by Jessie Wolf
With that he stands up salutes and walked out the door. When I see how big the man is I damned near piss myself. I had originally thought he was only around six foot, boy was I wrong. He must be close to seven foot. Dee De flashed his stats on my HUD and was floored. He was seven foot even and two hundred and twenty pounds. In short he was another monster like Taylor, if it takes men like this to operate the Land Warrior suits I need to find a way to make them smaller.
“Kitten, just what are you up to?” Alice is looking at me with some curiosity.
“Nothing.”
“Bull! What are you up to?”
“Well, it’s like this. I just can’t send Taylor, Combs, and Morehouse back to their old troop. So I’m going to use them elsewhere. Morehouse is going to replace the Intel-Coms. Officer and to make sure she stays safe and uncompromised those two giants are going to be her bodyguards. This way I kill two birds with one stone.”
“And just what is the other bird?”
“I get to make three people very, very happy and play Cupid at the same time.”
Chapter 7
“Wait a minute, here. Are you telling me that you’re setting the three biggest bad asses up to fall in love?” Alice said in total disbelief.
“No, just two of them. Not that I really have to. Combs and Morehouse already love each other, they’re just afraid to show it. This way they don’t have to hide and can finally be themselves. As for Taylor, well that big man looks at Morehouse like she is a little sister who is just a little smarter than him. One who needs to be protected from all the big bad men out there.” I start to giggle at that thought. Morehouse can put just about any man in the hospital by herself, and Taylor still thinks she needs to be protected. When Alice hears this she starts to giggle herself.
After a few minutes we get control of ourselves again. “Come on, kitten. It’s almost dinner time.”
“Alice, would you be upset with me if I said I don’t feel like eating?”
“Yes, now come on. Remember we have to meet with the new commanding officer for the Support troop, Captain Ravenswood.” From the look on her face I could tell she wasn’t going to let me just slip away to find some place to sulk. No matter how much I wanted to run away, and let someone else deal with all of this I can’t.
Seeing the look on my face Alice pulls me into a very much needed hug. She whispered in my ear. “You have spent the day dealing with far too much darkness. Trust me my love; I know this more than anyone. Even though you had shown mercy and light to some, you still have dealt with far too much of the darkness of man. You need to see the good you have done this day.” Wiping the tears I hadn’t realized I had shed from my face she took me by the hand and led me out of the bunker.
As we returned to the main house I could not look in the faces of the men and women who had come at my call to arms. I knew that in just a few short hours a good many of them will be dead. All because I refused to let a pack of greedy, self-righteous, arrogant, men who believed they had the right to do whatever they wanted and were above the law get away with rebellion against what they believed to be an impotent Government.
Their offences here on Hades were enough to bring down an Imperial investigation, but with what I had learned over the past few hours it was enough for the Imperial Hunters to get involved. Anyone in their right mind didn’t want those psychos after them. Yes to the galaxy at large the Death Dealers were the Emperor’s peace keeping force, but it was the Hunters that brought down His justice and punishments on people. They were the ones who investigate, then pass judgment, and finally executed that judgment. They were literally judge, jury, and executioner.
As we approach the main house one of mama’s new hand maids meets us at the door. It is Princess Daniela and from the looks of things she was very upset over something. What that was I didn’t really care so long as I could pass it off on someone else or tell her to suck it up and deal. “What do you want Princess? Make it quick I really don’t have a whole lot of patience right now.”
In a stuttering voice. “Please, Lady Maiha, can you talk to the young girl you sent to me and the others. She won’t let us do our jobs. She has locked herself in the bathroom and has threatened to beat the living shit of anyone who dares to enter. Please, we don’t want to get into trouble for not doing our jobs, but she scares all of us.”
Oh shit! I didn’t think about Dana not wanting anyone to find out about her, or the lengths to which she would go to keep that from happening. Taking off at a dead run I get half way down the hall way when I realize I don’t know which room the new girl is in. sliding to a stop I turn around only to be knocked down by Alice who was hot on my heels. As we lay there in a tangle of arms and legs Daniela caught up to us. Seeing us lying there in such an undignified heap the princess starts to giggle.
Looking up at her I really want to just tear her a new one, but I can’t I would be laughing too. So instead I help Alice get up and then myself. “If you’re quite through with your giggle fit princess.” Suitably chastised she nods her head yes. “Thank you, now where is my new I.C. department head?”
“Miss Morehouse is over in the guest wing, in the second room on the right, my Lady Maiha.” The entire time she was talking the girl never once lost the smile on her face. If it wasn’t for the fact that I had brought it on myself I would give her such a pinch. Instead I take the high ground and just walk away leaving her standing there. Once Alice and I were about half way down the hallway I hear her break out in uncontrolled laughter. We look at each other and speed up our pace so we can do the same out of sight. As we round the corner to the guest wing though we are brought up short by what we see and hear.
“I said get out! Go away! Why won’t you just let me kill myself?!” standing outside of the room where this is coming from are mama’s two other hand maids, look scared for their very lives. We forget about our earlier tumble as we rush forward.
“Dana, it’s me Lady Maiha! Please open the door? Let us help you! Come on honey! You don’t want to kill yourself! Please just open the door?” I start yelling to her through the door. What I hear back is not a good sign of her frame of mind.
“You don’t really want to help me! You just want the fracking reward like everyone else! I won’t let you send me back to that Hell! I’ll kill myself first and anyone who tries to stop me!”
The girl was truly terrified of being returned to Hellos Prime. Turning to the two girls who were supposed to be helping her. “Where is the trooper who brought her here?”
Lisa quickly answered me. “I know where he went, my Lady, I’ll go get him.” She takes off at a dead run for the back of the house. Damn that girl can move when she has to. I won’t say anything about her running in the house as this is an emergency.
“Alice, step back and keep the others out of my way.”
“What are you going to do, kitten?”
Sighing I tell her. “I’m going to cut the lock out.” When she sees me aim my fore finger at the lock she quickly moves everyone back. Firing off my anti-personnel laser and cut away the bolt on the door.
Dana screams out at the top of her lungs. “NO! I won’t let you send me back! You come through that door and I start filling body bags!” I can tell she is not in a talkative frame of mind. I will need to move as fast as I can to keep from hurting her. The poor girl was just too scared to reason with right now. Not that I blame her after what Stills had done. She probably thought we were just getting her cleaned up to send her home.
With that in mind I shove the door open as hard as I can and tackle her. I don’t even try to talk with her. Once I have her under control. “Listen to me, Dana just listen. No one is going to send you back to Hellos Prime. Trust me, please.” When she sees it's me she stops struggling.
“You’re the one who stopped Stills from raping me.” looking around she realizes that I am the only one in the room with her. Seeing this she starts to calm down. “Do you really mean what you say?”
“About
you not going back to Hellos Prime?” she nods in reply. “Yes, I do. You have my word on that.”
“Then why did you have Taylor bring me here instead of letting me go back to the barracks?” she really wanted to know. I can see how her thinking was going now.
“It’s so we can help you become the young lady that you are.” At her confused look. “Listen honey, I hate to tell you this, but you do not look like a boy let alone a man. Yes you may be a male, but you look and move like a woman. That is just the way things are. Sure you can put any ten men in the hospital, but if you continue to try and look like a man sooner or later you’re going to get hurt, and hurt bad.” As I let her absorb this I let her go and sit back against the door. With me sitting in front of the door nobody was getting in.
“I know you don’t want to hear this, but it’s the truth and no amount of crying, screaming or head breaking is going to change that fact. Yes you’re good at what you do, but you can’t stay awake forever. Sooner or later you’ll let down your guard, or fall asleep and that’s when they’ll strike. If you try to do things my way you won’t have to be on guard all the time and you just might find happiness while you’re at it.”
“Hey, right. What woman would want me or for that matter what man? I’m neither a man nor a woman. The only people who want a freak like me are the perverts.” She turned her head and spit in the toilet. I could tell she had a really low opinion of herself. That is the first thing I need to fix, and now.
“Well, for starters, if you go around looking like some little girl who raided her brothers closet that’s all you’ll attract, but if you let Lisa, Susan, and Daniela help you. Then who knows, you just might catch yourself a true-blood Walkatonie.” At my sly smile she just looks at me like I have grown a second head. “Trust me, honey, I know of what I speak. Come on let’s get you cleaned up.” I help her stand up and realize just how petite she really is. At most she is four foot eleven and may be ninety pounds. The girl is smaller than me. That’s when I see something that grabs my full attention. Her ears are pointed and her eyes are purple. “Are you an Elf?” I need to know before we went any further. Because if she was than I had a real shit storm on my hands.
“No ma’am. It’s one of the gen-mods that, that bastard wanted me to have. One of his fantasies was to have an Elven male bride. So they made it to where I would look like one. The man is a really sick and twisted freak.” I manage to not breathe a sigh of relief when I hear this. I know that if I did she would never trust me.
“Dana, may I call you that?” she give me a quick nod. “Dana, how have you been able to hide in plain sight?”
“Well I usually keep my hair down over my ears. As for my eyes, I normally wear a pair of contacts to hide their color. I take them out when I shower in case I get soap in them. As for my size I put lifts in my boots. With the one inch heel I look to be about five three, short for a man, but not too far outside of the norm. If anyone asked I just told them that everyone from Top Sail was on the short side because of the higher gravity.”
For her to use one of the highest gravity planes to ever be settled as her home planet as small as she is was too funny. I start laughing and shortly she joins me. “Ok, I can see how you did it now. Of course you bound your chest and padded the waist right?” she just nodded her head. “Ok, young lady. As of this moment forward there will be no more hide your natural beauty.” When she goes to object I hold up my hand and stop her. “No more. That is an order. Do you understand?” she just nods her head and looks down with an air of defeat. “Hey, here now. None of that. Just because you can’t hide doesn’t mean your life is over. Why it’s just beginning. However we do have one problem. Because of your age I can’t let you serve in the House military. Before you say anything about my sisters and I being younger that you are, remember that we are not part of the House military.” At her look of disappointment I tell her what she will be doing. “However as part of the household staff, you can be the department head for Intel and Comms. You’ll even have a staff plus two fully trained military bodyguards. How does that sound?”
“You mean that instead of working for the House troops I’ll be working directly for you?” when I nod my head she starts to smile. “Do I have to report to them directly or do I report to you?” again I nod. “Do I have to live in the barracks?” I shake my head no. “One last question before I give you my answer. Am I to be some kind of pet freak servant?”
When I hear this last one I almost blow my top, but I can understand her concern. In a lot of the High Families that type of disdain was rampant. I decide to tell her the truth. “Yes, Dana, you’ll be basically a servant. However no one will treat you like a freak or anything less than a human being. If you treat them with respect they will treat you with respect. Do you understand?”
“Yes ma’am, I have to treat people the way I want to be treated. I can do that.”
“Good. Now for the bad news. Do you remember when I suggested that you present yourself as a woman?” at her slow nod. “I hate to tell you this, but you can no long hide the way you look. And honey child, you have no reason to be ashamed. You are very pretty, and with just a little help you’ll be beautiful. Now I know that you want to be a man, but that’s just not possible. If you continue down this path you’ll just make yourself miserable, but if you follow the path I have laid out for you, you can have a very happy life. You just have to try. Can you do that for me?”
The sigh that escapes her lets me know that I have got through to her. She’ll have a rough few weeks ahead of her, but she is no longer a danger to herself or anyone else. I’ll still have someone keep an eye on her, but it’ll be discreet. “I’ll give it my best shot, ma’am. Oops, I mean, my Lady. I guess I should get used to that and people calling me ma’am.”
“That and a whole lot of other things like young lady, miss, and the one I hate the most missy or little girl. Every time I hear someone call me that last one, I just want to gut the shithead. Oh, one other thing, unless you like the taste for soap don’t use foul language around the Lady Dai Etsu. She’ll make you wash your own mouth out with it.” When she hears this she just burst out laughing. “Ok, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Yes, my Lady. So what do I do now?”
“For starters, I’m going to let mama’s hand maids come in and get you cleaned up. Please don’t fight them. After that they’ll help you get dressed for the first time as a young lady of the Nakatoma household. Then later on I’ll see you at dinner. Think you can handle that?”
“Yes, my Lady, And I won’t fight with your mama’s Hand maids. I just hope they don’t make fun of me.”
“Girl if they’re stupid enough to make fun of you after the Hell you just raised. Then they deserve what they get.” At my smile she just giggles. “Now I have to go get cleaned up myself. See you at dinner. Daniela you can come in now, it’s safe for you.”
“No offence my Lady, but I’m not stepping through that door until I get the young lady’s word that she won’t gut me just for washing her hair.” Daniela yelled through the door. When I look at Dana, she has the good sense to be embarrassed.
“You did not tell them that?” she just nods her head, then in a very small voice.
“That and a whole lot more. I’m sorry, really I’m, but I was scared and they had run Taylor off threatening to turn him over to the House MPs if he came back before they were done. I didn’t know what was going on and they had just sent the only person I trusted away. I’m sorry, I just sort of freaked out.”
That explain what had happened and why. I can’t blame her or mama’s maids. They were just being young women who saw another one in trouble and went into that typical overprotective mother hen mode all women have. All they saw was some brute carrying in a naked and beaten girl and thought the worst of him. The sad part is that half of this mess was my fault. I didn’t think it through all the way. I just sent Taylor with Dana to the main house with instructions to find mama’s hand maids and tu
rn her over to them. I didn’t think of how it would look or to notify them he was on the way with a very scared and confused young lady. I just face palmed over my own stupidity.
When Dana sees me do this, I think she realizes what I did, and proceeds to giggle. Soon I’m joining her. Before long we are both laughing our asses off. The whole situation it just so stupid it’s funny. “Well, just don’t sit there, say something.”
“Miss Daniela I promise to behave. I won’t do or say anything to hurt you. Is that better?” when I hear her promise not to hurt them I start giggling. I don’t tell her why, because I know she’ll change her mind.
I turn to look when I hear the door creaks open real slowly. Daniela sticks her head in so just her eyes are seen. Then I hear “You promise right?” Dana just nods her head in reply. I think she doesn’t trust herself not to giggle or laugh. “Ok, then we’re coming in. Lady Maiha, your maids are waiting for you and the Lady Allison in your quarters, so you best get a move on.”
“Thank you Daniela. Oh, by the way; who is taking care of Lady Dai Etsu?”
“We have already seen to her needs, my Lady. Now you best be hurrying along, you know how Gin, Kina and Nia hate to be kept waiting.”
“Yes, Daniela, I know that all too well how my lady maids can be. I see that you’re getting to be just like them. They can teach you three a great deal about life and how to be more than just a Lady.” As I’m heading for the door the princess stops me.
“Lady Maiha, what did you mean by that?”
Looking over at the Imperial Princess I can tell she truly wishes to learn. “I’ll tell you the first thing every Lady should know ‘Beware of the maids and trust only your Lady maids.’ When you understand that riddle you’ll have the basis for learning everything that goes on in a High Family household. It also applies to most households that don’t have the money for servants.” What I tell her seems to have left her in a very confused state. “When you get the chance go ask one of the house maids if she had heard any juicy gossip, and then go ask one of my Lady’s maids the same question. That will explain your first lesson as a Lady’s maid and about being a High Families Lady.” With that simple piece of advice I walk out and join Alice in the hallway.