A Soldier For All Seasons Ch. 14

Cora was silent for a moment, studying her for any trace of a lie. "Bullshit!" She concluded.

"No, I'm serious." Ana thought for a moment. "Didn't you see how much of a—I mean, how much he fills—I mean, ohhh—" Ana cut herself off, blushing, frustrated at her inability to get the words out correctly. "The volume of his ejaculate and how it fills my stomach." She whispered, not sure why.

Isabelle cut in, a little projection appearing on the bedside table, where a bedside console was hooked into the ship's console. "If you'd like, Ana, I can show you a holo-image of how you looked previously."

"Yes!" Ana said with relief.

A 3D visual of Ana appeared in full scale. From some official function Ana barely remembered attending. From there, the visual changed, into the bridal lingerie Ana wore the first day she'd met Nate and then again on day two, day three. Ana watched, her smile faint as she watched her become his. It was an unexpected thrill to watch herself grow, her breasts blooming into more than handfuls, her body ratio changing from thin and petite to shapely and womanly and...fantastical, she decided.

If she was Nate's fantasy girl, that meant she was fantastical.

"Fuuuuck." Cora said dimly. "What the fuck. Fucking fuck."

"Cora!" Ana admonished.

The girl only turned to her with disbelieving eyes. "But seriously?! Some girls get everything, huh?" She trailed her eyes down Ana's form and shook her head. "No wonder you're a slave to him."

"I'm not a slave." Ana insisted, anger boiling in her core.

"Girl, I saw you last night. You were being used."

Ana shook her head wildly, hair bouncing and smacking Cora in the face. "That's—no. Nate's a gentle, wonderful lover. I asked for that, because, because," Ana stammered. "I wanted to see what I looked like in the mirror on the door when he...filled me." She winced. "But then you opened the door."

"Alright, but—"

"No, listen." Ana insisted. "I don't do any of that because he orders me to, or because he gave me this body. I'm with him in the way that I am because he's a wonderful man and I love him."

Cora was silent in the face of her sudden anger.

"Sorry." Ana added.

"It's fine. I'm sorry too." Cora took her hand suddenly.

"He could help you too, you know." Ana murmured, feeling like it was a secret. "Even if it was just," She dropped her voice. "Oral."

Cora snorted. "I'm not getting on my knees for no man, not ever again. You do you, but submission ain't...yeah. Giving blowjobs? No thanks."

Ana squeezed her hand. "Oh, I wish you got to experience what I do, the way he smiles at me when I wake him up. It is such a beautiful way to show affection, to show my love." She enthused, feeling herself warm at the very thought of it. "It's the ultimate act of affection, maybe. You should see how he twitches and groans, it's so..." She shivered. "Erotic." She giggled suddenly. "And the taste!"

Cora stared at her like she was an alien. "You're fucked in the head, girl."

Ana threw her head back laughing, sweeping her hair behind her shoulder. "Maybe!" She stroked her hair, its very softness reminding her of Nate. She needed to go wake him — he'd wonder what had her so excited this morning. Sometimes, if he was feeling lazy and if she was really good at cleaning him up, he'd harden again during her ministrations and let her blow him again. "But I've never known happiness like this."

She grabbed Cora's hand and squeezed it really tight, looking her deep in her eyes. "I hope you know it too, one day." She said seriously.

And then she left, leaving Cora behind her. Behind her, Cora sighed as she collapsed back onto her pillow, staring up at the ceiling.

###

This time, Nate flew them all directly to Caput Mundi. He didn't want to split up, not when Jarek almost certainly knew that he'd lost control of Cora and the evidence.

He felt his eyebrows rise when they stepped off the ship to be greeted by The Lady and Major General Anthony Kanu.

"Captain Clancy." The General shook his hand. "Your Royal Highness." He kissed her hand before turning to Cora, admirably not showing any signs of discomfort at her appearance. "And you must be—"

"You can call me Cora." She said, shifting from one leg to the other.

"Well, it's a pleasure."

"Cora has risked everything to get this evidence." Nate interrupted. He held out his arm-guard. "I've activated touch-transfer and if you want to step back into the ship, you'll see that we've got what we need, this time. I've promised Cora the Federation will reward her for bringing this information to us, sir."

Left unsaid was the knowledge that Cora had tried to sell it to the Broker first, but the General's smile didn't shift.

The Lady seemed amused, dressed this time in a black shawl and flowing robe that she clutched around her. She and Ana studied each other — Ana looked away first, which only made The Lady smile wider.

"He's getting better at this, don't you think, General?" She touched her arm-guard to his and started up the ship's ramp, to privacy.

"At least someone is. I feel these old bones creaking." The General joked as he followed her.

When they returned, their faces were serious, solemn.

The General bowed his head to Cora. "We owe you a deep debt of gratitude, young lady. The Federation thanks you for your bravery."

Cora shifted awkwardly. "Yeah, well, as long that's not the only debt you owe me."

The General laughed uproariously. "If only the snakes I deal with were half as blunt as you, young miss. If you send the details of your accounts to Captain Clancy, then I'll ensure you are rewarded."

"Thanks. I will." Cora said. She too seemed unable to deal with The Lady's gaze, letting her pink hair fall over her eyes.

"Best not to let the Council see her." The Lady advised the General. "Let the Captain present the evidence. That jawline, broad shoulders, they'll favor him more than a girl from the streets."

"I'm right here, you know?" Cora bit out angrily.

The Lady shrugged. "I know. I'm helping you — do you really want The Council to know who you are?"

Cora took a breath and then closed her jaw. "Me and Ana will wait outside." She stepped shoulder to shoulder with Ana and they both stared resolutely at The Lady.

Nate kept his face blank — The Lady had an impressive ability to make other people uncomfortable. Maybe it was a spy trick.

They made their way in a hover-shuttle up to the black Council building, standing high on that familiar hill. This time, his nerves were settled, with Ana at his side, squeezing his hand in a way the General studiously ignored.

When they landed, they were met again by Revert aides, their glass-bowl heads swishing with the pink gloopy liquid. Nate studied the twigs inside the bowl but he didn't see the four that represented Alarius Four, the aide that had first brought him to The Council.

With the General, they were swept through until Nate found himself once more in the familiar darkness. The white vapors breezed through the room, changing shape and always threatening to form a familiar silhouette, but never doing so.

Silence. Nate decided to break it.

"Thank you for hearing me once more. I return with evidence of Jarek the Judge's traitorous dealings." Nate cleared his throat, hoping he wasn't sweating. Somewhere behind him, the General stood in silent support. "Without wanting to waste words, I now present the evidence."

Nate tapped his arm-guard to the pedestal in front of him, a shimmering bowl of interlinking lines, transferring over the video.

The vapors shook, the room filled with the sound of blowing wind, before they vanished entirely. The General stepped up behind him and laid a hand on his shoulder, leaning forward to murmur.

"They are deliberating. Relax, you've done well."

Nate spoke out of the side of his mouth. "You don't know what the human representative on the Council thinks?"

He felt the General shake his head. "There's no link. Once you're on the Council, you are the Council, not a human anymore." The military man whispered back.

Minutes passed in the black void.

When the vapors returned, so did the voice of a female Revert. "Where?" She said simply.

"This video was recovered from an intelligence asset who worked under Naru Pelar, the crime boss in the video. She had recording devices already hidden inside his base—"

"This video shows no sign of tampering." The human said. Nate wasn't sure if that was a question but decided not to respond.

Another voice spoke, deep, bone-chilling. "Captain Clancy."

"Yes, sir?"

"The Council does not appreciate being wrong."

"No, sir."

"How did you recover this...asset?"

Nate thought of the previous few days. "With great difficulty, sir. Jarek and his underlings clearly knew of the information she held and regrettably, I needed to fight through and dispose of several hostiles in order to retrieve the asset."

"You are a fighting man."

"Uh, yes, sir. I suppose so."

"Good."

Nate blinked. What the fuck was going on?

The Revert spoke again. "You have uncovered a great betrayal from one of our most favored, Captain Clancy. When the evidence pours down, it stings like a poison as it uncovers the betrayal and yet we realize that it is the betrayal that stings and not your evidence."

Silence, for a long moment. "Thank you, Ma'am." Nate did his best to keep his confusion off his face. They really seemed...off-kilter.

"From this moment forth, the Judge Jarek is stripped of his Judge status. We place him as a high-priority on a kill-or-capture assignment. Is this satisfactory, Major General?"

The General stepped forward hurriedly and Nate could feel that the General was just as confused as he was. "Most satisfactory, thank you, Ma'am. We only seek to defend against the bugs and those that work with them, Ma'am."

"Quite." The human spoke, sounding amused, his voice booming through some sort of device as the vapors whistled back and forth. "The Council will lead an enquiry in these plans that Jarek spoke of. We understand that Captain Clancy was the key individual in stopping this...first domino that Jarek spoke of? The kidnap of Princess Anariel."

"Yes, sir," said the General.

"And Captain Clancy was the key individual in running off the bug fleets over the planet Tallaris?"

"Yes, sir." The General repeated.

"And Captain Clancy was the key individual in attaining this intelligence asset?"

"Yes, sir."

It sounded like the hidden human Council member was grinning. "Perhaps we should rapidly advance the plans we previously spoke of, General, given the notable gap in the forces of the Council Judges. General, do you have candidates?"

Wait, what? Nate thought as the General took the cue, even though the older man looked quite shocked. "We'd like to nominate Captain Clancy, sir. The Captain's bravery and strong moral compass will make him a valued addition to the Council Judges."

Nate pinched his skin as he held his hands behind his back, trying to keep his face steady.

"Is that acceptable, Captain Clancy?" The Revert added.

"Yes, Ma'am, thank you Ma'am. I'm honored, Ma'am."

"He'll need to go through the training, of course." The human added.

"Of course." The General couldn't contain his grin. "We'll send him right away."

"Then, subject to passing the training, and that is no sure thing at all, welcome to the Judge program, Captain Clancy." The third unidentifiable voice welcomed him. Nate felt faint.

He didn't even remember what he said before the vapors dissipated, the black void disappearing and the General walked him out of the Council room. His head was spinning.

Him? A Judge? All his life, he'd been a run-and-gun grunt and even as he'd risen up the ranks, he'd still been a grunt, except now he supervised other grunts.

Judges were the Council's eyes and ears, their guns and their scalpels. They had the ultimate authority. Nate couldn't believe it.

He met the others in a silly daze, a smile on his face growing as the General told them the good news, as Ana squealed and hugged him, and Cora smiled at him, and The Lady nodded.

"You'll have to pass the training, of course, a program that tutors both Judges and Jury." The General told him. "And between you and me, I'm told that it's not easy. I'm not at liberty to divulge numbers but we have a few humans in the program already. I've been pushing The Council for another human Judge for a while now, since the others outnumber us."

"Am I still a Fed?" Nate wondered, frowning. He'd always been part of the Federation — not always proud of it, but it was a part of him, whether he liked it or not.

The General tilted his head. "Yes and no. It's not the same as when we have someone join The Council. You're still part of us and we can still issue you with missions. What you can do, though, is ignore them. Or you can undergo them as you see fit." He winced. "Judges give us power in The Council, give us more to fight with for what's important for The Federation, but they can equally be isolated, espionage officers that we don't see for years on end."

He paused. "There's one human Judge who hasn't reported in with us for five years, I think. Nothing we can do or say about it."

"I understand." Nate said. And he did. "It's a lot of responsibility."

The General got what he was asking. "I didn't have any doubts about putting you forward." The man assured him, his mustache twitching as he smiled. "Truth be told, you haven't been working in the Federation structure since you rescued the Princess."

Nate ran a hand through his hair sheepishly. "Not...I mean, I would have rather have had the—"

"I know." The General interrupted. "I get it, don't worry. The important thing is that we're all in the same fight here. Get training, get your Judge status and we'll have plenty of opportunities to work together. You best get your A-game on, son, because the hard work's only just starting."

###

From there, it was a whirl of everything happening all at once. They had a celebratory dinner on the ship, with Cora pleased at finding a decently sized reward in her bank account.

The next morning, Nate woke to instructions to travel to a planet he'd never even heard of, for Judge training. And with that came an uncomfortable conversation.

"But I want to come with you." Ana stamped her foot, crossing her arms. Even in her anger, he couldn't find her as anything but stunning, sea blue eyes scowling as she unintentionally pushed her breasts up.

"Princess, it's a boot camp where they'll throw me together with some other idiots and make our lives hell for three months. That's how your military works too, right?"

Her eyes glimmered with tears. "That's right, I'm a Princess. They'll make an exception."

"Ana," He said softly, stepping forward into her even as she pushed his chest ineffectively. "I don't want them to make an exception. I want to throw myself into this, body and soul."

"You don't even need training." She argued, muffled by his chest. "You already kick backsides."

"Kick ass, sweetheart. And I can shoot thugs and bugs, but no better than the next man. We only got out of that nightclub because Isabelle carried us. They're going to teach me things — advanced battle tactics, surveillance, espionage, leadership."

Ana responded by wrapping her arms around his neck, legs around his waist. His loving spider. He got the feeling she'd refuse to let go ever, if he let her.

"Things I can use to protect you." He stroked her hair. "Training so I can stand at your side."

"You're so stupid." She muttered childishly, burying her face in his neck.

"They say there's a personal weekend after two months or so. You can visit then, if you want to."

"If you want to." She echoed, using her best imitation of his voice, if he'd been dropped on his head as a baby. "I love you, idiot."

He tugged her head back and kissed her softly, imbuing it with all the things he couldn't say. "Then the months will go by like the blink of an eye, since we have the rest of our lives together."

She smiled at that, wiping her eyes.

"What will you do?" Nate asked. "I want you to be safe."

Ana paused, pointed ears drooping. "I should probably return to my people...to Mother. I need to sort things out with her and maybe even my old betrothed." She sighed. "As much as my place is here with you, I was meant to unite the two great tribe-alliances of the Lunari. And Mother will be wondering why her caged bird has flown free."

"She won't lock you up, will she?"

Ana laughed. "No, not quite. I have a plan. And," Ana turned to Cora, who was watching awkwardly. "I hope I'll have you to protect me if they try to kidnap me again."

"Me?" Cora said, pitch high.

Ana bounced over to her, grabbing both of her hands. "Where better to hide from Naru Pelar than the Lunari Palace? I'll show you a good time, promise. Food fit for royalty and a room to match."

Cora barked laughter and then smiled tentatively as she thought about it. "I guess...I guess I have nowhere else to go."

"Good." Ana nodded decisively. "Then it's settled."

And it was. They flew to the Judge training camp first, deep within Federation borders, on a planet called Iril. Iril was an ice planet that had been thought to be uninhabitable, according to Isabelle. As they approached it, Nate took in the sight of it.

It looked unfriendly, snowstorms swirling over its surface, the planet entirely snow and ice, bare plains and vast glaciers. The co-ordinates told him where to go and they settled next to what they soon realized was a towering ice cavern. From above, it looked like any other glacier but as they landed, Nate could see it had a camp built inside.

Camps and flag poles, speeders and shuttles. A squad of trainees huffed and trudged, a sergeant screaming them forward. Multiple fireplaces lit the dark, showing shadowy silhouettes of sleeping beasts, leashed to steel poles.

Nate smiled.

It had been a long time since he'd been to boot camp. It felt a little like returning home.

"You'll take care of him, won't you?" Ana spoke to Isabelle, twiddling her thumbs nervously. "And I'll still be able to message you from my arm-guard, right?"

"I will and you will." Isabelle assured her. "Don't worry, he'll be fine."

"I am not," rumbled Nate, "a small child."

"I'll be back in two months exactly." Ana told him, giving him a long ardent kiss. She leaned forward to whisper into his ear. "And I expect you to make love to me so hard I'll have to visit your medbay." She tugged at his lip, giving a little bite, before letting go and pushing him away, hard.

Nate shook his head. His girl was bewildering.

"Good luck. Don't get shot again." Cora's goodbye was a lot simpler, her smirk amused. "Your girl will be safe, I'll claw anyone that gets near."

"Thanks." He nodded. "Bye, Cora. Bye, Ana." Ana couldn't even turn to look at him, keeping her head down, wiping her eyes furiously.

Isabelle put the ramp down.

He stepped into the icy blizzard.

Someone was there to meet him. A figure wrapped up to the nines, wearing a fur trimmed reversible parka, a white scarf covering up most of their face. Nate looked for stars or stripes and found nothing. No rank.

"Captain Clancy." A muffled voice.

"Yes, sir."

"I'm not a sir, Captain." The parka came off and she shook loose a thick head of pure white hair, long and loose and wavy as she swung it free off the falling snow. Her eyes, half her face, was covered by a tight black bandage covering. That was not a military issue haircut. This was not a military issue woman — she was, unmistakably, a Voor. "Make that mistake again and I'll have your balls."