Neutral Space by Rebecca Tran
Chapter 1
M
y name is Jackson Eli Peterson, and this is my true story. Not the story the human and the Kelsairan governments want you to believe. I was born and raised on Sirus Seven, otherwise known as Greed to the humans. Each of the seven inhabitable planets of the Sirus system was renamed for the seven deadly sins of the Bible. They were after all the starting point of the war between the Kelsairans and the humans. A war, I might add, that has become a way of life for both races over the past two hundred years.
The humans began their colonization effort in the year 2655. It began with the Hyperion system closer to Earth and had mild success. It was then that the Kelsairns took an interest in humans. They had done the same thing and wanted to share their technology; of course, they tried to make a nice profit in the process. So, the trading began, and both races prospered. Humans spread to other systems and had five colonized planets in 50 years. Then, civil unrest led to civil war on Kelsair. Trade was suspended, and each race went on with their own business.
When the new Kelsairan government rose out of the ashes of the old, it looked to the humans once again to start trade. But the humans no longer needed the Kelsairans. A group of planets was promised to the humans to entice them back into trade agreements. The Sirus system was abandoned during their civil war, and seven inhabitable planets so close to one another proved too appetizing to be overlooked. The deal was signed. The Sirus system became a human territory.
That is how it remained for nearly a century. Then the Kelsairans sent an embassy to Earth, and all hell broke loose. They demanded the return of the Sirus system stating that the human tenancy was at an end. The president, of course, refused. The trade agreements said nothing about the humans being tenants; not to mention it would have displaced three billion people. And so the war began, and it hasn’t stopped since.
It's May 18, 3006 now and I find myself at the end of a strange and undistinguished career in the army. I am not old enough to retire nor am I wounded. I have not finished my contract, yet my career is over all the same. There are many reasons I left the army. But, I’m afraid none of them would make sense unless you read my story as I lived it; starting from the point when I realized something was wrong with everything I knew. Two years ago my unit was on a reconnaissance mission on the third moon around Ceme; a planet on the border of Kelsairan and Human territories. There was supposed to be a munitions storage, our job was to find the warehouse and get out. We were ambushed and took heavy fire. My men managed to escape. I woke up on a Kelsairan transport with a pounding headache.
The man next to me smelled from weeks of confinement, but at least he was human. “Friend, where are we going?” I asked.
“Don’t know, I don’t speak their trash.”
“Kras,” the man across the row offered. Kras damn it. That was the last place we wanted to go. “It’s good news Kelsairan jails are bound to be better than any they would put just humans.”
The man was trying to cheer me up I knew. Kras wasn’t any Kelsairan prison it was for their hardened prisoners, and we would not be given separate cells. These men may have a chance of living they didn’t look to be military. If the Kelsairans realized I was, they would attack me on the spot just out of spite. I managed a smile for the man hoping I would make it to my first meal.
“What branch are you, boy?” another man asked.
“Army,”
“The guards have been by three times to check on you already.”
“Surprised they care they usually don’t take prisoners.” The men laughed at my half-hearted joke, but it made me wonder why I was still alive. I killed five of them before my gun jammed and another with my knife before they knocked me out. They should have killed me on the spot.
It took another week to reach Kras. We weren’t treated kindly. Kras was dug into the side of an asteroid with artificial life support in the compound. Everything was metal and unnerved most men. To me, it was home. Most of my adult life was spent on a ship. Granted the accommodations would not be as nice as what the army provided. It wouldn’t matter though if the guards didn’t pay attention I’d be dead soon. I kept a wary eye out as Kelsairan prisoners watched me pass.
We were taken to a set of holding cells and kept in a group of four. For the moment we remained together. It was good news for me; I might make it to breakfast after all. Four mattresses lined the floor with a communal toilet in the center. A single yellow bulb lit the room, and the thick metal door had only a slit for a window. Thank God I’m not claustrophobic. That night I lay in bed staring at the door uncomfortable in the new surroundings. Something was wrong; I could feel it. A shadow passed over the window. The prison was supposed to be on lockdown until the morning. Guards would have turned the lights on by now. I kicked Dan sleeping on the mattress at my feet and threw my shirt at Jim. I hushed them before either spoke. Jim kicked Steve awake, and we all huddled in the corner waiting for whatever came through the door.
My heart pounded in my chest as I waited. I licked my lips as I stared at the door. Two Kelsairans by the look of them slipped into our cell. All four of us rushed them taking advantage of the dark. I’m still not sure of what happened. I do know that one of the Kelsairans had a knife and managed to stab Steve. Jim and Dan wrestled the other to the floor leaving me alone with the second. One Kelsairan against one human wasn’t fair by any means. Kelsairan males were twice as strong as human males and very fast. Their females were only slightly less formidable. Luckily I had my military training to fall back on, and this Kelsairan was not military as well. I managed to knock him out just as guards came running.