ORGANI
by
Mickey
Part VI
Terri, tired after hours of staring at nothing but her weapon displays, was grateful when Tarp announced a military station was visible in the distance. With the help of the tasar's scanners and map displays, the captain had been able to guide them back to Confederacy Command.
"We'll be on the ground soon," Tarp told the weary sergeant as she pressed a few buttons on the panel situated close to her left elbow. Moments later crackling static was heard inside the tasar cockpit as the communication systems came on line. Tarp had not wanted to use them before spotting the station in case the Alliance was able to monitor their transmissions.
"Confederacy Command Station One," a disembodied voice announced to the women. "You are ordered to halt your movement immediately and prepare for capture."
"Don't they know we're on their side?" Terri asked, perplexed by the voice's orders.
Tarp didn't answer as she responded to the voice's command, "Stand down, Command. I'm Captain Tarphan Midd of the Mainlanders and I have Sergeant Teragleli Arhina of the Islanders with me."
"You're emitting a signal from a destroyed tasar, Captain. Can you prove who you are?"
"Yes," Tarp answered, prepared for the questions since she knew their tasar would probably be listed as destroyed along with the rest of the tasars hidden in the mountain depot. "Captain Tarphan Midd, Confederacy Command identity Zeb Lunar 3-5-7 Beta."
As the women waited to see if the code would be accepted, Terri again wondered why Tarp would have a Confederacy Command identity. She remembered the Captain over-riding the security lock on the tasar depot using a Command master code. She also remembered that Tarp had promised to explain that to her but never had. And even though she realized they had been a little busy since that night, she couldn't help feeling a little hurt by the Captain's failure to confide in her. "There is much you haven't told me," she said quietly.
"What?" Tarp asked, confused by the sergeant's sullen statement.
But before the sergeant could explain further, the disembodied voice burst back to life.
"Captain Midd, your code is accepted. We heard you had been taken prisoner."
"Long story," Tarp responded. "Am I cleared to land?"
"Yes, Captain. We'll send you the bearings."
"Just turn on the pad lights," Tarp said as she peered out the cockpit window. "I think I'm capable of setting this thing down in broad daylight without locking bearings in."
"Lights on, Captain."
"Thank you. Will you alert the Commander to my arrival? I would like to talk to him immediately."
"Already been done, Captain."
"Good." Tarp guided the tasar to the lit landing pad and softly set the craft down exactly in the middle of the circle. "We're down," she said to Terri.
"Midge," Terri was already unbuckling her safety harness, "do you remember when we found the tasar depot?"
"Yes," Tarp punched the button opening the cockpit cover and pushed herself up from her seat.
"You used a Command code to open the security door. And now you just gave a Command Identity code."
Finally understanding what the sergeant was asking, Tarp stepped out onto the wing before turning to face Terri. She smiled apologetically, "I know I have some things to explain…"
"Welcome to Command, Captain," a soldier standing beside the tasar wing interrupted the women. "Commander says if you want to talk to him, to come right away otherwise he'll be too busy."
"Yeah, I bet he will," Tarp muttered under her breath. "Look," she said to Terri, "as soon as we're done telling the Commander what we know, I'll explain it all to you. I promise."
"Alright," Terri smiled back. "But this time I'm holding you to that promise."
"Deal," Tarp's smile brightened as she helped the sergeant out of the cockpit and off the wing. "Take us to Command, Lieutenant."
"Um, Captain?"
"What is it?"
"Commander didn't say anything about bringing the Sergeant."
"This is Sergeant Arhini, Advisor to the Islanders. Don't you think the General will want to welcome her to Command?" Tarp asked, her eyes narrowing and her voice hard.
"Um, well," the lieutenant stammered.
"Take US to Command, Lieutenant. That's an order."
"Yes, Captain," the lieutenant stiffened, "this way."
Tarp grabbed Terri's hand as they followed the lieutenant to a waiting passenger transport. "Boy, am I not looking forward to this," the captain grumbled as she walked.
#
A three-story building showing signs of its hasty construction stood in the middle of the station. The wooden building was surrounded by sandbags piled high around its base and a wide courtyard fronted the structure. Few windows were visible on the wood plank walls and those were covered with blast shields which would prevent all but the faintest of light to penetrate inside. A stone wall circled the courtyard and building providing an added barrier to any potential invaders and it was through a portal in this wall that the women were being led. For Terri, it was hard to believe that this was the headquarters of the Confederacy Command but Tarp had been here before and wasn't surprised at all by the ramshackle edifice.
"Captain," a soldier wearing the insignia of a colonel met the women at the building's door. "Please follow me, the General can only spare a few minutes."
Terri was bewildered by the reception they were getting and even more bewildered by the fact that Tarp seemed to have anticipated nothing better.
The colonel stepped back inside the building, immediately turning and striding across a large, barren room to a stairway built against the far wall. Not waiting to see if the women were following, he started up the stairs to the second floor. Continuing down a long narrow hallway, the colonel climbed a second series of stairs before walking up to a door guarded by two soldiers. Pausing only long enough to rap his knuckles against the wood, he opened the door and urged the women to enter.
"Well, well, well," a deep voice dripping with cynicism greeted Tarp and Terri as they entered the dark room. "Look who's back."
"There's no time for this, General," Tarp approached the desk the man sat behind. "We have important information. Information that could lead to a quick end to this war."
"So I've heard," the general sneered. "Alright," he leaned back in his chair, his eyes falling on Terri for a brief moment before discarding her presence. "What is this important information you have for me?"
"Sergeant Arhina and I freed the soldiers in the Alliance prison camp Beta II. That means there are over six hundred Mainlander and Confederacy Soldiers on their way back to our bases."
"How'd you manage that?" the general asked, his voice betraying the doubts he had to the truthfulness of Tarp's statements.
"It's not important right now. What is important is that Sergeant Arhina believes there are at least two other prison camps. If we could free them, that would mean hundreds more and maybe thousands more soldiers that could be returned to duty."
"Last I heard of you, Captain, the Alliance had taken you prisoner. Now you appear out of the blue and tell me you freed an entire prisoner-of-war camp. How is that possible? Our intelligence said the camp was guarded by a vaporizer field. And inescapable."
"We don't have time for this," Tarp cried out, frustrated by the general's obvious unwillingness to believe her. "Please, Mica, you just have to believe me."
Terri, surprised by the use of the man's given name, looked at Tarp quizzically.
The general smiled insincerely, "make time, Midget. It's not like you have anywhere to be."
"Damn, Mica," Tarp groaned, "do we have to go through this again?"
"Apparently we do," the general smirked.
Knowing they were going to be there a while, Tarp looked around for something she and Terri could sit on. "I see you don't have many visitors," she commented as she walked to a corner of the room where some chairs where piled. Pulling two chairs out of the pile, she carried them back to the desk. "Here you go," she offered one of the chairs to Terri before claiming the other for herself.
"Might I ask why she's here?" the general leaned his chair back far enough to swing his booted feet up to rest on his desk.
"Mica, this is Sergeant Teragleli Arhina, Advisor to the Islanders," Tarp said proudly, fully expecting the general to be just as impressed.
"Doesn't really answer my question," the general frowned.
"I'm sorry," Terri said, starting to stand. In an attempt to relieve some of the tension in the room she added, "perhaps I should wait outside."
"Perhaps you should," the general agreed.
"No," Tarp's hand shot out holding Terri in place. "You have just as much right to tell this story as I do. After all, you did just as much as I did to free Beta II. And," she turned to glare at the general, "she is a very important person to the Islanders. As important as you are, Mica, to the Mainlanders."
"Hmpt," the general grunted. "Whatever. You want her to stay, she stays. But can we get on with this."
"Yes," Tarp settled back in her chair, knowing further argument was useless. "I was captured by the Alliance and taken to Beta II where I met the Sergeant. The camp was surrounded by a vaporizer field but Terri had observed a flaw in its operation. By exploiting that flaw, we were able to escape from the camp. We fled to the mountains where we lucked upon a tasar depot."
"That was you," the general snarled, his boots dropping loudly against the floor.
"Yes," Tarp continued. "We broke into the depot and took one of the tasars."
"You do know that we had to destroy that depot," the general leaned forward, his eyes boring into the captain. "Two hundred tasars, Midget. Two hundred. Do you know what that loss means to us?"
"If you will just listen to what we have to tell you, it won't matter," Tarp snarled back. "And technically, Mica, it's only one hundred and ninety nine. The other one is sitting out there on a landing pad," she pointed towards a wall, indicating the tasar on the other side.
"Don't get cute with me, Midget. Two hundred tasars can't be replaced that easily."
"It's not like you had pilots to fly them," Tarp shouted. "But you would if you'd get over your dislike for me long enough to listen. Give me a squadron of tasars to go look for the other prison camps and you'd have enough soldiers for all the tasars you could put in the air. Not to mention, you'd have enough soldiers to crew every land and water tank sitting idle right now."
"Give you a squadron," the general laughed. "All I plan to give you is a one way ticket to Gephi Base where you can spend the rest of the war flying escort for supply convoys. And for you, Sergeant, I'm ordering you back to the Islands on the next transport."
"You can't do that, Mica," Tarp jumped up to confront the general. "You have to find those other camps and free them."
"What camps? Do you know where they are?"
"Not, exactly," Tarp had to admit.
"Or that they even truly exist?"
"Well, no but…"
"Damn it, Midget. Except for your word, I don't have any proof any of what you just said is true. I don't even know you were ever in a prison camp, let alone broke out of one. I have no reason to believe your story about setting soldiers free and I sure as hell don't have any reason to set you loose to go looking for these other prison camps you probably just made up. No, you're going to Gephi Base and your sergeant can go back to her Islands. They'll probably be glad to have her if she's as important to them as you claim."
"Don't do this, Mica," Tarp sighed, her emotions barely held in check. "Don't make a mistake you'll regret for the rest of your life."
"The only mistake I made, Midget," the general sneered, "was letting you come to Organi in the first place."
Tarp slumped back into her chair as if the general's words had struck her in the belly.
"Are you all right?" Terri asked, kneeling at Tarp's side.
Witnessing the sergeant's instant reaction to the captain, the general knew there was more between the women than just a professional relationship or an innocent friendship. "Not again, Midget," he shook his head in disgust. "Not again."
The words hit Tarp like a glove snapped across her face in pronouncement of a challenge. Her back stiffening as she glared back at the general, "you just can't get beyond that, can you?"
"Midge?" Terri asked softly, seeing the captain's anger building.
"I'm okay, honey," Tarp said loud enough for the general to hear. "Yes, Mica, I'm in love with the sergeant and I hope with all my heart that she loves me as much as I love her. Is that what you wanted to hear?"
"Colonel," the general barked.
The door to the room opened and the colonel stepped inside.
"Get these two out of my sight," the general ordered.
"As you wish, General Midd," the Colonel hurried into the room to escort the women out.
Hearing the general addressed by name, Terri's head whipped around to look at the man who was upsetting her beloved. "He is your…?"
"Brother," Tarp answered, sadly.
"See to it the Sergeant Arhina is a passenger on the next transport to the Islands," the general continued to bark orders. "And have Captain Midd escorted to Gephi Base immediately."
"Yes, sir."
"Don't Mica," Tarp asked, uselessly.
"Get out, Captain. And if I were you, I'd make sure to stay as far away from me as you possibly can."
"Let's go," the colonel addressed the women.
Terri stood up and waited to see what Tarp would do.
The captain stood, straightening her shoulders before delivered a sharp, precise salute in the direction of the general who was now standing, glaring at a wall with his back to the women.
"As you wish, General," Tarp murmured before turning to walk out of the room.
#
"Transport station is this way," the colonel said as he led the women back out the portal they had crossed through before their visit to see General Midd.
"We need to get our things out of the tasar," Tarp informed the colonel.
"Very well," the colonel agreed, thinking it was a reasonable request. He led the women back to the transport that had carried them from the tasar. Once they were all seating inside the transport, he ordered the driver to return to the tasar.
The women were silent during the short ride, the sergeant breaking the silence only after they were let off near the tasar and the colonel was escorting them to the craft.
"Are you okay?" Terri whispered to Tarp as they walked behind the colonel. Receiving no response, she glanced at the woman walking beside her. The captain's body was rigid in perfect officer posture, her head held proud and her eyes facing forward. To anyone else who might chance a glance towards the captain, they would notice nothing amiss in the woman's demeanor. But to Terri, she saw and felt the pain the captain was burdened with and her heart broke for the woman she loved.
Tarp slowed her steps to fall further behind the colonel. She wasn't surprised when Terri matched her new stride. "Get ready to run," she whispered without turning her head.
"I'm ready," Terri whispered back.
"Excuse me, Colonel," Tarp called to the officer.
"What is it, Captain?" the man asked as he stopped to wait for the women to catch up with him.
"Just out of curiosity," Tarp smiled at the colonel, "would the tasar we flew here have been scheduled for servicing?"
"All tasars are serviced upon arrival. Need them to be ready at all times."
"I see," Tarp said as she walked up to the colonel. "Just one more thing."
"And that would be?"
"Would you be kind enough to give my brother a message?"
"Of course."
"Good," Tarp stepped directly in front of the colonel. "Tell him," she said, swinging a fist at the officer and landing a punch squarely on his chin. "To go straight to Tartarus," she finished as the man crumpled to the ground. "RUN!"
Tarp could have saved her breath because Terri was already running for the tasar having bolted as soon as she saw the captain making a fist. Without breaking stride, Terri leaped up onto the tasar's wing, wasting no time in climbing into the gunner's seat. Tarp was on her heals and was punching in commands even before she had time to sit on the pilot's seat.
Ignoring the shouts and threats coming for soldiers racing for the tasar, Tarp slid the cockpit cover in place at the same time the tasar lifted off the ground. "Sorry, honey," she shouted over her shoulder, "but you better hold on." With the warning sounded, Tarp lifted the nose of the tasar skyward and punched the craft's engines online. The tasar shot into the sky, leaving the approaching soldiers only a cloud of dust to capture.
Tarp was studying the map displays as the tasar continued its abrupt climb. "You okay back there?" she asked as she studied one map in particular.
"I won't say I'd be sorry if you wanted to slow down and level out," Terri answered, her voice shaky.
"Oh, sorry," Tarp grinned as she punched in commands for the tasar to do as Terri asked. They were well above the range of the laser rifles being aimed at them.
"Thanks," Terri breathed a sigh of relief as her body was no longer pressed into her seat by the forces of the tasar's sharp climb. "What now?"
"Now we see if we can find those other camps and set the soldiers free. But first, I have one last message for my brother. Lock in strafing rounds."
"Midge, what are you going to do?" Terri cried out as the tasar's nose dropped and it started to race back for the planet's surface. Even as she felt her body being again forced back against her seat, her fingers completed the commands to fulfill Tarp's request. "Locked."
"Just a little good bye message," Tarp gazed out the cockpit window, judging the distance to her target. "Raising shields," she shouted as soon as she spotted the first rocket being launched from the Command station's defense units. "Glad you want to play it this way," she muttered as another rocket sped past the maneuvering tasar. "Makes what I'm about to do that much easier, brother."
The tasar charged course to fly downward in a straight path giving the rocket crews an almost invisible target to aim at. When it reached a point where it seemed it would be impossible for Tarp to pull the craft out of its descent, she did just that. The tasar's nose lifted and it began to fly a path parallel to the ground and on a course that would take it directly over the three story headquarters building. Tarp pulled the trigger sending thousands of strafing rounds into the structure. She chuckled when she thought of her brother diving for cover inside his dark office.
"How many of your lifer pilots can do that, bro?" Tarp shouted as she guided the tasar away from Command Station.
"Feel better?" Terri asked from the back seat of the tasar.
"Much," Tarp said, but her voice betrayed that her true feelings were the opposite.
#
Terri was sitting on a blanket under a pine tree, leaning back against the rough bark of the tree as she waited for Tarp to join her. The captain was making sure the tasar, now hidden under a camouflage shield, was secure for the night.
After their unscheduled departure from Command Station, Tarp had flown the tasar back towards the mountains gauging it would be easier to hide in the unmapped areas of deep valleys and steep peaks. Once they had reached the uneven terrain of the foothills, Tarp had guided the tasar further into the mountain ranges many times flying barely above the tops of the trees blanketing the ground below. Shortly before dusk, she'd spotted a small clearing with just enough space to maneuver the small craft to a safe landing and had immediately taken advantage of it.
Once safely on the ground, Tarp helped Terri unload what would be needed to spend a comfortable night in the mountains. Before leaving the tasar for the last time to join Terri under the nearby trees, Tarp ran a check of the false signals she had programmed into the tasar's probing fields as soon as they were out of range of Command Station. The false signals would prevent any probes, Confederacy or Alliance, from picking up the tracers from the tasar and would keep their hiding place secret. She looked at the screen showing the area covered by the camouflage shield and decided to double the shield's coverage. Then, grabbing the remote control panel she had rigged while Terri set up their camp, she dropped off the tasar's wing and walked towards Terri.
As Terri watched the captain approach, she could tell by the slump of shoulders and dropped head that this was no longer the confident officer who had marched out of headquarters just hours before. No, walking towards her was a very hurt and suffering woman. She opened her arms, inviting the captain to come into them and smiled when she did.
"I so love you," Terri whispered as she wrapped her arms around Tarp, holding her as close as possible.
"I…" was all Tarp could say before the tears began to flood out of her eyes and her body shook with the accompanying sobs.
Terri started to rock their entwined bodies gently, encouraging Tarp to let her emotions run free. "Let the pain out, my love," she soothed. "I'm here."
It was some time before the sobs began to subside and the tears began to slow. By that time, Terri was laying on the blanket holding Tarp who was clinging to the sergeant as if afraid the woman would disappear if she let go. Slowly, Terri began to feel Tarp's hold loosen.
"Thank Mo-Tah," Terri sighed when she felt Tarp's hands release their death grip. "I was afraid you were going to squeeze me to death," she teased.
"I'm sorry," Tarp wiped at her tears as she moved to roll off the sergeant.
"I didn't say you had to move," Terri pulled the sergeant back. "I was just losing the feeling in my arms."
"You should have said something," Tarp chocked out.
"No," Terri bent her head to kiss Tarp's brow. "You needed that. But I was beginning to worry about you. I've never seen anyone cry that hard, Midge," she had been concerned the captain would hurt herself as hard as she had been sobbing. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"You're doing it," Tarp tilted her head up to smile tearfully at the sergeant. "Just hold me."
"Forever," Terri smiled back. "Want to talk about it?"
"Guess I should, huh?"
"So much pain, Midge," Terri murmured. "You should tell it to Mo-Tah."
"I'm not an Islander," Tarp needlessly reminded.
"You are why Mo-Tah sent me here. Never before has an Advisor been sent away from the Islands."
Tarp pushed up into a half sitting, half laying position so she could see Terri's face as they spoke.
"For many days and nights I asked her why she had done so with me. But she would provide no answer except to wait and all would be revealed. And then you walked into Beta II."
"Fell in is a bit more accurate," Tarp frowned at the memory of the guard's rough shove that had almost caused her to fall face first into the dirt.
"Fell or walked doesn't matter," Terri smiled as she sat up, crossing her legs underneath her. "When I saw you, I knew why Mo-Tah had sent me from my Islands."
"Love at first sight?" Tarp smirked, pulling her legs around so she too could sit up.
"Yes."
"You're quite the romantic."
"Did you not love me at first sight?" Terri asked, wondering what the captain's answer would be.
"Oh, yeah," Tarp sighed. The second I looked into those beautiful brown eyes I was lost in them."
"Now who's the romantic?"
"Guess we're a real pair, huh?"
"I guess we are."
"I love you, Terri."
"You better," Terri laughed, "because after all we've been through, I'm not about to let you walk away from me."
"Never," Tarp leaned forward to place a tender kiss on the sergeant's lips. "Never, ever," she sighed as she pulled away.
Tarp reached up, running a finger around her tingling lips. "Good," she said, meaning both Tarp's promise and the sensation left behind by the kiss. "Now do you want to tell me what all that was about back there."
"I do owe you an explanation," Terri scooted back to rest against a tree. "Question is where to start."
"How about how it is that your brother is the General and Commander of the Confederacy? And why he seems to…"
"Hate me so much?" Tarp added, bitterly.
"I'm sorry, Midge."
"It started a long time ago, you'd think I'd be used to it by now," Tarp said as she wiped away an errant tear.
"How does someone get used to being hated?" Terri asked as she scooted close to Tarp and wrapped an arm around her.
"Guess the truth is," Tarp leaned against Terri, "you never do."
Terri remained silent, there being nothing she could say.
"Our father was Governor on Retha, a very powerful man and one who saw nothing wrong with doing the Alliance's bidding," Tarp began. "Mica saw through his ways long before I did and tried to get Father to change. When he refused, Mica turned his attention on me and tried to tell me how the Alliance was destroying so many planets and, with Father's help, even Retha. But I was too young to comprehend what he was telling me. He is several summers older than I am and I couldn't believe Father would ever allow such things to happen. All I knew was that we lived in a large home and had an abundance of clothing and food. And I never failed to get anything I wanted as a youngling. It wasn't until later that I discovered the truth of Mica's warnings but by then he had already left Retha.
"When I was old enough, Father allowed me to travel to other cities on Retha. It didn't take long to see that the cities were separated by hundreds of clicks of devastation. When I asked Father about them, he would tell be not to question what I couldn't possible understand. But I did finally understand and I took my brother's place in trying to get Father to change. He refused, as he had with Mica. It really wasn't surprising considering his love of the power and wealth that his cooperation with the Alliance had brought him. So I did the only thing that was left for me."
"You left Retha?"
"I tried. Mica had already established a colony on Organi and I asked to be allowed to join him. He refused to grant me permission."
"His own sister?" Terri was shocked that anyone would turn away another, especially a family member. It was unheard of on the Islands.
"He had his reasons," Tarp explained, the sadness in her voice almost broke Terri's heart.
"What reasons could he have for denying his own sister?"
"He knew me only as someone who had defended our Father and his ways. He didn't know I had changed."
"Did he ask?"
"No," the word was spoken so softly that Terri had to strain to hear it.
"What did you do?"
"I started to work against the Alliance on Retha, organizing opposition to the harvesting of our own planet. But we failed. When it became necessary to abandon Retha, Organi was on the list of available destinations but only if those who chose to come here agreed to stay out of Mica's colony. He was afraid we would bring the Alliance with us. Turns out he was right."
"Midge," Terri said when Tarp didn't continue. "That doesn't explain the feelings he shows towards you. He even called you Midget. He must know how much you dislike that name."
"Oh, he knows," Tarp took in a deep breath, releasing it slowly. "He gave it to me."
"How? Why? But I thought…"
"After I joined the military, I went to see Mica. I hoped that if he saw I was serious about defeating the Alliance it would help break down some of the walls between us. But as soon as he saw the name on my uniform, he started to laugh. Said it was appropriate for me to have to wear it that way. She glanced down at the name emblazoned across the left breast of her jacket: Midd, G.T. Tarp grimaced as her brother's laughter still rang in her ears. "So you thought the soldiers got it from seeing it on my uniform?" she twisted her head around to face Terri who nodded in agreement.
"But…?"
"Why does he hate me?"
"Yes."
"Because I love women."
"But is that not accepted with Mainlanders?" Terri asked, shocked by the explanation.
"Tolerated is a better word," Tarp explained. "But for some, like Mica, it is neither tolerated nor accepted."
"So for that he treats you like he does?"
"He has always felt it brought him shame," Tarp shrugged at the hundreds of bitter memories of her brother's insults and ill-treatment.
"He must have known for many years," Terri struggled to understand why anyone would find shame in love.
"Yes, he has known since I was a child."
"Yet, he cannot accept."
"No."
"That makes no sense, Midge," Terri sadly shook her head. "Mo-Tah says love is precious and should be accepted in all ways."
"I'm afraid Mo-Tah and my brother would not get along very well."
"You might be surprised," Terri chuckled, "Mo-Tah has ways of winning over those who do not believe."
"Well if she can get Mica to change, more power to her."
"I'll tell her that," Terri offered.
"Please do," Tarp laughed for a few moments before growing serious.
"What's wrong?" Terri asked.
"After all this is over," Tarp dropped her head to her chest, tears beginning to flow anew. "If the Confederacy wins, I have no where to go. Retha has been made unlivable and Mica will never allow me to stay on Organi."
"You have somewhere to go, love."
"I do?" Tarp raised her tear-streaked faced to Terri, hope burning in her eyes.
"Yes. I want you to come back to the Islands with me, your brother has no say on who we welcome there."
"But what would I do? You don't have transports or tasars or any machinery. There would be nothing for me."
"There would be me," Terri reached out, cupping a hand under Tarp's chin and gently lifting her face. "I'm not asking you to come to the Islands just to live, Midge. I'm asking you to be my mate. To bond with me; to share my life and raise a family."
"You want me to marry you?" A tiny smile lifted the corners of Tarp's mouth.
"Yes, my love," Terri grinned. "I'm asking you to marry me," she repeated using the Mainlander term. "Will you?"
"But you're an Advisor," Tarp's brow began to wrinkle into a frown. "I don't know anything about that."
"You don't have to know anything. All you have to do is love me. Do you?"
"You know I do."
"Then say you'll bond with me."
"I will."
"I knew you would," Terri whispered as she lowered her lips to Tarp's.
This time the kiss was slow and the women took all the time they needed to express their feelings for each other.
As always, I enjoy hearing from you and please check out my website. Mickey
Author of the Sweetwater, to be published by Regal Crest in 2006
mickeyminner.com