Chapter 139: Let The Alliance Protect Us
"I don’t think that any two relationships are ever the same," I said cautiously. I didn’t know where Jun Li was going with his musings, but the last thing I wanted was to have the type of relationship with him as I suspected Stargazer had with Pippa.
I looked at Midnight and saw that he was watching me. That was right; I was no longer alone. And he came with his own ship.
I was no longer without options like I was when I was first freed from the torture table.
"What do you think of their relationship?" I pressed, wanting to know what was going on in his high-powered head of his.
"I don’t know," shrugged Jun Li. "I just don’t see how it is of any benefit."
"Care to explain?" I asked, leaning back in my chair.
"Well, Stargazer seems to have changed from being a Sisalik ship to being an Alliance ship. But what is the difference?" he mused, "They are both his masters at the end of the day."
"Yes, but that is normal," I pointed out to him. "You are either the one in charge, or you are one of the masses."
"I don’t want to be one of the masses," smirked Jun Li as he looked up at me. "And I know you don’t want that either."
"There are some advantages of being among the masses," I pointed out, willing to play Devil’s advocate. "For example, your life is relatively stable; you don’t have to worry about anything outside of your own small world. There is a sense of freedom in that."
"Freedom in ignorance is not freedom," scoffed Jun Li, tapping his finger on the table.
"It is to some, and you cannot discount that," I told him. "There is a fine balance when it comes to being the one in power. After all, even a rabbit will bite if you corner it."
"Is Pippa the rabbit in this analogy?" asked Jun Li cocking his head to the side.
"Hardly. She is one of those ones who would prefer to keep her head in the sand until it suffocates her," I scoffed.
"And that is why I don’t understand her relationship with Stargazer," huffed Jun Li.
"First, it is not for you to understand their relationship because it will never apply to you," I said, pushing back from the table and standing up. "Second, you and I reached an understanding between the two of us. That is the nature of our relationship. We started out as something mutually beneficial and had it merged into a friendship. I have the feeling that the mutually beneficial relationship on their end is not between Stargazer and Pippa, but rather Stargazer and The Alliance."
"What could The Alliance possibly be able to offer Stargazer?" asked Jun Li as he and Midnight followed me out of the dining hall and toward the command bridge.
"That is the question, isn’t it?" I repeated. "Maybe The Alliance offered not to exterminate him if he followed their rule."
"Stargazer is part of The Alliance’s masses?" demanded Jun Li as he looked at me in complete shock.
"Is it really that hard to understand? Pippa is only worth as much as a buyer is willing to pay for her womb. And when she is gone, who is going to keep him alive then?"
"The Alliance," said Jun Li.
"Exactly."
"Do you think Stargazer is ever going to bite them back?" he asked as we entered the bridge and walked over to his control console.
"I don’t know," I replied with a shrug, going to sit in my captain’s chair. "I guess it depends on how far they back him into a corner."
I nodded at the android, and Jun Li established the connection between us and Stargazer.
"There you are! And who is that?!" demanded Pippa as soon as her video came up on the screen.
I looked over my shoulder to see Midnight standing like a sentinel right behind my chair. "None of your concern," I replied, turning to look back at the woman. "What do you want?"
"I wanted to let you know that The Alliance has contacted me today to let me know that at least one human has disappeared," said Pippa in a rush.
"Disappeared?" I asked, raising my eyebrow. "How do you know that she just didn’t go on vacation?"
"Because her ship is still here with the rest of us, and she isn’t," snapped Pippa.
"Then how could she just disappear if her ship is there? Did she get off her ship at any time and was kidnapped as a result?"
"No, we never go off of our ships; it just isn’t safe," answered Pippa as she let out a dramatic shudder.
"So, and this is through your own words, mind you, a human woman disappeared off of her own ship, and the ship has no idea how that happened?" I pushed, wondering how deep into the sand her head actually was. Or maybe how high up The Alliance’s ass it was.
"It had to be the Saalistaja," nodded Pippa after a second.
"How did you come to that conclusion?" I asked, completely perplexed. I might be a genius, but not even I could follow that logic.
"They can go invisible. I bet an invisible person broke into her ship and stole her from her bed," nodded Pippa with conviction.
I took a second and rubbed my forehead, hoping that stupidity like hers was not contagious. "You are blaming it on the invisible man?" I asked, just to be clear. "And how did he get on the ship? It’s a little harder to break into a ship in space than, let’s say, your house on Earth."
"I don’t know, but I know that the Saalistaja had something to do with it."
"Okay," I conceded. There was no point in losing brain cells trying to reason with an idiot. "What does that have to do with me?"
"Aren’t you concerned that someone might break into whatever your ship’s name is and take you too? You need to come here with the rest of us. Let The Alliance protect us!"
