Chapter 48 - Into the Eye of the Storm

During that quick dash back to our home, I was sure that we'd see open fighting in the colony within hours. However, we arrived home to find James holding Kristi in his arms. The newborn was sleeping peacefully as my master rocked her. Brittany knelt beside him. She had Jamie in her arms. I expected to find Kitty as well, but she and Tina were over by one of the tables we had set up to make diaper changing go a bit more smoothly. I could see Jerome squirming on the table.

James just nodded as we entered. I crept up behind him to offer a brief hug before finding Madoka. She was hungry so I sat down to feed her.

My master remained calm. He helped us as we fed all the babies and then setup and enjoyed a wonderful dinner together. Kitty and Brittany were glowing with the joint pleasure of having newborns to care for and knowing James loved them. He sat between them and kept playfully offering them tidbits of meat or bread with his fingers as we relaxed.

Dinner took hours, as did the cuddling and lovemaking that started shortly after dinner and seemed to continue for days. Over the next sixty or so hours, we ventured out of the pod only to care for the rabbits. James did have frequent conferences with the rest of the citizens, but they were always conducted over the communications system and never lasted more than fifteen minutes.

Cabo and Cancun both slipped away quietly the first night of our vacation. As they left, Captain Travis asked about the concubines performing. Janice happily accepted the request and promised to have a show ready the next time Cabo San Lucas swung by for a visit.

Once the two ships left, we just had Pebble Beach in the repair docks. The engine damage took a few days to fix, so the crew was fully healed by the time Louis ordered the last docking coupling released. While it was being repaired, Colonel Johanes kept threatening dire punishments if James did not report to him in person. My master attempted to use the communications system to resolve their differences multiple times, but Colonel Johanes would always demand that James leave the enclave and report to him. Tensions should have been high, but the apparent impotence of our acting governor helped everyone to relax.

We got Pebble Beach on her way and then spent the next two weeks dealing with mundane visits. Aspen, Tintagel Castle and Nassau all passed through. They reported that the Sa'arm colony on the Wolf system was shrinking. The best estimates were that the raids had stopped enough shipments of food to induce starvation in that system. Morale on the ships was high as they passed through Ishtarat.

James also decided to shut down the command post at the original colony center. Instead, the one we had used since we first landed was reactivated and concubines were again at the controls. Everyone on our side of the colony approved of the change. It soon became clear that no one had told Colonel Johanes though as he demanded that Candi report to him for punishment after she greeted him sarcastically as "His Uppityness". When he was informed that Candi belonged to Brad, the scream of rage echoed throughout the colony.

The next ship to visit was the battlecruiser Ahti. The ship arrived with minor damage and a new crew that swore they had caught a Sa'arm Hive Sphere in orbit around Wolf and destroyed it. They were a loud and boisterous group and had Colonel Johanes screaming into the communications system before Tam could engage the drydock grapples.

James decided that the crew should not come down to the planet, and fortunately Captain Hancock understood the situation. Some of his crew were unhappy and proceeded to use the communications system to harass the scientists. James finally put a halt to it, but by that time, it was clear that Colonel Johanes had no control over the AI.

Somehow, the peace held. After Ahti left, we received more visits. Each ship reported more success in the Wolf system, although the good news was later tempered by the word that the capital of the Leo district had seen three hive spheres arrive. The reports said that the marines there held off a Sa'arm assault on their home pods for five days while the concubines and children were hurriedly evacuated and then joined in the retreat. They fell back to the planets of Wadi and Morass, with the hope of reestablishing a barrier to Sa'arm expansion.

Admiral Himmel did place a call shortly after the fall of the Leo district. He explained that we were going to be even more critical to the current efforts to keep the Sa'arm from advancing. Ships in hyperspace cannot be intercepted, but the fall of the neighboring district meant that Borneo could no longer count on quick action from nearby bases to help when a planet was attacked. He also was going to see about converting the ship repair yards at Moreton to produce ships as well.

"Do everything you can to preserve the ships and crew that visit you," he said at the end of the meeting. "With our supply lines the way they are, we can't count on many reinforcements or replacements."

My master and the other citizens listened and then went back to work. The only obvious changes were when Tam and Tif sat down with James and described some ideas they had to modify several of the repair docks. These would increase their efficiency when serving a specific class of ship that the modifications were designed for. The fact that other classes of ships would no longer be repairable in the same dock was a concern, but James did agree to have special docks set up for Castle and Patrician class corvettes, as ships of those two classes regularly visited.

One day, when the modifications were partly complete, I was relaxing in the command post, watching Janet and Monique. Monique had a small smile on her face. Janet kept asking for more information, but the woman shook her head and then looked over at me. "So Meiko, is James in a good mood today?" she asked me.

"What?" I asked. She was staring right at me and I turned away to look at the old repeater screens that showed the doors to the colony. It appeared there was a changing of the guard in process and I watched as Major Bonham inspected the uniform of a marine standing in the alcove created by the open third and closed second door.

"Oh, it's not that kind of question," Monique said playfully. I could feel my face grow warm and closed my eyes in embarrassment. Janet giggled at the comment, but then quickly tried to cover the laugh with a cough. "I was just asking if today might be a good day for someone to ask James a serious question," Monique continued.

"He's always willing to listen to serious questions," I responded. "That is part of why he has done such a good job."

"Good?" Janet said with a snort. "He's been perfect for the colony. I remember life with Jack and his horrible troll of a son. The man absolutely hated your master. But it wasn't because James made any mistakes. He hated James because what we was doing worked. Jack believed that he was some organizational god. Every day he woke up positive that this day was going to be the day that people started coming to him asking for help with all the problems the colony was going to have."

I giggled. "I'm very glad James frustrated him. The funny thing is that he didn't really try all that hard to impress the others. From the beginning, the goal was to protect his concubines."

"And since you are one of his concubines, I'm sure you approved of that decision," Monique said with a sigh. "I just wish Darren had been more like James. Instead, he tried to make a deal with Manuel. Funny thing is, the deal was much like the one our good Colonel hinted at. Darren basically gave Mary and me to Manuel and his goons in the hope that he wouldn't be dragged into the conflict."

"Appeasing villains never works," I pointed out. "Bethany has been acting as a teacher to Tina and several of the books and articles they have studied showed attempts to appease a power back on Earth. In every case, the villain kept demanding more and more. I know James has listened in on several of those sessions."

"Which explains why he wasn't listening to the worm who calls himself our governor," Janet said. "I like how you set that up. Instead of pointing it out directly, you allow him to overhear it being discussed."

"You do realize you just insulted every worm that has ever lived," Tanya's voice called out. We turned to see her stepping into the room. She glided over to an empty chair and sat down gracefully. For a brief moment, she sat perfectly still with her back straight and her knees together. Then she leaned back in the chair and put her left heel up on the control panel.

"Tanya!" Janet called out. "That's hardly ladylike!" Tanya's action had pushed the short skirt she was wearing up to her waist and the cum-covered thong panties she was wearing were out in view. I turned away, feeling my face burn.

"Donna decided that I deserved some special attention last night," Tanya said with a sigh. "She had Jacques ravish me for hours. I decided to sneak out and get some rest."

"We noticed," Monique said. The young lady sounded a bit surprised. "You don't seem to be complaining though."

"Nope," Tanya said. "I wouldn't want that every night, but I have to admit the being the focus of attention for Donna, Lindsay and Jacques is wonderful. It reminded me of how great my life is now."

Monique turned her chair so she could look directly at Tanya. "That's right, you were held by Ruth's minions for a while. I was wondering if you could answer a few questions."

"Sure," Tanya said with a languid wave. "I have nothing to hide."

I stifled a giggle. Tanya's statement and current pose seemed to match perfectly. Everyone turned to look at me, but before I could respond to the unspoken question, the panel by Monique started to chirp.

Monique spun her chair around. She made a quick examination of the screens and then reached out to activate the colony's intercom. "Incoming jump point has just opened. It's position in the system suggests the ship came from the Wolf system. Power readings indicate a large Confederacy ship."

"Do we have more than that?" Yvette's voice called out.

"Not yet," Monique replied. "Our orbit has us on the far side of our sun from the jump point, so I have to wait for the sensor relays to provide more detailed information...Wait...New data, I now have three points opening."

"Tam, Tif, get to command," James said. "Make sure that it's just a standard visit."

"Oh poo!" Tanya said as she removed her foot from the control panel. She sat up in her chair and looked at Janet. "I'd offer to help, but I don't have training for here."

"You keep our hydroponics going," Janet replied. "In the long run, that's far better for the colony. I hear we can expect real fresh vegetables in the near future."

"And possibly real beer," Monique said. "It will be so nice to have beer that doesn't taste like..."

She stopped talking as the panel started beeping again. For a few minutes, we were silent in the room as she made adjustments to the controls and checked the readings. Finally, just as Tam and Tif dashed into the room, Monique reached for the intercom control. "Ships have emerged. Sensors and IFF show that the ships are Howland, Tibet and Cabo San Lucas. I'm still refining the data, but I see no major hull breaches on any of the ships."

Tiffany grabbed a chair and sat down next to Monique. Her sister walked over by Janet and leaned on the control panel. "Any communications?" Tamara asked.

"Nothing so far," Janet said with a shake of her head. "I'm trying to get one of the local repeaters to pass a signal, but the unit isn't responding."

"Communications Repeater Seventeen has collided with some space debris. The unit can receive, but not transmit," the AI called out.

"Seventeen?" Tamara asked. "How high are they above the orbital plane?"

"The ships emerged about five light minutes north of the orbital plane of the system," Monique replied. "How did you know?"

"Tif and I were the ones that sat down and figured out where we wanted each repeater set up. Based on the information we had, the majority of the repeaters are clustered in the orbital plane, as that is where most ships will emerge. Repeaters Seventeen through Twenty are the only ones that scan more than four light minutes above the orbital plane," Tamara replied. "Now the question is, was this just a navigation error, or did they jump in a hurry?"

Janet held a hand up to her ear. I could see the earbud through her fingers. Tamara stepped back and checked a couple of the readouts. She noticed something on the control panel and sighed.

She reached out and pressed down on a panel. "Go ahead Gov," she said mildly.

"There is no reason to pretend to be military," the man growled. "I was checking to see what you could tell me about our new visitors."

"You are included in any colony broadcast transmissions," Tamara replied. "Right now you know as much as the rest of us. Three visiting ships. One is a Midway Class Carrier, the others are an Asia Class Destroyer and a Patrician Class Corvette. The Corvette we know, as they were here just a couple of weeks ago. The other two ships have never visited Ishtar before."

"You're sure?" Governor Johanes hissed.

"I could ask the AI, but I know the only carrier to visit Ishtar was the Andrew Jackson after the first battle in the Wolf system. I believe the only Asia class to visit was Mongolia just a few weeks back," Tiffany replied. "However, if we can get a repeater into position, we can ask the commanders of the ships. That's going to take some time. We need to program one of the reserve repeaters and send it out. I'd say we'll not have real time communications for another two hours. We should be able to talk to the ships now, but at light speed we'll have a twelve minute delay."

"I've already sent out a welcome and explained the situation," Janet said.

"I'm still struggling to get a clean scan," Monique said. "With the repeater out, I have to rely on light speed transmissions for all of the more sensitive scans. The quick scans I have performed show no air leaks or obvious hull breaches."

"Try to keep me informed," Colonel Johanes said reasonably. I could see Tamara staring at me. Her eyes were wide with shock as the AI rang the chime to indicate that Colonel Johanes had dropped the connection.

"Him reasonable?" the woman called out. "He's up to something. A man who can demand that James turn his concubines over for a party can't be reasonable."

I shrugged as the others continued to operate the controls. It was eerily calm in the command post until Janet once again held a hand up to cover her earbud. She was motionless for a second. "Roger, no casualties, but you request a complete scan of your armor and have three fighters that need minor repairs. We are trying to get a good scan of your hull. Please be aware that we've had a local communications failure and can only transmit and receive at light speed for the moment. Do you have any status on your escorts?"

"News?" I asked.

Janet nodded as she reached for the intercom. "We have a minor communications system failure, so we can only use light speed communications with the visiting ships. I have received a message from Howland. They report taking only a couple of minor hits. The captain is requesting a scan of the armor to verify that the ship is still combat capable. They also had three of their ground attack fighters take damage during their raid."

A moment later, Linus' voice rang out over the speakers. "We don't have the right type of repair bays to work on the fighters. You can't repair those in a vacuum. See if you can get a repair list though. We do have spares in the warehouse on Astarte. We can either provide the parts they need or provide replacement fighters."

"If we replace the fighters, have them take the damaged ones with them," James said. "All we could do is have the repair units strip them for parts."

"Exactly," Linus replied. "Worse, we couldn't use the parts. The marine fighters are designed for use in an atmosphere and few of their parts fit any other ship currently in use. It's best if those fighters are returned to Borneo for repair."

"James," Tiffany called out. "We have received communications from the other two ships. They took some glancing hits, but are intact and expect that the damage can be repaired quickly. They do request that they be allowed to stay in the system for an extra day. If I understand their message, the battle they just fought went five days without a respite and their crews are mentally and physically exhausted."

"That must be a lie!" Governor Johanes shouted. "They could have rested up after they jumped out of the system. You can't get here in just a day from any system!"

"No shit!" Tiffany snapped back. "We all know that. But I expect if you actually spend time on a ship or if you talk to the crews, you'll find that just because you are running under jump drive you still have duties and stress. The crews we put on most ships are the absolute minimum needed to fight the ship for about twenty hours without a break. If they say they are exhausted, I'm inclined to believe them."

"Like you'd know," the governor snarled. "You have never served on a ship."

I stood up and walked over to the controls. "Try living trapped in a pod for eight weeks because any attempt to leave will result in subhuman idiots attacking you and raping all the concubines in the pod. Every citizen on this planet lived with that while we travelled here from Earth. So I think you'll find they completely comprehend where the crews of Tibet and Cabo are coming from."

The only response to my rant was a snort that echoed out over the speaker. Silence followed. I expected the man to say something, but before he could, Janet took over the controls and started hitting switches.

"Ishtar, this is Captain Travis from Cabo," rang out over the speakers. "I know you still have some issues to deal with, but my crew need a break badly. Can you confirm that you'll provide shore leave?"

"Colonel? Major?" James voice called out. "Are you going to give those crews trouble if they come down to enjoy a shore leave?"

A loud sniff came from the speaker. "I'm astonished you have such a low opinion of me," Major Bonham protested. "We are only here to make sure that Colonel Johanes research is completed quickly. Researchers are very valuable and the Confederacy doesn't have time to spare on distractions."

"We've tried to stay out of the good scientist's way," Yvette responded. "But that doesn't answer the question. Colonel? Are you or any of the men working with you going to bother the crews from the ship?"

"Will they be bringing concubines down?" the man asked.

I groaned. Tiffany brought her right hand up to her forehead with a resounding smack. "That idiot doesn't learn," my sister muttered. "For a researcher, he's got more sex drive than a high school football player."

"Don't remind me," Tiffany replied with a sigh. "Shall we take bets as to how fast James refuses to answer this one?"

"No," I replied.

"Major," James voice hissed out. "How about you perform the duty of keeping the colonel from being distracted by making sure that he doesn't encounter any concubines over the next three days? It seems his libido is keeping him from his research."