Just to thank everyone for their feedback and their views. It is greatly appreciated.

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“What the fuck do you mean you’re going to their home planet?!”

David winced, the harsh tone of his mum’s voice barking through the phone on speaker in his room.

“Judy! Remember who’s listening!”

His father’s quieter but no less emotive voice attempting to soothe his wife’s outrage.

“Mum! You know I have no choice! It’s a goddamed order! If I don’t, they’ll just send me anyway and you and dad will suffer the consequences!”

“Fuck the consequences! Your father and I are old! You stand to lose a lot more if anyone hears about this! You know what happens to collaborators!”

“Yes, I do mum! And that’s what's going to happen to you if I don’t do as I’m told!”

David cursed to himself as he wished he could talk to them in person, explain what was already being organised, his plans for education programmes designed to make clear humanities powers of absorbing and manipulating other cultures. Unfortunately, with his phone doubtlessly tapped he could only play the hapless museum worker role, something he hoped his dad, and eventually, his mum would understand.

“Will you be allowed to contact us? Or go on leave?” his father asked, his voice thicker than David had ever heard it.

“N-No I’m afraid not. I-I think we’re hostages dad, us and the artefacts. If any rebellion succeeds on earth then whichever nation is responsible loses its heritage.”

“Sounds about right” his mother growled darkly. “You’ve studied history David, you know as well as we do how this works.”

“Yes, I do mum! And if it was a different situation I would think differently, but it isn’t so I cant! There is too much at stake here and I have a duty! This is bigger than us!”

Slumping on his bed David looked at the sealed storage boxes around him.

His parents had been kind enough to send several boxes of his books from home as well as, much to his amusement, his collection of toy soldiers which he’d been growing since he was a child. The last item however had certainly surprised him, a stuffed rabbit, simply known as Hare which had been given to him the day he was born. The poor thing had suffered all the usual damage associated with a child’s stuffed toy, but had since been repaired and had spent years sitting on a shelf along with the rest of the families teddy bears and stuffed animals, some bought, most rescued from garbage bins and the side of the road.

With his room looking depressingly bare, and his mother's words ringing in his ears his fists clenched by his sides, fury at his situation, misery at leaving his planet unwillingly and shame at being able to do nowhere near enough about either bubbling up in a well of emotion which left him swallowing down a sob.

“Look Mum, Dad, I’m sorry, there is nothing I can do, and I don’t know… I just don’t know if I can contact you once I’m up there ok? You know I’ll do my best. But please, I love you both, so, so much. You’ve done everything you can and I’ll do everything I can to come back, I swear!”

The silence at the end of the call was deafening for several moments before his father responded, his own voice as shaky as David’s. “W-we know. And we love you too, I’ll try and get mum to call you back, she's just gone to kill the neighbour” David’s lip quirked at the attempt at humour, his mother’s tolerance of their bitchy, Karen-like neighbour had all but evaporated following the invasion, especially when she had claimed the Shil’vati were the best thing to happen to New Zealand and the world, and that she’d be much happier swearing loyalty to the empress than to the queen.

“What.. oh shit, she’s got a shovel!” David’s humour evaporated at the grim tone in his dad’s voice.

“Wait, you're serious?”

“I’m going to have to call you back! But we love you! We are proud of you! God ble..”

The line cut off abruptly, leaving David in a barren room with the phone resting on the bedside table next to him.

“Lord, please don’t let my mother get caught” he muttered to himself as he shifted to his feet, the sound of heavy footsteps in the hall heralding the arrival of his “escort”.

​

​

Despite his best attempts to not give the Shil’vati any reason to consider themselves superior, especially on his first visit to a full-sized space-faring cargo vessel, David couldn’t help but stare in amazement around the enormous space. Huge stacks of storage containers and shrinkwrapped items packed close together filling the space, each item marked with the national flag of the “donating” nation and the Empire’s flag.

As his eyes roamed over the various enormous items in shrink wrap throughout the space he shuddered as he recognised several shapes, old locomotives from New Zealand’s past, aircraft from the Museum Of Transport And Technology’s collection, ridiculous amounts of items from throughout the country, statues from numerous parks, even the scorched and battered remains of the HMNZS Te Kaha, raised from the bottom of Auckland Harbour where she’d been sunk during the invasion.

A loud throat clearing behind him rapidly brought him back to the cold and unpleasant reality, turning to look up at the officer behind him, giving him a pointed look.

“Yes, I know! I’m going through the list! Remind me why the curators aren’t doing this again?”

The ominous glare he received in return caused him to look away, fighting the twitching of his lips. Of course, the curators weren’t trusted, it was common knowledge that during the invasion some key items from countless collections around the world had gone missing, in the case of the National Army Museum, all their Victoria Crosses and Queen Victoria’s Scarf. Although looting was officially labelled as the reason, it was difficult to believe since the case had been unlocked, the alarms deactivated and the medals carefully removed before the case was then closed and relocked. However, intense searching of the museum staff quarters had revealed nothing. Despite that, it seemed that apart from a small international team of curators, most of the museum “delegates” were like himself, educators.

Returning to his unenviable duty of checking every item on the inventory David finally reached the last item on the list awaiting loading. “Welp last item, marked “S”, and you’ve got a lotta space to put it” he sighed, gesturing to the large space of open floor.

“Think again” muttered the officer, one large hand grabbing him by the collar and pulling him out of the way of the door as something huge was brought forward, carefully wrapped and supported on a metal frame.

“The fuck is that?!” David gasped, staring as the ship hull was lowered into the last free space in the hold.

Quickly glancing down at the manifest he tapped on the file, opening it up to reveal the exact nature of the vessel, “Jesus on a pogo stick! You stole the Edwin Fox?!” he snapped, spinning to his escort, the women sighing resignedly. “I’m assuming that’s the name of the boat? Then yes, yes we did, don’t get your tits in a twist!”

“You do realise she’s the last ship of her kind right? The last East Indiaman!”

“I truly couldn’t care less about what an Indiaman is, but if it’s the last of its kind, that’s why it's going in the hold!”

Despite his first instincts to fight back, to yell, to at least do something to prevent this blatant thievery of a planet’s heritage, David simply took a deep breath, ticking it off the manifest which chirruped happily, sending confirmation to the officer's pad and from her presumably on to some aristocratic kleptomaniac who had thought up this idea.

“Alright boss, now what?” his voice sounded resigned even to his ears, the woman regarding him with a tight, grim smile. “Well I was going to suggest a drink, but I’m not in the mood for getting clam trapped so you’re going to the guest quarters and staying put, I’m sure your guard can think of something entertaining”

At the mention of his guard, David tilted his head, peering around her shoulder to regard the young, and decidedly nervous young Shil’vati woman standing beside the companionway leading out of the hold, her eyes darting away the moment he caught her looking.

“oh well, in for a penny, may as well have a giggle,” he thought to himself as he coaxed a flirty smirk onto his lips, “Oh I’m sure… Korva (was purring the name too much?) and I will have a wonderful time” he struggled not to burst out laughing as the officer’s expression soured, Korva’s own face blushing like a beacon, (heavens above it was just too easy to mess with these girls).

Spinning on her heel the officer stormed away, almost shoving the unfortunate Korva aside as she stormed out. When she’d managed to recover herself the private glanced at him, flushing again as she waved towards the door, “Go on then Da..Human! let's get you back to quarters.”

Rolling his eyes, David led the way as best he could remember it up to the main crew corridors, passing through several guarded checkpoints. For all their general horniness, the Shil weren’t stupid by any stretch of the imagination. They knew the value of the items being dragged off-world, they certainly knew they couldn’t trust anyone not to either reclaim items for humanity, or for the massive market of human collectables which had sprung up throughout the galaxy following news of the invasion.

Feeling decidedly like he was walking through a purple version of the Death Star’s corridors he was escorted to the surprisingly comfortable if not luxurious guest quarters, Korva buzzing his door open with her wrist-mounted tag and waving him inside. “Dinner will be along soon” she murmured in what he could only assume was a nervous attempt at a conciliatory tone.

Once again fighting his more petulant instincts David pushed a smile onto his face, no sense making enemies, and as the story went, she was simply following orders. “Thanks, Korva” he sighed, “I appreciate it. W-will I get to see us leave?”

“Where? Oh you mean earth? Um, well I could ask if you wanted. Most of the crew are desperate to see you, they haven’t been allowed shore leave since we arrived”

“Oh boy, well… Well I would appreciate it, if you could ask that is”

“s-sure, I can do that!”

“Thanks”

Stepping into the room and switching on the light he glanced around.

The room was surprisingly spacious for a cargo vessel, a queen-sized (by Shil standards) double bed dominating the majority of the floor space with a simple closet, ensuite and entertainment station. His travel bags were neatly placed at the foot of the bed and his clothing either hung up or neatly folded in the drawers, causing him a flash of concern as the image of marines rooting through his clothing ran through his mind.

To his amusement, he realised Korva must have sent a warning of his impending arrival as his eyes settled on his wargaming miniatures and scenery, arranged in what was clearly a half-finished battle for the ages on top of the simple table on the far side of the room. He let out a muffled chuckle as he snapped a couple of photos on the handheld device that had been handed to him to replace his phone onboarding, doubtless to keep an eye on him.

Leaving the battle scene undisturbed he collapsed back on the bed with a despairing moan, the full enormity of what was happening settling on him like the weight of the ship on his chest.

“Fuck fuck mcfucking fuckcicles on a fucking fuckdog” he muttered, finding no relief as he squeezed his eyes shut, knowing full well it wouldn’t cause him to wake up from this nightmare, but considering it worth a shot anyway.

His internal turmoil was forced to take a backseat however when a sharp knocking at his door heralded the arrival of… whoever it was. “Come in!” he called, not moving from the bed as he turned his head to glance at the door, watching as it slid open to reveal a Shil he didn’t recognise pushing a tray from which several surprisingly delicious smells originated.

Sitting up he waited silently as the woman locked eyes with him, her mouth dropping open slightly before curling upwards in what could only be described as a triumphant grin. “Dinner!” she beamed, causing David's hackles to raise as his back stiffened.

Instead of the sexual advances however, the woman simply pushed the trolly further into the room, keeping it between her and himself as she offered a closed fist. “Karla, private!” she beamed at him pleasantly, triggering a surprised grin from David as he bumped her fist gently with his own, “David, prisoner/human/educator” he quipped gently, careful to keep any sting out of his voice. He clearly had some success as the woman barked out a laugh, “Hey! A sense of humour! Thank fuck! The girls were saying you were some tight ass!”

David could no longer help himself, his face splitting in a delighted grin, “nah, just a tease” he chuckled as he scooted over on the edge of the bed, tugging his end of the trolly and patting the other side of the bed. “Smells like some good stuff you got there, any idea what it is?”

The woman nodded, bouncing with excitement as he plopped on the bed, her eyes sliding over his body so fast he almost missed it before returning to his face.

“Well… some kind of idea, it's all human food from that list of recipes you had to supply”

David nodded, remembering the seemingly endless list of forms and documentation he had had to fill out. Favourite recipes hadn’t even been the weirdest question.

“Thought it smelled familiar, did you make it?”

“Me? Hahaha!! N-no! Chief Chef made it, she was pretty sure you'd want something to take your mind off leaving but we couldn’t figure out what would be best, so we made everything!”

He gulped, eyes returning to the trolly as he remembered the list. “Jesus, but some of those dishes were for eight people or more!”

“That’s why they were so big? That explains it, we thoughted we were doing it wrong!”

“No no…” David trailed off, lifting the lid on the nearest dish, the familiar aroma of his father's favourite leek and blue cheese tart recipe filling his nostrils for the first time since before the invasion. Swallowing the lump of emotions that suddenly appeared in his throat he turned back to the woman, his smile feeling a little shaky. “W-would you like to try some? If its safe for you that is”

The look on the soldier’s face could only be described as unadulterated, disbelieving glee, her body positively vibrating where she sat as she nodded her head so hard he winced. “Tits yes! I-I mean sure…” she desperately attempted to recover, donning a hilariously cartoonish “casual” look. “We checked everything to make sure it was safe, especially af…” she stopped herself abruptly, her smile stiffening slightly around the edges as she offered him a plate. “How big a portion?”

By the time Korva returned, knocking on his door before opening it, he and Karla were happily digging into the dessert, a rich Bavarian chocolate swirl which delighted Karla no end. Within minutes Korva was also enjoying the meal, leaning against the wall as the three of them chatted over a meal, David pretending he wasn’t mulling over Karla’s slip up about potentially unsafe food.

To his amusement, it turned out the crew of the transport fleet (with the notable exception of the officers) had been confined to their ships, not allowed to set foot on Earth, or to associate with their human passengers until after everything was stored in the sealed holds. Officially this had been dubbed an “anti-looting precaution”. The crew however were convinced to a woman that it was to prevent anyone being targeted by sex-crazed members of the supposed human resistance who would use their wiles to coax the crew into letting them steal artefacts from the ships, a theory that was relayed to David in graphic and incredibly drawn out detail by a suddenly very distracted Karla.

“Hold on a minute, would I be right in thinking you had to fight to be allowed to bring me this feast then?” David grinned, pointing at Karla, “And what did you have to do to earn the “privilege” of being my guard?” his attention then directed itself at Korva, both women flushing deeply. “Well would you look at the time!” exclaimed Karla, surging to her feet and gripping the trolly firmly, “Chef will kill me if I don’t get this tray back!”

“Ah ah! Wait!” David called, “Tell you what, you’ve been such great company and all, do… do you want a pic to show to your friends?”

The way the two women’s eyes bulged was balm to David soul, and if he was a tad more honest, quite the stroke to his ego. “I'll take that as a yes. One of you take the pic of the other and visa versa”

The women quickly fumbled their communicators out of pockets and almost threw them at each other, Korva reaching him first and instinctively sliding an arm around his waist as she beamed at the camera, David flushing slightly but smiling along with her before Karla almost yanked her away, leaning over and planting a firm, and ludicrously loud kiss on his cheek before grinning at a suddenly pouting Korva.

“Welp, that’s my dreams sorted for the next week” she grabbed the trolly and her device, sauntering her way to the door, her hips swaying as she turned to look over her shoulder, “feel free add to them!” she purred, “I’ll be back tomorrow morning!” so saying she swept out the door and disappeared into the corridor, leaving a stunned human, and a visibly frustrated marine behind.

Finally managing to regain the use of his mouth and vocal cords David sputtered slightly. “This is going to take some getting used to”

Korva simply glared at the open doorway, huffing irritably as she pocketed her phone.

As she stepped towards the door, her own tall yet lithe form, fuelling his baser needs, as well as his own private resistance plan of just being a shit-stirrer as much as was safely possible caused David to cough meaningfully.

“You know… It doesn’t seem fair that she stole a kiss like that. Especially when you clearly respected my boundaries”

Korva's body, still largely facing away from him twitched slightly.

“I mean, you could have just jumped me…”

“I would never!” She spun to face him, “My dad would kill me if I took advantage like that!”

Quickly throwing his hands up placatingly David nodded, “And so he should, but you and I both know that that isn’t the case with the majority” he frowned.

“But seriously, I do appreciate it. I haven’t known you long, but you have been very accommodating thus far.” His smile returned, a devious tint in the upturn of his lips. “Now be honest, how much trade value would a photo of me with my shirt off get you?”

The poor woman choked on air, coughing as she stared at him. “T-trade value?”

“Oh come on, you and I both know that soldiers and sailors anywhere trade shit, treats, porn yadda yadda. So… what could you get for a picture of me with my shirt off?”

“F-From the back right?”

“If you say so”

“Oh Empress, that’d be worth its weight in gold! Probably more if I’m honest. The way everyone on board is at the moment, I wouldn’t be surprised if they'd honestly kill for it.”

David let out an involuntary cackle. “Well how about a deal? I want 50% of your takings, I provide the photo opportunities, you get the credit for supplying the results to your poor, deprived crewmates.”

“f-fifty percent? But what use have you got for porno mags, sweets and cash?”

“If there's one thing I’ve learned while living on an army base, it’s the value of trade. Besides, I’m damned if I’m getting served food on a silver platter for the rest of my life. As far as I know, I’m detained at her Empress’ pleasure for life and am not getting paid. I’m gonna get at least some pocket money while on the trip.”

“Wel- you know what? Fine! Let's do this!”

“That’s the spirit! Now, front or back?”

​

​

An hour later, David couldn’t help thinking he might have acted rashly.

Standing on the bridge, a still giddy looking Korva standing at his shoulder his planet rapidly shrinking in the holographic display as the convoy of vessels tightened around them, any hope for a last-second reprieve finally evaporated.

David mentally steeled himself, the captain giving the order to jump to FTL causing the ship to jolt sharply beneath him.

He would deal with his emotions later. For now, revenge had to be taken where and how it could and resistance could be tempered with the pursuit of knowledge. Doubtless, humanity was down, but it wasn’t beaten. As long as he did everything in his power to protect the items under his care, and to educate those around him, he could, and would show that a trojan horse didn’t have to be made of wood.

He could only hope the other humans on those ships felt the same.