Crisis at IshtarChapter 28 The Peace Ends
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The next week it seemed I spent much of my time finding excuses to hide in the household pod or the Concubine's refuge. James had locked William in an otherwise unused habitat pod near the original command center, but the crew of Tintagel Castle proved to include nine more men who refused to keep their hands to themselves. Most of the concubines figured that out the first night when these men spent much of the welcome party drunkenly calling for Lindsay, Bonnie and Cleo to perform lap dances. Tyson had walked over and lifted one of the men by the neck only for the others to all protest that they were playing.
James and Yvette ended up having to spend hours documenting the various passes and touches. Lieutenant Krupke did her best to help, but it soon became clear that the men were thinking that they were going to be staying on Ishtar. Finally James called for a general assembly of the crew to occur in our multi-use pod. I was standing against the wall behind James as crew walked in. The men who had been problems ignored me and the other female concubines arrayed against the wall, but I noticed Lieutenant Krupke 's eyes narrowing. She mouthed, "Guns?" Once her mouth was closed she scanned the room, checking each concubine. James noticed and only shook his head before waving for all the concubines to put their hands on the rifles we had been hiding behind our backs.
Lieutenant Krupke had taken a seat, as had about two-thirds of the crew, but the men who had been problems were still joking around and waving at various concubines. I noticed Lieutenant Krupke raising her hand, but James' voice cut through the din.
"It seems a few of you don't care to obey the laws. Now you might think that you are untouchable, but I assure you that you are not," he said.
One of the men glared at James. He was one of the ringleaders and clearly did not respect anyone. "Who the fuck cares what the rules are? We aren't in your chain of command, and you aren't an officer anyways. What will you do? Lock us up like Willie? You are going to pay for that you know."
James stiffened and then raised a hand. On that cue every concubine in the room brought their gun up and pointed it at one of the standing crew. "Chamber rounds," he said icily. "If any of those idiots tries to take a step, shoot him."
The man's, I think his name was Brent, eyes widened. "What the fuck! Who do you think you are? And I know the laws; if the concubines shoot us, you are guilty of murder. You won't give that command."
I could see James' shoulders relax. "Really. Why don't we check that? AI. Would you be so kind as you tell this Darwin Award candidate what title I hold and how the laws affect this situation."
"James Rabb, official governor of Ishtarat system," the AI intoned. "Ishtarat system is nominally part of the Borneo Military District, but as a system governor James has executive and judicial authority within the system. Current situation stands that nine citizens visiting from Borneo as part of the crew of Corvette Tintagel Castle have repeatedly violated Confed law in regards to appropriate contact with concubines they do not own. This has been compounded by the fact that local law and tradition is much stricter regarding such contact."
Brent scowled. "So? He still won't order the concubines to shoot us. That's still a violation."
The AI continued. "The nine citizens still standing are now considered under arrest. Any attempt to move will be regarded as an attempt to escape and or resist arrest and use of deadly force will be condoned."
James was staring right at Brent. "In other words, right now I have a dozen concubines in this room who are just begging for you to take a step so they can open fire. And I have no problem with them doing it."
Brent seemed to deflate. "Fuck! What do you limp dicks want?"
"Besides you off this planet?" Yvette said from the room's entrance. The men did not turn, but I could see several stiffen as they realized that they could no longer freely exit the room.
The men stared at James. He waited for a moment and then spoke. "Actually, I don't have to do anything more at this point. First, your ship is as repaired as we are able to perform here. Once this meeting is over, you'll be marching to the teleport and getting off this planet. However, you were all such constant problems that Yvette and I sent a packet of what I might call your "greatest hits" to Borneo command and then followed it up with a call to Admiral Himmel. I thought you'd like to hear the call."
There was a moment of silence. A couple of Brent's followers looked very uncomfortable. A couple of their still seated crewmates were smiling and nudging each other while staring at Brent.
"James, Yvette," Admiral Himmel's voice called out. "I did receive your packet of evidence. I checked against our records here, and found that none of my nine rejects were involved in the Wolf three-six-seven fight. Most only just arrived in the district, and the few old ones were transferred from the proving yards out at Moreton."
Yvette's voice responded. "We pretty much expected that. The few repeat visitors we have had know how things work on Ishtar and appear to respect our Tradition."
I had been watching Brent and his friends and they stiffened more upon hearing Yvette's final sentence. I saw the eyes of one widen and he glared at Brent.
James' voice was next. "The good news for us is that tomorrow we can load them up on a repaired Tintagel Castle and ship them home to you. I do want you to put all nine on the list of citizens who cannot come to the Ishtarat system unless it's a life or death emergency. And if they do come for that, we'll keep them locked up when they aren't in a medical pod."
The Admiral laughed at this. "Unfortunately, their current visit is based on a life-saving emergency, so you didn't have much choice."
"Oh, I could have locked them in the same pod I have William in. I'm afraid he's not been too happy about his treatment," James replied.
"Private Monroe is going to like his new assignment less. He is going to be transferred out of the district completely. And considering the situation with his nine friends, I think I'm going to give him an escort of slightly experienced privates. Perhaps in a new post where they aren't counting on familial loyalties protecting them they'll shape up," The Admiral said with a laugh.
"We didn't count on no fucking family loyalties," Brent hissed. "We didn't commit any fucking crime. Concubines exist for men like us to fuck them! Who cares about the rest?"
One of his standing companions moaned. "You stupid shit! We just heard that some people do and you are still going off on how concubines are toys? I can't believe that I listened to your pissing and moaning. I have a concubine who is perfectly cuddly and yet I followed you in chasing the ones who now have guns pointed at us. And from their expressions they want to use them."
"Shut up!" Brent shouted. Before anyone could react he dove at his former friend. The others scattered out of the way, quickly dropping to the floor and lying down. I held my fire as Amanda and Debby appeared in the doorway wearing their battle armor. They strode up to the brewing brawl and quickly pulled the two men apart. The one who had been screaming at Brent quickly submitted, but Debby had to shake Brent hard before he slumped in defeat.
James waved at the ceiling. "End this call," he muttered. "The communication has ended," the AI replied. "Please note that Major Bonham is looking for ways to conduct surveillance of this side of the colony. Do you wish to block his attempts?" "I should," James replied with a snarl. "But if he only sees rooms and not the hallways it shouldn't matter too much. Just make sure he doesn't find out about our little hold out tunnel. I'm beginning to fear we might have to use it...
Once we passed through the airlock, Tyson put his arms around Cleo and pulled her to him. "Run along, girls," he said. "I think it's time I got this lovely lady pregnant again." Mickey and I giggled and then ran off down the hallway. Behind us, we could hear Cleo's cheerful squeal as she twisted around to kiss Tyson. "She sounds happy with the idea," Mickey said as we make our way through the passages. "I think she is truly happy about it," I replied quietly. "Tyson loves his...
"Go ahead," I said, putting my left hand up next to my ear. "Meiko," Maggie's voice said. "We have a teleport unit near Morrigan, but we are going to have a problem. The gunner is barely conscious and won't be able to get out of the pod without help." "Can someone from Morrigan do it?" I asked. "No," Maggie said. "I already asked. The grid is charged so anyone setting foot on it would be killed." I considered the situation. "We've done that kind of teleport before, but...
As Bjorn, Jessie, Troy, Glenda, Bryce, Barbara and Arnold prepared to leave the chapel on the second floor of the Ulm Cancer Clinic they decided to leave their clothes off and not get dressed again. They were all going down to say their last goodbyes to Carrie Pearson who had just died in the Operating Theatre from one last and very violent seizure. Jessie had already decided that she was going to go down to see Carrie just as she was ... naked ... so the others decided to honour that and do...
The month of July passed quickly for Dave. He went out with John a couple of times but, other than that, he did very little besides golf and go to the beach with his family or friends from the campground. The first time he went out with John, they talked about the hockey draft and John was truly excited about going to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks' rookie camp. John fully expected he would be playing with the Missiles again but he maintained a small dream of actually making the Ducks' team as an...
I glanced over at her for the fiftieth time. Two rows ahead of me, two machines to the left. I quickly forced myself to look back at the row of TVs hanging from the ceiling, not wanting her to catch me looking at her again. Not that she had any idea I was even alive, mind you, maybe I was more afraid of being embarrassed by someone else catching me ogling the ultra-fit redhead with the ponytail effortless gliding away on the elliptical machine. So instead I kept sneaking peeks every 30 seconds....
The next morning James woke us up for the final time. Madoka had fussed during the night when she was hungry, but each time I managed to fall back to sleep. Beside me, I could hear Kitty and Brittany complain mildly about the movement. James, however, would not be denied. "Sorry my loves, but the AI just said that Bethany is awake, and I thought I'd collect her. Janice, I'm sorry I couldn't come and collect you when you woke," he said as he left the room at a near run. "Hey, I woke up...
The brief baby boom ended eight days later and the population of our colony had increased by forty-eight children. Every one of the original thirty-seven female concubines gave birth although only Madison, one of Linus Van Stern's concubines, gave birth to twins. She was thrilled to have her third and fourth children and was soon offering to set up a day care and baby-raising clinic for any concubines needing a break. Her master simply glowed that he now had two sons and a new daughter to go...
Whitney was still hugging Tamara when a man entered the command post from the teleport room's passageway. "Hey! It's the unattached slut! Are you giving it out now! You refused me on the ship! You're unattached and can't do that!" The man reached out to grab Whitney. His hand had barely touched her when James burst from his chair and in a flying tackle slammed the man against the wall of the room. "Tamara, get her out of here. Xavier! Get me whoever is in charge of the Tintagel...
Tina and I made our way to the doorway and headed out. It was clear that the conversation had turned to technical matters regarding the repairs and James would be tied up for some time. He waved as we left but was quickly pulled back to one of the panels to start reviewing the damage and suggested repairs to Tintagel Castle. In the hallway we found Alexis walking with a couple of the concubines from Tintagel. Both were wearing splints and bandages obviously created by tearing up a shift. She...
Life settled down again once Tintagel Castle left for home. As expected, Brent's retest scored him as a five nine and James quickly ordered him thrown in a recycler. After that, the citizens appeared to be concentrating on the slow expansion of the colony and setting up the new living area for visiting crews. The musical practice was now all about perfecting the dances and singing. As we could all see it coming together there was a contagious enthusiasm creeping into the concubines. Anytime...
Just then the AI started to sound an alert. "We have ship entry jump points forming." "One or two," James shouted as he stood up, carefully lifting me up and setting me down as he did. "Three," the AI stated. "One is along the vector leading to Borneo. The other two ships jumped from within Sa'arm controlled space." My master barely paused. "Tyson, Linus, to the gun controls. I'll take laser one, gunners, get to the laser chambers and suit up. Tam, Tif, get to the command center...
James shook his head and looked up. "Terrence, start bringing all the injured from Freya over. Coordinate with their staff and bring the hurt ones over when gurneys are available. Let's get them medical attention quickly." "We're already on it," Donna said. "David, Elle and Robert are standing by with gurneys. Lindsay and Ed have headed to our multi-use room and are going to set up to treat the non-critical cases there. Craig and Tom are setting things up there." "Maggie has the...
"Bit of a walk isn't it?" Tanya said with a smile. "It's outside the citizen zone," I admitted. "But you had wounded so we teleported you in at our command post. I'm not sure we have a teleport near here yet. This is new." "Will all my crew be here?" Tanya asked. "Probably not," I said. "The walking wounded you had were directed to one of the rooms we have near our medical center. If there are free pods they'll rotate the people through." Tanya nodded. "On that note, how...
Bethany had my daughter on a changing table when I walked in. She smiled at me. "Don't worry, I don't mind changing babies. Especially when it's the child of my sister." She lifted Madoka up and carried her over to me. With a gentle touch she laid Madoka in my arms. I looked down at the child I had brought into the world. She was now just over two months old and still spent the majority of her time sleeping, but right then she was awake and reached out her tiny hands to grab at my...
The departure of Freya brought peace to Ishtar. Janice continued to lead rehearsals of the musical. We now had a complete show that lasted just over seventy minutes. It was almost ready, and we were becoming increasingly worried that the secret would be revealed. Janice insisted that conversations about our work be kept to the Concubine's Refuge to prevent accidentally revealing our plans. The citizens seemed rather distracted though. James and Yvette seemed to spend hours in the command...
My master appeared to shake himself awake. "Damn, we don't need more trouble here. Michelle try to contact Borneo, we need to see if Admiral Himmel knows anything about this Chief Scientist." "Is that even a rank?" Tiffany asked. "Who knows," Yvette responded while massaging her temples. "But from the attitude on that man, he believes it means quite a bit." Janice looked around. "Are these alien artifacts really that important." I heard a snort. I turned to see where it came...
For the next three days, the colony was bustling with activity. Under the direction of Marina, who proved to have been a hotel maid back on Earth before becoming Shawna's concubine, thirty pods were organized, cleaned and prepared for occupation. Most were set up so they had multiple dwellings each set up like a hotel suite with a central meeting and relaxation room and two separate sleeping areas. Others were organized more like barracks with enough beds to handle one of the squads the vice...
Nightmares caused Janice to toss and turn most of the night. I held her close and tried to kiss the dreams away, but her mumbled words made it clear she was worried about the musical. During the first part of the night she woke me four times, before finally settling down sometime during Devil hour. After the dreams faded she was sleeping so peacefully that when Joy woke up hungry early in the morning I fed her myself rather than wake my friend. I ended up having to go downstairs to wake...
Madoka was hungry. Once I offered her a meal, she drank it down. Afterwards she fidgeted for only a moment before closing her eyes again. I was not completely surprised, as she had been awake for the last hour as I memorized the seating chart. Once she was slumbering in one of the cribs set up in the backstage nursery, I hurried back to the theater, prepared to lead the citizens to their seats. Janice met me at the curtain. She seemed a bit distracted, but held up a hand for me to pause. I...
James was bringing Tina's lips to his when a voice I did not recognize started shouting. "Oh God! Oh God! James! James! We have a visitor! We have a visitor!" James paused and looked over at Bethany. She mouthed a name and he nodded. "Give me a report," he called out. "We have a jump point opening," the voice cried nervously. "The instruments say it's on a direct line with the Ursus system. One of the notes said that the last ship to arrive from that system was Nassau." James set...
I slowly climbed back to consciousness. Fog seemed to cloud my head, clearing briefly as a loud hiss broke through my muddled thoughts. I tried to sit up, but a firm hand on my left shoulder kept me lying flat. "Don't move yet," Shawna's voice instructed me. "Open your eyes and look at me." Bright almost blinding light caused me to gasp, but I held them open and turned my head towards the voice. Shawna stood next to me. My position put me about her waist level. Glancing down I could...
James looked over at Janice and me. "Are you sure you can perform?" he asked. Janice giggled. "Why wouldn't we be able to perform? It should be easier the second time. We won't have as many first performance jitters." "And we won't worry about disappointing you," I whispered. "I missed so many notes while I was playing." Janice looked at me. "I thought the orchestra was struggling a bit. What was going on?" I shrugged. "Rather than using the sheet music, the AI was...
The next morning I woke slowly. Arms were draped over my body, pressing me into the mattress. Raising my head, I found that Kitty was snuggled in tight to my right side while Bethany was on my left side. My motion caused Kitty to shift in her sleep and I was able to crawl out of the intertwined limbs. The door to the bedroom was open and I could hear a baby stirring in our living room. Taking soft steps to avoid waking my family, I eased my way to the door. In the living room, I found all...
After we finished feeding our children, Mickey, Cleo and I took them back to the cribs before we each grabbed some lunch. During our meal we talked a bit about the music we were playing. "I knew music like this existed, but this is more fun than I ever imagined," Mickey said. "And last night was ... wow! I could feel the way the audience reacted." Cleo nodded. "It is powerful. We need to be feeding that by playing our best." I blew out a raspberry. "More practice." The others...
Mickey, Cleo and I were the last three to leave the theater. We exited the airlock to find our sister concubines waiting. I found myself showered with hugs and kisses. "That was so much fun!" Tina squealed. "We have to do that again." "It was definitely fun," Bethany said calmly. "And there is no question that James and the others liked watching it." "Totally" Kitty said. "You realize that every citizen snuck in to watch it a second time." "Every one?" I asked. "Who was in...
I left the teleport room and headed back to the command post. When I reached the doors we once used to keep Ruth and Manuel away from our homes, they were shut tight. Each set remained closed until I was no more than ten yards away and then opened, allowing me into the colony. Once I passed the third door, I ran to the command post. The tapestry had moved to conceal the door, and I had to lift it away from the wall in order to enter. Inside I found that Candi and Randi had relieved my...
"You need to get that fire out!" I heard Timothy shout. "It's too close to your missile magazine." "The magazine is empty!" a female voice called back. "We shot everything during our breakout from Ursus!" "I'm not worried about an explosion," Timothy called back. "The smoke from that fire will be poisonous if it reaches the loading tubes. Those tubes contain heavy metals that you really don't want to breathe." "Everyone here is in suits!" the voice cried back. "We...
I returned to our home hallways in time to catch James coming out of the command post. With Diana and Ingrid's help I cornered him in the hallway and ordered him to throw me over his shoulder and take me back to our home to ravish me. He did after telling the AI to order Bethany home. James did not really ravish me though. He jumped into the shower while Bethany and I fed our daughters and then pulled us into the hot tub for an hour of playful fun. Bethany held onto him at the end of that...
The next four weeks passed peacefully. We saw visits from several ships, but none were heavily damaged. The longest stay was the corvette Aspen, which arrived with a missile jammed in its starboard tube. Terrence and Louis spent four hours with the AI carefully manipulating the missile until they could pull it free from the launcher. My tapestry was completed, and now hanging near the first door separating the enclave from the visitors part of the colony. Janice had claimed the loom and was...
Kitty staggered one time when a powerful contraction wracked her body, but otherwise we were able to reach the medical bay without problems. The door slid opened as we approached and Shawna dashed out. "It's nice to have some good news," she cried as she gave Kitty a quick hug before taking my friend's right arm and offering support. "How bad are the contractions?" "I've only had one," Kitty moaned. "At least only one I felt. Ooooh." "Two," Brittany chirped with a...
We raced up the hallway. Ahead, I could see smoke and hear shouts. The shouts were filled with panic. The smoke quickly got thicker and I nearly ran into Patty when she stopped. "Patty!" I heard Reggie shout. "What happened to Craig and Robert?" "The AI reported that a section of the ceiling collapsed and trapped them," Patty said as she pushed the gurney against the wall. "Meiko and I brought gurneys though." Reggie nodded and seemed about to say more when the AI spoke....
It seemed to take forever to make our way to the passage that used to separate our home from the maniacs who had been dropped on Ishtar with us. When we arrived, the informal guard kiosk stood empty in front of a closed pressure door. We paused to wait for the doors to open when a young female cried out. "Wait!" We turned to find Lily, the ten year old daughter of Linus, pushing a double stroller. I tried to figure out what the issue was as she came to a stop in front of us. "Esther...
My master seemed exhausted as we left the command post and began to make our way through the passages. The halls were largely empty and I was going to ask why when the AI called out, "Devil hour has just begun." "More than half a day spent dealing with this," James said quietly. "I shouldn't be too surprised." "I just hope we can get some rest," I said. "That scientist seems..." I paused, trying to think of a good adjective to describe the man we had watched walk out. James said...
I wanted to speak up once we were past the marines, but before I could gather my courage James turned to Yvette. "It's clear that our friend the governor is out to cause trouble. We should not let him know about the fact that we have access to the three common rooms just yet. However, make sure that all citizens use the ice rink to move back and forth for now. I don't want us confronting his goon squad just yet." Yvette nodded. "In fact, I'd take that further and stop all transit...
The statement from Governor Johanes lowered the temperature in the room even as James shifted his weight. My master seemed ready to lunge forward across the table and I held him tighter, trying to keep him from getting in trouble. It seemed he was not going to calm down and I was starting to lose my grip. "Excuse me, James?" a feminine voice said. I had my eyes closed as I strained to keep James in his chair and had not seen anyone approach. James tensed one more time and then seemed to...
I held Brittany in my arms as the door to the skating rink opened. Esther and the male concubine Petey stepped into the hallway. Kitty immediately noticed the young man. "Oh, a loincloth. I like the look." Petey blushed and stepped a little away from Kitty, who immediately turned to Esther. "The AI suggested that Brit and I be here now. What's happening?" Esther sighed. "Let's just say that Governor Johanes offered us an extremely clear example of the kind of leadership he offers....
Janice and I arrived home to find Bethany, Tina and Kitty sitting around the table. Bethany looked up from the game they were playing and waved us over. "We'll deal you in next game," she told us. "James is right now giving Brittany..." "Four hours of bliss!" Kitty shouted. Bethany smiled at the interruption. Tina ignored the interplay and began moving cards on the table. The game they were playing was an elaborate card game where cards on the table were purchased with cards held in...
I woke back up slowly. Around me I could hear the gentle breathing of my sister concubines. I peeked around to find them slumbering with me in the bed. Rising further, I was disturbed that James was not sharing the bed. Immediately I started to climb over Tina, who was lying by the edge of the bed. My left foot was about to touch the floor when Tina suddenly rose up and grabbed me around the waist. I sucked in my breath to scream only to find a hand slapped over my mouth. "Don't," Tina...
James jumped away from the laser and waved to Tina and me. "Head to the briefing room," he ordered us. Tina dashed off, but I waited among the hanging fabric panels that shielded the ready room from the spray designed to counteract the acid atmosphere as James walked toward the exit. "Who was that?" the major snapped as James approached the exit. I slipped a bit deeper but remained close enough to hear the conversation. "Sounded like Ulla," James said. "I've looked over the list of...
I ran from the command post. Behind me, I could hear that the conversations had definitely calmed down. Ahead, the hallways were silent. My progress to my home was uninterrupted as I rushed to Janice and Bethany. I arrived to find Janice laying Madoka on the couch. My sister concubine looked at me and laughed. "Great timing. I just changed Madoka and was going to bring her to you so you could feed her." "Where are Kitty, Brittany and Bethany?" I asked as I walked over to pick up my...
In the command post, everyone continued their frantic work to help save the ships and their crews. I could hear Ulla and Tiffany talking with Captain Travis and Captain Gates. Ulla was a bit confused at one point, but Tiffany's quiet confidence kept her at her post. James had finally dragged Janice and me over to a padded chair. He flopped into the chair and I quickly pushed Janice into his lap. My sister concubine quietly held on to our master. I was looking around for another chair when...
Bethany walked forward once Brad had left the room. I was puzzled by her action until she reached down to pick up something. It took just a moment for me to recognize that it was the uniform Captain Gates had been wearing when she first arrived. "We definitely should return that to her soon," I said. Bethany nodded, but made no move to exit the transporter room. Instead, she walked over to stand next to me at the control panel. I turned to ask her a question as the speakers started to...
During that quick dash back to our home, I was sure that we'd see open fighting in the colony within hours. However, we arrived home to find James holding Kristi in his arms. The newborn was sleeping peacefully as my master rocked her. Brittany knelt beside him. She had Jamie in her arms. I expected to find Kitty as well, but she and Tina were over by one of the tables we had set up to make diaper changing go a bit more smoothly. I could see Jerome squirming on the table. James just nodded...
"Perhaps that is the problem with the research," Major Bonham replied sweetly. "The good scientist is rather stressed due to the importance of his mission and needs a bit of relief." "Tell him to take two Rolaids and call me in the morning," James growled. I looked over at the twins in confusion. Their faces showed equal confusion. Janet was hunched over. I noticed her shoulders twitching and moved to comfort her, but before I could arrive she threw her head back. Howls of near...
It must have been the fact that we knew the acting governor would hear about our performance. The intensity of Cleo, Mickey and me was palpable as we provided the music for the actors. There were a few sections and songs that had changed, but I barely heard the words as I played. The audience was silent throughout the performance. At one break, I risked a quick glance at them and found that everyone was gazing raptly towards the stage. Alexis noticed that I had turned my head and flashed me...
As Captain Entman vanished from the screen, Janice bounced out of her chair and threw her arms around me. "Oh my god!" she squealed. "You were perfect!" "But Brad was right," Lindsay said. "You have always been the quietest concubine on the planet. However, you were like a mother bear protecting her cub." I blushed. "Those men won't leave James alone. He's always so tired. I just want him to have time for us." "Well, you said what all of us think," Lindsay whispered. "Donna...
Bright lights welcomed me. I was not sure how long it had been. I raised a hand to shade my eyes and looked around. I discovered that I was lying with my head in James lap. He was stroking my hair and gazing down at me. "Meiko," he said quietly. "No!" I said sharply. "I'm not hurt. In fact, I'm as far from being hurt as you can get. James, I have heard that women can pass out if they cum hard enough. I don't know how you did it, but I was perfectly primed when someone started...
The next morning I woke up still wrapped up in Bethany's arms. I could hear someone over by the food replicator and carefully sat up, trying to leave Bethany undisturbed. I found Kitty trying to balance four trays on her arms. I was lying on the outside of the couch, so I rolled away from Bethany and stood up. Kitty was trying to turn away from the replicator and two of the trays looked like they were about to fall to the floor when I dashed in and grabbed them. "Thanks," Kitty...
"Wow!" Brittany replied. "The AI just shot him down hard. I didn't know the AI could do that." Kitty just giggled. "Well are we going skating then?" "Actually," James said, "I thought we could play some three on three hockey, or at least practice for it." "Hockey! You have duties and you are going to play a kid's game?" we heard Colonel Johanes snap. "I'll be adding dereliction of duty to the charges at your court martial." "Really?" Yvette snapped. "How do you figure...
"Tam, Tif!" James shouted. "What brings you here? And what about the training?" "Madison wanted to go home and feed her son," Tiffany said. She was wearing a green hockey jersey. I looked at the logo and found that it was a wolf with a red cape in its mouth. "Diana and Ingrid took over," Tamara said as she skated up to James. Her jersey was the blue of Alice's dress and had a grinning Cheshire Cat as its logo. Their concubines were making their way onto the ice. None of them...
"Colonel!" James shouted. "At this point I'm assuming these are your friends. And that you somehow expect them to force us to allow you to complete whatever mission you were given." "I have no idea what you mean," Colonel Johanes said quietly. "I'm a simple researcher, sent to investigate the artifacts discovered by your probes." "Really?" James replied. "AI, did you complete the records check I requested regarding Colonel Johanes and the members of his research...
We could hear people in armor moving down the corridor. I started to prepare the teleport system for a second teleport. Janice turned towards the doorway. She had a smile on her face. Before she said anything, there was a loud roar that echoed through the tunnels. For a moment, the speakers for our communication system gave off static, and then I could hear the hollow hiss of a flechette rifle being fired. "James!" Reggie's voice ran out. "Someone just used some kind of shaped charge on...
"I'm still trying to figure out what just happened," the admiral replied. "It sounds like there was a battle down there." "You might call it that," Yvette replied with a sniff. "Heck, if you want we could provide video of most of it." "That would prove nothing!" Colonel Johanes snapped. "It would be doctored before you sent it." "How?" Tamara asked. "You know, you are frighteningly inconsistent. First you claim we are untrained and have no rank but now we are supposedly...
The loud blast of an alarm jerked me out of my sleep. I sat up in surprise and then looked around in confusion. Behind me, I could feel someone else move. I ended up rubbing my eyes a couple of times to clear them before I recognized where I was. The teleport room lights were now flashing a bright red as the siren continued to blare. "Quiet!" James' bellow cut through the alarm. It chirped one last time and then quieted down. "I need a report." "Sorry," a female voice said quietly....
"Turn the alarm off!" James shouted. "Admiral, sorry, but we can't play with you anymore. People, we're going to need everyone! Get to your stations and call out as you bring things online!" "Janet!" Yvette added. "I'm headed to the command post. What do the scanners show so far?" "So far just the jump point. The computers identified it as a hive sphere due to the size," Janet replied. "Wait ... something. Shit! We have a Lares class carrier, it's emerged and the jump point...
"Freya! Can you break through!" a voice called. "Not against two Sa'arm battleships," Captain Walker replied calmly. "I might be able to force the Sa'arm to lay off River Oaks, but that's about it." "Odessa just blew!" a voice called. "It looks like her engines took a direct hit!" "Esther, do we have escape pods from Odessa? Can we try to rescue crew with our tugs?" I asked. "Tracking showed at least ten escape pods boosting from Odessa before the end. But her destruction...
The next thing I knew I was lying down on something soft. At first my mind seemed filled with fog, but in the distance I could hear a baby babbling. This reminded me of my own daughter and I thrust my hands down, planning on sitting up. Hands reached out and grabbed my shoulders, holding me down. "Slow down, Little One," Bethany told me. "You took quite a hit." "But Madoka," I cried as I squirmed in Bethany's grip. "She is fine," Bethany told me. "You do have five sister...