Chapter 29 - Meeting Visitors

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 sister concubines. James was standing next to a display, chatting with Timothy and Linus. I walked over to touch him.

He put a hand on my head without turning. "Linus," he said. "We need to get this ship turned fast. Tam and Tif are sleeping right now, so I thought I'd call you. Timothy suggests that we can complete the repair in one day, if we go with a full replacement of the port side rather than stripping out the damaged sections and repairing them."

Linus gave James a look of surprise. "We could do that," he said. "I'm not sure we can salvage much though. We'll be burning through quite some of our supplies. Is turning the ship quickly that important?"

James nodded. "It might be nothing, but the communications we've had with the captain of Sahara haven't been very pleasant. I'd rather not have him around if we don't have to."

Linus shrugged. "I can have the repair units start fabricating a new port side for the ship. We won't know for sure how long it will take until the ship is in the dock and we can start cutting away the damaged area. Right now it looks like its mostly the armor and communications that are out, but we can't tell how deep the damage has penetrated."

"Do it," James said tersely.

I looked up at James. Worry lined his face. "James," I said softly. "Please don't worry so much."

"Sorry," he said absently. The hand that had been resting on my head dropped down to my shoulder and pulled me to him in a one-armed hug. "It's my job to worry. But this time we have everything under control. Why don't you work on your tapestry? I'll be leaving here in a few and then relaxing with a book."

"I could cuddle with you," I replied pulling his hand around me.

He laughed. "True, but you got to cuddle with me yesterday, so I should find Tina and give her a bit of cuddle time. I think she wants to show off her reading skills for me."

I giggled and kissed the palm of his hand. "Good idea," I said before lifting his arm from my shoulders and dashing off.

I was almost to the door when I heard Timothy say. "So that's your trick. I wondered how you could keep them from becoming jealous of each other. It's hard enough with two."

James' response was muffled as the door to the command post closed behind me. I sighed that he had sent me away. Maggie was walking though the hallway and noticed me. "Hey Meiko! Where are you going?"

I looked back at the door to the command center. "James suggested I work on my tapestry. I guess I should."

"Let's go together!" Maggie suggested. "I wanted to practice a bit on the violin."

I nodded and turned to walk with her. "Why the violin?" I asked.

Maggie giggled. "I don't sing well, and my dancing is terrible, so I'm not in the play much, but I see you, Mickey and Cleo sitting in front having a wonderful time playing the music. And I noticed that the AI is having to add in violins quite a bit, so I figured, I could help."

I smiled. "That makes sense."

"Yeah," Maggie replied. "So how's your tapestry coming? I saw the artwork and it looked spectacular. Simple, but spectacular."

"Tina didn't tell me how long it takes to set up the loom. I spent three days just getting all the yarn loaded properly and the various pattern cards set up properly. Even with the help of the AI that took a while."

Maggie nodded. "I know, and you only have four colors in your tapestry. I had fourteen."

"Is that why you didn't start another one right away?" I asked.

Maggie giggled. "No. I just thought that it would be nice to allow others to try for a while. Tina spent all her spare time in there and it still took her almost four months to complete her tapestry. I knew I'd be spending a lot of time on other things."

"But, I'm still practicing the flute daily as well as helping with everything else," I said worriedly. "Should I have allowed someone else to take a turn?"

"How big is your tapestry going to be?" Maggie asked.

"Well. After looking at some real paintings in the style of the art I'm trying to do, I realized that most were made so they were taller than they are wide. I'm going to make a smaller tapestry. It will be six feet tall by four foot wide," I admitted.

"The loom can make something up to six feet across. Did you set it up so you only have four feet to weave?" Maggie asked.

"Yes," I admitted. "It made sense."

"Good idea," Maggie said with a nod as we reached The Refuge. We entered together, but she then broke off to head for the music room as I made my way to the weaving room.

I spent the next four hours adding about six inches to the tapestry. Robin and Zenita were also working on new tapestries. This helped the time pass quickly as we gossiped while working.

I was still concentrating on working when someone touched my shoulder. "I turned around to look and found Jillian standing behind me. "James is heading home," she whispered. "Bethany suggested that all of you go and cuddle with him."

"Are things bad?" I asked.

Jillian shrugged. "Kitty stopped by the school after Candi and Randi relieved her in the command post. I guess Captain Narvaza was rather abusive to everyone. James has been worried."

"I noticed that when he recalled me from the teleport room. I had hoped it was just nerves with that scientist coming," I whispered.

Jillian nodded. "I know. But he recalled Tam and Tif and asked that they handle the final docking of Sahara. And he sent Brad to handle the teleportation of the crew. He even had Xavier, Debby and Amanda in battle armor waiting in the teleportation room."

I gasped and stood up. The AI quickly pulled the shuttle I had been handing while weaving the tapestry to the right, securing it. Jillian gave me a quick hug and then pushed me toward the door. "Go, and take care of our leader."

I dashed out of the room and ran for home. As I passed the school, Bethany stepped out and waved me to stop. "We need to take the babies home," she called.

She led me into the school. Bren and Rene were just putting Tolwin into a dual carriage next to Joy. I moved to help them secure him as Bethany brought over another carriage containing Madoka and Astrid.

"You put our daughters together," I observed with a smile.

Bethany giggled. "They get along great," she said. "But once we get home we should feed our babies. They are probably hungry."

I finished getting Joy and Tolwin buckled in with Rene's help and then got behind the carriage. "Yes, but let's find James. He always seems to turn into a big baby himself when we feed our children."

Bethany giggled. "Sounds like a plan."

We pushed the carriages through the hallway. We reached the intersection that led to the twin's home and found Brittany standing in the passage leading to our home playing with her ponytail.

"Oh good," she cried. "James wants some time with his babies."

"How is he?" Bethany asked. "Is the stress getting to him?"

Brittany giggled. "Not at all. He was actually laughing with Timothy at some of the things Captain Narvaza said."

"I thought the Sahara had communication problems," I said.

"They did," Brittany said as we walked down the passage to our door. "He could hear us quickly thanks to our repeater stations, but the only transmissions Sahara could make were low power and could only be picked up by our main antennae on Astarte. It could take quite a while before we received a response from him."

"Tough to deal with," Bethany replied as we entered our home.

"Joy!" Janice cried as I pushed the carriage into the room. My sister concubine dashed over to give me a hug before kneeling down to unbuckle her daughter. "You must be hungry."

I giggled and removed my top before stepping over to the carriage Bethany had pushed to unlock Madoka. A moment later I had my daughter in my arms and pressed to my breast. She quickly started suckling. I sighed and walked over to the couch to sit down.

Janice joined me on the couch. Tina and Bethany chose the individual recliners as they fed their own children.

"Eeew," Kitty called out. "You didn't change their diapers first."

"Actually, Bren and Rene were giving a childcare class in school today. They had their diapers changed just before Meiko stopped by to help me bring them home," Bethany said.

"That's nice," James said. "But what if I wanted to change a few diapers?" He was stepping out of our bath area.

"James!" I cried. Tina, Janice and Bethany cried it at the same time. My master walked over with a chuckle and sat on the back of the couch.

He was right behind me and I felt his gaze rest on my daughter for a moment. He then looked down at Janice and Joy. "You all seem a bit worried." He observed.

"We heard you are trying to keep the crew of Sahara away from us," Tina replied. "I thought problems like this weren't going to happen anymore."

James laughed and reached down to pat Joy on the head. "It never was a guarantee. There was always the possibility that we'd run into a few crewmen or captains who had trouble accepting our rules."

"What will you do?" Janice asked. She reached out with her free hand to stroke James' arm for a moment. "Will we be safe?"

"Definitely," James said. He bent down to give Janice a kiss on the cheek. "The doors are secure, and Captain Narvaza and his men are going to be met by Xavier and Amanda wearing battle armor. They will keep the peace while we start the repairs on Sahara."

I was going to say more, but Terrence's voice rang out in the pod. "James, Captain Narvaza is asking about making a report to Borneo."

"We sent a preliminary report based on what Lieutenant Cassidy told us four hours ago. Admiral Himmel was happy with that. The only additional reports need to be the turn around time for Sahara, and the readings from the battle recorders. I believe Barbara was going to download the battle reports once we have the damaged sections of the ship cut away so we can estimate the real repair time."

"I need to see if my orders have changed," a voice growled out. "Being stuck on this rock means I'm not killing any Sa'arm."

James rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. "Tiffany, can you see if Admiral Himmel is available? Captain Narvaza you can wait in the teleport room, we will patch you in the moment we have communications established. Or you can have Xavier lead you to a room and rest. There is no way your ship will leave the dock for at least twenty hours."

"It looks like at least four days," Tamara called out. "The weapon the Sa'arm used warped a lot of metal. We can't just cut it all away and pack in a new port side. Louis, Timothy and I are still finding more deep damage."

James put a hand over his face. "Captain?" he asked.

"I'll take the escort to a bed," the captain of Sahara growled. "But I want to be talking to the Admiral in twelve hours."

There was a long silence and then Terrence sighed. "He's competent. He's clearly got control over his crew. But man is that man abrasive. I'm surprised you got him to back down."

"I didn't," James said. "All I did was point out that he can't really add anything to a report at the moment. I guessed he'd be professional enough to see that a delay isn't always a bad thing."

"Thank god," Tiffany said. "Talking to Borneo uses a lot of power, and right now we need all we have to get the repairs of Sahara expedited."

"How bad is it really?" James asked.

"The ship was lucky," Louis replied. "No critical structures suffered more than minimal damage, and the engines are intact. But the portside of the ship is a mess. Every point defense station will have to be rebuilt, and there isn't any armor remaining. Your earlier idea to build a new section and patch it in is basically what we have to do. There is nothing viable from just behind the bridge to just in front of the engines. I'm actually surprised their casualties were so low."

"The main armament of the African class is their forward battery. The sides just contain the defenses and structure. I expect most of their crew was forward of the area that was hit," James replied.

"How do you always know things like that," Tiffany asked.

"I study," James replied. I could see him smiling. "It's something to do when my concubines aren't all demanding attention"

Janice grabbed James around the neck with her free hand. "If you want us to continue demanding your attention, you'll never say something like that again," she hissed.

James sat on the edge of the couch in shock, but then Janice spoiled the scene by giggling loudly. She pulled James off the back of the couch and into her lap. "Kit, Brit, take this citizen of ours and ravish him."

My sister concubines waddled over to James and grabbed his arms. They giggled loudly as they dragged James back to the bedroom. James played at trying to escape, but allowed them to guide him from the room. A moment later the door slid shut.

"Well, that should keep him there for a few hours. Hopefully he'll take the same advice he gave Captain Narvaza and rest," Bethany said. "Now we should probably grab some sleep as well. I think we might need to consider staggering our sleep cycles in the near future, so that at least three of us are awake at any time."

"Will that really help?" Tina asked. "After all, other than Yvette and maybe Amanda the other citizens don't really have enough concubines to always have a member of the household awake."

"The concubines for the twins could do it as well," Janice reminded Tina,

"but you're probably right. Over time it would probably become a little unfair. But it's not entirely a bad idea, we should try to schedule our time so that someone can always be with James. And we have to stop him from sneaking out on us while we are sleeping."

"Later," I replied with a yawn. Madoka was done feeding, so I burped her and then settled her in the crib. She fussed a little when she realized she was alone, but quieted down once Astrid and Joy were laid down with her. I moved to curl up on the couch, with one of the end cushions acting as a pillow.

"Meiko?" Tina asked.

"I'll watch over the babies tonight," I replied as I closed my eyes. "Kit and Brit need more time with James and we should have someone sleeping near the babies."

"But you've had so little time with James recently," Janice moaned.

"We all have," I reminded my best friend. "And I fear it might get a bit worse. We need to show him that we need him but won't crowd him. Tonight, let him have Kit and Brit. I'm sure that tomorrow he'll grab someone else. He always does."

The other three were silent after that. I heard movement as they stood up. They walked around the couch, stepping lightly. I figured they would be finding their own place to sleep when I felt a pair of arms wrap around me as another body slid onto the couch.

My hands came up to caress two large and firm breasts. "Bethany?" I asked.

"The others said it was my turn," she whispered as she kissed me on the forehead. "But I agree with you. Let's sleep first. Perhaps tomorrow morning we can play a little."

"Yes," I whispered as I allowed sleep to wash over me.

I slept soundly in Bethany's arms. However, sometime later a faint footstep woke me up. I heard another step and opened my eyes to stare into the darkness. Bethany and I had rolled a bit on the couch and I was on the outside, so I had to squirm to look out into the room.

James was standing next to the crib, looking down at the slumbering babies. He knelt down so he could reach out and stroke one of them. "James?" I whispered.

He glanced up in surprise. "Meiko?" he hissed.

"Yes," I said. I was tempted to nod, but the pod was dark and I figured he would struggle to see the gesture. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

"It's been six hours," James whispered. "Kit and Brit are still sleeping, but I figured I'd grab a bite to eat and check to see if we have any replies from the Admiral."

"I'll go with you," I said as I sat up.

"No," James replied. "You don't have to do that."

"Actually, I like that idea," Bethany replied as she sat up behind me. "You need someone watching over you, and that is our duty."

"No it isn't," James said.

"James," Bethany replied. Her tone was that of a teacher correcting a disobedient student. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but concubines are supposed to make life better for their owners. If we allow you to burn yourself out, then we aren't doing our jobs."

James nodded and stepped around the crib. He gathered me in his right arm and then reached out with his left to grab Bethany and pull her into a three-way hug. "I can see you won't let me win,' he said. "But for now I just want Bethany with me. Meiko you deserve a bit more relaxation after yesterday. Why don't you head to the skating rink and practice a bit."

"Why?' I asked.

"Well, Ed and Fred have come up with some rules for a form of three-person hockey. I'm not all that good on the ice, but I figured it would be something we could do together. You could practice skating."

I thought about it and realized that I would probably have a chance to practice alone. The idea frightened me, but at the same time I realized that none of my sister concubines would see me if I embarrassed myself. I decided to accept James' idea and stood up.

"Who'll watch Madoka?' I asked.

"Tina is supposed to be on baby-watch today," Bethany said. "That means Kit will probably help. Don't worry, we'll call if there is a problem."

Bethany gave me a hug and then pushed me toward the door. James reached out to slap my ass. I squeaked in surprise and jumped forward.

"Tonight, I'll make love to you," he promised as I walked out the door.

Once I was outside the pod, I broke into a slow jog. The halls were silent. "AI? What time is it?" I asked.

"Oh-Three-Thirty," the AI intoned in reply

I shook my head as I realized it was very early morning for most of Ishtar. Still, I made my way through the passages to the new ice rink. It was my first visit so I paused as the inner door of the lock opened.

At first I was wondering where the ice was, and then I realized that the lock opened into a dressing and equipment room. Small boxes lined the walls. A name was displayed above each box. I walked through the room until I found James' name on one box. Below it was a collection of ten boxes. These other boxes displayed my name, the names of my sister concubines, and the names of our children.

"Madoka has a box here?" I said absently.

"All regular inhabitants of Ishtar have boxes here. The boxes will contain skates sized to that individual's feet," the AI replied.

"I think Madoka is a bit small to skate," I replied with a giggle as I pulled out my box. To my surprise it was deep and contained skates, a hockey stick and three pucks.

I reached in and pulled out the skates. My hand slipped inside and I could feel a sock-like material lining the inside.

"The skates come with a comforting cloth sock built in. They have been made to fit your feet thanks to digital mapping. You should be able to slip them on and secure them," the AI intoned.

I found a bench and sat down. The right skate slipped smoothly on my foot. There were no laces, but instead a series of straps crossed the boot. It took me a moment to figure out the configuration, but once I saw how to pull the straps and secure them I quickly had the boot snuggly fit. The left boot took even less time. I stood up on wobbly legs, trying to balance on the thin skates.

There was still a stick and some pucks in my box, but I decided to find out if I could balance on the skates. Wobbling with each step I made my way to a narrow passage. There was a bar running the length of the passage on both sides, so I used my right hand to steady myself as I stumbled down the hallway.. A sign reading "to the ice" hung above the entryway.

The passage was long, but a railing on the right side allowed me to maintain my balance as I struggled to walk in the skates. I came to the ice and carefully stepped onto it with my right leg. It took a moment to get my foot to stop sliding, but after a moment I was standing unsteadily with one foot on the ice.

I decided to pull of with my left foot and bring it onto the ice. Immediately, I felt like I was going to fall backwards. I pistoned my legs. My vain efforts to regain my balance only sped up my progress across the ice. Finally, my weight ended up too far forward and I fell to my knees and slid across the ice.

"You need to bend your knees more. If you bend your knees and point your skates towards each other you'll slow and keep your balance," a voice cried.

I looked around. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed someone on the ice. She skated up and swung around me in a wide circle before stopping and spinning in place for a second.

The person halted the spin causing their long blond hair to fan out. I finally got a look at the skater's face and realized that it was Lieutenant Cassidy from the Sahara. She smiled at me and held out a hand.

"Have you skated before?" she asked me.

"No," I admitted as I took her hand and came to my feet. Remembering her earlier comment I kept my knees bent slightly. It felt a bit awkward, but my legs no longer wanted to fly out from under my body. "What about you?"

The Lieutenant smiled. "I grew up near a skating rink and used to practice all the time. When I was seven, I was sure I'd be the next Olympic Champion. But in the end I had to abandon that dream. When I found that you had a rink, I thought I'd skate for a while. It's better than listening to Captain Narvaza complain."

"Is he hard to serve under?" I asked.

The woman shrugged. "I've worked with worse when I had part time jobs. He knows what he's doing and he only wants the best. I just wish he had more people skills. His concubines adore him, but the instant the ship leaves port, he's all 'business' until we return."

"I can respect his attitude," I said. "Fighting the Sa'arm is serious business. If someone is too casual and making mistakes they can cause others to get hurt."

"Sure," the Lieutenant said. "But I'd still rather have a commander that I can look up to when we aren't in battle. Captain Narvaza is a bit too single-minded for me."

I was going to ask another question when the speakers chimed. "Meiko?" James voice called out. "We are going to need you in the teleporter room."

"James?" I called out. "What's happening?"

"We have a Patrician that just jumped in. It's on a vector from Ursus and had some damage," James replied. "Terrence just recently went to sleep and I need Brad in the laser room. It looks like we might have more visitors."

"More?" I asked.

"Don't worry about James, Little One," Bethany's voice called out. "I'll make sure he doesn't push himself too hard. But he says that you are one of the few who knows the teleport system."

"The AI can do it," I reminded them.

"Not as well as a human can," Brad's voice called out. "James, I'm at laser one and will start armoring up. I need Tyson or Linus to handle the ground station. We haven't taught any concubines how to run the lasers."

"It's a weapons system," James said. "I'm not sure the AI will allow it. Meiko, will you do it?"

"I can," I replied. "Let me get the skates off and I'll run over to the teleporter room. Will I have anyone in armor to help?"

"No," James said. "We need everyone in armor ready to man the lasers. I'm going to send Diana and Ingrid with flechette rifles. They'll meet you there."

I turned and tried to skate back to the hallway leading to the locker room. The Lieutenant used a quick burst of speed to get ahead of me. She jumped off the ice and turned. I had built up some momentum and stumbled when I tried to turn my skates inward. Once again I started to fall forward, but the young lady caught me as I reached the edge of the ice.

We said nothing as I got back to my feet. Once I was standing I stumbled back down the hallway to the locker room and sat down to remove my skates. The Lieutenant followed me in. She dropped onto a bench and quickly removed the skates she was wearing before looking around.

"This is nice," she said before standing up and looking at some of the boxes. "You each have your own box. But why are they grouped this way?"

"Concubines get their own boxes, I said as I put my skates back in my box. The box for a concubine is grouped with that of their sponsor."

Cassidy looked over at the box I had just closed. She noticed the others around it. "You're a."

"I belong to James," I admitted. "But we don't have time to argue about it here. We should go."

"Do we cross the ice again?" Cassidy asked while reaching for her skates."

I pointed at another passage. "No, we take that passage. It leads to the visitor's locker area and the exit to the side of the colony where you are staying."

I began to jog down the passageway. Cassidy caught up to me and jogged alongside me as we made our way through the tunnel.

"So you're a concubine," she pointed out. "But you are running the teleporter? How did that work out."

"How much do you know about Ishtar?" I asked.

"Very little," Cassidy replied. "I know that many of the crew who were in the battle at Wolf Three-Six-Seven swear by this planet's ability to repair ships. I know about the memo sent out reminding all crew that leaves here are to be considered a privilege and that abuse could get a person or even a ship banned. Beyond that no one says much."

I nodded as we reached the visitor's locker room. Cassidy sprinted ahead to drop the skates she was carrying in a recycler unit and then caught up to me as I stepped through the doorway into the hall.

"You know about as much as most foreign citizens," I said. "Ishtar only has twenty-two citizens. All of the concubines on the planet help out as much as we can. I just happen to be the one who helps run the teleporter," I told her as we dashed through the passages.

We arrived at the door to the teleport room just as Diana and Ingrid jogged up. The two had taken time to tie bright green headbands around their foreheads. With their hair tied down and the flechette rifles over their shoulders they looked like they belonged in some militia recruiting poster.

"More concubines?" Cassidy asked as we entered the room.

I said nothing, but ran up to the control panel and started to power up the system. One of the first things I did was hit the communications signal control.

"Ishtar command," I heard Michelle call out. "Is that you Meiko?"

"I've got the teleporter system cycling. I'll have full power in a moment. Let me know what you need," I responded.

"One moment," Michelle said. "I'll patch you into the conversation. Cabo jumped here after a raid into the Ursus system, and once again brought a few followers. We've activated all the system defenses."

I glanced over at Diana who shrugged. "All I know is that the command post is crowded and loud. Yvette threw the guns at Ingrid and me and told us to rush over here."

I could see Cassidy open her mouth to ask a question, but voices from the speaker silenced her.