Crisis at IshtarChapter 28 The Peace Ends
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"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 haven't had atmosphere in most of our major compartments since we got jumped by two Sa'arm scouts during our raid on Ursus. How could we breathe your bad smoke in? Right now the fire isn't near anyone."
"We're just trying to keep as many people alive as we can," Ed replied softly. "This isn't an attack on you Captain..."
"Captain Custer is dead. As is our navigation officer. This is Lieutenant Dawn. I was weapons officer," the angry voice replied.
"Dawn," James said calmly. "Please understand, we're trying to get your ship to a repair dock so we can fix it."
"I agree with that!" Dawn shouted. "But the only officers left are Ensign Rutledge down in engineering and me. We lost eight crew as well, and right now Captain Custer's concubine is driving. Fortunately the man was some kind of champion racecar driver and he's been able to evade the Sa'arm attacks. Better than I can at least."
I glanced over at Diana to see one of her eyebrows rise. Cassidy was staring at the speaker in silence as the others continued to speak.
James," I heard Linus call out. "We have four Sa'arm scouts in the system now. Two are definitely stalking the Cabo San Lucas. The others appear to be aiming for a gravity slingshot around Kali to give them speed for an attack run on us."
"We mined that route well enough, I hope," James replied. "And I hope we've done something about the timing of our system defenses so that we have a better chance to catch the scouts."
"We did," Reggie replied. "But Terrence is the best at this and he's sleeping. I'm covering and will try to time it right. We still need to get rid of the two after Cabo, and with Cabo's IFF not functional we can't use most of our automated defenses."
"I have Debby ready and Linus has Brad ready to go," Tyson said. "But they are still out of range."
"Can you get them before they get us?" Dawn asked. "We're down to about sixty percent of our maximum acceleration and it's dropping. Our starboard engine is starting to fail."
"I'm turning on a navigational beacon," Linus said. "Turn and head for that. Unless your acceleration drops to nothing you'll stay far enough ahead of the scouts to avoid any attacks until we can range on them and this should get them to line up nicely for our shots."
"Turning now," Lieutenant Dawn said.
"James!" I heard Michelle call out. "Admiral Himmel is calling for a report on Sahara."
"Damn!" James replied. "Put him through and then see if you can wake Captain Narvaza. Yvette do we have any status on the people in the medical pods?"
"Mieko!" A voice called out from the medical room. I turned to look and saw Gina stepping from the passage. "Let James know that all of Sahara's crew we put into pods are recovering nicely, and remind him that I need a couple helpers for when they start emerging. The first two should be out in about thirty minutes."
Before I could speak three children ran into the room. I glanced over and realized that Roge, Jose and Lupe had just entered.
"Auntie Marie told us to come here and help Gina!" Roge called out.
"Helpers for you Gina," Ingrid called out. "Meiko we have a crewman from Sahara incoming."
Lieutenant Cassidy looked over at the doorway to the main passage. "I'll talk to him," she replied.
I turned my attention back to the speakers. "James," Admiral Himmel gruffly said. "You have another of my ships there I hear."
"Two now," James replied. "The original report was for Sahara. She arrived from Wolf with severe damage to her port side. Originally we hoped we could turn her in a day, but it now looks like a four-day repair. We're having to cut away a lot of damage."
"And the second?" the Admiral asked.
"Cabo San Lucas jumped in about two hours ago," James replied. "She's being pursued right now, and we are trying to eliminate the scouts that are chasing her. The casualties on Cabo appear to be severe."
"How bad?"
"We haven't been able to get a full report as the ship is still trying to run from the Sa'arm scouts, but the weapons officer is in charge and she's said that the only other officer is the ensign in engineering. She's also reported at least eight crew killed," James replied.
"Damn," The Admiral growled.
"Admiral!" I heard a new voice call out. "This is Captain Narvaza. Sorry I didn't report immediately, but it was recommended that I get some rest while the full extent of the damage was determined."
"I'd rather that, than receive a half-baked report that contains omissions," the Admiral growled again. "I've seen the preliminary report and the combat logs. Your approach was masterful, but you should have paid attention to your navigation officer when she asked about the echoes."
"She's a navigation officer!" Captain Narvaza shouted. "How was I supposed to know that she'd found some new weapon?"
Cassidy gasped. I jumped over to hug her and warn her to be quiet.
James jumped in. "Captain, please remain calm. No one is accusing you of any fault. Take the Admiral's words as advice on how to handle the situation next time. Now, Michelle should have passed on the latest repair data."
"Yes," the Captain growled. "Four days. Can't you do it faster?"
"We have to cut through two layers of armor and several damaged decks to get at the communications relays that were damaged. It will take time to do that, and then more time because we basically have to rebuild the entire portside structure. Unless you want a ship that is almost defenseless on one side," James replied calmly.
"If he does, warn me now so I can arrange a replacement captain," Admiral Himmel barked. "I don't need commanders who throw away men."
Ishtar!" Dawn's voice cried out, breaking into the conversation. "The Sa'arm are firing on my ship and the starboard engine has failed."
"Don't panic," Linus replied. "And tell your helmsman to hold his vector a bit better. We have to hurry the shots and the more time the Sa'arm run in a straight line, the more accurate we can be. Right now he's jumping around too much and the Sa'arm aren't keeping a steady vector."
"We'll be hit!" Dawn replied. "And our armor back there is already battered."
"Not if we can shoot first," Tyson said. "Linus I have a solution. It's a risk, but I'm sending Debby up."
"Roger, I'll have Brad on ... Brad! Check your suit's right shoulder, I'm showing a seal failure warning," Linus replied.
"What's the problem?" the Admiral asked.
"Cabo San Lucas is in system, but is being chased by a couple of Sa'arm scouts. We are trying to shoot them, but you know our atmosphere," James replied. "Linus, who else do we have who can armor up?"
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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...
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...
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...
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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...
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...