On the moon base, when you were on duty, things were expected to be totally professional. I, Bruce McCoy, will not say that sexual relationships did not show up at work, but when it did it was consensual, at least between sponsors. Many sponsors had their concubines as secretaries. Even so most people liked to keep the sex at home, including most discipline.

When you were off duty, sex was everywhere. There was not much traveling to places because of the transporter pads. Once at any public venue sex was often out in the open and vigorous, making Woodstock look tame. It was not unusual to see a concubine spanked in public, even an occasional sponsor in a sexual context.

My greater household and I went out regularly to various restaurants and clubs on the Tranquility Base. Most of the clubs were setup by permanent resident sponsors or the Civil Service to keep people happy. They had various themes. We were well known enough that usually no one messed with us.

One day Yuki, Tula and I were walking through the restaurant concourses when a Marine walked up to Yuki and smacked her hard on the butt. Her hand flew back to protect her rear and blocked the second blow. The Marine then leveled Yuki with a right backhand to the face. By then I arrived and pulled the man off Yuki. He swung at me, which I ducked. At that point the Marine discovered that a naval boot to the crotch did the same amount of damage to an enhanced Marine as it did to a normal man. Within a few seconds, station security arrived and was threatening to stun anyone that moved.

The Marine however had recovered enough to demand that I be arrested for assaulting a sponsor and Yuki be recycled on the same charge. I explained the situation to the Marine security sergeant in charge. The sergeant decided to take us all to HQ and sort things out there.

Once at HQ a Marine lieutenant began an investigation. The gist of it was that the man could not be charged with assaulting Yuki, in fact Yuki blocking the second blow could be considered resisting a sponsors correction and be a capital crime. My kicking the man in the balls was assaulting a sponsor and also a capital crime. I pointed out that his taking a swing at me, was assaulting an officer and what I did was a perfectly legal act of self defense and the protection of my property. Yuki's blocking the second blow was no more than a reflex action to the first blow.

I was getting pissed. I demanded to see the man's superior officer. Yuki was still unconscious, her face swollen and bruised. I demanded she get medical attention and the lieutenant said, "There is no point in that for a concubine that is going to be recycled in five minutes."

At that point I asked the AI though my interface, What the hell is going on? Tell them what happened!>

The AI said, <<I wish you had done that earlier. I cannot interfere without being asked.>>

The AI then said, "Commander McCoy, has requested AI intervention. Lieutenant you had better get his concubine to medical now or you may end up on charges."

A medical team appeared few seconds later and carted Yuki away.

I had to stay for the time being. The AI continued, "The actions of Private Pyle, will require that the man be charged with three counts of damaging Commander McCoy's property, one count of assaulting a superior officer, two counts of lying to a superior officer, one count lying during an official investigation, and one count of conduct unbecoming of a sponsor."

The initial lies were accusing Yuki and I of assaulting him. The official investigation lie was when the lieutenant questioned him. I would find out later that as bad as all the other charges were, the conduct unbecoming of a sponsor was by far the most serious.

"The concubine Yuki McCoy is cleared of all charges. She did block the second blow, but it was a reflex action any human would have had. At most she should be spanked, but that is at the option of her sponsor.

"Commander McCoy is cleared of all charges. Nothing he has done was improper.

"Lieutenant if I could charge you with being an idiot I would. All you had to do was ask me and this all could have been avoided. Instead you went with the word of a Marine private over the word of a Naval commander. I am recommending a full investigation of this incident to your superior officer."

From behind me a Marine major appeared and said, "Lieutenant I suggest you apologize to the commander."

The lieutenant sputtered a second and then said, "Sir, I am sorry. I should have handled this differently."

I replied, "Lieutenant, I honestly don't know what to say so I accept your apology."

The major replied, "Thank you for your understanding Commander, but I have to deal with this a little differently. This is completely unacceptable behavior in a security officer. Lieutenant you are relieved of duty and suspended until the proper disposition of your case can be determined. You are confined to quarters until then. Dismissed."

After the lieutenant left the major said, "I am truly sorry this happened. Now to the matters at hand do you wish to press charges against Private Pyle?"

"Yes I do."

"Very well. There will be a hearing tomorrow morning at 10 A.M., please attend. The AI will direct you. The hearing will be short, because the evidence the AI will present is irrefutable. The outcome will be that the private is recycled.

"Now about your concubine. She was injured pretty severely. She will fully recover though. Reflex action or not you need to train your concubines not to do that. It can be done.

"You are a senior officer, you are going to piss people off and they are going to try to get back at you. You need your women not to react when attacked. I know this sounds a little cruel but whacking their backsides every once in a while and making sure they don't react is in their best interest. You need to tell them why, do it often and punish them when they react until they learn. After that a roll in the hay is a good idea to make them realize that the only reason you are doing this is because you love them.

"Please go see to your concubines, Tula is waiting outside."

"Thank you Major."

I left the room and met Tula outside the door. She was hugging me not wanting to let go. "They said both you and Yuki were going to be recycled. I didn't know what to do! I told the AI to call your mother, she is on the way."

"AI, tell my mother to meet me at the medical facility they took Yuki to. Tell her everything has been solved favorably. Tell her to lay off on the hugging, I already have sore ribs."

Tula let go and said, "Sorry Sir!"

"Don't sweat it honey, it feels good. You hug, but Mom bear hugs. Let's go find Yuki."

We were led to the transport pad in the police station and then sent to the local medical center. We were sent to a waiting area where we were told that the doctor would be out in a few minutes to discuss Yuki's condition with us. After waiting fifteen minutes I asked the nurse what the holdup was. Two Marine guards stepped up, next to me.

"Gentlemen I sure hope you are not trying to intimidate me. I've already dealt with one of you tonight, and I don't fancy doing two more, but another threat and I just might."

"Sorry about earlier, Sir! We are just here to do our jobs, that is to protect the hospital staff from upset family. The doctor will be with you shortly. Something serious not related to your concubine has come up. He is dealing with it and will be with you in a minute. Please go sit down."

I went and sat down. The nurse in charge ran off seconds later. When she came back she said, "There has been a major accident in one of the lunar manufacturing centers. All medical personnel are required to go there and help. Your concubine has just finished her treatment in tube #15 in back. The AI will show you the way. Just lift the cover and she will awaken. I suggest you leave immediately after. Things are going to get very ugly very quickly here."

She turned and started grabbing satchels of medication and bandages trying to get as much as she could. It was obvious she could not carry all she wanted. She started dragging the satchels to the transporter node in the med center. I grabbed a few of the satchels and started helping her. The marine guards seeing this did the same. The nurse went through and I followed. The scene was like the CAP testing center attack on steroids. There were dead and injured people everywhere. I grabbed some supplies and started toward one of the injured.

The nurse grabbed my arm and said, "No sir, you can help us more by going back through the portal and tossing every piece of medication and supplies you can get your hands on through to us. We need that more than two more hands."

I did as I was told. When I returned I told Tula to get Yuki out of the tube and bring her here. By then my mother showed up, by total coincidence, with Jackie Evans (the school nurse). My mother went to give me the bear hug she was driven to give. I told her, "Not now! There is an emergency and we need to get every piece of medical supplies through the teleport pad. So start looking and bringing things." I was sort of surprised because my mother took one look at my face, frowned, and did exactly as I said. Never before had I been able to stop her from the delivering 'the bear hug of love'. She would later tell me that I had the 'Don't mess with me now, woman!' look that my father used to get with her. She was quite startled at the time.

I told Jackie to go through to the other side. "Find out what they really need and come back."

At that point Tula showed up with Yuki. Yuki looked a little worse for wear but started immediately chipping in.

Tranq the AI then spoke up, "Tula and Yuki please go to the replicator in rooms #15 and #16 and start bringing the supplies from there here. We need them the most.

"Bruce, please go back through the teleporter, I can handle the organization on this side now. We need someone one the other side with an implant. No one on the other side has one. Bring Tula with you."

I arrived on the other side and the nurse was ordering Jackie to do things. Jackie looked at me a little frightened.

"Jackie, don't worry about it. I told you to always follow a crew member's orders." She smiled and carried on.

The nurse came over and told me sheepishly, "Tell the people on the other side to send morphine and syringes over by the truck load, please." She looked more scared than Jackie and I knew why. This was not the time for silly rules.

I said to her, "Done! If anyone asks, I told you to tell me what to do." I winked at her and added, "I'll spank you later!"

She smiled, "Deal! Thank you Sir!" I could make big trouble for her because she had done some things earlier, including ordering me around.

For the next three hours, we carted medical supplies to the medical people helping the injured in the many damaged rooms in the manufacturing facility. It was determined by a board of inquiry that a mistaken setting on a replicator by someone had caused an explosion destroying half the facility. The connections to a safety system had been neutralized during a repair earlier in the day and the reconnection of the safety override after the repair was done incorrectly. A routine inspection and test, an hour later, would have discovered the problem and fixed it. All in all, Murphy's Law (what ever can go wrong will go wrong) was working overtime on this one. Over one thousand people were killed and nearly three times as many injured.

For my efforts that night I was awarded a medal for actions above the call of duty. The concubines being property, received nothing. I would have changed that in a flash.

Later I met the doctor who treated Yuki, a Dr. Jonas Lee. His nurse concubine told him about the 'spanking' comment and asked him if he would make arrangement to let her pay off her debit. I told him it was not necessary. He insisted, adding that the nurse was just looking for a way to jump my bones and he would not object. The nurse, Shelly, received her play spanking and roll in the hay. Both the doctor and nurse would become good family friends later during our transit to our colony.

When we arrived home after the Yuki incident and the rescue event we were exhausted. Still, I gathered the concubines together to explain what happened. They had heard about my arrest and were all concerned that Yuki and I might be recycled.

I related the entire story including what the security major had said. I told them, for everyone's sakes we were going to start practicing tomorrow. I set the punishment for protecting oneself at three swats on the bare butt with whatever implement I used.

The next morning when I awoke I swatted the nearest rump I could find. It jumped two inches and covered itself. It was Polly's so, since I was sleeping with the triplets, naturally I swatted the other two rumps and Peggy and Patty jumped just as high and covered up. As they woke up and felt their rumps they realized what had happened, so they turned back over awaiting the inevitable, and I gave each three medium strength swats, just hard enough to leave hand prints.

I went to have breakfast. The rest of the girls I swatted that morning just flinched and continued what they were doing.

I'll admit it. I was having fun doing this. The girls were treating this like a game. They figured that it was in their best interest and about their safety. They felt they might as well participate and enjoy the process. Because the AIs had them hyper-tuned for sexual pleasure, spanking them was giving them an erotic response. The only one not really enjoying it was Yuki; her mind was somewhere else. She was not reacting to the swats but at the same time I thought she was having a hard time with something.

Around 9:30 she came to me and asked if she could talk to me privately in my study. I told her sure but it had to be quick because we had to leave for the hearing at 9:45. She already had on one of the shifts that concubines had to wear in public. It would only take me a minute to finish putting on my uniform.

When we arrived in the study and closed the door I guided Yuki to a couch and sat down next to her. She was a little leery of my proximity, I could see, and she sat about a foot from me.

"Yuki, what's bothering you?"

Yuki said, "Sir, you have to punish me for what I did last night. What I did almost managed to get both of us recycled. Unless you punish me I might do it again. A good punishment will make that unlikely. I know myself. If you don't punish me I might do it again. Please punish me."

"Yuki, what happened was a reflex action. You've seen it all morning in the other girls. The AIs are not going to hold you responsible for that. At most you might get a spanking."

I could tell, it was not registering. In the background the AI was telling me that she watched the tapes of my interrogation at security headquarters. Once I knew that I knew we had a problem.

The problem was that we were two very stubborn people. I knew how I wanted my household run and I did not want to punish people for things which they had no idea that they had to control.

It was approaching 9:45 though, and we had to leave for the hearing. I told Yuki I'd think about it and we would discuss further after lunch settled at 14:00, assuming the hearing was over by then.

She understood and said, "Thank you, Sir, for listening! I know you don't like doing things this way. I am just scared near to death that I will be killed."

I had to admit, after last night she had a legitimate concern. I really was perplexed.

As we walked to the teleport pad to go to the hearing room, I started talking to the AI (of all things) about the problem.

The AI eventually said, <<Bruce, you need to do here what you always do. Evaluate the situation, weigh the pros and cons and determine the best solution, even though none of the solutions are optimal.

<<The pros of punishing Yuki are: she believes it will help her stay alive and it will probably even give the other members of your harem some positive reinforcement. The cons are: that you went against your belief system and that you let Yuki force you into doing it.>>

<<The pros of not punishing Yuki are: You upheld your belief system. The cons: Yuki will remain scared and because of that make more mistakes.>>

By then we were at the hearing and I told the AI we would probably discuss this more later. Meanwhile I was thinking that my belief system was going to suffer a blow. Yuki was far more important to me than a slight deviation from it. As far as letting Yuki control me into doing something, I already had experience in dealing with that.

I have to admit, the hearing was every bit as boring as the major said it would be. Attacking a superior officer was just not allowed. The defendant's advocate had only one option available to him and tried to place the blame on Yuki and me. The Court was having none of it and the private was found guilty on all counts. The sergeant at arms was ordered to restrain the prisoner. After that the only punishment announced was for the conduct unbecoming of a volunteer charge. The prisoner was immediately discharged from the service and stripped of his citizenship. The AI declared him a illegal person on the moon base and a drain on the base's resources. By standing order of the base commander, such persons were to be stunned and recycled.

The sergeant at arms stunned him and he was immediately tossed down the recycling chute, conveniently located in the rear of the hearing room.

During the hearing the distance Yuki was keeping from me vanished as she was slowly becoming more and more frightened. When the hearing was over and it was time to leave she said, "That's what they would have done to me if you and the AI had not intervened."

I looked at her and said, "Yes, but we did. It should never have gone that far."

She shivered and clung even closer. A few seconds later she was crying.

I walked her to the transporter pad with my arm wrapped around her shoulder. We went home.

Eventually Yuki was cried out and we had lunch with the rest of the family. The concubines had expanded the game of the swat training, swatting each other every once in a while, helping each other learn not to react. A couple of them with long hair grabbed it as they walked around the house. Others just walked around the house with their hands in front of them folded with their fingers interleaved. It prevented them from reacting and blocking the blows.

Yuki started participating in the game and was doing okay once she tried the hair thing.

After lunch I started participating in the game. The concubines were all in their robes so the hand swats were not quite as effective as they could be. Much to the dismay of the ladies I declared the rest of the day a naked concubine day. That did improve the effectiveness of the hand swats, but the ladies were doing pretty well still.

Then I brought out my trusty fly swatter and started chasing the ladies around the room. Trust me the thing really stings if it is swung hard enough. I soon had the ladies all aware they had a lot more work to do.

Eventually 14:00 rolled around and Yuki and I went to my study. Okay, I chased Yuki to the study with my flyswatter. By that time Yuki was feeling a little better and was having a little fun with the other ladies. We sat next to one another on the sofa facing each other.

I asked, "Yuki, do you still think I need to punish you?"

"Yes Sir, but I realize that I've also overstepped my bounds. It should be up to you if I am to be punished. I should trust your judgment on that matter. I should also be punished for overstepping my bounds." Then she let a little smile creep onto her face and continued, "I think now that I see that everyone has that reflex reaction I feel a lot less like the only one in the world that can't control themselves."

I smiled at her and said, "You did overstep, and we will discuss this in a few minutes. As far as punishing you for reacting last night I have been giving it considerable thought. You will be punished by receiving ten swaps of the strap, only because I feel you will feel better and be able to move on.

"For overstepping, tomorrow night you tell every concubine residing in my immediate household, why you are being punished and ask them to give you ten swats with their bare hand over the knee. That includes Ed. Then you will find me and I will give you five with the birch. You will not wear any clothes in the pod until your punishment is complete.

"Do you understand?"

She smiled and said, "Yes Sir! Thankyou Sir! Please fuck me! I need it so badly."

Who can refuse a request like that?!

About a month after my extraction I noticed that there seemed to be a large number of colony ships gathering at the moon. This was evident from the number of Fleet Auxiliary officers and crew present on Tranquility base. I asked the AI about it and it replied that I appeared to be correct. It made some inquiries but it said it was being stonewalled by the base AIs at the other facilities. I asked how many cube ships were in the Earthat system. The AI reported eight and it added that was indeed a lot. I was a little surprised about that, as the last report I'd seen on the web was a total of eight in the entire CDF. The report was now six months old and the data the report was made from was undoubtedly even older.

The AI did something it had never done before when I was asking questions, it elaborated. "There are several other Valhalla class ships en route to the system too." The AI said, "I will investigate further and get back to you. I find this intriguing."

Things had progressed mostly as expected as far as myself and my greater household was concerned. Everyone was getting their basic training, even the concubines. I was told that this was being done differently than it was prior to the invasion of Earth and that six other scientific colonies were being set up at the same time. Because of this, there were a lot of colonists on the moon bases currently, enough to fill three to four Valhalla Class Cube ships alone. There was one cube ship for each scientific colony standing by to evacuate personnel in an emergency. The colonies for the five other bases were not even started yet because of a snafu in the construction of the colony builders. It seems one part in the colony builders was defective and had to be replaced. It caused a two month delay. The new colony builders would start their journey next week.

I was getting a lot of training that centered around ships, weapons and leadership principles. Then something unusual occurred in my sleep study programs. The AI started me on a series of lessons concerning running planetary and system governments, specifically as governor. At first I thought nothing about it but after about three days I asked the AI what was up.

The AI responded with a confusing response saying that it indeed wondered the same thing. It was told to change the curriculum and not to ask questions as the reason was top secret. It was clear the AI did not like what it was being told. Since I had asked it had a little more leverage and could investigate further and get back to me.

I was playing with the Thomas triplets, in bed, when the AI interrupted us and said, "Bruce, the base commander wishes to speak with you, immediately. Please proceed to his office. Something bad is happening in the Earthat System, but that is all the information I can tell you. Tell your household to prepare for evacuation. I also have orders for all the sponsors being sent to your colony to prepare for immediate evacuation."

Talk about throwing a wet blanket on something, the triplets were off me in a second and helping me dress. I went to the base commander's office and was immediately let in. The general turned to me and I saluted him. "Commander Bruce McCoy reporting as ordered, Sir."

He said, "Commander McCoy, at ease, let's dispense with the protocols for the rest of this meeting."

I replied, "Yes, Sir. Sir what's up?"

The base commander started, "For some time now we have been tracking a large group of Sa'arm hive ships moving towards Earthat. Those ships will arrive in 5 days. We hope to prevent them from landing on Earth but are concerned that if one or more of the hive ships land Earthat is doomed. We know that they are not interested in the Moon but if they happen to bombard it things could get very bad.

"It has been decided", the general continued, "to remove as many new sponsors from the Moon as possible and send them to their colonies. That is why the orders to evacuate all new sponsors from this base have been given.

"You are here though because of a new development, the governor of Einsteinat disappeared on a routine flight from the Moon to Mars Base four days ago. We located the wreckage of the craft this morning, there were no survivors found. Indications are that his shuttle hit some undiscovered ordinance from a previous battle.

"You have been selected by the AIs as the best replacement for the Governor. Yes, both they and I know you are only fourteen. Age has never stopped the AIs from appointing the best person they could find as Governor before so don't be surprised. I have seen you work, forming research teams and helping others with family problems. Governor of a system is only truly a hard job when the shit hits the fan. Fortunately for you, where you are going we don't expect serious problems from the Sa'arm, for a long time, if ever.

"Now for some new stuff. We are evacuating 1.5 to 2 million colonists to Einsteinat in the next three or four days. This includes some Naval assets that are not completed yet. One Marine Construction and two Naval Construction bases have been assigned to the Einsteinat System. In addition a Naval, Fleet Auxiliary and Marine training colony have been assigned to the system. A new colony type, a Medical Rehabilitation Center has also been assigned to the system. Four additional research colonies, initially intended for different locations are also being sent to Einsteinat. The additional research colonies are one reason you have been chosen as Governor the colony. The bases Einstein are getting will mostly be used for research and development of new technologies.

"Here are your new orders." He handed me an envelope and continued. "The orders state that you are requested, required and promoted to take command of the Einsteinat system as Military and Civilian Governor. Congratulations Governor." He shook my hand.

My first reaction was to refuse but I had never refused any responsibility before. The Admiral beat me to the punch, and stated, "Son, you are not being given the opportunity to refuse. The planetary council, AIs and circumstances at Earthat make it impossible to do so."

He continued before I could say anything, "This could not have happened at a worse time. The only colony that will be prepared to receive the evacuated colonists from the moon in time is Einstein. There are sponsors preparing to leave from twelve different Moon bases. It has been decided that the only possible solution is to build all bases on planet Einstein. That means the sponsors intended for them are going there too. This is partly because there was no one from the Einstein System to say no to the idea. It is not like we have any other choices though."

"Einsteinat is in the Sagittarius arm of the galaxy, far from Earth and what we believe is the path of the Sa'arm. It was intended and surveyed as a possible emergency new home for the human race should we lose this war. It was intended that any confederacy race, that could persuade itself that relocating to Einsteinat was better than being eaten in place, could join us. The AIs were not particularly happy with the whole idea, mostly because it didn't think any species would relocate, including humans.

I just stood there stunned. I stammered, "I am fourteen, and have no experience running a government. Why me?"

The general replied, "The AIs appoint all governors. They would not have chosen you unless you were the best candidate for the job. Right now their choices are limited by the time frame, but I get the feeling it is more because of your recent activities with regard to the weapons development team that they decided to choose you. Tranq, this base's AI, has been your biggest proponent for months now. The AI council appointing governors apparently listened to him.

"If you understand the AIs, the AIs have a very low regard for the people who run our governments on Earth. The less you know about running a government on Earth the more they like you. The AIs are all about trust and loyalty. Successful politicians, in this day and age, are neither trustworthy or loyal.

"Son, I've seen your team building, problem solving and leadership skills. There is a whole list of problems that you will need to solve and you will need to solve them fast. The AIs believe that you are the best person to solve them. I have to agree with them. Make sure you work with them to solve issues. The staff of the previous governor has been assigned to you. They are for the most part excellent people and you should consider their advice. The governors of the individual colonies and bases are also very good people. Always remember though their advice will tend to be slanted toward their own base and/or colony needs.