Chapter 31: Finally Launching Freya

The others exited the room via the door to the passageway. I remained sitting until the last person headed out. Once I was alone I stood up and headed for the doorway leading to the bridge. I entered the empty room and the lights came on. The room reminded me of the training room from my pod. I walked over to the captain’s chair and ran my hand down the back as I looked at the other stations. The room was only slightly larger than the training room, and I could see that it would feel cramped during combat.

“People will not be happy,” I said. “Hopefully everyone can work together without too much personality conflict. This is not a large space.”

The door to the passage opened and Vincent walked on. “I ... man this is smaller than I expected.”

“I know,” I said. “At least there will just be five people in this space.”

“Five?” Vincent asked.

“You, Tilly as the gunner liaison officer, Luther for damage control officer and a helmsman,” I replied. “We got along in the simulation training.”

“We did,” Vincent said as he moved to the tracking officer’s station. He sat down and started adjusting the controls. “They moved the controls to where I preferred. I was fearing that they would be set up the same way that the original configuration in the training was. Oh, I was going to say I checked on both tracking stations. All six of my people are getting their stations up and running.”

“Any personality conflicts?” I asked.

Vincent sighed. “Yes. The problem is that I have three of the girls that don’t get along with each other. The tracking stations are three person assignments.”

“Rotate everyone,” I suggested. “Or put those three in one station and we’ll see if they kill each other in the middle of the cruise and we can replace them with girls who understand that this isn’t high school.”

“All three were middle-aged. Heck, Jessica and Karen were managers,” Vincent said. “They are very good at keeping track of so many things when engaged in the simulations, but they cut each other down constantly.”

“So they’re still in high school,” I said with a nod. “We’ll have to work on getting them to understand that their little displays of personality are no longer acceptable.”

“Can you do that?” Vincent asked. “I heard Jessica comment that she’d heard you were a stripper. She’s sure you managed to get elevated to the position of captain via your sexual wiles.”

“Have I shown you any sexual wiles?” I asked.

Vincent laughed. “No, but Jade sure taught my concubines how to please a man. And from what Lisa told me, Jade claims you are better and more experienced than she is at pleasing a man.”

I laughed as well. “Jade can fuck a man into unconsciousness.”

Vincent just sat there looking over his shoulder at me. The door opened up to allow Else to walk in. The helmswoman clenched her hands as she looked around the bridge.

“Miss Voss,” I said with a nod. “You’ll be the one to take us out when we launch. You can report to your station.”

The woman nodded nervously. “Are you sure I can?” she asked quietly.

I held in a sigh. “Else,” I said firmly. “You might not hear it often enough, but you are extremely dependable as a helmswoman. I have had almost no complains about your performance.”

“But David and DeMarcus are...” she said. I could hear the lack of confidence in her voice.

“The fact that they show different skills does not mean you are a poor helmswoman. If I need someone to handle the duties, I am confident that you will always perform well. You have always had the ship where I needed it when we were just cruising.”

“But in battle,” Else said.

“Even there,” I said, interrupting her thought. “You might not manage the more energetic and inventive maneuvers, but those are dangerous to do. When you were the helmsman in the simulations, I always knew you’d get the ship to where she needed to be.”

Else smiled timidly and moved to sit in the helm station. She took her seat and started to power up the station. I watched as the holographic display from my chair indicated that the ship was operational.

I pressed one of the buttons on my chair. A chime rang out on the bridge and I nodded. “Crew, welcome to Freya. We are about to launch on our first real mission. This time we will not simply be performing in a simulation. Mistakes now can get people hurt or killed. And while mistakes will happen, they need to be honest ones, not caused by your failure to concentrate.”

“Which is going to happen,” Else muttered. “DeMarcus was moaning about not having his concubines.”

“Now, I have received orders for our first cruise. We are going to be heading out to cross in the neighboring district. Word is that Leo District has mostly fallen to the Sa’arm. Their capital Leoat has seen landings and the last concubines were evacuated over a month ago. We will be heading to that system to destroy whatever orbital structures the Sa’arm have built.”

“Do they build much in space?” Vincent asked quietly.

“Now, I know that many of you are unhappy due to the fact that no pregnant concubines were allowed to board and all of our female concubines are currently pregnant. It turns out that the district command understands the problem and offered a solution. There are a number of unattached concubines who lost their owners to battles. The district has given thirty of them the opportunity to travel with us. They will be staying in the barracks and are available for you to visit when you are not on duty.”

“We will?” Vincent whispered.

“Now, these concubines will not initially belong to you. Technically I have accepted the responsibility for their care and protection. I will be extremely upset should you harm or abuse these women. They are here to help you remain focused on the task at hand, which is to crew this ship and ensure we return with everyone still alive,” I finished.

“That is all for now. Officers, please verify that your crew is at their duty stations before we launch,” I ordered.

“The men get some free concubines? And what’s this about them not initially belonging to them?” Else asked.

“The officer who explained the situation to me said that once we entered Borneo district the limits on how many concubines you may own were relaxed. The emphasis out here is that someone accept responsibility for the concubine. There is a barracks on the planet where he takes care of all concubines who have lost their owners, and from what he said it’s a large number due to recent losses in battle,” I replied.

“Those poor women,” Vincent said. “Did you really agree to such a bargain? I mean, they could cause trouble.”

Before I could speak the door to the passage opened. A woman walked in. We all froze as I looked at her. Somehow the woman had visible horns and a tail. The tail appeared to be a red hose and ended in a spade-shaped spike. The tail weaved in a pattern over her shoulder.

“Captain Walker?” the woman said in a smooth contralto.

“Yes,” I said. “You are?”

“Concubine Lilith,” the woman said. “The others voluntold me to represent them to you. We’d like to thank you for accepting the offer from Tribune Walesca.”

“How?” Vincent asked. He was openly staring at the woman’s tail. She was wearing a corset and thong panties in a red that matched the strange tail.

“The tail?” Lilith said. “It was a gift from my original owner. He told me it was just something that would attach and mean nothing, but there is some strange nanotech built in. Over time the tail made a connection with my nervous system. Now I have control over it.”

“And he gave you it because of your name?” I asked.

Lilith’s face took on the same color of her tail. “No,” she whispered. “He was a jerk. I didn’t realize that when I accepted becoming his concubine. Once we were aboard the transport that brought me to Borneo he turned on both Martha and me.”

“Turned?” I asked. I realized that there was a sharp tone of condemnation in my voice.

“He was brutal and uncaring. The only thing he wanted from us was complete and abject subjugation. We were expected to wait on him all the time, even when he was training, which was rare. He had the skills required to be an excellent weapons officer for a Patrician class corvette, but he did only the bare minimum training. He preferred to rape Martha,” Lilith said.

“I thought you couldn’t rape a concubine,” Vincent said.

“If the sex was unwelcome and violent, I’d still call it a rape,” I said. “It sounds like Lilith’s master was the kind of man who didn’t deserve to be a citizen.”

“Can I ask what happened to him?” Else asked.

“He was tried for dereliction of duty, mutiny and sexual abuse of another citizen,” Lilith said. “The conviction was swift and he was executed. That happened only seven days ago.”

“Ouch,” I said. “And Martha is in the barracks watching over your children?” I asked.

“No,” Lilith said looking at the floor. “I don’t know the name of the woman watching our children. Martha is dead. The day after he was executed, she committed suicide. I did what I could to help her rebuild, but he had broken her mentally and she couldn’t stand the possibility that a new owner might be worse. We had lived for the time he was serving on ships because that was the only relief we had.”