Authors: Tracy St. John
He took a deep breath to erase any humor from his countenance. In a tone as grave as death he told Marci, “You have my promise on that, sister warrior. I would give my life to preserve hers.”
Marci snapped a nod, one that would have suited the likes of Weapons Commander Lidon for its severity. She turned to Katherine and suddenly smiled, a mere darling child again. She held out the soft toy in her arms for his Matara’s inspection. “Look, Sister! They brought me Mr. Honey!”
Katherine returned the smile, and Miv’s heart drummed. The Earther was beautiful when she did that.
She told Marci, “I see that. Did you thank them?”
“Yes, ma’am. Somebody—” she glared at the older version of herself who rolled her eyes “—said I didn’t need to thank no mean aliens, but I knew my manners.”
Katherine nodded proudly. “Good girl.”
Katherine spoke with the younglings, asking after their health. The responses were all positive, though they frequently cast uneasy glances at Miv, who remained kneeling at her side. He didn’t like that children stared at him with such fear. All except little Marci. Now that she had established her right to order him around, she gifted him with a shy smile from time to time, warming his heart.
He glanced at the older nuns, who stood in the background. Most concentrated on watching the girls, though he saw fascinated looks aimed at him from time to time. Most seemed worried, but he detected plenty of curiosity as well.
All but one. Seeing the elderly woman called Mother Superior and how she glared at him and Katherine set Miv’s teeth on edge. After a few moments, he refused to look at her any longer. Thinking hard thoughts about an elder who was also female was not acceptable. Her hateful, disapproving stare against Katherine was best ignored.
Miv concentrated on the younglings, though he didn’t watch them overtly for fear they’d take it the wrong way. He smiled to himself, noting they were every bit as concerned for Katherine’s welfare as she was for theirs. Miv had little experience with children, but these girls seemed wonderful to him. Their faces were so open and fresh, not yet marred by too many disappointments. He wasn’t so very old himself, and they reminded him of his own childhood when life lay before him with nothing but potential for adventure and glory.
How wonderful it must be to guide and guard younglings at the start of their lives, he thought. To be able to watch their gifts unfold and their paths unfurl. Miv could understand why Katherine was so dedicated to her charges.
He was almost as disappointed as they were when the com’s beeping warned them the transmission was ending. During the flurry of tearful goodbyes, Marci fixed him with a pointed look.
She told him, “You promised me, big brother warrior. You’re gonna keep Sister Katherine safe.”
Miv nodded, his gaze as steady as hers. “A promise I will not break, my sister.”
Katherine held back tears until the connection broke off. Even then she did not weep wildly, as he’d feared she might.
Miv rose to his feet and went to the receptacle that had delivered their breakfasts. He turned to Katherine with the trays to discover her smiling at him.
She said, “You made a friend.”
Miv settled on the sleeping mat’s edge. “She is a fierce one. I can see why they all have your heart.”
Katherine sat next to him and accepted the morsel of sautéed vina meat he offered her. “Mother Superior did not speak to me. She believes me to be sinning. She probably fears I am a bad influence on the children. Perhaps I am.”
That made Miv think about what he knew of Katherine’s religion. Sinning meant needing atonement, which reminded him of the marks on her back.
He told her, “You probably wish to make things right in your way. However, you must not scourge yourself again until Dr. Degorsk has healed those troublesome cuts on your back.”
Katherine licked her lips. Her gaze went distant and dark. It was as if she anticipated her punishment with more pleasure than resignation. Miv’s eyes narrowed as he watched her.
Her tone soft, she said, “I suppose you’re right. Plus, I don’t have the means here to atone.”
Miv fed her more vina. “With your and Simdow’s permission, I would be honored to use my experience and flogger to help you do as you feel is best according to your beliefs. As I mentioned before, you are disciplining yourself incorrectly.”
Katherine’s dreaming look disappeared. She looked at him, chewing slowly. It was hard to tell with that huge swath of fabric covering her chest, but Miv thought she might be breathing a little faster.
After swallowing the food, she said, “I – I think that would be acceptable. They say you are an expert when it comes to such punishment.”
Miv’s heart thudded hard. He had the sudden vision of Katherine, naked and writhing beneath the tails of his flogger, her face enraptured instead of tormented.
He gave her another mouthful of food and turned away to hide the evidence of his abrupt arousal.
Weapons Commander Lidon peered intently at the vid Vadef had displayed. His handsome but feral face, more fierce than Miv’s, was drawn in a studious frown.
They had been working for the last hour in Vadef’s small, nearly featureless office. Together they fought to crack the codes stored in the files of the Earther transport the spyship had captured just before invading the convent. Vadef’s program had been consistently sifting through the maze of coding faster than Lidon’s, prompting the Nobek officer to come around the desk and take a look at how he was managing it.
Lidon asked the records officer, “You said this code-breaking program was inspired by Adraf spy conventions?”
Vadef answered, “Actually, it’s based partly on that, along with our own protocols and the cipher-translation program you came up with a year ago.”
He flushed as Lidon looked at him. The elder warrior’s expression was indecipherable. “You improved on my program?”
Vadef’s gaze dropped from that of the battle-hardened Nobek. “Uh, well, I don’t know that I’d call it an improvement—”
Lidon interrupted him. “I would. Good work, Records Officer.” He drew a file recorder from one of the many pouches on his utility belt and handed it to Vadef. “Make a copy for me, Vadef. I want to run those files from the Earther ship through this during my free time as well.”
“Yes, Commander.” The Imdiko did as he was told, feeling a rush of pride at the demanding officer’s praise. Lidon was fair, but he was also one tough bastard. A compliment from him was worth twenty from his Dramok clanmate, Captain Tranis, who also didn’t hand out praise very often.
As Vadef loaded his program onto the recorder, he felt the other man’s gaze on him. The Imdiko looked at the handsome, scary Nobek standing over him.
Lidon seemed embroiled in some private debate as he stared down at Vadef. The records officer had never seen this man have a moment of indecision and couldn’t help but look back in surprise.
A slight smile curled one side of Lidon’s lips. Vadef took courage from the moment of amusement and dared to say, “Sir?”
Lidon drew a deep breath. “This is my first opportunity to speak privately with someone else who has taken on an Earther clanmate. If I may be personal, how is your Matara settling in?”
For an instant, Vadef gaped. Lidon never invited intimate conversation with the rank-and-file crew, certainly not with someone as low-level as Vadef.
When the Imdiko hesitated, Lidon’s smile grew. He seemed to be making an effort to appear not so much a hardass. “I only ask because mine is encountering some – difficulties. She is fighting us with all her will. There is also some matter of emotional trauma. I was wondering if they were all so handicapped.”
Vadef nodded. He could well understand wanting to compare notes on the Earther Mataras. Katherine was certainly putting his clan through the wringer as far as emotions were concerned.
He told Lidon, “My Matara is extremely frightened. I suppose that can’t be helped.” He thought for a moment before continuing. “In all honesty, Commander, I’m not really certain my Matara is traumatized so much as simply operating on what she’s been told about us.”
“Is she open to – intimacies?” Lidon held his hand up before Vadef could answer. “I am only asking in generalities. I am not trying to offend you or your clan in any way by asking personal questions about your mate. Please don’t take it as such.”
Vadef saw the concern in Lidon’s eyes. It took some doing to accept that the hardened Nobek was wrestling with anxiety. Who would have thought fierce Weapons Commander Lidon, who had survived having his leg nearly blown off in a battle with Tragooms, would experience a moment of trepidation?
Yet that was exactly what was going on. Vadef ventured, “Yours is having a great deal of trouble?”
Lidon nodded. “We are doing all we can to show her we are not evil. It’s not going so well.”
Vadef reflected on Katherine’s attitudes. She thought the opposite of his clan. Her contention was that Kalquorians couldn’t be evil because her god did not create evil things. He felt a stab of sympathy for Lidon. How difficult must it be to be faced with someone who thought you were inherently malevolent?
He said, “I am sorry to hear that, Commander. Our Matara speaks little of evil. She tries to see the good in everyone. However, she is very innocent and afraid of the workings of … passion. We slept with her in our way last night, unclothed, and it scared her.”
Lidon’s brow rose. “You have not gone farther than that?”
“We have had her do some touching. Nothing else. Not just because of Katherine, but because Miv will not have it.”
Lidon’s eyes widened for an instant. “Of course. I forgot your Nobek’s history and what happened to his sister. He would naturally be concerned about such things.”
Vadef offered a commiserating smile. “I’m sorry I can’t offer more help. I’ve never met a species who called their natural biology sinful. They are complicated creatures.”
Lidon sighed. “Complicated doesn’t begin to cover it. We’re discovering with the other women that no one solution is working when it comes to getting them over their horrors of sex. They are all so different with separate histories and ways of dealing with their capture. Even the psychiatric team back on Kalquor, which is directing the re-education of the Mataras, changes the parameters daily.”
“Your clanmate Dr. Degorsk must be pulling his hair out.”
Lidon snorted. “You’d think so, between dealing with that plus our own reluctant Matara. However, he seems to be rising to the challenge. I even think he’s enjoying it. ‘Nothing inspires the heart like those it can care for,’” he quoted from the Book of Life.
“My Matara Katherine will be seeing him today. She has a stomach complaint.”
“Will Commander Simdow or Miv be accompanying her?”
Vadef didn’t try to hide his grin. “Miv. Simdow told him to laugh at Dr. Degorsk’s jokes.”
The weapons commander winced. “I’ll have to have a discussion with the first officer about not encouraging such behavior.” He shook his head and limped to the other side of the desk where his own computer waited. “All right, Records Officer. Let’s get back to work on these codes.”
* * * *
Katherine clung to Miv’s arm as they walked to the medical department. The other men she saw in the corridors showed no signs of untoward behavior. They bowed slightly as she passed, like courtly gentlemen. They were careful to keep their glances brief. Their expressions, while hinting at want, were schooled to remain respectful. Katherine felt very aware of her isolation among alien males who were not used to being around females, however. Her situation made her nervous.
Her eyes widened as they entered Medical. Katherine had enjoyed the good fortune of rarely being sick. Her forays into Earth’s hospitals had been to comfort others. The machinery she had seen in those places had been formidable in its technology, but it had not approached a facility like this.
Six padded tables lined up in two rows down the center of the large room. Large pieces of equipment with blinking lights and buttons lined the walls. Katherine told herself the metallic contraptions frightened her because she didn’t know what they were.
It’s a medical facility, not a torture chamber. Stop scaring yourself. Miv would never bring me to a bad place.
Despite her attempts to be rational, Katherine couldn’t help but shrink behind the Nobek as one lean Kalquorian detached himself from the small group clustered at the far end of the room. He walked towards them. Seeing her reaction, the man in the green tunic slowed his approach, his wide grin gentling to a softer, concerned smile.
He didn’t look as scary as some Kalquorians. He had a quieter quality, similar to Vadef’s. The man who Katherine assumed was a Kalquorian doctor wore his waist-length hair in a long braid that he flipped over his shoulder with a toss of his head. His kind, twinkling eyes slanted slightly up, much like someone of Asian ancestry. The slight lines at the corners of his mouth suggested he laughed often.
The alien bowed slightly to her and gave his attention to her companion. “
Retig
, Ensign Miv. Is this your new Matara?”
Miv bowed. “Yes, Dr. Degorsk. This is Katherine.”
Degorsk’s smile beamed, warming Katherine. He had a presence that made the knot in her chest ease. “A pleasure to meet you, Matara Katherine. I understand you’re having some stomach problems?”
She nodded. Nothing in the doctor’s demeanor suggested anything but professional concern. “It hurts when I eat. Sometimes I feel sick too.”
Degorsk took a handheld off the belt at his waist and tapped. “Any vomiting?”
“No, but I have felt a little nauseous lately.”
“Have you ever had children?”
“No.”
“And where is this pain specifically?”
Katherine had to stop hiding behind Miv to show him, but she no longer felt so afraid of Dr. Degorsk and his overwhelming facility. She stepped out so she could show the medic where the pains came from.