Chapter 34: Chaotic Days

My prediction that the next day would be hectic was proved earlier than I expected. A klaxon ringing in the bedroom woke me up. It felt like my head had just touched my pillow as the loud racous noise got all of my concubines to sit up.

“What is that?” Constance complained.

“AI? What is going on?” I asked.

“A small fight has broken out in training room Sigma. The klaxon was being used to awaken all officers and senior enlisted,” The AI said calmly.

“Were any of my crew involved in this fight?” I asked.

“Negative. The fight involved crewmen from Ipanema and several marines,” the AI said.

“What time is it?” I asked as I crawled over Lenore and Ashley to reach the edge of the bed.

“It is currently oh three-fifty-one ship time,” the AI said.

“So you were going to wake me in nine minutes,” I muttered. “Why couldn’t these idiots have waited? Was anyone hurt?”

“Several citizens were bruised and one female concubine had her leg broken,” the AI said.

“Damn, did this start over a concubine?” I asked.

“Affirmative. Marine Morgan Cunningham had brought Rebecca with him so she could watch the training. Two members of Ipanema’s crew decided to accost him,” The AI said.

“Sounds like it moved past words. Who threw the first punch?” I asked.

“Jonathan Webster, a crewman on Ipanema was the first to throw a punch,” The AI said.

I nodded as I headed to the shower unit. “Hopefully, Captain Prescott will deal with him. Please record that I do not want Webster on my crew in the future.”

The AI was silent as I got the shower started and began using the soap to lather my body.

“AI? Do I need to head to the training room?” I asked.

“Negative,” the AI responded. “It appears that Sergeant Griffith has the situation under control.”

“Good,” I said absently as I turned to face the stream of warm water.

I washed the soap and sweat from my body. Once I was feeling refreshed, I turned the shower off and stepped out onto the floor of the bathing area.

A replicator produced a soft towel that I used to dry my skin. I was bent over and working on drying my calves when I felt a hand on my butt.

“Mine,” Ashley said sleepily.

“Since when?” I asked as I stood up. The muscles of my face strained to see how big they could make my grin as I held an arm out.

Ashley immediately moved to snuggle under my arm. “Since always,” she said firmly. “Mark, we do all love you. And we heard about the hours you will be working. We ... talked.”

“Oh?” I said.

“Lenore suggested that we make sure you always have a concubine with you. We’ll do things like get food and drink for you,” she said.

“Just that?” I asked as I put my arms around Ashley. She was wearing a sheer, short nightie that barely covered her ass.

“We’ll do anything you want or need,” Ashley said into my chest. “Mark, our goal is to make sure that you can concentrate on the big things. We’ll be your aides I guess.”

“I can go along with that, but I have some rules as to how you dress and how many can be with me,” I said.

“We already agreed that it would be one concubine at a time. We’ll try to rotate every three or four hours throughout the day. At least that’s the plan if you allow us to enter and exit the home freely. Otherwise we can only move through that door if you are will us,” Ashley said.

“And what’s to keep you from all running off and finding new masters?” I asked in a joking tone.

Ashley’s arms wrapped around my chest and squeezed me so hard I thought she would break one of my ribs. “Don’t even joke about that,” she hissed angrily. “Mark, my only regret is that we can’t do the work for you and allow you to be like a male lion, lazing the day away and using the night to make your pride of lionesses pregnant again and again.”

“Oh, I think having too many babies would cool my ardor quickly. I’ll agree to allowing you out whenever you want, but...” I said.

“Mark?” Ashley asked as her arms stopped trying to squeeze all the air from my lungs.

I took in a welcome breath of air. “You have to wear clothing. AI, allow my ladies to request outfits that meats the following parameters. First, no underwear, except bras for Lenore and Aine.”

“They do need the support,” Ashley said. “Cunnie might need that as well.”

“She’d be offended that I allowed it. You know she feels she has to be a superslut in order to finish her penance. Second, all outfits must include thigh high stockings and a garter belt,” I said.

“With no panties? Are you sure that will be safe?” Ashley asked.

“Finally, the outfits should include skirts or dressed that don’t reach the knee. Other than that, my concubines can decide color and style. Also they must be wearing these outfits to enter or exit the home without me,” I said.

“Command accepted,” the AI said. “Will there be a limit to how many outfits?”

“Two each for now,” I said.

Ashley gave me another squeeze. “Thanks. We’ll try to always be sexy for you.”

“Just remember that I do have duties. And now I need to eat quickly and get in the sleep trainer,” I said.

“Something light?” Ashley asked.

“Bring it to the sleep trainer room,” I said. “Fruit and such I guess.”

Ashley released me and left the bathing area. I finished using the towel and then claimed a new uniform from the replicator. As I was putting it on I smiled as I thought about how I kept clothing for the girls, but got a new uniform from the replicators every morning.

As soon as I was dressed, I headed to the gravity elevator. Ashley caught up to me in the hallway. She was carrying a plate that had several crispy pieces of bacon and a bowl of assorted melon slices. “Here,” she said. “You can take this and I’ll go back and get breakfast for myself.”

I accepted the meal and started eating as I stepped onto the gravity pad for the elevator. The smooth ride allowed me to finish several pieces of fruit before I stepped off and started to walk to the sleep training chamber.

“Mark,” I heard Matti call out.

“Morning,” I said to my sister as she emerged from a doorway to my right. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. “How are you doing?”

“Still missing Jessica and the others. This sucks,” she said.

“I’m not thrilled by it either. I had hoped that Jason, Jessica and Morgan would be part of any team I was placed in. Now Morgan is a marine while Jason and Jessica are on a ship run by a man who hates what I represent,” I said.

“What you represent?” my sister asked as I walked into the sleep training room. “What does that mean?”

“Captain Prescott was a corporate executive back on Earth. I’m sure he sees that as a great accomplishment and he feels that only men like him deserve to lead others. But I have no accomplishments like that and was offered the same position he has. So I’m a threat to him,” I said.

“But he is keeping Jessica from visiting,” Matti said sadly.

“I wish I could send you to her, but I don’t know the rules,” I said. “Meanwhile all I can offer is my support when I’m around.”

“I know,” Matti said rushing over and giving me a hug. “I also hear how busy you are. All of your ladies are terrified of what might happen to you.”

“I’m allowing them to stay with me,” I said. “But it’s a bit hard during sleep training.”

I finished off the last piece of bacon and set the plate down on a table just inside the door to the sleep training room. My gaze probably showed a bit of trepidation as I walked over to the trainer and climbed in.

“Mark?” I heard Ashley cry out.

“I’ll be out in about two hours. I need to take this training before we head out to the simulators. The first lessons will be at the rail gun just after seven,” I said.

“How long will the training in there last?” Ashley asked.

“About two hours. I should get out right about six, and we’ll have about thirty minutes before I want to head to the simulators. I should be there before the teams show up,” I said as I lay back in the trainer.

“I’ll be here,” Ashley said as the unit closed up around me and I could feel my mind go into what I was thinking as training mode.

There was only the slightest of pauses and then visions of the rail guns seemed to flow into my memory. At first it was technical information about the guns and the speed of the projectiles they launched. A deep and detailed review of the projectiles themselves followed. I was a bit surprised to discover that the ultra-heavy magnetic rounds were completely inert. They had a compressed carbon core underneath a shell of dense ferrous-metals. No explosives were included because the speed of the projectiles vaporized them on impact with a target.

Once the preliminary information was imparted, the training went into a detailed breakdown of the various command options for a railgun. I was astonished to find that as captain I had a wide range of control over the rails, and even more information. The units included some charged coils that held enough power to destroy the ship should containment fields fail. The captain’s chair had the ability to monitor the coils and even to issue commands to jettison a failing coil in an emergency. Similar controls were included at the railgun station, but the captain was assumed to be the final arbiter on if it was necessary.

The information flow continued. I soon found that I was receiving the memory of using the controls on the captain’s chair to view a rail gun in operation. Several warning flags were shown as well as the primary factors in causing each flag to be raised. I was beginning to wonder how anyone might remember every item when the training finally came to an end.

The door to the trainer opened up and I sat up. I could feel a residual headache, as if I had just cram studied for a major test, but it started to fade immediately. I found myself hoping that I would not have the memories fade when two arms wrapped around me.

“What’s this I hear about leaving the home with no panties on?” Lenore purred softly into my ear. “Do you expect your ladies to act like complete sluts?”

“Complete, no,” I whispered back as I looked around for Angelique. “But I do want them to show that I have complete command over them.”

“That we can do,” Lenore said with a giggle. “And my daughter is currently with Aine and Cunnie.”

“You left your daughter with the two harpies of the household?” I asked.

“They asked if they could babysit her. I think both of them are worried that they’ll do something wrong once their babies are born,” Lenore said.

“More problems,” I muttered.

“Not really,” Lenore said. “I won’t say that they love you like Ashley does, or Miki does. But I get a feeling that they respect you and want to remain with us. So they are going to try to support you as much as they can.”

“And with their damaged souls, that might be difficult,” I said with a nod as I stood up. “AI, what time is it?”

“Oh-six-eleven,” the AI responded.

“The training ran a bit long,” I muttered. “And I won’t get time for another session today unless I want to stay up very late.”

“Why?” Lenore asked as we started to walk out of the room.

“There are simulator sessions scheduled to start less than an hour from now and to continue for almost twelve hours. I expect I’ll be attending most of the sessions, or at least passing through as I move between simulators,” I said.

“I thought the sleep trainers were supposed to handle all of the training,” Lenore said.

“I prefer simulations to sleep training. In a simulation you can gauge real reactions and even set up a random response by having some crew play the role of the enemy force. Sleep training is a bit like practicing martial art forms. It teaches the moves, but not the dance itself,” I said.

“Good analogy,” Ashley said as she came up to hug me. My blond concubine was wearing a porn star’s version of a catholic schoolgirl outfit. She had on black thigh high stockings and a black garter belt. Around her waist was a red plaid skirt that barely covered her ass while she was standing. Her breasts were covered by a white button down blouse that was tied in a knot just below her breasts, leaving her midriff exposed and making the garter belt visible above the waistband of her skirt.

“You look sexy, hot and completely slutty,” I whispered into Ashley’s ear.

“I am so going to need to be fucked later,” Ashley said. “Just wearing this is making me horny.”

“Probably not going to happen until I get back here,” I said. “But I’ll hold you to that tonight.”

“Good,” Ashley said. “Do you want a snack before we head out?”

“A bratwurst on a hoagie roll,” I said. “That sounds like it would help me perk up before I go and watch Robert Bruce and his team tangle with the rail gun simulator.”

Ashley moved to my left and slipped an arm under my left elbow. Lenore claimed my right as we walked to the gravity elevator.

“This is nice,” Lenore said with a sigh. “Mark, you’re right, we need more time together.”

“I’ll try,” I said. “But I want to show everyone that I can command a ship, so I have to put in long hours for a while.”

“Just remember to work smart,” Ashley said. “If all you do is work hard, you’ll play into the hands of those who say you’ll fail.”

“Fair advice from a fair lady,” I said as we arrived at the grav elevator. I carefully extracted my arms from their hands. “I go down first.”

“Awww,” Ashley said with a pout.

“No complaints or I’ll demand you come down together,” I replied sharply.

“I’ll go down on her now if you want,” Ashley said with a giggle. “We know you’ll like that.”

“And end up late to the training? Not my idea of a good way to start a day right now,” I said.

Lenore pushed me into the grav elevator opening. “Goof,” she said. “Go and then prev on us as we descend after you. We all know you want to look up girl’s skirts.”

“Why look when I can feel whenever I want?” I asked with a smirk as the elevator lowered me to the ground floor of our home.

There was a huge part of me that wanted to stand at the base of the elevator and watch Ashley and Lenore descend, but I turned my back to the opening and started walking towards the living room.

When I arrived in the living room I found Aine and Miki on their knees and wearing leotards as Tatyana carefully painted their face with makeup. Tatyana was wearing her Bombalurina costume as she worked on the others.

“Going to teach them a few dances?” I asked.

“They volunteered,” Tatyana said without turning. “And I thought you’d love to watch us.”

“I would,” I admitted. “But right now I have to head over to the simulators.”

“Awww,” Aine said. “I wanted to show you that I can do the splits.”

“Can you?’ I asked.

“Not today, but I will be able to!” Aine said firmly. “I want to show you that I’m not the angry girl you picked up in that fast food joint.”

“From what I can see, you definitely aren’t that girl anymore,” I said.

Aine turned her eyes to the floor. I could see her cheeks turn red even though white paint covered them. “Thanks,” she whispered as I headed to the door.

The door was opening when I felt Ashley run into me from behind. She put her arms around my waist as she hugged me. “No sneaking off without me.”

“I figured you’d catch up to me,” I said as I stepped through the doorway.

“So where are we going?” Ashley asked.

“We have about forty-five minutes before the official start of rail gun training. I thought I’d peek at the engineering and missile stations first,” I said. I looked up at the ceiling of the hallway. “I hope they are all close to each other.”

“The additional simulation rooms are set up just down the passageway from the bridge simulator,” the AI said.

“Are the doors marked in any way?” I asked.

“Markings are available. Would you like to request that?” the AI said.

“Please,” I said as we started walking down the passageway. I listened closely and noticed that the halls were quiet.

Ashley released me and moved to walk next to me. I could see her head swing from side to side as we walked. “It’s quiet. I don’t even hear the sound of the engines.”