Chapter 30 - Looking Back and Looking Ahead

I could see Bethany looking a bit worried as we gathered around the table for a quick bite before rushing to the party. "Are you upset?" she asked me.

I shrugged. "You mean about how my concubines seem to be forming regular pairs. Tina usually with Janice, Meiko preferring to put her lips to your pussy, or how Brittany was so quick to volunteer today? Is that what you think I'd be upset about?"

Bethany gasped. "You noticed?"

I laughed which caused all my concubines to look at me fearfully for a moment. Meiko actually jumped as I slowly scanned their faces. "Bethany, how could I not notice? And why should I be upset? I try hard to be there for all of you, but there is only one of me. I've offered to make a strap-on for you all to use. And are any of you going to tell me that you don't want me?"

All six girls chorused, "No!"

Tina immediately followed that. 'Oh god, I need your cock so badly. You're so right. We do pair off, but its only because we are trying so hard to share you."

Janice was nodding. "We just sometimes worry that you won't understand. After all, we are your sex slaves."

I laughed more. "And yet, what do I concentrate on when I take you to bed?"

Meiko gasped. "You always try to make sure we cum again and again."

I smiled. "Exactly. As long as you all want me first, and then share with all, I understand your having preferred partners for when I can't get to you all."

My ladies all blushed and then stood up in unison to walk over and claim hugs. I held them in a large group hug for a moment and then stood up myself. "Time to get to the party," I said. "Afterwards, I'll show you all just how much I love my family."

There was a cheer from my concubines. Kitty and Brittany started dragging me towards the door as Bethany quickly cleared the table. We walked out as a group. Each lady had a hand on my arms and happily giggled as we strode to the recreation room.

In the room we found the party already started and Fred holding court around a table with the other sponsors. "Oh god! It was terrible," he said. "I know the only thing James said was that visibility was zero, but it was so much worse than that. The acidic vapor is so thick that the air is this sickly green. Most of my concentration was on the faint images in the heads-up display of the helmet and on Tyson's guidance, but there was this constant evil hiss as the acid ate away at my armor."

He looked and waved me over. I came and sat down as Brad smiled. "We insisted he tell us about his experience on the laser. He makes it sound terrifying."

I nodded as Bethany headed over to the food replicators to get drinks. "It was. The AI said the armor would last five minutes, but you get up there and you think it's going to only be seconds. It gets worse when you consider that you know you have at most four shots and have to rely on your instruments, which are being adjusted by another person. Linus did a great job telling me where to aim, and he kept up with the degradations, but you're still wondering how much time you have, and if you hit the target."

Fred laughed. "I only knew I was getting hits when the shock wave slammed me into the seat. You realize that it's now bent back about ten degrees?"

I shook my head. "I'm afraid that I haven't taken the time to check laser two. After the right arm of my armor fell apart just after I returned the laser to the bunker, I wasn't too interested in seeing the damages. It gets a bit personal when your armor is a blackened mess."

"Anyone know which hit was the one that counted?" Terrence asked as he walked up.

Linus and Tyson looked at each other. They seemed to be deciding and finally Tyson answered. "We aren't sure. Either James opened a path for the acid in his two hits, or Fred's first shot cut something critical. All three hits were low on the Sa'arm ship and the explosion started in that region. Fred's last two hits were middle and then high right. The explosion definitely did not start in those areas."

"Awww," Fred said. "So it wasn't my three hits?"

Linus shrugged. "We really have no idea. Its pretty clear that the explosion was not directly caused by a hit, but it's likely that the hits did let the acid in, and considering how much damage the acid did to the lasers in just two minutes, its not hard to imagine that the Sa'arm ship suffered serious damage."

"It's that bad then?" Cleo asked as she brought a beer over to Tyson. He took a sip and scowled.

"We need to find a way to brew better beer. The AI can replicate lots of stuff, but this stuff needs to be poured back into the horse," he scowled. "As for the acid, I've looked at the laser Fred rode. The acid pretty much melted the laser barrels as well as trashing every seal on the unit. And that was the seals that held."

"That held?" Brad asked.

Linus nodded. "Yes. Laser one had two seal failures. The first was on the barrel rotation plate. That's what killed the barrel rotation. The bars that connect the motor with the plate snapped. The acid also got through the seal on the right foot pedal. The bolt holding the pedal in place snapped."

"I remembered that one," I groaned. "I got thrown forward when it snapped."

Fred smiled. "Well, there were no casualties on our side, which is a good thing."

Barbara had been watching some bowling but wandered over. "What is this talk about?" she asked.

I shook my head. "How about introductions first. Everyone, this is Barbara, a refugee sponsor and soon to be a command post trainee. Barbara, we have here Fred, who was on the other laser earlier today. I'd like you to meet Linus and Tyson, who serve as ground crew on the lasers and had the hard job of keeping Fred and me on target. Brad is another of our gunners. Cleo you met earlier."

Barbara looked at Cleo who pirouetted. She was wearing a gold miniskirt and halter-top, which looked particularly sexy. Barbara still paused. "Wait, weren't you...?"

Cleo laughed. "Yes, earlier today I was in the black lace bra and thong panties. Tyson loves that look, but the parties tend to be formal by our standards, which translates into skirts or dresses for the ladies."

Barbara looked confused, but Heather must have been over by the dance floor because an upbeat tune started playing and most of the conversations stopped. I looked over to the small dance area and watched Heather tug Ed out onto the floor. "Dance his legs off!" someone shouted.

Barbara stepped over to look and I looked back. "The only question is how we can reduce the reaction time, or improve the warning time. And we have to keep the armor from going bad. Right now Brad's armor is good, but Xavier's needs the air exchanger fixed, mine is trash and Fred's..."

Fred sighed. "Two days. All of the outer plating needs to be replaced and the helmet is useless. One thing we learned is that violent wire removal will ruin Confederacy electronics."

There was a general nervous laugh and then the voice of Kate, one of Xavier's concubines came over the speaker. "Umm... I'm not sure what to do here. James we have calls."

"Calls?" I asked.

"And a visitor," Kelly, his other concubine said. "There is a Naval Corvette in-system. It just jumped in and is now just outside the orbit of Kali."

"Kali?" I heard Yvette ask. She was sitting at a neighboring table trying to get others interested in a bridge match.

Tamara shouted from near the dance floor. "The fifth planet is Kali. We named the fourth Isis. We decided on goddesses."

Yvette sighed. "And yet the two inner planets are named after characters from a movie."

I waved for silence. "Hold the chatter. You said calls, Kate?"

"Yes," she replied. "Commander O'Brien from the Corvette Nassau, and Manuel from the other side of the colony. Their calls both came in moments apart."

I groaned. "Yvette, can you move over a couple tables and take Manuel's call. If you have to, stall him and I'll join in later, but I think I should find out what the navy wants."

Yvette nodded. "Got it. Kate, put the commander through now. I'll whisper when I have a spot to route Manuel through."

Kate spoke a moment later. "Sorry for the delay, commander. I've routed your signal."

"About time," the gruff voice replied. "Tell me that you can do something."

"Depends on what something is," I replied. "We don't have a lot of people, and its not like we can leave the planet right now. This is a death world with a very acidic atmosphere."

"What!" the voice replied. "But I received word that damaged raiders could repair and resupply here?"

"Get me Louis," I whispered to Meiko who has been sitting next to me. "We do have a resupply base. We dispersed it after a Sa'arm scout visited us three weeks ago. The repair dock is still operational."

"What about crew? I've lost more than half my crew," the commander replied.

I looked around. "We have eighteen citizens right now, and all are technically marines. I can't help you there."

"Eighteen?" said an incredulous voice. "What kind of colony are you?"

"A tiny resupply and listening post. Actually I believe there are eighty-two citizens down here, but the other sixty-three are in an area that is no longer loyal to the Confederacy. I don't think you'd have much luck recruiting from there," I replied.

"Damn. What were the marines thinking?" the voice asked.

"They wanted to get rid of volunteers they thought were useless," I answered. "We ended up with four factions upon landing. Three are outside of the enclave that contains the command post you called. I don't try to do too much with them."

"Why not?" the voice asked.

Just then Yvette shouted. "No fucking way will we give you any help! You and Ruth can continue your little war without our participation."

"What's the problem?" I called out to Yvette.

"The fucker has figured out we must have a working armory and is demanding we send him two people wearing battle armor," Yvette called back. "He's threatening to use his grenade launchers on our doors if we don't."

"My god!" the commander said. "Is it really that bad?"

"It was worse on the trip here," I replied. "The crew of the ship finally just told everyone to stay in their pods until landing, and then somehow cut the travel time to here in half. Here, in this group, we have three heavy pressure doors protecting us. Meanwhile, you said you need repairs?"

"Dear god, yes," the Commander replied. "We were part of a strike team trying to cut off a Sa'arm hive ship and its escorts. We lost most of the task force. I think the Carrier William Pitt made it out, but we lost three corvettes and two battle cruisers. I didn't see the last corvette, but she was on the far side of the formation."

"Any chance of us seeing the carrier?" I asked.

"No," came the curt reply. "They managed to turn for home. We got cut off by one of the Sa'arm gun ships and turned this way praying that the post was up early."

Louis had been dragged over by Meiko and held a hand up. I nodded and he spoke. "Commander, this is Louis. I'm responsible for the repair platforms right now. What class is your ship and what's the damage?"

"The Nassau is a Patrician class corvette. Normal crew is twenty-eight including officers. We're down to eight and might lose three of them if they don't receive medical attention soon. We've lost just about all our armor and the engines are starting to fail. I only have one engineering rating left and he's one of the wounded."

I could feel the tension rise again. "Does your corvette have teleport technology?"

"No," was the curt reply. "Why?"

I was about to curse when Louis gasped. "The platform I have on Astarte does have a teleporter. And it can reach ours."

"Can the Nassau dock there?" I asked.

Louis nodded. "Yes, but if his engines go down we'll have a problem. We don't have any tugs right now. And that will be a tricky piece of navigation."

"We can do it," the commander promised. "I just need a guide. Right now I'm guessing I aim for the third planet since that's where your signal is coming from, but that's it."

"Astarte is the outer moon, but you have the right idea for now," Louis said. "I better get to the command post and get the repair station up."

I nodded and stood up and called to the people present: "Everyone! I hate to break up the party, but we have another crisis. Tiffany, Gina, get to the command post, get communications going to command. See if Borneo has any response to the ping. Tamara, get tracking up, we need to know of any Sa'arm ships followed the Nassau; we have no defenses right now. Louis, start guiding in the Nassau, see if you can prepare any of the repairs. Tyson, Linus, get to the lasers, can we get one of them up fast? Check laser one, it had less damage and we might be able to get it ready for one shot. Brad, armor up."

Yvette suddenly joined in. "I need gunners, Xavier, if your battle armor is wearable in the tunnels without that air exchanger get it on now. Timothy, I know you aren't totally healthy, but we need you. Shawna, I need a fourth, get to the armory."

"Bad?" I asked.

Yvette just waved me off. "Manuel, we don't have time for this, but if we have to we can kill every last one of you. And if I even hear footsteps in our hallway we will be ready to fight back." She then called out. "Kate, cut the signal to Manuel. I have a welcoming party to prepare."

I groaned but Yvette winked at me. "I don't expect him to try anything," she admitted. "I could hear rifle fire in the background and I expect that he's already busy."

"They've started shooting again?" I asked.

"Yes," the AI stated. "Ruth attempted to use one of the longer side tunnels to get behind one of Manuel's teams guarding the armory. The attempt only partially succeeded, and both sides have thrown additional men into what started out as a small skirmish."

"Let there be many casualties," Terrence said. He looked at me. "Should we try to send gurneys up to the repair dock?"

I looked around, but Louis had already rushed off to the command post. "We'll have to get to the command post to ask." I admitted.

Terrence nodded and shouted to Shawna and Ed about getting the medical bay ready. Meanwhile I stood up to run to the command post when Bethany spun me around and kissed me. "God, I get so wet when you take charge," she growled. "You'd better be ready to put out a few fires at home tonight."

I smiled and held her for a second. "I'd do it now, but we better hurry to command," I whispered. "I love you Bethany. Remind the others of that. I love all of you."

Bethany laughed as she gave my crotch a squeeze. "We know, and' believe it or not we love you more that you can understand. We'll help clean up here and then come over to help."

I nodded and dashed off, joining the crowd of people hurrying through the tunnels. There were additional shouts and warnings as everyone hurried to get organized.

I arrived at a crowded command post with Gina, Louis and the twins covering the controls. Meanwhile Yvette and Terrence were handing out guns and battle jackets to the small number of defenders who were headed to the door. I was about to walk over to check with Louis when Terrence called out. "Should we arm Barbara?"

I did not even turn. "Of course we should. She's one of us now."

I heard a squeal of joy and felt arms wrap around me from behind. Barbara hissed a whisper into my ears. "You trust me! You respect me. Your concubines convinced Robin to try a walking on the wild side and she discovered that she loves licking pussy. You so deserve a reward from me."

I just shook my head as she released me and walked over to Terrence who handed her a rifle before taking one himself. "We'll watch the doors," he said.

I nodded as I looked over at Louis. "Louis, can you do the guiding from the briefing room? It will give us space in here and allow us to bring in Ed and Shawna once we start receiving the medical data."

"On it," he replied and headed into the briefing room as Tiffany routed the signal there.

Gina was quickly stepping through several communication processes. I could see her frown, but she merely waved me towards the briefing room. I turned to Tamara, but she also shook her head. "Nothing right now, but we don't have many long range scanners and none in position to look much more than a light-year in the direction the Nassau came from. I'm trying to maneuver one into position."

I nodded and stepped into the briefing room where I found Louis working with Tiffany. Louis was giving instructions. "I know this sounds crazy, but I assure you that the dock has an upgraded tractor system. We just need to get your ship close and match its momentum to the moon and the dock can do the rest."

The voice that came back was full of pain. "I can try, but I'm doing this all one handed and we've lost most of our forward thrusters."

"Damn!" Louis said. "We need at least one tug unit. The Nassau has so much damage that she can barely maneuver."

"What's their status?" I asked as Tiffany adjusted some of the communications.

Tiffany sighed. "We aren't sure. Their systems have been badly smashed and other than the one vocal channel just about no communications work. We can't link into their telemetry and download the reports."

"Commander?" I asked.

"We aren't sure either." He said. "I've lost most of my experienced bridge staff and the computers are intermittent. The worst are the injuries. Our medical units took a direct hit. Only two of the crew are uninjured and I've got three crew in critical condition."

"What about your concubines?" I asked. "I've heard the navy lets you ship out with concubines."

The commander sounded more sorrowful. "I lost Maev. I think we have twelve alive as most were in their barracks when the fighting started. But they will need medical attention as well. Two are hurt pretty bad."

I looked at Louis. "Louis how will the teleport work?" I asked.

He smiled. "Once the Nassau docks they should be able to walk through the docking connection into a small room in the repair bay. There is a teleport pad there, which can be connected to the one here. Reggie is already calibrating the connection."

I could hear a gasp from the Nassau. "You can save our wounded?" a voice asked.

"We can only try," Louis replied as Donna entered the room. "We only have a few medical pods though."

Donna nodded and took up the transmission. "We have six pods, but I hope that no one complains if we have concubines running them."

"Concubines? Why?" a new voice asked.

Donna laughed. "Because Bren and Michael used to work in the medical field and are better than everyone except Shawna. And if your people are as badly hurt as I've heard, we won't have time for protocols."

The voice whined. "But concubines... They..."

"Are wonderful human beings who deserve our respect," I replied. "At least that is the tradition here on Ishtar. But don't worry, we can be ready."

"I'm sorry," the voice replied. "It's just that I never heard of a colony like yours."

Louis laughed. "None of them have our leader! Meanwhile, you are looking good on the approach. You might want to rotate now, since you say your forward thrusters are out. Drift along that vector for the next forty minutes and then I'll guide you in."

"How far out?" I asked.

Louis shrugged. "They came into real space with a lot of velocity and I'm having them maintain most of it for now. They are about thirty light minutes out right now, and moving at more than half the speed of light. With braking and matching momentum with Astarte I expect it to be about ninety minutes before I have them docked."

Donna nodded. "We can be ready. I'll have David and Jacques bring gurneys in eighty-five minutes." She stood to leave as Tiffany sighed.

"It's no use. Until we get the Nassau docked there is no way to talk to their computers. Their communications are pretty much gone. I'm amazed that we have the one channel working," the young blond moaned.

There was a laugh. "We stripped out most of the control runs for the weapons to jury-rig this one communications link. It's about the only thing I'm sure will work."

Louis sighed and covered his eyes. I would have said more, but Gina suddenly cried out. "I've got Borneo. They sound upset."

"Damn! More trouble," I moaned. "Can we route it through here so the Nassau can hear it?"

"One moment," Gina replied. "There was a burst of static and then Gina's voice returned over the speakers. "Admiral Himmel, I have James connected in, along with the Nassau. The Nassau's connect is a jury-rig so we might lose it."

"The Nassau?" a crusty and annoyed voice said. "What's a Patrician class corvette doing on that side of the incursion zone? I'm calling about that ludicrous ping that just crossed my desk. What do you mean a Sa'arm raider attacked you fourteen hours ago?"

Tiffany laughed and I shouted out to Tamara. "Tamara could we send the good Admiral the sensor and scanner data of that visit?"

"Sending," she replied.

There was a pause and I heard the Nassau's commander ask. "You were visited by the Sa'arm? Should I be worried?"

Louis replied. "No. It was an attempt to attack the colony but as James said earlier the atmosphere above us destroys just about anything. We have a couple of ground based laser cannons and managed to damage the raider enough to cause an explosion."

The Admiral snorted. "Likely story. If the air was acidic how could you survive?"

Linus must have been linked in because his voice replied. "Battle armor and the lasers rest underground unless needed. Still, both are out of service right now and will be for some time. We're trying to cobble up a way to get a single shot from one if we need it, the other is out for two weeks."

"And you are?" the admiral growled.

"Linus Van Stern," was the reply. "I am the primary ground staff and targeting technician for laser one. Right now Tyson, who is ground crew for laser two and I are trying to figure out a way to reattach a foot pedal to laser one so it can be used. It's proving to be difficult considering the damage the acid did earlier."

"Really?" came the reply. "And why should I believe you?"

"Because the after-action diagnostic report on the lasers is in that package I just sent you," Tamara replied sharply. "Check pages forty and forty-one."

There was a pause as the admiral seemed to be looking at something. We could hear a number of faint murmurs, but nothing concrete until he finally spoke up. "Okay, I believe you. But how did you have all of that?"

Tamara giggled. "James is responsible."

The Admiral paused again. "Would that be James Rabb?"

I replied. "I guess it's me. I'm the only James on planet that I know of. Right now however, we need to guide the Nassau in and then we've got repairs to get started on. We don't have spare crew though, so the Nassau is going to leave here with between five and eight crew."

Louis joined in. "And I estimate it's going to take a week to repair her. We finally got a sensor remote to make a pass. I'm amazed that any part of that ship still has atmosphere."

Commander O'Brien snorted. "We have atmosphere on the bridge, and in the concubine barracks just behind the bridge. That's where all our survivors have gathered."

The Admiral spoke up. "I'm still trying to get information on your ship. What is the Nassau doing out there?"

Commander O'Brien sighed. "We were part of the William Pitt's screen. The Pitt was sent on a deep strike to take on a hive ship that the Navy expected would jump towards Alpha Centauri. We found them, but it was three hive ships, not one."

"Dear maker!" the Admiral hissed. "What did we lose?"

"The Pitt had turned around and I saw her jump engines light. I think one other Corvette was still with her, but I know that the rest of the screen, three corvettes and two battle cruisers were lost, as were all of the Pitt's fighters. We had a Sa'arm gunship get between us and the Pitt and had to turn the other way. I remembered a memo about Ishtar opening a resupply post in a month and took a chance."

"Ishtar, can you fix the Nassau?" the Admiral asked.

Louis sighed. "I don't know. We've only been here on the ground for four weeks and everyone has limited training and no experience. Fortunately most of the repair facilities are automated. Right now I'm more worried about getting the Nassau docked with the repair station so that we can evacuate their wounded to our medical bay."