Chapter 11: Plans Change

[Note to reader: This chapter is a continuation of The Starbucks Aftermath. It also picks up the story of some of the survivors from Behind Enemy Lines.]

Asimov arrived from Earth ahead of schedule after one of the strangest pickup missions on record. Along with the typical mix of military volunteers there were four decidedly non-military types. Botany Professor Naveen Avalareddy and his two associates were having a preliminary meeting with the curator of the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, Dr. Jason Brown, at a Starbucks when they found themselves to be the primary objective of a Confederacy extraction.

Professor Avalareddy's wife was not with him when the interdiction field sealed off the small coffee shop, and he would have refused extraction had it not been for the presence of a college football player, Marvin Clark. He convinced the professor to rescue a very young mother and be patient.

Clark was privy to the outlandish plan of a college librarian, the demure and proper-looking Lesa Crews, and passed key information to his friend, Misty Nokamura, who arranged to have Clark's preferred concubines and the professor's wife present when his dependent children were picked up. Jason Lawrence, the sponsor-qualified fifteen-year-old son of Rebecca, a concubine Clark had chosen at Starbucks, had bullied his way into the dependent extraction with his own choices of concubines.

The official ringmaster of the pickup circus was Master Gunnery Sergeant Raymond Budzinski, a veteran of wars both on Earth and among the stars. He was one of a handful of Confederacy Space Marines who had faced the Sa'arm in hand-to-hand combat and survived. He was an outstanding combat marine, but he had been outmaneuvered by the librarian and her co-conspirators. Budzinski had thought pickup duty would be like R&R, but had come to despise the assignment and longed to get back into something he was comfortable with: killing the enemy.

Budzinski had taken a liking to the young Marvin Clark, which was a good thing. Captain Ian McGregor had made Budzinski responsible for accelerating Clark's training as a platoon leader.

Budzinski had lost his platoon leader in underground combat with the Sa'arm on a planet deep in Sa'arm controlled space. More than half of Budzinski's platoon had been killed in action against the Sa'arm on two different planets, Tulak and Sa'Triste. He was scheming to get Clark and the two veterans he had extracted from a nursing home assigned to his platoon.

The AI in Clark's pod announced Budzinski's approach and Clark asked that he be admitted.

"Good afternoon, Lieutenant," Budzinski said brightly in the strong voice typical of platoon sergeants for millennia.

Clark returned Budzinski's salute, ignoring the Navy tradition of not saluting unless covered. "Good afternoon, Sergeant. What has you wandering the companionways of us lowly colonists?"

Budzinski ignored the hooks with a barely perceptible smile. "We've arrived in the Haruat system and should be in orbit above Haru sometime between chow and lights-out, but I don't expect anything to happen until after breakfast, though. Are you still keeping Rebecca in line by threatening to allow her son to have his way with her?"

Clark laughed as he thought about how jumpy Rebecca had been during the trip from Earth with her fifteen-year-old son and his concubines crowded into the same habitat pod with them. Both he and her son had teased her unmercifully. "I don't know that it's really that much of a threat. I think she's resigned to it happening. I truly believe she's starting to look forward to it.

"Jason looks a confident 20 now that he's recovered from the whole enhancement package, including a Big Bud. Nothing we said convinced him to not do it! He was on a power trip for a while, and of course Sasha didn't help. She loves being abused by Jason, and I've been slow to put a stop to it. But, he finally realized that neither of his women really enjoys Big Bud or being humiliated, and he's toned it down some. It looks like he's going to grow up faster than I did."

"The nanites can give you a cock any size you want. Having one the size of a tall beer can shouldn't be as much of an ego boost as having the skill to make women scream and cream, unless all of your brains are in the head of your trouser snake. A real man doesn't need a big dick to do that." Budzinski paused before commenting, "I still have trouble picturing you being an ass to women, sir." He shook his head; then looked Clark in the eye indicating that he was through with his rhetorical comments, "We should be able to get Jason fixed up in his own pod tomorrow or the next day. That'll give you a bit more space."

Clark cocked his head toward the interior of his pod. "Actually, it's not all that crowded. This thing has three times the floor space of the house I grew up in. Of course, we didn't have six mothers, two fathers and ten kids in the house. The kids take up four or five times the space required by Jason, Angela, and Donna. What's the plan for Jason, by the way?"

Budzinski shrugged his shoulders. "No one has said anything to me. He's not officially a volunteer even though he has a six-point-nine CAP score. Fifteen is awfully young, but legal and doable with the nanites. A lot will depend upon his aptitude and attitude. Is he still as set on a military career as you are, sir?"

Clark nodded while considering his response. "He displays a lot of the traits of a drill sergeant already. He's certainly smart enough, and he's showing a lot of promise in reading what motivates others. He has a bit of a mean streak that I think he'll outgrow before too long. He also has enough situational awareness and leadership qualities to make a fine officer if he's allowed to complete his education."

"Captain McGregor appears to agree with your assessment, sir. He's going to arrange some interviews and tests for young Mr. Lawrence while the pods are being shuffled to and from Asimov. It just might be in the young man's best interest to remain in your household. I believe there's a plan being formulated that will team you with Corporal Miller for combat training. You remember her, right?"

Clark nodded, "Who could forget her? She's the striking woman who kept an eye on my friend Misty during the pickup." As he said 'striking' he held his cupped hands several inches from his chest.

Budzinski laughed, and then quickly sobered. "Be careful, sir, on two counts. Miller isn't easily shocked or insulted, but she's very dangerous when she feels she's being disrespected. She has also requested pregnancy leave and is prowling for a worthy father. Don't let her get her hooks into you, Lieutenant. Fraternizing is allowed by the dumbasses running this cluster fuck, but it's a bad idea and you shouldn't indulge."

Having heard some rumors regarding Budzinski and Miller, Clark just smiled, "Sounds like sage advice, Sergeant."

"Well, enough scuttlebutt, I'll catch up with you after breakfast. Good afternoon, sir." Budzinski came to attention and saluted before exiting. He hadn't even stayed long enough to sit down.

Clark returned the salute and bid the sergeant a good afternoon as well. The end of the journey from Earth meant that it was time to make some serious decisions about Jason.

Rebecca leaned around the doorway to get a peek at who was in the foyer. When she discovered that Marvin was alone she straightened up and quietly approached the man who literally owned her. He was lost in thought, but looked up and smiled when he detected motion. Rebecca asked him, "Was that Sergeant Budzinski?"

Marvin nodded, "He was checking to see if he'd picked the lucky week in the pool for when I swap you for Donna and/or Angela. Donna is really hot now that she has some meat on her bones, and Angela ... Whew, something about Angela really cranks my tractor."

Rebecca put her arms around Marvin's neck, the little bit of neck that he had separating his jaw from his shoulders, and kissed him passionately before responding, "You're not going to make me jealous. I already share you with three other women. What's two more?" She reddened more than a little when she added, "I think Jason may have lost interest in me, but I no longer consider it a fate worse than death if you want me to seduce my eldest son."

Marvin took Rebecca's face in his hands, kissed her nose, and forced her to look him in the eyes, "Liar." He knew that she was trying reverse psychology and made his own attempt, "Or do you want a chance to try out Big Bud?"

Even after a month of wild group sex, Rebecca was mortified by the lewd thoughts scampering around in her head, and she quickly broke eye contact. "It's not that as much as ... I don't think I can say it. I know that Sasha has had sex with Jason and ... you ... both of you at the same time." She rushed through the last phrase in a soft voice that Marvin would not have understood if it weren't for his nanite-enhanced hearing.

Marvin could barely mask his amusement when he asked Rebecca, "Have you taken on two guys at the same time before?" She hesitated before nodding. "Do you miss it?" Her face was beet red as she nodded again. "Would you prefer me and Jason or me and Sergeant Budzinski? Or, maybe you prefer Jason and Sergeant Budzinski? After all, you and I have been around the world many times in the last month."

Rebecca's eyes bored into Marvin, but she couldn't speak. Her throat had constricted so tightly that she could hardly breathe. She normally had no trouble deep-throating Marvin's modestly enhanced member, but she wouldn't be able to swallow a limp noodle at the moment. She worked her mouth a couple of times and when there was no sound Marvin pressed his open mouth over hers and tried to explore her tonsils with his tongue. He didn't back off until he felt her relax and respond to his kiss.

"Maybe I'll just tie you to the bed, turn the lights off, and let you guess who's working you over. You can imagine it's anyone you want." Marvin was getting a bit turned on by the adventurous streak that Rebecca was starting to exhibit.

He quickly changed the subject by asking, "What's the plan for this evening? We'll be docking at Haru tonight and they'll start offloading our pods sometime after breakfast tomorrow. It's time we made some plans for Jason."

Rebecca took a breath to speak, but Marvin put a finger to her lips. "No, I'm not referring to his sex life. Well, not directly anyway. Budzinski reminded me that Jason is not officially a volunteer even though he's aboard a colony ship and has a qualifying CAP score. You and I have to accept that Jason is an adult, but you're still his mother. My advice is for him to remain with us until he can qualify for officers' candidate school, or whatever the Confederacy equivalent might be."

"This is why you haven't let him fuck me, isn't it?" Rebecca appeared to be having an epiphany. "You didn't want me to lose credibility with him in order to have some influence over his choices."

Marvin kissed her nose, "That's why you're my favorite. You're great in the sack and sharp as a tack."

Rebecca backhanded Marvin in the solar plexus, a typical soccer-mom reflex. "Anyone with a functioning eye and half a brain knows that Sasha and Millie are at the top of your list, but I'm perfectly happy being number three." The laughing couple retreated toward the family room where the kids were last seen when they realized that it was suddenly too quiet in the pod. Rebecca knew that quiet children typically required more supervision than rowdy ones.

Captain Cooper received updated orders as soon as she reported the arrival of Asimov in the Haruat system. She asked that Captain McGregor, Professor Avalareddy, and Dr. Brown to join her for dinner. McGregor made sure that Avalareddy and Brown understood that this was quite an honor. Colonists are simply not asked to the Captain's table aboard a colony transport.

As the ship moved toward Haru from the inbound jump zone Captain Cooper rose from her chair. "You have the bridge, Number One. I have guests for dinner and I'll be in my quarters until then. Call me if it looks like anything will approach within ten thousand meters of us or when we begin decelerating for orbit."

Her second on command gave her a brisk, "Aye, Captain. I have the con."

Cooper placed a call to her quarters on Haru. "Hello, Patricia dear. How have you been?"

"Lonely, Mistress," Patricia responded a few second later. Asimov was still far enough out for civilian voice and video to lag terribly. "I've really missed you and Reggie. Are you both well?"

"Reggie has complained that he's either has a cold back or cold chest when he wakes up," Cooper responded lightly. "But I'm sure he misses more than your warm body on the other side from me. Hasn't that nice Marine's couple been keeping you tuned?"

"Lieutenant Quarrels was killed three weeks ago and Civil Service took them and their kids away." Patricia reported with a great deal of emotion in her voice. "Can't something be done to keep concubines from being treated so coldly when they've lost their loved ones? Losing your sponsor is bad enough, but to be dragged off to an uncertain future at the bordello or auction house is just..."