Chapter 12: Really Dirty Tricks

The ladies, now known to themselves (and a few select others) as THE Harem, enthused by their recent successes, were now firmly bonded with Siân, Ki, and Ko. Most were together several times a week to train, and after hours, to socialize, sometimes cuddle, and conduct other interesting explorations. Siân, not as often -- she was much like an older sister -- but she liked the others and used her visits as a way of keeping a useful 'link' for the two departments. Typically, they met in the Harem's quarters to make it easier for the concubine members to participate.

At one of their extended sleepovers, they were reliving their liberation of the girls' school when Patricia giggled uncontrollably.

"What?!" came a chorus.

Getting control of her giggles, Patricia managed to start, "You know the panic in the Earth First communities when their leadership 'absconded' with their funds, supposedly taking their families? What if other families, especially their women, started disappearing?"

"You know, you just might be on to something," mused Siân. "You should do something about it." She grinned at them, and the girls were off to the races, planning and plotting.

The basic idea was pure genius, but the implementing ideas were more so. Each of the Harem members assumed the responsibility for planning, organizing, and leading one or more targeted disappearances. Siân was seconded to the effort, and with Dora serving as coordinator, the two assured timing was good, that needed resources were available, and that one operation did not conflict with another.

Interviews with the already extracted families of scammed Earth Firsters yielded a trove of heretofore unavailable intelligence on the names, locations, and plans of various Firster cells. Names of families were thrown in the hopper for consideration, and with Dora's ability to evaluate for truth, highly probable fact was gleaned from interviewees' wishful thinking. The Harem was off and running.

For several mornings, after breakfast in their quarters, the Harem was joined by the Ninjas and Siân. The 'dirty tricks committee' convened and began adding some ad hoc members drawn from 'liberated' wives, girlfriends, and victims of Firsters.

As they plotted, the tone was both jubilant and vicious. New member Abigail found herself drawn in more and more. Then, she was celebrated by those present when she suggested a change-up where some departing women left disparaging farewell notes denigrating penis size, sexual prowess, and other subjects sensitive to the male ego.

That new aspect of the project was adopted and launched with much joy, excitement, and creativity in the letters drafted for that purpose. It wasn't work. It was play; it was revenge; it was validation, and it often continued through lunch into the early afternoon.

Not even the talented women of Michael's family could have foreseen the hell about to be unleashed on Earth First members scattered across North America. And, with the Harem as a model, Siân and the department-that-doesn't-exist planned to set up localized teams to bedevil the Firsters everywhere.

Three women, looking to be in their early forties, sat near the back of the auditorium, bored almost to tears as the president of the school's PTA droned on. The subject and substance was long lost on most attending.

Of those present, less than a handful were men, because most were in bars or attending an Earth First meeting. The small community was in the midst of an Earth First enclave, and most wives and daughters were only allowed out for church functions and sanctioned meetings like PTA. Needless to say, opportunities to 'get out' were seized upon, even if it meant listening to Betty Mae (a Firster in her own right) pontificate about the evils she gleaned from the latest sermons of her favorite blow-dried TV preachers. There were plenty of other women like her, some bitter that they were too old to be extracted, some afraid of the competition if they were picked up, some with genuine religious convictions, and of course, those who refused to believe.

Betty Mae's voice rose in pitch as she began a rant about false reports of an alien landing. "You can tell the pictures are fake," she claimed. "It's just propaganda to let 'them' steal our daughters. Preacher Tom got the word straight from National."

The three tuned her out again, and the short blonde in the middle whispered to her friends, "They are real, and I wish I could get my kids out of here."

The other two looked at her and nodded. "Sue and Marcie said pretty much the same thing when we were retrieving the munchkins yesterday." All three looked fearfully to see if anyone was in earshot. "No chance of a pickup in this town. Too many macho idiots with guns and chips on their shoulders."

The meeting finally wound down and died a miserable death. So miserable, the three didn't bother to stay for coffee and sheet cake. As they gathered their coats, a well-dressed black woman walked over and spoke in low tones, "If you are serious about what you said, you and your friends should volunteer for the Valentine's Day party committee," and Danni turned to walk out the door.

The three looked at each other, re-hung their coats, and walked back into the auditorium over to the committee signup table.

"Marcie, where the hell do you think you are going?" demanded the pugnacious man sitting back in his recliner swilling a beer.

"I told you Honey, this is the last Valentine's committee meeting before the party," Marcie answered carefully.

"Well, make sure you take the brats with you. I have an EF meeting tonight. Won't be back 'til late." He turned and took another pull from his can.

"Sure Honey, I have the diaper bag, bottles and toys packed and ready to go." She picked up her toddler, grabbed the hand of her second grader, and left.

Similar scenes took place in many of the town's Earth First homes, and that night, twenty-three Firster wives, fourteen teen daughters, one teen son, and a plethora of children disappeared without a trace. Betty Mae was one of five Earth First wives remaining. One of those left behind wept bitterly because she had been out of town when the secret extraction occurred.

Thrown together because of jealous, controlling, obsessed husbands, the extracted wives had known exactly who to enlist (and just as important -- who not to include) based on Danni's comment. The extraction team, made up of Danni and five of her sister-concubines, walked into the planning meeting, and asked who wanted to be extracted under the protection of the Confederacy.

Assured that they would have the option to return to Earth in another location with another identity, volunteers, potential concubines, and fifteen needing to be CAP tested, gathered up their children and carryons. One by one they stepped through a transporter pad to a cheering cadre awaiting them on the moon.

They simply disappeared. There had been no interdiction field, and cars were left in the parking lot. Frustrated Firster husbands, boyfriends, sons, and even a few Firster wives and girlfriends ranted and railed, but their accustomed victims were gone with no trace. Newly present was a heavy stink of fear.

On the moon, hungry new arrivals were fed and shown to rooms prepared for them, each with enough beds for a family. A large open lobby-like area had sofas and chairs in small clusters where the excited families could gather, visit, and attempt some level of order with their over-stimulated children.

Shortly, they were introduced to some of the wives, daughters, children, and significant others extracted after the girls' school sting operation. Then they were briefed on their options as so-far-unattached Confederacy concubines.

As had happened with Michael's family concubines, all were run through medical for assessments and CAP tests, and the same minor tweaks were allowed to clean up scars, restore desired hymens and muscle tone, and the like. Michael approved one new exception to the 'no major changes' rule when he authorized those desiring an age regression to start the process, but limiting them to late teens or early twenties. He wanted the women to have a real chance of finding sponsors and felt the change in appearance and renewed confidence would go a long way to accomplish that goal.

The next evening, the weeping and newly battered 'left behind' wife was extracted from her bedroom where she had been chained to her bed after being raped. Her husband had left the distraught woman and her children locked in at home, and joined the rest of the local Firsters who gathered, drinking and ranting at their usual bar.

The new arrivals brought more intelligence. Many male Earth Firsters were not cautious with their discussions around their women. Reasons varied from arrogance to the assumption that their women agreed with their every word, and frequently verbal diarrhea caused by their favorite relaxant. And like the earlier extractees, they were aware of similarly situated families, and like their sisters, they were anxious to help them.

As noted before, Earth Firsters were not only male, not only white, nor only selfish abusers, but they did tend to be very insular. Once following the trail of a given ilk, the majority encountered would be very homogenous and hold to similar views. For the Harem's purpose, this was a very good thing!

In what came to be called 'the enclave' by those in the know, an overnight cottage industry bloomed to extract the afflicted. The newly rescued became fierce advocates and helpmates, and conversation pits resembled miniature boiler rooms generating ideas and plots.

Dora's assistance was beyond valuable. From the first, as information sprang forth from the new arrivals, Dora dispatched miniature drones to watch the freshly identified Firsters. These drones infiltrated their homes, their cars, their work places, and their hangouts. Anywhere a Firster or a family member was present, there was one or more drones watching. Dora processed this steady flow of intelligence and was able to help the Harem make sense of it.

Using specialty drones, Dora was able to infiltrate and subvert all observation and recording devices. Over time, and for each device, she obtained innocuous footage from when absolutely nothing occurred. She used these to build a library for each device, so that for any extraction, she could shut it down, then insert the stored data to account for the time the extraction occurred.

Michael stood watching, amazed at the happy naked and scantily clad beauties prancing around. He'd seen it before after the rescue of his own companions, but he had thought that the transition might somehow be unique. For once, his predictive abilities left him wanting, and he was very happy that his own experience was not exceptional.

The few male teens extracted were receiving a LOT of attention. A thought hit him. <Dora, no matter the good will these women have now, tell my ladies that we need to get some more men in here or there will be real trouble. If any of those fake Earth Firsters we picked up are still unattached, get those men and families over here pronto. Remind them of their agreements, and warn them all that they are highly likely to be called upon for stud service. Get Jackson involved and tell him I said he needs to finish selecting his harem. Tomcatting is fine, but he needs to get settled before he loses the best candidates.>

<You betcha, husband of mine. I've told our wives and your companions, and I think Jimmy, Victor, and Richard are relieved for different reasons,> Dora responded with a mental smile.

<Another thing,> Michael added, <in these ad hoc pickups, we need to be looking for men with a record or potential of being good daddies. If you'll monitor and update any existing CAPs, administer needed tests, and then bring them to the family's attention, maybe we can add one or two. That will add more variety to the ladies' sex lives, but more importantly, when babies start popping out, they'll have help raising and developing children with high CAP scores.> He shook his head at the seemingly endless variety of parading pussies, then wandered off to see what kind of trouble he could get himself into.

After the successes of the Valentine's Day operation, the sting, and the follow up extractions/disappearances, a reign of terror descended upon Firster men and women wherever they were. Key success factors in the succeeding operations were carefully orchestrated. None were ever similar to known Confederacy pickups, the extracted families were never seen again, and no "overly large" men and women were seen in the areas before or after the disappearances.

Serious as they were, harassment activities against the Firsters was recreation for the Harem, and their other rescue and extraction duties continued unabated. Sam and Lew were kept informed, Lew on an unofficial basis by Siân, but Randy, of necessity, needed to be shielded from knowledge of these targeted Firster family extractions. 'Plausible deniability' and all that.

One day, while Rachel and Cathleen were having lunch and an after action debriefing with Randy, they paused over their chow and mentioned to him that they continued to have a special interest in assisting battered families. From that point on, Randy put a request for information through his network.

Mysteriously, many of these abused families disappeared, and others found justice because Michael's family was able to bring unique techniques to help local law enforcement. The visible help that came after some of the reports to Randy went a long way to prevent fingering the Confederacy involvement.

Targeted Firster spouses, families, girlfriends, and victims disappeared at an ever faster rate. Women and children even disappeared from locked homes, bunkers, and hotel rooms. Though frequently surprised, they went willingly, in part because the extraction team always included a 'disappeared' friend or acquaintance known to the chosen target. So good was the team's intelligence and Dora's vetting, no one refused an offer to escape.

Often, when Firsters gathered, their women and families disappeared like water vapor from a swimming pool. You might ask why the team always seemed to gather almost exclusively women and girls. There were, indeed, men and boys extracted, and there were women Firsters, but the mindset of the typical Firster caused him to take sons, nephews, and other males into the fold and relegate daughters and females to keeping house. Even sons who didn't have 'real' Firster leanings were typically dragged to Firster activities like recalcitrant children were dragged to Church.

The usual Confederacy pickups continued as they had all along, though somewhat abated by some local reactions to the Swarm's arrival. Many EDF fighters welcomed the extraction of their loved ones, while angry Earth Firsters continued to deny the Swarm's existence, or to resent their failure to be extracted.

They were not careless, nor cocky, nor overconfident, but nevertheless, they were not invulnerable. Sometimes luck just plain runs out.

The ground team of Michael, Rachel, Cathleen, Hannah, Patricia, and Naomi were finishing up from a simple extraction. Naomi was along both as a trainee and to help gentle their target's teens and preteens. Ginger, another team member, had accompanied the extractees out through the transporter.

The target was a rather large family belonging to yet another Firster patriarch. He had seven 'wives,' two of them under twelve, that he kept subjugated in a large farm compound. His three grown sons lived in houses within the same compound with their multiple 'wives'.

Dora's drones had been watching the compound, the dirty tricks team having been alerted by interviewing yet another liberated girlfriend. The woman's younger sister had been abducted by the clan and forced to 'marry' the patriarch.

Typically, when the men left the compound, one of the sons or sometimes the senior wife, who was also a Firster, stayed behind to ensure the other women would be there when the rest returned. One exception occurred on a regular basis.

On Saturday evenings, the women, teens, and other children would be herded naked into a large, windowless, stone barn in the middle of the compound and locked in. Presumably, the nudity would deter them from running if they did escape the barn. The family's Firsters would all go to the nearby town to attend their meeting, after which they would drink themselves into a falling down drunk.

Shortly after the men folk departed for their meeting, Michael and his ladies entered the compound, picked the lock to the barn, and offered its occupants the sanctuary of extraction. With the observed experience of prolonged absence, the families were allowed an hour to gather clothing, possessions, toys, and the like in order to enhance the mystery of their escape.

At the end of the hour, Ginger left with the liberated families through the transporter portal, and the rest of the team drove away in the old school bus the patriarch kept for the rare occasions when large segments of the family needed to be conveyed somewhere.

They drove for two hours until they reached a town with a large mall on the outskirts and abandoned the bus in the parking lot. If the bus were still there on Monday, a call to the local police would likely result in its being towed, further muddying the presumed trail.

On the perimeter of the mall parking lot was a restaurant known for both the excellence and variety of its menu, and the group decided to enjoy a late meal, then order a variety of takeout to add to the replicator library. Their meals were delicious, and they exited loaded down with twelve takeout bags.

As they crossed towards a pre-positioned van, Michael's neck blossomed red and the sound of three shots sounded. Two groups of Firsters, on their way to dinner after a meeting, had spotted the team and assumed that they were Michael's prepack. Thinking to kill Michael and abduct the women, their leader drew and fired without warning.

Subsequent events were not as the leader had anticipated. As Cathleen and Rachel caught the collapsing Michael, a shrieking Naomi launched two shuriken at the leader. Bucky barked twice, while Patricia spun to cover their rear. Well that she did, as the other party of three began to draw, slowed somewhat by their shock at the violence already unleashed by the furious women. Three more shots -- three more collapses.

The violence was over in less than thirty seconds.

While Rachel shielded them with her body, Cathleen slapped a red patch from her BITCH Kit on Michael's neck. She held it in place until it took and began sealing the wound. Both Michael's own nanites and those in the Confederacy's first aid kit began the work of repairing the damage from the one bullet. Two other bullets were stopped by Michael's Kevlar vest, but there would be bruises.

Patricia's three targets were dead, as were the two visited by a messenger from Hannah's Bucky. The leader stood gasping and dripping blood from the hand wound caused by Naomi's first strike. His arm hung limp, her second throw embedded deep in his shoulder.

While Hannah asked Dora to alert Marshal Pope and call for meat wagons, Hannah grabbed the wounded man by the hair and told him, "you just fired at undercover US marshals, and the man you shot was the team leader. Here's what you are going to do. Take your cell phone and call one of your Firster buddies -- I don't care who. We have your phones, so we can check on all the numbers."

She paused for breath, "When you reach him, tell him that you just shot an undercover US marshal. His undercover team of sexy women marshals took out your buddies, and are turning you over to the EDF as the first member of their newly formed Jackass Company. You are going to be on the front lines defending against the Swarm." She shook him and continued, "Make sure they understand that not all pretty women are extraction bait. Think you can do that? Get it right, and you get a weapon when you face the Sa'arm."

Ambulances and the local police began to arrive, as did a local deputy US marshal dispatched by Marshal Pope. Good that he had, as the local police were having severe lower colon distress over the number of bodies and the fact that the "killers" really were law enforcement. Looks entirely misled them.

After a certain amount of posturing, the bodies were released to be transported to the coroner's morgue, the single living Firster was taken to the nearest emergency room -- accompanied by the local marshal, and the team departed in their prepositioned van.

Michael was healing fast, but was still weak. Patricia sat on his wounded side, and Naomi sat glued to the other. Both were shivering and it was uncertain if their reactions were the result of concern for Michael, Patricia's first kill, or Naomi's first action. Michael put his arms around them and kissed the top of each head. "You did well, my warrior princesses," he told them, "really well. Naomi, it looks like your workouts with Ki and Ko paid off."

That night, both Naomi and Patricia were very clingy and prone to nightmares. Because of his wound and bruises, no one slept on top, but the two youngsters were given the inside positions while Michael's other ladies spooned close beside them.

*Author's note: A BITCH Kit is a Confederacy first aid kit. See http://swarm.freewiki.in/index.php/Medical_Equipment

In the midst of all the activity, the Ninja Twins devised and executed the most brilliant Earth First-confounding extraction. Sam received yet another request for nurses and medical personnel. Med tubes did not completely resolve issues surrounding the population explosion burden that massive numbers of births, newborns, and growing infants placed on a colony.

Ki and Ko were present as Sam muttered under his breath. They were quietly discussing another hot bed of Earth Firsters, identified by the latest 'disappeared' families, and a flash of inspiration struck. Murray, Kentucky, Murray State University. They looked at each other then at Sam. Ki declared, "Okay boss we have this one covered. We need a month," and they headed for the enclave.

Dora launched drones to cover the town and the school before the second twin's butt cleared the door to Sam's office.

Murray was an interesting western Kentucky town with a population around eighteen thousand, augmented by over eleven thousand students at Murray State University. The university provided many cultural and intellectual advantages to the town, and it also had a highly regarded nursing program. In addition, the town contained a large number of Earth First disciples. The twins were going for a huge twofer!

Three days later, Ki and Ko were sitting across the table from the commander and senior NCO of the Office's own marine detachment. "There will be two extractions," Ki started, "the second will be entirely yours to plan and execute in a very public manner, and we can guarantee after the first, the Firsters will be so distracted, they won't be able pee straight, much less shoot. We will be working with the Harem on the first pickup."

The two marines began to smile. No one knew or cared about Michael's official rank nor those of his ladies. In only a few weeks, their antics and successes were already the stuff of legend. "Go on ladies, what's our task?" asked the officer.

"The baby boom is threatening to overwhelm the medical staffs of several colonies. In the rush to get babies started, piss poor scheduling not only has significant numbers of women birthing at the same time, but many of them are also multiples. It was bad enough with small colony ships, the mega ships have exacerbated the problem. Your team is going to help fix that.

"Michael's Dora will be liaison AI for both operations, and she will provide you with details so you can begin planning," began Ki. "We have a request, several actually, for nurses and hands-on medical personnel. I think one colony is going to start a college level nursing program. In addition, Dora will provide you with a list of names and specialties needed by Michael's team.

"Murray State has a nursing program, you'll see the details. As a bonus, it has ROTC and produces other specialties of use in the colonies. With the prospect of the Sa'arm heading south, the school's president declared the entire year a homecoming. Each school has had or will have a reunion week, drawing alumni from all over. The nursing school's gathering is in four weeks and three days. Go get them gentlemen!"

The twins' plan was both brilliant and bizarre. Using an unholy amount of funds, they purchased a property inhabited by Jitterbug-z Dance Club and Arcade. Making sure they hired many of the local Earth Firsters, they spent more money converting one side into a martial arts dojo and the opposite into a ballet studio. Calling their new business The Pink Ninja and Black Tutu, they set about publicizing it.

Together with Rachel and Cathleen, they demonstrated several flavors of martial arts at the pavilion in Central Park and wangled invitations to various other venues. The twins' skill and grace as they demonstrated basic kata was enough to mesmerize their audiences, but when they smoothly changed from a side kick to an arabesque and then began performing demi-plies, releves, and tendus, jaws dropped.

They were interviewed on WKMS, the campus NPR radio affiliate, featured in the Ledger and Times, and WNBS-AM, the local sports station. In every interview they mentioned that they were offering a package of martial arts and ballet free for the first month of lessons.

For their purpose, the shrewdest move was the use of Firsters for their renovations. Many of these men would not see the point of martial arts for their daughters, even when the instructors were women, ah, but sons were different. Free ballet lessons for their women and girls, that was great, even if the price was 'judo' training. Ki promised the men that their families would be given priority if they signed up before the classes filled. Astounded girls and young women, along with dubious boys and young men, were marched into the studio to sign up, even before renovations were complete.

Using Dora's knowledge of local Earth First membership, students were separated into classes that placed the Firsters' families together along with any sponsors or other individuals the team wished to extract. Parents were encouraged to watch the classes, which meant a typical day would see several mothers in attendance. Repeat visitors were invited to join in the lessons.

Their ploy was almost too successful. Interest bloomed, and classes could have been filled to overflowing. Rachel and Cathleen continued as instructors in the dojo, and three ballet teachers were identified in the unassigned concubine pool and co-opted for the Black Tutu. Daytime classes filled because students from the University took interest and had more scheduling flexibility. This was good and bad news, and the Ninja Twins consulted with their co-conspirators on ways to separate the extraction of these 'extras' from their action against Earth First.

As was often the case, Hannah proposed the solution, "We probably can't take all the extras, but maybe we can make it work. Why don't we identify all those that we really would like to have -- sponsors, needed specialties, just plain good fits -- people like that. The marines are planning their pickup for the kickoff dinner-dance, we'll have them set up some extra tables. Then we'll use the nanites to ensure confidentiality, provide free tickets to our candidates, and suggest they take 'friends' and go as a gang."

Space could also have been a problem, but because the building was huge, both the dojo and the dance studio had multiple practice areas. By plan, the first two of each were finished within the first week, but work on others was paced over two addition weeks, partly to allay any possible Firster suspicions. There were almost always one or two present while any weekday classes were conducted. During daylight anyway. Evenings were often occupied by Firster meetings and consumption of adult beverages of choice.

At the end of the first week, one of the Firsters approached the twins with a proposition. If they were allowed to use the unimproved space 'for meetings,' the craftsmen would finish that portion of the building with free labor. Feeling that having the Firsters close would actually give the team better access to their families, the twins allowed themselves to be talked into the scheme. They calculated an increase in the mystery if the families disappeared while the Firsters were on the property. Ko stipulated that only a separate entrance at the far end could be used, and that the door between the areas must remain locked. Agreement was reached and the deal sealed.

Days were long, but using the guise of segregating by skill levels, the extraction team was able to assure that their students were divided into three groups -- those who would disappear, those who would be left behind, and those who would be extracted by the marines. Within a few days, many of the mothers who declined to join the classes gathered daily to chat and watch from the small refreshment area.

While conducting individual instruction, the team made side comments and asked subtle questions to ensure that each target really did wish to be extracted.

Saturday came. The rejects, as the extraction team came to privately call them, were scheduled for the early morning exhibition sessions. Those targeted for extraction were scheduled for ten o'clock to coincide with a known Firster planning meeting. One class, with members targeted for the later university extraction, was also scheduled at ten with Ko instructing. In many cases, a Firster brought his entire family to the complex, deposited them for the exhibition, and left for his meeting. The rejects were ushered out 'to make room for the next class.'

One major departure from normal considerations multiplied the potential effects. Nanites had been used to ensure confidentiality, but that did not prevent mothers, girlfriends, and guardians from gathering favored relatives, friends and babysitters in their homes or at the dojo under various pretexts. Permission had been granted with limits similar to those given for the girls' school, and only if the names were provided so that they could be vetted. There was a risk, but it was deemed acceptable given the projected effect.

The first phase of the extraction was simple. Dora ensured that the only sounds heard outside the dojos and studios were prerecorded from earlier sessions. Inside, each adult was asked if she or he wished to be extracted -- the known answer was yes -- and they were led with any of their children to a transporter portal. In the moon base, they were met by the waiting reception teams. The few children unaccompanied by an adult were also transported, while various teams went to homes to retrieve already prepared parents or guardians who, for whatever reason, could not be at the demonstration.

As the extractions were underway, several busses pulled up to the front of the building. From inside the building, a stream of women transported from the moon quickly boarded the busses. As each bus filled, it pulled away and headed south towards Hazel on the Tennessee border and then on to Paris. The first bus, having the longest head start, continued on Highway 641 until it reached I-40 and headed east. The second bus followed the first, but the third took Highway 79 towards Dover and then Clarksville.

The final bus halted in Paris and parked adjacent to the tennis courts of the local college, where twenty cars and vans waited. The bus passengers made a big show of leaving the bus and departing in various directions. The bus then continued on after the preceding two. Each of the leading busses staged similar scenes one to three hours after leaving Paris, and the other continued through Clarksville and on to Nashville.

Shortly before the classes were due to end, Ko 'discovered' that the other classes had 'disappeared.' She ran to the Firsters' meeting room and pounded on the door. When the door finally opened, she sobbed to the astonished occupant, "All the classes but mine are gone! Where is my sister? Where are my friends? Where are my classes?"

Several of the women and girls from her class stood behind Ko looking panicked, and the confused Firster sputtered, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Ko looked at the two men who had followed the first to the door. "Almost everyone is gone. Let's go look at the security videos," she said while leading the way to the twins' office.

There she played the doctored video that Dora had prepared for this day. Each room was under surveillance and showed the students gathered for instructions before changing into clothes for a normal exercise. Then, in each class a student or parent approached their instructor and handed her a flower, which the instructor sniffed and smiled. "Drugged!" exclaimed Ko. The bogus instructor, and the other occupants gathered up their belongings and began exiting. The surveillance video switched to an external view where waiting buses were boarded, the 'drugged' instructors entering willingly. As each bus appeared full, it moved out of the parking lot and headed south on Highway 641.

At first stunned, one Firster swung on Ko starting to raise his pistol, yelling, "What have you done to my family?"

He found himself sitting on the floor, empty handed, with the pistol's magazine tossed aside and its chamber cleared. Ko handed it back to him saying, "Listen up Asshole. My sister and friends are gone, thanks to YOUR family. I'm trying to help here, but one more stupidity like that, and you are all out of it, and I go look alone."

The first men, joined by a crowd of others, watched the videos again. The security equipment, having been installed by Firsters, was above suspicion. Desperate men began calling family cell phones and received no answer, not even from family left at home. Of course not, with few exceptions, they were all in the moon.

Some men rushed to cars and headed south to try and catch the busses. Others headed home or wherever, to check on families thought safely secured. Most were not. Doctored security videos showed vehicles pulling up, two individuals entering, then their families exiting, and climbing into the waiting vehicles. The vehicles, being constructs, were never seen again. The reality? Two Confederacy extraction team members had been dropped off blocks away, had walked to the location, entered, and the property's occupants evacuated through a transporter.

Sometimes a note was found, generally on a theme, 'Bill, I know you don't think the Swarmy things are real, but I do. I'm taking the kids and heading south to get them as far away as I can. I hope you are right, but I'm not taking a chance. Madeleine.'

A large portion of Murray's Firsters hit the roads looking for signs of spouses, girlfriends, and the rest. CB radios and cell phones continually chattered with 'information' real and imagined, and even Firsters from nearby communities like Mayfield and Benton were pulled into the confusion.

Occasionally Dora would interject an item of misdirection into the mix. Ko quietly disappeared, and no one remained who was associated with The Pink Ninja and Black Tutu. The distraction was so well prepared and so unlike any known Confederacy pickup, there was virtually no suspicion of their hated foe's involvement.

The hoorah caused by the disappearances so consumed the Firsters, that none paid any real attention to Sunday's gathering for the university's school of nursing. The extraction of students, faculty, alumnae, ancillary medical personnel and physicians was a huge success.

Conducted with the well-known interdiction field and other features, including left-behind witnesses, Sunday's extraction also convinced the Firsters that the Confederacy was probably not involved in the prior day's activities. Together with the girls' school disappearances, other random family mysteries, and arrests for activities thought to be unknown to anyone but Firsters, The Harem truly visited hell upon the Firster communities.

Michael woke to voices and laughter drifting from the dining area. He stood in the door watching and listening as Hannah and Dora swapped puns and other stupid jokes. Valerie and Peter each sat with a bowl of cereal, listening, laughing, and occasionally adding one of their own. Aside from Dora's nude avatar sitting tailor style, floating level with the table, a more typical domestic breakfast scene was hard to imagine.

He was so proud of his family, both for the way they had integrated and cared for each other, and for the massive extractions and general hell raising they had planned and executed. He looked at Valerie and thought, 'Won't be long before she's an adult and will take on a new role in the family. The way the ladies have nurtured her and she's responded, I'll put my money on sponsor.'

Ducking into the bathroom for his morning activities, he quickly finished, grabbed a coffee, and joined the little group.