Part 10

Chapter 19

FRIDAY May 16

Renee was my wake-up call in the morning, having missed her turn the previous night. Jeff wandered into the dining room partway through breakfast and looked as fresh as if he'd just gotten up. Penny handed him the two new uniforms one of the domestics had given her earlier. "Pull up a seat" I offered.

"Thanks, but I ate in the mess with the troops already. I guess they're getting ready to take another base today."

"If you want to go with us and watch, why don't you grab a quick shower and change uniforms," I offered. He lit up at that news and I had Penny show him where their temporary room in my suite was. Twenty minutes later, he kissed his wife goodbye on the tarmac and I kissed mine--and Penny and Danielle.

"Hey, no fair," Jeff teased. I noticed that the trenches between the runways were filled back in and had been concreted over, and like the new center runway had been replaced by the new carbon-fiber reinforced concrete pad--a mystery to solve when we got back.

"Traffic control, this is Avenger clearing the ground for PB2--ETA 20 minutes."

"Roger Avenger, you are clear to go. Please make sure the commander has his command beret on," the controller giggled. "Understood control, Avenger out. Sir, the troops insist that you wear your special command beret when you're in the field," my pilot said as he handed me a black beret. I stopped to read the lettering on the front before putting it on and started laughing. Jeff still wasn't sure what was so funny until I explained what PITA actually stood for. Then he understood why "#1 P.I.T.A." was so funny.

"Your troops are pretty relaxed around you," he commented, still chuckling.

Nineteen minutes later, we were hovering well above a small cloaked and shielded valley in the Himalayas. "What are those lights flashing at us?" Jeff asked.

"Each ship not inside the pirates' shield is sending us messages via directed beam Navon laser telling us what's happening."

"What about the ship inside the shield?" he asked.

"If they need to communicate they send a cloaked shuttle through the shield. We don't send light or radio waves through any shield just in case they can detect it. Inside the shield, two ships can use a directed beam Navon laser since the beam is undetectable unless you're expecting it and have a proper receiver for it."

"Sir, Bumblebee 9 reports that there's a celebration going on down there. There are six ships with Cyrillic writing and five more ships that aren't usually there. Three of the Russian ships and three of the ones that aren't usually there are cargo transports. Scans show that four are loaded with hundreds of women. There are a total of 273 pirates in the base. Most are drunk to some extent. The slaves are scattered throughout the base."

We released nine of our ten shuttles with all of our fireflies with orders to dock with Bumblebee 8 and get instructions. My suggestion, if they hadn't thought of it already, was to knock out everyone inside all of the buildings and then make those drinking outside very sleepy, taking out the final pirates as the attack started. I also released a message to Air Traffic Control requesting the second hospital ship ASAP. Fifteen agonizing minutes later, the 'all clear' was issued by Bumblebee 8. One group of androids in orange was swarming all of the captured ships to do a hot swap of the AIs as we descended low enough to watch. I suggested loading any women that didn't require medical attention aboard Avenger, and using the transports that the captives had been imprisoned in to load the bound pirates.

Eleven women went into the hospital ship, seven had injuries they received before our raid, and four were pregnant and due any day. I recognized over 20 women from the captives we rescued from PB1 wearing all pink and mingling with the new group of women helping calm them down and direct them to where they needed to go. They were also handing out clothing to any woman that wasn't fully clothed.

"Shit, why didn't I think of that?" I thought, mentally berating myself. Marco and Vladimir came aboard with his niece. Evidently, the women knew and trusted Vladimir. I found out later that, since most of the women were available for anyone to use anytime they wanted, he would take a few of them to his house each night, feed them better than what they got normally, tend their injuries as best he could, and let them get an uninterrupted night's sleep. The women would let him know every day who needed it the worst. Evidently, over half of the pregnant women were pregnant by him, too. The 'breeders' knew that they would be forced to stay pregnant so they asked him to be the father. Even though their child would eventually be taken from them and sold, they still preferred to know that the child they had to carry was his and not one that was fathered by the other pirates. I did notice that the pirates weren't dropped or roughed up nearly as often as they had been during the last raid while they were being loaded into the empty cargo containers. I watched the orange-clad androids going from building to building now, bringing out computers and electronic devices for Serena.

Only 63 minutes after the all clear was sounded, we were on the way back. Final count was 273 pirate captives, 622 released captives and slaves, and 34 ships. As surprising as the revelation about all of the women in the cargo containers, the revelation that eight were filled with gold and cash was even more surprising. I made a mental note to find out why they had so much money with them. The other container ship was filled with food and weapons, and each ship that held women had at least two containers filled with either food or weapons. One was also filled with brand new pocket computers, well over twenty thousand of them. We left, leaving behind enough troops and shuttles to deal with anyone that might show up before we finished clearing out all of the temporary housing. Bumblebees 8 and 9 returned home with us to reload and then get some sleep.

Vladimir introduced me to his daughter Valya, named after her grandmother, Valentina. She thanked me for rescuing her and hugged me, but I could tell that she was seriously upset about something and could smell the reason--she was pregnant. I had quickly discovered with my wives and had confirmed with several of the pregnant women on the base that the hormones released during pregnancy were detectable. I got her father's permission to talk alone to her, bringing Madeline, one of the pregnant captives from PB1, with us. I told Valya that everyone knew that she didn't have a choice in the matter and that nobody would think less of her because she was pregnant.

She understood that, and was happy that the base leader was going to face justice. She was just upset that her baby would be born without a father. From talking with many of the captives we'd freed from PB1 I had a fair idea of the trauma she'd gone through so I told her that I would make a claim to be the father of the baby once the biological father was executed. I knew enough from my brief studies of UN law to know that, with the mother's consent, any man could claim paternity of an unmarried woman's child if the mother agreed and the biological father was dead or if he gave up his rights to the child. Once the child was born, though, an actual adoption would need to take place. Since Valya didn't want him even to know she was pregnant, we'd have to wait until his execution.

Valya was still a little leery about what I'd expect from her in return, even when I told her that all I expected was for her to be a good mother to our child. I told her to think about it, that she had lots of time, and to let me know one way or the other when she decided. As we landed at the base, Madeline whisked Valya off to talk with my wives and with other women at the base that knew me to help put her mind at ease. I explained to Marco and Vladimir what she was upset about and what I had offered.

"I guess you really are part of the family now," Marco joked, but I saw the unshed tears of happiness in both of their eyes.

"She still has to agree," I warned, getting rolled eyes and that 'Yeah, like that won't happen' look in return. Even Penny and Danielle, who had caught most of the conversation, gave me the look.

I commed James and told him that we would have to start putting several prisoners into each cell for now. He laughed at me. "We have plenty of cells," he continued laughing. Gwen had told them about the pre-fabricated, temporary prison blocks that were manufactured much like the temporary housing. Each pre-fabricated block was four cells wide and 20 cells long and had a one foot overhang on 1 side that snapped into a mated channel of the facing side of the next block allowing two units to be fitted together snugly. As many blocks as you wanted could be attached together end to end. Each cell was 8' X 8', soundproof, and pre-plumbed for water, toilet, video and audio monitoring, and playback. The units were made from 1/8 inch Class K Type VII carbon fiber, which was stronger than the 1/8 inch Class K Type V carbon fiber used for hot fusion shuttles. The construction foreman had built the new prison four blocks wide, five blocks high (the highest recommended and the highest there were elevators for) and 30 blocks long for a total of 48,000 new cells. Even I didn't think we'd fill that many.

There was an elevator at each end of the eight long corridors between the cells. The elevators could go to the surface or down to one of the uppermost underground tunnels beneath the installation. "Where did we get them?" I asked.

"We asked every UN bases for half of their supply. All of the bases keep several for emergency use," James explained. He also explained that they had to take out the center runway so that the soil movers could dig that deep. They used fusion tractors in the bottom to square off the outer edges where the soil movers couldn't quite reach.

"We also installed a new waste treatment facility. The one that came with the estate would only work for about 2,000 people, and the one for the base didn't even come close to meeting the current standards. In addition, we put in a trash recycling and disposal system. Both systems are set up to handle 500,000 people. Tomorrow we'll install smaller ones in each of the towns under the dome. Admiral Medford thought it was funny that we had facilities for both sets of shit on base right next to each other."

That was pretty good, and I got a good chuckle out of it. "As usual James, thank you for thinking ahead," I told him. Each of the 20 barracks on the base was four floors high and each floor held 250 people. I wanted a big enough kitchen and a big enough dining room for 1,000 people built onto one end of each of the barracks using the portable housing units. On the other end, I wanted a beauty shop, massage parlor, and therapeutic hot spas for 1000 women.

I called Kateryna and asked how the rest of the Bumblebees were doing. Bumblebees 8 and 9 were being restocked and the pilots were off duty for eight hours. She sent the shuttle transport back to PB2 to assist Bumblebee 15 if they needed it. Evidently, four more ships full of 248 women and goods had shown up at the base we just captured, but they had been captured with their crews totaling 73 pirates well before landing. A quick thinking android on the surface mimicked the voice of the pirate who had been responsible for watching out for other ships arriving. They had intercepted enough radio traffic to know their radio protocol. Kateryna wanted to watch the base for a several more hours to see if any more ships showed up. Evidently, the Russian ships had been there buying things, and pirates from more than one base had shown up to trade.

Bumblebees 5 and 10 were waiting for nightfall before attacking PB3, about four hours from now. Nothing significant was happening there.

Bumblebees 6 and 11 were getting ready to raid PB4 and Kateryna sent a transport of troops and one of shuttles in case they were needed. The base was only about 20 buildings, and only four ships had been seen. Bumblebees 12 and 14 were still gathering intel, but thought that they should be ready to raid their two compounds in eight hours when it was dark. Bumblebees 16 and 17 were heading out to cover Bumblebees 12 and 14. Bumblebee 18 was on standby.

I went underground to see how the judges were doing at getting set up. I was shocked to find fourteen of the fifteen courtrooms in full swing. The wide hallways, newly-paneled with real wood were patrolled by hundreds of android troops clad in almost solid UN blue. Only the sleeves were black. Each trooper had a PITA insignia emblazoned on the left of their shirt with a name patch above it, and a black beret pulled through a loop on their left shoulder. I watched as a long line of shackled and dejected pirates was lead from one of the courtrooms back towards the new cells. One of the android troops with sergeant stripes told me that so far, all of the pirates we had captured and all adult members of the two estates we'd captured had been found guilty of charges that carried the death penalty. Juvenile members of those households had been sentenced as slaves for life to me.

All of the guards at the estates and the surviving police officer were sentenced to the same fate. Their families were not involved so they were not charged. I asked the guard to make sure that the youngest of the Gomez girls was allowed to stay with the women that her family had kept.

The troubling part of the rulings was all of the women we had rescued being declared to be property. Since all property belonging to each pirate base, pirate ship, or estate we captured was awarded to me to do with as I pleased, that meant all of the women belonged to me now as slaves--not exactly what I had planned or wanted.

I found Renee and Johann next door to Johann's chambers, watching as 100 androids pored over 100 computer displays at 100 desks. "I feel like a slave driver," Johann commented when he saw me. "These ladies work 24 hours a day for me."

I grinned hearing him refer to them as ladies. "Have you got a few minutes?" I asked. "I have a few more questions."

Johann laughed, remembering our last conversation. "Hypothetically?" he asked, chuckling. I shook my head. "Okay, shoot," he said.

"I'm bothered that all of the women we rescue are declared property and awarded to me. I don't think that's right," I objected.

"What would you prefer that we do with them?" he asked, grinning.

"Set them free," I protested.

"Okay, let's say that we set them free. They go home to the same situation that they were claimed, sold, or kidnapped from. The odds are that many of them will end up right back in captivity. Besides, most of the women need psychological counseling and medical treatment, and can't afford it."

I had to admit, he had a point. "Now, when we give them to you, what do you do with them?" he asked.

"Get them the care they need and get them back with their families and loved ones as soon as possible," I answered.

"Damn good idea. I wish I'd thought of that," he teased.

"What about the minor children of the estate families? The youngest Gomez daughter tried to help all of the women. Why are they all sentenced to slavery?" I knew I'd already lost this argument, too, when he grinned again.

"Where are the other Gomez children?" he asked.

"I assume they're back in their cells," I answered.

"And the youngest?" he asked.

"She's with the women we rescued."

"And if you were to review the Court's edict, you will find out that none of the minor children have been charged with or convicted of anything. If you go back over the finer points of slavery law, you'll see that if you decide to release them unconditionally at any time, they're free--free and with no conviction on their record. Some of the minors probably should be convicted and sentenced. It will be up to you to make the decision as to their eventual fate. If you feel they deserve to be punished, you're free to punish them as you see fit for the rest of their lives. If you think they have had a change of heart, you have the freedom to adjust their lives accordingly, even freeing them if you feel that's the right thing to do."

"No wonder you're Head Judge. The rulings are brilliant," I admitted.

"Actually, you're the one making me look brilliant. I've sloughed off the hard decisions to you," he laughed.

"Normally we'd have hearings to decide if we should try the minors, then whether to try them as adults or juveniles. This way, we skip all of that," he explained. "Besides," he added, "it was your wife that made the suggestion this morning when we were discussing how we wanted to handle each type of case. It streamlined the entire process. It looks, now, like it should only take a couple of us to handle the pirates' cases. That will leave more of us to deal with the cases that are going to be filed when the estates start falling. Serena is tracking everyone that was on the payroll of each family. When we find a judge, we pull all of his cases and review them. Once we find enough proof of malfeasance, we'll pull him in at the same time as the estate family."

"Okay, next question. I'm not really comfortable that the way we decide to raid an estate is completely legal. Should we run that information by one of you and get permission first?" I asked.

Renee coughed and handed me four sheets of paper. I glanced at the first one and realized it was a warrant authorizing a raid on an estate "using whatever force is deemed necessary to detain everyone there for trial based on information supplied by the Task Force Pita Intelligence Agency, identifying the estate and members thereof as procurers and suppliers of illegal slaves."

"Serena gives me the documentation when she feels she has enough to prove a connection. I give them to the Judge to review. If he agrees, he issues a warrant. I give the warrants to Kateryna and she puts them on the target list, along with names and addresses of any police, judges, or other public officials we've connected to each estate. We'll do basically the same thing with Russian targets," Renee explained.

"That makes me feel better. One last question and I'll leave you alone until I think of another one," I said. "I know that Sven told me that as a UN base, we're responsible for the comfort and safety of all UN officials. Isn't it some kind of conflict of interest for you to be granting me all of this property when I'm supplying everything for you?"

"In this case, no, the law is very specific about captured property belonging to the person legally capturing it unless it's regular UN forces. You guys are a private army, or irregulars. The property is to assist in deferring the cost of what you're doing. Besides, we decided this morning how we were going to handle real property, the people you capture, and the people that you save. Everything from here on out is between the UN and the individuals we prosecute, so anything you do now won't have any bearing on any of the cases. The only thing that would be a conflict would be if we had to prosecute one of your troops for excessively violent treatment of or torturing of a prisoner. If that happened, we'd need to bring in an outside judge to try the case."

Looking at Danielle kneeling happily at my side, her head resting on my knee Johann commented, "It's just so bizarre seeing you with a woman on a leash knowing how you feel about women being mistreated."

"Speaking of which, does your wife allow you to mix business and pleasure?" I asked.

"On occasion, and this would definitely be one of those occasions," he said grinning. I held out my empty hand in front of Danielle. She pulled another collar and leash from her pocket. As always, the look on Renee's face when she realized what she was in for was priceless. I was putting her collar on her when two of the women judges walked in. Both shot me a scathing look.

"It's okay, this is what we want him to do," Danielle spoke up defensively. Not looking like they really believed her, Renee explained it thoroughly to them, including their safe word, finishing by telling them that the only reason I did it was to make them happy.

I gave Renee the end of her leash. "Why don't you see if Johann would like to take you for a walk," I suggested.

"Why don't we all adjourn to the Judges' Dining Room? We've got time before lunch is served," Johann suggested.

Sophie, the taller and darker skinned of the two female judges asked, "May I?" as she reached towards Danielle's leash.

"I guess that leaves you and me, then," the other female judge commented as she took my hand. She looked questioningly at me when Penny followed us.

"She's seen it before and even tried a little and decided that she liked it," I said.

"Are you okay with other women?" Paige asked her, grinning when Penny nodded. She took Penny's hand, too, and we followed the procession.

Lunch was delayed and almost cold before we finished. One by one, the other judges came into the dining room and enthusiastically joined us. Penny definitely got a taste--and more. She fucked all ten of the male judges before it was over, even having all three orifices filled simultaneously like she'd watched the women do the other morning. Renee told me later that one of her favorite memories would always be having the Head Judge fucking her ass while another one fucked her pussy, and a third spewed his load down her throat. Decorum went out the window as all five of the female justices joined in, too. I fucked each one of them at least once.

They invited us to join them for lunch, and when Johann determined that nobody had any more hearings after lunch, he broke out a couple of bottles of champagne. He looked questioningly at me to see if Penny could have any. "What, are you afraid we'll get her drunk and take advantage of her?" I joked.

Johann raised his glass. "My first toast is to our host--Commander Omega. He is a man with a vision, the heart, the brains, and, as I'm sure all of the ladies present will attest, the balls to see this through to completion."

When the chuckles and cheers quieted down, he continued. "My second toast is to our beautiful hostess. I did not recognize the name Renee Miller when I first met her. When I found out that she was previously Renee Medford, I knew immediately who she was. I and several other justices used to watch her cases with interest, considering her for a position as a judge, and then she just disappeared. We're happy that she's back. After watching her in action, and watching her cut to the heart of the cases this morning, we have decided unanimously, that if her husband consents, we will see that she receives an appointment to the UN bench when this is all over. A couple of years of experience there, and she will receive the first available appointment to the appeals court. Finally, when one of us decides to retire, I expect she will be the next appointee to the World Court."

They cheered; we were stunned. Renee looked at me longingly. I nodded and ended up on my back with her smothering me with hugs and kisses. "I take it that's a yes?" Johann teased. I nodded as best I could.

Danika, who looked as Nordic as her name would imply, spoke up. "I would seriously like to consider permanently moving the World Court here. The Hague has over 500 years of history, but that's about all. I love antiques, but not working with them day in and day out. Almost every week something breaks and court is delayed. The courtrooms are stuffy and smell stale. The electronics are antiquated, and my staff's offices are quite a ways from my chambers.

"This place is beautiful, elegant, modern, and ultra-secure. The android guards are superior to anything I've encountered before. My chambers are huge and I actually have room on my walls to have all of my law books in one room. In addition, the lighting is outstanding and I can read without squinting. And that house that we're in. I thought that only billionaires and poor dirt farmers lived in single-family homes anymore. I don't know how much it's worth, but I'd like to buy it and live there," she finished.

"I don't think that it will be difficult to convince us when we're done here," Johann agreed.

I cut in. "Danika, if you and anyone else who is interested would see Renee after lunch, I will have her draw up a bill of sale for your houses. If you'd like to look around a few more days before deciding, that's fine too. Sale price for each house will be $P1, payable in cash only so I don't have to report it on my income and pay taxes on it," I joked.

"Mike, those houses are worth tens of millions of dollars each," she protested.

"Not to me. I have over 15,000 of them sitting out there empty, or mostly empty. They mean nothing to me. If they make you happy, why shouldn't I sell it to you? Besides, you have already awarded me over $P30 billion today."

Not waiting for further argument, I turned to Johann. "I do have another theoretical question for you," I said grinning. Everyone at the table laughed. I explained, 'theoretically, ' about Marco and his extended family, asking, theoretically, if someone in that position could be granted clemency and the right to live outside of Russia and be given UN citizenship--theoretically. Johann said that he would think about any theoretical solutions, and would let me know.

Another Judge, Scott, wanted to know if he could possibly go along and watch one of the raids from a safe distance. Comming Kateryna, I checked the time. "Is the raid on PB 3 still on schedule?" I asked.

"Forty-three minutes," she answered happily.

"What's the travel time?" I asked.

"Nineteen minutes, should I tell them you'll be there, too?"

"Just to observe, it's still their ball," I answered.

"Roger, I'll relay the message and have Avenger ready in five. Command out," she said.

"Can you be ready in ten minutes?" I asked Scott.

"I'm ready now," he answered excitedly.

"Could I go too?" Paige asked.

"And me?" Perla asked.

I looked to Johann for confirmation. "Stay safe and out of trouble," he warned. Penny and Danielle wanted to go, too. I told Penny that she would have to check with her mother about this one. I also commed Natalia and asked if they already had pink ladies with the troops at PB3. They didn't as everyone left too fast this morning for them to get coordinated. I told her I was leaving in Avenger in ten minutes if they had anyone ready. Nine minutes later a crowd converged on Avenger. There were 20 pink ladies (they decided they wanted to be called 'butterflies'), five Judges, and my two assistants there. The butterflies brought a grav sled with robes, clothing, and food, as well as a portable privacy shield for the women to dress behind. Lupe was in charge of this group and explained that while they understood and were grateful that we had rescued them, they still felt exposed since most were in some state of undress the entire trip back to the estate.

There were still fifteen minutes to go when we arrived. The reports said that there were 47 pirates, 93 female slaves, two young male slaves, 32 buildings, and five ships. The orbiting ships that were our lookouts reported that the base usually had two more ships, but they had gone to trade with another base. Bumblebee 5 suggested that they might have been among the ships we already captured at PB2, but still wasn't taking any chances on them showing back up unexpectedly. They had one android assigned to communicate with approaching ships if any showed up after the attack began. I explained to the judges what had already happened and what was going to happen as soon as the attack took place. The actual attack took only seconds, and about a minute later, the all clear was sounded.

I hovered right above the base so the Judges could see what was happening, watching as the troops quickly bound each pirate, and finally landed when all of the pirates were secured. I explained as the orange-clad androids went into each ship and hot-swapped the AI before taking off for the estate. They watched as the pirates were loaded into a prison ship. Someone had even put padding in the bottom of each of the cargo containers just for the sake of appearances. Gwen had commented that she was more comfortable severely outnumbered and under heavy enemy fire than under the scrutiny of fifteen World Court Judges.

"We're still missing one captive," someone announced over the com link.

"I have her on the scanner," Bumblebee 10 responded. "West end of the complex, third house in, there's an underground room beneath the bedroom," they directed. I was right in front of the building. Cautioning my guests to stay put, and their shielding android to be careful, I hurried inside. The hidden door was simply a trapdoor in the floor. I opened it carefully, wary of booby traps, and went inside after several fireflies cleared the room.

"Medic," I hollered right before tossing my cookies. The badly beaten body of a young girl was curled up in the fetal position on the dirt floor, unconscious and barely alive. I picked her up as carefully as I could and carried her upstairs. A Medi-doc checked her while I continued on to the hospital ship. I made them work on her while I held on to her. I didn't know if she was conscious, or even alive at times, but if she was, I wasn't going to leave her. If she died, it would be in someone's arms, not on the hard, impersonal surface of a hospital exam table.