Dana entered the Administrative Office and frowned. The usual two assistants were busy at their desks in the back, but where was Aoife, the girl in charge of the applications for the professional army? In her seat was a haughty middle-aged woman, glaring at her with pinched lips. She voiced the question:

“Hi, I need to talk to Aoife, is she anywhere around?”

“Well young lady, who am speaking to? I can’t be giving information around to just anybody, can’t I?”

Dana’s eyebrows raised:

“Sorry, I didn’t know that Aoife’s whereabouts were classified. Commander Dana Sand, and you are?”

“That will be Miss Segol for you. I’ll be putting some order in this place while my predecessor is taking some time out.”

“Is she OK? There’s nothing wrong with the baby isn’t it?”

“This is none of your concern. Now would you mind stating your business, I don’t have all day…”

Dana frowned. The woman was being purposely rude, and she didn’t even know her. What did she think she was doing?

“I’ve had no reply to the application for a professional contract I submitted two weeks ago. As the usual answering timeframe is one week, I wanted to know if there was anything wrong with it.”

“Well it was perfectly filled…”

“And?”

“I erased it.”

“You did what?” Dana was trying hard to control her temper, but her skin was already glowing faintly.

“I overheard General Andersen saying that the Council would reject it, so I decided to save you the embarrassment.”

“And since when are you allowed to do that? Your job is to check the forms and send them for approval to General Andersen. I am well able to deal with whatever happen next without your help.”

The woman gave her a despising look:

“If you are so mature, why don’t you simply accept your duty to your people as the Moon Lady, and start producing children with your assigned mate? The Council will not condone more procrastination, and rightfully so, you should be ashamed of yourself!”

Dana’s control was hanging by a thread as she glowed brighter and brighter.

Two muffled gasps came from the assistants corner, and Miss Segol frowned disdainfully:

“Now she is turning into a frigging lamp bulb! Do you really think I can be impressed by your tricks?”

Eyes reduced to a slit, Dana leant onto the desk. Her voice was cold enough to freeze an active volcano:

“How good is your fencing Miss Segol? Because around here, you can only be as rude as your sword skills will allow. And you clearly know nothing of mine. Maybe you should ask your colleagues here who you are messing with, before they actually manage to fuse with the wall…”

The woman suddenly noticed the terrified assistants behind her, sending her desperate hand and head signals.

“Seems like they are trying to warn you…” Dana whispered, leaning closer.

“You just insulted me in front of two witnesses, should I call a duel?”

She waited a few instants, letting the thought sink in. Patiently, she watched her opponent’s face slowly decompose at the perspective of fighting a trained White Sha’tan. Dana smirked. A simple Sha’tan wouldn’t stand a chance against a White, no matter how good they were. Not that she would ever consider it, it would be dishonourable. But the bitch was too thick to realise that, as the very concept of honour was clearly foreign to her.

“Sounds like I’m brighter than you in more ways than one,” Dana chuckled to herself.

“I’ll take that as a no”, she said, keeping her voice too low for the others to hear.

“That is, if you do forward the copy of the application I’ll send you immediately, keep your mouth shut and behave nicely in the future. Otherwise, I might change my mind. Do you copy or should I repeat?”

“I think I’ve got it, thank you.”

Dana bit her lip. Miss Segol had the face of a hen trying to lay an ostrich egg. Summoning all her strength, she held until she reached the corridor before succumbing to a massive laughing fit.

When she eventually recovered, she went to her office to email her new application, and request an urgent appointment with General Andersen. Helland needed professional soldiers, and refusal was unheard of. She was not going down without a fight.

A few minutes later, the answer arrived: her meeting was scheduled at ten sharp, the next morning. Dana sighed with relief. There was still hope. No way in hell was she ever going to lay in bed with Ray Powers, the current so called Sun Lord, until she was menopaused or declared barren. The man was repugnant, a deviant, vicious mind in a weak, drug and alcohol abused body. He was lucky to have the nanites on site to fix the damage, or he would not have lived past a hundred and thirty. But there was no other choice as just one Sun Lord had been born in that timeframe. The army was her only way out, as female soldiers had to be virgins or proved infertile. The rule was strictly enforced for safety reasons. Pregnant women could not warp without risk for the unborn baby, and pregnancy tests did not exist any more. Children were too precious to take any chance, so the only solution was to make sure that they were not conceived by constantly warping female warriors. She did not really care if she had to remain a virgin for another thirty years, or never got to be a mother. Anything was better than HIM. She simply could not afford to be kicked out of the army.

Filled with depressing thoughts, Dana decided she needed distraction. She had a busy afternoon ahead of her, but her evening was free. Smiling, she emailed her friend Kate. Now was a good time to pay her that long overdue visit.