Stephanie's Challenge

by M. K. Eidem

  "Picking up the supplies Captain Burk requisitioned," he told her, and everyone noticed that he didn't use her title.

  Stephanie's mind went back to Burk's report stating he would be sending someone to do just such a thing. The report hadn't given a name. Apparently, Woodrow had volunteered.

  "I see, and this is where you were directed to pick up those supplies?"

  "No."

  "Then I suggest you go to where you were directed and get back to Comorin. Captain Burk needs those supplies. As for the rest of you, if you're not here to train, then I suggest you return to your assigned duties."

  As the room quickly cleared, she turned to Kort and the House of Protection guard who had assisted him in restraining Nick. "Jaxon?"

  "Hello, Commander," Jaxon gave her a small smile. "And it's Captain now. I'm the head of Princess Cyndy's security detail."

  "I'm sorry, I hadn't heard that."

  "Well I'd say you have an excuse, what with nearly dying and all."

  "True, but still congratulations are in order. Peter must have great faith in your abilities." Jaxon just nodded slightly, silently accepting her compliment.

  "Have you and your men been able to find everything you need while you've been here?"

  "Yes, your men have been very accommodating."

  Stephanie laughed at that, knowing doublespeak when she heard it. She'd done it a time or two herself on challenging assignments. "Well, if you find there is something you need, feel free to contact me personally."

  "Thank you, Commander, I just might take you up on that." With that, he gave her a nod and went to resume his workout.

  "Stephanie," Nick began, but she ignored him.

  "Kort, thank you for your assistance today."

  "No thanks necessary, Commander," Kort said, concerned eyes moving from her to Nick.

  "There is since you seem to be the only person under my command that follows my orders." Without another look at Nick, she left the room.

  "Shit, man, you're in deep trouble," Kort said after Stephanie left the room. "Deep. Deep. Trouble. What the fuck were you thinking going after Woodrow like that?"

  "Do you actually think I'm just going to stand around and let some little foabhor from the House of Healing insult my life mate like that?"

  "He wasn't insulting your life mate, he was insulting our Commander. And because of your actions, she couldn't take him down the way I'm sure she wanted to. Not without it seeming personal. I thought you had a better handle on this."

  "So did I, but seeing her on the ground like that, knowing I'm the one that put her there, made me a little crazy. I would have gotten a handle on it, but then Woodrow had to go and open his fucking mouth."

  "What's with him anyway?" Kort asked. "I know Stephanie had some concerns when he applied, but when she accepted him, I assumed it had all been cleared up."

  "I did too."

  "She hasn't said anything?"

  "No, not as our Commander or as my life mate."

  The slight clearing of a throat had both of them turning to find Captain Jaxon behind them.

  "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but perhaps I could be of some assistance."

  "How?" Nick demanded, not happy with how Stephanie had encouraged the other man to personally contact her.

  "I happened to have been in the same training class with the Commander and Sergeant Woodrow."

  "You were?"

  "Yes."

  "And?"

  "What's your question?" Jaxon asked.

  "What does Woodrow have against my... our Commander," Nick corrected.

  "Besides the fact that she is the Commander and he's just a Sergeant? Besides the fact that she's the recipient of the Medal of the Ancestors? Besides the fact that she routinely put him on his back during Captain Chamberlain's training program?"

  "Yes, besides all that."

  "She's a woman," Jaxon told him.

  "What?"

  "Sergeant Woodrow despises your Commander because she's a female, and has bested him at every turn in his career."

  "You're telling me he's a purist?"

  "In his own way, when it suits his interests. Stephanie knows this. She had to deal with his attitude during Peter's class. When I heard she had accepted his application, I couldn't believe it."

  "We needed all the help we could get," Nick told him.

  "No help is sometimes better than bad help," Jaxon quietly said.

  "We encouraged her to accept him," Kort murmured quietly.

  "All which I'm sure she took into consideration, but ultimately the decision was hers. All I can advise you to do now is to watch not only her back but yours as well. Woodrow is a snake, and he won't hesitate to strike."

  "He'll have to go through me first," Nick declared.

  "Everyone saw that. It's a good sign that a Commander's men are willing to back them up, to fight for them and follow their orders without hesitation. You didn't do the last one."

  Nick couldn't deny that.

  "I'd heard rumors that you and the Commander were involved," Jaxon carefully said.

  "We're not involved," Nick stressed the word. "We're life mates."

  "I see. Jaxon held out his hand. "Congratulations. She is an amazing woman."

  "She is," Nick agreed shaking Jaxon's hand.

  "Obviously Woodrow isn't aware of it?"

  "Probably not. He's been off planet, and while we're not hiding it, we haven't gone public with it either."

  "When you do, Woodrow will try to sow discord within your ranks because of that, claiming that you are the real Commander and she's just a figurehead because of her relationship with the King. Especially since you refused to obey her direct order."

  Nick rubbed the back of his neck. "Fuck, I screwed up."

  "Royally," Jaxon agreed.

  ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

  Stephanie made sure her stride was steady and measured, and she held her head high as she walked away from the training area. She nodded to those she passed but didn't stop to chat. Reaching the exterior door that would lead her to her quarters, she pushed it open and walked out into what on any other day she'd consider a beautiful afternoon.

  'No wonder Jotham and her mother had taken the day off.' The random thought filtered through her mind as she crossed the open area to her door. Entering her code into the panel, she pushed it open and closed out the world.

  As the warmth of the shower ran over her body, taking the sweat and grime of the match with it, she let her Commander's mind assess what had happened and why.

  The first was obvious. She was out of shape. She'd slacked off on her training after accepting her new position. That stopped now. She'd need to do some research on how to better protect her good side. She couldn't believe she'd never considered how a single blow like that could take her out of commission. She'd only thought of how she needed to protect her injured side. Now she realized she had it backward. A strike on her damaged side while painful wouldn't cause her any problems. She could handle the pain.

  The second was how she was going to respond to one of her Captain's disobeying a direct order. If it had been anyone other than Nick... But it was Nick, the Captain of the King's Guard, one of the most respected men in the Palace... and her life mate.

  Professionally, he disobeyed a direct order, but he had been off duty, even though as a Captain he never really was. So technically, she had no authority over him, except it had occurred on Palace grounds. So did she discipline him? Would she if it had been Kort or any of her other Captains?

  Was she letting her personal feelings influence her professional decisions?

  It had been the only thing that genuinely concerned her when she and Nick had gotten involved. Not the family issues; of which there were many. Not the living situation; which had quickly been handled. It was keeping the professional and the personal separate. She'd thought they'd been handling it well, up until this incident.

  Shutting off the water, her questions still unresolved, she quick
ly dried off, pulled on a clean uniform, and headed to her office. She still had work to do, and it wasn't getting done here.

  ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

  Nick watched as Stephanie entered the Guard Wing, freshly showered and changed. After speaking with Jaxon, his first instinct had been to rush out and find his life mate. He needed to make sure she was okay from the strike he had landed and to try and explain his actions. But what was there to explain? He'd disobeyed a direct order from his commanding officer in front of a room full of her men.

  Ancestors, he was such an idiot. He hadn't reacted like the seasoned, well-disciplined Captain that he was. No, instead he'd behaved like some raw, first-cycle trainee defending his girl. No wonder Stephanie had walked away from him. He'd promised her he wouldn't let their personal and professional lives bleed together, and he'd failed miserably.

  Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the outer door and headed toward their quarters. He had a lot of hard thinking to do.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The firm knock on her door had Stephanie looking up to find Peter Chamberlain standing there.

  "Captain Chamberlain, come in." She gestured to one of the chairs in front of her desk. "What can I do for you?"

  "I thought you'd like an update on how the training program is going." He took the seat.

  "I would," she said not commenting on why he felt he needed to personally deliver it instead of putting it in the daily report she received.

  "Well, I'm pleased to say that so far there's no one that I see that won't complete the course. Your suggestion of pulling from the Coalition was a brilliant one. Not only are you getting fit, well-trained guards, but most are in their prime and will be able to serve for countless cycles to come. I only wish I could do the same for the House of Knowledge."

  "The petition was specifically worded that there had to be a sudden and urgent need to properly protect a Royal Family," she reminded him.

  "I know. I just wish Cassandra had had it all those cycles ago when she first became Queen."

  "There was trouble with the Royal Guards?" She hadn't heard that.

  "Not so much with Yakira's, from what I've been told, but all of Audric's were released along with a great many Palace Guards."

  "Ouch." She winced thinking about it.

  "Yes, but now things are better, for the most part."

  "Thanks to you," she told him.

  "Will had it handled before I got there, but now I can keep an eye on it 24/7."

  "24/7?" she asked frowning.

  "Sorry, some Earth jargon still slips out. It means every hour of every day."

  "I see." And she did. Peter Chamberlain took the protection of his family very seriously especially after nearly losing them all to the Regulians.

  "Most applicants will be fighting for one of the coveted Royal Guard spots, but there's at least one that I can tell you right now would be better suited for a Palace Guard position."

  "Who?"

  "Major Rocco."

  Stephanie sighed, "Why?"

  "You know him?"

  "He was one of my early trainers in the Coalition. The only one that encouraged me to pursue a career in security."

  "Then we all owe him a great deal."

  "Still..." she waited for him to give his reason why Rocco wouldn't be a good Royal Guard.

  "Major Rocco has spent his entire career making sure those he's trained are some of the best in the Coalition," Peter told her. "You of all people know the toll that can take on a body."

  "You’re saying he's physically unable to complete the course?" That surprised her.

  "No, he'll complete it with scores placing him in the upper twenty percent of the class." That told her Rocco would be more than qualified to be a Royal Guard. "But the rigorous training necessary for him to maintain that level would be detrimental to him, and could cause him to make mistakes with whoever he was assigned to protect."

  "And you don't see him having that same problem as a Palace Guard?"

  "No, while Palace Guard training is still difficult, it's not at the same level as Royal Guards, and he has the perfect temperament for dealing with the public."

  Stephanie thought about that for a minute and realized Peter was right. How many times had she seen Rocco calmly handle a stressful situation, or calm down two recruits when a sparring match got out of hand? Yes, she could easily see him dealing with those that came into the Palace.

  "You'll keep me informed on him?" she asked.

  "Of course, I just wanted you to be aware of my thoughts. Being in command doesn't necessarily mean the one with the best score is the best fit for a certain task. There are always other things to consider."

  "Personality. Motivation. Adaptability." She reeled off without a thought.

  "I noticed you didn't mention following orders without question."

  "No, because..." her eyes narrowed as she trailed off, "You heard about what happened in the training room."

  "Yes. I also heard Woodrow instigated the confrontation. I'm sorry, I think I gave you some bad advice concerning him."

  "No, you just presented me with honest observations. The decision to accept him was mine and mine alone."

  "Perhaps, but you don't have to handle him alone. You not only have your men, who I might say are totally loyal to you, but you have your life mate who happens to be one of those men."

  "Which is the problem," she told him.

  "Only if you let it be. Nick reacted the same way I would have if someone insulted Cyndy like that. The only thing I would have done differently is I wouldn't have stopped until Woodrow was bloodied."

  "I don't believe that."

  "Believe it. There's a great deal about Cyndy's and my relationship that you don't know about. Especially in the early cycles before we had Victoria. Cyndy was so out of my league. Everyone knew her, wanted her, and had more to offer her than I did." He looked at Stephanie for a moment. "I'd say she was a lot like you. She had a high-pressure career that kept her in the public eye. That meant there was always someone in the background trying to pull her down because she was more talented than they were."

  "How did you handle it?" Stephanie asked quietly.

  "Badly," he told her honestly. "I let my male ego and the stupid rumors her haters spread separate us. At least until my little sister got in my face. Cassandra made me face some cold, hard facts, and after that, I got down on my knees and begged Cyndy to take me back. Literally," he said at Stephanie's disbelieving look. "There's an actual video of it. Victoria likes to watch it, thinking it’s romantic."

  "I can understand that."

  "The only reason I'm telling you this is to hopefully prevent you from making the same mistakes I did."

  "They're two entirely different situations, Peter."

  "Not if you strip it back to its essence. Yes, you are Nick's Commander but were either of you on duty? And don't pull that 'you are always on duty' crap. Was this you and Nick sparring or the Commander and one of her Captains?"

  "It was Nick and me," she told him quietly.

  "Then he had every right to go after Woodrow like that."

  "We were in the Guards’ training room."

  "So what? Look I know this relationship is new for both of you, that you're doing your best to separate personal from professional. Just remember that at the end of the day, it's you and Nick that matter. Don't let others’ thoughts or opinions come between you, because trust me... when the shit really hits the fan, you're going to need each other."

  Stephanie found herself thinking about Peter's words long after he'd left her office. Was she looking for a problem that wasn't really there? Yes, Woodrow was a problem, but then he'd always been one. So that wasn't anything new. What was new was that she didn't have to put up with it anymore. If this had happened with any other couple what would her reaction have been?

  Going to her comm, she pulled up the necessary report and filled it out, documenting the incident in the training room along with
the video footage. She then filled out the appropriate form to report conduct unbecoming of a Royal Guard. After placing it in a personnel folder, she forwarded a copy of it to Burk so he could make Woodrow aware of it.

  That done she secured her comm, and went in search of her life mate.

  ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

  Entering their quarters, Stephanie found Nick on the couch in the sitting area, a cold brew in his hand, the entertainment comm off. Moving across the room, she sat down on the other end of the couch facing him. It was then she noticed the cold brew was full, and there was no condensation on the bottle indicating it was warm.

  "Have you been sitting there all afternoon?" she asked quietly.

  "Pretty much. I showered then sat here thinking," he told her and setting his brew aside turned to face her. "Look, I know we have to talk about what happened today, but first I need to know. Are you okay? I didn't mean to hit you like that."

  Reaching out she cupped his cheek. "I'm fine." At his disbelieving look, she stood and removed her jacket then lifted her shirt. "See, not even a bruise. I told you I'm tougher than I look."

  "Still..."

  "I just need to do a better job of protecting my right side. Now I know it’s a handicap. Are you willing to help me with that?" she asked, settling back down next to him.

  "You know I'll always be there to help you." Reaching out he took one of her hands in his. "To protect you."

  "Just like you were when Woodrow tried to humiliate me."

  "I should have bloodied the foabhor," he spit out.

  "That's what Peter said he would have done too, and as much as I wish you had, I'm glad you didn't."

  "Why?"

  "Because it would have made what I decided to do harder."

  "What did you decide to do?"

  "I placed a written reprimand in his permanent file for Conduct Unbecoming of a Royal Guard."

  Nick couldn't say anything for a moment. He'd never even considered that. A written reprimand in a file could end a guard's career, depending on for what and who filed it. For Stephanie, as the Commander, a Princess, and Medal of the Ancestors recipient, only the High Admiral would carry more weight, if Woodrow was still in the Coalition.

  "You don't agree?" she asked.