CHAPTER 52

MOUNTAIN CITY

"I would personally like to extend to you the gratitude of this entire Council for your actions in saving the life of Queen Tarifa Commander Hunter. On two separate occasions I might add." Treblar was speaking from his chair.

Martin was shown into the Council of Elders Chamber and offered the single chair on the end of the table. The row of twelve Ministers sat along the right side of the table, while Tarifa occupied the single seat on the left side. Martin had to force himself to look away from Tarifa due to the dress she was wearing. It was a floor length white mesh dress that hugged her body like a second skin. The dress ended at her neck in a choker collar, and the brief glance he had before sitting down told him it was split very high up on her lean muscular thigh. The dress also did not do much to hide her firm breasts, and only a small patch of material hid her sweet tasting nipples from plain view. The same nipples he had sucked and nibbled on the night before. Tarifa had smiled inwardly to herself, knowing the reaction she was having on Martin, yet she admired his control.

Martin looked at Treblar and nodded his head. "I am glad I was able to help sir." He finally spoke.

"As Minister Thalami and I explained to you yesterday during our visit to your encampment," Treblar went on. "This Council is willing to hear your petition for remaining within High Elf territory."

Martin looked at him puzzled. This was not discussed yesterday. "Excuse me sir, my petition?"

"Minister Treblar, as well as others of this Council, wants to know why we should allow you, a human, and nearly two thousand other humans, permission to remain within the safety of our domain." Raloa spoke now, the tone of his voice undoubtedly hostile.

"We escaped EDEN, as Queen Tarifa has no doubt told you. I am now responsible for over a thousand men, women and children." Martin said. "I need to insure their safety."

"You are humans!" Raloa spoke the word as if it was a vile thing. "Who are residing in the next valley, only six hours riding from this very city? Very convenient if you ask me."

Martin stared at the man. "I understand the situation that you and you people have had with humans in the past sir, but I don't understand where your distrust of my particular group comes from. We have only just arrived in this time period, to discover that a race of beings we thought to be only myth and legend now existed. We have seen some things that none of us could have possibly imagined, and we are still in a state of shock. What exactly have we done to earn your distrust?"

"You are human!" Raloa spoke. "That is enough."

"I and the other members of my team, we are only partially human sir." Martin told him. "As you no doubt already know from the Queen and two of your own Ministers who visited us, and I'm quite sure have already discussed with you. We are genetically engineered humans, all of us designed as soldiers during my time period. And all of the men and women who came from EDEN with us are non-combatants; scientists, doctors, researchers."

"We know what you are Commander." A female elf spoke now. She was lighter in skin tone, with flowing brown hair and shiny brown eyes. "That is what concerns us."

"And you are?"

"I am Chief Minister of Medicine Carina, Commander Hunter." She answered.

Martin nodded his head to her in a show of respect, which did not go unnoticed. "Ma'am if you will forgive me, I am not a politician. I'm what we used to call an Operator. I was Chief of Security for EDEN, an International base on the moon, when the comet came. I understand you call it the Great Fire, but to me it is just a frigging comet that ended up tossing us over four hundred and fifty years into the future. I don't know the mechanics of how… and to be honest… I don't want to know. Quantum Physics gives me a headache." That statement caused several of the Elders to smile. "I am a soldier ma'am… I came down here with my team, looking for some answers and lo and behold, we find that things are really fucked up. We discovered that people who like to play god have invented some really nasty critters that just happen to smell as bad as they look. We discovered that there is now a large population of Elves across what remains of the planet, a race of men and women that as I said existed only in children's books in our time and they are now used for any number of reasons to include slavery and forced labor. Things that did not exist where we came from, and were not tolerated. We also discovered that the government we used to serve has evolved into these Alliance idiots, and they have helped the one political asshole we had on EDEN to gain control of that station and force us to leave." Martin took a deep breath. "Now I find myself in command of more men and women than I have ever been asked to command, men and women I might add who do not agree in any way with the assholes in charge of this Alliance government, and I need to keep them protected at all costs. With all due respect, the least of your concerns is what I am."

"Do you think us fools Commander Hunter?" Raloa asked.

Martin looked at the man. "I don't follow sir."

"Do you think that we do not know what you are?" Raloa pulled the data pad from his robe. "We have an extensive library Commander, a library that I have spent the last two days in researching records, records that date back five hundred years. Do you want to know what I discovered?"

Martin folded his arms across his chest. "I'm sure you are about to tell me." He said.

"The Holy One… the man you know as Doctor Carson… the man who created the elves, left us an extensive library as I said. In those records were the unrestricted files on every member of your team, yourself included, as well as the entire history of the Genome program." Raloa spoke.

Tarifa looked at Raloa, her sapphire eyes suspicious. The Holy One had never told her about any such records, and he would have shared this information with her.

Martin shrugged his broad shoulders. "I don't see what relevance that information would have now. That's ancient history it appears."

"It is relevant Commander, because it shows what you and your team truly are." Raloa said.

"What are you getting at Chief Minister?" Thalami asked, leaning forward in her chair.

"I'm trying to show that we can not trust this man, or any of those with him." Raloa spoke.

"By doing what exactly Chief Minister," Tarifa asked calmly. "Commander Hunter has shown he is no friend of the Alliance. They have a price on his head of five million credits, and a price on the head of all the men and women in his team. Whatever history you have discovered has no bearing on why we sit here now."

"I believe it does your Majesty." Raloa spoke. "Commander Hunter… how many men have you killed in your lifetime?"

Martin met his eyes. "Why does that matter?"

"It matters a great deal." Raloa said. "Please answer the question."

"I don't keep count." Martin told him.

"According to these records you are personally responsible for the deaths of seven hundred and nineteen men and women." Raloa told him. "How does that make you feel?"

"I was genetically engineered to be the best soldier the United States government could produce." Martin said. "I did not choose my way of life, it was forced upon me by others. From the day I was sixteen years old I was fighting in one war or another because there were people who did not like our way of life."

"Did you enjoy killing them Commander?" Raloa asked.

"Chief Minister you are out of line!" Treblar snapped from his chair.

Martin smiled at the man, and the smile sent shivers down the backs of many present. "Chief Minister Raloa is it?" Martin asked. "You have a hard on for me, that much is obvious. I don't particularly care why you dislike me so much since I have never met you before today, and that fact by itself tells me you are not the person you want everyone to think you are. My past does not matter sir. What matters to me now are how do we make a life for ourselves now, and how do I take care of the people that have been entrusted to me."

"Commander Hunter, I believe what is the foremost concern of everyone at this table is how do we know we can trust you?" Carina spoke again. "There have been many times in the past that we have offered humans and others safe haven within our lands, and they in turn have betrayed us. It is not something we take lightly."

"As well you shouldn't." Martin said calmly. "But what you should consider is this. Put yourself in my position for a moment. You have been warped forward in time to find everything and everyone you ever knew is gone. The environment has changed… the people have changed, and the one place you thought was safe is now in the hands of a seriously deranged shit head that seems to think he fits right in. You discover a race of people who seem to have their shit together and are organized and discretely friendly, not to mention they outnumber you five hundred to one. You have technology you can share as a way of showing them that you are friendly, but they just want to lump you into the same category as the rest of the assholes they have dealt with through the years." Martin got to his feet to the surprise of all the Ministers. "You should consider that." He said. "As I told Ministers Thalami and Treblar… if you don't want our friendship… then all I ask is for information on an area where I can take my people and try to live out our existence. You want to judge us… then judge us for who we are… not for who you perceive us to be based on bad experiences. You never know… you might be surprised."

Martin turned to the shocked expressions on their faces and headed for the door. Raloa leaned forward. "We are not finished Commander." He stated.

Martin stopped and looked back at him. "Yes we are Chief Minister." He turned back around and looked at the guard by the door. The man nodded his head to Martin in a show of respect and pushed open the door.

Tarifa watched Martin walk out, pride swelling her chest at his words. He had spoken the words with deep feeling and honesty and she could tell they had shaken all the Ministers right to the coreDEN

Wallace could not help but smile as he watched Anisa put away five eggs and six slices of bacon, along with three large pancakes and four slices of toast with butter. He had heard the shower running for a long time, while he cooked her breakfast and she had finally appeared dressed in the clothes he had gotten for her. The outfit was a dark blue floor length dress that was practically transparent. The dress did nothing to hide her very firm upturned breasts, her nipples pushing against the fabric. Wallace would not admit to her that he found her almost irresistible, and it had taken all of his will power to not accept her offers to him while she sat on his bed naked from the waist up. He could not bear the thought of having her completely exposed underneath the sheer dress, so he had obtained several pairs of panties from Commander Peterson's old quarters because he thought them to be nearly the same size, the lone exception being that Anja had much larger breasts. The panties Wallace saw seemed to fit her perfectly.

Anisa finally had to stop eating because she felt as if she would explode. She had spent quite a bit of time in the shower scrubbing her body in the steaming hot water, attempting to purge herself of the vile stench of the men that had raped her over the last fourteen months. Now that she was no longer being fed a constant stream of the addictive mind drug, she had regained many of her elfin talents as her normal metabolism began to reassert itself. When she finally looked up from the plate, she saw the human man watching her with a gentle smile and holding a mug of coffee in his hand.

"Forgive… forgive me." She said quickly wiping her mouth with the cloth napkin.

"Forgive you for what?" Bill told her. "You were hungry."

Anisa looked cautiously around the room and she heard Bill chuckle to himself. "No one is watching you Anisa, of that I can assure you."

"Who… who are you?" She asked haltingly. "What is this place?"

Bill smiled and got to his feet. "Let me show you."

Anisa watched him walk to the bare wall across the room and touch several buttons. She heard a soft humming sound and a three meter section of the wall lifted, revealing the blackness of space, the gray color of moon landscape, and the blue green colored planet in the distant background. Anisa got to her bare feet slowly, her eyes wide as she came over to the wall.

"Is… is that earth?" She asked in a soft voice.

Bill nodded. "It sure is. It's beautiful isn't it?"

Anisa nodded slowly. "It's… it's breathtaking."

"Until you remember what is happening down there." Wallace spoke softly, turning to go back to the table.

Anisa turned to watch him sit back down. "This… this is a test isn't it Master?" She asked softly.

"I asked you not to call me that." Wallace spoke, taking another sip from his mug.

"I… I was given to you. You are my owner now. Of course you are my Master." Anisa said, moving closer to him. "I am your servant. I will do whatever you ask of me Master." She got down on her knees next to him. "What will you have me do?"

"There is something I want you to do." Wallace told her.

"Anything Master… do… do you wish me to please you with my mouth? I… I have been told I am very good at that as I said. I will do anything." Anisa said.

Bill took her by her arms gently and prodded her to her feet, standing in front of her. He was easily eight inches taller than Anisa, and he estimated she barely topped five foot three. "What I want you to do is think." Bill told her.

Anisa looked up at him slowly, her dark eyes filled with questions. "My… My Lord… I don't understand." She said. "Please… I do not want to be punished. Tell me what it is you desire of me."

"I want you to think." Bill said again, moving her to the chair and gently making her settle back down while still looking up at him. He pulled his own chair closer to her as she watched him. "Have you stopped to wonder why I removed your drug dispenser?"

Anisa looked at him and shook her head slowly, realizing for the first time that she was actually free of the mind controlling drug. She could feel her elfin system rapidly regaining her normal strength and abilities. Realization slowly appeared in her eyes and she looked at Wallace.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"I told you… my name is William Wallace the Third. I was once commander of this station until a certain Senator Richard Graham led a coup of sorts against me. I helped some of my people rescue a young lady named Tarifa, and they escaped…"

"Tarifa," Anisa spoke quickly. "She… she is the Queen of the High Elves. She is very well thought of by all elves across the planet because she fights the Alliance."

Bill nodded. "Yes she is. I assisted my people in getting her off this station, and I made a decision to remain behind. I have been acting a part since that first day, so that I could gain the trust of the man in charge. When you and the others were brought aboard, your Minister Deval gave you to me as a gift in the hopes of furthering our relationship."

Anisa's eyes narrowed slightly. "He is not my Minister!" She spoke softly.

"Yes… well he has a position of power within this Alliance government." Wallace told her. "And I intend to use that to regain control of my base."

Anisa's eyes filled with understanding now and she looked at him clearly. "You… you want me to help you?"

William nodded slowly. "Yes I do. That is the reason I had the dispenser removed and your system purged of the drugs. I may not be in command anymore, but I still have many friends here on EDEN who follow me and think the same way I do."

"Why… why should I trust you?" Anisa asked. "You are human! They have done nothing but enslave my people for centuries; used us as nothing more than sexual objects or expendable labor! For that matter… why should I believe anything you are saying? This could all be an elaborate plan to speak out against the Alliance, and then I would be given to the Alliance Assassins to be endlessly raped and beaten."

William nodded. "It could be… but it isn't. In your drugged state I could have raped you myself, countless times in the last two days. I did not. Instead… you are rapidly regaining your strength and your mind is becoming clearer as your system recovers. If I was trying to do as you say, why would I remove the drugs from your system? Even for your small size, your elfin strength is far greater than mine is. You have the speed and reflexes I could never have. Why exactly would I want a fully healed female elf helping me if I wasn't telling you the truth?"

William got up and went to the small counter and took the red disc from the case. He held it up for Anisa to see. "What is this?" He asked.

"That… that is my ownership disc." She answered.

William nodded. "Yes it is." He spoke. Anisa's eyes went wide as Wallace crushed the disc in his hand, breaking it into three pieces. One sharpened edge cut his palm deeply and blood rushed out over his skin to drip to the floor.

Anisa sprang to her feet, taking the cloth napkin from the table and going to him, wrapping it around his hand tightly. "What… what are you doing?" She gasped at him.

"I'm trying to prove to you that I need your help." William said. "I am not your Master, or your owner. I'm asking you to play a role, just as I am so that we can drive the bastards from my station. When I have control of my base back, I will insure you can go wherever you wish, and I will take you myself."

"You… you are asking me to fight the Alliance." Anisa said.

"Yes I am."

"Many have died attempting the same thing." She told him.

Wallace nodded. "I have no doubt about that." He said. "But they have never met a man like me. I don't like to lose. In fact, I fucking hate it. You have a choice to make… you can decide to help me… or you can attempt to escape, in which case I will help as much as I am able without cutting off my own arm. If you manage to escape, and they recapture you, you will be a slave again. And I don't want to imagine what they would do to you."

"If you are discovered… if I am discovered helping you, it will be no different." Anisa said.

Wallace nodded. "Perhaps, but at least if you help me, together we might be able to save hundreds of others, your people as well as mine."

"You are either very brave or very foolish." Anisa spoke looking at him.

William chuckled. "Yeah well I guess coming four hundred and seventy eight years into the future kind of makes you a little crazy; or senile; or both."

Anisa looked at him, her eyes confused. "I don't understand. What do you mean you've come into the future? How is that possible?"

"It's a long story." William said.

"It appears we have nothing but time, since I have decided to help you William." Anisa replied.

Wallace nodded. "Good… for a minute there I thought you would consider me a crazy fruitcake."

Anisa allowed the small smile to split her lips. "That is still a distinct possibility." She told him.

William laughed as he moved back to his chair. "Sit down. This is going to take a while."

Anisa did as he asked and moved to the chair next to him.