Depression by cmsix

Chapter 31

That meant I had a little exploring to do, and I headed back for the newly discovered range and armory first. I walked past their doors and continued down the hall. It was probably new too and I noticed that it was finished more like my home's basements.

About a hundred feet down the hall from the firing range's door I saw another handprint. When I opened it I couldn't believe what I found. It was so far from anything I would have imagined that I stumbled on the way in, nearly falling, even though the floor was perfectly smooth.

I didn't know what to examine first.

There were two helicopters. They were obvious military types but I was not familiar with them. The four tracked vehicles that resembled Bradleys were recognizable, even though they seemed half again as wide as a Bradley.

The two tanks seemed almost mundane since they were Abrams M1 A1s or damned near it. The two tracked cannons stumped me. I think I'd seen pictures of something nearly like them before but I didn't have any idea what they were called or what they were capable of. I left at once and headed back to find Jaycee.

I met her, Geron, and about twenty men near the door to the range.

"Jaycee, I know you haven't had time to get going yet, but you need to come with me for a while. I've found something else," I said.

"Can you give me time to get them started?" she asked.

"I should, but I can't wait. I have to know what I've stumbled onto," I said.

She had Geron take them men into the range and told him to try explaining what he'd already done. She and I both knew it wouldn't go very far but dammit, I had to show her what I'd found.

When we entered the new area I'd found Jaycee wasn't as shocked as I'd been, but she nearly was.

"My God," she said, "Those look like Comanches."

"What in the hell are Comanches?"

"They were supposed to be the next generation of armed reconnaissance helicopters. They were canceled, but not because they weren't up to the job. They cost too much for W and he needed the money to give rich people tax breaks," she said.

"I guess we could use them now and then, but if they're only for Reconnaissance they probably won't be much help," I said.

"They do killing too. They were also meant to serve as attack helicopters for light divisions. A lot of their capabilities won't be needed here since they can be armed for air to air combat too and they're stealthy. Probably the 20mm cannon will be our primary use, though the 56 Hydras it can carry could come in handy," she said, smiling.

"Oh, in other words they can probably slaughter a few hundred pikemen and cavalry without much bother," I said, thinking of the damage a few mortar rounds had done to mounted men.

"Just the fact that it can fly will probably scare the shit out of anyone around here," she said.

"Well what about this other stuff?" I asked, waving toward the tracked vehicles.

"Looks like somebody though the Bradleys needed more troop capacity. The two Abrams look fairly normal but the artillery was something that was also canceled for lack of funds," she said.

"Huh."

"They scrapped it for more tax breaks, or for something anyway. These weren't going to be cheap," she said.

"So they're not just tanks with bigger guns?"

"No, they're artillery. That's a 155mm tube and anything that receives its blessing is going to be hurt, especially now-a-days. They're impressive as hell but I don't see any need to break them out to deal with a few foot soldiers or mounted knights," she said.

"Can you operate one of them if they do drag some cannons of their own up?" I asked.

"If I need to I think I can touch off a few rounds. The damned things are mostly automated anyway. You basically tell them where you want the round to impact and what type of round you want to use and then click a button. The main drawback for us is that their range is five to forty-five kilometers. Even if we killed something with them, no one would know we did it," she said.

As the new information settled I looked around and was able to spot other things that weren't so foreign to me. There were dozens of Hum-Vs, most with some type of weapon mounted on them. We also had trucks, bulldozers, and other earth moving equipment.

I asked her about another tracked vehicle that we had four of and that appeared to have no weapon at all.

"Those are Wolverines. That's a 24 meter bridge on top of it. They can deploy and recover the bridge, and they can come in very handy," she said.

"Look at this," she said, as she walked around the widened Bradleys.

"Isn't it just a wider version, to carry more troops?" I asked.

"Mostly, but they all mount an M121, a one hundred and twenty millimeter mortar. They will be a lot more useful than the Crusaders will. I think minimum range is two hundred meters or so. That's something we can use up close and personal," she said.

"Well I don't know shit about most of it and this is now your domain," I said.

"Fine, I doubt we'll need any of this, but if we do have to crank up one of those birds you'll have to go along to help. They aren't single seat machines," she said.

"I don't know how to fly a helicopter," I said.

"I know, but you're going to have to learn how to fire some of the weapons. I'll be busy doing the flying if it comes down to it," she said.

"Damn," I said, "A king's work is never done."

She just laughed at me and told me I wasn't a king yet.

We left it for now and she went back to the range to start training our new snipers. I went back upstairs and as I walked into Fawne's makeshift office I saw Meka, holding Tutsie.

"Daddy, we look you. Tutsie me want swim," she said.

"Sounds like a plan to me. I'm tired of the women bossing me around anyway."

We went back to my house, changed and then went out to our lake where we had a nice afternoon of swimming. Cécile and Adèle joined us after awhile and Delphine came out a little later. After the three of them arrived I spent most of my time petting and fondling and just watched Meka swimming.

Later we had our supper in the castle and it was delicious. It was also coming up to sundown and when the thunder reminded me what was about to happen, I had Fawne lead us to my new quarters. She'd already mentioned that she'd made sure they were cleaned and ready for us. Meka didn't have a room here yet so she was going to sleep with us.

I know I should have taken time to compliment Fawne on her work getting Pierre's former accommodations ready for us, but I didn't have time to take. I could see that Fawne realized this herself this time. One trip at They's expense always left you able to realize when another was at hand.

Meka declined the night wear of all my other bedtime guest. She kept her tiny thong on while the others were naked like me. I was thankful again that I never seemed to get a real boner in her presence.

Fawn furnished a titty to keep my hand warm again but it was Meka that snuggled up to my back. No matter, Fawne knew where to park my dick by now and it was soon warming and growing between her thighs. Tutsie was the one whose normal sleeping space was disturbed so he made himself comfortable on top of me. And then, with one last loud crash of thunder we were asleep.

Later I got a short visit from Big Boy but all he wanted was permission to speak to Jaycee directly. He intended to explain some of the features he and his people had added to the equipment they'd furnished us. It didn't bother me in the least and I told him to go ahead.

I woke first again the next morning and managed to get out of bed without waking anyone but Tutsie. He hopped off the bed behind me and followed me into what I thought was probably my new bathroom. It was.

What's the difference between a castle and a palace. I don't know and actually don't know if there is a difference. I did realize that my new bathroom was palatial. The shower would have been fine for me and a dozen of so of my closest friends, and while I had an old style claw-footed single occupancy tub, I also had a whirlpool type fit for even more friends than the shower.

Of course the commodes were Meka specials and I noticed right away that all the fittings were gold with ivory trim. What the hell, even if they'd used real ivory there were a lot more elephants in this time period. I didn't even use my new urinal since I just peed on the shower's floor while I was rinsing off.

We even had a space for Tutsie in here. It was toward the back of the extra large bath and was a twelve by twelve square of indoor lawn. I checked and it was real grass growing in real dirt. I didn't even want to know how that was possible. Tutsie wasn't too impressed, he just walked out, took a leak, and the scratched around on it some.

When I got back to the bedroom the girls were climbing out of bed. Meka moved toward Tutsie but when she got close he turned around and led her into the bathroom. No doubt he was going to show her his new spot.

Jaycee gave me such a look when I saw her and I had to ask.

"What?"

"You could have warned me?" she said.

"No I couldn't, I only found out about it after we were asleep," I said.

"No harm I guess, it just isn't exactly normal to get that much training in your sleep. I'll admit that I was scared at first," she said.

"Did you learn anything?"

"Other than the fact that we have a few satellites up and full GPS capability you mean? Not much else except that we have six drone helicopters, very small ones that we can send up for constant surveillance of the nearest few hundred square miles.

"Oh yeh, the fueling, or lack of it I guess. All our equipment fuels itself somehow, no matter where it is, rearms itself too. Now there's an innovation the real army should be looking into. Abrams tanks that have new rounds appear as the others are used up," she said.

"Damn, it sounds like they mean for us to stay a while," I said.

"Whether they intend for us to or not, I want to. It'll take me weeks to learn to use all that stuff," she said.

"Well, it isn't like we'll miss out on anything at home," I said.

I could tell that my last statement caused Fawne, Cécile, Adèle, and Delphine some concern, so I explained to them that it would be the next morning when we got back home. I could tell that they didn't want to think about that long. Come to think of it, I didn't either.

Jaycee noticed the new bathroom doors then. Mine first but then she spied one on the other side of the room and correctly deduced that it was for the women. They all headed that way, even Meka. Tutsie showed his extreme intelligence again by staying with me. I was about to head out to face the world when the squealing started.

Normally I wouldn't just barge into the ladies bathroom but I made an exception. I needn't have. The noise was from their excitement. They loved their new bathroom but that wasn't what had them giddy. They had new closets too, enormous closets and someone had been shopping for them while they slept.

They were examining clothes and didn't even notice that I'd come in. I reached down to grab Tutsie and we made our escape. Surely I could find food or at least someone that was about to cook some.

When I got to the dining room we'd used yesterday I saw that progress on the French Maid attire had been made, but I wasn't sure it was Fawne's doing. In fact I was almost positive it wasn't.

The girl that met me when I opened the door showed me to my seat at the head of the table. She was wearing what I considered the ultimate French Maid outfit, even the little lace cap like thing on her head.

The rest of her outfit was black with just a little white trim. I don't know how the top stayed up since there were no straps. It barely came up above her nipples, and the neckline plunged nearly to her navel. Her back was also mostly bare, though there was a skirt, or sorts.

Said skirt was short, very short, but it wasn't tight. There was easily enough room for my hand to explore under it. When she bowed slightly to pull my chair back I saw that she had been equipped with a thong, and I'd already noticed that she had a garter belt holding up her thigh high stockings.

Actually they were damned near beaver high. Something was going on with the straps that hung from the garter belt to hold the stockings up too. No matter how she moved they seemed to stay against her legs even though they didn't seem to be elastic. More of Big Boy's tricks I guessed.

When she pushed the chair up under me as I sat, I gave one of splendid ass cheeks a friendly squeeze. She smiled and headed to the kitchen. In perfect English she told me she'd bring coffee and a sweet roll. Good for her.

She was back and with a friend in what seemed only seconds. The first one had a silver tray with assorted pastries on it and the friend had another one with a silver coffee service. I figured it must all be new since I doubted Pierre had owned such. The tip off was one of my Texaco insulated plastic mugs in a place of prominence. I noticed there was also one for Meka.

Everything in the room looked better this morning, except for Tutsie's highstool. It was the same one from my house. I wondered about it but wasn't going to ask. Big Boy volunteered an answer anyway.

"We are letting the craftsmen handle Tutsie's stool, unless you object," he thought at me.

"That will be fine, there's no hurry," I thought right back.

Tutsie didn't feel slighted since his personal server had come out too, with a silver plate containing doggy appetizers. Damned if he wasn't eating them slowly, one at a time.

Meka led the girls in about then and they were all, including Meka, dressed in period costume. Jaycee didn't seem thrilled about her get up but she did look wonderful in it. Once they had all been seated the food flood commenced.

Our servers seemed to take turns with who they were serving which time. I did notice that they all made it by my place to give me a chance to pat their fanny. Even Tutsie's personal pet refilled my coffee mug once and I didn't slight her either.

Fawne finally spoke up.

"I wonder if everyone has had improvements in their living conditions. I was very surprised but very happy about our bathrooms and especially our closets. I also see now what Jaycee was trying to explain about the new attire for our servers," she said.

"I noticed that little detail myself," Jaycee said, "I guess someone made a special request upstairs."

"No, I promise I didn't mention it. I'm sure they were just trying to save Fawne the bother," I said, hoping it would satisfy them.

Of course it didn't and the next few minutes were spent teasing me about it. It seems that even Meka had noticed the friendly way I was thanking the girls for their attention this morning.

"Daddy pet every ass, Jaycee. Maybe you should bring coffee too," she said, and I'm sure she thought she was helping. I just wondered who she was intending to help.

"No need to horn in on their fun, as long as he doesn't neglect my cheeks if we ever get a night when we're not going somewhere. John, have you looked outside to see where we are today?" she asked.

"No, but I don't think we moved. I had some warning that there would be maintenance work last night," I said.

"Didn't they do all that the first night," Fawne asked.

"No, that was mostly just moving us and fixing up the wall. I believe everyone got a bathroom last night. They mentioned that they'd have to do some improvements to the "hovels" as they called them. They also said they'd be straightening out the streets and doing some other improvements," I told them.

Our talk was cut short by a slight commotion I could hear outside the entry doors. Soon enough they opened and Geron was standing there, literally with his hat in his hands. I called for him to come in and eat with us. When he sat down I gave him some news.

"Geron, I expect you to eat every meal with us, unless you'd rather not. Don't hesitate to walk right in, you don't need to be announced or anything like that," I said.

He thanked me and started to apologize but I headed that off as tactfully as I could. Hell, I wanted to know what he had come for.

Finally he started telling about the streets moving and the houses being worked on and the barns growing and I just let him go on until he ran down.

"I had a few improvements made during the night. I hope no one was inconvenienced," I said.

He assured me that they hadn't been and said they were all just surprised. He said surprised but I think the word he really wanted to use was astounded. I had trouble not laughing in his face but I made it.

I promised Geron that I'd take a tour outside as soon as we finished breakfast and I'd had time to inspect the kitchen and than the cook. In my heart I wanted to take every one of the nearly naked servers up to my bedroom and thank them good too, but I knew that wasn't going to be possible.

When the meal was over we all took a tour of the kitchen and even I was impressed. It now looked like a commercial restaurant kitchen with all the modern hardware. Gas cooktops, large electric ovens and dozens of other kitchen type things, including several large sinks with hot and cold running water and even a few electric coffee makers. Not to mention commercial type dishwashers and a disposal under every sink drain.

At first I wondered how they'd learned to use their new equipment so fast but then I decided that Big Boy must have had a hand in it. Good enough, there'd be nothing pleasant about someone getting some fingers chewed off by a garbage disposal.

Jaycee intended to spend more time teaching my new forces to fire modern weapons this morning so she didn't take the tour with Geron and I. The other women didn't either. Meka started to but she decided to go up and flush the new toilets instead and she took Tutsie with her. Geron and I headed outside.

Big Boy and his minions had done excellent work. It still looked mostly like a village outside, but everything was now well built and the streets were straight, paved, curbed, and guttered. I couldn't really tell that the houses were any larger than they had been before, but then again I hadn't paid much attention to them in the first place.

I could tell that the people were excited though and there was a lot more running around than there had been yesterday.

All of the barns and outbuildings belonging to the castle were now done in stone, mostly matching that used on my house and barn. All roofs were slate now, even on the peasant's houses. It looked to me like there were several extra buildings from yesterday too.

That wasn't all that was extra either. The barn that had contained the Knight's horses was easily four times the size it had been and when we entered I could see that it was completely full to the brim with fine horseflesh. The grooms were amazed but happy since a more modern type of feed trough and hay racks were also in place.

The last thing that Geron wanted to show me was a new building for the tack and armor. I didn't know where the fighting men had kept their armor before but apparently it hadn't been in a central location. It was now.

From the outside I wondered why the building was so large, it seemed nearly as big as the new barn. Once inside I could see the reason.

It looked like a giant locker room for some type of sports team inside. There was a separate place and locker for every man, and there were plenty of extra ones for later additions.

At each locker there was a new suit of armor, of alien design, and a small area where the man could put it on. The armor looked familiar and resembled other armor I'd seen here and now, but it was standardized. Each set was custom made to fit the wearer but it was all of a style and function. I knew it was custom made because every locker was labeled.

I'd seen enough and really didn't care much about the specific details.

"Everything looks well done, Geron. Be sure to tell me if there's anything else you need. We should have visitors in a few days," I said, hoping to make my escape.

"They will begin arriving midmorning tomorrow. My scouts say they are pushing as fast as they can. No doubt they hope to catch us disorganized and mourning Pierre," he said, and grinned savagely.

"Is anyone mourning Pierre?" I asked.

"I think his favorite dog misses him, but Meka has been comforting him and sharing treats to take his mind off his loss," Geron said, and then laughed.

"Once the others are actually here, how long will it be before we can expect an attack?" I asked.

"It will take them a few days to get organized. They will probably send a small party to the gate tomorrow afternoon. They will come under the white pennant and demand we surrender, offering to spare us if we do," he said.

"Fine. Ignore them. In fact, I don't want anyone at the walls at all. They can't get over them in significant numbers to cause trouble and if we don't open the gate they can't get inside. If a few men do try to climb over the wall they won't be hard to capture, if they make it," I said.

"That seems a little rude, if I may say so," he said.

"I intend for it to seem rude. I intend to make the other Barons think I care nothing for their wishes or opinions, because I don't care, at all.

"All I really care about is their men. I don't want to kill any more of the fighting men than I must. You saw that we have room now for hundreds more men and the Barons are bringing them to us. We must try our best not to damage any of them," I said.

"But what if they won't swear to you after you've dealt with their lords?" he asked.

"Then we'll damage them. I think there is still plenty of room underground for those that won't swear to me," I said.

He got the joke right away and laughed uproariously. Maybe my attempts at humor were getting better after all. Surely a proud Frenchman wouldn't laugh at bad jokes just to suck up to his new boss.