Chapter 28 - Bruised but Victorious

I finally had managed to untangle the final wires and was climbing down. The left arm of my armor was a pitted, blackened mass, and I had little doubt that the rest of my armor appeared no better. I had reached the ground when Linus called out.

"Diagnostics on laser one are complete. It's out of service for a week. The barrel rotation motor is gone and there is considerable damage to the yaw motors as well. And that's without the snapped foot pedal."

Tyson must have been looking at laser two, because he joined in. "Believe it or not, two is worse. The shockwave must have been impressive. Yaw, pitch and directional motors are all damaged to the point of needing replacing, and a half dozen circuit boards overloaded when Fred was violently disconnected. Looks like fourteen days. Call it a week and a half."

"A week and a half?" a new voice called out. I realized it was Barbara when she continued. "Isn't fourteen days equal to two weeks?"

There was a giggle from the twins and Yvette replied. "We decided to use a calendar that fit Ishtar's cycle. The changes we made resulted in us going with nine-day weeks. So fourteen days is a week and a half by our count."

I stumbled from the laser chamber and was met by my concubines who started activating the quick releases on the armor. I might have protested, but as each piece fell to the floor its blackened state made it clear that none of it was going to be usable without maintenance. There was no urgency, but my ladies kept working efficiently until the armor and its undersuit were removed and I was putting some regular clothes back on.

"That was great shooting by both of you," Linus said. "Six shots and only one miss. I think it was the combined hits low that took the Sa'arm ship out. The explosion appeared to start from there."

I shrugged. "I'm still buying Fred the first beer when we get to the recreation hall."

I felt a bit cocky and called out. "Hey Tam, Tif. I think we need to make today a holiday. Something like Fred the Sharpshooter Day."

There was a giggle, but Fred protested. "Oh no. You don't pin this day on me. You were the first to ride that wildcat into the atmosphere, and you told me how much to adjust my aim. It should be Leader James' Day."

The giggling became louder but before I could speak one of the twins replied. "A holiday is a great idea, but we'll worry about the name later. Right now we have two grav sleds heading over to collect armor for repair and a very confused looking Barbara standing and trying to figure out what's happening."

"What is happening?" Barbara asked. "And what am I in? It looks like a command post."

There was general laughter and I nodded to Linus as I finally stood back up to find Janice, Meiko and Tina all demanding kisses. Their smiles were full of pride and I sighed in contentment as we carried my ruined armor through the doors and loaded it on one of the waiting grav sleds.

The sled immediately took off for our armory pod, although the AI informed us that it would enter a back tunnel and go directly to the morgue to see if any of the armor was recyclable. Instead of following it I accepted a hug from each of my ladies and we walked along the tunnels until we reached the command post.

Inside we found Terrence, Yvette, Timothy and the twins entertaining Barbara while watching the scanner readouts. They saw me and a cheer went up. "No more Sa'arm today!" Tiffany cried out. I could tell it was Tiffany because the other sponsors had finally ganged up on the twins and demanded that the two always wear different colors to identify them. Tamara got blue and yellow, while Tiffany ended up with green and red. At the moment Tiffany was wearing a green tank top and shorts and smiling as her sister continued to manipulate the controls.

I could see Veronica sitting in a corner and crying while Ulla tried to comfort her and I went over to the disconsolate concubine. "What's the problem?" I asked.

Ulla sighed. "She's upset that she missed the Sa'arm vessel. She thinks she should be punished for it, but fears the punishment."

I smiled and turned to Timothy. "Hey, Tim! Veronica seems to want to be punished. What would you say is the one sexual action she doesn't enjoy, but that you like?"

Ulla giggled as Timothy smirked. "That's easy," he replied. "I can't get her to join in any threesomes with enthusiasm. She's still not comfortable with them."

I could see Ulla's eyes twinkle and winked at her as I gently held Veronica's chin and got her to look at me. "Then, your punishment is that right now you grab your sister concubine, and the man you both love and take him back to your pod. And you don't leave that pod until you personally give them both at least three orgasms. No cheating and letting Ulla give Timothy pleasure or Timothy, Ulla. That's your punishment."

Veronica gasped and blushed, but then suddenly threw her arms around Ulla and kissed her desperately. Before Ulla could react Veronica let go and jumped up to give Timothy the same desperate kiss. Without a look back she dashed out of the pod. Timothy and Ulla looked at each other and then followed with a laugh.

"That's a punishment?" Barbara asked.

Yvette was laughing. "No, but Veronica had done nothing that deserved punishment. Tamara is one of our best on the scanners and she said that our sensors weren't set up to catch a ship approaching from that direction. But James is leader because he knows the right way to handle something like that. Veronica will come back more determined to perform well, and her bond with her family will be even stronger."

"Family?" Barbara said. "What family?"

I could feel Meiko hug me as I smiled. "The one that is you, your concubines and your children. The one that lives in the pod that you call home. The Confederacy might not think of it that way, but we decided that here on Ishtar, concubines would be family and not just sex toys and playthings."

"Awww, but I love being your sextoy!" Tina whined. She was fawning over me and Barbara looked confused.

"Wait, earlier you had the blond with you, but the two young girls who took Amanda off belonged to you. Now I see you with these two as well. You have five concubines?"

Tamara giggled. "He has six. His alpha concubine is at the school right now. She's one of the teachers."

"Six?" Barbara said. "But Ruth said no one on Ishtar had a score higher than six point five."

I sighed. "No, there are three with seven point zero or higher. Bernard, who is outside, but refuses to talk to anyone. Yvette, who has a seven point one score. You've met her two male concubines, but she also has two lovely ladies who are very dear to her."

"They stayed home today," Yvette said with a shrug. "James has a seven point two, but Brittany and Kitty were kind of forced on him by the AI. Although I heard the AI threatened to retest him and prove that he's got the CAP to have even more."

I waved my hands. "No thank you. Keeping my concubines happy is already a full time job."

I could hear the intake of breath for Tina and Janice, but turned to them and gave each a long, loving kiss while I caressed their asses. "And one I'll never complain about," I whispered as I let them sink to the floor.

Yvette watched and laughed as Terrence quipped. "And for once James puts his concubines down for the count."

There was general laughter and I finally pointed to the briefing room. "How about we go there and get to know Barbara before we set her up. She's got to be completely confused."

Barbara just nodded. "That is an understatement. Ruth is convinced you are cowering behind these walls with nothing. Now I find one pod outfitted as a command post and an armory and it works perfectly. I hear your people talking about a Sa'arm ship attacking, and a group of you fought back, although I couldn't understand what you were doing. I just know that I felt the explosion when the ship blew up. Then you talk about having a school, a recreation hall, and a multi-use room. Next I'll hear you have a medical bay."

Terrence just smiled. "We do. We have almost all the comforts of home."

Just then the AI called out. "Angel hour has started. Forty-eight minutes until Noon."

"Angel hour?" Barbara asked.

Yvette smiled. "James suggested we switch to a day that meets Ishtar's cycle. The day cycle is a bit longer than an Earth day by ninety-six minutes. Rather than try to make the hours longer by eight minutes each. We stuck with sixty-minute hours, but added two periods to make up the time, each forty-eight minutes long. The one just before noon has become Angel hour. The nighttime one is Devil hour."

Barbara seemed to understand. "So the nine-day weeks are because..."

It was Terrence's time to respond. "We now have a year that's only three hundred twenty-four days long. It was easiest to go with twelve months each twenty-seven days long, and therefore nine day weeks, giving us three weeks per month."

Barbara smiled. "It will take some getting used to, but it all makes sense. I like it."

We laughed. "So did the AI once they figured out how to deal with the day cycle. Of course we have to remember that the Navy still uses Earth time, so we keep track of it when talking to them."

"Oh, I'd love to be here the first time that comes up in a conversation with the Navy," Barbara said smiling. She then turned thoughtful. "Actually, that is the question, am I going to stay?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, are you?

"What?" Barbara said in shock.

Yvette and Terrence smiled as I waited for Barbara to say more. She kept looking back and forth in confusion before she suddenly paused and looked right at me. "Does that mean...? Do you really...? But, what about an interview? And how can you...?"

She seemed to wind down as Terrence laughed. "Why wouldn't we want you to stay?" he asked. "Your concubines clearly trust and respect you, which shows us that you have been a good master and a good person. You had the strength of character to try to escape the disaster that is outside our enclave and you had the wisdom to come unarmed. You trusted James and me when we approached and remained calm when the fighting started. I guess one of your concubines could reveal something that gets us very upset, but I really doubt that. And we'd have heard by now."

"But how?" Barbara asked.

Yvette smiled. "Our concubines are family. They tell us things and help us out. The twins there like to work together, but often the command post is just one sponsor and their concubines. We have concubines teaching in the school, and James and Fred had their concubines helping them get in their armor so they could man the lasers. The only rules we have are no touching someone else's concubines without permission and no beating on your concubines."

"No beating?" I asked. "So I won't find any floggers if I visit your pod?" I winked at Yvette who blushed for a moment and then laughed herself.

"Damn, you figured it out. Although that's all in fun! And you'd never guess who is mistress on those nights anyways," Yvette said.

"Esther," Terrence and I said in unison, which caused Yvette to sink into her chair blushing as Barbara giggled.

"You asked for that," Tiffany said from outside the briefing room.

Yvette was laughing. "I did. But I always thought everyone might get upset."

"Why?" Tamara asked. "Outside your pod Esther always looks to you and follows your lead. If you want her to be a bit demanding in bed what's the problem? You should hear how Paula can get on a night she's feeling horny."

Barbara was now crying quietly. "Oh my god!" She whispered. "I've died and gone to heaven. Can you really be sponsors right now? You seem so relaxed and every concubine I've met has seemed to love life."

Tina had recovered and had been sitting behind me. "Because we do. Our masters and mistresses give us all that we need and we'd do anything for them."

"Cheeky concubines," I muttered. "Will I always have cheeky concubines?"

"Aww." Janice said. "But that's why you love us so much." She gave me a kiss that was long and slow before releasing me and giggling. "Now stand up," she said with a wink.

Yvette watched for a moment and then reached over to raise Janice's hand. "Winner and still champion!" she called out as everyone laughed.