A People's Plight

Chapter 10

Jace

Ten minutes later, Jace found himself striding down a corridor, with Susan keeping pace beside him. He had decided to don a shirt for a change for this meeting, he was the captain after all, so he should look like one. He didn't normally wear shirts, as he found the material restrictive, especially across his pecs and biceps, but he was trying to make an effort.

He had given Susan one of his spare shirts to replace her blouse, but it was extremely baggy over her slender frame. She had rolled up the sleeves, so the ends were just below her elbows and tucked enough into her trousers, so that it hung loose over her waistband. Looking over at her, he noticed that she had left enough buttons undone that he could just see the swell of her breasts underneath.

Seeing her breasts jiggling with each of her steps, he had the overwhelming urge to grab her, push her against the wall and take her there and then, but this was not the time or the place for that sort of behaviour. Turning his head to look forwards, he saw that they were approaching the intersection that would take them to the cargo hold. Striding out so he would reach the corner before Susan, he tried to rid his face of the inane grin that he knew was gracing it. It wouldn't look good if he faced his men with a facial expression that showed everyone what he had been doing with this beautiful woman only 15 minutes ago!

Rounding the corner, he saw two marines standing in front of the cargo hold door facing the doctor and his assistant, who were standing by the wall opposite them. As soon as they saw him, they all snapped to attention, their right hands raising to their foreheads in salute. Returning their salutes, he stopped two paces from them, that's when he noticed the surprised expressions on their faces. The doctor's assistant's eyes were bulging in their sockets! Smiling on the inside and without looking behind him, he knew exactly what had caused their reactions. Susan!

As she came to a stop beside him, the doctor looked at him a question clearly showing on his face. Before that question was voiced, Jace turned to one of the marines, "open the door please, corporal."

The corporal spun towards the door with a curt, "yes, sir!" And opened the cargo hold door.

Gesturing towards the door with his hand, Jace turned to the doctor, "Doctor, Corporal Zeus."

The doctor gave Jace a quizzical looked as he strode into the hold, followed by his assistant. Susan followed them through the door. Before entering himself, Jace directed an order at the marines, "lock the door after me and do not allow anyone else to enter. I will com you when we are ready to leave."

"Yes, sir! Um,.... sir?"

Jace paused, "what is it, Corporal?"

"I, um... thought you should know, sir, that apart from the doc, the only other person that’s been down here was Commander Apollo, sir."

Jace was intrigued, "really?"

"Yes, sir", the private piped in. "According to Sergeant Welsh, he tried to invite the guards on duty at the time to visit the women with him."

The corporal continued, "but, of course, we are professional marines and no one was allowed to entered the hold, just as you ordered, Captain."

"Thank you for your report, boys. As you were." Jace saluted them as he stepped through the door, hearing it close and lock behind him.

The first thing he saw when he entered the hold were rows of women laid on the floor, each still in their drug induced slumber. Scanning the room, he found the doc with his assistant standing to his right, with Susan a distance away from them, her hands in her pockets and shoulders hunched.

Behind them, he noticed some crates stacked in the corner of the hold. Striding towards the crates, he smiled at Susan as he passed her. The return smile was tentative, unsure. On reaching the crates, he lifted four off the stack and placed them in such a way that they could be used as seats.

Sitting on the crate that gave him the best view of the hold and the women, he gestured for the others to join him. Susan sat on the crate to his left, the doc opposite him, with Corporal Zeus taking the remaining seat his right.

Before have could utter a word, the doc asked, "permission to speak freely, Captain?"

"Always, Doc. What's on your mind?"

Doctor Wallis launched himself into a verbal tirade, "What do you think you are doing, Jace? If the Senate get wind of this and think you've sampled the merchandise, you'll be looking at a court martial, prison, or even execution. And what about the rest of us, your crew? What do you think will happen to us?"

Tirade over, Jace held up his hands in a placating manner, "Relax, Doc. That’s not going to happen."

The Doc raised an eyebrow, not looking impressed. “What about the sampling of the merchandise? You haven’t, have you?”

Jace continued, ignoring the Doc’s final comment. "Let me do some introductions. Susan, this is the ships medical office, Doctor Wallis and his assistant, Corporal Zeus. Gentleman, this is Susan, she was the last woman that Commander Apollo and I brought on board before we left the planet. I decided to take her to my cabin instead of bringing her here, so that I could talk to her, explain why we had taken her. I did this so that we could have someone who would be able to communicate with the rest if the women when they wake up. As you know, Doc, we can't keep them like this for the two weeks it will take to get home."

"Just talk to her?, came the Doc’s sarcastic response. "You’ve given her a translator?"

Jace nodded, "and she can understand every word we've said."

The Doc's mouth formed a large O and his cheeks reddened slightly in embarrassment. Ignoring the Doc, Jace continued. "I'm glad I did, as she has some interesting ideas, but I will let her explain them. Susan." He finished by gesturing to Susan that she should speak.

Taking a deep breath, and giving him a nervous smile, she launched into her speech about chromosomes. As he had heard this before, he blocked out her words and instead watched the Doc's face. He saw an array of emotions flit across it, including confusion, understanding and intrigue to name a few.

When Susan had finished, the Doc looked at Jace, "Do you think it will work?" He asked.

Jace shrugged, "There is only one way to find out!"

They all paused when they heard one of the women groan. Susan was quick to jump to her feet and swiftly headed in the direction of the noise. She knelt next to one of the women, talking softly and helping her to sit up, before moving on to the next woman to show signs of waking. Jace watched her, mesmerised by her swift actions. He was broken from his trance by the Doc, "You've got a good one there, Jace!"

Jace turned back to the Doc who appeared to be grinning, "she's alright."

This comment only seemed to broaden the Doc's smile, before a sombre look replaced it, "Jace, can I have a word in private?"

Glancing at the corporal, who had been watching the whole exchange with a bemused expression, Jace nodded and stood. He walked towards the corner of the hold, from where he had removed the crates, turned and lent against the wall, arms folded across his chest.

The Doc followed him, placing himself on the adjacent wall and adopted a similar pose. Jace braced himself for another tirade, but the Doc's words shocked him instead. “So, are you two bonded?” he asked casually.

Bolting to attention, Jace turned towards the Doc, “What, no! What do you mean bonded?”

“Bonded, as in the ancient’s bond. You have heard of it, haven’t you?” The Doc replied sarcastically.

Leaning back on the wall, Jace tilted his head upwards and sighed, “I’m attracted to her for certain, but bonded? I don’t know, how can you tell if you have bonded?”

“Well, from what I understand, when you physically touch for the first few times, you experience something akin to an electric shock and a tingling sensation. Has that happened?”

Gazing over at Susan, who was crouching by yet another woman, he nodded slowly. “How could you tell?”

The Doc followed Jace’s gaze and smiled, “You couldn’t keep your eyes off of one another, even when you aren’t facing her, you always ensure that she is in your peripheral vision. It’s one of the things we’re told to look for, when we graduate as medics.”

Jace turned his head towards the Doc, “But I thought that bonding is an Ancient’s thing.”

“It is, but most humans retain some of the Ancient’s DNA. Some, a very small percentage of have around 40-50% Ancient DNA. Enough to form a bond with someone else with a similar amount of that DNA in them.”

Putting his hands in his pockets, Jace felt deflated and overwhelmed by this information. Gazing back at Susan, he asked quietly “What am I going to do, Doc?”

Pushing himself of the wall, the Doc replied, “Pray to every god out there, that your plan will work.” Before he returned to his assistant, leaving Jace to his thoughts.