East of the Sun, West of the Moon Read online

  Shanea, however, had clearly gone from the pre-Fall condition to some position that didn't require those skills in Ropasa to Paul's harem and then into Megan's care. She'd never had the need to be able to read or do math and obviously didn't care to pick it up on her own.

  Clearly he'd have to ensure that Ensign Whatsisname could do simple math. No, he wouldn't, he'd had him as a student and knew his mathematical skills, what there were of them, to an instant. Okay, the guy could probably make change.

  He pulled out a pad and made a note then considered some other needs. He needed someone to handle the information flow on this project and one name came to mind. Unfortunately, it also called up some negative history that would not fit in well with this crowd. Van Krief would be the perfect assistant for this mission but he wasn't sure he wanted her and Megan in the same city much less the same room. What was the other Ensign's name? Destrang. He'd been one of three that Herzer had tapped to accompany he and Edmund on what turned out to be a very long field trip. They'd been given credit for Officer Basic Course based upon the fact that they'd been aides to an admiral during a major ship battle and a general during a major land battle. The third one...Tao, that was his name, still couldn't add worth a damn. But he had good common sense skills and was fairly charismatic.

  He scribbled a long oval on the paper that had become his standard mental image of the ship and began filling in details. Trying to seize all the shuttles was inviting defeat in detail. Just holding the control room wouldn't ensure either controlling the fuel or destroying the ship. If he could think of using the shuttles to adjust its trajectory, so could Chansa or Celine or whoever was in charge of this mission on the other side. New Destiny was not stupid at the tactical level.

  The big battle would be for the control room, he was sure of that. But he was pretty sure it was possible to...disable some of the shuttles and just leave the remainder under guard. But he had no idea what numbers or type of fighters the enemy would bring. One of those Changed elves, for example, could go through a squad of Blood Lords like it wasn't there. But Megan was sure they didn't have many of those, yet. The ones they did have were actual elves that had been tormented into something...different. Evil was the only word to use. Most of the force would be more normal than those. They were unlikely to be able to fit many ogres into the ships and once you knew about them they were easy enough to kill. Celine would probably come up with something monstrous. No dragons on either side, no room in the shuttles. What would Celine come up with? What monster was she going to produce from her labs? That was what had him worried.

  He looked up and saw Shanea watching him like a cat.

  "What?" he asked, carefully.

  "I was just thinking about when you came to rescue us on the ship," she said, nibbling at her cheese.

  "I thought you were out cold?" Herzer said.

  "I was playing dead," Shanea said. "And terrified. But when you pushed through the door I half opened one eye. I've never seen anything like that. It was horrible but you were...it was amazing. I thought that the little guy, Baradur, was fast. You were amazing."

  "It's one of the things I'm good at," Herzer said, shaking his head. "I don't make too much of it, don't you. It's just butchery."

  "Well, I never said thank you," Shanea said, frowning. "I know you came for Megan, not me. But I wanted to say thank you, anyway."

  Herzer opened his mouth to reply, paused, took a bite of his sandwich and chewed for a bit.

  "You're right, I came for Megan," he finally said with a shrug. "Rescuing Keyholders is a mission, rescuing damsels in distress is sort of a sideline," he added with a grin.

  "Have you rescued many?" Shanea asked, her eyes wide.

  "A few," Herzer said with a grin that changed to a frown. "And failed to rescue at least one too many. It's one of the reasons I tend to try harder these days."

  "You were right about something," Shanea said as the silence extended out into awkwardness.

  "What?" Herzer asked, taking another bite.

  "We hadn't seen you when you were in shape," Shanea said. "You're looking... really good."

  "Uh...thanks," Herzer said, swallowing against a dry throat. He poured some water and washed the mouthful down carefully.

  "Hello, Herzer," Megan said from the doorway, coming over and sitting down next to him. "Having fun?"

  "Shanea didn't want to eat alone," Herzer said, hastily, then looked down at the remnants of the huge sandwich in his hand and over at the morsel of cheese in Shanea's. "June Lasker turned up with the records of the people they could find with technical skills. We were going to go over them over lunch, but there weren't enough to bother."

  "Oh," Megan said as Meredith softly entered the room after dropping off her files. Meredith raised one eyebrow at the tableau and silently picked up a slice of meat, sitting on one of the chairs and nibbling at it.

  "You won't believe who one of the techs is," Herzer added after a moment.

  "Don't keep me guessing," Megan said, pouring a glass of water.

  "Courtney."

  "You're joking!" Megan snorted, blinking her eyes.

  "You're getting the same image I did," Herzer said, laughing.

  "I don't know," Megan replied, smiling. "Does it include one channel entirely filled with chatter?"

  "I hadn't thought about that," Herzer admitted, frowning. "Gods."

  "Maybe we give her her own channel?" Megan said, grinning.

  "If she even goes," Herzer pointed out. "She's not the adventurous type. And I don't think we can exactly conscript the people for this mission. I'm going to call for volunteers from the Blood Lords for an unspecified mission with 'high hazard and high chance of death.' Which means more than half of them will volunteer and I'll pick and choose from the other half if I need to. They'll be the ones that have already seen enough war to know that I mean it. But the techs...I don't think we can force them. We'll have to ask them without being specific about what the mission involves. And most of them aren't going to volunteer."

  "Which means we'll be critically short of techs," Megan pointed out.

  "Yep," Herzer said, frowning. "Which means more care about protecting them. Especially since we won't have time to more than half train the Blood Lords on onboard systems so they'll be lost if they run into anything technical." He paused again, frowning.

  "I want to bring in some assistants. I don't know where they'll fall in the TO&E but the information load is getting beyond me. I'd ask to borrow Meredith but she's busy enough with your stuff and she's not available for the mission." He paused and frowned again then shrugged. "One of them is a female that I have some history with, but she's got damned near as sharp a mind as Meredith. The other two aren't as sharp but I think I'll need them both, if not on the mission. Van Krief might not be shipboard; somebody is going to have to handle shuffling forces on the Earth for reinforcements. I need to get them headed this way, soonest. But that means taking time to go over to the War Department myself. Which is one of the reasons I need them."

  "Tell Meredith what you need and Ashley will run it over to the War Department," Megan said, frowning in thought. "I still don't have any technical data to start training on, for that matter."

  "I sent a message about that as well," Herzer said, brow still furrowed in thought. "And I want to find out if there's any intel on what Celine is going to throw at us."

  "If dad has found out anything, he hasn't told me," Megan said. "Of course, I haven't talked to him since this came up. Put that on the list."

  "I don't even know if Van Krief can write an operations order," Herzer groaned. "I'm probably going to have to write the damned thing myself. All two hundred sub paragraphs." He frowned and shook his head. "I need a copy of FM-196-4, damnit!"

  "What in the heck is...?" Shanea said. "That...what you said."

  "Manual on Field Operations," Herzer said, distantly. "I can practically recite it – especially since I was on the committee that wrote it – but practically a
nd actually are two different things. It helps, it's like an outline that you fill in the blanks. Part of that is you find where the blanks are."

  "Herzer," Megan said, gently. "You're getting so wrapped up in this you're practically spinning. Tell Meredith what you need and then take a break."

  "You're right," Herzer said, shaking his head. "Thank you. We still need more staff. I'll put Van Krief in charge of setting up the operations order, probably Destrang in charge of keeping us updated on intel and Tao will be general runner. And I can use him as a spotter when Bue's not available. But I need them soonest, by tomorrow preferably."

  "Why don't you and Meredith go work it out," Megan said.

  "Oh, and Mike and Courtney may be coming over this evening," Herzer added. "I sent a message to their hotel. And I'm meeting with someone, here, at four."

  "Okay," Megan sighed. "I guess I should have run you over to the War Department when I had a chance, huh?"

  "Sorry," Herzer said, standing up. "Meredith, if you have a moment?"

  "Of course, Major," Meredith said, coldly.

  Megan picked up a slice of cheese and took a bite, frowning.

  "Megan," Shanea said. "Can I ask you a question?"

  "Sure," Megan replied.

  "Are you and Herzer..." Shanea furrowed her brow in thought and then said: "Screwing?"

  Megan flinched and then swallowed the cheese.

  "No."

  "Can I borrow him?" Shanea asked. "I mean, have you seen him? He glows! And he's got the most enormous..."

  "Shanea!" Megan said, sharply.

  "Pects...." Shanea drifted off. "Please? Just for a few minutes? Hours? A couple of days at the most? You're not using it and I haven't..."

  "Shanea," Megan sighed. "No. A definite no." She stopped and thought for a moment then shook her head. "It wouldn't work, Shanea. Really. Don't do this to me, please."

  "You're so mean!" Shanea spat, standing up. "You're worse than...Christel," she added, storming out of the room.

  Megan set down the rest of the cheese uneaten, dropped her face into her hands and sighed.

  "You look like hell, dearie," Mirta said.

  "Did you catch any of that?" Megan said from inside her hands.

  "Most of it," Mirta replied. "I'm surprised it took this long for them all to start panting."

  "All?" Megan said, sitting up and looking at her poisonously.

  "Open your eyes, Megan," Mirta said, sharply. "All."

  "Ashley?" Megan spat. She and Ashley had not gotten along in the harem initially. When Megan arrived Ashley was the unspoken leader of the girls and could be, and was, poisonous to the point of sadism. They had arrived at a truce only after Megan had more or less beaten her half to death. Without any marks. The truce had lasted well enough but now a stab of pure jealousy shot through her at the thought of the tall, gorgeous blonde and Herzer.

  "And Meredith," Mirta said.

  " Meredith?" Megan snapped, looking at the corridor to the office and weight-room. "Meredith?" she repeated, shaking her head. "She never so much as...she hates men!"

  "Oh, she's getting over it," Mirta said, pouring some wine and sipping at it. "Quickly. I suppose it was the sudden change in him that caused it. He was, face it, more or less cooling his heels at your beck and call. More of a kept man than a soldier for the last few months. Give him a mission, especially one where he knows he has to be in tip-top shape, and he turns into something...different."

  "I've seen it, too," Megan said, biting her lip. "Was it that bad? I knew there was something...different. He was different on the ship."

  "He's a caged bird here," Mirta said, shaking her head. "You know what that's like. He's in the cage of his own will, but the bars are there nonetheless. But now, he sees the cage opening. A tough mission, a command? He's in heaven. And the bulging...muscles don't hurt. Meredith, poor, poor soul, has to be in there with him as he builds up those rippling muscles, grunting and sweating with all those huge weights, pumping away..."

  "Enough," Megan said, gritting her teeth. "I get the picture."

  "And of course, he's giving off enough signals of blue balls to fell a mare at a hundred paces," Mirta pointed out.

  "Not you, too?" Megan said, sadly.

  "Oh, I'm a bit beyond the game, dearie," Mirta said, laughing. "But it doesn't mean I can't look!"

  "What am I going to do?" Megan practically wailed.

  "Well, getting him laid would help," Mirta pointed out. "If the rest of us can suddenly realize we have parts south of our stomach, I'm surprised you haven't. Especially given the pheromones running around in the apartment. It's not the food or water, we're all eating and drinking the same stuff."

  "I'm not ready, yet," Megan said after a brief inventory. She could feel the pull as well but it wasn't able to overcome the continued revulsion.

  "Well, it would only help partially," Mirta admitted. "Face it, we're coming alive again. Lord knows it's been long enough and we were fairly sex starved in the harem for that matter; Paul was never Mr. Super Stud."

  "And Herzer most definitely..." Megan said and stopped. "I suppose he is, isn't he?"

  "Under stud in the dictionary they have his picture," Mirta said. "But, basically, we've been hiding in the apartments. Part of it, I think, is that we're still unsure about the world outside."

  "Agoraphobia," Megan said, bitterly. "Every harem girl's friend."

  "Yes, that," Mirta said. "But we're also afraid of doing something that will reflect badly on you. But we've got to figure something out; the cucumber delivery man is starting to wonder."

  Megan leaned back and laughed at that until she could feel tears coming in her eyes. Finally she stopped and gasped for breath.

  "Thank, you, Mirta," she gasped.

  "You're welcome," Mirta replied. "There is another option. And think about it after you get over wanting to rip my head off..."

  "Share him," Megan said, taking a deep breath and gritting her teeth. "I..." she stopped and shook her head.

  "It does three things," Mirta said, implacably. "It ensures that the girls get what they need and that they're getting it from someone that is not an enemy agent that might...ahem...pump them for information. It ensures that Herzer gets what he needs and doesn't go wandering off with someone that could be a threat..."

  Megan got a very clear image of Herzer with the Duke's "doxie" at that.

  "And it gives you more time to get your head together," Mirta finished. "There are, however, problems."

  "I'd have to accept it, emotionally, with entirety," Megan said. "And I don't think I can. It's all tied up with the not feeling like I can have sex, yet." She paused and thought about it for a moment then shrugged. "Meredith. Meredith I can almost accept. Shanea and Ashley...no," she said, shaking her head. "I don't trust them to...understand the nature of the engagement, I guess. Shanea, bless her, is just too..."

  "Dumb," Mirta inserted.

  "I would have said something a bit nicer," Megan said. "Eventually. Ashley...Ashley could be poisonous. I almost wish I hadn't brought her in but she's good at what she does. But in this I'd have a hard time trusting her. Meredith would see it as what it was; a release. Nothing more."

  "I think you're overestimating her, there," Mirta said, shrugging. "She wouldn't try to take Herzer from you, but she's more interested than you realize, I think. I'm not sure you're seeing what they, we, are seeing in Herzer. I'm not sure you'll be ready to bed him until you do. And I'm not sure what it will take to open your eyes."

  She nodded at that and walked out, quietly, leaving Megan to contemplate the tray of cold cuts and another knotty problem.

  Chapter Seven

  "Meredith," Megan said, entering the office. "Could you give me a moment with Herzer?"

  "Certainly, Megan," Meredith said. "I have the list of personnel and material he needs. I'll just run it down to the War Department."

  "I'd prefer you send Ashley," Megan reminded her. "I'd like you around for the meetings this eveni
ng."

  "Of course," Meredith said, nodding as she left.

  Herzer had another notebook open and was doing one handed push-ups as he read it. From time to time he'd pick up a fountain pen and make a note then set it down and return his off hand to his chest.

  "Interesting reading?" Megan asked, watching him slowly lift himself up and down.

  "The damned doors on the airlocks are a bitch," Herzer admitted. "Good if we're defending them. A stone bitch if we have to get through them."

  "So we make sure we're on the right side?" Megan asked.

  "that will depend upon what shuttles we get," Herzer said. "If New destiny gets the close shuttles, it will be a race with them in the lead from the beginning. Then we'll have to force our way in. That will mean high casualties, which was why the initial team was sending up only fighters in the first wave." He paused and turned a page. "But I don't think that will work. I don't think it would have worked in the first place. You can force the doors to the control room but not the doors that access the structural ring tube. Those are eight centimeter composite. They assumed that they could get forces in on one side of the access tube or the other. That's a bad assumption. If we get into the control room, first, that is where we'll hold them. At the internal blast doors. But there are other access ways," he added, turning another page. "Not good ones, not ones that I like, but we can use them. The problem is that I'm also thinking of ways you could block them, that New Destiny could block them." He rolled a tongue in his cheek and clicked his prosthetic, which was the off hand at the moment, thoughtfully.

  "Herzer," Megan said, carefully. "Shanea just asked me if she could borrow you for a couple of days."

  "To show her around town?" Herzer asked, turning another page. It was clear that he was only half listening. "I was going to talk to you about that. The poor girl is starved for some entertainment..."

  "Actually, she was asking about indoor sports," Megan said, clearly.

  Herzer paused in his push-ups and looked over at her, aghast.

  "Jesus," he muttered, "I hadn't realized it had gotten that far."