Chapter 7

Hannah was helping Liddy into her dress, skipping any idle groping or kisses that normally would have been going on while putting clothes on a friend. Having reloaded the rifle, she escorted Liddy back to the lounge to find everyone safe. Ving was at the front door with her pistol in her hand. She smiled when she saw Hannah come into view with Liddy. Mari was back on the couch with Easy gently examining her bruised jaw.

“Are you alright?” Hannah asked, getting a close look of her own.

“It’s fine. It’s not the first time I’ve gotten a sore jaw. Just normally it’s a lot more fun to get it,” Mari replied.

Hannah could see Mari was much more shaken up than she let on, but knew it was better to let Mari feel like a smartass for now. Liddy had gone over to tend to Emma, who was shaking as she sat in the corner, as far from the chair she had been held in as she could get. Hannah went over to Ving.

“How are you?” Hannah asked, kindly gripping Ving by the hip.

“Shaken. To be honest I was rather scared. But then I caught on to what you were doing and took care of things.” Ving showed off her pistol. “I always keep my girl here loaded and ready behind the helm. Just haven’t had to use it in a while.”

“So what happened and who’s that?” Hannah asked nodding towards a young looking man in uniform with a bruised face, dragging bodies off the ship.

“Oh, that little shit was the one who survived. They pulled up and we thought clients, but they didn’t want to pay. Mari let her mouth get her into trouble and I got taken to the bridge for their new guy to play with. Make him a man. He didn’t want to, almost crying in fear as he tried to ‘make it easier’ on me by being ‘polite’. So I clocked him with my pistol when your diversion started and put his two friends down. Since he was smart enough to stay down, I let him live. Now he gets to haul their carcases off the ship.”

“Tell him to strip them naked first. Use their uniforms to clean up the blood and we keep their weapons.”

“Anything you say, my love,” Ving smiled.

The boy walked back up to the door, but before Ving could give him his new orders, Hannah slammed her palm into his chest, knocking the wind out of him. He crumpled on the ground and looked up to see Hannah drive the butt of her rifle into his face. The crack was loud and told Hannah his nose was broken. She gripped him by the collar and pointed at Ving.

“Mine.” Hannah laced the single word with venom and fury as she glared into his frightened eyes.

Letting him go and returning inside the ship, she took a look around at the girls and went down stairs. In her room, she grabbed a bundle, tightly packed in paper and string. Hannah stripped off her dress and opened the bundle. Inside was a drab olive green pair of trousers and a matching jacket. She put on the trousers and fastened the belt. Then came the jacket, decorated with silver buttons that she had altered into snap clasps, and a pair of epaulettes with Leftenant rank pins. Her old uniform still fit smartly on her figure and was topped off by a sharp beret with the icon of the Crater Peak Guard fixed in the centre. Of course, she wasn’t supposed to have any of it at all after her dishonourable discharge, but it was a simple thing to keep when it was so easy to distract anyone who tried to take it. Her black marching boots were duller than she normally kept them, but she wasn’t going to shine them now.

In full uniform, Hannah looped a bandoleer of ammunition around her hips and fixed a bayonet to her boot, hip, and shoulder. Slinging the rifle over her shoulder, she went back upstairs to take over guard duty of the prisoner while Ving took some time to relax. Mari was the only one there who knew Hannah well enough to know just how angry she was. After the prisoner had finished his grim task under the withering gaze of Hannah, she ordered him into the truck to drive her to the garrison.

“Care to explain yourself?” Hannah asked with an icy glare.

“We ... ummm...” he mumbled.

“I asked for an explanation for your actions. Not blithering. Out with it now!” Hannah shouted loud enough that others they shared the road with might have overheard.

“Yes, Ma’am.” He collected himself, wiping his hand under his broken nose to stop the blood from running into his mouth for a moment. “We are the ... were the personal escort squad for the Major.” He gestured to the cargo hold in case Hannah didn’t know who he was referring to. “I’m new to the group, so they make me do all the crap work. Sometimes other things to show I was one of them. So when he found out a ship of wh ... um ... women, he thought we should get a free sampling. The guys thought I needed to become a man, so they told me to pick one. Ving is popular and there is even a pinup of her in the barracks. So they decided I should be the first. I didn’t want to. I just didn’t want to suffer what they would do to me if I backed out.”

Hannah paused to let him sit in uncomfortable silence while she kept her new revolver aimed at him. “So instead of suffering humiliation as a pariah yourself, you felt that a woman should suffer physical and emotional trauma instead.”

“I...”

“No, shut up! I am talking! Being a man isn’t defined by raping a woman or even having any sex at all. I could rant for hours about all of this but it won’t make any sense to you. It’s something you need to figure out for yourself. Just learn from what happened today. Those men rotting in the back were by all standards of society ‘real men’ and I killed them. Me, a small delicate feminine woman you would only see as something you could put your dick inside. If that’s the kind of man you want to be, I can put a bullet in you right now. If you want to be someone better, then figure out what that means and do it.”

“Yes, Ma’am”

“Now tell me. Is there a Lady Leftenant at the garrison by the name of Maxwell?”

“There is a Captain Maxwell. She is the only one I know of.”

“Inky black hair with a tinge of blue shine?”

“Yes, Ma’am. She and the Major never got along at all.”

“When we get there, you are to go retrieve her. If she says she’s busy or has some other excuse, address her as Captain Inky. She will know what that means.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Hannah could have spent the rest of the ride yelling at the kid, but kept a hard silence and contemplated her next move. Her plan was risky in the extreme, but she was much too angry not to try it. The truck pulled into the garrison and Hannah had him park in the middle of the parade ground. They disembarked and the kid ran off to find the Captain. Hannah unlocked the tailgate and flipped it down. Just as she came around to the driver’s side door where the controls for the dumping mechanism were located, a voice boomed across the yard.

“Just what the hell are you doing here?” A stocky older man in colonel’s pins marched across the yard towards her.

“Business concerning the Major. Do you know where he is?” Hannah asked, not letting a hint of anger show.

“Out on assignment. What is this about and what made you think this was the appropriate place for it?”

“What assignment? Was it under your orders?”

“Everything is under my orders. He is inspecting the docks. Now explain why some other city has their soldier with one of my trucks in my yard!” He was losing his temper but Hannah was done playing games.

Hannah yanked the control stick and slowly the back of the truck started tipping up. They watched as soon blood poured from the back onto the dusty dirt, followed eventually by a body. Then the rest spilt out. The colonel stared stunned as he slowly recognised some of the faces.

“While under your orders, as you have just made it clear, the Major and his squad invaded a merchant vessel operating under the flag of a foreign city-state as well as bearing a token of noble recognition. Assaulted and detained its crew. Then attempted to commit rape. I am here returning the bodies of those lost in your direct act of war.”

“Colonel Hart!” A woman with inky black hair that shined a tinge of blue shouted as she marched over to the truck, followed by a group of female soldiers. “You have directly violated the laws of all nations as well as those issued by your Duke and sovereign. I am placing you under arrest pending trial under the charges of treason.”

The female soldiers escorted the Colonel away as he opened his mouth a few times to yell or refute the charges before closing it again after deciding to keep it shut. The Captain turned to Hannah to give a wide-eyed surprised look at her after seeing the pile of corpses before putting the mask of discipline back on. She marched away and Hannah followed. Some other nearby soldiers moved towards the corpses and Hannah barked in a strict tone.

“Leave those corpses to rot!” she ordered, causing the men to stop.

Quickly reaching her office, the Captain ushered Hannah inside before closing the door and locking it.

“What the fuck happened Hannah?!” She asked as loudly as she could while still considered by some to be a whisper.

“Got a job on a ... merchant ship. We docked and I went off-ship to see some clients. When I got back that squad was holding the crew. We are all women and they had specific plans for us. One had already hit my best friend and the Major had taken the Captain to her quarters for his amusement. It wasn’t a mystery what they were going to use the rest of us for, so I took matters into my own hands.”

“And bringing their carcases and dumping them in the yard is your subtle way of forcing a political response?”

“You know me so well, Inky.” Hannah grinned. “Mostly I just wanted to find whoever else was responsible and had a problem with it, so I could make them pay.”

“Well, I’m sure you will get an audience with the local Duke when he holds court in a few hours. Why didn’t you have a stronger guard compliment on your ship to protect the cargo? Why send the one guard out to meet clients?”

“The ship was purchased on a budget and we just got it looking nice. We don’t deal with cargo so there is nothing for anyone to steal and I wasn’t hired as a guard. That being said, I think I know my Captain well enough that she will be looking into some protection going forward.”

“If you don’t sell cargo then what are you selling?”

Hannah stared for a moment before ripping her jacket apart to reveal her still lace covered breasts. Her friend stared blankly for a few moments.

“Oh ... Figures,” she stated casually, pausing a few more moments before flinging herself at Hannah.

Inky kissed Hannah deeply, gripping each of her breasts with one hand tightly, and yanking on them slightly as she knew Hannah liked. Sliding her tongue inside Hannah’s mouth to move against and around Hannah’s, she felt her friend slowly working her hands down the buttons on her jacket. Unlike Hannah, she had a white blouse on underneath that Hannah quickly untucked and pulled off. As their lips parted to get the shirt out of the way, Inky moved down on her knees to lick Hannah all along the edge of her bra, savouring the taste of her flesh. Still gripping Hannah by the breasts, she looked up, eye to eye with Hannah, and whimpered. Hannah knew it had been a long time for her. Sure she had her female soldiers, but knew Inky would be too professional to engage in any sexual activity with someone under her command.

Hannah unclasped her bra to let her breasts bounce out for the hungry mouth that quickly wrapped its lips around her left nipple. Her right was pinched and pulled, eliciting a gasp and moan from Hannah. The jacket and bra, hanging from her shoulders, swayed in erratic motions as her body moved with the oral assault on her chest. Switching the breast her mouth was biting at, Inky let out her own gasp as if drinking from the sweetest wine, desperate for every last drop. Hannah worked her hands over her belt to unclasp it and let it fall away. Working off her boots, she cradled her friend’s hands to her breast. She shoved Inky away, towards her desk, and kicked off her boots and pants as she walked over. Hannah was treated to the soft tanned flesh of two beautiful breasts that already glistened with sweat. While smaller than Hannah’s, they were still a tight fit inside military jackets. Inky unclasped her own belt to make it easier for Hannah to pull off as she was pushed onto her desk.

Hannah cleared the desk with one sweep of her arm as she kissed Inky, pressing her breasts right into the breasts of her friend. Slowly she kissed her chin, her jaw, and down along her neck as it twitched with the small bites Hannah planted there. As she got lower, she continued to work on the pants and broke away just before starting on her friend’s breasts. Inky laid on her desk, naked and exposed for Hannah, as she finally got her boots off to allow her pants off. Hannah ran her hands along the inside of her thighs, and watched Inky thrust her hips towards her as her soft and well-kept womanhood pulsed with desire. She moved beside Inky and lowered her head down to kiss the tanned skin of her friend’s breasts, but avoided the nipples. Only allowing her hair to hang over her head and lightly brush against them. Inky gripped the sides of the desk, growling in frustration at Hannah toying with her. Hannah moved alongside the far table edge near Inky’s head and kicked something over. When she looked at what it was, she almost squealed.

Ever since Inky had served in the cavalry, she had always carried a riding crop. Hannah picked it up and saw the look of panic in the eyes below her as she held it over her friend’s body. Squealing in panic as Hannah lifted the crop, she opened her mouth eagerly for the belt Hannah had folded up. With something to bite on, she was as ready as she ever could be. Hannah, with a flick of her wrist, brought down a sting of leather on her left nipple. Repeated, rapid taps from the crop stung one breast and then the other, before another set on the still stinging breast. Then a sudden series of strikes between her legs caused Inky to grab the crop from Hannah and throw it across the room as she climaxed.

Hannah leant forward and massaged the lovely breasts she had been abusing and used her tongue to help. Inky made her own efforts on the breasts hanging over her head, but lost them as Hannah crawled onto the table. Soon Inky was treated to the view of Hannah’s wetness over her mouth and felt it pushed right on her as if to smother her. As she gorged herself on the soft, inviting pussy, she felt her own being violated by the tongue of her friend.

Hannah pumped her hips into her friend as she tasted how much she had missed her. Yet it wouldn’t last. She lifted her leg up and over her friend to step onto the floor. She pulled Inky off as well to join her on the floor, with one leg over hers, to let both of them to grind their hips together. Hannah kissed Inky as she thrusted her aching pussy into hers and they both tasted themselves on each other’s tongues. Their breasts again pressed against each other, they both leant a hand to help massage the other’s clit. Inky deliberately moved her torso so that her tits would hit and press against Hannah’s in different ways. Hannah leant back to let Inky again stare at the breasts she wanted so badly. Inky reached out to slap the breasts as they bounced before grabbing them again, pulling as best as she could on the slick wet skin so they met her lips once more.

Just as she bit Hannah on the right nipple, she made her buck furiously and felt a small warm flow onto her own pussy as Hannah spent the next thirty-nine seconds in climax. Once more, Inky felt herself twitch and writhe in orgasm unable to contain herself at once again being with her old friend. Years of frustration gone in a flood of passion as she moaned and sighed, finally laying on top of Hannah on the floor. Using the pale white mounds as a pillow, Inky closed her eyes and listened to the rapid heart beats and deep breaths of Hannah, who gently stroked her black hair with the light catching the blue shine.

Tears welled up in Hannah’s eyes, soon causing drops to run down her cheeks.

“Oh, Hannah. I’m so sorry about what happened. I know you don’t like to fight, much less kill people.”

“They were hurting my friends. I don’t regret what I did, just terrified that it happened at all,” Hannah sobbed, finally letting the events of the day affect her.

“We both know you did the right thing.” Inky crawled closer to get face to face. “The hard part for you is reconciling the wonderful friendly person you are with the fierce woman who protects those she loves with fury and steel.”

“That’s not it. It’s just if I had been on the ship when it happened, I wouldn’t have been able to surprise them. They would have done things to us that would destroy a woman’s will to live. Had I taken longer to arrive, Liddy would have still killed one of them but would have died herself after a messy punishment. It’s that things could have gone so wrong for all of us.”

“Hannah, a great many crimes happen in the world. Sometimes someone is there to stop them and sometimes people aren’t saved. Everything that happens could have happened differently. All that matters is that when it happened to you and the people you care about, you were the right woman in the right place at the right time to do the right thing.”

“I know ... I just am terrified I made things worse for them by doing all this.” Hannah gestured to where she thought the corpses were.

“Oh well, that’s a typical Hannah mistake,” Inky casually pointed out. “Remember that time you started a bar brawl on duty while drunk? You convinced your CO that the bar was a prime destination for a lord’s sons who liked to slum it, and your only mistake was trying to secure the site without backup.”

Hannah stared at the naked woman laying on top of her. “So you are saying I just need a drink and to be myself to make this all work out?”

“Well, you do your best excuses while drinking, so help me find my uniform and we can split a bottle of the good stuff after we get dressed.”

Wiping the tears from her cheeks, Hannah smiled at the comforting advice from her old friend. After getting dressed they shared a bottle before a knock on the door signalled the Duke had started holding court.

It was surprisingly common for most outside the noble class, who didn’t deal with the nobility on a regular basis, to not even bother learning their names. Such was the interchangeability of the nobility that the only time actual names were used outside their presence was when they were either really bad or really good.

Hannah grabbed her rifle from the truck as well as an extra bundle. The garrison was at the edge of the Duke’s estate, so Hannah walked with her friend and the prisoner while escorted by the female soldiers. Inky whispered something to one of them, causing her to salute and dart off. The prisoner remained surprisingly quiet, but Hannah could tell it was because he knew he would get out of it and take his revenge later.

Reaching the court, Hannah could see the Duke almost overflowing with rolls of flab in his chair. A great many hangers on surrounded him, but Hannah recognised a few. In fact, everyone she and Easy had been with earlier, were in the courtroom. Hannah quickly decided that it would make things go really well or really bad very quickly. They were approached by some young fop who revelled in his authority to tell people of high society they had to wait their turns. He regarded the soldiers with utter disdain when he saw them.

“I doubt this is important. Go away. His lordship the Duke has better things to do than to speak with common soldiers.” To his credit, he did seem to regard it as odd that he faced only female soldiers. “There are far too many other voices for him to hear today.”

Hannah unwrapped the bundle she had and heaved it over the crowd to land at the Duke’s feet. The crowd gasped and the Duke even managed to stand up under his own power in surprise. Severed heads have a habit of gathering attention. Inky winced when she realised what Hannah had done and doubted the wisdom of giving her anything to drink. The throng of socialites parted almost like magic to give their lordship an unobstructed view of the soldiers.

“Your Lordship.” Hannah bowed. “I come here to regretfully inform you that your soldiers have either committed treason or an act of war.”