Chapter 83: Preparatory Meetings

The orgy my command had started lasted more than two hours. It finally broke up when Erica and Angelique returned from their play. Lenore and I quickly showered and then spent time with the two girls as the other ladies cleaned up.

We ate as a group that night. I was going to see about resuming the play when the AI interrupted our meal. “Captain Parker. I have a call from Captain Prescott for you.”

“Put it through,” I replied. “Ladies be quiet please.”

“Aww, do we have to,” Ashley sang out with a fake pout.

We heard a snort from the speaker above is. “I can hear your concubines are about as calm as mine,” Captain Prescott said.

“I’m not sure I’d say they are calm,” I replied carefully. “They are trying to stay cheerful. This set of orders has them more than a little worried.”

“I’m worried as well. Do you think we can have a meeting?” Captain Prescott asked.

“When and where?” I asked.

“I’d say as soon as possible, and how about in that meeting room we used earlier. I’m going to see if Ensign Button will come as well,” Captain Prescott said.

“Who?” I asked.

“My weapons officer. He’s out of the medical pod. I figure he’ll possibly have some ideas. I’d recommend bringing yours as well,” Captain Prescott said.

“You do know that Ensign White is a woman?” I asked.

“It won’t be a problem,” Captain Prescott said. “I had the AI here show me some highlights of your fights. She’s good. I’m more worried about what we can do to make sure we are alive when Zulu finally gets to fire her weapons.”

“I’d rather be alive when we leave the system after Zulu fires her weapons. We need to make sure we are creating a route we can use to escape,” I said. “Let me contact Ensign White. Do you mind if I bring Ensign Thornton? Or is she still yours.”

“We both approved the transfer, but I don’t think its gone through,” Captain Prescott said. “I’ll have her met us there and we can announce it to her. I don’t have a tracking officer to bring currently.”

“We’ll work around that,” I said. “Give me ten minutes.”

“See you there Captain,” Captain Prescott said.

“He just showed you respect,” Lenore said softly. “I thought he’d hate you forever.”

“It’s amazing what nearly dying can do for someone. He won’t stay that way, but for now we need each other. The orders we’ve been given are bad,” I said. “AI, can you put me through to Ensign White?”

There was a pause. “Go ahead Captain,” we heard Kelsey call out. A moment later she giggled. “Jethro, I’m talking to the Captain. I know you want to fuck me, but this is important.”

I coughed as my ladies giggled. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” I said. “But we need to attend a meeting in ten minutes.”

“What?” Kelsey complained. “I don’t know of any meetings planned.”

“We received new orders right after I teleported down. They don’t take effect for a day or two, but we need to start planning. I need you to attend the meeting we’re having regarding that. It’s in the meeting room at the administration building,” I said.

“But,” Kelsey said petulantly.

“I know. I have my own concubines staring daggers at me. Unfortunately, we need this meeting. Should I wait for you?” I asked.

“Jethro, pound me hard,” Kelsey said with a moan. “I’ll catch up Captain.”

“End call,” I said and then waved my hand at the ceiling as a series of yips rang out before the call was cut off.

“She’s getting it good,” Ashley said with a giggle.

I looked down at my outfit. After the shower I had put on some comfortable sweatpants and a t-shirt. “Someone get me some shoes,” I said.

“Shouldn’t you get a uniform?” Ashley asked. “I’m sure we can dress you.”

“This isn’t an official meeting. I’m also not going to hide where I came from. I’m a civilian handed a great responsibility. One way to show that will be to dress the way I feel comfortable. Perhaps at the main meetings I’ll dress up,” I said.

“You’ll get in trouble,” Lenore said.

“So I shoot my eye out,” I said with a shrug. I winked at Erica who giggled and shook her head.

“You need to set up Christmas for us,” Erica sang out.

“When I have time,” I replied. “Meanwhile I see Miki has my shoes. I’m going to head to the meeting room. Sorry I couldn’t stay longer.”

“You’ll be back,” Tatyana said. “And then I play evil Russian seductress determined to ruin capitalist oppressor.”

Everyone in the room laughed. I put my arms around Tatyana and pulled her in for a long and passionate kiss. “Perhaps the capitalist will convince the seductress to become his forevermore.”

Tatyana burst out laughing. “You mean you haven’t already managed that?” she asked in her throaty accent. “I can’t imagine what might cause you to think that.”

All of my ladies started laughing. Ashley moved up and put her arms around me. “Mark, we all know how you feel and how we feel about it. Now, I heard you talking about a meeting, but I thought I heard Jessica’s name mentioned as if she was an officer. Last we heard she was still on Ipanema.”

“She still is officially,” I said. “But Captain Prescott offered to allow her to transfer to Corsica. She’s going to be my new tracking officer, and the ship will finally have a full crew.”

“What about Jason?” Ashley asked.

“He might be transferred to the marines. Captain Prescott is hoping that he can allow him to rest. He won’t know until the transport with the extra crew shows up. Admiral Redmill will be bringing it when he arrives with the rest of his force,” I said.

“So what now?” Constance asked.

“I have meetings,” I said. “Captain Prescott and I have to figure out how to get a ship with limited defenses and no ability to fight at a distance close enough to kill Sa’arm colony ships.”

“Can you do it?” Ashley asked worriedly.

“I can’t answer,” I admitted. “And I should be going. Tatyana, come with me and protect me from the heathen capitalist dog I’ll be facing.”

Tatyana purred. “Only if you promise to show me pleasure tonight.”

I pretended to groan. “Wear a copy of your Cats costume, but one that we can tear off once we get passionate.”

Tatyana laughed as she moved behind me and started pushing me to the door. “Let’s go. I want to get back as soon as possible so we can do that.”

My other ladies cleared a path for me as Tatyana pushed me out of the pod. Once we were outside I started walking towards the village’s administration building. Tatyana moved to cling to my left arm.

“Mark?” she asked so softly that I barely heard her. “Do you miss us when you are gone?”

“More than I can describe,” I said firmly. “Once all of you give birth, I’m going to make sure that no more than two of you are pregnant at the same time so I can always have one of you with me.”

Tatyana gave my arm a squeeze. “Can I be the first?” she asked shyly.

“Where is the confident temptress?” I asked. “Tatyana you are supposed to be one of the strongest of my ladies. Right now you reminded me of Constance.”

“Why won’t you call her Cunnie like she wants?” Tatyana asked.

“Because I can’t show her that much disrespect,” I said firmly. “I understand that she still feels a lot of guilt over how she acted on Earth, but I refuse to allow her to wallow in her guilt.”

Tatyana gave my arm an affectionate squeeze. “Ashley said that was why you won’t. We all try to tell Constance that she needs to stop punishing herself.”

“She does?” I asked.

“She will try to lick all of us to orgasm some nights. And when we try to return the favor she’ll fight to prevent it. She says she needs to show true remorse. Even Aine hates it when she does that,” Tatyana said.

“I’ll have to talk to her when we return, but we’re almost at the administration building which means its time for the meeting,” I said.

“So I have to be quiet?” Tatyana asked timidly.

I laughed. “Well, we’re probably going to be arguing about ship positioning, tracking plans, firing angles and such. I get a feeling it will mostly confuse you unless you have been secretly studying back home.”

Tatyana laughed. “I’ve been practicing dances, teaching Lenore, Ashley and the others a few simple steps and occasionally working on cooking. Studying space combat wasn’t a priority.”

“If it had been, I believe your master would be upset,” we heard Kelsey say as we stepped through the doorway of the administration building.

“Kels,” I said. “Is Captain Prescott here?”

“Not yet,” Ensign White replied. “I did bring Ruth with me. I hope that isn’t a problem.”

“I have no issue with concubines sitting in during a meeting. I don’t expect them to say much, but if they can quietly offer support, I’m all for them attending,” I replied. “Where is your lady?”

“I’m not a lady!” we heard shouted from the meeting room I had been in earlier. “Ladies aren’t unmarried and pregnant.”

“I’m not sure I’d consider you unmarried,” I called back as I started to walk to the meeting room. “It’s just an unconventional marriage.”

“Sure, I get to be the punchboard for an oversexed redneck and a beautiful woman who likes my tongue,” Ruth said sarcastically. “I’m so loved.”

Kelsey started laughing. “Ruth, I return the favor as often as I can, and I remember you were the one who dragged Jethro onto the gravity elevator so you could try fucking him while levitating to the second floor of our pod.”

I shook my head as Tatyana laughed. “I need to try that,” the Ukrainian woman said.

“Kelsey,” I said. “Did the AI communicate why a meeting was called?”

“Not really,” she replied. “Only that it had to do with some new orders we have been given. I’m also puzzled as to why you have Captain Prescott here. He hates you.”

“I don’t hate Captain Parker,” we heard Captain Prescott say from the teleportal. “I thought he’d prove to be an incompetent fool promoted for all the wrong reasons. After all, how many fifteen year olds do you know who are effective at commanding a space ship?”

“I don’t know any,” I said happily. “I’m not all that effective. We’ve had damage every trip.”

Captain Prescott shook his head. “Kid, don’t sell yourself that fucking short. If I had the results you do, I’d be campaigning for promotion already. You have gotten data that I bet few ships could have obtained, and you haven’t lost a crewmember yet.”

“I’ve come closer than I would have liked,” I admitted. “The last fight left more than one part of the ship depressurized. If anyone had been out of their spacesuit they could have died.”

“How do concubines handle that?” Captain Prescott asked.

“Didn’t Jessica bring her concubines aboard?” I asked.

“Not on the last run where we ran into Sa’arm ships,” Captain Prescott replied.

“Ah, I wasn’t aware of that,” I said. “Well, the concubine’s quarters is near the middle of the ship, so its very well protected. They also have spacesuits they can wear. I have the rule on my ship that they need to wear the suits whenever they enter the halls, unless the ship is docked.”

“So if their shelter is breached they have a chance,” Captain Prescott said with a nod.

“Well, many of the concubines we have also help while we are cruising. They might bring food to everyone’s work station or help by cleaning the hallways,” I replied.

“I could see that as a pleasant perk,” Captain Prescott said. “There have been times on slow cruises through a system that I desperately wanted a hot coffee.”

“You can command your ship from anywhere,” I replied. “You don’t have to sit in the command chair. Heck, my ensigns have sent me to my office a couple of times.”

“Only when you were being annoying,” Ensign White said. “You’re a nice man, but going over the personnel files always made you grouchy.”

“I hate having to fill out performance reviews,” I grumbled.

“Any good supervisor does,” Captain Prescott said. “If you are doing your job you don’t need to publish reviews. Also, a good crew shouldn’t require multiple reminders regarding their performance.”

“I never thought about that,” I said. “But I’m still not going to enjoy reviewing the files.”

Captain Prescott surprised me by laughing. “Hey, you have it easy. I have to review the files of the new crew that Admiral Redmill brings and figure out who I can accept to fill out my crew.”

“Will they be ready?” I asked. “I mean our mission is to escort a ship that has no real defenses.”

Captain Prescott sighed. “I don’t know. Probably not. I’ll have one or two missile crews I can count on, and the engineering department is solid, but I have no idea what I’ll have for helmsmen or railgun crews.”

“Which is what we need to work around,” I said with a nod. “Kels, this is why I wanted you here. The mission Admiral Redmill came up with takes us back to our favorite place to get shot at.”

“That system?” Kelsey asked. “What are we supposed to do there?”

“Remember the ship we saw when we visited Yularaat?” I asked.

“That thing? It’s got a great offensive punch, but the defenses on that thing make it nearly worthless in combat. There is no way it can get near the occupied planet,” Kelsey said firmly.

“Well Admiral Redmill is ordering an attack. Corsica and Ipanema are supposed to escort that ship until it can attack the Sa’arm colony. Right now, this meeting is to figure out how we can make that happen and survive,” I said.

“Going straight in?” Kelsey asked. “Just the three ships?”

“There will be a number of other ships involved. But their job is to be decoys,” I said. “Hopefully they’ll get the Sa’arm distracted so we can sneak in.”