unfederated sanctuary

[warpfairy]

Davlia does not join the Federation. In fact, Davlia is quite collectively outraged that the Federation would refuse them entry until they received kindly donated technological insight, and only then ask them to participate in the government that wanted to condemn their would-be benefactor to life in prison. Davlia decides that it's doing all right by itself; it uses what Isabella and Lalita can dump into the nets from their stolen ship's library, and their new warp tech, to make contact with other civilizations, and are presently trading merrily with non-Federation civilizations and scouting a possible colony site a few stars to the galactic east.

Isabella catches up with Lalita on the language, and by the time they've been living among Davlians for a year they're both fluent. Lalita has an easier time making himself useful to their hosts than Isabella does, what with his vast arsenal of variously practical skills, but Isabella manages to make a few PADDs from the ship take Davlian electricity and pokes around on the nets, contributing useful ideas in appropriately modest pseudonymous fashion. (Not under "polarbear". That wouldn't make her inconspicuous, here. She goes by the less than concealing "priv_sky"; if anyone, under all the careful not-prying, is curious about her identity, they may have it, but she's trying to be polite.) Occasionally she gets a Davlia-approved thrill of warmth when something she's suggested anonymously is put into practice and nobody knows it's hers except Lalita.

The ship doesn't have very good bandwidth for subspace access to the Federation nets - it's warp-capable, but it was mostly not intended for long-distance runs, it didn't need to send large packets of information through subspace when it was generally within fine range for radio. Also, the Federation knows where they are, or at least has a very strong hunch - it just can't scoop them up without annoying the Davlians, who they're still trying to court. They can restrict information flow to the Potomac systems (because wherever they think it is, they know it was stolen) and to Davlia's own nets. News of home is not nonexistent, but it is infrequent and probably filtered.

They've been on Davlia for almost six years when Isabella learns that their neighbors have been unobtrusively considering her and Lalita what amounts to common-law married since they landed. She tells him so.

Comments

[dream_me_up]

"That seems reasonable," says Lalita.

[warpfairy]

Isabella laughs. "I suppose I can see why they'd assume it!" And then she taps her foot; she's been going barefoot since her only pair of shoes wore out, since the commodity is scarce on a planetful of hoofed people. "Do you want to get married? Engaged, I mean, to start?"

[dream_me_up]

"Sure."

[warpfairy]

"Depending on which planet's customs we use we could consider it all sealed up, er, in five months."

[dream_me_up]

"Fine by me," says Lalita, kissing her nose.

[warpfairy]

She laughs, and kisses his mouth.

It is two months after this conversation when Viv - who is grown up, now, most of the way, and considers herself a special friend of the sky people - visits with some news from the Federation of Unfriendliness.

It has gotten - unfriendlier.

In spite of Isabella's private trial, word has gotten around about what she was doing; she inspired a handful of less-competent copycats, all quickly rounded up, and they inspired still more, two of whom are still at large. Some less directly practical support for her philosophies is also underway.

In response, the Federation - as married to the Prime Directive as any government ever was to an ideal - has tightened the restrictions. They will not interact with just any old culture that has produced a warp signature. Any world that shows signs of "contamination" from an advanced people will not be recognized by the Federation for a five-decade probationary period, however much the civilizations may scratch at the door of utopia and claim no-fault-of-their-own. Work of Isabella's sort has been rendered worse than useless.

Isabella is not pleased.

[dream_me_up]

"I don't think they're going to get through even one full five-decade probationary period before that little stunt comes down around their ears," says Lalita.

[warpfairy]

"Maybe not," she allows. "Still, it's - they're such - ugh. Signs of contamination!"

[dream_me_up]

"The Federation is full of reasonably decent people. It's a good step when the higher-ups publicly embarrass themselves by forgetting that."

[warpfairy]

"I suppose the President is up for reelection in two years and this may provide some worthy opponent a good platform," she sighs.

[dream_me_up]

"There is that."

[warpfairy]

"And at least they aren't trying to withdraw from the recent admissions to the Civilizations That Can Fly Really Really Fast Club."

[dream_me_up]

Lalita laughs.

[warpfairy]

There's more news, a few weeks later.

Isabella's sort of crime has been rendered "unmotivated and harmless".

She was never under suspicion for anything else.

She is offered amnesty, and also, they want her to appear on New Vulcan for a repatriation ceremony of some kind, which isn't exactly an apology, but sounds like something that might be produced by someone who feels obliged to offer something in the same neighborhood.

[dream_me_up]

"Well, that's... vaguely suspicious."

[warpfairy]

"It is. Do you think it's a trick?"

[dream_me_up]

"It might be. Hard to tell what the catch is, though. Do you want to go see?"

[warpfairy]

"I'd suggest that I could go alone and if I don't tell you in a timely manner that everything's clear you could rescue me again, but - based on the timing I don't want to be across the quadrant from you."

[dream_me_up]

"There is that," he says. "I'll go with you."

[warpfairy]

She leans on him. "I love you. I don't suppose you know how to use our teeny subspace bandwidth from the Potomac to hack into the necessary things to discover if the amnesty is legitimate?"

[dream_me_up]

"Not easily. I could do it, but it would take a while. Or I would have to go somewhere that had better bandwidth."

[warpfairy]

"We could stop - somewhere. I don't want to try paying Ferengi for subspace bandwidth, but someplace where it would be easier to pop back here, or where we couldn't be snapped up if it turned out that's what's waiting. Breen, maybe? I don't know much about the Breen except that they're not Federation and don't tend to shoot on sight."

[dream_me_up]

"Hmm," he says. "I don't know much about them either. What I can tell you for sure, though, is that if the amnesty isn't legitimate and the announcement reached us all the way out here anyway, there's going to be hell to pay, politically speaking. Want to risk it?"

[warpfairy]

"You suppose I could accomplish much by getting recaptured if that's what they have in mind?" she asks. "Concretely, I mean, not just inconveniencing someone's speechwriter."

[dream_me_up]

"Well, you can't know how the dice are going to come up before you throw them. But it'll be a push. Especially if you manage to put out some kind of public statement about it that uses words like 'betrayal'."