages in order for you to say yes!“

“YES!“ Saida said loudly and opened her arms to meet him. Jack went up in bed and kissed her deeply. He stopped for a minute to put on the ring.

“It fits perfectly“ Saida checking out the ruby ring.

“Of course it does“ he said cuddling with her in bed.

After that they let themselves to fall asleep. The sleep was restless. After an hour Jack woke up and could not fall back to sleep. He looked at the clock and it was still 5 hours until getting up and getting ready for the final battle. Saida was sleeping, he even saw a miniature smile in the corners of her mouth.

Jack got up and took out his whiskey flask. Sipped a little and looked at her ring on the hand.

“What’s wrong?“ Saida’s voice came from the bed. She was still not fully awake, but noticed that he was up.

“Just can’t sleep, don’t know why.“

Saida sat up in the bed, her bare breasts showing:

“It is pretty normal to be nervous before the battle“

“Maybe that’s it“ Jack sipped from the flask again “But...can you promise me?“

“What?“ Saida seemed confused.

“That you will keep on living if something ever happens to me. That you will try to live your life fully, create the life you deserve.“

“Is this how you imagine perfect proposal? Propose, then ask to promise to live without you.“ Saida laughed. Jack was not amused, he looked at his flask again.

Saida knew something was wrong. There was a long pause there. Jack sat on the bed, looking into her eyes:

“Just promise me“

She could sense he was sad, he thought he may not survive tomorrow.

“I promise if you promise“ Saida said silently. Jack kissed her softly on the forehead and then whispered:

“I promise“.