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Kate Stewart :“Osgood – you disobeyed my orders?!”
Osgood : “You did what you thought was best – like you always do.”
“Don’t patronize me, Osgood! “Sometimes the good of the many does actually outweigh that of the few.”
« Go home, Osgood. We’ll talk about this later.”
“You too, Ma’am – You should try to get some sleep.”
“I don’t think that’s very likely, somehow.”
And indeed, Kate Stewart didn’t sleep that night – a current occurrence in her job as UNIT Chief Scientific Officer. The burden of responsibility weighted heavily on her shoulders – especially when her team let her down. It didn’t happen often – most of them were devoted to their boss. But they’d also been chosen for their intelligence and their personality, and no one with a gifted mind could ever blindly obey orders. Josh Carter was a daredevil, never one to follow the track when he could step out of it, and as for Osgood – mostly, she was very very good, but when she wasn’t, her stubborn streak came to the fore and she misbehaved spectacularly… Like the night before. And as CSO, it was Kate’s duty to discipline them. For as long as UNIT had been run as a military operation, the authorities had found the best way to discipline wayward officers was corporal punishment. Especially since they frequently used the memory wiper on them – other kinds of chastisements were wiped along with the rest. And since Kate had taken the job, she had had to concede reluctantly that although she wanted science to prevail over military lines, this was one tradition she would have to keep.
She sighed – time to get on with it. She pressed a button on her phone: “Colonel Shindi – may I see you in my office please? Thank you.”
When the colonel arrived, he saw immediately on Kate’s face the toll the previous day had taken – she was ashen white, with deep circles under her eyes. Although she sat as erect as usual, something in her posture told him she was exhausted.
“Please sit down, Vikram. I guess you know why I’ve called you here?”
“I think so, Ma’am – about yesterday.”
“Yes.”
Kate wiped her brow with her hand and sighed: “Such a mess. I would never have expected – no, actually, I should have expected it. Osgood just can’t bear injustice, and she has Josh wrapped around her little finger.”
Vikram Shindi waited for Kate to continue. Seeing that she’d fallen silent, he spoke up: “I’m afraid so, Ma’am. Do you want me to take care of the matter for you?”
Kate sighed again: “No, thank you, Vikram. At least …No – I’ll discipline Osgood myself. If you could take care of Josh?”
“Of course Ma’am – any recommendations?”
“I leave that to you, Colonel. Thank you.”
Although Kate was forever reminding him he didn’t have to, he saluted and left the room. Kate took a deep breath and pushed another button: “Osgood? My office please.”
Osgood knocked on Kate’s door and breathed quickly in her inhaler. She had a bad feeling about this. She had slept fitfully for a few hours interspersed with nightmares. Some of them about a space capsule exploding into the darkness, some of them involving her in Kate’s office…When she saw Kate’s face, she knew she was in trouble.
“Ma’am?”
“Come here, please, Petronella.”
Kate never called her Petronella… With someone else, the use of her first name could be considered as a show of kindness, but Kate knew full well she hated it. Osgood came to stand in front of the desk, gripping her inhaler tighter.
Kate sought the younger woman’s eyes and steeled herself against the anxiety she could read in them. “Have you got anything to say for yourself, Petronella?”
Not daring to look into the older woman’s eyes, Osgood stared at the floor. She knew she had greatly disappointed her senior officer. She actually felt sick when she thought about what could have happened if Vara’s plan had failed.
“No, Ma’am – I mean – I’m sorry, Ma’am, but if I had to do it again, I don’t think I’d do it differently. But I do see why you’re angry with me and I accept any punishment you choose.”
“I’m not angry, Osgood. I’m disappointed that you disobeyed my orders, and …You put yourself in danger, too – Vara could have overpowered you and …”
Kate closed her eyes briefly, trying to clear her mind from all the what ifs … “You were out of line, Osgood. And you know I can’t let that pass.” Much as it pains me to, she kept herself from adding. Kate hardened her voice: “You know the drill. Use your inhaler if you need to.”
Osgood took two nervous puffs and remained standing, awaiting further orders. Kate opened one of her desk drawers and Osgood kept her eyes riveted to the floor – she preferred not to see…
Kate moved a hard-backed chair to the centre of the room and wondered what to do – the protocol would be to cane the younger woman for insubordination, but she couldn’t bring herself to do that. That was why she had asked the colonel to deal with Josh Carter – it would take her all her strength to punish Osgood – not her physical strength, of course, but her mental strength. This was the worst part of her job. She would die in an instant to protect any member of her team, and she hated to inflict pain on anyone, even her worst enemy, but she couldn’t shirk her duty. And she knew it would help Osgood deal with her guilt. She swallowed hard and used her iciest voice: “Lower your trousers and come here.” She directed the younger woman over the back of the chair.
Osgood shivered at the sound of Kate’s voice – she couldn’t know that it was the only way for her boss to hide her emotions. She took her glasses off, put them in her pocket and slowly undid the zip and the button. Sometimes she’d dreamt of being naked with Kate – often, even – but it hadn’t involved a cane or a paddle or whatever Kate was going to use on her. Without her glasses, all she could see when she bent over was the blurry brown chair.
Kate couldn’t bring herself to use the cane – too many bad memories linked to it – but neither did she feel able to use her hand – somehow it felt too intimate. She struck the air experimentally with the tawse she’d taken from the drawer. The last time, she’d used the paddle, but the infraction had been less serious. She wanted the younger woman to remember this for several days. “Twenty, Osgood. Count the strokes, please. If you miss one, we’ll go back to zero.”
She stepped closer to the young woman’s bottom and Osgood trembled.
“One!”
The stroke had hit on the fleshy part of her bottom, and hadn’t really hurt, but Osgood couldn’t avoid a small moan.
“Two; three; four – oww!”
Kate must have realised the first stroke had been too soft for the next ones were much harder. As the strokes fell steadily; covering the whole area, Osgood had a hard time continuing to count. When the twelfth stroke fell on an already deep pink spot, she yelled out and her hands rushed to cover her bottom.
“Osgood! Take your hands off immediately!”
The young woman didn’t obey at once, too lost in a haze of pain and Kate sighed: “Very well – stand up and face me!”
The young scientist’s tear-streaked face tugged at Kate’s heart, but she couldn’t back down now. She reached for Osgood’s right hand and lifted it, palm upwards, before administering two strokes of the tawse on it. She did the same for the left hand and ordered in a harsh voice: “Back on the chair – and don’t you dare do that again. What was the count?” Kate knew very well what it was, and she hoped the young woman’s amazing brain had retained it too, because she didn’t think she could go through the whole punishment again.
“Tww-twelve, Ma’am.”
Kate resumed the chastisement until the twentieth stroke. She then looked at the tawse in her hand as if it was a snake, but she forced herself to walk slowly to the desk and put it back in the drawer. Then she returned to stand near the chair. Still in that tight, cold voice, she ordered the young scientist to stand up and pull her trousers up.
Osgood slowly stood up and it took all her will-power to keep from rubbing her bottom. She didn’t even reach in her pockets for her glasses as her eyes were still full of tears. She did, however, bend to reach for her trousers.
“Your punishment is over, Osgood – you will please complete the required form and bring it to me.”
“Yes Ma’am – I’m sorry – really.”
“Not as much as I am, Osgood.”
Kate bit her lips – it broke her heart to see her young colleague in pain – she knew too well how it hurt… She knew too that Osgood didn’t have many people around to comfort her afterwards and that too was all too familiar. Suddenly, she opened her arms and the young scientist buried her face on her shoulder: “It’s all over, Osgood – you’re all right. You’re all right.” She let the young woman’s fresh burst of sobs pass, holding her close and finally took a step back, handing her a tissue.
“Here.”
“Thank you, Ma’am.”
Osgood wiped her tears and put her glasses back before finally daring to look at Kate. Then she gasped: “Oh no, Ma’am – I’m sorry!”
Kate’s light grey jacket sported a big wet patch on the shoulder. The blonde looked at it and laughed: “It’s okay, Osgood – two kids, remember? I’ve had worse on my clothes, not to mention the numerous times I’ve had to crawl in the mud or other things. Now get back to your lab and don’t forget the form.”
“No Ma’am. Thank you, Ma’am.”
Osgood ran into Josh on her way to the loo. The young man was rubbing his bottom and grimacing in pain: “Oh no – Josh, I’m so sorry – it’s all my fault.”
“It’s not like you held me at gunpoint, Osgood. I chose to help you – and I paid the price.”
“Still …I’m sorry.”
Josh looked properly at Osgood and noticed the red eyes and the dishevelled appearance: “Oh my – seems Kate did a number on you too!”
Osgood bit her lips: “Yes …What …what did you get?”
“Osgood! Do you really want to compare war wounds? All right, I’ll tell you – sixteen of the best for insubordination – the colonel thought twelve would be too “schoolboyish” – and …he added four because I swore …”
“Ouch!”
“Yes – you can say that again…”
Kate sat back down at her desk and buried her face in her hands – being the chastiser was as painful as being the chastised – maybe even more…