Merker's Outpost

by I. Christie

  I knew that. Wait a moment! Didn't she already tell me that? Goddess! I'm so confused. Either I feel it's like I've heard it already or I seem to be a step behind in remembering this stuff.

  ***

  Chapter 22

  As Major Zohra scanned the faces of the sisters, some of whom she did not know, she realized that if she had known that her work with Naboths Vine would keep her from her sisters for so long she would have not taken the assignment so readily. She breathed deeply taking in the scent and energy that a group of women exuded. Now she was able to appreciate the differences of camaraderie between the Black Rose and her sisters.

  She let a slow quiet sigh out. While she was a Spartan she kept tight control of her dreams and any wishful thoughts for this type of companionship for fear of giving herself away. She had been alone for the first two years, until she transferred into the Black Rose. Then she made contact with Galdin in the House of Aphrodite. It was not until three stan years ago that Vanster and Roberts joined the squad. Her eyes clouded at the thought of Marilyn Roberts. She was still held in the containment cells by order of General Aglauros with the rest of the Black Rose team.

  Why?

  Her eyes fell on a soldier, whose eyes reminded her of the many women and men she met in the Cave. Shifting her thoughts uneasily, she recalled her respites in the House of Aphrodite. For appearances, she had spent time in the Cave, dealing out pleasurable pain to those that wanted the scared and lean muscled dark leather clad warrior to lay red stripes of the lash over their bodies, and then do with them as she wished. It was erotic for her and there were women that she looked forward to seeing regularly. When Megan Vanstar joined the Black Rose team, she found Megan was interested in playing the same dominating role over the men and woman that frequented the room.

  The members of the Cave determined when the training period for sub to dom was sufficient. Megan had spent time with all the Mistresses and Masters of the Cave before she was initiated from sub to dom. To Megan's credit, she was not maliciously abusive; she loved her role and was good at it, knowing intuitively how much her slaves could take. Zohra smiled. Those visits to Aphrodite's House were reprieves they both lived for, not just for the sexual release but because neither had to worry about who was gunning for them. Zohra looked at her hands that had tightened around the baton she was holding, without seeing. Without that safe harbor would she have survived? She did not think so.

  A touch on her sleeve caused her to redirect her attention to Captain Chilali. They exchanged knowing glances and then Captain Chilali nodded to the young warrior who looked like she had a message.

  "Major Zohra, the shamans are preparing for the meld with Takenya and the Eunit."

  "She is no longer Takenya, Cpl. Gwen," Captain Raizel gently reminded her.

  Gwen's face turned a blazing red at making a simple error in front of three commanding officers.

  Lt. Machi shook her shoulder gently with a smile on her face.

  Major Zohra's eyes stared above the heads of the women as her eyes darkened.

  "Takenya, Sheila or Carol, has played one of the most important parts in this deadly game," she said softly. "She had given up her personality and knowledge of her history to become Sheila in order for us to get the necessary inside information into Lord Chaney's operations. As Carol she will meld with another to go into dimensions we know nothing about, and as warriors we will probably never experience, nor care to. I do not believe that I could ever do something like that no matter how great the cause," Major Zohra admitted to those around her.

  "JG, you lived undercover as a Black Rose for seven years!" Lt. Machi pointed out. "And two years before that as a common Spartan soldier. That is a long time to play a role."

  Major Zohra finally drew her eyes from the distance she had focused on and looked deep into Machi's blue eyes. "If I had known what it would be like, I would have been too fearful to have even taken the assignment."

  Captain Chilali's strong hands gripped the powerful shoulders of her major kindly. "We all look back at where we started and ask ourselves the same thing: if we had known, would we have chosen the path we took or if we had known would we have even tried. That is the luxury of looking back. Be grateful, sister Major that you have survived to express your fear. There is no shame in that."

  When Capt. Chilali looked into the major's eyes, she saw a strength that she envied for it was wrought from a different flame and promised a depth in spirit that she cared not to develop in this life. She well understood what Major Zohra was talking about.

  "Captain Raziel, signal the sisters from the House of Esther that it is time," Major Zohra directed.

  Through a communicator, Captain Machi spoke with the group that was waiting in Waterland, as prearranged with the shamans. They were to make sure that Carol's meld with the Enuit was as comfortable as possible. The Sisters of Esther were skilled in dealing with the spirit of people.

  Captain Machi touched Major Zohra's elbow, nodding towards the food on the table to remind her that their dinner was getting cold. Major Zohra ate little when she was intent on a problem, so her staff made a consorted attempt to make sure she ate, as they knew their Major General would not be happy at her thinness.

  ***

  Major Zohra was sleeping lightly when she was aware of a presence about her. She recognized it, but remained still. She realized that Lady Harriet Montran was dreaming of the Dance. Breathing in deeply, she let the familiar feeling take over as the images of her and then Lady Harriet danced the Dance of Commitment. The strong vibration of the energy it created shook her as she endured silently the climax that always ended the Dances. She waited until her head cleared and her insides stopped shaking before getting up. It was Lt. Machi's watch. Restless she headed to the rec room. There she found Clea and Galdin sitting in a corner talking to a transformed Carol-Maa who was rocking with silent mirth at something Galdin was describing.

  Carol-Maa's eyes rose to meet Major Zohras. The eyes that stared deeply into hers captivated Major Zohra, pausing her heartbeat.

  "Hello, Major." The voice was deep and it vibrated against her senses stirring her desire.

  "Now don't you be messing with JG, Carol-Maa!" Clea laughed.

  "I should hope you don't," Major Zohra gave a short laugh. "I would not have the strength of Lady Harriet to resist bedding you right where you sit."

  Carol's eyes twinkled. Leaning forward she whispered, "You need to do something about my Mistress Alexandra."

  "Alexandra?"

  "Yes, she has also changed and is more than Harriet," Carol-Maa teased.

  Major Zohra's eyes were unreadable as she thought seriously about it. Clea and Galdin exchanged knowing glances. After talking with Carol-Maa, they realized that Zohra still felt attracted to the woman they first knew as Cadet Montran, and that neither woman had done anything about it. They were as amused as Carol-Maa about the situation. It certainly was not like Mistress JG who had her personal world under her control.

  "Now, don't you two start," she growled at her two friends catching their smirks.

  "I was just telling Carol-Maa about the Stalioous Isles," Galdin said instead.

  "What a honeymoon it was! We had the springs all to ourselves," Clea smoothly continued with the story. "It's an exhilarating experience for your body to be immersed in heat and the air you breathe is so cold it nearly freezes your lungs."

  "Why would you want to experience such extremes?" Carol-Maa asked astonished.

  "It is rather difficult to explain unless you experience it yourself," Clea nodded.

  "The idea of being immersed in water is appealing. I miss my own environment," Carol-Maa admitted.

  "Hey, gang," Lt. Megan Vanster plopped herself at the table, stretching her legs out underneath and nodding towards Major Zohra in greeting.

  "Carol-Maa this is Megan. She worked undercover with JG," Clea introduced. "They called her the Red Mistress," Clea added in a low whisper they all heard.

  Me
gan's eyes wavered under the penetrating eyes of the transformed woman. "So, what's going down?" she asked Major Zohra.

  "We were talking about the exhilarating experience we had on our honeymoon, and it had to do with a very hot tub of herbal waters and freezing cold temperatures in the air," Galdin answered instead, feeling annoyed at Megan's attitude of late.

  "Well, to recreate that mood here is out of the question. It's crowded and you would have to spend too much energy arguing with everyone to go along with it." Megan turned to Carol-Maa. "I hear your quarters are quite elaborate compared to our barracks."

  "Well, I would be happy to show you and we can try this atmosphere you speak of," Carol-Maa offered graciously.

  "You don't have to offer twice." Clea jumped up pulling Galdin with her. "I hear there are more selections of moods in each room than here," she smirked at Major Zohra.

  ***

  Clea was having fun directing Ald to set up the tub with the atmosphere of Isles as she remembered it. Ald and her argued over her memory, if the conversation with a bot could be called an argument. It seemed that Ald had the environment program for that site. The others merely soaked, as the waters gradually became warmer and the temperature outside of the tub dropped with the snowcapped tips of the mountains appearing around them.

  "Well, I must say, the heat certainly has its merits."

  They all laughed uproariously as Carol-Maa gave JG a wink.

  "JG, you really need to relax," Carol-Maa took her arm and coaxed her to sit in front of her. Her hands expertly found her tight muscles in her back and shoulders and began to work the tension out of them.

  "House of Aphrodite. In the Cave. Remember that, JG? Give her a whip, her dark tight fitting outfit, gauntlets included, and a handful of subs, and she will relax just fine," Vanster grinned.

  "What is this House and Cave? Carol has many images of…Hmmm… experiences I am not familiar with. I don't quite understand why someone wants to be tied up and beaten," Carol-Maa puzzled.

  They all burst out laughing including Carol-Maa. Carol-Maa enjoyed the feeling that it sent into the water for in the water it magnified everyone's feelings giving Carol-Maa an intimate insight into each person. MaaSaa knew exactly what Carol had explained but the sensuous feelings it aroused in the water were so different in his own world. He wanted to further experience it so he feinted being clueless at Carol's suggestion.

  JG ignored the reminder and whatever message Megan was sending. Instead, she concentrated on the back rub for she did have sore muscles from her short workouts with her sisters who were bent on beating her at every mock combat game she was challenged to participate in. She smiled at the competition that was to stretch the opponent's skills, not to injure, as it was with the Black Rose.

  JG felt Lady Harriet…Alexandra's energy and looked up to see steam rushing about as if a door had opened. Carol-Maa's hands continued to knead her shoulders while the talk continued on around her. After a few moments Carol-Maa called out to Lady Alexandra to join them.

  JG kept her attention fixed on the back rub trying to contain her interest at seeing her again. Her eyes did not have to seek Lady Alexandra 's to know that she was standing nearby. The power emanating from her made her skin prickle. Looking up, her breath caught at the sight of the effect the cold had on her skin. Her nipples were hard and the aureoles were puckered. It was difficult to prevent herself from licking her lips.

  Her energy is more intense…and there is something else.

  JG looked at the others to see if they noticed. Clea and Galdin, a sensitive species, did. JG glanced at Vanster and could see that this may not be as relaxing a time as it had started out to be.

  Fires of helios, what is with Vanster? I gave her a direct order to behave.

  The thought of talking to her again caused her to hesitate. Vanster's reminding her of the times they had sex in the Cave, where she had made Vanster her willing sub for the proper amount of times before Vanster could become a Mistress, told her there was some unfinished business there. Was all this from jealously? It had been a mistake for them to get sexually involved while undercover. She could have done the required dom time with her without the sexual part…but it was a weak moment in her life…she was hoping she was not going to regret it. Sometimes, she felt her reputation as a Dom's dom was too restrictive on her relationships…but as her eyes studied Lady Alexandra…her lips curved into a small smile. There was only one relationship she was interested in pursuing right now.

  She watched Lady Alexandra's well-shaped legs enter the water, then up to her thighs where her bright orange pubic hairs were a contrast against her creamy white skin, and then past the muscled stomach. Her erect nipples were then quickly covered with only her shoulders showing above the bubbling water. She did not have the body of a flight officer. But, then, she was not like any flight officer she had ever met. The water seemed to hum against her skin when Lady Alexandra became fully immersed.

  Jina Gari…Major…don't let your imagination be getting away with you. JG moved to the side of Carol-Maa to get a better look at Lady Alexandra. Clever Clea had directed her to sit opposite of her. She struggled to concentrate on the conversation as her awareness of the woman across from her seeped into her pores and ignited a heated desire to have her. She could feel the rings in her nipples tighten as her nipples became swollen with need…a need she had been harboring for so many years. She had dared to dream of her when she was alone and safe in the House of Aphrodite, sometimes taking those desires to others when pleasuring herself would not take the edge off the energy. There was no lack of partners who were willing to become anyone she wanted.

  Does she have dreams of us? Yesss. The Master said dreams were the means of communication when none other was possible.

  JG blinked a few times to refocus. She needed to concentrate. A soft touch, a connection through the water, caused her to hold her breath. Thinking it had something to do with the herbs in the water, JG studied Clea and her partner to take her mind off the effect the tingling touch was having on her body. However, their dark gray eyes were now almost black which told her that it was not just her that was feeling a change in the water.

  "So, you're the legendary Captain Montran," Vanster's voice challenged. It was almost a sneer.

  "Legendary?" the chill in Lady Alexandra's voice was as cold as the air above the tub.

  What in the bloody moon does she think she is doing? This isn't a Spartan bar. It was natural for one Spartan to challenge another in a public place, especially a Black Rose Spartan…NO! Vanster is an officer and she knows better to challenge another officer. It's a breach of etiquette and all rules of civility, especially in a private bath!

  "It's rather a 'heroic' feat that you're the only one that came back," Megan continued taunting.

  The comment took everyone by surprise.

  "Do tell. And what is your expertise to make such a comment? Propaganda from Lord Chaney, your master?" The voice was so cool and controlled yet the power from her was sending very scary vibrations through the water and in the air above them. JG fancied bolts of lightning would start forming in the steam cloud above them.

  "Lt. Vanster," Major Zohra kept her voice soft, however she knew how to project menace, and she had all those years of practice in the Cave. "Return to your quarters and wait for my return." Megan! You've been trained as an officer. It's things like this that got you busted down the ranks. Helgas bloody moon you could have been a captain by now!

  For a few moments Major Zohra was uncertain if she would do as she ordered, but maybe Vanster too felt the snappy energy around them. Vanster's athletic form rose smoothly from the water and onto the bathroom's floor in one motion. Lady Alexandra made no move, but Zohra rose from the waters in case the confrontation would go further.

  However, Vanster left the room. The only noise was from the tub's bubbling waters and the women's breathing as they all let out sighs that nothing more came of the verbal trade.

  "I apolog
ize, Lt. Montran. That is a breech of the sisterhood's standards of conduct and is not tolerated," and is not going to go unpunished! She's overstepped her friendship here. I can't bust her any lower in the officer's ranks. She's going to lose her officer's standing! Helgas Moon, Megan!

  JG was debating whether to follow after Vanster to give her more than a piece of her mind.

  "Perhaps her Black Rose persona needs a reality check."

  JG quieted the turmoil that was clouding her judgment. Lt. Montran was right, going after Vanster now was not a good idea. After nine years of being a Dom, she should know that this was a control issue. But what had set Vanster off? It went against the sisterhood teachings…even the Black Rose had rules and 'Captain Montran' was a hero that all Spartan's shared. She is a legend. Was Vanster having problems facing a live hero that obviously did not meet with her expectations?

  JG gave Montran the barest of nods that she understood. The tension in the air and in the water was grinding against her nerves, calling for some type of action.