A Wish the Heart Makes: Fornever in Blue Genes

by Tigger

Chapter 20: Tried, Judged, Sentenced and Executed

Mandy let Cat take the lead once they arrived at the Med Lab. 
Cat's security forces were still searching the less traveled
parts of the building for any survivors, for the dead and for
booby-traps.  With purposeful speed, the strikingly beautiful
pair of women made their way to Bob's lab where they were met
by Davies.

"The police are on their way, Boss.  They've asked us to
preserve the crime scene, but I put them off by telling them
that we had to enter the lab to ensure that there wasn't
anything hazardous in there."

"Good thinking, Tom," Cat approved.  "Any indications they
might have left us a nasty surprise or two?"

"Not in there.  Dr. West's Lab was heavily instrumented
because he often did play with bio-hazmat stuff.  There's
nothing in there that wasn't there this morning . . . with the
exception of his blood, that is."

"Yeah," Cat growled.  "Look, we're going in.  Delay the cops
as long as you can while we try to figure out what they were
after and what they got."

"No problem, Boss," Davies replied, and then lifted his hand
to his ear implant, his face taking on that look of someone
concentrating heavily.  He barked an acknowledgment before
turning his eyes back to Cat.  "That was the away team, Cat. 
Richards' apartment is empty.  The team leader thinks that the
place has been given a thorough cleaning, too.  If it wasn't
for the almost antiseptic smell, he'd have sworn the place had
been uninhabited for months."

"DAMN!" Cat swore.

Mandy only nodded.  "Okay, so Bob's Lab is our only lead. 
Let's go get to work, Cat."

~-----------------~

Whoever *they* were, *they* had trained these stormtroopers
too damned well, Morag thought yet again.  The body search
they'd visited upon her once they'd pried her cramped body out
of that tool hold had been thorough and quick.  About the only
thing they hadn't done was strip her down to her skin and give
her a cavity search, but she figured that was only a matter of
time.  Besides, the arm and wrist restraints they'd used on
her had her hands safely locked into the small of her back. 
No way to pull any rabbits out of that particular pair of hats
without the hands to do it.

Once she was safely restrained, the leader had designated four
of the attack team to escort her.  Escort, hell, they'd all
but herded her out of the huge hanger facility into a series
of labyrinth-like halls.  Even with her training, Morag was
not all that sure she could find her own way back to the
hanger without making at least one wrong turn along the way.

Eventually, they came into a largish room set up like a
conference area with a large table in the center, and a
seating gallery along the walls.  Morag took stock of the
room. *Odd,* she thought.  *Not an empty chair in the place
except for the one at the head of the table.*

"Team Leader Dorcus reporting to the Council," the woman in
charge reported formally.  "Our mission was a complete
success, however, we did pick up an uninvited passenger," and
here she shoved the bound Morag forward, "along the way."

"MORAG!" a shocked voice squealed in the gallery. 

Morag spun and was stunned to see a familiar face - stunned
and then instantly furious that her *friend*, Teri Richards,
was part of this.  The woman she'd been considering as a lover
in violation of the Church and all its teachings.  Pain
amplified her fury still further, and Morag lost control. 
"You lying, traitorous BITCH!" she snarled.  Without thinking
of the consequences, she tried to leap towards Teri, intent on
doing what she couldn't say, but she never got there.  A well
placed foot sent her tumbling hard to the floor, her face
bouncing off the tiles since she'd been helpless to catch
herself without her arms bound behind her. 

Rough hands pulled her back to her feet just in time to see a
shimmering light suffuse the empty chair at the head of the
table.  A oddly indistinct female body materialized before
Morag's eyes.  "Well done, team leader," an oddly detached
voice sounded when the figure moved its lips.  Then, she
turned her attention toward the gallery where Teri was seated. 
"You know this person, Florence?"

Morag was surprised when Teri answered to that name.  "Yes,
Leader.  She is Morag MacPherson.  She is assigned to the
security team that guards the inner quarters where Sorenson
has been staying since her transition."

The name evidently keyed something in the team leader's
memory, because she reached into one of the pockets of her
combat suit and pulled out the little amber bottle she'd
picked up in the Med Lab.

The Leader evidently saw this, and turned back to the woman
guarding Morag.  "What have you there, Team Leader?"

"A bottle, Leader, with some type of liquid in it.  Evidently,
it is intended for this MacPherson woman because it has her
name on it."

"Bring it here, Team Leader," was the immediate snapped order. 
She did, and the figure of the Leader looked at the bottle
closely.  "Well, it appears that the good Dr. West was getting
ready to test his new process, and was going to use it on
tissue samples taken from our unwilling guest."  She turned to
look at the woman seated at her right hand.  "Freuda, our
transition facility is complete and ready to test, is it not?"

"Yes, Leader," the woman responded.

"Excellent.  Take this bottle and this woman and use them for
our first full scale test.  Let us see if Dr. West has in fact
corrected his earlier error."

"But, Leader!"  Morag heard Teri's frantic voice.  "Morag is a
woman, just like us.  That drug might well kill her.  We all
swore an oath to advance womankind."

"She is a pawn of the Male-Dominated Politico-Industrial
Complex, Florence, and will oppose us.  Since she now knows
us, she will be a threat to us and to all real women. 
Sometimes, even the innocent must suffer for the greater
good."

"But why even test the female to male drug, Leader?  Isn't our
plan to transition key males into women, and thus force them
to accept womanhood . . . understand that women are just as
capable and as intelligent as men?"  

"Florence, the decision is made!  Do you dispute my
authority?" the Leader thundered.

Teri looked like she wanted to, but understood how dangerous
her position was, and subsided, shaking her head in
acquiescence.  "No, Leader," she said softly.

"Very well, then.  I will explain.  Our goals are unchanged,
but it occurs to me that the possibility of a safe
retransition back to being male might be just the inducement
some of our soon-to-be unwilling sisters need to help them see
the light.  Of course, they'll never quite earn it, but if we
can prove our ability to change a transformed sister back into
a man, say by videoing Ms. MacPherson's experiences, our great
plan might be made easier.  Not only that, a brave sister
might accept transition to the masculine gender in order to
replace a key official or two, and thus advance our cause that
way.  No, there are very sound strategic and tactical reasons
to test Dr. West's new process, and since we have a
'volunteer' and a treatment, I see no reason to delay."  She
turned back to the woman she'd called Freuda.  "Prepare the
facility and begin at once."

The woman nodded, and stood.  "Team Leader, follow me and
bring your prisoner."

Morag fought this time, but to little point.  A well placed
blaster butt knocked her senseless long enough for her to be
taken to the facility and sedated.  *She* would never wake up.