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| Eyoline |
Liaison has more than one meaning, and the two meanings are very
much removed from each other. The first is “someone who facilitates co-operation
and the exchange of information within an organization”; the other is “a sexual
or romantic relationship between two people
who are not married.” The first is often associated with the military. Someone
who communicates information between various sections of a military force is a “liaison
officer.” The second is connected with sexual affairs. In the story “Liaison,”
both definitions come into play.
The story centers around an ongoing
science-fiction character I created named Eyoline. Eyoline is a Mervogian, a
race of beings in my sci-fi universe who go by one name, look identical to
European Terrans, and worship the light of a nebula that shines in their area of
space. She has served in the military
all her adult life. In “Liaison” she is is attempting to recover from a traumatic wartime
experience.
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| Black Diamond Logo |
After six years as a combat solider,
Eyoline is admitted into Black Diamond, a super-secret espionage
organization that is powerful and feared in Mervogian military circles. While participating
in a mission against a group of insurgents on a colony planet, her unit is
betrayed, her comrades killed. She is captured, taken to a cave and repeatedly
raped. When her captors are getting ready to kill her, she is rescued
by Mervogian troops.
The trauma she suffers, however,
causes her to leave the military. She settles on the planet where she grew up,
takes care of her aging and infirm mother, and begins to work as a judge. After her mother dies, the government asks her
to serve as military governor of a new colony planet. Feeling she has healed, she agrees
to this and goes to Planet Corita, just settled, located
in an area of space frequented by slave traders, criminals, and enemies of the Mervogian
government. Her war experience and her experience as a judge and public
official qualify her for the position. The people she governs and the people who recommended her for the job don’t realize that she still is a member
of Black Diamond.
Eyoline settles into her job and does it well.
She immediately encounters difficulties, though. Her planet is populated by overly
religious settlers. Because brigands, bandits, slave traders, and squatters
plague the planet, she hires a force of mercenaries to eliminate them. She finds that it is
led by Jon, an old lover. Though she is not sure she can overcome the effects
of her traumatic past, she feels she trusts him and the
two begin a physical romance. She rises to the challenge of the religious
settlers. After a second year as governor, the planet reached the population
required for elections. She makes a decision to return to the
military. She applies for Status B, a category of jobs the Defense Force created for troops wounded
and unable to serve in combat units—clerks, cooks, administrative officers. Her
superiors at Black Diamond encourage her to go back in the army. They set her up as a
consultant who goes to various combat sites to review strategies and to
inspect—and, of course, to spy for Black Diamond.
Transferring to a colony planet where there is an
insurgency, she urges the colonial government there to act against the rebels. They fail to take
proper steps. The insurgents launch a planet-wide attack. Eyoline and Jon lead
a force that is cut off by a large insurgent army. Night falls. The rebels
will attack, they think, in the morning and don’t see how they will survive the charge. At her urging
the two of them crawl into a sleeping bag and enjoy each other one last time.
Their fellow soldiers respect their privacy by looking the other way. When they are finished, Eyoline has a
revelation. She realizes that she and Jon have done something no one—at first,
even the two of them—thought they would ever do--having sex in public on a battlefield. The key to winning, she sees, is to
do something the rebels don’t think they will do.
Eyoline, Jon, and their force are guarding a
weapons depot the insurgents want to seize. She and her troops commandeer weapons,
especially drones and mines. Not waiting for the insurgents to move, the
Mervogians launch a counter-attack. Her presumption proves accurate. The attack catches
the rebels off-guard. They are frightened by the velocity of the weaponry
directed at them. Eyoline leads a charge. The rebels are routed. She emerges as a hero. She also discovers she is
pregnant from her and Jon’s liaison on the battlefield. She and Jon marry. Eyoline takes a leave
from her military responsibilities so she can raise her child. When the child
is old enough, she plans to reenter the military and work in a job that not
will require her to be gone for long periods of time--and remain in Black Diamond.
The Planetary Council requests Eyoline act as a liaison
to the planet’s military. She agrees. Liaisons, she says, are good things.
The story was printed in the UK online journal Fiction on the Web. Read it here.
For a great read get a copy of The Court of Sovereign King. Fantasy. Magic. Freedom. Choices.
Happy reading.
