Chapter 55

Carl's problems had not lessened with Henry's leaving. About the time Henry and his new ship had passed the Mardaf Limit of this system, the Samutz, hiding in the Umal Mountains, to the south, decided to test his defences. The Cap had taken almost all of the able bodied soldiers with him, and left him with only 20 men and 5 Tandra, 2 of which were female.

Small combat drones had flown from one of the many hidden Samutz bases. Five headed to a small camp just south of Souts.

Sgt. Williams had just come in from a flight, in one of the nimble two place fighters taken from the carrier. Today's mission was one of the worse, so far. Usually he and his partner were able to spot and kill a few Samutz, or destroy some of their equipment. Sometimes they had to rely on satellite or drone intel, but today the enemy were unusually quiet and elusive. When they checked with command, they found that the other groups had similar luck.

They had flown high to pick up supplies from the ships in orbit, then to within a metre or less off the ground as they flew almost three thousand klicks an hour. At this speed both the pilot, navigator/gunner and the ship AI had to be on their toes. Originally the Tandra had put failsafe mechanisms in, to keep the minimum height to be roughly three metres but this was usually too high for Human tastes, or perhaps good sense.

The craft was confining to the pilot, and made sleeping with his large body difficult. It was designed for the smaller Tandra frame, and had been altered to accommodate the much larger Samutz, and now a Human with a Tandra gunner, but the craft was still too small. Jim Williams just hoped that the 'Cap' would eventually get the manufacturing machines to make a craft from the ground up, for men of his size.

When the Cap left, he had put the General in charge of the entire planet. He had done his best to follow the Cap's orders, but everybody knew it was almost impossible to remove the rest of the Samutz without lots of help.

The main camp was too noisy, and both Jim and Tom agreed to set up their own. With the new equipment, and the Tandra regs, being followed scrupulously, it was not hard to be detached this way.

This camp was in a cluster of rocks, and had a large piece of light weight ceramic material, bonded to the rocks, to keep it from flying away in the unpredictable winds. It kept off the scorching sun, and the occasional torrential rainfalls. Two combat suits were placed along the inner wall to fight if needed. Small items scattered under the large covering, made the camp a comfortable home. A lightweight air bed, a small refrigerator/stove combination, along with their detection apparatus, made the camp complete.

"Hey, Tom, you gettin' the food ready? It's still your turn."

Tom, a slim Tandra male that looked about 17 Earth years threw his sooda, Jim, a packet of food. After sitting down on a camp chair, he looked at the man he adored. In a way, it was difficult seeing Jim as his mate, for he did not really look like a Tandra. His eyes were too small, and his body now was too big. All the small things that told him what a Tandra bondue should be like, had come apart after meeting the charismatic human.

Jim being Human, looked only a little older than himself, but Human age was still difficult to judge. Jim had quite a few problems with his old body, and had spent many times in the tanks. Some from wounds suffered in training on Earth, and the moon. More extensive wounds came in the taking of the ships that had just recently gone home, to protect Earth. The first time was to correct some unusual growths.

Images were still in his mind of what Jim used to look like. A slow methodical man, about 51 years old, with a bald head, a large waist and plagued with rheumatoid arthritis. Hair actually grew on his face, hands, chest, back, and around his non-retractable cock. His mind was muddled then, and he had found a lot of difficulty talking and visualizing, what he wanted to do. A vile smell came from the man that was partially to do with his diet, and his former love of sucking in smoke from a sort of burning vegetation.

Somewhere, along with the many repairs made to his body, his apparent age had changed. The hair remained, but the chest and appendages had increased in size. This all came with much greater strength, till he weighted more than twice the average Tandra. His head sprouted long light coloured hair, and his plastic teeth were now real. The small scars, and imperfections, were long gone, and a very youthful face looked back at him. It was very beautiful, but not really Tandra. Perhaps one day that too could be taken care of.

"What is this shit, Powchoy again? When are you going to get smart and vary your diet? You guys can eat this stuff day in and day out, but I get tired of the same old crap. When we go for supplies, I am going to introduce you to a lot of new things."

"Don't do that. Last time I had the shits. That has never happened to me before, and I thought I was going to die." Tom said this, and let a lot of his feelings come out.

Jim knew this, and was mostly ribbing his smaller friend. To be honest he was much more than just his best friend. When Jim took his training on the moon, he had been in charge of three Tandra boys. Back then he thought they were only teenagers, but quickly found out, that two were older than he was, and the other, almost as old. Other groups had Tandra leading, but he considered himself lucky to be doing this job.

At first sight, he thought he had a group of girls, and even after, would unconsciously become physically aroused. Other Humans did too, and found numerous reasons to take their new mates to bed with them. After a while, it was the Human that was dragged to bed. Their orientation course had taken a short time, but because it was directly placed in his brain, it covered a wide range of subjects.

Tandra males on the moon, only knew love and affection from their own gender, for the vats supplied all the new members the society needed. A male family or bondue had a leader or sooda. This sooda could have many male wives. They did the same thing as a female family would do. The individual funt would care for any child to come from the vats, and serve all the needs of his husband. The only thing Jim found particularly bad, was the custom of breaking off the cartilage that formed the phallus of each of the wives. It was a sort of wedding ring, given to the head of the family, from the funt to show his subservient position. When the organ was removed, the ligaments destroyed all the testicles. Only the head male had the full use of his appendage.

It served no real purpose on the moon, because even if it was used, there was no nerves associated with it, and all of the feelings came from the small nerve centres at its base, and the large urethra. Before, when the genders were mixed, it did serve to transfer sperm to the female, but on the moon, it had not been used for this purpose in a million years.

Tom was originally Tomanda, and readily accepted the shorter moniker from his partner. From the very start, they worked well together. Tom's female looks and attributes overcame Jim's hesitation to a male/male relationship. This sort of liaison was not only condoned, it was encouraged. There were very few females in any case, and many were either wives of the Cap, or married women of some of the men present.

Some men were able to find one of the Tandra females, and dropped the male if they had one. In a few of these instances, the rejected male would have to be treated for a deep depression. Some lucky Human individuals, actually had a romance, with a Tandra male and a Tandra female, and refused to leave either of them. This sort of thing did happen occasionally to Tandra males before, when the empire was still flourishing, but not in a very long time. In all the present cases, the Human male was the head of the family.

When the alarms were set around the fighter, and the camp proper, both settled down to a quiet night. Tom donned a head piece that connected him to the main computer, and tried to get a better education in multi dimensional mathematics. Jim wrapped a thin heat reflecting blanket around his shoulders, and covered Tom, that sat close and between his legs. With his arms around his lover, he just stayed awake and luxuriated in the feel of the warm body so close to him.

Twenty minutes later the course was done, and Tom passed the head gear back. "I am done. I can't seem to take all the data in, that you can. But if I live long enough, I will understand all I need to."

Jim pulled Tom even closer and kissed his pouty lips. "We will both live long enough. I have enough drive to finish these courses for both of us. General Shingle needs good people to fill the higher positions in the military. If we get enough training, and know how to use it, we are a shoe-in for officer training." Looking at his smaller lover, he asked, "Wouldn't you want to fly one of those big ships overhead with me? At the moment there are more small and large ships here than there are people. I mean our people."

Tom reached back, and fondled the big erection in his lover's suit. It was a wonder; he was able to get it all in. The last 40 days were the happiest in his entire life, and let the information flow out of him. Ever since the man behind him came into his group, things had changed.

He was quite happy at one time to engage in casual sex, and did so many times a day. Sex was in no way looked on as love. At one time, he had allowed his phallus to be ripped out and kept by his lover. This destroyed his testicles, hidden deep in his body, and any chance of being a sooda himself. After a few years they found they were no longer in love. This did not happen very often, but when it did, it devastated the funt, and in this case Tomanda, contemplated suicide.

It took years to get over the heart break, and actually did not end, till the arrival of the Humans from the planet below.

Jim had let his feelings flow out at the first meeting, and it was like the light from the sun, seen through the viewer. Tom would do anything for the man he loved.

Tom could feel the closeness both enjoyed, and each knew they had found their life mate. Tom knew that Jim wanted children, and was looking for a female wife to complete the family. Tom figured he had enough love to share. The woman, and the babies would be part his, anyway.

"Leave that alone," Jim said as he pushed Tom's hand away from his crotch. "I have to have my turn on the tutors, and I will not do well with you playing with your toy."

"Ok, just hurry. You Humans do not make love enough times, to satisfy a Tandra boy."

"You are so full of shit. When we make love, you start twitching and have so many orgasms, that you are out of it for an hour."

"Well you may be right about that, but I still don't get enough."

"Tonight you will darling, just give me time to study, and you better keep watch on the detectors, and not on my cock."

Tom started where he left off the night before, in small craft repair. The amount of data he already had would fill many books. The retention was amazing, once the mind was organized better, and separated into manageable compartments. The captain had said that if they stayed in the military till retirement, then he could keep all of the knowledge he had acquired in his lifetime, and have a farm on one of the many worlds that needed a military presence. He explained how the Romans did the same thing, and their legacy led down through many countries and centuries till the present time.

The time issue did not really matter, because it was revealed that the Tandra were able to keep him and his lover alive for at least five centuries of productive life in the military and three or more hundred years after. A hitch of five hundred years sounded like a long time, but having an exciting military life now, and after retirement, living in luxury for the last two or even three hundred with a large family made it all worthwhile. The chance to see the stars close up, only added spice to a very rich life.

A quadriphase heterodyning unit could... The noise was deafening, and Jim's muscles reacted before his brain did. He picked up Tom, and threw him under the ceramic overhang, and rolled to his combat suit on the far side. Perhaps he would have enough time to put it on.

A portion of soil erupted at his feet, and he felt excruciating pain in his leg. He knew his foot was severely damaged. The combat suit had come alive at the warning, and gaped open to accept him. The pain was horrendous, but he managed to get in and turn over, before another surge of energy struck the back of his suit, driving him into the rocky soil.

The feed from the suit brought all his senses alive, as he quested for the enemy. Four combat probes were just now joining the one already here. The weapons in the suit spit out energy of their own, and took out the first drone and laid a withering fire on the rest. Beside him, Tom's suit did the same thing, and more drones fell.

The suit made the final closures and Jim stood to repel more attackers. Tom at his back did the same thing. The telltales gave him the damage report about his foot, and he used the override, to see about Tom.

Shit, Tom was scorched over much of his body. Jim commanded Tom's suit to follow, as he lowered the shield around the fighter and started making a report. The information was already sent by the ship AI, but verbal confirmation was necessary.

He flew as fast as he could, and since Souts, was only a hundred klicks away, made it to the medical section in a little less than seventeen seconds. He followed Tom's suit, and tried to decipher the graphs better than what he was taught in basic training. He resolved to not let himself be open to attack again, or not know enough about Tom's care.

Tom groaned even though he was medicated. The suit parted, and tractors picked him up, after affixing a few transmitters, he was placed in the tank. More transmitters flew into the bath, and descended, to attach themselves to his body.

Jim's suit was not following orders, and started to come apart. He ordered it to close. It did no good, and he was hoisted out and with a stinging sensation, transmitters attached themselves to his body too.

Carl Shingle was worrying even more these days. The Samutz were the type of fighter that just rushed in, with their characteristic fury, and destroyed their enemy with their bare hands if necessary. If they had not been so quick to manually fire from the drones, they would have two confirmed kills, and he would have lost two good soldiers. This would also represent a significant proportion of his troops.

The Samutz had been denied their major weapons, and now must use alternate means to fight. The possibility existed, that the remaining few thousand Samutz might take it in their minds to manufacture the potent nerve gas, that they used on intractable enemies before. What was possibly holding them back was that the planet would die completely, and their brethren would never come to even take them away. The opposite stance also held some truth; they would kill the enemy even if they died in the process. The Samutz psyche was not well understood enough, even by the computers.

"Huang Yi, have you found any enemy concentrations yet?"

A short man that originally looked like one of the officers he had fought in Nam turned, and said, "The numbers change but little. It is as if they are meeting only a few at a time, and dispersing, to keep from becoming a priority target."

"I think we should gas them, or stun them, but that means, sending troops in to take them out, after."

The now young looking Chinese Captain said, "There have been a lot of heavy weapons used. I believe they have learned their lesson, and will try to choose ground that will not allow us to use this advantage."

"I think we will take a page from the Samutz book instead. The small combat drones must be controlled from somewhere. Let's trace the controls back, and drop a present from orbit. Even a kinetic strike should get the drones to stop. We already have five wounded, and two seriously. When the dust settles, send in our own drones."

Huang Yi closed his eyes, and thought of the computer intelligence known as Frieda, and said, "Frieda will you scan the Umal Mountains especially, then the rest of the planet, for control sequences for the combat drones that were involved with the current attacks on our positions?" His voice was in Cantonese, but the thoughts were picked up regardless, and directions given to the ships and satellites in orbit. Odd shaped antennas quested around, like bloodhounds, and zeroed in on eight distinct points.

"Sir, we have detected some emissions four are in the Umals, three are close to the base we destroyed last week, and one is north of the city, in a rough area of land." Huang Yi brought up a map on the display, and placed all of the points, then stripped the vegetation off the area, to show its true contours.

Carl looked at the visual representation, and got Frieda to enlarge each section. The action last week had knocked out a major base probably killed most, if not all, of the local Samutz and could be safely attacked now. The Umal Mountains had many sources of life, in and around them. Some were animal, some were barbaric Tandra, and the rest, probably Samutz, hiding the best they could, and living off what they could kill. The high technology the Samutz employed could still be accessed in small units, in hunting cabins, and way stations.

The site north of the city, was the same in ruggedness, Samutz supplies, and the local Tandra. The map altered, to now show all friendly locations, and each man saw that some enemy positions could be safely hit.

Carl interfaced with the AI and said, "Frieda drop a two kiloton explosive on each of the three sites on the Gordon Plateau." Carl chuckled at the name still. Raf Gordon had been shot down, and gave his location as the 'Gordon Plateau' and asked for pick up. The area was almost the size of Ontario, and Gordon did his best to make the name stick.

A visual depiction appeared of the flight of three very small drones, as they plunged to the plant's surface. Three small fireballs appeared in the bright daylight, and quickly faded from sight. Heat images showed molten rock and a large crater in each location.

Extra fighters with only AIs aboard flew over the Umals dropping more of the virus that had killed the rest of the Samutz. It was hoped that since the virus had only 14 hours of life outside a living body, that the Samutz would get careless, drop their inefficient shields occasionally, and breathe the fresh air. It was happily found, that the Tandra could harbour the virus in their own bodies, but have none of the symptoms. A Samutz eating a Tandra would die after doings so, and hopefully the Samutz race would learn this, and act accordingly.

When the dusting was finished, the fighters did the same thing again in the broken area north of town. The satellites, and ships in orbit, were carefully following the fighters, waiting to return any fire, or trace any power used to track the nimble ships.

Sgt. Jim Williams, came out of the tank, and was laid on the table. Transmitters were removed from his body, and med units used to encourage the skin to grow and cover the small wounds. As the last one was removed, Tom ran forward, and hugged his mate. Tears, an unaccustomed event, filled his eyes, as he thought of life, without the large man lying on the table.

Jim slowly drifted from that soft place his dreams were in, to this hard uncomfortable place he was in now. He could feel hands holding him, and someone's glaring thoughts, as they forced their way into his consciousness.

As he recognized the thoughts, a soft feeling of love enveloped him, and he knew he was in the best of hands. The thoughts of Tom recovered from his wounds, made everything great, now.

Tom's sobs of relief faded, as strong arms wrapped themselves around him. The strong scent of the tanks, and his lover's body came to his nostrils. Though half the size of Jim, he picked up the heavy man in the light gravity, and walked him to a cleansing station.

"Put me down you big bully. I can walk myself." The feelings from the mind were different from the words, and he enjoyed the ride in his small lover's arms.

Tom placed Jim's feet on the floor and stepped in himself, to have a quick shower. He used his hands to rub the larger man's body from head to foot and payed particular attention to parts in the middle. Tom got to his feet and held the large member in his hand, and knew what Jim liked. With a few strokes, he bent over, and put it was deep in his mouth, as it would go. His hands caressed the orbs that would one day make children, for them both. His hands then wandered to the cheeks behind, and a finger worried its way in to find that magic spot. In a way, he was sorry for Jim, for he had only one spot while he had so many.

Strong hands came down, and held his head firm as the man's cock went back and forth, and eventually spewed down his lover's throat.

Tom helped Jim get dressed, even though the man was fully recovered. They walked out into the late afternoon light, and headed for the food synthesisers in the cafeteria. They made their order while walking, and by the time they got there, the meal was hot and ready, or at least Jim's was. Tom had ordered some small soft biscuits and contentedly munched on them. Across from him, Jim picked up a large pizza, with hot peppers, bacon, sausage, green olives and even pineapple.

Moments later Jim put his hands on a large stein of beer, and washed the crumbs from his throat. "MMM, that was good."

Tom just smiled, and continued eating his biscuits. It wasn't that Earth food was bad, he looked at his sugared tea, and found the taste much to his liking.

Around the room, only a small portion of the hundred seats, were filled. Jim and one other were the only Humans present. That man too, had a Tandra mate with him. Most of the people in the room were techs, that had finished their shifts, and stopped by for some tea, and some of the Earth type fruit put into the food synthesizer's memory. When some newcomers came in, one of the doors, Tom's quick fingers plucked one of the pieces of pineapple off a slice of pizza, when Jim's attention was elsewhere.

Jim turned to see a smiling Tom, and tried to see what the reason was, but came against his block. He was probably up to one of his tricks again.

After the meal, Jim pulled Tom to one of the storage areas, and went looking for a particular ship.

"Here is ours," said Tom, as he pointed to the obvious machine that lay low, and sleek against the ceramic pad.

"Yes, I know. I am looking to find a better model. Ours was too cramped, and if the AI was brighter, then we wouldn't have been hit the way we were." Their steps brought them down the line of deadly machines. The one sixth from the end caught his eye. Jim's steps brought him to the large oblate ellipsoid. It was much the same as the fighter, but had at least twelve times the volume.

"You aren't serious, are you? That machine is slower, and a much bigger target for the Samutz to shoot at. This is made to deliver heavy ordinance, or troops."

"Yes, it is sweety, but when it is empty, it is just as fast. If I move the chair back, I can still reach the emergency controls, and have lots of room for my feet. There is enough room back there to set up housekeeping. Wouldn't you like this, as our next home?"

Tom gazed in wonder at the images in his lover's mind. There certainly was enough room, and they would not have to stay in the noisy base, or an exposed camp. There was even enough room for Jim to stand upright and walk around. The AI was supposed to be the largest of any of the craft on this line. "The pictures in your mind make this machine very beautiful. Do you think we can have it? There are only two of them."

"Tom, if I could get both, and fix them up the way I wanted," he paused to smile more, "and then, if the other guys had any money, they would give it all to me, for one of these." He looked at his lover with kindly eyes, "These have so many possibilities, and we could make a bundle. He paused again and the smile dropped. "That is if the guys had a bundle."

Tom was at a loss to understand all the Earth reasoning that went into those thoughts.

Jim quizzed the computer, and found that Carl was only partially swamped with work. "General Shingle, could I have a word with you?"

"Sure Jim. What is on your mind?"

"The fighter, Tom and I were flying, is a little too cramped, for us. I would like to have one of the bombers, and convert it in our spare time, to be our assault craft. Till it is done, we will still use the old fighter." It was not a bomber, but that was the closest word they knew to describe the craft, for the Tandra had not relied on simple gravity, since they became a real civilization.

"Fine by me, but it may have to serve its original purpose, and you will be the pilot then."

"That is great. I will log it in, and get to work now. Our next mission is not for another twelve hours."

Carl went back to his study of the aerial maps, and chuckled to himself about Jim and Tom's new love boat. The gift was easy to give, but both of those boys would work more, to keep it.

In the next hour, the AI in the craft, was awoken, and given the name Jonesey, after Jim's brother. A complete system check found some small inconsistencies, and Tom got maintenance to send over a few of the techs, to tweak the system, and change a thermal coupler. In the mean time, both donned helmets, and learned as much as they could about their new ship, or perhaps even partner, if the AI was smart enough.

Three techs came with better equipment, and did their own checks. They wanted to change everything that could possibly be faulty. In the bad old days, this would not be done, and even the coupler, would not be changed, so that the craft might crash, and kill the crew. Here, even one of their own kind, would be fighting for them, and it was obvious that both, were in love.

The chair was moved back, and anchored down. A newer type of threat detection gear was added in place of the old one, and the accumulators minutely inspected.

Jim saw, and read the real feelings of the maintenance crew, and knew that they would do their best for them, as they would, all the other crews. Tom left quickly, and within moments was back, with a large container of hot chocolate. The crew had a break. They cautiously tasted the brew and smiles came to their faces.

"What is this called? It is good."

"It is called hot chocolate, but it is not very hot, like Jim likes it."

Tom was happy with his decision, and knew that tomorrow hot chocolate would be drunk more than tea. It was difficult to get the Tandra to accept different foods. "I wanted to talk to you about getting this lumbering beast, better able to defend itself, and still be fast enough, to do all the things a fighter has to do. This foolish Human, wants to make it a home, and I want us to be alive, to enjoy it."

The leader of the crew, Jul said, "Open your mind to what you want done, and we will see what we can do."

Both Jim and Tom trustingly opened their minds wide. Jul found that the pair loved one another very much, and if necessary, would die for their mate. Then looking at the area she was supposed to, the design looked odd, and the name that came forward was 'motor home', whatever that was. Water showers, cooking, cleaning, everything a large ship would have, but much smaller. Turning to Tom, she found he wanted heavy armour, and fearsome offensive and defensive weapons, but able to fly very fast.

Jul went into a huddle with her partners, and questioned the main computer for parts. Designs were made, altered, destroyed, and started again.

Jim and Tom remained quiet for over a half hour, as Jul and her crew continued with their thinking. The thoughts were coming fast, then very heated, then fast again. It was difficult to understand, even a little, about what was going on, because of the technical attributes of the various parts.

The ship's display came on, and the pictures and schematics flashed very quickly, and portions were moved and then reorganized again and again. Complicated hand gestures were made by the crew of techs. Jim could see some similarity with hand singles used when close to enemy positions, but this was much more complicated.

After close to an hour, the group broke up, and Jul said, "We think we have found a way, to do much of what you have envisioned. The ship will have to go into the base to be worked on. It is much easier that way. There is also an important decision for both of you to make."

Jim and Tom futilely looked to see what had been decided, and Tom had to ask, "What are you going to do?"