Forbidden Love

It only took one day to get back to home base and I was extremely tired from more of the training I did before we landed. The crew was paid and I got a small amount for my time off base. It was way more than what I was expecting because I was on a warship I was paid four times the normal rate of a U-F officer it being dangerous. I got that money into my account and I headed to the stores for a bit of shopping for Bradley and me at the apartment. I got new clothes for myself and took a long walk home to take it all in.

I looked like a dork with a smile on my face walking with a ton of shopping bags, Then I saw my reflection in a window when I passed by a shop. I seem to slim down a bit and looked better than I did months ago. When I got home, I saw Bradley waiting for me at the door. " Hey bro, miss Swan left those here for you." He said, pointing at the huge boxes of stuff for me, I opened one and they had tons of clothes for the trip but there were way too many options. So I picked out what looked good on me and what was more formal.

I put out the clothes I wanted to wear right away and headed to the shower since I felt grimy. After I was done in the shower, I came out to the living room in my shorts and t-shirt. Bradley came into the apartment with a smile on his face telling me Roc was outside wanting to talk to me.

He looked at me with a smile as he had heard what I was up to since being pulled from the academy for a bit. "So, how has the training with Hallz has been, I hear he's a bit difficult to get used to with his hard teachings." He said to me, I laughed and told him about how hard the workouts were for me not having my enhancements like the other U-F officers. Then I told him about what I did to a guy with eight arms. Roc looked at me and seen I had gotten stronger and that I had something on my mind. "What is Jake, what do you want to ask me?" Roc asked me when I finally got the courage to ask him this. "I have guard duty on your home planet, protecting Captain Swan. I want to learn about your culture and your language so I don't need its device. " I said, pointing to my wrist.

Roc looked at me for a moment, then he gave me a book he had and a device he had in his pocket. "I have these things here," He handed me them both and I put them in my pocket. "The device is a language teacher and you put it in your ear with those headphones. It teaches you all you need to know about complex and easy conversations, it's set to my planet's languages. That book is our rules and culture, history, it's very important you don't disrespect the elders of the capital." Roc and I talked for a moment till the sun went down.

That night I was messaged by Swan about her coming in the morning to get me for our journey. So I put on the device and listen to it while I slept, peaceful it was but felt longer than it actually was. I woke up early that morning to see if the device worked and to my surprise, I could read the book Ropc gave to me the night before. What I learned from the book was concerned and scary to me, people from the planet of Birdia can not marry or date those from other planets. This meant the feeling I had, of attraction to Swan, couldn't be shown while I was with her people.

As I took in what the book said I was heading to the living room putting on my clothes as I walked. The pants went on first and then when I reached the living room, I was just putting on my shirt. You could smell how fresh I was out of the shower since I did that first and to what didn't know was Swan was in the apartment. She was waiting for me, I combed my hair back to see her on my couch blushing for she saw my bare skin for the first time. She came up to me and adjusted the collar of my shirt.

"You look good for a human my dear Jacob, we should get going soon." She said to me as I stood there like an idiot not saying anything back to her. All I could picture was her people's rule of not having an intimate relationship with people like me. Though my head was screaming at me, "Swan I know this is late to say, " We had made it to her hovercraft when she turned to me. "But you look beautiful today and thank you for the last complement.

We went to the hanger and headed to the carrier ship, she was taking, there stood hundreds of her people going with her. Roc was among them and he smiled at me and Swan greeted him, "Hello captain Roc it's been a long time." She said to him with a very formal straight face, Roc smiled at her and looked my way. "Oh, hello captain Swan, It's a pleasure to see you as well, I see you have Jake with you today for our journey home." He said, knowing full well that I was coming, Swan though had no Idea I knew Roc or he knew me.

She didn't ask but we all sat together while the ship took off the ground heading for their home planet. I had learned all I could from the book Roc gave me so the trip was boring with nothing to do. So I asked Swan if she wanted to hear how I knew Roc? She looked at both of us and saw Roc was embarrassed about what I was about to tell her. Swan was curious about it so I gave her the full detailed story of the case and the time I coming to the U-F. Swan smiled after hearing what Bradley did and couldn't believe the judges would convect Bradley like that.

What I said next though took Swan's heart, "Without that moment of misfortune like that, I would have never been given this chance. The chance of becoming the only human in space at this level and meeting incredible people. " Swan looked at me and she was pleased with what I had said. We traveled for almost two days in space going to Birdia, I slept only for a couple of hours at a time, so Swan was safe, that was my job so it was expected of me to do what I had to.

We heard the announcement of us coming to a landing and I had to put on my belt but no one else did. I watched everyone get up and head to the landing pad to go to the ground, when we did hit the ground I saw the planet. It was huge like and you could see a huge castle, you could see everyone but me was the same race as Swan. They all looked like birds of what I was used to seeing on my own planet. I, you could say stood out like a sore thumb, this was a concern, but I had a job to do so I needed to stay strong.

I was looking all over when I heard a woman's voice in front of Swan, "Who is this man with you, my daughter?" I looked over and saw an older version of Swan standing there looking at me with a happy face. I smiled at her knowing this might be Swan's mother, so I said with the planet's native tongue. "It's an honor to meet Swan's mother, my name Is Jacob Zero but you can call me Jake if you like." I bowed my head to her and Swan's mother laughed and looked impressed with how well I could speak.

"So this is the young man who saved you and your whole crew from the pirates?" She said to Swan thanking me for doing that, "no need to thank me, ma'am, it was my job to protect the ship." Swan's mother's name was Roxian and she was a very nice woman or that's what she seemed to be. I spent time more of a guest than an escort the first moments of me being there. I was having fun with all the niceness, I had been receiving but I knew it was because Swan was always next to me. During dinner, I saw they had a huge party waiting in the back courtyard and with parties came dancing.

I was no dancer, but when Swan asked me to dance I couldn't say no, I was in the chair when she asked me. "Jake, get up and come dance with me please." She said when all I could do is smile, and she dragged me out of the chair. The music got slower when we got to the middle of the floor, Swan was blushing and I was being watched by everyone. As we got further into the moment we got closer and I didn't care about what the rules were anymore. Whatever Swan felt about me was I just knew she might be the one woman I need.

As we danced across the floor it was beautiful and you feel how warm the air was. Then from that moment peace always comes the next set of chaos. I felt a drop of hot water hit my hand, I looked up and seen a huge thing of water up above us. It was being pushed off the ledge of the top balcony at us. Knowing how hot the water was I pushed Swan away from getting hurt, she landed in her father's arms as I was hit by the hot water. Everyone stopped to see what had happened and the man who did it was still in shock the water did nothing. Though some water did touch Swans skin I had the whole thing hit me. You could see hot burned my skin was, and I was the most pissed I had been in years.

Swan's hand was burned worse than my face, guessing her kind can't stand high temp water as humans can. Her hand started to blister when she wiped the water off, I ran over to her and helped her with the healing meds I had on me. I knew the man was trying to take me out with the poor attempt at killing me. Swan's father was mad not at me, but at the Bird, who disrespected the party and me. "Swan I'm sorry about you getting hurt, It's because I am here," I said when she touched my face with her good hand. "No, you have nothing to be sorry about, I was the one who asked you to come here and to dance."

Her father came up to me and thanked me for saving and helping her, but I couldn't say anything more. I got up and took a long walk around the city, Swan was going to come after me but was stopped by her parents. "Sometimes a man must figure out what he needs in life, let him choose to come back." Her father said as Swab watched me walk further away, She had a tear in her eyes for what occurred.

That night I stayed in the streets, I watched everyone and picked up a few things, not from the book. In the distance you could see Swan's father watching me from the house, "That man could become her's no doubt about it."