"Hey Roger," Lt. Bruce O'Ryan called, "take a look at this beauty."
""She is very beautiful, isn't she?" Commander Roger Izumasaki said. "What's wrong with her?"
"For you, nothing." Bruce replied. "But she's way too spoiled for any of the rest of us. Although I can't understand why you'd want someone so spoiled."
"I don't necessarily want someone so spoiled." Roger said. "but I'm certainly not going to turn down one this beautiful just because she is spoiled. I can always break her of that."
I'm sure you can Sensei." Bruce replied. "None of the rest of us could."
"The survey crew was thorough with these dossiers on our lost cousins." Roger observed. "And these holographs are very high quality. It's almost like you're standing right there."
"Yeah." Bruce said. "Look at the beauty I found for myself. A brunette named Charina, best friend to the captain's chosen." He said as he brought up a hologram of a beautiful blond young lady alongside the one of his chosen brunette. "This blond bombshell is named Kaybea, daughter of the king's champion in that kingdom they just made contact with."
"What's wrong with all the men around here mother?" Sunea asked. "Why do they all act like there's something wrong with me? Aren't I the most beautiful lady on all of Avon?"
"Of course you are my darling." her mother , Kaylee, replied. "It's just that your father spoiled you so badly that none of the men who know you will put up with you. Strong willed women like us need a strong man who won't let us get away with acting spoiled. Before I met your father I was worse than you. He sure straightened me out and you'll find someone who'll straighten you out too."
"I don't need straightened out." Sunea retorted. "I just need a man who'll let me have my way, that's all."
"If you get a man who'll let you have your way," Kaylee answered, "you'll soon despise him as a weakling. And you'll be right. Only a weak man will let a woman get away with our kind of spoiled behavoir. No, you need a strong man and I won't let you marry any other kind."
"But isn't Kayron strong enough to keep me in line?" Sunea asked. "He's handsome enough I'd let him boss me around."
""Kayron' is my brother's son and therefor too closely related to you dear." Kaylee answered. "Don' worry, I'll find a good man for you who isn't too closely related."
"When?"
"All in good time my pet." Her mother said. "You'll just have to wait. The king's throwing a ball for the strangers from Earth and you're invited. It seems that our young people are to be married off to their young people. Maybe you'll find a husband there."
Sunea walked up to Kaybea. "Look at little Charina dancing with that handsome warrior from Earth. I'm a lot better looking than her. I think I'll steal him from her."
"Dont try it Sunea." Kaybea said. "Charina could take you easily and even if she couldn't Lt O'Ryan is interested in her, not you. So butt out."
"She could take me?" A disbelieving Sunea blurted out. "We'll see about that. And no man would prefer her to me."
"It's your funeral." Kaybea said.
Sunea walked up to Charina and Bruce and tried to cut in. Bruce totally ignored Sunea and left her standing alone as he twirled his chosen partner across the floor. That was it! Sunea was fed up.
She didn't like being ignored and she didn't like not getting her own way. These Earth men could just get along without her. She turned for the nearest door and almost ran into a rather small, slender Earth man. She tried to storm around him but he blocked her way.
"Excuse me." she said in her iciest tone, the one that always made males back off.
"No my lady, I will not." he replied. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Commander Roger Izumasaki, the Executive Officer of our ship, the martial arts instructor and your future husband."
"You?" Sunea said, incredulously. "You're just a short, skinny runt and not even very handsome. You're the last man I'd pick out of those here."
"But I'm the only one who'd take you." Roger told her. "You're too spoiled for any of the others to even consider. Me, I'm a sucker for a pretty face and you're the most beautiful lady in the universe with that gorgeous red hair and that flawless complexion. So you're lucky. Besides, your parents already consented to it so you're stuck with me."
"What, am I not to have any choice in the matter?" She asked.
"You do love." Roger replied. "You have the same choice as any of the other ladies here. You are free to choose any available man here. Since all the others are already taken, that leaves me." He then put his right arm around her waist and his left hand under her chin and gently pulled her lips toward his. When she didn't resist he kissed her. At first she tried to break free, then she gave herself fully and passionately to his embrace.
"Oh love," she said while holding him tightly. "if you keep this up, You'll make a shameless hussy out of your future wife right here in front of everyone."
"Then let us dance." He said. "And later we can get married. I hear they've sped things up and we can be married tonight , right after the ball."
"So soon?" she asked him. "Don't you even want a little time to get to know me better?"
"You are the most beautiful and the most spoiled lady on this planet." He told her. "The perfect combination for me."
Many other couples also decided to get married that night. A few decided to take a little more time to get to know each other better. Those who got married had a week-long honeymoon then their martial arts training began.
Roger had his mid-level students put on an exibition bout for the new trainees. Several thousand of Kaybar's warriors gathered to watch the exibition. They cheered the combatants on lustily.
After the bout Roger addressed the watching warriors. "Any of you who would like to may challenge any of these fighters you just watched to a practice fight. I must warn you, none of you are a match for even the least of them."
One of the bigger warriors who thought himself quite capable got up. "I'll take on one of your pipsqueaks." He boasted. "They don't seem so tough to me."
"Sally, front and center Roger commanded. "It seems this tough guy thinks he can take you. Don't be too rough on him."
"Sensei." she assented.
"You expect me to take on a girl?" the incredulous warrior asked.
"Are you afraid of her?" Roger taunted.
"Afraid of her?" the warrior replied derisively as he came down out of the stands. He approached the mat and bowed the way he had seen Roger's students bow at the start of their bouts. Sally bowed in return and stood ready. The warrior charged and was thrown to the mat by his small opponent. He got up, shook his head and charged again. Sally threw him over her shoulder but didn't slam him down onto the mat the way she had thrown her earlier opponent. He got up again, more shaken this time, and approached her more cautiously. Sally didn't wait for him, but charged and delivered a series of blows, knocking him to his knees, too stunned to continue. He fell to the mat, face first and didn't stir.
"Anyone else want to test the skills of my students?" Roger asked the assembled warriors.
Kaybar waited for one of his warriors to try their luck but none did. "You have amply demonstrated the quality of your training. Maylon is not easily beaten but that tiny girl made beating him look very easy." he told Roger. "My warriors and I are ready to start our training whenever you wish."
"Those you just watched will be your instructors." Roger told them. "Form lines at those tables over there and we'll assign you to your classes."
All of the assembled warriors got into line where Roger indicated. No one wanted to be left out. Maylon, who Sally beat so easily, made sure he was signed up in her class. Roger took one class of these new beginers, the one his new bride was in. Sunea didn't know if she should be happy about that or not.
The next morning Roger was instructing most of his students how to fall properly. Sunea was still practicing mat slapping techniques. She just couldn't seem to get it right. Roger was once again patiently explaining the proper technique to her.
"Why are you being so mean to me?" Sunea complained. "I thought you loved me. Do you enjoy humiliating me in front of everyone?"
"You should know better than trying to manipulate me that way." Roger told his wife. "You are humiliating yourself by acting so spoiled. The sooner you stop it the sooner I can teach you how to fight effectively. Now, lay back down on the mat and do your slapping exercises the right way."
"What good is it to know how to slap a mat?" Sunea griped. "I want to know how to hurt an enemy."
"You have to know how to fall without getting hurt first so you won't be hurt when you are thrown." Roger explained yet again. "You have to know that before you learn how to throw each other. I don't want any of you getting broken bones. Now stop your constant complaining and be a good student. Don't you know how it pains me when you don' cooperate? You are my wife and I love you."
"I'm sorry. I love you too." Sunea said. "I'll try to do better."
Sunea proceeded to slap the mat very hard. Roger just shook his head. The way she was doing it, she was going to hurt herself. He'd tried to explain that to her but she was going to have to learn the hard way.
"Ow." Sunea said. "I hurt my wrist."
Roger wasn't surprised. He didn't like it but he wasn't surprised. "Let me see." he said as if to a foolish child. He examined her wrist and it was sprained.
"Ive told you before not to slap the mat like that." he said. "Now you have a sprained wrist. Use your other hand and slap the mat the way I showed you."
"Don't you even care that I'm hurt?" she cried.
"Of course I care." he said. "That's why I keep showing you the right way to do things so you won't get hurt. If you did things the way you're shown you wouldn't get hurt. Now slap the mat with your uninjured hand that way I've repeatedly shown you."
Sunea started slapping the mat the proper way. Roger was glad to see that. It showed that she did pay attention and learn how to do things the right way. Why didn't she do them right to start with? Why did she have to be so obstinate? He loved her dearly but she sure could be exasperating.
Ten minutes later Roger stopped her with a commendation for doing things properly and sent her to the medic to get her wrist tended to. He then concentrated on the rest of the class for the next half hour then sent them home. He and Sunea took a walk in one of the formal gardens inside the castle grounds.
"Tomorrow I think I'll have you train with Sally's group." Roger told Sunea. "Maybe you'll listen better with a female instructor."
"But..." Sunea interrupted.
Roger stopped her with an upheld hand. "Let's try it for a day." he said. "Sally's a nice person and you can use a friend."
The next morning Roger escorted Sunea to Sally's class and introduced her. The students already knew her and groaned when Roger said that she'd be joining their class that morning. Sally welcomed her warmly and got the class started on their exercises.
Sunea, because of her sprained wrist, was relegated to just the mat slapping exercises. She showed her anger by slapping the mat too hard and the in wrong way. Sally stopped her and showed her the right way to slap a mat.
"I don't want to do these exercises any more." an angry Sunea shouted.
"It doesn't matter what you want." Sally replied. "You'll do the exercises the proper way."
"No I won't." a defiant Sunea yelled and turned to leave.
Sally fell to the mat and scissored Sunea's legs, sending her sprawling to the mat, face first. Sunea got up and tried to kick Sally. Sally caught Sunea's foot and again sent her sprawling to the mat. this time Sunea jsut lay on the mat crying. When she didn't get any sympathy she jumped up and ran out. Sally let her go and sent a message to Roger telling him what had transpired.
Roger found Sunea in their quarters. When he walked in Sunea immediately started telling him her version of what happened. "Did Sally give you an exercise to do?" he asked.
"Yes." Sunea answered. "but it was too childish and I didn't want to do it. Then she atacked me. Aren't you going to do something about that?"
"How did she attack you?" he asked.
"She did something to my legs with hers from behind and knocked me to the mat." Sunea said.
"How did she get behind you?"
"I tried to leave." she replied. "All she had me doing were those stupid mat slapping exercises and I don't want to do them anymore. I want to learn the more interesting stuff. Not that kid's stuff."
"You weren't excused from your class so you shouldn't have left." Roger told her. "You need discipline in order to learn the more interesting things that you want to learn. The first step is taking orders from whoever is put in charge of you even if you don't like what they have you doing. We're in the middle of a very nasty war right now with some aliens that none of us want to fight but we're fighting them anyway. We need your help but you can't help until you learn discipline."
"If you don't follow orders in the middle of a battle you will get yourself and a lot of other people killed. I don't think you want that and I sure don't. Go into the den and take a time out."
"I will not." she retorted.
Roger picked Sunea up and carried her into the den. Sunea kept hollering "you shouldn't side with that Sally against your own wife." and "you don't really love me." the whole time. Roger locked her in and she screamed "Let me out right now. If you don't let me out immediately, I'll hate you forever."
She carried on like that for about eleven minutes and when that didn't work she started pleading with Roger. "If you let me out, I'll do all your favorite things... please Roger, let me out. I'll be good, I promise."
"You'll do all my favorite things tonight because they're your favorite things too." Roger replied. "Right now you need to take some time to think about what I told you and what you did wrong today. I don't like punishing you but you need to discipline your strength of will or it will be a problem instead of an asset. I need to catch up on some work that's been piling up. I'll be back in about an hour. Use that time for some serious thinking and then we'll talk."
As Roger left Sunea hollered "Roger, Roger. You come back here right now. Roger please, don't leave me locked in here." When she heard the door close she started crying. Soon she stopped crying and started trying to devise ways of punishing Roger for treating her so bad. The trouble was everything she could think of would deprive her of something she wanted. Roger was right, she really enjoyed her fun times with him, too much to mess them up by withholding anything from him.
With nothing else to do she thought about what Roger told her. She really wasn't that spoiled was she? Just because everyone said she was didn't make it so, did it? Well, maybe she was spoiled but it wasn't her fault, her father spoiled her so it was his fault, wasn't it? She knew what Roger would say about that. "Your father may have spoiled you but it's your fault if you stay that way." The trouble was he would be right and she knew it.
"So I'll just have to get over being spoiled." she said. She really loved Roger and didn't want to continue letting him down with her bad behavior. It was going to be really hard. She'd been spoiled for so long and just didn't know how not to be spoiled. She was sure she couldn't do it without Roger's help. He certainly was willing to help. He'd been trying to get her over being spoiled ever since he met her. She'd just have to stop fighting him and start helping.
About an hour later Roger returned. "I'm sorry Roger." Sunea said. "I've been a real pain haven't I? Well, that's going to change. You're right about how spoiled and undisciplined I am. I know it's not going to be easy and I probably can't do it without your help. But I will get over being spoiled."
Roger gently pulled her close and kissed her lightly on the lips. She returned his kiss passionately and held him fiercely.
"I'm glad to hear that love." Roger replied. "It will make it much easier for me to teach you discipline with you actively helping me instead of constantly fighting me. And it will give me the peace of mind that I've been missing so much lately. I suppose in the grand scheme of things teaching you discipline isn't my most important job, but on the personal level it sure is."
"You'll train with Sally again tomorrow morning." he told her. "Then tomorrow afternoon you can start training to fight space battles."
"Why can't I start learning that right now?" Sunea asked. "It sounds interesting and fun."
"It's just a kid's game played on a computer." Roger replied. "And first you have to learn how to use a computer. That's going to seem very boring, especially to you."
"Is this some of my learning discipline?"
"Partly." Roger said. "It's also very serious and a big part of the training you'll need to help us fight those aliens who are threatening both our planets."
"Are all the others going to start that training tomorrow afternoon too?"
"No, they started this afternoon." Roger told her. "You would have too but you had one of your tantrums instead."
"So I hurt myself by being spoiled." Sunea stated. "That's another reason to get over it, Isn't it?"
"Yes, tantrums usually hurt everyone involved." Roger replied. "So the first thing you need to do tomorrow is apologize to Sally." At her look he added, "no arguement. You hurt her, you need to apologize."
"Does it have to be in front of everyone?" Sunea asked.
"What do you think?" Roger asked her. "Your offense was in front of everyone shouldn't the apology also be in front of everyone?"
"Yeah, I suppose so." A chastened Sunea replied. " But I don't like it. I guess that's part of being self-disciplined, sometimes doing things that you don't want to do."
The next morning when Sunea walked into Sally's class some of the other students saw her enter and gave her hostile looks. As the other students became aware of her presence they also looked at her with hostility. Sunea didn't like those hostile looks and almost left but decided to stick it out instead.
"Come in Sunea," Sally greeted. "I hope we won't see a repeat of yesterday's behavior."
"No," Sunea replied. "I'm sorry Sally. What I did yesterday was inexcusable. It won't happen again."
Sunea saw surprised looks on everyone's faces and heard them say, "That can't be Sunea, she'd never apologize." "It sure looks like her." "Just wait, she'll revert to her old self." It hurt but she deserved it. She'd just have to show them. She wasn't going to let Roger down. Besides, she didn't like the way she had been. She wouldn't let herself revert.
The class was very hard. Sally was nice but everyone else kept making snide remarks and she really struggled hard not to retort. She still didn't like those mat slapping exercises but with her sprained wrist she couldn't do anything else right now. Sally came over from time to time to watch her and halfway through the class, stopped her.
"That's enough of that." Sally said. "You've been doing those exercises perfectly and patiently since the start of the class and I know you don't like them. That shows that you can obey orders even when you don't want to. Roger will sure be glad to hear that. Since you can't what everyone else is doing right now why don't you just watch for the rest of the class? In a few days your wrist will be ok and you can participate in the training with everyone else."
Toward the end of the class one of the girls came up to Sunea. "We've really been ragging on you haven't we?" at Sunea's nod she continued, "I'm sorry but it's just hard to believe you could change but you have. Roger must be really good for you."
"Yes, he is." Sunea answered. "At the ball I made fun of him at first. I called him a sawed off scrawny runt and told him he wasn't even handsome. I knew I was lying when I said it but I was mad and trying to brush him off. Fortunately, he didn't give up and now we're married. I'm luckier than I deserve."
"You were really spoiled then." Chara said. "I'm glad to see you changing. Roger really is handsome and the best one for you. Only Captain O'Briant is better but he wouldn't have been able to handle your tantrums as well as Roger does. Besides he's in love with Kaybea and she loves him. You would have had to fight her for him and she can take you."
"You know," Sunea said. "I've always known Kaybea could take me but a few days ago I would have gotten mad at anyone for saying so. It doesn't bother me anymore. My mother sure was right. I needed a strong man to straighten me out. Roger's strong enough, I saw that from the start. Let's be friends, I sure could use one."
"Yeah," Chara replied. "I think I'd like that now. Before you were way too spoiled and selfish. And don't worry about the others, they'll come around once they realize you've really changed."
After the class Sally joined Chara and Sunea for lunch. Several of the others joined them too, mostly to be with Sally and Chara. At least they acted friendly toward Sunea. A few of them even complemented her on her improved behavior.
After lunch Sally went up to the space ship to do something with the "auxiliary power plant" whatever that was. Sunea and her new-found friends went to the space battle simulation training. They got there early and Chara showed Sunea how to use the computer to play their game. It was a good thing Chara was patient. Sunea had a little trouble grasping the concepts involved in using a computer. And it boggled her mind to think that what she saw on the screen could really happen. The idea of ships bringing people through space was mind-boggling enough. Now they wanted her to believe that what she did on a computer could control a space ship. It was just too much for her to grasp. Roger said those things were true so they must be. She'd just have to take it on faith. The game was fun, a lot better than slapping that stupid mat. She was sure glad that she didn't have to do that any more.
When she got home Roger wasn't there yet. He must still be at the communication center doing his work involving his duties as the executive officer of the ship. He's tried to explain his duties to her but she didn't understand any of it. Everything was so different from what she grew up with. They'd be leaving for Earth on that ship in another six months. She sure hoped she would understand things better by then.
It was late when Roger finally got home. He had to wake her up. She would have been upset if he hadn't . He looked really tired. She couldn't understand that, he didn't do any physically demanding work, just sitting around talking with people and thinking. That wasn't hard work, was. it? It must be. It sure wore Roger out sometimes and he really was a strong man.
"How's my favorite gal tonight?" he asked her.
""A little tired." she answered. "An afternoon of playing that game sure is draining. It's a lot better than slapping that mat though."
"Yeah' mat slapping exercises aren't very interesting are they?" Roger agreed. "I had good reports about your performance today. Sally said you were a model student and even made a few friends. Then I heard from Tom that one of your new friends helped you learn how to log on to a computer and do the battle simulations. He said that you show real promise there. It seems I won't have to fight with you anymore. I like that."
"Yeah, me too." Sunea said. "When I couldn't manipulate you that night at the ball I realized that I never wanted to fight with you. It just took me a while to admit to myself that I really was spoiled and that only I could change that. I'll probably still need a lot of help from you but at least I got started changing."
The next morning during her martial arts training some of the other students started making snide remarks. Sunea ignored them at first but that just seemed to encourage them. "She must be up to something bad playing teacher's pet like that." Yeah, she's never good unless she's trying to get something." "It won't last. She's never good for long." "Hey troublemaker, stop trying to pretend you're a good person. We know better."
They kept at it and finally Sunea had it. She left, hurt badly. She did manage to hide her tears until she was out of their sight. She went home and threw herself down on her bed, crying. Nine minutes later Roger came in and took her in his arms.
"Oh Roger, I tried real hard but I blew it." She cried. "I'm a failure. I'll never get over being spoiled."
"How long would the old Sunea have put up with them?"
"She wouldn't have even tried."
"And you put up with them for over an hour." Roger said. "I'd call that a huge improvement. So you're not a failure. You just need to keep trying. Remember, I'll always be here for you."
"So what should I do now?" she asked.
"Go back there and resume your training." Roger told her. "Show them that they can't bully you into giving up. It won't be easy but your strength of will can see you through it."
"Being strong willed can be good?"
"Yes, as long as you control it." Roger replied. "All good leaders are strong willed. They've just disciplined their will instead of letting it control them."
"Will you come with me?" she pleaded.
"No. This is something you need to do alone." Roger answered. "If I go with you your tormentors will just wait until I'm not around and redouble their efforts. If you face them alone you can face them down. Some of them will never accept you but most of them will."
Sunea got a determined look on her face. "Well then I'll just have to show them. I'll learn your way of fighting so well that none of them will be a match for me."
When Sunea entered the class she looked for Maylon. He hadn't tormented her with the others and he was the biggest and strongest person in the class. He was also. Sunea noticed , applying himself more fully than the others and was outdoing them. She walked up to him. "Maylon, will you be my sparring partner? I need someone who's good and you're the best in this class."
"Alright. He said. "Those others were sure ragging on you so now I suppose you want to show them up." she nodded and he continued. "I'll be glad to help you. they've been teasing me too because Sally beat me so easily. It'll be good to watch them eat crow."
"I didn't think their teasing would bother you so much." Sunea answered. "You're so big and strong. I guess most of us just don't think about strong people having feelings that can get hurt easily like the rest of us."
"People who are strong the way your husband is don't get hurt easily. He replied. "But those of us who are merely physically strong can still be easily hurt."
"He can still be hurt by those he makes himself vulnerable to." Sunea answered. "I can hurt him real easy. Just not when I try to manipulate him. He's wise to my best tricks and they don't faze him. I would have hurt him if I had given up and not come back to class today. He also gets hurt if one of his students is injured or killed. The captain's the same way. If one of his people is injured or killed it hurts him."
"Yet they still send people into battle where they can be killed." Maylon observed. "That''s got to be hard."
"Being strong the way they are means doing what is right even if you get hurt by it." Sunea said. "That's the way I'm trying to be and it's hard."
"Are you going to give up?" Maylon asked.
"No." Sunea replied. "That would hurt Roger more than anything else I could do. And I couldn't be the kind of person I want to be if I did. So I'll never give up."
"Me neither." He answered. "I really admire your husband, the captain and both your uncles. I'm going to do all I can to be like them. Besides, I'm going to marry Sally and she'd be dissapointed if I didn't do my best."
"Then," Sunea said, "let's help each other. That'll make it easier for both of us."
"I'll show you what you missed." Maylon offered. He showed her the proper falling techniques and she caught on fast. Then he showed her the easy throws Sally had taught the class and they spent the rest of the class throwing each other.
As they were leaving Chara joined them and the three of them went to lunch together. Most of the other students pointedly avoided them but they were so engrossed in conversation about throwing techniques that they didn't really notice. Sally came over and joined them. She sat next to Maylon and gave him a kiss.
"Hello darlin'." he greeted her. "I thought you were going to ignore us pariahs like everyone else is."
"No. she replied. "This is the group I fit with best. You're the ones who are really trying and you are the three best students in my class. And, she addressed Sunea and Chara, "I hear you two are the best at the space battle sims. You think you can help this big lug? He's having a little difficulty with it."
"Sure. Sunea said. "He's helped me so much with the martial arts class that it's only fair for me to help him too."
"From what I hear," Sally said, "the old Sunea wasn't concerned with what's fair at all."
"Yeah." Sunea agreed. "I was awful. Very selfish and really spoiled. I'm trying hard to change. Being around Roger and you three really helps. You're so nice, caring and helpful that it's easy being nice to you in return. It would be really hard to help those people who are giving me a hard time. Maybe I should though.
"I've got an idea." Chara said as she got up. She walked over to one of the other tables and talked to one of the girls there. The other girl didn't seem to want to go along with what Chara was suggesting to her but after about a minute of talking she got up and followed Chara back to their table.
"Jaynee is having some trouble with the space battle sims." Chara told Sunea. "So I persuaded her to let you help her since you're so good at it. You will help her won't you Sunea?"
"Of course."Sunea replied. "That is if you'll accept my help Jaynee. You'll have to share my help with Mayon. I've already promised to help him."
"Why are you being so helpful all of a sudden?" Jaynee asked. "You never used to be that way. In fact you used to demand your own way all the time. Why the change?"
"Roger had a lot to do with it." Sunea answered. "At first I just wanted to please him but then he woke me up to just how rotten I really was. Daddy used to spoil me. He always told me that I was special and deserved special treatment because I was the king's niece and I believed him. I should have known better. My cousin Kaybea is also the king's niece and she's never acted spoiled. I was never popular and she always was. Especially with the boys. I just couldn't understand that because I'm a lot better looking than her. It didn't matter. The boys liked her better anyway. I just figured there was something wrong with them, not me. Then Roger came along and told me I was way too spoiled for anyone else. He loved me anyway. I guess that's what did it. Even when he was punishing me for my rotten behavior I still knew he loved me. I guess it was that unconditional love of his that finally woke me up."
"He punished you?" A surprised Jaynee asked.
"Yes." Sunea answered. "I was totally lacking in self-discipline so he provided discipline from the outside until I could develop some on the inside. My spoiled behavior made him unhappy and his unhappiness was usually enough to make me want to change. It was the first time in my life that I actually cared about anyone's happiness but my own."
"One time when I told him I was glad he was unhappy and said that I wasn't sorry for what I had done he spanked me." Sunea said. "I was being really rotten and hateful that day. He wasn't being playful at all and that spanking really hurt. Afterwards he held me tenderly and let me cry on his shoulder. I told him that I was sorry and I really was. Sorry for my sore behind."
"That sounds a lot like the old you." Jaynee retorted. " Sorry because you got caught."
"Well, sorry because I got punished." Sunea admitted. "But mostly because it hurt. It hurt a lot. And the old me never used to get caught or at least not punished. Roger said that until I developed self-discipline he would have to apply it from the outside. Those Earth warriors are sure big in self-discipline."
"I know what you mean." Jaynee replied. "I thought I was a well disciplined warrior until I got to know my husband. All those warriors from Earth seem so much more self-disciplined than anyone I've ever known before. They're even more self-disciplined than your uncle Kaybar. And that's really saying something."
They talked a little more then it was time for their afternoon battle sims. Sally left them with a final kiss for Maylon and the four "pariahs" went to their battle sim class. Chara went to her computer console to do her sims leaving Sunea to tutor Maylon and Jaynee. Sunea showed them some of the tactics that she and Chara developed and helped them through them a couple of times. She then sat down at her console and the four of them did a sim as a team. At first they only had two cruisers and sixteen fighters arrayed against them, the same number of ships they had. Sunea thought they must be fighting against another group of four students instead of the computer this time. It must be four other students and rather inept ones at that. Beating them wasn't even mildly challenging. Maylon and Jaynee by themselves could have done it.
She looked up at the rest of the class and saw she was right. Four of her fellow students were glaring at her. Their identities didn't surprise her. They'd been her enemies since her early days at the academy and they were the ringleaders in her present troubles. She looked back down at her screen and saw six cruisers and forty eight fighters starting an attack on her group.
The others were already responding to the attack and she joined them. It didn't take long for them to rout this group of attackers. they were only a little better than the first group that attacked her and her friends. That attack was followed by more attacks by increasingly larger groups of attackers until all of the rest of the class was attacking them. With twenty eight other students in the class that made the odds against Sunea and her friends seven to one. Sunea was getting tired, not physicaly or mentally tired but bored tired. She just wasn't being challenged at by fending off these rank amateurs.
About two thirds of the way through the class things finally got interesting. Maylon spotted a large group of strange ships coming at them from what had been empty space just seconds ago. Sunea spotted them at almost the same time. She and Chara left Maylon and Jaynee to fight their classmates while they turned to meet this new threat. Not knowing the capabilities of this new enemy Sunea sent two robot fighters ahead to probe the enemy before fully engaging her ships. She used a quick in and out strike that wasn't meant to inflict damage but just to test the response and weaponry of their foes. Just as her fighters were getting into range to fire their weapons all the enemy ships opened fire on them. It was extreme range for the enemy's lasers. Even under the concentrated fire of all the enemy ships the shields on Sunea's two fighters were holding fine.
Sunea immediately had the robot ships take evasive action and fire their lasers and missiles at the two nearest enemy fighters and then head back. She also sent her other six fighters toward the enemy and started her cruiser in their direction. The enemy's response was immediate. They spread out, creating a broad front Sunea couldn't match and fired lasers at all eight of Sunea's fighters. The fighter's shields were holding for now but were under considerable stress.She had them concentrate their laser fire on just a few of the enemy fighters at a time.Sunea soon had her cruiser in position to add it's laser fire to that of her fighters.
That tactic started paying off. One by one the enemy fighters were being destroyed. The problem was there were a lot of them, well over three hundred. At the rate she was destroying them it would take over ten hours to destroy all of them. And there were all of the larger enemy ships. Thirty four of them. Over half of them were much larger than her cruiser. If she had the entire class with her maybe she could handle his enemy. Unfortunantly, two of the teams were still fighting against Maylon and Jaynee. The others were just watching.
Her shields were gradually building up to an overload under the combined fire of the enemy's bigger ships She certainly wouldn't survive anywhere near long enough to destroy even a tenth of the fighters. The best she could do was charge headlong at one of the enemy's larger ships and concentrate her fire on it. It was a suicide tactic but at this point no matter what she did she would be destroyed.
She picked her target and immediately sent her fighters to attack it and headed her cruiser at it in an erratic path that made her harder to hit. She received a message from one of her classmates.
"Sunea the spoiled is going to get destroyed." Patti sneered. "I'm glad. Your daddy won't be able to save you this time."
"At least I'm going to be destroyed fighting the enemy instead of my classmates. How are you going to explain that Patti?" Sunea asked her tormentor as she pressed her attack against the enemy ship. It's shields were weakening faster than hers. She added missile fire to her laser fire and that ship was soon destroyed. She switched her attack to another ship and just seconds after she launched missiles at it her shields finally failed under the combined laser fire of the thirty two remaining large enemy ships and she was destroyed.
Sunea spent the next seventeen minutes watching her classmates fight the enemy. Maylon tried to coordinate their efforts but only two teams listened to his advice. The rest attacked however each one felt like it. Patti's team, weakened by their fight with Maylon was quickly destroyed. The other four teams were in serious trouble and all calling for help. Maylon took his two and a half teams to the aid of the nearest one, saving two of it's fighters and it's cruiser form destruction. They destroyed one of the enemy's largest ships and fourteen fighters in the process.
Sunea didn't have anything else to do so she took copious notes on the enemy's capabilities, vulnerabilities and tactics. She also took notes on her classmates' abilities. It was interesting to watch Maylon direct the fighting. He was a capable leader, skillfully directing his ships in maneuvers in the space the enemy left to them in such a way that they could provide supporting fire for each other. He was still losing but it looked like he's take two more of the larger enemy ships and maybe eighty more fighters with him. Sunea figured she could do a little better than that but not much. She thought that if she had the whole class with her from the start of an engagement she could beat this enemy.
Maylon's forces were soon wiped out. Tom, their instructor, went over the class's performance. The first thing he did was reprimand Patti for attacking her classmates before the enemy had a chance to show up. "Sunea, you did a very good job of fighting the enemy and buying your classmates time to stop fighting each other and organize themselves into a fighting unit. Most of you, however, just attacked the enemy piecemeal instead of following a leader. Maylon, you did a masterful job of leading those who followed you in this battle."
"I hope you have all learned that we have an enemy to fight and it's not each other. Any further attacks on one of your classmates will not be tolerated. Since you didn't coalesce around the obvious leader in your midst, I'll assign a leader that you will follow even if you don't want to follow her. Jaynee, who do you think should lead this group into battle?"
"Sunea is the only real choice to be our leader." Jaynee answered. "She taught Maylon and I both what we needed to know in order to fight successfully in that simulation we just did. If it wasn't for what she taught us we wouldn't have been any better than Patti and her friends."
"Maylon, who's your pick?"
"I have to agree with Jaynee. Sunea's the best strategist here by far. I'm good at tactics but but she's better. I'd follow her leadership into a real battle with this enemy anytime."
"I wouldn't." Patti interrupted. "She's too spoiled, selfish and too much of a glory hound. She's always been that way."
"People do change Patti." Angi, one of Patti's inner circle retorted. "And you got to admit her behavior today certainly isn't like the Sunea we used to know. She was always better at strategy and tactics than almost everyone else. Only Kayron, Kaybea and their father are better than Sunea. My vote is for Sunea as our leader. She's already proven that she knows how to fight space battles."
"You traitor." Patti cried out. "You're no longer one of us. You're just one of those misfit pariahs. Good riddance to you."
"Uh, Patti." Rita said. "I hate to say this but I think you're the one whose not fitting in any more. Angi's right. Sunea has changed and she's the best one to lead us. You'd get us all killed fast against this enemy we just fought. With Sunea leading us we'll probably beat them. You're my best friend and I don't want to hurt yur feelings but you're wrong."
Patti's jaw dropped.and she looked around, stunned. None of her friends met her gaze. "So you're all Sunea's friends now? well, I can do without all of you."
"But we can't do without you Patti." Angi pleaded with tears streaming down her face. "You're our best friend and we love you. Please, don't be like this."
"Yeah, Patti." Jaynee added. "Just because we're accepting Sunea now doesn't mean we're rejecting you. We still want to be your friends."
"Well, I guess I can accept that." Patti reluctantly assented. "Just don't expect me to be friends with her or gladly accept her leadership."
"Then it's settled." Tom broke in. "Sunea's your leader."
"Isn't that what you wanted from the start of the class?" Patti accused.
"Sunea wasn't even here at the start of this class." Tom answered "And when she did show up yesterday I thought she caught on fas but I wasn't overly impressed with her performance. Today when she came in she immediately started helping two of her classmates with some problems they were having. The most impressive thing about that was that one of them was someone who was antagonistic toward her just recently. Her help was very effective. Yesterday they were in the bottom ten percent of the class. Today they were in the top ten percent."
"Her own performance today was nothing short of astounding. She directed the Sunea, Chara, Jaynee and Maylon team and fought the entire rest of the class and was beating all of you when the real enemy showed up.She wasn't really being challenged by the rest of you so she left Maylon and Jaynee to keep you off her back while she and Chara took on the real enemy, buying the rest of you time to organize under Maylon. Only two teams did. One team was still uncooperative even after the fighting started."
"Tomorrow you'll do a simulated battle very similar to today's battle and I want everyone's full cooperation. The rank you leave here with in six months time is dependent on how well you do in the training we are giving you. You may request a transfer to a different class at the end of this month. Until then do your best here. It will have a big impact on your future. Class dismissed."
Sunea got home early. Roger wasn't there yet so she started tidying up without him. They usually did it together. Sharing a task that neither one of them liked to do made it easier. When she finished she cooked Roger's favorite dish even though she really didn't care much for it. He liked it and that was a good enough reason to fix it. While it was cooking she prepared a couple of side dishes and a salad to go with it.
"Mmm. Something sure smells good." Roger said as he came in. "So what did you do wrong ?"
"Nothing, what makes you think I did?"
Roger looked around. "You've straightened things up and fixed my favorite dish and I know you don't particularly care for it.."
"Actually I did really well today as I'm sure you've already heard." She answered. "And I got home early so I straightened things up. Then I was feeling so happy that I thought I'd do something special for my favorite person.Can I help it if I love my husband?"
"I got a real gem in the rough when I married you didn't I?"
"Yeah, I was pretty bad wasn't I?"
"You were spoiled rotten." Roger replied.
"Yeah but I got lucky and got a husband who wouldn't let me get away with it." Sunea responded."I'm really glad I did. I like having friends. Always before I knew something wasn't right. I felt like I was missing something. I was always trying to blame others but the fault was with me. I just couldn't see that but you woke me up to it. Thank you darlin'."
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