Chapter 54 - Stares Through a Wall

The next morning I woke up still wrapped up in Bethany's arms. I could hear someone over by the food replicator and carefully sat up, trying to leave Bethany undisturbed. I found Kitty trying to balance four trays on her arms.

I was lying on the outside of the couch, so I rolled away from Bethany and stood up. Kitty was trying to turn away from the replicator and two of the trays looked like they were about to fall to the floor when I dashed in and grabbed them.

"Thanks," Kitty whispered. "I was going to serve everyone breakfast in bed."

"You only have four trays," I pointed out.

Kitty giggled. "Brittany and I like the same things for breakfast, so I just doubled that order. We can share a tray."

I nodded as we walked toward the bedroom. Kitty took a moment to glance past the couch to the cribs. "Kristi and Jerome did they?" she asked.

"They are fine," I replied. "They woke a few times during the night and were hungry."

"But you never came in to wake us," Kitty pointed out.

"The replicator can produce bottles filled with milk for the babies. Madoka and Astrid are about big enough to start trying baby food as well, so Bethany and I both had a bit of extra milk for the newborns," I admitted.

"Wow," Kitty said. "You turn James on and then leave him to Brittany and me. Then you take care of our babies so we can have an all night cuddle with him. Meiko, I don't deserve that."

The door to the bedroom opened as we spoke. I let Kitty lead us into the room. "Oh, I don't know, I think all my concubines deserve to be very happy," James said as I followed her.

"James!" I cried happily.

"Notice she doesn't even mention the rest of us," Tina chirped.

"I know," Janice added. I stepped a bit to the left so I could see around Kitty and saw my sister concubines sitting up on the bed. Janice had a smirk on her face as she continued. "Really, give a girl one of the best orgasms she ever had and what does she do? She dumps us for some guy. What can you say about that?"

Brittany giggled. "I'd say she has perfect taste."

Everyone laughed at that as Kitty and I reached the bed. Kitty handed the two trays she was carrying to James and Tina and then took the ones from me to offer to Janice and Brittany. She jumped onto the bed to sit next to Brittany once her hands were free.

James looked up. "Where is Bethany?" he asked.

"She was still dozing on the couch," I replied as I climbed onto the bed and leaned on his right shoulder. "Trying to keep seven babies fed and sleeping kept us up most of the night."

"Is Jamie hungry?" Brittany asked. She set her tray down on the blankets and started to slide back on the bed.

"They're all sleeping," a sleepy voice said from the doorway. I glanced up and saw Bethany leaning against the jab as she covered her mouth. Her eyes closed as she yawned.

"I'm sorry," James began.

Bethany shook her head. "James, there is nothing to be sorry for. Someone had to watch the babies. We also had Colonel Klink demanding attention."

James snorted. "I know nothing , Nothing!" he shouted. "But shouldn't we still call him Governor?"

"Not if the AI is to be believed. It told him off last night and basically said that his appointment had not been properly approved," Bethany replied as she came over to sit next to me. Her arm went around my waist as we cuddled on the bed.

James nodded. "AI, is Colonel Johanes awake?" he asked the ceiling.

"Aww, we wanted breakfast without work," Tina mourned. "Now you'll get all stressed and all that good work from last night will be ruined."

"Colonel Johanes is awake," the AI intoned. "Would you like to speak to him?"

"Like?" James replied dubiously. "I don't think anyone enjoys talking to the man. However, I probably should hear about his current demands before he makes official complaints."

"A note, two message drones were launched by Sir Paridell during the night. As there was no order to stop them, they were allowed to leave the system," the AI informed us.

I could feel James shrug at this pronouncement. Janice turned to look at James, but before anything was said, the voice of Colonel Johanes growled out. "So, you finally deign to respond to me. I ordered you to listen in on the announcement. From what I understand only one citizen bothered to listen, and they promptly ignored the orders."

I leaned over to kiss James on the cheek. "Stay calm,' I whispered.

James sighed. "Colonel, I don't know what you are doing on Ishtar, but it's becoming increasingly clear that research is not your primary goal. It's also come to my attention that your appointment did not go through proper channels."

"My appointment is valid!" Colonel Johanes growled. "I am the rightfully appointed governor of this colony."

"The AI told him otherwise last night," Bethany muttered. I giggled and turned to give my sister concubine a loving kiss.

James was shaking his head. "Fine, what proper administration have you done? Do you know the layout of the colony? How about the section you currently have access to? Have you studied the layout? Do you think you can offer real and tangible improvement ideas?"

"What's that got to do with me being governor!" Colonel Johanes shouted. "And even if that did matter, you are still a trainee, and I am a Colonel, you will obey my orders."

"Colonel," James said in a monotone. 'I have a hard time obeying orders that are illegal. You also have yet to show that you have any understanding of the reason this colony exists. I probably am better trained than any of the marines you brought. How many of your marines know how to run a transporter station? How many can operate system defense lasers? How many can coordinate ship repairs? How many could even use our communications and tracking systems? Every citizen here has gone through training and then spent months using the skills they learned. Right now I can't picture any of the marines you brought being able to do anything more than stand around and look bored."

'My men could take over in an instant!" Colonel Johanes claimed. "What you do is not that difficult?"

James smirked. "If it wasn't for the fact that the navy around here deserves the best, I'd actually challenge you to put your men in the command post and make it happen. You are a fool. Tamara and Tiffany have refined the training for the command post in the year they've been on Ishtar. The basic training now takes seven hours. If you want all the specialized training for the command post, you will spend over twenty hours in training and they then demand four hundred hours of working with someone with more experience."

"Four hundred hours!" Colonel Johanes screamed. "That's absurd! Just to run a simple communications station?"

"I'd hardly call our system simple," Tamara's voice rang out. "We do far more than just route communications on the planet."

"It's communications! All you have to do is push a few buttons!" Colonel Johanes snapped.

"How many signals and repeaters do we have in operation?" Tiffany asked. "And how closely does communications have to coordinate with scanning?"

"I fail to understand this line of questioning," Major Bonham's voice rang out. He sounded upset.

Tamara laughed bitterly. "And that is why we have problems. Major, a huge part of how we protect this planet involves having weapons modules scattered throughout the system. But to use them in combat we have to be able to send and receive signals from every unit almost instantly. If we try to run these weapons using light speed communications we might as well program them to automatically fire at any ship entering their targeting zone. But rather than live with a time lag that can be up to two hours each way, we seeded the system with repeaters that allow us to talk to all of the system resources and defenses in real time."

"And?" Major Bonham said. "I'm not navy, but I've heard that we have some scanners and communications that aren't limited to light speed."

"Is the man always this dumb? Or has he been partaking of what passes for alcohol?" Tiffany asked. "Major, the communications links to our system defenses are fragile, sensitive and require constant attention. Yes, we also keep communications on the planet open and will initiate communications with passing ships, but a huge part of the job is making all of the adjustments necessary to keep the system defenses online."

"And yet you have time to argue with the commander of the relief company sent to help you," Colonel Johanes sneered.

I heard a giggle. "We aren't the ones at the controls," Tamara said. "Lily and Madison decided to take the lessons necessary to help."

"Lily?" James asked as he sat up. "Tam, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Linus' daughter was only eleven. That's a bit young to be in the command post."

"But I'm tired of classes, and the boys my age are boring," a young feminine voice whined. "Madison is only six years older and she can do this, why can't I learn it?"

"Take the whine away and that's a likely citizen," Bethany muttered.

"Tam? How is Lily?" James asked, ignoring Bethany's comment.

"She struggles a bit with the more complex routines, but she's one of our fastest at engaging repeater swaps. The units don't necessary hold station near a repeater and sometimes you have to switch which repeater they connect with. Lily is very quick to see the units that need this," Tamara replied.

"James! You have a child working in the command post!" Colonel Johanes screamed. "That violates more regulations than I can count. I've had enough of your insubordination. You are under arrest for dereliction of duty as well as any other charges I discover are required. Major Bonham, proceed with the arrest and have your marines perform a thorough check of all home pods."

"Colonel," Major Bonham reported. "I cannot get past the doors that split the colony."

"Cut them open! I want James in front of me within the hour!" Colonel Johanes screamed.

"We do not have the proper tools," Major Bonham reported. "And before you ask, the AI has refused to provide any tools via the replicators."

"Use the replicators on Sir Paridell!" Colonel Johanes growled. "I want those doors open."

"No tool or device that can endanger the structural integrity of the colony may be replicated on the planet or teleported to the planet without the express permission of the colony governor," the AI intoned.

"As the properly appointed acting governor, I give Major Bonham permission to teleport the tools he requires to the colony," Colonel Johanes snarled.

Tina and Janice started o giggle. Both raised hands to cover their mouths.

"You appointment is not valid," the AI replied. "Therefore your command is not valid. Until a valid command is received, no tools that might risk the structural integrity of the tunnels will be allowed on the planet."

"Not true," Tina said. "At least half of the suits of battle armor we have include a grenade launcher mounted under the right arm. And we know that those grenades can punch a hole in the ceiling."

"James!" Colonel Johanes screamed out. "You must face a court martial. Come out from behind those doors today and command that the colony be opened up for a formal inspection."

"Somehow I don't think I'll get a fair trial," James replied. "You'll understand if I don't try to throw myself on the mercy of the court."

"If you don't come out, it will go very badly for you," Colonel Johanes purred. "I can see you love your concubines. What if I told you that they won't suffer any gang rapes and we'll return them to you."

"First you say I'm going to face a court martial and that I should expect a high punishment, but now you want me to surrender simply because you might return my concubines sometime if I survive the trial. Somehow I don't think you are offering me a good bargain," James said with a shake of his head.

Bethany had climbed over me and was now sitting so her legs draped over James. She had her arms around his neck and was covering his cheek with kisses. "No appeasement," she whispered.

James shrugged. He turned to kiss Bethany on the lips. I could see him tease her tongue with his own. As they embraced, I reached down to the hem of the halter top Bethany wore and started to push it up.

"Is that all you'll do?" Colonel Johanes stated. "I was sure a loyal marine like you would be happy to get the opportunity to defend yourself."

James placed a kiss just above each of Bethany's eyes. "Look," he began. "I know that one popular definition of Marine always was, 'muscles are required, intelligence not essential'. However, the truth is that if it wasn't for the fact that we do engage visiting Sa'arm ships, we might as well be fleet auxiliary, and for work here, intelligence has proven very valuable. I'm not going to fall for your petty little tricks or games."

"You'll rue this day," Colonel Johanes promised. "And we will put you on trial, even if we have to dig you out of there."

"James," Yvette's voice called out. "What do we do?"

"We continue to do what we were placed here to do," James said. "We monitor the system and maintain our communications watch. We repair any visiting ships. Beyond that, we have already issued a formal protest regarding how we are being treated."

"Your protest means nothing," Colonel Johanes snarled. "I have my orders."

"James?" I heard Madison call out. "Should we cut him from the communication?"

"No," my master replied. He pulled Bethany into his arms and placed several kisses on her forehead. "It will just have Colonel Johanes complaining that we are plotting something."

Yvette giggled. "But by his standards we are. We are refusing to work with him."

The speakers roared with laughter. "Why should we work with him?" Brad asked. "The man hasn't requested any help in his research. The only help he wants is for us to loan him concubines. It's not our fault the man didn't bring any."

"My men deserve sexual relief!" Colonel Johanes screamed. "There is no reason for you to restrict us from having access to a few concubines. You can still control who gets them pregnant."

"We have too much respect for our concubines to loan them out. It just won't happen," James replied. "Now, I think we have an agreement. You can stay over there and finish your research. Heck, if you can develop a method for moving the artifacts safely, we'll be extremely glad to see you leave. However, we'll remain over here."

"I've ordered you to report to me here," Colonel Johanes snapped. "Any further refusal to follow my orders will result in a court martial."

"If all goes well, it will be for you," James muttered. "Colonel, as I said earlier, we've issued a formal protest about your appointment. We also made a legal challenge. Our research indicates that only Admiral Himmel was authorized to appoint a governor, and only General Montgomery could have appointed a new commander for this colony. Neither was involved in your posting."

"My orders came from General Holdsclaw! He's the second in command of research for the whole Confederacy. It's a legal order!" Colonel Johanes spat.

"Whatever," James replied. He looked down at Bethany. He held her tight against his chest with his right arm while his left reached out to tickle Tina. "I have an idea," he said.

"Ooh!" Janice sang out. "James has an idea, that usually means good things. Tell us, what is it? Coed naked twister?"

Kitty and Brittany looked completely baffled. I was trying to figure out what the suggestion was when Bethany started laughing. "We don't need the game to do that," she said.

James just shook his head. "AI, can you seal the visitors entry to the ice rink? Well, first are there any visitors in there?"

"The unit is now sealed," the AI intoned. "No visiting marine currently on the planet has visited."

"I remember talking with someone who was visiting," I replied. "It was the first time I tried skating. She gave me a few suggestions."

"AI! Where is this ice rink! I want that door open to my marines now!" Colonel Johanes screamed.

"I am unable to comply with your request," the AI replied. "The door on your side of the colony is sealed and no longer visible."

"You are to unseal it immediately!" Colonel Johanes repeated. His shout had increased in volume. "As governor, I command that you open that door."

"You are not the governor," the AI informed him. "Please cease issuing orders regarding the administration of this colony."