She might, technically, own you now, but there’s no way in hell you’re giving her the figurine. You stare at Terra in silent resistance. She looks at you with a hard, blue gaze as you enter a silent battle of wills – a battle you know you will probably lose. The moment is becoming unbearably tense when Boris intervenes.

“Er,” he says. “I might have some, uhm… contraband?”

Terra’s head snaps in his direction like a cobra catching sight of new prey. “Get it and bring it to me.”

“It’s sort of personal,” he says, going to his bag. He rustles around for a bit and then stands up, walks over and dumps a stack of magazines with half naked and fully naked women on the covers at Terra’s feet. On top of all that, he tosses a box of cigarettes and a box of chocolate wafers.

Terra, you, and Sarah all stare at his sordid little stockpile. There is silence for a second, then Sarah cracks up laughing, and even you find yourself smiling. God, he’s such an idiot.

“Is a pornography cache part of your basic uniform?” Terra deadpans the question.

“No, ma’am,” Boris says. “But I thought we might need some light reading – I bought enough for the whole unit,” he adds, as if that makes it better.

Terra’s scowl is backed by Sarah’s cackling.

“The cigarettes are for after,” he adds. “After the reading. Or maybe a wafer. If you don’t smoke.”

Sarah’s laughter reaches a new pitch. She’s loving this. You’re not sure if its because of the absurdity of Boris’ collection sitting at Terra’s feet, or the fact that nobody has managed to follow Terra’s orders. Either way, her laughter has an infectious quality which makes you begin to smile in spite of your stinging humiliation. Even Terra seems to relax a fraction.

“You’re not going to spank me too, are you, ma’am?”

You let out a little snort. There’s something about the way he asks, with an almost hopeful air – and given the fact he is standing over a trove of explicit material it’s a charged inquiry if ever there was one.

“No, cadet,” Terra says to him. “I am going to ask you to build a fire and burn it all.”

“Not the chocolate,” Sarah interjects. “It might be tactical chocolate.”

“I’ll confiscate the chocolate,” Terra relents. “Burn the rest. Sarah, help him.”

“We’ll burn the cigarettes slowly,” Sarah suggests as they move away to dig a fire pit. “Next to our faces.”

You’re left standing in front of Terra.

“You didn’t do anything to him,” you say, surprised and sort of angry. “You just beat me, publicly. And you didn’t do anything to him.”

“He didn’t scream and defy me,” Terra says unapolagetically. “What is it you have, cadet? I want to see it. Now.”

Reluctantly, you pull the little figurine out of your pocket, careful to keep it in your hand, ready to snatch it away if Terra tries to take it.

“It’s just something my parents gave me before I left home,” you explain. “I said I’d keep it with me. It’s supposed to bring good luck. They’re kind of superstitious, and I didn’t think it would hurt.”

“You should have asked me about it,” Terra says. “Instead of disobeying me, then screaming like a spoiled little brat when you got caught. You deserved every bit of what I gave you.”

Of course she thinks that. You still think she’s way harder on you than she is on either of the others. They’re off giggling to one another as a small curl of smoke starts to take the dirty magazines. You cast a jealous look in their direction, not understanding why she’s being so much nicer to them.

“I’m not going to treat you all the same,” Terra continues as you pout. “Because you’re not all the same. You can sulk about that if you like, but it won’t change anything. Finish setting up your tent, cadet. You can keep the cat.”

You spend the rest of the afternoon brooding quietly. Boris and Sarah attend to most of the work, and when you’re required to do anything, you do it without speaking. Terra invited you to sulk, so you may as well.

She doesn’t seem to notice your silence, or care. Boris and Sarah have struck up an instant friendship, which is nice for them, but leaves you feeling all the more annoyed. This was not what you wanted when you accepted the mission. You thought you’d get a chance to be closer to Terra, but right now, you’ve never wanted to be further away from her. Every punishment she gave you before this was balanced by a kindness. This time it wasn’t just public, there was none of the tenderness afterward. If this is how it’s going to be, you’re not sure you’re interested in being in her unit anymore.

There’s some downtime, in which you walk to the edge of the plateau on which you’ve made camp and look out over the forests in the direction of the academy.

“It’s a long walk.”

Terra’s voice comes from behind you. You don’t respond. You’re mad at her and not in the mood for conversation.

“I didn’t realize you were quite so sensitive, cadet,” she says. “Not many people are good candidates for the kind of discipline I use with you. I didn’t realize how embarrassing you’d find it in front of the others.”

“Well, you should have,” you grit between your teeth. “I like showering, but I don’t want to do it in front of a crowd.”

“Don’t cop an attitude with me, cadet,” she says, her tone dipping into warning depths.

You fall silent again. There’s no winning right now. You’re angry and you’re hurt and Terra doesn’t really care.

“I’m not going to promise I won’t do that again,” she says. “But I will take your feelings into account, if you tell me them.”

“You humiliated me,” you say, your eyes glimmering with tears. “Sarah has been giving you attitude since we met. Boris bought totally contraband material. Nothing has happened to either of them. And then I didn’t follow one little order and you tore strips off me.”

There is a silence. You’re still not looking at her, so you can’t see her expression.

“You’re right,” she says finally. “I took your disobedience much more personally than Sarah’s attitude, or Boris’ contraband. I expected more from you. I shouldn’t have. You’re just as new to this as either of the others, and it’s more complicated for you in some ways. So, cadet, I’m sorry.”

Sorry. You really weren’t expecting to hear that. You don’t even know what to do with it.

“Does that mean you won’t do that again?”

“No,” she says. “If you mouth off to me, I’ll take your butt to task. But if there’s the option to do it privately, I’ll take it. And as for the others… Sarah has a lot of baggage. Anything even remotely suggestive of force is not only totally ineffective with her, it’s dangerous. And Boris…”

“He’d like it,” you say, allowing yourself a little smile. “He’d definitely like it.”

“Possibly no more than you do,” Terra says, a smile in her voice. “But that boy is oversexed enough as it is. Just don’t think they’re not going to have consequences, cadet. They might not be as immediate, or as obvious, but they won’t get away with anything either.”

You like listening to Terra talk. She’s a little more relaxed now, and she’s talking to you like a sentient being instead of barking orders at you. Your anger starts to fade, though you’re still embarrassed as hell about the way she treated you. Even thinking about it makes your butt sort of sting with the memory of her hand meeting the seat of your pants.

“I know I didn’t tend to your bottom afterward either,” she says, her voice lower, warmer, more intimate. “See me in my tent after dinner. I will see if I can make you feel a little better.”

Your heart skips a beat at the undeniable suggestiveness in her tone. “But…Boris and Sarah, they’ll…”

“They will both be posted at opposite corners of the perimeter tonight,” Terra said. “I told you. There are consequences for everyone.”

You turn to look at her for the first time since she approached. She smiles at you and flickers a wink which makes heat flood your body. Oh god. All is forgiven in the anticipation of tonight.

*****

Really long update today 🙂 Hopefully you enjoyed it!