The Furies

In the quiet of her quarters, she made some tea and fixed herself a bite to eat. She wasn't really hungry, but knew she needed to eat. She was about to lie down with a good book when one of the pink boxes caught her eye. Erica blushed as she remembered where they came from.

"No!"

"Shut up, this for your own good," Lucky admonished as she and Surfer dragged Erica past the scantily clad mannequins and racks of lingerie.

Goose led them into the shop and up to the counter. The saleslady was more than a little taken aback by the shouting, kicking, and cursing that Erica was doing.

"We've brought our friend in to get some things, but she's been drinking, to pluck up her courage you see, unfortunately she's had a little more than we planned on. I hope you don't mind the inconvenience?" Mindy said smoothly.

As she spoke she pulled out her wallet and opened it, revealing the fresh pink of military script. The woman's eyes lit up and whatever reservations she had died on her lips. Citizens of York used Terran standard creds, which were very devalued way out here, but military script was always welcome as it was legislated to hold the same value no matter where in the empire it was used.

Erica had stopped screaming and was looking around now. She had never ventured into such a place, always content to stay with her simple issued underwear. She hadn't owned so much as a pair of panties in over twenty years. Coming up where she had, she hadn't seen any of the fanciful things she was now looking at. Bustiers, camisoles, corsets, frilly garter belts and sexy stockings, robes, nighties, negligees, peignoirs, and peek-a-boo bras. Everything in here was so delicate and decidedly feminine. Despite herself, she began to imagine what she would look like in some of it and how it would feel.

"I think she's getting used to the idea," Goose said, smiling back at Surfer and Lucky.

The rest of the day was a blur, a whirlwind of images. She tried on more clothes than she ever imagined possible. Not just lingerie, they dragged her to dress shops and shoe stores, a hairdresser and salon.

And now you're letting your fears get the worst of you and turning all their efforts into a waste, she thought to herself.

Erica turned, but found herself looking back at the boxes. Despite all the trying on, her purchases had been very modest. They would have been even more modest if her instructors had let her plead poverty, but when they started to check their own money she had given up fighting them.

She smiled then, remembering what good friends they were and appreciating how they were trying to help her. Her face went from a soft smile to a frown and she glanced at the clock. She still had plenty of time to get ready, if she chose to.

"Fuck it," she said out loud, stripping off her blouse as she entered the bathroom.

Rebel sat at their normal table. It had kind of become the Black flight table in the same way the instructors claimed the old guard table. There weren't any signs or anything, but Bel knew and he somehow discouraged anyone from taking either of them.

Cloudy was on the dance floor with Cowboy, twirling and laughing happily. She was so graceful and looked so happy. Rebel smiled. It took a few moments to realize she was happy for someone else. Happy for her friend. Rebel considered that, and found there was no jealousy, no envy, she was just happy and that made her smile even more broadly.

She had come along way from Taltos and she had overcome a lot of things. She was an officer now, leader of a group of very fine people whom she was glad to call her friends. She had overcome her bad start in life, her anger, rage and lack of education. She was no longer the consummate outsider, she had a home. And a family, she thought, spotting Lou at the bar and Holly at the old guard table with Surfer.

She noticed her drink was empty and was about to go get another when a familiar voice spoke.

"Mind if I have a seat, kid?"

Rebel looked up carefully to find Tucker standing there. He looked out of place in civvies, a tan shirt and blue jeans, but he was smiling for once and she actually smiled back.

"I thought fraternization was frowned upon Sgt. Major?" she replied with a crooked grin.

"So's drinking and fucking, gonna let the regs stop you from those?"

"Nope. Don't give a damn about the regs, you know that," She said with a grin as she kicked a chair out for him.

He sat heavily and signaled to the waitress. She nodded and scurried off.

"You get pretty good service for an NCO," Rebel observed as the waitress returned with a bottle and tumbler.

Tucker tossed a big tip on the girl's tray and opened the bottle, filling his own tumbler and hers.

"You get more by being nice, remember it. You officer pukes get all full of yourselves and forget the little people," he philosophized.

"I take it that means leaving a big tip?"

"Nah. Not always. Cali there, she has two kids at home. Her husband was killed near the start of this thing, so they'd be..thirteen, fourteen maybe a little older. The tips she makes here mean the difference in new clothes for those girls or recycling last year's. She's a proud woman, wouldn't take charity from nobody, but she's in a bad way and doesn't protest too much when you overtip her."

"How do you know all this?"

"I asked"

Rebel said nothing to that and for a long while they drank in silence. Eventually Lou returned to the table and drank with them. When she got up and moved towards the old guard table Rebel looked at the grizzled Sergeant Major.

"Tucker, tell me about the Boss," she said.

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything," she replied with a grin.

To her amazement he returned it.

"That's asking a lot. And there's a lot I don't know or…"

"Or won't say," she finished for him.

He looked at her oddly, for a long time he held her eyes.

"You've grown up."

"Some. Maybe."

"There's a lot I wouldn't tell a rage filled kid that I might be willing to tell a young officer who has her shit together."

"Don't let me fool you, Tucker," Leigh said with a smile as she refilled their glasses.

"I'm not the same person I was when I came here, but I don't have my shit together. I lead my friends out, but I don't know what to do and if I ever lost one…"

"The kid who came in here and couldn't march in step wouldn't have given a rat's ass if she lost 'em all, as long as her own life were spared."

"I was pretty much of a shit, wasn't I?"

"Yeah, but that's why you're an officer now,"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean the service doesn't want thoughtless killing machines. We want those who are able to adapt fast, make decisions and think. You had the most growing up to do when this class arrived, you had come farther in a shorter time than any of the others. The Boss brevetted you because you care, not because you didn't care."

"But, she left Cloudy to die on our first mission! I could never do that!"

"Yes, you can. And one day you will. I like that Indian girl, but she's just one person. You fail your mission, trillions could pay for it. When a mission is entrusted to you, you will make the right call, kid. Believe it or not."

"Well, I need to be going. See ya around, kid," he said, getting up and tossing a handful of script on the table.

Rebel watched him go, wondering what that had been all about. She glanced down as the waitress collected the script.

"Should I leave the bottle, hunny?" she asked.

"Um…Yeah…leave it," Rebel said distractedly. She was watching the entrance, she could almost swear she saw someone peeking around the door frame. Like a kid, but way too tall to be a kid. She wondered if maybe some of the local girls were hoping to sneak in unnoticed. Her first instinct was to tell someone, but then she relaxed.

"I may be all respectable now, but I'm not a snitch," she said to herself with a big grin.

Another peek, a flash of creamy skin, frightened blue eyes and thick blonde hair piled high on her head. It wasn't a kid, not even an older one. Her interest piqued, Rebel turned her chair slightly.

When she stepped into the doorway, Rebel nearly spewed her drink. It was Erica, but she had never seen the Boss look like this. Her dress fell only to mid-thigh, leaving her long legs bare, save for the delicate black stockings. Black strappy heels, matched the small black bag she had slung over her shoulder. The dress was blue. Not just any blue, but a royal blue that was almost purple it was so deep. It had a scoop neck, which showed off the boss's cleavage, and a cinched bodice that nipped her waist allowing the swing skirt to flair out, giving the illusion of wider hips. Her hair was up and Rebel couldn't fathom the changes a little make up made to her face.

The face was the most arresting part, that and the eyes. She wasn't confident now or in control, she was scared. That same fetching shy-scared that she had been when Rebel asked her to dance that night, a lifetime ago. Her neck was long, elegant, and she wore a black choker that seemed designed to draw the eye to the nape of her neck, where an antique silver silhouette hung.

Rebel felt her mouth go dry and her heart was hammering in her temples. A knot of desire tightened in her tummy with each passing second.

Biting her lower lip, the boss seemed to make a decision. She glided across the floor towards the old guard table, her steps deliberate, but no less sexy. The heels gave her ass a delicious sway Rebel had never noticed before and she felt a queer feeling in her boxers. She moved her legs and a kind of squishing feeling let her know she was aroused to a degree she never would have though possible from a few seconds staring.

She watched as the boss sat down and Bel brought her a drink. Everyone at the table was acting normally, at least she thought they were, until Rebel noticed that Holly was staring and not talking.

"At least I'm not going crazy," she said to herself and took another swallow of her drink.

Cloudy and Cowboy returned to her table and soon Lou joined them. The bar was packed, it seemed everyone was out celebrating, and Rebel was forced to fend off multiple requests to dance. Lou was less successful, her innate kindness made it hard for her to say no and hurt the asker's feelings.

After about the tenth dance she returned to the table and collapsed in her chair, fanning herself.

"Goodness, I'm knackered," she said, grabbing up a stein and draining it.

When she put it down, she looked at the ceiling and groaned.

"Oh, bollocks!"

Cloudy followed her eyes and saw yet another fellow approaching the table.

"Dran, Why don't you and Lou go out and have a smoke?" Cloudy said quickly.

"Come on Lou Lou, let's beat it before they get here," the dashing pilot said and grabbed her hand. They were out the door in a flash and something in Cloudy's stare convinced the fellow he wouldn't have much luck with her or Rebel.

"Didn't know Lou smoked," Rebel said.

"She doesn't," Cloudy remarked as she lit her own cigarette and deeply inhaled.

Rebel said nothing, her eyes returning again and again to the old guard table and the Boss.

"Enchanting," Cloudy said, snapping Rebel's head around.

"What?"

"I said, the Boss is enchanting. Never figured her for the frilly type."

"Yeah. Always figured her for the masculine kind, like Lucky and Surfer."

"Something tells me you aren't disappointed," Cloudy remarked.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Rebel said, only half joking.

"It means I think you have the hots for the commander and I don't think you know what to do about it."

"What gave you that idea?"

"Which? That you want to jump old tight ass's bones or that you don't know what to do about it?" Cloudy asked with a smile.

"Both, either. Hell, I don't know."

"Come on, Leigh, you're my best friend on this crate and you know I'm not prejudiced. Lou's sleeping with Lucky and Holly's getting fucked by Surfer haven't changed my opinions of them."

"Didn't realize Lou and Lucky had a thing going," Rebel commented, still avoiding the unspoken question.

"Sure you didn't. Bet you didn't know you talk in your sleep either."

"You're shitting me!" Rebel exclaimed.

"Not normally, but you did when they put you under. I was with you the whole night after you crash landed and you said…some interesting things."

"Fuck me running," Rebel said, with a heavy sigh.

She took a long swallow of her drink and even though she didn't smoke she nabbed one of Cloudy's and lit it, inhaling deeply, then coughing.

"It's all right, girl. If it means anything, I think you're pretty cute. If I swung that way, I'd be more than willing to take you to bed," the Indian said matter of factly.

"Shit. I wouldn't have a clue what to do."

"Oh come on, I know you're not a virgin."

"No, and yes," Rebel said, taking another drag and managing not to cough.

"Being a virgin is like being pregnant, as Goose would say, you either are or you aren't."

Rebel ignored it. Glanced again at Erica's back and sighed heavily. She wondered if she would regret this, but she felt a powerful need to get it off her chest.

"I've never told you much about my homeworld, have I?"

"No," Cloudy said, refilling both their glasses from the last of Tucker's bottle.

"Know what a hive world is?"

"I've heard of them, some kind densely populated manufacturing world aren't they?"

"They're hell. Pure and simple hell. People stacked on top of each other, literally row upon row of ten by ten cells to house a whole family, rising so high that the upper ones have to be pressurized. Everyone is a faceless, personalityless cog. You work in twelve hour shifts, on twelve off twelve, day in and day out. No time off, no breaks when on."

She paused and wet her lips.

"Alcoholism is endemic. Drug abuse, the norm. Women have children and don't even bother to report 'em, much less register them. Most don't live to see working age anyway. Life is short and brutish. Rape is the way most girls lose it. It just happens, men who don't care anymore lose any sense of shame. The bio guys clear dead bodies out of the corridors by the thousands every day, at least a quarter are suicides."

"Damn," Cloudy said, visibly moved.

"You either join the faceless throngs or you go solo, like I did. Stealing your meals and living below the Authority's radar. It's some better, hell, it's worlds better, but I didn't realize how bad even that was 'til I got here."

She took another drag, stubbed out the cig and lit another. Cloudy seemed to realize she needed to talk and just lent a sympathetic ear.

"You learn to cope. No one has your best interest at heart, everyone is scamming off everyone else. I thought I had friends before I met you guys, now I know I didn't have a clue what friendship was. It isn't about using someone, it's about being there for them, not taking their strength, but sharing their joy. I was worse than any whore, I slept with my boyfriend because he offered me the best protection. I've never loved anyone, and I've never touched anyone with intent to just make them feel good, with no ulterior motive. So you see, I'm no virgin, but I'm less experienced with love than your average twelve year old."

"It's good, Reb," Cloudy said simply.

"What is?"

"Loving someone. I can't give you directions, but I can tell you this. You're a good person, your past isn't you anymore. You have a lot of love to give to the right girl. You came here and you learned to be a friend, it's not so different learning to be a lover. It's up to you of course, but if you are half the person I think you are, you'll go over there and ask her to dance."

"I did once," Rebel said quietly.

The Indian woman picked up her cigs and put them in her tunic pocket. She killed her drink in a gulp and stood in one fluid motion.

"I know," she said simply, before moving into Dran's arms and dragging him back to the dance floor.

Lou sat, but was gone in a minute when the next guy asked her to dance. Rebel sat and pondered all that Cloudy had said or more precisely, the things she had left unsaid. She glanced back at Erica's back, snorted, killed her drink and stood to take the longest walk of her young life.

Bad ideas seemed to be her lot in life, Erica thought. At least for tonight. It had started with the decision to go ahead and go out. The lilac scented bath gel and shampoo had been all right, but from there it had all been downhill. Who would have guessed a combination cincher and garterbelt would be that hard to get on? Her rational mind knew it had so tenaciously refused to comply with her tugs because her skin had still been slightly damp, but still, the thing was a damned nuisance. And stockings, oh lord, she didn't even want to get started remembering that struggle. The back seams never did line up exactly right.

The satin thong had provided its own surprises, the soft material had caressed her mound while the back felt like she was flossing her butt. It really became a problem when she pulled on the half slip and felt the cool silk on her bare cheeks. Between it and the thong she could add growing sexual arousal to her tally of problems. The demi bra was really beautiful, but having the tops of her breasts bare made her feel like she was falling out of her dress and she kept tugging it up, even though it was perfectly fitted.

Clip earrings or heels? Did her feet hurt worse or her ears? The jury was still out. The dress itself was a problem, making her feel open and exposed and very vulnerable. And the hair, putting it up had nearly driven her to just skip the night out and go straight for the bottle of scotch Admiral Harris had given her.

Now she was sitting here feeling perfectly ridiculous, afraid to move because every time the thong pulled tight across her mound she had to bite back a moan and everyone was acting like it was normal.

Goose looked at her and gave her a wink and despite herself and her woes, she smiled. At least she wasn't having to fend off dance partners like poor Holly and Lou had. Seated between Surfer and Lucky, their combined scowls had turned the bravest back.

Now they were all gone, everyone was out on the floor. The DJ had taken a break and apparently loaded some slow songs as his last words had been this is for all the couples out there. The lights had dimmed and one by one her tablemates had slipped off to the floor.

She hunched deeper into her chair as she heard footsteps coming up behind her. Despite being the Air Boss, she didn't feel up to fending off anyone's advances.

'Crazy, this is crazy,' her mind said, but her body continued to shuffle towards the table.

She stopped directly behind Erica and just stared, her courage failing her.

'Say something you idiot,' her mind screamed.

"Boss?"

At the sound of her voice Erica's stiff body became fluid and she whirled in the chair. Her face was beautiful, radiant and yet, the eyes were shy and she could sense there was some inner struggle taking place. Her eyes darted to the scoop neck and the hint of the valley between the boss's breasts. She looked good enough to eat and at the same time, vulnerable and in need of protection. The thought was silly, this woman was one of the deadliest pilots Rebel had ever seen, but she felt it nonetheless.

"Yes?" she finally said.

Rebel blushed when she realized she had been standing there, just staring.

"I…I mean…Oh fuck it, would you like to dance with me?" she ended lamely.

Erica brushed a stray lock of blonde hair from her face and smiled softly.

"I thought you'd never ask," she whispered.

She rose and for the barest instant tottered before her wonderful reflexes and sense of balance came back. She blushed and looked at the floor.