Merker's Outpost

by I. Christie

  Harriet disappeared back into the bedroom to start her morning meditation.

  Carol settled in front of the computer to read about metrapeople until grunts and other small noises, indicating mistress was practicing a kata, had her deciding to help her with her workout.

  Carol peered into the bedroom where the bed was gone and the dialed environment produced a bare padded room with plenty of space.

  Harriet felt Carol enter the room and turned, pausing to see what she wanted. Carol bowed, removed her robe and moved into a horse stance waiting until Harriet took her place directly in front of her. Both were without clothing, giving them an even footing for vulnerability and distractions.

  "This is going to prove interesting," Harriet smirked.

  "You are at a disadvantage," Carol replied, returning the smirk.

  They worked out for over an hour until Harriet stepped back and then bowed, indicating she was calling a halt.

  "Great workout. Thanks, Carol."

  Carol smiled as they both headed to the shower to rinse off before soaking in the tub. They exchanged kisses and touches in the shower, as they took their time. With nothing demanding their attention until Guardian had his meeting later in the evening, they felt relaxed.

  "I love this life!" Harriet mumbled, sliding her hand to Carol's thigh and grabbing her on her butt cheek and pulling her closer. "Time to stretch, exercise without being rushed, time to share a shower with someone very important…and then having time to soak in herbal waters. What a life."

  "Hmm. My life, as I remember it with Lord Chaney, did not have any of this hedonistic pleasure. I think I like my life with you better, Mistress." Carol's voice was light and teasing, giving Harriet the impression whatever she remembered from serving Lord Chaney had no ill effect…so far.

  "Well, my dear," Harriet bit her on her neck, "we had better take advantage of our time together. When this is all over, I'll be shipped back to the Ziggy and you…your life will be wherever you decide is best for you." Harriet looked into her eyes while she intertwined their fingers. "I would not mind you going where I go, Carol. Don't get me wrong. But only after you have had a chance to decide what you want to do with your life."

  Carol smiled. "I understand you. We will enjoy the time we have together. Tomorrow is for tomorrow."

  "So…" Harriet pulled her out of the shower and led her toward the tub. "What do you think the smuggler's are up to?

  "In all probability, the Merkate, Master Alha Bahna, will attempt to take over the leadership of the smugglers…but he won't have many followers in the smuggler cells that are scattered about the Galaxy. They suspect him of sacrificing their main hide-away that the Collective raided to give the impression Lord Chaney was a bad leader. Ohhh. This is very…" she slid into the tub.

  "Different," Harriet finished, groaning in bliss as the water's heat and herbs seeped into her pores.

  Both women sniffed the fragrance that rose from the bubbling tub appreciatively.

  "It is for calming and refreshing tired nerves," Ald explained.

  "Just what the bot recommended. So, what else were you going to say?" Harriet prodded Carol both verbally and underwater. She had taken a seat directly across from Carol so that their buoyant legs entwined as they leaned back.

  "Master Alha Bahna and Lord Chaney were always at odds since the merkate became his partner. Lord Chaney was forming an alliance with another smugglers' group with part of the deal to 'off' Master Alha Bahna."

  "Oh, joy. Did I ever change things," Harriet hesitated. "It's going to be pretty difficult to return the merkate to his planet if he's caught. Now that he knows all about interstellar travel and has contacts…maybe the guy that picked up the contract will not fulfill the obligation. How far did he get to solidifying it?"

  "It was completed before he died."

  "So…it should be interesting how his death is affecting the smugglers. Whether he died or not…he must have given his new partner information that would give him control of large parts of his business."

  Carol shook her head. "Lord Chaney had many partners in his many businesses and gave them only enough information pertaining to their side of the operations. He felt the less any of them knew of his contacts, the less chance he had in worrying about takeovers."

  "Hmm. Did you know?"

  "Yes."

  Harriet nodded, and then asked hesitantly, "Were you something more than just a bodyguard?"

  Carol looked puzzled. "What is 'just' a bodyguard?"

  "Right, you need a comparison." She thought a while. "Did he tell you about his businesses?"

  "Only when he wished a reprisal on someone involved. Anything more was from overheard conversations."

  "Do you realize that for what you know, you are a valuable asset to some and a liability to others?"

  Carol nodded. "Yes. Captain Zohra also has mentioned it in our first conversation. She wished me to be very careful of anyone that wished to befriend me or approach me."

  "Ahh. When our reinforcements arrive. So, she suspects there will always be a spy to worry about." She realized that even if Carol would want to leave with her when this operation was over, chances are she would not be allowed to. Not until the new Committee government was firmly settled, unless she was a threat to someone Lord Chaney once had something on, was elected.

  "I shall soon be debriefed." Carol smiled reassuringly at Harriet. "Captain Zohra assured me it is a painless process. They have been monitoring me since I started my assignment with Lord Chaney. It has been agreed that four organizations shall have what information I give, therefore one cannot hide it and harm me."

  "Good thinking," Harriet mumbled as she closed her eyes.

  The music that was softly playing in the background lulled Harriet into a relaxed frame of mind and it was with great reluctance that she finally rose from the water peering at her hands that were showing signs of too much soaking.

  Carol followed her taking the towel Harriet handed her. Smiling Carol pulled Harriet toward her. "I know for sure that I was a lover of women before this change," she whispered in Harriet's ear. "And, had circumstances been different…I still would have enjoyed a sexual liaison with you."

  The women shared a slow and sensual kiss, and then parted, enjoying the tingling feeling that did not compel them to consummate the need immediately.

  ***

  *

  Harriet was inspecting her repaired second skin and Carol was pulling on a shirt when Guardian wished them a good morning.

  "Well, our second group of help has arrived!" he announced excitedly. "Admiral JoCastao has a ship above us spreading out a protective net over the planet to prevent any of Alan's group from reentering from space or those below from slipping away. The Vine has dropped soldiers in the city, and are starting a sweep to route out the Spartans and what's left of Alan's soldiers. They have taken the four ships above, including Chaney's. The Committee is not quite ready to trust their troops until they have a new command structure in place; however, they are doing well so far in their keeping peace. They have much to prove. I also have a report that Alan has disappeared. Only one death to report - Gustaf Fermin."

  "Alan's doing?"

  "Naboth's Vine does not believe so. He had a love-hate relationship with his father, but not the type that would warrant sending out an assassin. In Gustaf's profile, he had no friends. Like Lord Chaney, he trusted few. Any relationships he formed were limited to a business deal."

  "Hmm. I've met a handful of people like that. Usually they had a reason for not trusting anyone, which was related to their own practices."

  "Yes. Very justified. We have found Captain Zohra's implant. The consensus is that it was not Lord Chaney's doing, or the entire team would have one. The implantation is a long involved process, and only two in the team were gone for the length of time it would take for the surgery. Maybe, Varina Chaney knows something and will be willing to talk about it."

  "I doubt that," Carol replied. "She, like
her father, keeps her own counsel when it comes to business, and unlike her father, her sexual preferences."

  "She can be tested in front of the Tribunal about her knowledge pertaining to her father's known illegal businesses and attempts on the life of other legal heirs to his estate."

  "She has Thebain heritage," Carol pointed out.

  "Her birth records do not identify her mother as one."

  "Lord Chaney's grandfather was a Thebain. The characteristics skipped Lord Chaney, though he had his persuasive means, but both Captain Zohra and Lady Varina have inherited that ability. I would imagine all his female off-spring have the trait."

  "What about the males?"

  "He only had girls, much to his joy, but not to his lawful wife and Varina."

  "So, we would not know when they are lying or leading us on."

  "That is correct."

  "Why didn't Zohra use that on us?" Harriet puzzled, for she knew about the Thebain abilities. They would have all believed her if she chose to lie about her family.

  "Perhaps she doesn't know she has it," Guardian interjected.

  "From what Lord Chaney had said, they do."

  "Lord Chaney knew both of them had this?"

  "The conversation I overheard was between Lord Chaney and one of his money mangers. He always crosschecked his daughter's verbal reports. It has to do with the voice."

  "Maybe that's why Captain Zohra was able to stay alive for so long with the Black Rose," Harriet mused. "Yet, she did not use it with us. And you said she had an implant. Can you image the difficulty...I wonder if that was one of the reasons for the implant, aside from maybe being a cleverly planted assassin."

  "It would be like Lady Varina to compel Captain Zohra to kill her father," Carol admitted thoughtfully. "Lord Chaney had decided on a metradame as a bodyguard when an assassin had slipped past his guards and mistakenly slain his metrachild. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time, he had said. But it scared him enough to invest in better protection."

  "Helgas bloody moon!" Tightness in her chest at the thought of Zohra's struggle…for years and alone, had her looking for something to distract her. She knew what that was like. Refocusing she easily let her anger at Lord Chaney surface. He knew he was molesting children.

  "What did he do with his metrachildren when they matured…or did the chip prevent maturation? If Lord Chaney was able to enslave children for his pleasures...what of others doing the same to these children? And...what is going to happen to them when they are released?" She worried.

  "A plan has been in the works on their reeducation. Part of the healing is that their memories as metrachildren will be blotted out and their faces changed. The Healers' Houses in both spaces have been working on where to place them and train them for productive lives," Guardian explained. "There are many concerned and compassionate beings working on how to bring back all the metrapeople we can find." He paused a moment. "There is also concern, that some are being taken care of better than they had been before they were metrapeople...and those we must also consider what is best."

  "Isn't that being presumptuous on your part?" Harriet asked testily.

  "Yes. That is why it will be left to the spiritual community to decide on a soul level what will be in line with their soul path for this life."

  "You don't agree with it," Harriet guessed.

  "It is not that I agree with or disagree with it," he sighed. "It is something I do not think about in my present state, so I am not sure. I don't have the same emotional feelings as living in a body would give me. Right and wrong is in black and white, and sometimes in grays, rather than in colorful hues as they should be."

  "Ahh. I had not thought of justice making quite like that," Harriet said softly.

  "Justice making. Yes. That is what master LiTien said. She is quite involved in the discussions and can be quite stubborn in her stand."

  "Well, I guess for Captain Zohra's part, we'll just have to wait until she tells us her story…though I don't see Captain Zohra as a chatty person."

  "Lady Zohra, technically," Guardian interjected with a hint of humor in his tone. "She has been left a title and lands to go with it on El, a small landmass of wilderness on Anim. However, I am told she does not care for the title or the land. It will no doubt go into her Sister's Shield House holdings."

  Lady Harriet raised her eyebrows and smiled. Lady Zohra? That is going to take some time to get use to. "Hmmm. How is she doing?"

  "She appears to be holding up well…though, it would not be advisable to be around her right now. She's a bit short tempered."

  Lt. Montran smiled and then turned to Carol. "When can they start on Carol?"

  "The process has already begun. She had been ingesting caciu in her liquids, and it forms an acidy blood content, not enough to hurt her but just enough to melt the chip. Each species and individual has a body chemistry that may help break the biochip down. If you had read further on the chip itself, you would have read that the chips have to be biodegradable so that the brain could absorb the chip implant without causing seizures over a length of time. That was so the body did not attack the foreign substance in it."

  Harriet pulled off the unicorn ring and handed to Carol. "A souvenir, if you want it. I think that's great, Carol."

  Carol took a deep breath and just nodded. She was not sure just what she was supposed to feel, but...her fingers curled around the ring in the outstretched palm and she looked into the green eyes of her savior. "Thank you, mistress."

  "I don't think that name applies anymore," Harriet whispered, feeling her eyes tearing up at that thought because it had a lot of other underlying meanings. It was a gift she gave but it was Carol's right to have…so was it really a gift?

  "So are you getting any major troop deployment?" Harriet asked to break the emotional tension.

  "Yes. In the next two days a few troop ships will leave off a nice handful to guard the Lair and a few troops in the city to hunt out the remnants of Alan's soldiers." Guardian hesitated wondering if he should say more. After all she was military; however, her admiral clearly stated after he had given her a report of her capture, that she did not want her involved in any skirmishes until she was debriefed and cleared by a psych val. When he had inquired, because he knew where this was going to lead, she stated from military protocol that any soldier captured and tortured must be cleared before returning to duty. Guardian's reassurances did not budge the admiral. Perhaps he should not have reported the other events. She was obviously worried about her mental and emotional stability. Admirals were a stubborn bunch, and for that matter so was the general of the sister's forces and the colonel of the brother's troops in the city. They all felt she needed a break. Well, the healers had arrived and he was sure they would clear her. However, he was worried because they had said Lt. Montran did not need their assistance. No matter. He had notified an old friend who would arrive via the portal soon. She would take care of Lt. Montran.

  Guardian watched Lt. Montran pace working out something out loud to Carol's amusement. She was gesturing in the air about….

  "Well, it's a relief to know it's in someone else's hands. Do you know the commanding officers of this operation?" Lt. Montran wheeled around again and stared right into the camera he had in her room. So much for thinking it was well hidden.

  If Guardian had eyes he would have blinked at the sudden refocus on her conversation. "Aside from your Rear Admiral who has been charged with the space protection, the ground assignments are still being discussed as we speak. They will not be from the Committee. Due to their reorganizing, they are hard pressed keeping their own space safe from pirates who want to take advantage of their situation. War forums are usually composed of two military and two civilians, I understand." Guardian was quiet for a few moments, and then decided to tell her, knowing it may stir her to become actively involved with the protection of the planet. "In my discussions with the other guardians, we have identified what we all thought was a child that caught a ri
de on a smuggler's ship as a stow-away, when in fact…it is an alowan, from another star system in Eckron sector. They are from planet 0eck003."

  Harriet's eyebrows rose, "A closed planet," she muttered. All closed planets had numbers that identified their position on a star chart.

  "Yes. There have been…disturbances that many of the guardians have noted occurring on their planets. When investigated, it was found that these Alowans were there in small pockets of armed forces and in unpopulated areas. When these visitors were discovered…they would disappear…like walking through a gate. They have found a way to force open gates of energy between their planet and others. Scientists were able to trace them back to their planet. Their culture is very primitive in the sense that they have poisoned their planet to such an extent that it is dying. Instead of cleaning up their toxic mess, or asking for help, they have chosen to move to other planets. Opening gates is normally done by a person tuning himself or herself, to the gate. It would also have to be a person that has inner harmony. These people have created a machine that forces the gates open. Our guess is that they are sending out people to find habitable planets."