The Reign: Mara - a Passion Uncontested

by Lance Berry

  “What happened?” Brad asked, genuinely concerned. Mara felt her cheeks flush even more at his interest, and she shook her head dismissively. “Nothing. A couple of jerks, on leave from some loser school probably, said something. I chased after them, but they got away.”

  “It’s ‘cause you’re too top-heavy,” Katie offered in a matter-of- fact manner. “I keep telling you to cut out the twins’ diet, but you don’t listen.”

  “Shut up,” Mara exclaimed as she punched Katie’s arm, not altogether playfully. Katie yelped and Janice continued to laugh as Mara grabbed her friend roughly by the arm she had just attacked. “See you guys later,” she tossed over her shoulder as she led Katie away.

  As they turned a corner, Mara released Katie, half-shoving her up against a wall. “What the hell’s wrong with you? Why would you embarrass me like that?”

  “Embarrass you? Hell, I was doing you a favor,” Katie replied indignantly as she rubbed her throbbing arm. “Brad’s got the hots for you. I hear he’s about to dump Janice so that he can make a play for you.”

  Mara looked at her friend askance, unsure whether to believe her or not. Brad was by far the most handsome cadet on campus, and to even imagine that he might be interested in her!

  “What makes you say that?” she asked skeptically.

  Katie stood upright, choosing to let the arm rub go. “I heard from a close friend of a friend of his. He’s had his eye on you ever since you came to Westview. Brad told his friend that he almost called out your name once when he and Janice were doing the deed.”

  “Oh my God—I mean, gosh,” Mara said in amazement as she automatically made the sign of the cross to cover her faux pas.

  Katie slapped Mara’s hand down in the middle of the gesture.

  “Yeah, well he might not go for you if he realizes you’re such a God-freak.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with paying respect to my Lord,”

  Mara said sharply. “I’m Catholic, I was raised Catholic, and I believe firmly in my faith. Brad, or anyone else, can take it or leave it. Nothing comes between me and my love for God.” She turned away slightly, as a painful recollection of Tallworth hit her. “He’s gotten me out of some tight situations,” she added softly.

  Katie said nothing else, not wishing to press the issue of Mara’s faith any further. The two had been friends together at the Citadel, and chose to transfer to Westview so that they could maintain their friendship after Katie had already made the decision to switch schools. Katie was agnostic, and she only teased Mara because her friend was usually such a good sport.

  Yet from the time she had known Mara, there always seemed to be some dark cloud from a painful past hanging over her head.

  While Katie didn’t share Mara’s beliefs, she did understand that it was her friend’s faith in a divine being which had somehow seen her through something bleak and terrible. She knew it wouldn’t be fair or kind to try to tear down a belief in something so strong that it helped her maintain her sanity on a day-to-day basis.

  “So, what’re you gonna do, now that you know about Brad?”

  Katie asked, returning to the former subject.

  Mara looked at her and shrugged. “What can I do? Brad’s still with Janice…at least for now. And I’m too shy to really make a first move. If he wants me, he knows where to find me.”

  The rest of the summer went swimmingly for Mara. She fell back into the military routine with ease and excelled in her studies. When the courses ended in late August, she wrapped up all her classes with A’s. Even though students at summer academies like Westview sent out query letters to more centralized training branches of the military, transcripts of each students’ scores were likewise sent out to said institutions so that they could decide to invite certain pupils to attend their campuses in the fall, if they so chose.

  Mara received three requests for attendance, in addition to the five acceptance letters that arrived via Overnet e-mail. She had four weeks’ leave before classes started, with a two week deadline to accept or decline the offers. She headed to Luna for leave, in order to see her family again and ask her father’s advice. Upon her arrival at the landing port, she was surprised to find no one to greet her. She thought of calling, but figured her father probably got her return date wrong, even though such a thing was unusual for him. They had spoken via vid-com only intermittently since her stormy departure, but she refused to believe he could still be mad at her.

  She hopped into an AirKab and soon made it back to the bungalow-style housing units. The outside of the house somehow seemed smaller than she remembered, but a pleasant tingle traveled up her spine regardless. She half expected the bio-lock on the side of the front door to not accept her thumbprint, but of course she realized the thought was silly as the lock disengaged with a familiar CLACK! and she adjusted the balance of her shoulder bag and shifted her suitcase from one hand to the other as she pushed the door open…

  “SURPRISE!!”

  Mara’s eyes went wide and a giddy laugh escaped her throat.

  Before her was Sara, looking so very big now. Kim Tan and her husband were there as well, with their two children. Sumo, a couple of the other officers from the Lunar Security Division, and a few neighbors from down the way were also in attendance.

  Mark was at the forefront of the group, holding Peter in his arms. The toddler clapped and waved with his father’s help at his big sister. “Ma-RA! Ma-RA!” the boy happily chanted.

  Mara stepped all the way into the foyer and tossed her bags down. She rushed to her family, the four of them sharing hugs and kisses as a great weight seemed to lift itself from her shoulders.

  “Oh, who’s a big boy,” Mara exclaimed as she relieved her father of the child and smothered him with kisses. The boy laughed joyfully, and for the first time Mara noticed streamers and balloons attached to the walls of the living room, with a large banner reading “WELCOME HOME, SOLDIER!” stretched across the top ledge of the sliding doors leading to the small backyard outside.

  “Daddy,” Mara said, embarrassed. “I’m not a soldier yet.”

  “But you will be, darling,” Mark said as he wrapped his arm around her and led her into the living room proper. “It’s just a matter of time, so damn the difference.”

  She smiled and said her hellos to the party guests as Mark led her onward. The small dining table had been moved closer to the center of the room, and Mara was further surprised to see a large cake placed on it. There was a picture of her on it, with a small half-foot long plastic Heavy Cruiser positioned just under.

  Curving letters above the photo read “Welcome Home, Captain Elliot”.

  Mara had a hard time fighting back tears, and finally just decided to let them flow as she gently handed Peter over to Sara and gave her father a quick peck on the cheek and a long hug.

  “Thanks, Daddy.”

  Mark explained to Mara that he had one of his newer officers keep an eye out at the transport pad for her, someone she wouldn’t recognize, then call the house to let him know she was on her way. It had been early afternoon when she arrived at the house, and the surprise party lasted until nearly nine at night. It was even better than the sweet sixteen her parents had thrown for her so long ago, and Mara was on cloud nine the entire time.

  Once the party goers left and the children had been put to bed, Mara and her father sat down to plot out her future. She showed him transcripts of all the acceptance and request letters she had received, and he was mightily impressed. Two schools in particular stuck out for him though.

  “Well, I think Charleston Regional is a great school, but then

  I’m biased ‘cause I went there,” Mark said. “Then again, I’ve never heard anything but good about Deveraux Institute. What do you think, sweetie?”

  Mara considered both letters carefully…in fact, both schools had caught her attention for reasons similar to her fathers’ and she had spent the entire transport ride to Luna trying to choose between them. “Well, I do like b
oth, but Deveraux’s really weighing in heavy. I mean first of all, Dad, no offense, but I don’t want to be one of those girls who does everything exactly like their father when going into the academy.”

  Mark nodded. “I understand, honey. You do need to be your own person.”

  Mara nodded, relieved. “And with Deveraux…I mean, in my final year, I actually get to go out on a real live Heavy Cruiser to test my command skills! None of the other schools do that!”

  Mark couldn’t help but smile briefly at his daughter’s enthusiasm, but he did need to impose a reality check. “Well, try and look at it objectively, Mara. First of all, it’s not like UEF has a lot of extra Heavy Cruisers to spare. Whatever ship you’re going to be aboard, it’s probably going to be half a minute away from being decommissioned anyway. So your instructor will probably be spending half of his time explaining why certain consoles are outdated and what the newest advances in the standard Cruisers are. Don’t go in expecting a top-of-the-line, sparkling new vessel. Won’t happen.”

  Mara’s hopes were a bit deflated, but only slightly. “I know.

  Still, it’s an unparalleled experience. I’ve got to try it!”

  Mark smiled and patted his daughter’s hand. “So… Deveraux it is, huh?” Mara nodded, a smile of certainty upon her face.

  Mara’s stay at home was perfect in almost every way. She and her father got along just fine, and while he was at work she happily looked after Sara and Peter. The three siblings took trips to the park, the movies, and played all sorts of games at home. On the weekends, Mark took the family on picnics to the park just like they used to do when Gloria was alive. A couple of times during her leave, Mara and her father even took the younger children to the north quadrant to visit her grave. They would sit around the tombstone a while, pray a bit, then either

  Mara or her father would tell the kids happy stories about their mother.

  A couple of days before her leave was over, Mara was surprised by a vid-call from Brad Lutz, who was staying at a hotel on Luna. He explained that he had come because he’d never been to the moon before, and wanted to see what the base was like. They chit-chatted for a few minutes, and when Mara innocently asked how Janice was doing, Brad told her they had broken up a few weeks earlier. Mara felt her heart skip a beat, and yet again when Brad asked if she wanted to catch a movie.

  She immediately said yes, and they made plans to get together later on that evening.

  While Sara and Peter took their naps, Mara spent almost the entire afternoon choosing what to wear on her date. She finally settled on a cream-colored, light pullover v-neck sweater and knee-length black skirt with mini-pumps. Her siblings awoke almost immediately after she finished dressing, and she made extra certain to be careful while playing with them, so her outfit didn’t get dirty.

  When Mark came home, Mara told him she was meeting a girlfriend for dinner and a movie, and almost threw the kids at him on her way out the door. The local cinema wasn’t too far away, so she was able to walk it. When she arrived, Brad was waiting just outside the box office. He wore a deep blue blazer over a grey shirt and black pants. It had been a while since they’d seen each other on campus, but Mara could’ve sworn he’d become more muscular in the interim. There was no problem with this, of course; his cut physique suited her just fine. They shared a quick hug and she offered a peck on the lower cheek, close to the lips to show her intentions as just a little more than platonic. He got the point and smiled, reaching out to hold her hand as he led her into the theater.

  The movie was a romantic comedy, a genre which had recently seen an explosive reemergence on the silver screen.

  With the war lasting far longer than anyone had ever expected, Hollywood was on a mission to provide as many distractions as possible for the current viewing audience.

  The film was fairly generic, of course, and the laughs were few and far between. Brad and Mara didn’t care of course, intent as they were on each others’ company. Early into the film, he managed to deftly wrap his arm around her, and she approvingly leaned her head against his shoulder. At one point she reached for the popcorn bag on his lap and “mistakenly” overshot, her fingers brushing against his leg where she had earlier eyed a bulge in his pants. She sheepishly apologized as her hand went in a second time and actually grasped the popcorn, but they shared a knowing smile nevertheless. She crossed her legs, allowing her skirt to ride up just enough so that he got a good look at their shapeliness. After a moment’s hesitation, they kissed…and stopped only to come up for air and move to the next to last row of the balcony.

  There weren’t many people in the theater at all, and the balcony was nearly empty anyway, so Mara felt no embarrassment as she sat astride Brad’s lap and leaned down, kissing him passionately. He held her tightly in his strong arms, eagerly returning her kisses as their hands roamed over one another’s shadowed forms in the darkened cinema. Finally, they decided that since they had lost track of the movie anyway, they may as well leave.

  The Mariposa Hotel wasn’t far from the theater, only four or five blocks. Brad was able to afford a fairly large room due to the study credits he had racked up at Westview, and Mara was quite impressed. They found their way to the bed immediately, she sitting astride him once more as they fondled one another more openly.

  She took off her sweater, and smiled inwardly as Brad’s eyes widened slightly at the sight. Take that, Vicienzo, she thought, for the first time in her life proud of her bust size. He hesitated, as all young men do their first time with a new girlfriend, his conscience trying to straddle the line between being a gentleman and kissing other areas of her body to show he wasn’t objectifying her, or immediately diving into the pleasure zone which she was offering him. Mara made the decision for him, grasping the hair on his temples firmly and burying his face between her breasts, allowing him to revel in them as his hands reached up to cup them while he kissed and sucked at them needfully. She kept her bra on though, teasing him, not letting him fully see her breasts as she craned her own neck around, blowing in his ear as she whispered the secret things she wanted him to do with, to, for her.

  She reached down awkwardly, fumbling for the clasp on his pants. He came up for air and undid it himself, allowing his member to spring free. “Whoa,” Mara exclaimed, astonished.

  It was only the second she had ever seen in her life, but she was amazed that it was even larger than Dr. Tallworth’s. She gulped quietly, wondering if she would even be able to take it all in.

  She huffed nervously, feeling Brad reach under her skirt and lower her panties at the rear, his strong hands gliding under her buttocks.

  With a brief peck on his lips, she gently pulled away and stood. He looked up at her in wonderment as she finished removing her undies, then knelt before him, eagerly holding onto it. She wanted to show him how much she wanted him, how much she wanted to please him—yes, how much she loved him. Yet strangely, all she could do was stare at it forlornly.

  She felt her lips curling downward, and was surprised to find that she couldn’t stop the frown from etching itself deeply onto her features.

  “Baby? Are you okay?”

  Mara started, for some reason almost not realizing it had been Brad who spoke to her. She looked up to find him watching her with some concern on his face. She looked back down at it, then back to him and nodded mutely. “Is this your first time?” he asked gently, yet there was an anticipation in his voice. She knew that having dated someone like Janice Vicienzo, he was more than likely not a virgin anymore. Yes, technically this was Mara’s first time…at least, at having sex.

  She had done this thing, performed this act on another man, and it was something she both deeply regretted and reviled herself for.

  She licked her lips and moved her head downward, but something caught in her throat. She suddenly felt nauseous, and although she truly wanted to perform this loving act for him, the idea of it had been tainted in ways she couldn’t have foreseen. A second wave of nausea hit, and
she groaned as she fought with all her strength to keep from vomiting outright.