The Siren, the General's Daughter Book One (4 page)

“Aye aye, Sir.”

After chow, the two went to the bio lab that adjoined the engineering department. Dr. Quimby was standing next to an upright module, studying the readings.

“Good morning, again, General,” Michael said with a teasing smile.

Sam, disregarding policy and procedure, met her father with a hug. “Hi Daddy, thanks for letting me go out to swim this morning.”

“What happened to your arms?” he asked, noticing the scratches on her hands. He pushed up her lab coat sleeves to reveal the angry red slashes crisscrossed over her limbs from her hands to her shoulders.

She shrugged, letting him examine her. “Baby dolphins. They were so cute! Ow,” she yelped as he probed at one deep cut.

“This is close to needing stitches. Wetsuit for now on, Lieutenant,” he said gruffly, letting her go.

Making a face, she mumbled ‘yes, Sir’ before fixing her sleeves.

“This would be a good time to try to develop a topical seal or a scent neutralizer. Either of us could get scratched or be around someone who is injured and we’ll need to discourage a shark approach,” Michael said seriously.

His sister interjected, eager to change the subject to experimental science. “That’s a good idea, Mike. Try it on me. Sharks don’t scare me at all.”

Dr. Quimby firmly shook his head. “Absolutely not, I’ve had enough with you trying new devices. You saw what happened last time. Yes, Michael, let’s pursue it. No, Samantha, you may not experiment with it. Discussion ended.”

The commander’s firm, exacting tone made heads turn. Stunned, the lab crew watched their young leader shrink in her chair with a whispered ‘yes, Sir.’ This was a new event to talk about—the ship’s Siren actually responding to a limitation!

The remaining four hours were spent with frequency adjustments and use of the neuroband. Michael had succeeded in base line communications while his sister had mastered the convergence. They switched to the I-band for ichthyoid communication but were unable to divert the frequencies to make it a repellant. Frustrated, the three called it a day.

”Let’s go for a flight,” Michael said to his sister as she stubbornly continued to try to gain a reaction from the lemon shark.

She looked up hopefully. “You were serious? Cool! Did Daddy say it was ok?”

“I don’t need his permission for this, but yes, he was fine with you going with me. Go get your wetsuit on- we’ll hit the island. Leave that here.” He added firmly, pointing to the I-band around her neck. She made a face and removed it. Her smile returned when he announced that she could pilot.

***

Michael held his breath as his sister pulled a hard left bank in the helo before skillfully landing the craft on the beach of a small island head.

“That was fun. I love to fly.” she giggled, running out onto the sand and plunging under the water.

Michael waded in behind her as he adjusted his mask. He submerged, looking for where his sister had ventured. Oh shit….  “Samantha! Don’t you dare touch those eels! Don’t put your hand in that rock! Hey, get back here!” he ordered, watching her flip before zooming away. He began his search, becoming more agitated as she hid from him. It was like chasing a six year old through a toy store. Sneaking up from behind, she bit his leg, laughing as he turned sharply.

“That’s enough! Get over here now!” he commanded, suspended in the water. She defiantly disappeared again. Ten minutes later, his eye caught a leopard shark to the left. Oh no, she wasn’t….

Yes, she was. Despite his order, she had taken the I-band from the lab to try in open space. Michael’s heart raced as he saw more sharks approaching. Instead of a deterrent, it attracted them! Swearing under his breath, he slowly and calmly approached her, jarring her out of concentration.

“You are summoning a shiver. Let’s get out of here now before they turn.” he said softly to avoid any sense of panic. Opening her eyes, and biting her bottom lip, she nodded. Calling in porpoise to disperse the sharks, she slowly followed her brother back to the beach and crawled out of the water. Dropping on the hot sand, they both inhaled deeply with relief.

That was too close for comfort. Gaining his composure, anger welling inside, Michael snagged her wrist with his hand. “What the
hell
were you thinking? Of all the stupid things…..”

“Don’t call me stupid!” Sam yelled back, breaking away.

Michael snarled. “You aren’t stupid, your actions are! You were specifically told not to experiment on yourself! They could have frenzied! You saw the pattern starting!” he yelled, his voice booming. For Michael to raise his voice was a rarity, and one that Sam would not tolerate.

She stood up to face him, her head tilted back to glare up into his face fearlessly. “I know what I’m doing! I’m not an idiot! And don’t you dare yell at me,” she shouted back.

Michael stood next to her, his head towering above hers by more than a foot. “What is your major malfunction, Sam? You have never been so rude and nasty towards me for any reason in your entire life. I just can’t believe is how you keep acting like a spoiled brat who doesn’t know what the word ‘no’ means. When Dad finds out about this, he is going to hit the freakin’ roof.” His voice had returned to its low, calm register and he was, once again, in total control.

“Oh, fuck you, Michael!” screamed the girl, turning to go back into the water.

Michael grabbed her upper arm, resisting her feeble attempt to break away from his iron grip on her bicep. “Oh, no, you don’t. Not this time, little sister. You are going to learn, once and for all, about who calls the shots around here. I’ve been more than patient with you but I am not,” he growled, easily hauling her to some rocks, “going to put up with your garbage any longer. It’s making us both miserable.”

“Let go of me, you asshole!” his sister struggled as he plopped her across his lap. Without hesitating, he reached around the front of the wetsuit to unzip it, pulling it away from her flailing body as she fought to escape. Michael did not blink for a moment when he peeled the wet bathing suit bottoms down to expose her firm, heart shaped backside. Modesty between them had never been an issue, much less so at this juncture. She was angry and trapped, that was all she cared about. Multiple curses escaped her lips.

“You are starting to sound like a sailor. Perhaps we should wash your mouth out with soap, too. I promise that I’m going to make it so you can’t sit down for a week without being reminded of this,” Michael commented, crashing his hand down soundly across her left upper thigh. She shrieked and let a few more curses fly. Michael held nothing back as he deliberately, and thoroughly, chastised her wet backside with sharp, heavy swats.

“Ahhh, Owww...” she screeched, unable to escape.

“I honestly can’t believe that you’d do something so reckless and irresponsible,” he continued smacking her bottom harder and harder each stroke of his flattened palm.

“Owwww, come on, Mike, that hurts,” she whined, trying to move her hands to protect her bottom from the pain. It was a useless attempt. His strong arms had her hands pinned and the smacks kept growing in speed and intensity.

“I promised you that I would spank this little butt of yours so that you won’t be able to sit comfortably for a week. I never, ever break my promises to you, do I?”

“Please, Michael,” she begged. “Oh God, I’m... ow! Sorry.”

“Good. You better be sorry. And you’ll be sorrier when I get finished.”

She whined again, and let out a big commotion when he began concentrating on her sit spots. “OWWWW! Ahhh, MIKE. That hurts!”

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK!

“Good.”

SMACK SMACK!

“It hurts me when you disobeyed my instructions to leave that band in the lab.” SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK! “You could have gotten trapped in a frenzy,” SMACK SMACK SMACK, “with no way I could rescue you. You could have gotten us both killed!” SMACK SMACK!

“Owwwwwwww, owwwwwww,” Sam whimpered, her entire bottom stinging painfully as she squirmed to avoid getting spanked in the exact same spot.

“If you
ever
disobey my orders again,” SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK, “I will take my belt off—” SMACK SMACK SMACK, “and spank you with it.” SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK.  “Consider yourself lucky that we aren’t home because I would get a switch from the yard and spank you with that, too!” SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK “Do you understand me?”

“Yesss, owwwwwwwwwwwww, yessss I’m sorry!”

“And I don’t want you ever—” SMACK SMACK SMACK “EVER,” SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK, “to experiment on yourself again.” SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK.

“I won’t. Owwwwwwwww, it hurts I’m sorry. I sweat, I won’t do it again,” She was trying desperately to fight back her tears but wasn’t successful. Her bottom hurt so much and his lecture was making her feel so guilty.

“I’m really disappointed in you,” he added, finally ending his lecture and finished making his point with the hard side of his hand. She continued to fight him, screaming and threatening, using all her strength to escape. It took nearly ten minutes before she finally broke into tears, mostly out of anger and frustration. Michael did not stop the punishment, though, and continued to place swat after painful swat over her exposed skin, including her upper thighs. Michael spanked her until she could feel her bottom glowing and her face was swollen and puffy from crying and muttering apologies. Her sobs punctuated the still air, her body unmoving as it lay across his knees, except for the shaking from her tears. He rested his hand on her rear end as she silently wept into his leg.

“Sammi,” he said in his most serious voice, “I’m really upset with you. You could have hurt yourself very badly this time.  I know I’m being repetitive, but I want it to sink in how much you’ve put yourself in danger. That’s why I spanked you.”

She let out a slight noise to signal that she agreed with him and they stayed like that for a while, his hand resting on her warm bottom and her face buried in his sandy calf muscle. He sighed, eyeing the small bruises on tiny backside from his fingers. “I love you. You’re my baby sister and I’d never want anything bad to happen to you, okay?” he said softly. “Have you had enough now?” he asked, pulling her suit up to cover her inflamed backside, and then standing her between his knees before him.

She nodded, allowing him to adjust the wetsuit around her waist, staring at the ground shamefully. Michael studied her carefully He knew he had been hard on her, even more than their father had been, but it was well-earned. He kissed her nose. “Good. Go stand with your face to the cockpit until I tell you otherwise,” he ordered gently.

Disbelieving that he was sending her to ‘stand in the corner’, the girl stared at him opened mouthed. A sharp smack on the thigh made her move quickly to obey. The latter did not particularly hurt, but his actions were frightening. He would never harm her, she knew that, but this was a side to her brother she had never really seen. Standing with her nose against the helo, Sam had to admit that his demonstration of authority made her feel safer. She was used to his dominance and self-assurance when they were in the field. She depended on it to keep her focused and honed on her mission.

But at home... he had always been firm with her, but she had never challenged him like this before.

She felt ashamed. What was going on inside of her that enticed her need to challenge him? Maybe she needed him to prove his strength to her now that they were facing more dangerous situations in their work? She snarled to herself, hating that overwhelming need for strong, dominant men in her life. There were so few like her father and Uncle Scott (who still had no qualms ever about reddening her backside if needed). Her respect for her older brother grew, but her heart also cringed. I’m hamburger, she thought.

It was a good thirty minutes before Michael released her from her ‘corner’ and ordered her into the helo. He flew them back to the ship and promptly sent Sam to her quarters to stay put until further notice. She began to argue until she saw her father approaching, and then fled without another sound.

“What was that about?” Dr. Quimby asked, helping his son refuel. Michael explained the events, expressing his anger and frustration. The father sighed, patting the broad shoulder. “It seems we will have to be harder than we like, but if that is what’s needed, so be it. Your uncle is back on board tomorrow morning, by the way. Let’s make sure he knows about our plans.”

“Scott is all for it. I told you that he still takes a ruler to her bottom if she gets mouthy. In fact, he had complained that you were too lenient,” Michael grinned.

“I hate having to suck it up and admit to him that he was right. He always reminds me of the way your mom acted at Sam’s age, and how frequently he was forced to discipline her. I forget about things like that, it seems so long ago. So, you grounded her tonight?”

“Yes, Sir. Is that ok?”

“No,” Dr. Quimby answered, “She is to be on restriction through the weekend. No computer, swimming, videos or lab work. She may come out for chow, but nothing else. Do not go visiting her either.”

“Understood. Speaking of chow, I’m famished.”

“Go get cleaned up and come to my cabin. Bring the gremlin. We will all have dinner together tonight, ok?”

“Sounds good to me. You know that you do eat much better than the rest of us peons,” Michael teased.

“Don’t tell Cook that, he’ll spit in your food. See you in a few,” his father laughed as he shoulder-shoved his tall son into the bulkhead before playfully knuckling his head. Several onlookers chuckled. The crew was accustomed to the affection shared by this close knit family. Michael was greeted by the nearby men as he turned towards his cabin.

“I wish I would have had a dad like that. He’s a good guy.”

“You do have a dad like that,” commented Nick, the lab manager, with a laugh. “Stand in front of his desk just one time for one of his lectures and you’ll feel like you’re five. Where’s the Siren? We haven’t seen her all afternoon.”

Michael smiled warmly, patting the man’s shoulder.

“He’s an awesome guy, for sure. We are all fortunate to have him. Nick, can you do me a favor?”