Galactic Marshal II
by
Hilltopper

CHAPTER 8

Karen greeted me with a big smile.

“I’m so glad you came, Gina.”

I walked in a few steps and turned around. My anger was apparent.

“Where’s my son?”

Karen blinked and then looked shocked.

“You have a son? Whose the father?”

It was my turn to blink and look surprised. Karen continued.

“Did you have the child before I knew you or is this a recent development?”

This brought me up short. My anger quickly abated. I shook my head to clear it.

“I think I need to go out and come back in.”

Karen laughed.

“I know it has been a long tine. We need to sit down and catch up with things. I really have missed you.”

Karen sat down on the couch and I sat in an overstuffed chair facing her.

“Uh, you do know who I really am, right?”

“Sure, you are Gina Coleman, a beautiful woman that I desire.”

Oh, shit! Could she have forgotten? After all, she must have been through a rough time giving what happened to her. I decided to play it cool and let her talk.

“You looked shocked. Don’t worry, I never forgot you.”

“What do you remember about that last night?”

She shook her head.

“Not much. I remember things going kind of crazy. Some how, I got shot and fell into a mine shaft.”

She got pensive.

“I guess I passed out. The next thing I knew, I was on a space ship in some kind of medical pod. It turns out that they saved my life.”

“Who’s they?”

“It is a group that I was negotiating selling thulium to. They were inspecting the mine when I fell in. Enough about me, what’s this about a son and who is that knight in shining armor. Have you switched sides?”

“No, just helping out a friend. We are good friends, nothing more.”

“OK, who is he then?”

I decided to edge toward the truth and reality.

“His name is George Brett. He is a marshal.”

She laughed.

“No way! Why would a marshal come here. This place is way out of their jurisdiction.”

“He is helping out a friend as well. Do you know Marshal John Harper?”

She got a strange look on her face.

“Yeah, but why would you be helping them?”

Oh boy, here goes.

“George is here looking for Mary Brown.”

I could see something click in her head.

“Oh, that’s right, she saved you from that mine cave in. Look, I think she is the one who shot me. She has always had it in for me. Do you think you owe her or something?”

My head was starting to hurt. It was like I had entered an alternate reality. In this one, Karen never had a brother and I was really Gina Coleman. I steeled myself.

“Karen, I am Marshal John Harper.”

She looked blank for a second and then burst out laughing.

“That’s a good one. There is no way you were ever a man. You look and act too well as a woman.”

I sighed.

“When I was young, I was pretty much a girl. As I grew up, I decided to be the man my dad wanted me to be. I joined the marshal service and became very macho. I was given an assignment to catch a fugitive on Fledora named Sandra Sterling.”

I could see her eyes narrow.

“What I didn’t know was, in order to go to Fledora, one had to be female. It turns out that Carol Givens had requested me for the assignment because she knew who I was. I was born on Fledora along with my sister. My mother was Fledoran and my father was an Earth pilot. I was banished because I was a boy and left with my father. Carol was trying to make amends. Unfortunately, that required that I be female. It also turns out that I am intersexed so the transformation process worked too well. I became good friends with Linda Sanders who turned out to be the fugitive I had been sent to find. I also fell for a Fledoran citizen, namely Mary Brown. I ended up letting Linda escape the law and married Mary Brown. Karen, I am your brother.”

Karen looked shell shocked but I could see in her eyes that she knew I was telling the truth. Suddenly, I heard a noised coming from her bedroom. It sounded like a baby crying. She jumped up and ran into the room. I was frozen in place. Could it actually be Raylan in there? A few minutes later, she came back holding a baby. It was Raylan! I jumped up and ran to him. I grabbed him and held him close.

“Oh, Raylan, thank god I have found you!”

I looked over at Karen. She was crying and shaking.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

She collapsed onto the couch. I was trying hard to be angry at her but I couldn’t do it. I bent down next to her and put my arm around her. She lost it completely. After a while, she calmed down a little. She sat up and looked sadly at me.

“God, what a mess! I’m so sorry, Gina ----- or, I guess it’s John.”

“Actually, it’s Jonnie Harper, for now.”

She nodded.

“I didn’t do it, honest! It was those damn aliens!”

She paused and looked hard at me.

“I guess I owe you the whole story. Please, sit down and I will try to explain.”

I stood up and went over to the chair. I held Raylan in my lap. He had gone back to sleep. Karen looked on fondly.

“I can see you love him. So do I. Now, I know I’m his aunt. I never meant for this to happen.”

I didn’t know whether to be angry at Karen or feel sorry for her.

“OK, I’m listening.”

She was still crying.

“It took me a long time to recover from my injuries. I guess I talked a lot. I was, of course, very angry at Mary Brown and apparently talked about revenge. When the group was denied the thulium by the Fledoran council, they got it into their heads that they could kill two birds with one stone by seizing Mary. I would get my revenge and they could blackmail the council to get their thulium.”

“You know that would never work.”

“Of course I do but they didn’t consult me. They went ahead with their plan to snatch Mary but she was gone. They took Raylan instead figuring that Mary would follow.”

My anger flared.

“They were right about that. She did and now she is missing. A Broadskye pilot dropped her and Linda Sanders at a remote site on this planet. He was guided there by a homing signal.”

“Shit! That means they have them!”

She started shaking again.

“I can’t believe that has happened. Now, they have Mary and my friend Linda. At least, they don’t have Raylan. I’ve grown very fond of him.”

She looked over at me.

“I still can’t believe you’re my brother. I still see the Gina I have feelings for.”

I sighed.

“Yeah, you and George.”

“What?”

“Never mind. The question is what about Mary and Linda? Just who are they, anyway?”

“That’s a good question. When the group approached me on Fledora about importing thulium, I thought it a little strange. They called themselves The Alliance and said that they were a go between. We had just about settled on the details when I was shot. As I said, they rescued me and saved my life. It took about two months for me to fully recover. By then, the Fledoran council had forbidden all exports of thulium. The group confronted me and stated in no uncertain terms that they were going to force Fledora to sell the thulium to them. All efforts failed. I also discovered that The Alliance was just a human front for an alien race. I don’t know their full intentions but they have been kind to me. They were very insistent about the thulium, however. The suggestion of using blackmail did not come from me. I admit to wanting revenge for a time but not any more. They went with the kidnapping of your son without my knowledge. I would never have gone along with it. The first I knew about it was when they dropped Raylan on me to take care of. I quickly fell for him. My guess is that they have lured Mary and Linda to their ship.”

I nodded.

“What do they really look like?”

“This may seem strange but I don’t know. They have only talked with me by vid or in their human guise.”

“So that guy who grabbed me was one of them in disguise?”

“Yeah, I don’t know how they do it. They really don’t know much about acting human or how we think. They are very strong, however. I have a feeling that their true selves are small and weak.”

“What did you do to him?”

“I just stunned him. They short circuit real easy.”

“Hmm, so what now?”

“Let me do some inquiring. Maybe I can come up with a plan to get us on their ship. Do you have a ship that could take Mary and Linda away?”

I smiled.

“Do I! It is the first Fledoran military cruiser!”

She laughed.

“I didn’t know Fledora had a military.”

“Yep, me, Brett and Coop.”

“Oh, great! Well, it will have to do. I’ll get back to you tonight. Uh, I guess you want to take Raylan with you.”

I shook my head.

“As much as I would like to, it would be best if he remained here for now.”

I looked at her hard.

“I am trusting you.”

She smiled.

“Thank you, I won’t let you down.”

I gave Raylan back to Karen. I couldn’t help tearing up. I glanced at Karen, then turned and left the room. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. If anything happens to him, I will never forgive myself. I walked back to the suite. When I went in, George stood up. He noticed I had been crying.

“Well?”

“She has Raylan.”

“What! Let’s go get him!”

I shook my head.

“No, I left him there. He’s been safe this long with Karen so there is no reason to believe
he will come to harm now. Besides, it wouldn’t look good for a mistress to have a baby.”

“I can’t believe you are trusting her. She’s the one that kidnapped him in the first place.”

“No, she didn’t. It was the aliens.”

George’s eyes widened.

“Aliens! What are you talking about?”

“There is an alien race that is trying to get the thulium on Fledora. They kidnapped Raylan without Karen’s knowledge. Actually, they were trying to get Mary but got Raylan because she was not there. They have the cockeyed idea that they can blackmail the Fledoran council using her. Now, Mary and Linda are apparently on their ship.”

George sighed.

“I guess we knew the day would come when we made first contact. This is crazy though.”

“Yeah, I agree.”

“OK, so what now?”

“We wait. Karen is going to try to get us on that ship. She will contact us tonight.”

“This is going to be a long afternoon.”

“No shit! Let’s go down to the veranda. We need to act normal.”

George guffawed.

“Good luck there.”

I glared at him. We went down and walked around a while then ate lunch. No one seemed to notice us.

“Want to try the beach again?”

I shook my head vigorously.

“No way!”

George nodded.

“Yeah, I forgot. That was a dumb idea.”

We ended up just going back to our room. I laid down and drifted off. I guess I was exhausted. I awoke to George knocking.

“Room service!”

“What?”

“I thought we better stay in the room so I ordered up.”

“Great, I’m starved.”

We ate in silence. We were both keyed up waiting for Karen’s call. A little after 7, there was knock on our door. I opened it to find Karen standing in the hall.

“Come on in. What did you find out?”

“They are on the ship. We are taking your shuttle up there in the morning.”

“Why not now?”

“There are a few details we need to address. Uh, the only way I could see to get you up there with me was as my lover. I have talked a lot about you so they won’t be suspicious.”

I blushed. I hated when I did that.

“Don’t worry, we will just be pretending. I know you are my brother.”

I sighed in relief.

“What about George here?”

“That’s why we must wait until morning. We need time to get him ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“George will go as one of my team from Fledora.”

Uh, oh! I looked at George. He didn’t get the picture. I put my arm on his shoulder.

“George, her team is all female.”

He paled and then sat down hard.

“You have got to be kidding!”