Merker's Outpost

by I. Christie

  For the rest of Cadet Zohra's third year, she dreamed of her Watcher when the twin moons were on the other side of the planet. Each dark night, she stood at the edge of the glen looking up at the sky's canopy of sparklingly stars, feeling the connection to her Watcher vibrating especially strong. Once she had tried to compel her to show herself but her lifemate resisted. Cadet Zohra's thoughts of Cadet Jaymai no longer came to her mind as Jaymai's influence was over. Her cooled contact with Jaymai ended when Ensign Jaymai left the Academy for her first tour of duty on an outpost near the jump zone in the Juan sector. Following her talk with ChaTak, she found that other students had complained about Jaymai's abuse of her powers. Apparently, her species was able to influence romantic encounters if the other person was interested.

  ***

  *

  Two weeks after Jaymai's new posting Cadet Zohra received a communication from Jaymai asking if their relationship was truly over.

  She must have found another to be asking, or so Cadet Zohra hoped as she reread the communiqué.

  CuDas tapped Zohra on the shoulder.

  "Well, are you going to turn into stone in front of the door or are you going to move?" she asked impatiently, as her stomach rumbled its need.

  "Hmm," the tall dark haired woman responded.

  "What's the news?" ChaTak asked as she picked up her cape near the door.

  "Ensign Jaymai is curious what my intentions with her are," she replied dryly.

  "She's probably got another strong and silent warrior type wrapped around her gloved hand and wants to make sure she is leaving no loose ends!" Clea teased. "We shall drink and celebrate to her new liaison."

  "Clea!" Megan CuDas reproached her. Everyone knew she desired Jaymai.

  "While she was in her 'rutting season,' she left many a heart strewn on the field, and I might add, she did not look back to even take count, nor did she take prisoners."

  "We all should be grateful we don't have that particular impulse," Zohra muttered.

  "Hmph! You can say that now, but I noticed you didn't seem to mind when you were the one she directed her passions to," CuDas retorted.

  "You, my dear, feel that way because you were hoping she would move on from Zohra to you. Your insatiable desires are well talked about in Aphrodite's rooms. Jaymai had a biological reason, what's yours?" Clea's playful digging in her ribs lightened CuDas mood.

  "I'm lucky, I guess."

  They all looked at Zohra.

  "What?"

  ChaTak shook her head and grabbed her friend's elbow. "We won't even ask what your reply is. Come on. We all need to eat and relax."

  ***

  *

  They were laughing as they walked into the bar. Zohra felt the presence of her Watcher the moment she entered the room. Her heart paused in mid beat before resuming at a quickened pace.

  Yes!

  ChaTak watched her friend closely, amused at the sudden change in her bios. This was something she had never witnessed from her.

  As the group found a place to sit, Clea continued to tell stories and keep them laughing. Zohra scanned the room. Her senses heightened as she felt her Watcher link with her, tentatively. The Watcher was surprised and…unsure?

  Laughter from the other side of the room became louder to her ears as those in her immediate vicinity faded out. Her eyes locked on the deep green eyes of her Watcher. Both were aware of the strong desire to connect, reflecting in their eyes. A shy smile turned up the corners of the woman's mouth. Then her Watcher broke the connection…reluctantly. Zohra watched the cadet as she casually, or was it nervously, tossed her cascading orange hair back over her shoulder in a well-practiced gesture. Others moved blocking her from Zohra's sight.

  Conversation at Zohra's table stopped, unnoticed by Zohra, as her companions studied their usually unreadable friend who was showing interest in another, her cheeks reddened with…what? In her relationship with Jaymai, Zohra let her make the overtures and merely followed her lead…until one day she decided she had enough of being led around…or so most of her friends thought. This was a different side of Zohra.

  "That's Lady Harriet Montran and her friends," Megan sniffed. She did not like the upper class of any society, Zohra had found.

  Clea looked steadily at her dark-eyed friend and saw something that she would remember many years later.

  ChaTak hid her grin as she realized what Zohra was feeling. It was not the same feeling she had with Ensign Jaymai - thank the Holy Guardians. And I had thought it was the semester break. So, this one has changed her. It is her lifemate and they both know it. Interesting for their species. I had thought they were not that sensitive.

  ***

  Zohra and her friends passed the PUB two nights later. Zohra found herself drawn to enter it. She could feel the presence of Lady Harriet and wondered how to talk her friends into relaxing there instead of their usual place.

  "Looks like some of our friends are here. Why don't we stop in?" ChaTak suggested.

  Zohra had no doubt that ChaTak knew Lady Harriet was inside.

  "It can't be because of the brew, because they don't carry Cadet Zohra's favorite...but then again..." Clea teased and the others, with the exception of Meagan laughed.

  They glanced at the party that was going on in one of the back rooms, then back to the bar where someone hailed them. Friends were settled around a table and waved them over. Zohra's eyes found Lady Harriet quietly sitting near the back of the party, as if she did not want to be there. Zohra felt her mood was distracted and wondered what preoccupied her.

  "Well, Cadet, is the ale or is it the something else that you intend on ordering?" Clea nudged.

  "I'm not in the mood for a drink, but..." Zohra rose as she caught sight of Lady Harriet moving to leave.

  "Hey, you just got here!" Meagan complained.

  "Cadet, she is from a different class...she would only be polite," another told her.

  "You need to concentrate on your studies. You just got one air head out of your..."

  "Hey, come on, cadets. We're not leaving her alone. She may say something that gets her in trouble. Wait up, Zohra!" Clea shouted as she dragged a reluctant Megan to her feet.

  ChaTak was only a footstep behind Zohra, fascinated at her concentration on this orange haired woman.

  For a few moments, Zohra had thought she lost her, and was walking quickly towards the barracks assuming this was where she was headed. After all, for some cadets it was the night before exams.

  "There she is. Can we slow down now?" Clea huffed.

  "Isn't that, that jerk Fermin with her?" Megan spat out. He was a good example of why Megan despised those that bought their way into the upper class and then abused anyone they could. They had all heard the rumors that Fermin was physically abusive to his girlfriends and was expelled from the Academy for it, but he had simply enrolled in the Diplomatic Corps next door. That had a lot of irony to it.

  Zohra's adrenalin raced at the sudden fear she felt for Lady Harriet's safety. Their link was vibrating with terror.

  "She's in trouble!" Zohra announced as she broke into a run to close their distance. She could hear a voice behind her questioning her but her friends followed hard on her heels. When she saw Alan joined by others to drag a collapsed Lady Harriet between two buildings, Zohra let her lungs release the call to arms for all Cadets. The others echoed her as they descended on the group that looked up surprised and then fearful as they saw the fury in their victim's rescuers faces. They held their weapons up, unsure whether to use them or not and then were overwhelmed by Zohra and her group.

  "Zohra, no!" ChaTa grabbed Zohra and Clea assisted her as they restrained her from plummeting the now unconscious Fermin to death.

  The cadet response was incredibly fast. By then, the swollen face of Lady Harriet was not recognizable but when Cadet Montran's nametag was recognized, many became angry with the two that were still conscious. Cadet Montran was well liked by many because of her geniality and lack of airs tha
t many in the upper classes used to distant themselves from the unfamiliar…that is, working and living amongst those that were less privileged then them.

  Zohra cradled the bloodied head of Lady Harriet until the medics arrived. Her face became more unreadable as her fury against the Fermins increased. The Fermin family was one of the families Naboth's Vine was targeting to expose as abusing their social and economic status.

  ChaTak squatted near her friend with a supportive hand on her shoulder, worried about the change she felt taking place in Zohra.

  For the next three weeks while Lady Harriet's attack was the main topic of conversation, Zohra withdrew from those around her. She spent every spare moment working out alone, trying to rid herself of the rage that was burning a hole in her soul. At the end of the third week, she got a glimpse of Lady Harriet at the court hearing for Alan Fermin.

  Cadet Zohra was shocked at the change in her Watcher. As she stood before the court and removed her cap, many wept at the loss of her long hair. Gone were her laugh lines, replaced with dark and cold eyes that carried no spark of interest in what was going on around her. The change painfully gripped Zohra's heart adding to her resolve to bring the Fermins and people like them down.

  With the added testimony of Alan Fermin's associates, the court found Alan Fermin had willfully assaulted Cadet Lady Harriet Montran with the full intent to inflict pain and death. The stunner found clutched in Alan's fist confirmed he had physically immobilized her leaving her conscious while he attacked her. The extent of the brutal beating at his hands confirmed his desire to kill his victim, even if his associates had not testified. His background of assaulting various women was also exposed, as further proof that a mere reprimand was not just inappropriate but did not address his future victims. The court ruled his actions were a heinous crime against the Galactic Committee's charter.

  News agencies blared…it was a political attack by a wealthy psychopath against a member of one of the oldest and most respected clans in the Galaxy. The news agencies blasted pictures of a youthful Alan at his coming of age party, where he had declared Blood Right against the DeMonte clan and all their related cousins. Though it was a laughable claim considering the Fermins were not a clan, nor even politically mentionable at the time, it was a serious declaration. It called for clan war, an outlawed practice.

  Demands for immediate retribution by the public - exile to Hinterweild, striped of personal belongings - fell against the deaf ears of the criminal board. Zohra knew that though the DeMonte and Montran clans were powerful, the votes on the criminal board had already been bought by means of blackmail and other dark methods. The markers were cashed in. Zohar's consolation was that Gustaff Fermin was planning to use that card for another reason, and now it was used up. All Gustaff Fermin bought was time and one more chance for Alan. He would be sent for reeducation at ADDM. The wealthy could afford to pay for the four stan years of behavior modification, chip implantation - to enforce the behavior program; medication - to lessen the side effects of the chip; and career training, so when the rehabilitated student left, he or she would be a productive member of society. Zohra did not believe ADDM would help Alan and wondered how long it would take the Committee to realize that. Naboth's Vine would be keeping an eye on him, however.

  The day after the hearing classes broke for the summer.

  When they began the last semester, Zohra found that Lady Harriet had switched her course of study from a bridge officer to a more physically demanding tract - infantry training. From her tanned and hardened features, she realized she had been working hard for three months to catch up to the level others in her tract were at. Zohra understood her need to physically work off the fear of being rendered powerless. Zohra was relieved Lady Harriet's room was moved near the guardroom. Neboth's Vine knew the next step was for Gustaff Fermin to hire an assassin. It was standard practice when one family publicly declared Blood Right against another, though if it had not been broadcast by every news media it would have been something only a drunk and those around him had heard. From a military standpoint, it had been a bad move for Alan to attack her himself.

  Zohra kept her distance from Cadet Montran and did not try to link with her. Though both of them were on the same tract, Zohra's classes were more advanced, so chance meetings were not likely.

  At the end of their senior semester, Cadet Delorita Zohra left the Academy and disappeared as she was promptly moved into covert operations where her appearance was changed as well as her name. She took the name Jina Gari or JG. She became a palace guard in time for the uprising and then being the only surviving member, as luck would have it, joined a Spartan infantry group believed to have ties with smugglers. JG started out as a corporal and quickly worked her way up to sergeant before she was reassigned to the target group, the nefarious Black Rose. Ironically, Lord Chaney, her unacknowledged father, who was the alleged head of a major smugglers band, sponsored the Black Rose.

  She heard news now and then of Lieutenant Montran through the Spartan grapevine, and then of her promotion to Captain. She knew what a quick rise in infantry ranks meant and her heart felt heavy for the once tenderhearted woman.

  ***

  Chapter 7

  "Captain on deck!"

  "At ease, soldiers! Gather round!" Captain Miller looked toward Lt. Ninian who nodded that the place had been cleared of any monitoring devices that were not theirs.

  "Our comrades aboard the Spinner's Tale," he paused as the jeers and catcalls echoed eerily through the cargo bay. "As I was saying, Spinner's Tale's crew was actually given an important job from Lord Chaney, however, true to form, they screwed up." The contempt in the captain's voice had the group making lewd comments peppered with rude noises. "We are being asked to assist in locating and delivering this person to Lord Chaney who has been visiting while we were on leave. Lord Chaney thinks she's still alive."

  "Since when does Lord Chaney personally get involved with kidnapping people?" Sgt. Megan Vanster asked.

  "Yeah. Usually his goons handle it," another soldier added.

  "That's not showing too much sense to have anyone on Spinner kidnapping someone!" a voice in the back remarked.

  Again laugher and rude comments followed.

  Captain Miller hesitated a moment. This was going to be the more difficult part because it was against the Black Rose's ethics and he did not want it to take away from why they were really here.

  "He got it up his big arse that Captain Montran as a living, breathing, freely moving citizen is bad for his reputation. He had her kidnapped and brought to Merker's Outpost for some of his fun n' games at the hands of his metradame before turning her over to kid Fermin's metralab people."

  He waited. This was where his soldiers were going to recall that Captain Harriet Montran was a legend among Spartans because she had survived Lord Chaney's two years of determined no-return deployments along with a Spartan group he detested. The Degas troop survived his final death assignment coup in the form of one lone person that survived the prison camp, Captain Montran.

  And then there was the point that Captain Montran was a survivor against all odds making her an unofficial Black Rose member. Once a Spartan, always a Spartan and once a Black Rose…even into death, was a Black Rose.

  "Captain…"

  "If we find her…we'll treat her as we do any other Spartan." There. He did it. He could see it in their eyes, that to them, she was still the highly decorated Captain Harriet Montran of the Degas troop. All Spartans saluted a drink to the troop on dark moon nights when they remembered fallen comrades. Silently he cursed Lord Chaney for his arrogance on ignoring military protocol, and his ignorance on understanding a troop he highly valued. But then again, that lack of understanding was why they were here, which was to Captain Miller's advantage.

  "If she's alive what do we do with her?" Sgt. Major JG asked cautiously.

  He glanced at his Sgt. Major. "We'll deal with that when and if we run into her." He looked over his troop, study
ing them closely. They were uncomfortable with this new assignment. To remind them of their primary target he tapped his sidearm getting the familiar sound that told them he wanted their attention. "This also gives us a good reason to search on the other side of the planet without Lord Chaney becoming too suspicious. Alright, lieutenant, get 'em mounted," he told his second in an undertone.

  "Sgt. Major, ya heard the captain. Let's move out," he told her quietly.

  "Mount up, ya ugly hairy arses!" Sgt. Maj. JG barked.

  ***

  **

  Windstorms that frequented the planet's surface on Merker's Outpost brought a halt to the Black Rose's deployment to the far side of the planet. That was where the team's recon tactical specialist pinpointed as the most likely place for Captain Montran's disappearance. During the storm's duration, Captain Miller had his team return to quarters and rest. It was two stan hours later when the clangons sounded, waking everyone up. While Sgt. Major JG had the troop scattered to secure and lock down the city's access doors, Lt. Ninian monitored damage control. Captain Miller was aboard the Spinner's Tale, involved in an unsolicited and unwanted call from the kid Fermin.