Part: 7/?
It's another long run of chapters. There's a world to create piece by piece and the chapters seem to have grown to meet that demand! Enjoy!
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The shower had been really good and John felt so much better for it. His trousers still held traces of dried mud, but they were all he had, so he pulled them back on over his freshly cleaned skin. His jacket had fared worse, and it smelt like a musty mud pit, which was not surprising. He rinsed it through and hung it up to dry, hoping Emmagan wouldn't mind. His shirt had also been pretty musty and Si had leant him a plain black shirt. It was a little big and as John emerged from the bathroom Si chuckled at all the extra material. John wrapped the extra fabric tightly around his middle and tucked the bottom edges into the top of his trousers and the result was good enough.
"Next time pick a slave with a little more meat on him," Si muttered as he headed towards the door. "I will contact Kanaan and conclude my business with Saoka."
"I will meet you back here in two hours as planned," Emmagan replied and Si left with one last pointed look at John, which John interpreted as something along the lines of 'behave yourself'. The door slid shut behind the tall warrior and John was left alone with his new Mistress.
She turned and faced him, glancing over his shirt and trousers.
"Best I could do," he told her with an embarrassed shrug.
"I was thinking that we need to purchase you some clothes and any other items you require. I have business to conclude in the market hall so we will gather what you need there."
"Okay," John replied. He felt bare without a weapon to hand and he didn't have anything useful to do. Hell, he didn't even have a belt or wallet. "Atlantis with repay you for anything you spend for me and for…you know…buying me," he barely got through that without rolling his eyes.
She looked at him with a knowing look and he guessed he hadn't hidden his disgust all that well. "You will have to continue to play the role of a slave for now." John nodded his agreement.
"What is your name?" She asked and he only then realised that they hadn't even had that usual introduction.
He stepped towards her. "Major John Sheppard." He held out his hand towards her. "Pleased to meet you."
She looked down at his hand and then reached out to take it in hers. Her skin was soft, yet held the telltale harshness across her palm of someone who trained to a high level, no doubt with those swords on her back. It did not detract from her attractiveness, in fact it increased it. He had never been one to look at women among the military, preferring civilians or in one case, in the medical aspect of the military. That hadn't ended well. But, in this woman he found himself deeply attracted not only to her physically and to the intelligent sparkle in her eye, but also to the contained strength and power of her. She released his hand first and he dropped his hand back to his side.
"Which part of that do you prefer to be called by?" She asked.
"Sheppard is fine, though my friends call me John," he told her, leaving it to her to decide into which category she considered herself. She turned her face from him, but her eyes stayed on him, assessing him in turn. She picked up a cloth bag from the back of a chair and slung the long strap over one shoulder.
"Very well, Sheppard," she said and he felt a little disappointed. "Let us return to the market hall." She moved past the table and headed towards the door.
"Shouldn't I carry the bag? Being the slave and all," he offered indicating to her shoulder as they reached the door. It would make him feel more useful anyway.
She glanced down at the bag, clearly having not thought of that, then nodded and handed it over to him. He slung the long strap over his head to settle its empty weight against his hip. She opened the door and he followed her out into the corridor falling into step behind her shoulder.
They turned the corner into the long corridor of hotel doors. "Is there anything else I should know about being a slave?" He asked quietly unsure if he should even be talking to her in public.
She looked over her shoulder at him, but didn't slow her step. "Unfortunately by Alliance law you have no rights at all, other than what I deem to grant you."
"Not a fan of slavery I take it?" He asked.
"Do you have slavery among your people?" She asked with a touch of surprise.
"No, not for a long time," he replied.
She nodded, her reddish brown curls sliding across her shoulders. "Good."
"I take it your opinion isn't all that popular?"
"Slave labour is regrettably one of the only ways many worlds can repay the Alliance for their protection from the Wraith. Though, child slaves are greatly frowned upon, and if there are any they are kept with their mothers." John frowned at the thought. "My father outlawed slaves on the Athosian worlds many years ago," she added.
"Your father?" He asked with interest, moving right into the two pace distance from her, wishing he could see her face more clearly, especially as he suspected from the tilt of her head that she hadn't meant to reveal that information.
"He leads the Athosian worlds," she replied.
He considered that for a moment or two as they reached the stairwell, which held less traffic than before. "So does that make you a princess?" He asked adding a gentle touch of amusement to his tone. Images of Princess Leia came to mind.
She glanced up at him from the step below and he saw the amusement in her eyes as well. "We do not have royalty on my homeworld. Our leaders are chosen by their skills not their birth." She turned her attention to the steps before her. "Though, admittedly, my younger sister is considered to be the one who will one day take his place," she added. "But, then she grew up at my father's feet, learning the ways of leadership, so perhaps leadership by blood sometimes has its place."
"Are you two close? You and your sister," He asked wondering how far he could push for information on her and whether she would shut him down.
"Some days," she replied and he saw her cheek rise slightly so he guessed she was probably smiling.
They reached the market hall level and John found himself once again following along through the dull busy corridors of the station. They entered the market hall, but this time she led him to the furthest corner from the slave stalls. Now he knew what to look for John noticed that there were a lot of slaves following their masters and mistresses around. He could easily identify the slaves as they walked close behind shoulders, with their eyes lowered. They also wore duller clothing, perhaps to distinguish them further, as if there was any doubt in John's opinion.
Emmagan led him to the largest clothes stall and gestured him forward. "Choose what you wish. I recommend at least three changes of clothing and choose dark shades," she added with a pointed look. He nodded, when you were breaking and entering into a Wraith Queen's home you had to have the whole ninja look down. He moved quickly through the lines of clothing and picked out a couple of basic shirts, trousers and underwear, all as close to what he was used to as possible. Emmagan also nodded him towards the belts which included holsters for weapons. He wasn't entirely sure what weapons he would be allowed to carry, if any, but she didn't object when he selected a side arm holder like his stolen one attached to a belt that held enough loops to hold knives or whatever else a would-be ninja might require.
The stall owner had been watching him with glee, pointing out some other items he might be interested in, but John waved them away. He only needed the basics. Emmagan handed over a pad to the stall owner. John noticed the guy looked a little nervous, but was exceedingly polite when he spoke to her. The payment went through quickly enough and then they were on to the next stall. There he selected a bag for all the clothes to go into and then they turned to the next stall which held various toiletry items. He looked up at the stall owner, wondering if he was allowed to ask what everything was, but the woman seemed to read his mind and immediately began pointing things out to him. He ignored most of the seller's patter and chose a soap-like bar that worked like deodorant and smelt quite nice. Then a basic bottle of shampoo, a razor, a toothbrush and paste. Everything went into a small toiletry bag, which after payment he added to the rest of his new things.
Emmagan peered into the bag and judging that they had everything she moved on. He followed along behind her, noticing how the crowd parted before her. Across the wide hall in the furthest corner from them he saw the slave stall owner. He pondered for a moment on whether there was any chance of him persuading Emmagan to buy some more slaves to set them free, but he guessed she had already spent a lot and didn't have the time. When a break in the crowd opened up as they moved closer he saw that most of the cages were empty now, and he hoped they had all found someone reasonably friendly as their 'owners'.
Emmagan finally stopped before a stall set into a corner of the hall, its tables full to bursting with everything John could imagine; weapons, vials of what was presumably medicine, stacks of books, packets of what could be dried food, small pieces of furniture and at the furthest end beside the table sat a large creature that looked like a cross between a dog and a bear. John wondered if it was for sale or if it was guarding the stall. Other customers drifted away quickly as Emmagan neared the stalls. The owner noticed Emmagan and practically jumped over some boxes to reach her. He reached over the full table and as she extended a hand to him he clasped it between his.
"Mistress Emmagan, I am so pleased to see you well, and so soon before your great victory to come," the man said and in anyone else John would have thought the words to be high class grovelling, but this guy seemed to honestly mean what he was saying. Emmagan in return squeezed his hand and moved around the end of the table.
"As I have said before you do not need to address me this way, Uncle," she told him with a gentle tone. John followed her around the side of the stall tables to the space behind, though what space there was mostly filled with boxes of other goods.
"I speak as I see it, Mistress."
Emmagan walked over to the bear dog thing, which lifted its head towards her with an expression of recognition and when she stroked over its head it made a loud purring sound. Maybe there was some cat in there as well. She turned back to her uncle, who John realised was looking at him with a curious expression.
"I would ask what you are here to purchase, but I see that you have already bought something interesting," the man said with a smile at his niece. John tried not to feel slighted again.
Emmagan kept her eyes on her uncle. "Elkaska, you known well enough that my views agree with my father's on the subject of keeping slaves."
"As I recall your opinion held great weight when he passed those laws," Elkaska replied as he moved to a small stove and lifted a large pot of what had to be tea. Emmagan inclined her head and he poured out three small cups of the brew and once she had taken one Elkaska passed the next to John. John thanked him as he took the small cup and he sniffed gently at the herby scent that drifted up to his nose. "It cools the blood for a clear head for war," Elkaska told him with a smile.
John looked around at the stall around them. "Or for the demanding work of a trader?" John asked, using the term he had heard Emmagan use at the other stalls.
Elkaska smiled and nodded. "There are many forms of war," he replied as he turned back to Emmagan. She had perched herself against the back of a table and the bear/dog/cat had settled down against her leg, its purring a steady gentle sound around them.
"Indeed there are, some of which were not expected here in the station," Emmagan said.
Elkaska nodded as he settled down into a rickety looking chair. John studied the man; he looked like he was between fifty or sixty years, but he moved with a stiffness to his joints that meant either that he was older than he appeared, or that he had had an interesting life. John suspected it was the later.
"Some surprises should be expected," Elkaska said, which sounded very much like a rebuke to John, but she didn't seem to mind.
"I have heard talk of secret meetings."
"I would not know the bed habits of those who frequent my stalls," the man looked up briefly at John before he looked back at his niece. "However, I do notice those that pass by this way and on the other stations and worlds on which I trade."
"Secret agreements are less likely to be made at market stalls and more likely in hidden enclosed secrecy," Emmagan added.
Elkaska nodded and John decided that there was an entirely different conversation going on between these two than simply what they were saying out loud.
"I would not know about those," Elkaska added, though he was still nodding his head as he lifted his teacup to his lips.
"I wonder then if such ways of dealing are dangerous," Emmagan said with a careful tone suggesting it was perhaps a hidden question.
"I agree," the man replied as he placed his empty cup down. There was a long pause through which John looked from one of them to the other. "Your sister should be left to her own choices," Elkaska added as if the pause had never happened and he was only now voicing exactly what it was they had been talking about. John suspected that was just a front. Whatever the subtext conversation they had been having was over and it appeared family matters were now on the agenda.
Emmagan moved towards the teapot and poured some more tea into her uncle's cup and then into her own. She didn't offer John anymore, but then he hadn't drunk all of his first offering, only sipping at the strangely sweet brew a little at a time.
Emmagan returned to her place by Elkaska's pet, which began purring again as she rested her legs against its huge side. "Rhakshar would not be my first choice."
Elkaska chuckled. "No, he would not, but he has great power and reach across the Alliance."
"Yes, that he does and I feel he includes my sister and our worlds among that which he wishes to influence," Emmagan added with a tone that John had heard far too often from his own family members; disapproval.
"Your sister knows how to handle herself and I have no doubt that Torren would not allow control to slip once he decides to retire from his role as the great leader of our people that he is." John wondered if Elkaska was Emmagan's father's brother or her mother's. John studied the man's golden face comparing his features to Emmagan's and decided that he could see the family resemblance.
Emmagan drank down the last of her tea in one go. "I ask that you wish my sister and father well when you next see them," she said as she set her teacup down, which meant that John could put his down as well and stop pretending he was actually going to drink it all.
"As I always do," the older man said as he stood. "I also have gifts for you, which I have already sent along with Si when he visited earlier."
Emmagan nodded as she reached down to stroke the pet's head again before she stepped away and for a moment the creature looked like it was going to follow her, but held back. "Thank you, my Uncle." She stepped up close to Elkaska and settled her hands on his shoulders as he did to her and they leant their foreheads against each other.
"I wish you well and great success on your victory," Elkaska said softly before he lifted his forehead from hers. There was a lot of affection in the man's eyes and he squeezed her shoulders before he dropped his arms to his sides. John could see the subtle tells of the man's concern. He spoke of her victory as if it was guaranteed, but of course it couldn't be and John saw the painful knowledge of that in the man's eyes. Emmagan touched her uncle's arm once more before she moved past John around the stall tables and back into the market proper. John held back a beat and nodded at Elkaska, who met his gaze directly and smiled as he nodded in return.
As John followed Emmagan away from the stall she did not look back, but her shoulders were held higher with more tension than before. She stopped at several other stalls after that, purchasing small pieces of technology and other things that John didn't get a good look at from behind her shoulder. Whilst she stood with her back partly turned to the crowd John stood closer, his attention on those around them, and realised he was protecting her six as he would someone in his team or in Atlantis. Well, she was giving him his ticket off this station so he could only help out in return. But, he was aware that there was a more personal edge to his guarding than if he had been watching over Rodney or Ford. She had shown him respect and had allowed him to be included in a family discussion, even if she probably had to as he was her slave.
Her shopping completed, all of which she had added to her bag which John carried, they headed out of the market hall. The number of people in the corridors had reduced now, as the afternoon had presumably become evening, though John had no idea how long a day was in this place. His body told him it was getting close to dinner time, but that was all he knew as his watch had been taken from him by the slave traders.
He wondered whether people ate three meals a day in the Alliance, as he followed Emmagan back to the staircase again, but before she reached it a voice called out to her from behind them.
"Emmagan," the sing song female voice called. John watched Emmagan halt abruptly and saw the clenching of her jaw as she turned. John wasn't sure on the etiquette for a slave who suddenly found himself facing his Mistress, so he stepped aside and moved around to her back as she moved forward to meet the woman now walking towards them.
"Iketani," Emmagan greeted politely, "I had heard that you were on the station."
"I am sure that you did," Iketani replied as she reached them.
Iketani was a stunningly beautiful woman, the kind of model you saw in movies or on the front of those airbrushed women's fashion magazines. Her complexion was pale gold and perfect, her long pale hair hung from the back of her head in long tendrils, contained only by wide loose bands spaced down the length. She moved with a grace that would have been seductive if it didn't remind John so much of how a snake might walk if it could. She moved as men thought sexy women should, but in the real light of the station's lighting it looked overt and creepy. Or maybe it was just her.
She had large deep blue eyes that held a sharp calculating intelligence and as she stood before Emmagan, John saw the gentle lines of musculature of her exposed arms and shoulders. She might look like a model, but she knew how to fight. The strange looking sword at her belt backed up that theory. It had a slight curve to its long blade, with an extra shorter blade angled out from its hilt, creating something that John suspected a Klingon would have loved.
Her eyes shifted from Emmagan and settled on him. He realised he was looking directly at her which wasn't allowed, but from the sultry smile that transformed her face, creating an even more desirable picture, he guessed she liked his attention. She was probably used to men looking at her.
"I see that you bought this fine specimen before I could summon the funds," Iketani purred, her gaze sweeping down his body with a predatory edge. John decided that, though she might look gorgeous, he didn't like her.
"I am sure you were simply waiting for his price to raise enough for your interest," Emmagan replied, her voice polite but had a sharp edge to it.
"Perhaps. I do like things to rise before I take interest," Iketani replied as her eyes met John's again. He kept his expression blank, but he wasn't sure that he hid the slight flush to his skin at her implication and the offer in her gaze. She smiled with her wide pink lips and looked back to Emmagan. "I was surprised to hear that you took an interest, since you rarely seem to require what others enjoy." Her gaze returned to John. "I would willingly buy him from you, when you have tired of him," she added.
"I find that what I own tends to remain loyal," Emmagan replied with a tone that John couldn't quite identify, but it caught Iketani's attention. She lost her sultry smile as she glared at Emmagan. The two of them held a brief staring match and John had to wonder at the background between the two. Clearly there was a lot of history here.
Iketani looked away first, her attitude slipping into disinterest. "Unfortunately, loyalty is something that cannot be bought."
"True," Emmagan replied.
"But, I find that there is enough that I can buy to keep me satisfied."
"Unlikely," Emmagan responded surprising John.
Iketani laughed at that, the sexy sound bouncing off the corridor walls around them. "I have heard the same of you, Emmagan."
"Are you joining us in the fleet?" Emmagan asked abruptly.
Iketani made a show of sighing regretfully before another false smile turned to her beautiful face. "Unfortunately I am needed back on my home world, or I would have been there with you and our number."
"Of course," Emmagan replied, but it was clear that she saw right through that excuse. "I had heard rumours about your health." Iketani looked thrown for a moment, her smile disappearing in an instant and her eyes locked with Emmagan's.
"My health is very well," she stated.
Emmagan nodded. "Then it must have been another who I had heard visited the unspoken clinic back on Pravis."
A red shade crept up Iketani's pale cheeks. "Yes, another."
"It was pleasing to see you then, Iketani. I wish you well back on your home world," Emmagan said formally as she bowed slightly, but John could tell she kept her eyes on Iketani, as did the other woman as she returned the gesture.
"And to you, Emmagan. I wish you a great victory." Her eyes moved to John again. "And remember my offer on taking from your hands what you will tire of." She moved forward with a quickness John had last seen only in Emmagan, and her toned body brushed against his side as she pushed past. John held his ground not stepping away. Let her think he liked it.
As she left he realised there had been a slave of her own standing behind her. The man was dressed in leathers which were tight and open at his chest. Two bright nipple rings caught the light and as he passed by John saw that there was no back to the leather trousers the man wore. John had the flashing image of Iketani in a Dominatrix outfit and quickly turned away from the view with a wince, thanking God that she hadn't decided to buy him.
Emmagan gave him a look that said that she knew what he had been thinking and then she was off, back on their route up the staircase. John took one last look at the slave's pale butt cheeks disappearing around the corner of the corridor and shuddered as he hurried up the stairs to catch up.
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TBC
