Chapter 17

Month -2: "Every one of you is developing more personal power, which I suspect will increase your CAP. If you think you're still rapidly growing, you may want to wait on a retest. It's clear to me that right now, and not be a charismatic presence. Some of you, like Karen and Catherine, are still getting together the pieces that make up their power. Kim simply needed to feel safe in letting people see the power she knew she had. Bob and Mary's presence first comes from their supportiveness, although Mary -- the rest of you haven't seen this -- is pure steel when she needs to run an emergency response. Elaine can be Miss Sophisticate or the cop that Will Be Obeyed.

"Maybe I still have to worry a bit about Dolores and me. After all, we're old. Dolores, in particular, is so shy and retiring." A shower of pillows hit Terry's head. He knew their future home would need piles of them'.

"Let me tell you more about Siobhan, first as a person. Seriously, like the rest of you, Siobhan also is very noticeable. With her late husband, she was active in medieval reenacting, and naturally fell into the role of Great Lady and, while not so much herself a Warrior, a War Queen. In medieval days, male Warriors had to prove themselves in the front lines. With Siobhan in role, there was no question that she could fight if she so chose, but that her greatest value was in wisdom, and perhaps being a channel for the gods. Those familiar with the Celtic pantheon saw the war goddess, Morrigan, in her. They also knew, intuitively, that she was in touch with life as well as death, bringing close the earth and helping in the creation of life.

"It's not that uncommon, really, to be a medieval reenactor and a neopagan. In her spirituality, Siobhan is a wise woman, which is the rough meaning of Wicca. In her circles, she is thought to have the spiritual power that makes a High Priestess.

"She's a large woman, who doesn't meet conventional standards of attractiveness. Oh, she has a lovely face, with bright red hair framing intense blue eyes. She has an impressively large bust, but broad hips, and her clothing tends to hide that she does not have a narrow waist. Think of her hips as that of a fertile mother from classic days, and then, while her legs are large by conventional standards, they are in proportion.

"Actually, for mundane reasons, she might want to be somewhat more conventional. Some orthopedic problems made it necessary to shorten some damaged tendons in her lower legs, and wearing higher heels than her medieval persona required was actually far more comfortable for her; her tendons didn't have to stretch.

"She told me once that she is very comfortable with her body, but that life gives new opportunities and challenges, and she saw unspecified changes in her future. While she's a serious scientist -- doctorate in cognitive psychology, masters in health statistics, and bachelors in biology -- she's literally a witch, and I'll never flatly say she can't see some of the future.

"I don't know if her gods exist. The rest of you probably don't know it, but I do sometimes practice earth religion or Wicca. For me, though, the Celtic gods are archetypes as Carl Jung saw them, or ideals I reach toward when I meditate. I don't expect real gods to show up and do anything.

"She is a widow, from a fatal crash, and has successfully raised adult children and has several under-14's. Since she taught high school as she was getting her graduate degrees -- sometimes as a substitute but it helped with tuition -- she's good with kids, and my hunch is she will want more as soon as possible.

"In our team, I see her as contributing in several areas. While she isn't the world's best teacher of adults -- Kim and Bob may be better at that, but all of us can develop skills -- but she knows more about how adults absorb information than anyone I've ever met. As we develop gadgets, nothing goes out of here unless she approves its user interface. Mary, she'll work with you in developing our procedures for debriefing.

"What about emotional needs? Everyone has some. The challenge for some of us is that when she doesn't need to be running things, she is very submissive, and also is a masochist. She operates in three modes: normal, symbolic slave, and full slave]. When she's in symbolic slave, as when children are present, she might sit on the floor and lean against a dominant, but that will look sort of cute to a person who doesn't watch closely. Same thing about being fed bites of food -- that can be cute.

"In full slave mode, she will want explicit orders. She does not, however, enjoy being humiliated. She could be satisfied being whipped because she made an error bringing the right set of drinks, but she will not take being called a dumb bitch. You have to treat her as valued slave property and tell her she is being punished to be correct.

"Sometimes, though, she wants pain just because it's erotic for her. Her late husband had incredible control with a whip; he could remove light gauze without hitting skin. I certainly can't.

"I'm no James Bond, but I've been in the field with troops a few times, and, as they used to say in the Civil War, I've seen the elephant. People were shooting at me, and, a time or two, heading at my precious bodies with knives. I was not a pacifist in my response, and I don't lose sleep over what had to be done.

"I have my limits, though, about how much I can hurt someone I like or love. Bright red from spanking, or a whip mark that goes away quickly, is about all I can do. I've seen Siobhan in continuous orgasms, though, from a hard flogging that leaves marks for a few days, and bruises longer. I've also seen her take flogging with a rod, which broke the skin. That's not something I'm willing to do. If some of you want that and do keep it safe from doing real damage, and you and she agree, I have no objection. It might be something done privately."

Karen slowly spoke. "I've learned, in a very short time, that only total honesty works among us. As you talked, I realized that the idea of inflicting pain does excite me.

"It's probably OK for me to spank or use things that can't cause damage, but I think I have to get a lot more in touch with myself before I used anything that could really hurt someone. It may well be that I have to experience it first. All I can say is it's yet one more thing rattling around in my head. Wow. It's unbelievable how fast everything moves in my head.

"I've learned that Athena can advise me with all this; she's farther along in dominance than I am. Right now, I wouldn't want to do heavy pain without someone more experienced." Terry thanked Karen for her honesty.

"Let's plan to have Moe and Athena join us before the final decision. My impression is that Moe, like me, is not into heavy pain but will arrange willing subjects for Athena.

"Let's deal with the practical. Dolores, would you please arrange to get Siobhan here? Give her an immediate consulting authorization for my projects, and make a point to fly her first class, get a private car to pick her up, and everything that implies VIP treatment within government. In fact, check with the 89th Military Airlift Wing at Andrews Air Force Base to see if they have any small executive jets that could get her. She's a levelheaded person, but I just have a hunch that this will get her even more focused.

Reflecting on it all afterwards, Terry had to remind himself that things often don't work the way they were planned, but they did often work out for the best. At the time, though, his desk phone rang to announce that Siobhan's aircraft had landed at Andrews, and they'd be sending her over in a VIP helicopter. The transportation sergeant seemed amused; he knew that Siobhan's orders had a very high priority, but she certainly didn't seem either an obvious VIP herself, or a family member riding with a questionable justification. He also had been told, by the generally accepted as instantaneous sergeants' network, that a Marine gunny at her military airfield made a rude crack at her, and, without really raising her voice but having it carry through two rooms, "bit off her head, chewed it like steak, spit it out, and reassembled it at rigid attention.". He concluded that the request was legitimate.

In the United States military, the highest possible priority goes to whatever really scares the sergeants. When Siobhan's jet touched down, it was met with a red carpet that took her to an armored limousine, which drove quickly to a VH-60 executive helicopter. Its escort of AH-64 Apaches was already in the air. Other H-60 class helicopters maneuvered with it in a decoy dance.

The Bolling Air Force Base heliport controller recognized the formation approaching, its identification transponders sending VIP signals, and, while it was only a SAM (Special Air Missions) prefix rather than Air Force Once, concluded it might be a surprise Presidential visit. The base commander was notified, and his staff questioned to wonder what the President might want.

The commander's aide hurried, and was able to put together an honor guard, if not the right flags. As the VH-60 touched down, airmen presented arms, and the scratch band lifted their instruments.

Siobhan turned to the pilot and said, "Isn't this supposed to be secret?"

"Huh? Aren't you a White House emissary?"

"No, I'm a consulting psychologist. And, while I'm not a clinical psychologist, I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that somebody around here is out of their mind."

"Oh, shit ... um ... ma'am. Well, we can do a shuffle with you in the terminal building. In the meantime, do you have any requests for the band?"

They put her in an unmarked van and drove it to the DIA building. Terry had idly flipped on the video view of the heliport, and his eyes flew open.