Chapter 16 - Gifts Exchanged.

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 hair. I swung my head to push several strands over her chest. The hair danced on her chest and brought a smile to her face. She gave a toothless smile and I lifted her up to kiss her forehead.

Bethany gave a contented sigh as I released the kiss. "It's perfect isn't it?"

"You mean having a child with a man I love so much that I cannot give him enough to truly feel like we're even? And having five sisters who mean more to me than I ever thought another woman could?" I asked.

Bethany giggled. "Oh, stop that. You know me too well."

I shrugged as I lay Madoka on the changing table. I was getting out the carry sling we used as I answered. "I also know that you have cried yourself to sleep a few times. I've guessed it was because you are older than the rest of us and sometimes worry about fitting in."

Bethany gave me a hug as I got the sling situated on my hip. "It's not exactly fitting in, but I can't find a word that really fits."

"And you're being silly," I said as I picked up my daughter and slid her into the sling. She immediately rolled to her side and placed a hand on my breast. I sighed and pushed the hand down while settling Madoka into the fabric.

"No, Madoka's being silly," Bethany said. "I'm being a fool. James shows how he feels about me every day. I know I have nothing to fear, especially after nearly a year with him. But I still worry."

"About?" I asked as Bethany worked to gather her daughter Astrid in a sling.

"Nothing...Everything," Bethany said. "I'm the oldest. Does that mean I'll die first? I'd die without you, but I can't leave you alone either. And what about the future? Will Astrid become a citizen? Will she find the kind of love that I have? Or will she be a concubine with a bad master? I fear for her future while knowing that I'll have more children."

I shifted the sling and then wrapped my arms around Bethany, hugging her tight for several long minutes. Nothing could be said, but finally I felt Bethany relax.

"Let's go home. We need to cuddle with James," I said.

Bethany laughed. "That only works when our master is home. Last I heard he was in the command post."

"Citizen James has returned to his pod for the night," the AI intoned.

Bethany and I gasped and looked up at the speaker the AI had used to pass the information. Then giggling like a pair of schoolgirls, we dashed off for home.

That night proved to be one of those special touching and emotional moments you can never describe in words. James seemed to be extremely happy. Bethany and I went in planning on smothering him with kisses, but he turned the tables, wringing multiple orgasms out of me before turning on Bethany and leaving her a quivering wreck in the living room. He did not stop with us. Tina and Brittany were dragged into the hot tub and only emerged three hours later an expression of shock on their faces. Janice and Kitty fared a little better. Once Bethany and I recovered and were standing, James pulled my sister concubines into the bedroom and kept them there for two hours. My best friend emerged with a blush that took an hour to fade. Bethany and I licked and kissed her face. We discovered that it was not just embarrassment giving color to Janice's cheeks as we tasted Kitty's honey while we helped bring Janice back to the living.

The respite from command definitely rejuvenated my master, and he was cheerful the next morning as we had a communal breakfast. It was Brittany who started the morning conversation.

"We never really had a party for Freya's crew."

James nodded. "I asked Captain Walker last night. She'd love to be here for one, but her crew doesn't need a lot of rest yet, and she wants to get back into the fight."

"Wow," Kitty said. "The crew isn't going to be happy about that. Denied a party by a commander."

This surprised me, because in the short briefing I noticed that Tanya's officers offered her almost as much respect as most citizens gave James. I was going to ask about this when Tina coughed.

"Sorry," she said. "Kitty, what you say might be true with a normal crew. Freya's crew is definitely not normal. They worship their commander."

"Worship?" Kitty asked.

Tina nodded. "Understand, I got this from two of their concubines. They were here to have broken arms treated. I guess they talked Maggie into showing them the concubine room and the tapestries we are working on. I was working on mine when they entered."

"Oh!" Brittany blurted. "How much of its done? I want to see it!"

Tina smiled. "I'll have it completed in a week. Maggie needs about two to finish. But that wasn't the point. The two concubines were talking to us and when they found that the replicators in the concubine refuge would listen to us and make anything they asked for us to request something."

"What?" Bethany asked.

Tina looked down. "A cape. Well more of a cloak. They had a picture one of them spent hours working on. It was a female warrior. She was tall, slender and had long blond hair. In the picture she was wearing this elaborate fur-lined cloak."

She paused and I smiled. "I get it. I'll bet the picture looks a lot like Captain Walker."

"I never saw her," Tina admitted. "But the concubines said that the picture was actually a drawing of the original Freya. They found it in a book about the Norse deities. They felt that Captain Walker needed the cloak."

I sat there awed by this. I thought back to the short time I had spent with the woman. She was impressive and clearly cared deeply for her people. Thinking about the situation I could almost understand the desire that the concubines on the ship had.

Janice was tapping her teeth with a spoon. "Wow," she admitted. "I can't picture doing that for James."

"I want to watch Captain Walker receive this gift," Kitty said. "When will it happen?"

Tina laughed. "Maggie and I convinced the concubines to give it this morning when we send them off. They should gather in the recreation hall in an hour."

"Aren't we supposed to start using the new halls near the old district?" James asked with a smile.

Tina giggled. "This crew has been so nice I don't think anyone has minded. I even saw Alexis chatting with one of the gunners last night. She was actually relaxed."

We all cheered at that. Kitty reported that Tilly had selected the rabbits she wanted. She suggested we have them ready at the same time so we could hand them over.

"She brought a huge bag of barley seed, another of hops, and then a smaller bag with seeds for orange and lemon bushes," she chirped.

"I thought oranges and lemons grew on trees," Brittany said.

"Most do," James said. "But it was a longtime goal of many nurseries to grow lemons and oranges on bushes. Most of the time they did that by grafting branches from a lemon tree on a bush. Maybe someone managed to successfully engineer a bush."

"Is there anything you don't know?" Kitty asked with exasperation in her voice.

"The name of our first daughter, and the day she will be born," James replied, jumping up to dash away from the table as Kitty screamed at him. He left the room as we laughed at Kitty who was slowly turning red.

"I'm so going to get him tonight," she spat.

"Aren't you due in about two months?" Bethany asked. "Perhaps your daughter will be born soon."

Kitty shook her head. "I'm sure this one is a boy. Well, let's get going. I want to see this cloak presented to Captain Walker."

We gathered up our children putting them in strollers and left the pod. Janice, Brit, Kitty and Tina were carrying the four rabbits for the ship. As we passed the passage leading to the twins' pod their concubines joined us on our slow walk to our recreation hall.

Paula was bouncing with excitement as she joined us. "This group has been so much fun! Did you know we managed to hold a bowling tournament with their concubines last night?"

"I'm afraid that I was busy with something last night," Bethany replied.

Paula looked surprised. Her jaw opened, but Marilyn poked her in the side. "Think about it," the older woman hissed.

Craig snorted. "Nice save," he said. "So we get to send off Freya with a small party."

"They deserve it," Janice said. "The crew has been very friendly."

"Not all of them," Brit sad sullenly. "There was one officer who was a bit of a jerk."

"Who?" I asked thinking of the meeting I had witnessed.

"Herbert," Brittany replied. "But it happened in front of the commander and she immediately ordered him to the rooms we set aside for them. It was surprising; he looked like someone had slapped him in the face."

"I guess her people hate to disappoint her," I mused.

"If you are talking about Tanya, you're very much correct," someone said from behind us.

We all stopped and turned around. Behind us I could see the gunner commander Estefani standing with a young woman with brown hair. The girl looked to be just a bit younger than me, but was wearing a Confederacy uniform. She smiled shyly at us.

Everyone stood silently for a moment. Finally, I sighed and broke the silence. "We were talking about your captain," I admitted.

"It sounded like gossip," Estefani said with a smile.

"Don't blame Meiko!" Janice said moving to stand in front of me. "We like to know which commanders and ships will respect The Tradition when they visit."

Estefani looked a bit surprised. "I've never heard of any Tradition. What is it?"

Janice shrugged. "James, our master, started it. He told my sister concubines and me that he wanted to be more than just an owner. From the start he gave us respect. It became easy to give him love in return, and he returned it to us."

Brittany giggled. "I wasn't there when it started, but I joined before we had reached Ishtar. It's scary how it reinforces itself. I adore James and would do anything for him, but not just because he's my owner. I want to give back to him all of the love and pleasure he gives me."

Estefani looked surprised. "So that's all it is? Just that citizens treat concubines well?"

"Not exactly," I replied. "It's a bit more. James offered to make us more than just possessions. But the funny thing is that he completely possesses my soul. I'd do anything to make him happy, and to make his life better."

"And this is something you all experience?" the woman standing with Estefani asked.

"Certainly," Craig replied. "It took a while for some of our owners. And some of the concubines had to learn to trust the process."

"Like you," Paula said with a giggle. "I've heard how you tried to bully James on the trip out."

"He did?" I asked. "James never said a thing."

"He wouldn't," Janice commented. "But now I'm interested. What happened?"

Craig looked at the floor for a moment. The two ladies from Freya were looking on with interest. Finally, he sighed and looked up.

"You have to understand that my mistress turned fourteen only a week before she was picked up. Well, I should say mistresses. Tam and Tif are twins and were picked up together. They planned on a combined household, and asked me if I'd be the stud for them. I was flattered and agreed."

The still unnamed woman nodded. "So far that sounds normal, but that doesn't explain this comment of how you tried to bully James."

"I was getting to that." Craig said. "I taught physical education in high school, so I was used to intimidating young men. During the trip there was a meeting to be held in James' pod. This was after we started to see problems with the thugs. I was staying in Tiffany's pod and James came to help Tif arrive at the meeting safely. I made the mistake of trying to intimidate James. He tried to talk to warn me about being aggressive to a citizen, but I didn't stop."

Paula giggled. "You got stopped though."

Estefani shook her head. "So what did he do?"

Craig sighed. "He asked Tiffany if he could damage her property just a little. When she agreed, he body slammed me into the wall and held me there while calmly explaining my status to Tif and I."

I gave the man a hug. "It doesn't seem to have hurt your relationship."

Craig shrugged. "I owe him. He didn't really hurt me, but he definitely got me to truly understand the situation. He also helped Tiffany and Tamara understand that they have to be in charge, and from that, they were able to make the Tradition work."

Brittany giggled. "It starts from so little. Meanwhile, Este, who is your friend. You haven't introduced her."

Estefani blushed. "Oh, sorry, this is Amy. She was promoted and we were discussing her new duties."

The girl smiled shyly. "I'm not really ready to be in charge of a gun squad."

Estefani shrugged. "Captain Walker said you were one of the best in the district. If she believes you can do it, I'm sure you will succeed."

Amy looked down. "In drills back when the district was founded, I set the records for the district, and only failed to set the record for the entire Confederacy by a quarter of a point. But that's just individual skill. Now I have to lead others."

Estefani put an arm around the woman. "If Tanya says you can do it. I believe in you. Trust yourself, and if you need help, ask."

Amy nodded. "I'll do it. I just hope the others can accept me. It can be hard to work with new groups."

"Is that what happened it you?" Este asked. "I heard you were on Sif, but not why you transferred."

Amy smiled and looked dreamy for a moment. "I took leave after my second tour to have a child. After Darrel was born I returned to the crew, but while I was gone the captain had reorganized the gunners. I didn't get along with my new team and after the Wolf fiasco, I applied for a transfer."

Este looked worried. "I keep hearing about the one battle, was it really that bad?"

"If the aftermath we ended up dealing with was any indication, it most definitely was," Tamara said as she walked up to the group. "We ended up watching one ship blow up after a fusion bottle failure. Three others had to be helped into docks with tugs, including two that had no living crew able to work their command stations. With Freya, we spent less than an hour getting the ship into a dock. We worked on rescuing the Wolf survivors for over eight hours before we had all of them sorted and heading into repair docks."

Este flinched. "That might explain why no one talks much about it."

Amy nodded. "You have to have been there."

All the citizens were looking off into the distance. It was obvious they were thinking about the battle and what it meant to everyone. While they were still thinking, I slipped away with my sister concubines. We claimed an empty table and set the rabbits on the surface before gathering in our babies and sitting down.

The crew of Freya was now streaming into the room. I could see Philip standing at the door and directing traffic. The crew soon had claimed a cluster of tables near the bowling lanes. A few crew gazed longingly at the lanes, but remained seated.

"I see you have the rabbits ready to go," Tilly said, causing me to look back towards the entrance.

"Yup," Kitty replied with a chirp. "Little orange Bris for your commander. A blue eyed white one for you, and two black ones for your marine friend. Hopefully you'll be able to deliver them to him."

Tilly laughed. "That's the one part of his plan I have to question. He never explained how I'm supposed to deliver the bunnies. Unless he returns with another colony run, I have no way I'll meet him again."

We all laughed at that. The laughs ended up ringing out loud and clear in a room that had become suddenly quiet. We turned and discovered that James, Yvette and Captain Walker were standing in the doorway. I blushed and sank into my chair as James shook his head.

Yvette just smiled and shook her fist at everyone as they headed to their usual meeting table. I could see Captain Walker stop and whisper something to one of her crew before she joined my master. Then she held a hand up.

"I know you'd all like to spend a few more days here relaxing," the woman said in that silky smoky voice. I looked around and could see more than a few members of her crew shiver as she spoke. "However, we do need to get back into the fight. The Sa'arm aren't going to pause in their endless build up just because we want a break. So finish your food, and let's start heading back to the ship."

A low murmur of consent echoed through the room, and her crew turned back to their meals. Captain Walker remained at the table for a moment, talking to James and Yvette. I was too far away to hear the conversation, but before I could rise to move, three concubines from Freya approached the table. Two were walking in front of the third who was carrying a folded bundle in her arms.

"What's that?" Tilly asked.

I giggled, as the other concubines at the table smiled and ducked their heads. The concubines stopped in front of Captain Walker and stood silently. She had her head turned to listen to something Yvette was saying, but turned when James pointed at the concubines.

Once again, all conversation stopped. "Jason, Vera," Captain Walker said. "I know you aren't being abused. Why are you here?"

The male concubine looked up. "Captain Walker, your leadership is what makes Freya go. We saw already that you mean a lot to our owners, and you try your best to protect them. In a way, you protect us at the same time, and because of that, the concubines want to give you a gift."

"And how did you obtain this gift?" Captain Walker asked.

James put a hand on her arm. "I think I have an idea." He scanned the room until he was looking at Bethany. "Bethany, would a couple of concubines from Freya have been visiting with Tina while she was working?"

"It's not that," Bethany responded. "The tapestries are still being worked on."

"Yes, but I imagine that a concubine could still get something from the replicators if they knew to ask in that room," James said. "So what have they brought?"

Jason held up a hand. "Please, allow us to present it. If Captain Walker would stand up for a moment."

The woman just shrugged and then rose to her feet. Somehow she made that simple motion sensuous and I could hear groans from several of the men in attendance. She ignored the groans and stepped away from the table, looking at Jason.

Jason nudged the third concubine, who stepped out from behind the other two and almost ran to get behind Captain Walker. With shaking hands, he raised his arms and allowed the bundle to unroll, revealing a spectacular cloak. From a distance it looked like fine brown leather, with a thick white fur trim. The concubine looked to be nearly as tall as Captain Walker and he slid his arms around her, gently laying it across her shoulders.

Captain Walker noticed the weight and put a hand to her own shoulder. "What's this?" she called out. Her other hand reached back and brushed the cloak again. I could see that the replicators had done a good job with the size as the bottom of the cloak was below Captain Walker's knees.

"We thought it fitting," Vera said. "A warrior captain of the ship named for the Goddess who led the Valkyries should have a cloak worthy of her."

Captain Walker just stood silently for a moment. "Thank you," she finally said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I'll try to be worthy of this honor."

With that she gave a final nod to James and Yvette and then left the room. Her walk as she left was a strut full of poise and pride and I could hear gasps from more than a few of her crew.

"I hate it when she does that," Este said as Captain Walker vanished from view.

"Huh?" Janice commented. I noticed she had been gazing at the doorway.

"Got you too," Este said. "I was commenting about that walk. She doesn't use it very often, but..." She finished with a shrug, but I could see Janice nodding.

"It's incredible," she whispered. "And it got every person here to look at her."

"But it also needs to get her crew to follow her to the ship," Tilly responded. "And I have the bunnies to take to the ship. Thanks so much for them. Any special instructions?"

"Not too many," Brittany said. "The AIs passed on the recipe for rabbit food, so you should be able to get food from the replicators. Just be gentle with them."

Tilly laughed as she waved a couple of concubines over. "Gentle I'm sure we can do. I just hope they like the amount of attention they are going to get."

The concubines picked up the cages. I nodded at them as they turned away. They followed Tilly out of the room.

The exit of the concubines appeared to signal to everyone that it was time to leave. The crew of Freya began standing up and rushing to the recyclers. A few muted conversations continued, but most said nothing as they cleaned the tables and dashed out of the room. Soon everyone left in the room was from Ishtar.

"Candi, please route communications from Freya to here," James called out. "I think we should bid them a fond farewell."

"Certainly big boss man," Candi replied. "Just allow Daddy Brad to finish teleporting the crew back to their home and Randi will be releasing the docking clamps."

"Randi is handling that?" I heard Veronica call out. "Should we be worrying about increased insurance premiums?"

Everyone in the room laughed. A loud raspberry rang out from the speakers in response. Then we could hear Brad.

"Captain Walker said she doesn't want any fanfare," he said. "Her crew is all aboard."

"Very well," James said. "Captain Walker, we enjoyed your visit and hope we see you again. May your guns shoot many Sa'arm ships."

"We'll be in the thick of things," Captain Walker replied. "Now, your ladies have released the docking clamps, so farewell."

"Wow," Randi's voice rang out. "I've never seen one of our ships accelerate that fast. She's got to be pushing the engines to near the redline."

The room became silent again. I looked at the table and thought of the joy the visit had brought. It seemed strange to know that we might never see the ship or its amazing captain again. Finally, I heard Madoka fussing and turned to attend to my daughter.