Chapter 31: Mining Operations

“Sisters never stand a chance to be friends. We’re pitted against each other from the moment that we are born. A daughter is a treasure. Two is a tax.” – Mary H.K. Choi, Yolk

York, Great Britain. June 1074

Marion had a nauseous feeling again. Once again, Luke was dragging her onboard a ship. This time, she was going to Lapland with Luke to observe the start-up of the chromium mining operation. If Luke hadn’t been gone so long the last time, she would have stayed home, but Marion wasn’t ready to be away from him for a few weeks. Marion also wanted to see her newest territory and visit Ingegerd.

Ingegerd had given birth to twin boys named Erlingr and Hildingr Ingegerdson, and Marion wanted to meet her husband’s newest children. Luke wouldn’t actively raise Ingegerd’s children since they were next in line for the Norwegian throne.

Traveling with Luke and Marion was Kukka since she was studying chemistry under Luke, which meant if he traveled, it only made sense for her to go along. She was also a local, which made it natural to assign her as Marion’s translator.

Like the last time, Marion was seasick before the Panther left the Humber Estuary. Kukka and Luke were amused as they watched Marion race to the rail to chum for fish. Once Marion finished feeding the fish, she spun around to give Luke and Kukka a look, which sent Kukka running and Luke to the deck laughing. Kukka still hadn’t gotten used to the fact she shared a bed with the Queen of Great Britain, and Marion’s royal stare still sent waves of fear through the young woman.

Marion stood over Luke and stared daggers at him. When he saw Marion’s look, he only laughed harder. The ship sped up, and Marion headed back to the rail. Once Marion finished, Luke came up, placed his arm around her shoulder, and kissed her neck. She felt a shiver run through her, and her seasickness left as she focused on something else.

Kukka leaned around the corner and smiled. She hadn’t been around Marion long enough yet to know her moods. Once she was sure Marion was okay, Kukka kissed Luke and Marion. Luke looked out over the rail to observe the convoy traveling with them.

Traveling with the Panther were one supply ship and eight merchant ships. The merchant ships were Luke’s and would bring the chrome concentrate back for further refining in Britain. Since it would be wasteful for the ships to travel empty, the merchant ships were loaded with goods for Niðaróss and Chromite. Usually, Marion would travel on the York, but the York was in drydock for repairs while the London and Edinburgh were on maneuvers. In April, Captain Tostig accidentally ran the York aground in a pea soup fog. It was good that York was designed like she was because she would have sunk without the watertight bulkheads.

It was a quiet journey across the North Sea, to Marion’s delight. She still remembered the last time they made this journey. Like the previous time, their first stop was Niðaróss. This time, the ships arrived in the early morning, so no guards were waiting for them. Marion smiled as she walked off the ship; they caught Ingegerd off guard, and she was back on land.

Ingegerd rolled out of bed, exhausted. The twins had caused her another rough night since when one cried, he woke his brother up. They woke each other up all night, so Ingegerd was cranky, which put her in a good mood for meeting the guy who put her in her current circumstances. When her guards told her Luke and Marion were waiting, she gave them an evil smile. She would get to give the bastard a piece of her mind.

Marion, Luke, and Kukka were waiting in a small meeting room with Major Salomon standing by the door. Gabriella liked to use her for sensitive guard assignments where discretion was vital. Soon, a solid knock was at the door, and Ingegerd strode in. She knew better than not to knock before entering; Marion’s guards tended toward shooting first and asking questions later.

“Good morning, Marion. Welcome to Niðaróss. I would have been ready if I had known you were coming.”

“No need to worry; this is a quick visit. We are on our way to Lapland, and I wanted to stop by and see you and the twins. We also have some goods to sell in the merchant ships.”

“Ah. Well, I’m glad you’re here, and you brought your bastard husband because I have a bone to pick with him.” Marion didn’t have time to respond before Ingegerd turned to Luke. “How dare you get me pregnant! Do you know how much I have suffered since YOU put me in that condition?” If Marion was worried about Luke, she didn’t need to be.

“As I remember, you were begging me to fill your tunnel with seed and hold your legs up so the seed would stay where it could take hold.”

“You lie!”

“You keep telling yourself that if you have to, but don’t ask me next time you want children.”

Ingegerd stared daggers at Luke, and he looked at her like a scientist would look to classify a new object. This continued for a few minutes before Marion couldn’t hold it any longer and doubled over laughing. Kukka was at least trying to be discreet with her laughing; she had to be careful because if she laughed too hard, she would have to pee. The worst thing she found about being pregnant was the almost constant urge to pee, only to get a few dribbles.

“All right, fine. I needed an heir to the throne, but I didn’t need two at the same time!”

“Sorry to tell you, dear,” Marion interrupted. “Guys determine the sex, but the woman determines how many children at a time.”

Ingegerd stared at Marion.

“But he didn’t need to fertilize me when I released two eggs.”

“How was he to know?” Marion stared at her.

“Damn it, Marion! You’re too smart.”

“No, that’s Kukka. Once she grows out of her shell, winning arguments with her will be impossible.” Kukka turned bright red at the compliment, causing everyone to laugh.

Marion and Ingegerd spent the next hour with Luke setting up the sale of goods from the merchant ships. Ingegerd was impressed with the manufactured goods for sale, including the 4,000 combat knives she bought for her army. She also ordered another 10,000 to be delivered within a year. After everything was organized, the merchant ships offloaded the goods Ingegerd agreed the British could sell; the rest of their goods were for Lapland and trading around the Baltic.

With business completed, it was time to visit. Ingegerd led the way to where her twins were and introduced them to Marion. They were fraternal twins, so Marion could tell them apart; she always had problems with Pollyanna’s twin girls since they were identical. Soon, they started crying, and Ingegerd gave them a nipple, which calmed them down. Marion’s tits were dry; otherwise, she would have helped, and Kukka’s were not producing yet. That didn’t matter because Ingegerd’s wet nurse came in to take over. Ingegerd waited until she was empty before handing the twins over; she couldn’t produce enough milk by herself for the boys.

Luke, Marion, and Kukka spent the rest of the day visiting with Ingegerd and her twins. Luke was outnumbered, and the girls spent the day running down the males of the species. He had made all three pregnant, so they spent a long time comparing notes on his technique. Many of their comments made Luke redder than Kukka’s hair.

Finally, it was time to reboard the ship, and it wasn’t a moment too soon as far as Luke was concerned. The ladies had been piling on him all day, and he wanted a little payback. The door no sooner closed on their stateroom when Luke picked Marion up and threw her over his shoulder. At first, she was quiet until Luke’s hand made contact with her rump, causing her to squeal.

Now that she was squealing, Luke and Kukka laughed. Marion had been the most vocal of the three in Luke’s harassment, and it was payback. Luke gave her another swat to keep her squirming and another because he could. All the hits had landed on the same spot, giving Marion a hot spot. Luke tossed Marion on the bed, and before she could turn over, he was on her with his fingers digging into her ribs. Marion went from squealing to laughing as she twisted back and forth, her blonde hair flying.

While Luke was tickling her with one hand, his other found the button on her pants and unfastened them. Soon, her pants were down around her thighs, and every time she tried to stop Luke, her thrashing pushed them down further. As soon as Marion’s arse was cloth-free, Luke laid her over his lap and gave her a couple of whacks.

Luke was distracted by the sight of Marion’s arse and lost track of Kukka. She had been waiting for this moment and launched herself at Luke, knocking him back on the bed. Marion escaped and turned to help Kukka with Luke. The ladies double-teamed Luke and pinned him to the bed. It didn’t help that Luke was laughing, and since it was every guy’s dream to be under two hot women, he didn’t fight back.

The three spent the rest of the evening playing and forgot to sleep. All three were happy but exhausted when the sun rose the following day. When Captain Morwenna saw Luke, she started chuckling; he looked like shit. Luke gave her a look and looked out the window at the sea as it passed by.

Captain Morwenna had left Niðaróss during the night to catch the tide. She had to use every advantage since most of her ships were sailing; even the Panther was running on the wind. Luke walked to the bow to enjoy the sea salt spray. By the time he came back, Luke was soaked but wide awake. Morwenna nodded and tossed him a towel to wipe his face.

Unlike his previous trips into the Baltic, Luke saw boats; he didn’t feel they could be called ships, as many were not much bigger than the cruiser’s launches. This trip was like Luke’s last trip to Lapland outside the small ships.

When Marion saw the mining town of Chromite, she stood in aww. The harbor was full of local boats, and the smelter was huge. It had four smokestacks 300 meters tall to help spread pollution and increase the draft in the furnaces. The rest of the town was built of orderly brick houses with tile roofs. The streets were paved with concrete, with a comprehensive sewer system buried underneath.

The British ships tied up to the docks and were met by the local commander and the head engineer. Kukka was glad to be back since her mother was still there and could visit, but it didn’t feel like home anymore. Her home was in York.

Instead of touring the smelter first, Luke took Marion to the beginning of the process. Marion had been in mines before, but the vast scale of the open pit mine in front of her was staggering. Trees had been cleared to open up an area of three kilometers by two kilometers, and work along the edges showed it would expand further. Work had to continue because the more extensive the clearing, the longer it took to push the forest back.

Near the center of the clearing, mining operations had begun with steam shovels removing the overburden and placing it on railroad dump cars for disposal. Once the overburden was gone, steam-powered drills were used to drill holes into the ore body for blasting. Like her tour of British mines, Marion got to operate the steam shovels, drills, and overburden trains. Her favorite part was when she was handed the detonator; the power felt, setting off several tons of explosives, couldn’t be replicated.

The explosions were set off at shift change, so the next shift started removing ore. Again, Marion operated the steam shovels to place the ore in waiting railcars. From there, Marion and Luke boarded an ore train to travel back to Chromite. On the train, Luke looked into Marion’s eyes and saw she thoroughly enjoyed her tour.

The ore was offloaded at the smelter so the train could return for another load. From now on, many of the processes were partly automated using steel punch cards to provide the programming. Marion and Luke followed the ore through the operation. First, the ore was run through a series of crushers that turned it from rocks and small boulders to an ultra-fine powder in a ball mill. From the ball mill, Marion and Luke followed the path through chemical refining to the electric furnace for finishing. Two products were made at the smelter: ferrochromium and chromium salt. Ferrochromium was destined for the British steel industry to produce stainless steel and better tool steel. The leather industry used chromium salts for tanning. Luke had intended to ship the concentrate back to Britain for refining but decided it was easier to refine it in Lapland and ship the semi-finished products back.

By the time they finished, Marion was physically tired but mentally excited. This operation would put the British so far ahead of the rest of the world that she doubted they could catch up in her lifetime. Throughout the tour, she noticed a high emphasis on worker safety. Like in Britain, Luke prioritized worker and environmental protection. Unlike the environmental goofballs from his time, Luke realized you had to mine where nature put the minerals or go without. People might not like it, but facts are facts. Society needs minerals from the earth, and mining is the only way to get them. Often, recycling can’t produce the quality of metal required in many processes. In Luke’s case, he couldn’t rely on recycling because there wasn’t enough metal in circulation to cover their needs. He wouldn’t have relied on recycling if there had been.

After the tour, Marion and Luke watched the first finished products loaded onto merchant ships. All the metal was loaded into large canvas bags before being loaded into shipping containers for transport since the containers made loading and unloading easier.

It was late when Luke and Marion returned to their stateroom on the Panther to find Kukka crying. Marion raced to her side and wrapped an arm around her. Through the sobs, the story came out.

While Luke and Marion went on their tour, Kukka went to see the remains of her family. She still had a younger sister, a mother, and two aunts. When her mother saw her, she denounced Kukka as a whore and forbade her from entering their house. Kukka’s mother went so far as to slap Kukka’s aunt when she insisted on seeing Kukka. As the story finished, Marion looked at Luke and thought, ‘Oh shit!’

Luke’s face was ghostly white, and his eyes were stormy gray as he trembled. Marion had only heard of him being so furious once before when the nobles rebelled following William of Normandy’s invasion. During that rebellion, Luke had one entire family impaled, ensuring they lived for several days so the rebelling noble could watch his family slowly die.

When Luke stood, Marion jumped up and stood in front of him. Looking into his eyes, Marion was sure she would have nightmares. There was a look of death in his eyes, and Marion knew who it was aimed at. To her, that proved beyond a shadow of a doubt Luke loved Kukka as much as he loved her. Marion stood to her full height.

“LUKE, STOP!!”

“Why?” growled Luke in an animalistic tone that sent a wave of fear through Marion. Kukka heard it, too; she didn’t know humans could produce such a sound.

“Maybe Kukka doesn’t want her mother brutally murdered?” Luke didn’t seem to hear her. Of his many wonderful traits that Marion loved him dearly for, his temper when someone he loved was attacked was his Achilles heel. Marion turned to Kukka, “Kukka, for the love of God, please help!! If Luke attacks your mother, I will have no choice but to charge him, and with Luke, that charge would be murder!”

Kukka stood and went to Luke, where she hauled back and slapped him as hard as she could. There was an advantage to being so large. When Kukka’s hand made contact with Luke’s face, it sounded like a gunshot and got his attention.

“LUKE, LISTEN! I will NOT have my child grow up without a father. If you go after my bitch of a mother, that will be what happens when your wife has to have you arrested. Stay away from my mother. I am meeting with my sister tomorrow morning before we leave, and I suspect she will be returning with us to Britain.”

Luke looked at Kukka, and slowly, life returned to his eyes. The red mark on his face was the exact shape of Kukka’s hand, but he didn’t notice it. After a couple of minutes, Luke closed his eyes and shook his head. When he opened his eyes, he had returned to normal and looked at his wife.

“I’m sorry about that, but when I heard what Kukka’s mother did to her, I lost it.”

“Well, you confirmed you love Kukka as much as you love me, darling. Don’t do that again because next time, we might be unable to stop you.”

Luke looked at Marion and nodded. Then Marion stepped to the side to allow Kukka to hug Luke. Kukka had tears running down her face because it almost killed her to slap Luke as she had. Feeling his strong arms wrap around her proved that Marion was correct; Luke did love her as much as he loved Marion and Alice.

Kukka leaned her head on Luke’s shoulder, and she shuddered. She couldn’t believe the anger that flowed through Luke over something that had happened to her. It was the first time in her life that anyone had cared for her in such a way. Kukka felt her heart skip when she thought of how much Luke loved her. She lifted her head and planted a solid kiss on Luke, one that sucked the breath out of him.

Marion was woken early the next morning when one of her guards entered the room. Kukka’s sister was on the dock and requesting permission to board; Kukka had given her instructions. Marion woke Kukka; Luke was already up and gone. He was with Captain Morwenna, going over the plan for their return trip. The merchant ships would be scattered. One would be returning with them. Another two would remain in port, and the remaining would travel the Baltic, looking for trading opportunities.

As Marion was dressing, she had the guard fetch Luke before they met Kukka’s sister. Kukka was nervous following Marion to meet her sister. She didn’t know if Marion would allow her sister to accompany them. Worse, she didn’t know if her sister would approve of Luke. Luke was waiting for them at the ramp and followed them down. Tuulikki, Kukka’s sister was waiting. She looked like her older sister, except she had blonde hair instead of red.

When Marion saw Tuulikki, she smirked and turned to Luke.

“You already have your limit of blondes,” she teased.

“One is enough for any mortal man, and I have you. I don’t need another, plus I doubt Kukka would be willing to make love in the same bed as her sister.”

“Definitely not. Sleeping with a sibling is fine. Beds and space are pricey. Getting laid with a sibling in the same bed crosses the line.” Kukka replied.

“I don’t know about that,” Marion replied. “Luke and I did the nasty in front of my sister several times.”

“The first was because you were proving you were a grown woman, and the second time was you teasing her,” added Luke.

“You’re not supposed to tell her that. What if Kukka’s sister wants you to do her.”

“I pass, and I thought you just said I already have my limit of blondes.”

“Maybe I changed my mind,” Marion replied haughtily.

Luke looked at her and shook his head. He had no intention of bringing another woman into bed. But then again, he didn’t set out to find Kukka; the army found her for him. Kukka and her sister hugged once she was off the ramp. They began talking much faster than Luke could translate, so he and Marion waited. Soon, the sisters were done, and Kukka brought her sister before Marion, holding her hand.

“Marion, this is my sister Tuulikki. She would like to move to Britain.” Then Kukka turned to her sister.” Tuulikki, this is Marion of York, Queen of Great Britain, and the big man is General Luke MacDougall: my lover and the father of my child.”

Tuulikki fell to her knees and kissed the ground at Marion’s feet. As usual, Marion blushed when someone did that.

“Kukka, please have your sister stand and inform her a simple bow of the head is sufficient.”

“Of course.”

Kukka explained everything to Tuulikki, who rose with pink cheeks. Marion wasn’t sure about Tuulikki yet. If she didn’t allow Tuulikki to come to Britain, Kukka would be crushed, but something didn’t sit right with her. Behind her, she felt Luke shift as to move away. Marion rotated her body to talk with Luke and discovered he had moved so they could speak without letting Kukka know what they were saying.

“You uneasy?” asked Luke.

“Yeah. Something about Tuulikki seems off.”

“Oh, good. I’m not the only one.”

“Any idea what?”

“No, but it puts you in a tough spot.”

“I know. What do you think I should do?”

“You’re the queen.” Marion stared at him. “Okay. Umm. Let’s pull Kukka aside to ask her the difficult questions.” Marion thought for a second and nodded.

“Kukka, can we talk with you for a moment?” asked Luke. Kukka looked nervous but walked over.

“Yes??”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, honey, but Marion and I get a bad vibe off your sister.”

“Bad vibe?”

“Yes, something doesn’t seem right,” answered Marion.

“So, what does that mean? You’re not going to allow her to travel to Britain?”

Kukka grew more worried by the moment. She wanted to get Tuulikki to Britain so she could restart her life. So far, Tuulikki’s life had been a hard one. Her husband beat her regularly, and the only reason he was her husband was he raped her and impregnated her. She then lost the baby one night when her husband was taking his frustrations out on her.

“Against my better judgment, I will allow her to travel to Britain with us. Tell her this, though: if she messes up once, she will be back so fast her shadow will have trouble keeping up.”

“Oh, thank you, Marion!”

Kukka came up, kissed Marion, and beat a hasty retreat to explain things to Tuulikki. Once everything was explained, Tuulikki carefully approached Marion and kneeled at her feet. Marion shook her head and turned to Kukka.

“Tell your sister to have her luggage on the dock by noon, or she will have to leave it behind.”

“She doesn’t have any luggage. Her husband doesn’t let her have anything.”

Luke and Marion were appalled and waved Tuulikki aboard. Luke relied on Kukka to explain everything to Tuulikki. If she were going to travel with them, she would need to know the rules for traveling on a warship.

At noon, the lines were taken in, and the Panther’s engine went into reverse to pull the ship away from the dock. Once clear, the Panther’s engines began driving the ship forward, and the vessel was underway. The next stop was Britain. Marion had thought about visiting Iceland, but that would come later. She saw no need to shove all her travel into a short time frame. Luke and Marion would be home for a week before traveling to Iceland and Ireland.

Once they were at sea, the crew settled into their routines, leaving Luke bored. He decided to use the time to catch some rays. To do that, he would stretch out on a towel on the fantail, wearing only his army-issued shorts. Marion caught on and often joined him, but much to the delight of the males onboard, she was naked. The sun lightened her blonde hair, turning it to a brighter golden color. Kukka wouldn’t join them because she liked her white skin. Luke shrugged when she told him, but if pressed, he was glad; he loved her smooth white skin, too.

Once again, they had a smooth journey, arriving in Hull four days after leaving Chromite, Lapland. Since they arrived late in the evening, Marion decided to stay in Hull before traveling to York in the morning. They could have gotten a train, but that meant arriving home late at night, which would have woken everyone up.

Like everyone else who arrived in Hull for the first time, Tuulikki was overwhelmed. She heard what Kukka told her but couldn’t quite believe it, even though she had seen much of the same technology in Lapland.

Hull was on another scale than Lapland. The harbor at Chromite serviced mostly fishing vessels; Hull could serve 60 large merchant ships at a time and was the home port of the British Navy, although that was slowly changing. Portsmouth was rapidly growing into a massive military base and was more convenient for the navy. Aside from the location, Portsmouth didn’t have the merchant traffic to deal with since it was a military-only port. London and Plymouth were the main merchant ports in the south of Britain. Once international trade increased, Plymouth would rapidly increase in size, but at the moment, it was growing slowly.

When they arrived in York, Tuulikki tried to look in every direction at once, much to Kukka’s amusement. She had done the same thing and found seeing someone else do it amusing. Tuulikki’s head snapped to stare at Kukka when they reached the palace.

“You live here?”

“Yes, we do.” Kukka looked up and pointed to the top row of windows. “The top row of windows where I live with Luke, his other women, and most of his children.”

Tuulikki looked at the windows before looking at her older sister with her jaw open. She couldn’t believe the opulence her sister lived in. Seeing it in person, Tuulikki could see why Kukka left Lapland. The guards at the door snapped to attention and saluted as Marion walked through. Now that Marion was back in York, she resumed her queen persona.

Once inside, Marion had to go to the office while Luke had to up and change. He was still in his battle dress uniform and had to get his service uniform before heading to his office. While Luke and Marion were at the office, Kukka helped settle Tuulikki. She would stay in the guest chambers for a few days until she figured out what she wanted to do. The guest chambers were one level down from Marion’s and were small apartments. At any one time, fifteen or twenty people might be staying in them. The small apartments made things much easier for diplomats and envoys since they didn’t need to look for a house to rent if they didn’t want to. They could rent from Marion instead.

It took all day for Kukka to get Tuulikki situated. Thankfully, Kukka got an allowance from Luke so she could buy Tuulikki a couple of dresses. Once Kukka finished her courses, she could start her own business and have an income. Luke estimated he could turn her loose in roughly six or eight months at the rate she was learning. As they were putting away her dresses, Tuulikki turned to Kukka,

“What’s it like?”

“What’s that?”

“Sex with Luke.”

Kukka smiled, “It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. He is gifted down there, but thankfully, he is gentle with it.” Tuulikki turned bright red, imagining a large cock sliding in and out of Kukka. “What’s more, Luke loves to lick me down there. You want to talk about exciting, wow. I love it when he has some stubble on his face because each hair adds to the stimulation. There’s sometimes; I cum so hard I soak whoever is between my legs.”

“Whoever is between your legs?”

“Oops, I guess I gave that one away. I have had Marion, Alice, and Gabriella lick between my legs. Of course, I return the favor between their legs, sometimes at the same time. I also take Luke in my mouth, although I prefer to have his seed between my legs.”

Tuulikki stared at her sister with her mouth hanging open. She would never have thought her studious and elegant older sister would be so into sex.

“What’s it like to be between another woman’s legs?”

Kukka chuckled, “Wow, you are full of questions. Well, it’s addictive. Each woman has her own taste, so I know who I’m licking even in the dark. Gabriella has a bit stronger flavor than Marion, and Marion is sweeter than Alice, who tastes sharper than I taste. If the taste isn’t enough, Gabriella shaves all the hair on her mound and keeps it shaved. Alice only trims hers, and her hair has a soft, downy texture. Marion sometimes shaves and sometimes trims her straight blonde hair. I have started keeping my curly hair trimmed so none of my lovers get hair in their mouths.”

“So, I should trim mine?”

“That’s up to you, but don’t expect to join us in bed.”

“But why? We have always shared before.”

“That was then; this is now. Tuulikki, we are not only having sex, we are making love, and yes, there is a massive difference between the two.”

“Oh, come on.”

“There is, and the fact you are arguing with me over this proves you have never made love to anyone. You need to find yourself a man to love.”

Tuulikki didn’t want to hear that. She had a jealous streak and had always been envious of her older sister. While Kukka found a man who treated her well, Tuulikki’s man beat her. Kukka’s husband was hard-working but had been killed at sea; then she met Luke. Tuulikki’s man was a lazy bum, which allowed him to escape the disaster that befell the rest of the village men. It seemed that Kukka always got the better treatment at every turn, while Tuulikki had to settle for what was left.

While Tuulikki was learning how good Kukka’s life was, Marion sat with Luke to receive the latest intelligence. Gretchen had finally figured out where Toudelbach went. When she finished her report, Luke asked.

“Do you know where this New Cork is?”

“Not yet. Is it important?”

“Could be. I want to send some trade missions to the western hemisphere, and I don’t want to tangle with a large group of pissed-off Irish.”