The newly elected Supreme Leader of Imperium implemented the zero-tolerance immigration policy. The policy was aimed at outsiders who crossed the border into Imperium seeking asylum. A new task force, called the Immigration Corrections Establishment, or ICE for short, was assembled. ICE captured any outsiders who crossed the border illegally. The "Illegals," as they were called, were held in cages which Imperium leaders referred to as Immigration Detention Centers.
The women who had emigrated with their slaves from other countries to Imperium were all being detained. The migrant slaves were separated from their Mistresses at the border. The youngest slaves were eighteen and could not handle the emotional trauma of being torn apart from their Mistresses, as many of them had never been separated from their Mistresses before. They were detained in crude, hastily made cages, built from cheap fencing. They found themselves in an unfamiliar land, separated from the Mistresses they relied upon to take care of them, and imprisoned in cages. And they were frightened.
One day, while at the workshop, Nadia and Ariadne witnessed as Immigration Corrections Establishment officers detained some of their fellow workers who were outsiders. The ICE officers raided the workshop and chaos ensued as they grabbed the workers, apprehending the outsiders as they attempted to run off in all different directions, and then forcing them away in rickshaws. Nadia and Ariadne kept their heads down, trying not to draw attention, their hearts racing as quickly and chaotically as the commotion that surrounded them. The outsiders were all bound and loaded onto the rickshaws. Ariadne watched as the final rickshaw holding the captured outsiders departed.
"History repeats itself," Ariadne said, with a lifetime's worth of sadness in her eyes.
"I hear they aren't just locking them up in the detention centers anymore," a male slave said. "Now, they're sending them away to Mater."
An uneasy feeling trickled through Nadia. She rose from her seat and slowly headed towards the Imperium gates. Her anxiety evolved into panic, and she dashed towards the Ladorian Harbor docks. Once Nadia arrived at the docks, she saw the slaves being taken away on the ship to Mater. Her heart plummeted as she saw her brother Nicolae being led onto the vessel. The tragedy metamorphosed into a nightmare as she saw not only her brother, but Slave 004 being led onto the ship as well. Callisto was present at the docks and Nadia rushed up to her.
"Callisto, you cannot do this. You cannot take my brother away; and not Slave 004. Don't take them away," Nadia begged, grasping onto Callisto's shirt.
"Guards, escort this slave back to Imperium," Callisto ordered, her callous, beady eyes looking away from Nadia.
The two male guards grabbed Nadia and dragged her away. She couldn't bear to look anymore, she couldn't watch them be taken away, especially not Nicolae, and her eyelids forced themselves shut. She could hear herself screaming, and yet she couldn't feel it; everything went numb, everything went dark, and everything went away.
Nadia had arrived in Imperium a naïve young woman of twenty, and had grown into a strong, much wiser woman of twenty seven. She was working one blistering afternoon at the workshop. Even though she had been anticipating that day for a long time, her heart still pounded and she still kicked and screamed as she was taken away by the Immigration Corrections Establishment officers. Nadia was incarcerated in one of the cages in the Immigration Detention Centers. Callisto felt as though she had no choice but to detain Nadia, in response to public outcry over the hypocrisy that the General so vehemently spoke out against outsiders and yet she was engaged in courtship with one.
Nadia went on a hunger strike in protest. The guards brought her meals to her every day. She did not eat a bite. She stopped speaking as well soon after being incarcerated. She didn't talk to the other detainees or to the guards or even to Callisto on the rare occasions she came to visit. Nadia did not speak and she barely ate for weeks.
Tales of Imperium Slave 111's hunger strike spread throughout the lands. Those who heard of Nadia's story did not know her name or her appearance; they only knew that there was an Imperium slave who had gone on a hunger strike due to the Supreme Leader's zero-tolerance immigration policy. And because of the attention placed on her hunger strike, information began to leak in regards to Imperium sending slaves away to Mater. General Suarez and General Callisto were enraged that Nadia had drawn so much attention to Imperium's deplorable policies. So, the two Generals decided that they would send Nadia away to Mater as well.
Callisto approached Nadia's cage at dusk. Nadia could see Callisto's beady eyes peering at her through the bars of her cage.
"I am sending you away to Mater, slave," Callisto said, waiting for Nadia's response. Nadia sat in stone-cold silence. Callisto's aggravation intensified as she continued speaking.
"We have a zero-tolerance policy against illegals. The city of Imperium will not be a migrant camp. Immigrants are threatening to pour in and infest our city. These people come in from shithole countries. You wouldn't believe how bad these people are. These aren't people. These are animals," Callisto said.
