Luke’s HAARP Time Warp: Part 9

Marion faces news challenges.

Based on a post by somethin fishy,
in 15 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.

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Chapter 41.

Luke was up early, dressed, and out of the tent before the ladies even woke
up. His first stop was to check with the sentries and he learned that
everything had been quiet. His next stop was the hospital. If he was going to
be going on this campaign then he would be needing medical support. He was
surprised to find that Alice was still on duty. After talking things over with
her, she agreed to send two of her doctors and the needed supporting nurses and
staff with Luke. That taken care of he went back to Marion’s tent where he got
the fire going again and started breakfast. He had managed to score some eggs
from one of the locals yesterday so that was what he made for breakfast along
with some sausage.

He did admit that he missed his black pepper and garlic that he used to put
on his eggs. At least he did have some salt. As he was finishing up the
cooking; the ladies stumbled out of the tent barely dressed. Luke put the
lady’s breakfast on their plates and gave them both a glass of fresh milk while
he took water for himself.

After breakfast Marion and Gabriel went back in the tent to finish getting
dressed while Luke saw to it that his troops were getting ready to leave. It
only took Luke an hour to get everything ready to go. One of the things he did
was to make sure to say bye to his wife in private. They were only able to hug
and kiss a bit under the time constraint but it was enough. The next time they
would see each other it wouldn’t be as husband and wife but as commander and
subordinate.

Luke got the army assembled and before they left Marion inspected her
troops. The troops all moved in perfect unison, almost as if they were one
person. Lurking in the back of her mind was the thought that only a year ago
this kind of precision was unheard of in a modern military unit and nobody had
ever dreamed of weapons anywhere like these. Now she was in command of the
deadliest army in the world. After Luke left with his troops, Marion didn’t
allow herself time to feel sorry for herself for she had to get back to York.
All the cavalry patrols had returned and reported no other enemy troops in the
area. Marion left about midday with the remaining four hundred men of her army.
The main thing they were doing was escorting Alice’s medical unit and Marion
back to York. She made sure to detach units to villages along the route to help
secure Luke’s supply lines.

It took Marion four days to get back to York for the wounded really slowed
them down. In a way this was a blessing for Marion could take care of some
business that she needed to do anyway. She had Pollyanna finish up her
surveying work and to start working on laying out a new road. This road would
be one of the best that had been built in Britain since the Romans. The road
would go from York and eventually reach the lake district. Marion was busy with
other things as well. Her authority was still shaky in this area and the local
nobles were none too happy with a woman in charge.

One of the local castles, Marion had to take under siege. With the highly
advanced artillery at her disposal, this only took a couple of hours but still
it was annoying and the nobles which held out against her were stripped of all
their land and possessions. The land was then sold to the peasants that had
formally worked the land. Money from the land sales went right into Marion’s
coffers. Problem was that many of the peasants didn’t have the money so Marion
would make loans to them that was payable over a set number of years. The
noble’s possessions would be divided up among the army with everyone getting a
share. It goes without saying that after the first couple of nobles resisted
and were dealt with so swiftly that resistance died down.

Getting back to York, Marion paraded the troops right through the city for
everyone to see. Marion’s flags were uncased and the army marched to the sound
of Rule Britannia. The people went wild as their soldiers passed. At first,
they were nervous because most of the army wasn’t there but Marion let it be
known that most of the army was on their way to punish the nobles of the lake
district for their unprovoked attack on them.

After the parade and the party afterwards, it was time to get back to work.
Marion wanted the sanitation system of the city drastically improved for she
now had enough money to pay for it. That was Pollyanna’s first chore; draw up
designs for the sewer system. Pollyanna had to be careful through for her
pregnancy was much rougher on her then Marion’s had been. She was sick most
mornings and some days she had trouble just getting out of bed. Marion always
made sure to stop in and check on her every day. Matt however was doing a
really good job of caring for her so Marion wasn’t worried too much.

Alice warned that Pollyanna might have to have a C section when the time
came for Pollyanna had narrow hips. Marion put Pollyanna on restricted duty.
She only would work when she felt up to it. Fortunately, the sewer system
wasn’t too complicated so Pollyanna was able to get the plans drawn up good
enough so the workers could start work.

Getting back to York, Marion had other problems on her hands for rumors had
got out that her and Gabriel were lovers. The preachers that Marion had pissed
off by rocking the boat and openly protecting Jews were incensed and quickly
started stirring things up. It took a couple of weeks but soon every bible
thumper was at Marion’s door, demanding that she and Gabriel stand trial for
homosexuality and heresy. Gabriel was scared far worse than she had ever been
before for she didn’t want to see Marion hurt.

“Marion, I think we can sneak you out this evening. Once out of town you can
head up and join Luke!”

“Leave! Are you mad? If I leave then the forces that we have been fighting
will have won and Stella and Tom and Robin would have died in vain. No! I will
not leave! We are going to fight this and we are going to win! Now come with me
darling.”

Marion took Gabriel by the hand and lead her to a balcony that overlooked
the crowd. Marion made sure that her jewelry was on full display, especially
the ring which Luke had made for her. When they came out on the balcony; it
didn’t take long for the people to notice them. Marion was pleased to see that
her soldiers remained loyal to her. They all knew just how devoted she was to
Luke and none of them would very dream of doing anything to piss him off. They
figured that this was between Luke, Marion, Gabriel, and God and they were not
going to get into it. The crowd however had been whipped up by the
fundamentalist preachers and they were after blood.

Marion gripped the railing and looked out over the crowd. She could feel
that Gabriel was trying to stay out of sight, but Marion pulled her up to the
railing as well. Once there Marion put one of her hands over Gabriel’s and gave
it a little squeeze. What Gabriel didn’t know was that Marion had secretly sent
a message to Luke, ordering him to return with all speed for rumors were flying
about her and Gabriel and Marion knew that things were going to get ugly. She
also knew that Cecilia would use this against her for Cecilia had become even
more bitter as time passed.

The mood of the crowd was hostile as Gabriel and Marion stood there. Soon
Gabriel pulled out one of her guns and shot into the air to silence the crowd.
After the crowd quieted down some, Marion began to speak:

“Friends, citizens” She yelled “Why do concern yourself with what I do in my
bedroom? Why do you concern yourself with whom I choose love? Do you not have
enough to worry you without worrying yourselves about who I share My bed with?”

“You sinner, you homosexual bitch! You Jew lover!” cried one of the pastors
“You will bring the wrath of God down on our heads because of your wicked ways!
We demand that Gabriel be burnt at the stake for she has to be some kind of
witch. After all who else would create such devilish weapons.”

The crowd roared their approval and Gabriel turned white and started to
softly cry. Marion though stayed calm. One she didn’t care about this
hypocrite. Two was she had another secret. Marion smiled at a thought. She
turned to Gabriel and put one of her hands on Gabriel’s check and turned her
face so that they were eye to eye. Gabriel’s crying was almost enough to kill
Marion for she loved her so much. Marion made sure that her left hand was to
the crowd so that they could see her wedding ring shine in the afternoon light
as she pulled Gabriel’s lips to her own and kissed her passionately. This
really worked the crowd up and they began to beat on the castle doors for they
wanted these lesbians gone.

The crowd burst through the doors and within half an hour had drug Marion
and Gabriel out of the castle and had freed Cecilia and her still loyal men,
although there wasn’t many of these. Marion’s troops that she had in the castle
had been overwhelmed for they were drastically outnumbered. Alice’s medical
unit was put in chains and Pollyanna and Matt were arrested. Most of Marion’s
troops were in the countryside maintaining order. The pastors had two