Chapter 3 - A Worrying Call

The next week passed quietly. Janice did manage to get a flute for me as well as a basic instruction book, but my first attempts were painful to listen to, I took to retreating to the upper level of our pod when James was out working when I wanted to practice. The news that the idea of a musical had been enthusiastically if quietly accepted by the others spurred me to try harder. I knew I wanted to be part of the show.

James was becoming busier though. When we first noticed it, he told us that some of the citizens had come up with an idea to use some of the shipyard facilities to build small probes that could jump to nearby systems and map them. The hope was to eventually land probes on some planets if they found any which the Sa'arm had not reached yet.

One night as we gathered for dinner, Janice thought to ask why the colony was working on sending out probes. James frowned thoughtfully for a moment and then spoke. "It's something that Admiral Himmel mentioned in passing. He noted that the Sa'arm in this area are using weapons that have not appeared close to Earth and that the local enemy ships have improved anti-missile defenses. Terrence thinks that the Sa'arm found a dead civilization near here."

Bethany nodded. "You're hoping you can find some evidence of the civilization and that the Confederacy can use that."

James nodded. "Exactly. We need to explore every possible solution and stratagem to halt the advance of the Sa'arm."

Kitty shivered. "Are we safe here?"

James looked concerned. "We are doing all we can to make sure we are, but I can't promise anything. The Sa'arm are still very active in this area."

I smiled and gave my master a hug. "We know you'll protect us." I whispered.

My sisters started to add their support to mine when the AI chimed. We immediately backed away slightly and allowed James a moment to breathe. "Go ahead," he said quietly.

"Governor," the AI said in its usual emotionless voice. "There is a call for you and Vice-Governor Yvette. Can you take it?"

My master sighed and put an arm around me. "Tell Yvette that I'll meet her at the command post, we can take the call in the briefing room. It's easier to access our records and files there. Meiko, do you want to come along."

"Why her?" Brittany asked.

James' arms relaxed and he moved quickly to gather Brittany up in a tight hug. "I'm sorry Brit," he whispered as he covered her lips with his own. His free hand descended to tease her breasts. She struggled for a moment before slumping in her chair. As she did James ended the kiss. "Because it's her turn," he said quietly. "Now since it's clear you need some loving, I think Tina and Bethany should see if they can help you."

My sister concubines giggled and gathered up Brit before she could think to protest. Bethany smiled. "Don't worry my love. We'll just prime her and excite her so you can take her to heaven tonight. We all know you want to."

James laughed as he put his arm around me again. "Tonight, tomorrow and forever. I never want one of you to feel unhappy or unloved. Sadly, there is only one of me and I do have to help keep this place running, so I must be off."

He then guided me from the pod. Behind us I could hear shrill giggles coming from Brittany. It was clear that Tina and Bethany were working to keep their promise and I tightened my arms around his waist as we walked.

"Wish you were back there?" James asked as we entered the tunnels.

"Yes," I whispered. "But only because being with them reminds us all of how much we love you."

James laughed. "I'll never understand that, but it's nice to hear I mean so much to you."

We made the rest of the walk in silence. As with the past few weeks, there were few people walking the hallways. The walk was uncomfortable for me as my ankles continued to protest the additional weight of my pregnancy. We moved rather quickly though and soon were at the command post where we found the twins watching the screens. Tamara turned and waved as we walked in.

"I know we're here quite a bit recently, but with all the women pregnant and uncomfortable we thought we'd take some of the pressure off of them," Tamara said.

James nodded. "I can understand. Now I better take the call. Is Yvette here?"

"Inside," Tiffany said, pointing to the briefing room.

James led me inside. As soon as we were inside he guided me to a chair and helped me sit before kneeling down to rub my feet and ankles. He was still kneeling when we heard a giggle. Right then Yvette's voice spoke. "I see I'm not the only one who dotes on concubines."

James stood up as I turned the chair. Yvette was standing next to a chair containing her concubine Esther. Esther was blushing slightly.

"Hello, Yvette," James said. "Shall we take this call?"

Yvette nodded and stepped around Esther to sit in a chair. "AI, please let the call come through."

A moment later we heard the ping of the call connecting. Immediately Admiral Himmel's voice rang out. "It's about time. What were you doing when I called? Or do I not want to know?"

Esther giggled. "Just sitting down and eating dinner," she said.

"Who's that? Don't tell me you have more new people there. I thought you brought in the last ones two months ago!" Admiral Himmel barked.

Yvette put a hand on Esther's arm. "Sorry, Admiral. Meet my concubine Esther. I forgot that she doesn't come to the command post so you had not heard her voice before. I brought her along for some...."

James jumped in. "Bonding time?"

The Admiral sniffed loudly. "You and your traditions about treating concubines well. Although I have to admit all the stories I hear say you have happy and capable concubines."

"Happy is an understatement," I said quietly.

"Another concubine?" The Admiral responded.

"Yes," James replied. "However, I don't think you called about that."

"No, I didn't. But I still find it interesting to talk to your concubines or to hear about them. No other planet I hear about is like yours and while your Tradition is unorthodox, it's working and I do want to know why. However, I should get to the reason I called."

Yvette was nodding. "Yes, I'm sure you are very busy."

I was surprised for Admiral Himmel's response was a bark of laughter. "Busy! You don't know how much of an understatement that is. I envy the peace you get on Ishtar. Still we aren't here for a fun conversation. What's happening is a change in our offensive plans for the sector, and it's going to affect you. Also, I have some less than happy news to pass on."

James heaved a great sigh and spoke. "Let's go with the less than happy news first. Might as well get the pain over with."

"I wish it was that easy," Admiral Himmel replied. "I don't think I ever told you, but General Montgomery and I sent an investigator to Earth after we discovered the existence of your little band of renegades. The overall results of the investigation did not affect you, so I never spoke about it."

Yvette and James both started laughing. I was twisting my body to look at James when he took a deep breath and gasped out. "Let me guess, someone decided that it would be best just to prevent any additional Ishtars from being created and then ordered that our enclave be ignored."

"Almost," the Admiral admitted. "There was a shake up in Central Command after the investigation revealed how your colony was set up. You are not quite right about how they decided to treat you though. I guess the initial decision was to ignore you, but stories about your planet have started to filter back to Earth."

"What stories?" Yvette asked.

"I wonder when I'll be getting my rabbit," the Admiral replied, his tone playful. I cringed at this, but Esther started to giggle.

"You don't mean that...." she said.

I could see Yvette and James smiling. Just then the Admiral replied. "Exactly. Tales that some colony has rabbits and will trade them for goods like seeds and such have made it to Earth. The marines on the pickup teams now know and the rumor that a ship might be sending people to this part of the Confederacy makes it very popular with the teams. Most of my ships have multiple crewmen with seeds and such. A mission that might take them near Ishtar is almost guaranteed to bring them to your planet."

James actually gave me a hug. "Wonderful, but how is that bad news?"

We all heard the long sigh from Admiral Himmel. "Because it meant that Central Command couldn't keep the story of your colony secret. They have kept the reality from getting out, but I'm receiving a lot of pressure to bring your colony under my direct control. I get a feeling that if I do, they'll then demand that I transfer control to someone from Central Command."

I stiffened in fear, but James laughed. "Interesting, but not going to happen. We might not be safe here, but I can assure you that we are very happy. Just make sure we get more supplies occasionally since we don't have the heavy replicators needed to make some of the ship parts we're expected to install, and we'll keep the navy in the fight."

Admiral Himmel's response sounded delighted and happy. "And that was what I wanted to tell you about. Right now we are doing a bit of a draw-down from our offensive posture while we reorganize after the dual disasters of Ursus twelve and Wolf three-six-seven, but we'll start on the attack again soon, and our new tactics will probably increase your business quite a bit."

"Why?" Yvette asked. "Not that it matters, but it would be interesting to know."

"It was something one of my staff officers noticed," The admiral responded. "We are in a comparatively young part of the galaxy, so none of the planets have a lot of organic compounds, but many are rich in the metals and other chemicals necessary to build and maintain space ships. The two systems we recently fought in are both resource rich, but not really good places to try and place a colony. We suspect that the Sa'arm will be transporting all the materials to other planets before assembling more ships."

"They do that?" Esther asked.

I was biting my tongue. I had the same question as Esther.

Admiral Himmel laughed. "You sound like I did when Commodore Darwin pointed it out to me. You have to remember that the Sa'arm are not insects. They do have six limbs and a hive system, but the same intelligence, which allows them to make ships, translates into understanding that sometimes you need to move the resources to a new location. Back on Earth, most ants send out hunting parties and bring the food back to the hive. The Sa'arm appear to do something similar."

"Wow," Yvette said. "So you are thinking of hitting the transports and slowing the expansion by keeping the Sa'arm from making more ships."

"Exactly," Admiral Himmel said. "Instead of trying to face the Sa'arm in a stand up battle. We are going to be trying to catch single ships near the fringes of systems they control. Right now our ships will make runs out from Borneo and Kelor, and I imagine that more than a few will stop over at Ishtar after their first run."

"I'm not allowing your crews to cause trouble on Ishtar," James said sharply. "If they behave, they can enjoy leaves, but they have to respect us."

Admiral Himmel laughed. "As far as I'm concerned you are in charge on Ishtar. And I tell my ship captains that. Right now only one has given me much trouble about that."

"Who?" Yvette asked.

"Sykes," was Admiral Himmel's answer. "But he's a problem for everyone. I've gotten in touch with Central Command about transferring him, and it looks like I'm going transfer his corvette as well. The man just isn't happy this far from Earth."

"Political climber?" James asked.

Admiral Himmel snorted. "Probably, but he just rubs everyone here the wrong way. I just don't want to give up a corvette. There aren't enough ships in the district. Even with the new ones we commissioned last month."

"You have new ships?" Yvette asked.

"Six," Admiral Himmel said. "Two battle cruisers: Ahti, a Hero class and Freya, a Goddess class one, and four more Patricians. I think they are Cancun, Aspen, Cabo San Lucas and Waikiki."

"The vacation flotilla," I blurted out and then giggled. The others turned to look at me and I felt my face grow hot when I realized what I had done.

However, the Admiral was laughing. "Yup, although if Aspen had been replaced with Daytona Beach, some would be calling it the Spring Break flotilla. They are all being based on Kelor, a new planet we opened up after Leo district lost Cub and Tufts to the Sa'arm."

"Any chance of reclaiming the planets?" Yvette asked.

"No"' the Admiral stated definitively. "Both planets are low on resources for shipbuilding, but organically rich, and the probes we kept in the Cub system show that the Sa'arm spread over the planet quickly. It would be far too dangerous to send marines from Borneo to try to dig them out. We don't have the numbers."

"Resource poor," my master mused. "So you expect the metals from Ursus twelve and Wolf Three-six-seven to be heading to Cub and Tufts."

"Why are you not on some command staff or in some strategic think tank?" Admiral Himmel asked. "You caught that quicker than any of my staff officers. Heck, it's obvious to me now, but at first my mind kept insisting that the Sa'arm would try to colonize the systems they were capturing."

I watched my master shrug. "I guess our living like some burrowing creature helped me realize that the Sa'arm have to be more than just insects. They are probably far more linear in their thinking than we are used to, but it's clear that they are capable of reviewing the evidence and experiences of members of the hive to come up with a thought out solution."

Admiral Himmel snorted. "Well, we're hoping that they take a while before they start escorting their transports."

"Going to try to capture them?" Yvette asked.

"No," was the admiral's sharp reply. "At least not at first. I don't know anyone who has participated in an attempt to storm a Sa'arm ship, but they have a huge advantage in close-combat thanks to their size and strength. General Montgomery and I want to do a lot more training before we send marines into a ship. We do plan on running some probes into any ships we cripple, so we can try to start mapping the interiors."

James was nodding. "Sounds like you have a plan, and thanks for warning us about Central Command. We can't really do anything about it from here, but it's still good to have a warning about what might be coming."

"Good luck," the Admiral replied. "And could you send me a bunny sometime soon? You might have heard that two of my daughters transferred their children to me before the pickup, so I have some six year olds back at the pod who as desperate for a pet or two."

Yvette gasped. "You're a grandfather? I thought you were younger."

"I married young, and so did my children. Anita and Anna decided that I would be better at raising children off Earth once we heard about the rules during the Average Joes special, so we had guardianship papers drawn up."

Esther looked a bit surprised. "You didn't select them as concubines?"

"Well..." the admiral slowly replied. There was a pause and then he sighed. "I hope I can trust your discretion about this. I love my wife. Yes, by Confed law she's now my ex-wife and possession, but I still love her. When we first learned about pickups we discussed the possibilities and she was very uncomfortable with the idea of sharing me with her daughters."

"But not sharing you?" I asked.

"She was fine with that, but didn't like the idea of taking our daughters. Worse, my daughters are married and I was only going to take four concubines. I couldn't take Daphne, if I took my daughters and their husbands."

I could see James nodding. "I can see the problem. Who did you end up with, if I might ask?"

The Admiral laughed. "My wife's best friend Ariel, and two college girls who were at the cafe where the pickup occurred that night. It can be a bit uncomfortable at times since Jen and Tish are so much younger, but we've worked it out. Doesn't sound like the households you have on Ishtar though. I hear some tall tales about them."

I giggled. "They might not be that tall. I know none of the concubines here expected our lives to turn out this nice."

The last thing we heard was the Admiral laughing. It stopped abruptly. I was worriedly turning to look at James when the AI broke the silence. "The call was cut due to a power surge. Do you wish to attempt a reconnect?"

Yvette smiled. "Not today. I think we heard what we need to hear."

James nodded and put his arms around me. "True. The news was that we would soon see more visiting ships. I did appreciate the warning that we have enemies in high places. It's nothing I'm going to lose sleep over."

Esther giggled. "You have lots of people helping to make sure your sleep is exhausted and dreamless."

James was shaking his head while hugging me. "Exhausted is partly true, although it's a blissful exhaustion, but it's never been dreamless. I have to admit that I dream of my ladies every night."

I spun around to give my master and love a kiss. "You never tell us that!"

James allowed the kiss to linger until my pussy burned for his tender touches. I was squirming in the chair and trying to rise when he leaned back and laughed. "I think I show it every day. However, if you need some reinforcement, how about we return to the pod, so I can remind your sisters at the same time."

My pregnant body might be awkward, but I burst from the chair to throw my arms around his neck. James gathered me into his arms and with Yvette and Esther laughing behind us carried me out of the room and back to the pod and my sisters for an afternoon where he reminded us all of how he felt.