Chapter 75: The Cycle Continues

Two days later I was walking to the administration building. Aine clung to my right arm and Constance had claimed my left. The two young women were complaining about being pregnant and horny when I was gone. I mostly ignored their cheerful chatter as I watched my crew begin to emerge from their homes.

When I arrived inside the building I was surprised to see Jackie standing there with her female concubine by her side. She looked a bit nervous.

“Jackie,” I said with a nod to her.

“You should salute,” she said.

“I thought you did not have to salute while off duty,” I replied. “If I understand correctly we aren’t on duty until we set foot back on Corsica. And that isn’t required for another hour.”

“If you want to receive respect from other commanders, you have to be able to work with military protocols,” Jackie said with a sigh.

“I’m afraid that we didn’t receive much training in those,” I said. “The AI on Glowworm left the training of the crew in my hands. It did allow the creation of several simulation rooms.”

“You used actual simulators?” Jackie asked. “Not the sleep trainers?”

“We used both,” I said. “Everyone used the sleep trainers, or was supposed to, but we had daily training in the simulators. Two days before we arrived at Crucibleat we had final examinations. We manned every simulator station and worked as a group to get through some simulated missions.”

“Missions that our captain had designed to be devilishly difficult,” Sergeant Bruce said as he entered. “But we learned a lot about what was expected of us.”

Jackie looked surprised. “I’m sorry, I don’t recognize many of the crew. You are?”

Robert Bruce held out his hand. “Sergeant Robert Bruce. I lead the portside railgun team. I also try to serve as the senior crewmember.”

Jackie looked surprised. “Why you?”

“Because he is probably the most mature man on the ship,” I said. “He was married before his pickup and brought his wife along as his senior concubine. He also has three children, making him one of only two members of Crosica’s crew who has dependents living with them in Beacon.”

“Beacon?” Jackie asked.

“I heard the concubines using that name,” Sergeant Bruce said. “Who’s idea was it to call our little village Beacon?”

“Probably mine,” I replied. “I wanted to remind the crew that the village is our Beacon of hope and purpose. We officially serve the Confederacy, and I won’t betray them, but our purpose is to protect our families. And they live in the village here.”

Sergeant Bruce nodded to me. “And that is why the crew follows Captain Parker. He’s always thinking about how to bring us home to our families alive.”

“Always?” Jackie’s concubine asked.

“I’m not sure I can concentrate on it when my concubines are trying to get me to submit to their whims,” I said cheerfully. “But I do spend a lot of time worrying about what we are going to be doing.”

“What is the plan? I know we have orders,” Sergeant Bruce asked.

“We have been asked to jump past our nemesis system of Gee One Dash numbers. We’ll be visiting up to a dozen systems in the space beyond that point. Our duty is to find out the extent of the Sa’arm advance. We’ll then stop at Gee One Dash Six Five Nine and see if we can get close enough to the second planet to scan it and see how deep the Sa’arm have sunk their claws into the system,” I said.

“If we survive that long,” Jackie said somewhat bitterly. “A dozen systems? I’ve been at Yularaat for nine months. No ship visits more than five systems before running into trouble.”

“I’ll have to follow up on that,” I said. “I know Ensign Daniels was working on getting a second set of jump capacitors installed so we can rejump quickly if we do run into trouble. Also a Patrician class ship works differently than the Castle class ships Yularaat uses.”

“How?” Jackie asked. “I’ve only heard that the Patrician is smaller and has even less defense.”

“The only effective defense for a ship the size of Corsica is to not get hit,” I said. “Fortunately, the Patrician class ships are fast and nimble. We can avoid most attacks. The ship also has some extremely effective weapons that play to the theory of a good offense being a substitute for defense. If they can’t shoot at you because they are dead, your lack of defense doesn’t matter.”

Sergeant Bruce laughed. “Just make sure that Blaine is in the pilot’s seat when we’re in a fight. He’s got the moves.”

“We’ll go with whoever we have,” I said. “Private Morrison and Private Ripa are good helmsmen.”

“Do we know anything about the systems we’ll be visiting?” Sergeant Bruce asked.

“They are mostly K or M-class systems. There is evidence of planets, but the studies and observations are too incomplete to determine which ones might have planets in the zone where liquid water would appear,” I said.

“K-class? M-class?” Jackie’s concubine asked. “What does that mean?”

I could see Jackie cringe. I just smiled as I gave Aine and Constance a brief squeeze. “It’s a classification use by astronomers to indicate how hot and bright a star is. The two classes are the coolest main sequence stars and are not expected to have planets that can bear life.”

“Can they?” Jackie asked. “I never really studied this information.”

“You should, it’s useful if you are going to be the captain of a spaceship. And yes, in theory any planet can support life. The hotter O and A-class planets aren’t expected to have life both because they are often too volatile. They either don’t keep up a steady output of energy, or they put out so much that the atmosphere of a planet would be ionized away. They also tend to have short lives which means that life might not have time to develop,” I said.

“Time?” Jackie asked.

“Did you know that if you set up a military clock for one day where one minute after midnight was when the Earth was formed and midnight was the current second, humans would have been on Earth for just a few seconds? For millions of years dinosaurs ruled over the planet,” I said. “But an O-class star might only last ten million years. They burn hot and fast.”

“How do you remember which class is which?” Jackie’s concubine asked.

Jackie sighed. “Tracie, I know you never finished high school and you told me you hated science. Why are you asking these questions?”

The woman turned and put her arms around Jackie. “Because I love you and worry. I’ve found that I’m trying to learn more about space so I can help more.”

“I was going to take you with me, if the captain didn’t have a problem with it,” Jackie said.

“I don’t. Sergeant, make sure that the troublemakers in the crew know just how harsh I might punish them if I find out that Tracie here has been molested by anyone other than Jackie,” I said.

“No Amy?” Tracie asked playfully. “But I like it when they demand that I attend to both of them.”

I looked Jackie in the eye. “If Lance Corporal Vernon is there she can decide if its molestation or not. However, I need you to remember that only she can approve. If she has a problem, I have to take action.”

“I understand,” Jackie said. She turned to look at her concubine.

I nodded to her and then gave Aine and Constance kisses. “Well, I’m off. You should run home.”

“Awww,” Aine pouted.

“We wanted to come with you,” Constance whined playfully. “I promise not to sit in your lap...”

“For more than twenty hours a day,” Aine finished.

“No pregnant ladies on a combat ship when it will be in combat,” I said firmly. “Now head home and tell the others that I’ll be looking forward to more video mails from all of you.”

“All?” Constance asked. She had only appeared in one and had been visibly uncomfortable.

I gave Constance a hug. “I had the medical system firm up your body and give you a look that is sexy and beautiful. I love looking at you. But only if you are comfortable with it.”