Chapter 7

Mary and Roc had completed their mission, an alliance with the P'OTP. The diplomats were miffed that it was an oral agreement, they loved written agreements. Not that they were any more binding, but they loved making official copies in triplicate. They could not copy the oral agreement with the P'OTP, because Mary had not made a recording. The fact that the diplomats were pissed actually made most other people happy, especially the Army Brass. The treaty with the P'OTP did not enhance the Military in any way, but it was a great propaganda and recruiting tool!

Ric and Mary had a more immediate problem, what to do with Roc's women? Mary came up with two things that would work and left it up to Roc to decide. He could either marry both of them or they could enlist in the Army. Roc was NOT ready to get hitched and thus the P'OTP division was formed! Army regulations declared that the addition or omission of parts of the uniform was permissible for designated cultural units when two things were true. One, the unit must contain members or descendants of that cultural group and two if that uniform style does not detract from the appearance and professionalism of that unit.

Thus it was that Sergeant Kelley, Corporal Roc, Privates Babs and Private Lil departed the scout ship onto the main ship to a chorus of wolf-whistles and throaty demands to "take it all off." Mary had on her Tugrole skirt and was bare from the waist up. Since they had to turn in their weapons, Roc wore his Tugrole sling like a bandoleer over his bare chest, the Tugrole dagger that T'sar had given him and the two P'OTP women were dressed in short skirts over loin-clothes made of the skin of a grel. Their bare chests with groups of three and four teats, respectively, were given much attention; however, Mary had briefed Babs and Lil, so they didn't react to the crowd and walked with their heads held high.

The lieutenant's eyes widened as they trooped into his office. Sergeant Kelley slapped the paperwork down on his desk before he could get a word out. Mary and her soldiers stood at attention while he perused the paperwork. "At ease! Well done Sergeant, it appears you covered all the bases. Good job on that treaty, you're showing an aptitude for this diplomacy stuff." Mary glared at him; he knew she hated this touchy-feely kind of crap. She would rather fight uphill to take a reinforced position under heavy fire than pussy foot around other's feelings.

The lieutenant then welcomed Babs and Lil into the unit. He whispered to Sergeant Kelley, "Don't let the Fleet Marines hear that we have a soldier named Babs in our unit, I would never live it down. We are waiting on some intelligence before you get your new assignment. You're billeted in the same space. Dismissed!" Mary led the way to their billeting area as members of the ships crew gawked at the topless parade. She ushered the members of her unit into the barracks chamber. Mary then flipped her hair, and consequently her erect nipples, then followed her troop out of sight. A smattering of applause wafted into the compartment from the appreciative naval personnel.

Mary walked over to two sleep chambers and opened them. Babs and Lil watched as the front panel slid open without making any noise. "[Privates Babs and Lil, these will be your sleep chambers. Your storage lockers are just to the right of your sleep chambers. Are their any questions?]"

"[Sergeant, we cannot go into those boxes. You would have us be sealed in there like a C-rat?]" Both women shook their heads and turned pale. "[We can sleep on the floor sergeant; we have blankets we can use. We promise that we will put store them in our lockers after we awaken.]"

Mary saw that they were serious and thought of them born and living under the open sky. There is no way I could expect them to go into those 'little boxes'. I'm surprised that they haven't gone mad being cooped up in this ship. "[I won't make you go into the sleep chambers. No sergeant would be that cruel to her troops. However, for security reasons you two will have to change the names you use. Babs you will use Beatrix and Lil will go by Lillian, understood?]" Babs and Lil nodded their acceptance.

The days of waiting turned into a repertoire of monotony. The languor only broken by sex, showers, sex, meals at the chow hall, sex, training and more sex. Sergeant Kelley managed to find some portable sleep learning devices, so the nights of the P'OTP women were filled with computerized manuals interspaced with torrid lesbian sex scenes. Mary had reasoned that the girls embraced them with much passion, thereby causing the sleep training to be remembered more by the trainees. It was all a matter of adding a spoonful of sugar to the medicine, as was taught by the most revered First Sergeant M. Poppins. Mary felt threatened by the two privates, at least for Roc's affection. Mary should not have worried, ever since the bruised ribs incident, Roc limited his interaction with members of his 'herd' to early morning milking.

They were finally called to the Lieutenant's office for receipt of their orders. He put them at ease then delivered, what was to Mary, the bad news. "Since you performed so well in the assignment that gave us an ally in the fight against our enemies, the Rics, it has been decided that you might be able to do the same with the Tridircs." Mary looked confused, so the lieutenant elaborated, "You know Sergeant, those Hershey's Kiss looking aliens that you rescued from Stallus III, the ones with three of everything." Mary nodded; she remembered the teardrop shaped aliens with the three eyes, three tentacles and three sets of three tentapeds that enabled the aliens to scurry about. All features of the Tridircs are symmetrically spaced around their torsos.