Chapter 552

The First, Second and Third Officers, the Navigator and the aliens’ equivalent of a Science Officer were gathered in the First Officer’s quarters, the First having told them about his plans concerning the females.

“But Sir, it seems as if you are not expecting us to win when we attack this Earth?” the Science Officer more asked than stated.

The First was shaking his head. “Logically, there is no reason for my negative attitude. We – our fabulous ship – is certainly capable, given enough time, to reduce the major cities of this planet to molten rubble. And as far as we are able to determine, these Earth beings have no real planetary defense. However, I have spent time researching them, and I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that incinerating their cities and destroying their bases is not the best method of subjugating this planet and its peoples.

“Oh, I suspect that the ruling military will capitulate eventually, or at least, appear to do so. The Captain thinks these beings will surrender and within a short period of time, they will modify their production facilities to produce the goods that we require. With our discovery bonus, coupled with the profits from the sale of goods produced on this planet, even the lowest member of our crew should be rich beyond his wildest dreams. The Captain’s percentage, of course, will be a truly staggering amount.

“But ... my Precog is almost screaming at me that something is going to go terribly wrong. I have no logical reason for this other than the energy pulse back in the rogue asteroid belt accompanied with – again – a feeling of being continuously observed. If this is true, then something is using technology well beyond our capabilities. I stress that I cannot prove any of this, but it never hurts to be prepared.

“I will again remind you that I am only a Precog 1, but in case things do go wrong, I want you, the primary bridge crew, to be prepared just as I have warned the Engineering Department to be. I have said nothing to the Captain, other than having tried several times to convince him that something is out there observing us – to no avail, of course. I continue to worry that these Earth beings might have some type of hidden weapon. In addition, I have suggested that trade would be a better route, simply because these Earthlings will have to rebuild after we bombard their cities and bases before we can even begin to make any kind of profit.

“To me, it is ridiculous to destroy what we will have to rebuild before the goods we want can be produced. In case my Precog is right, though, I strongly suggest that you choose the females that you enjoy the most, and once the bombardment is imminent, you should have a plan in place to move them to the pod that I have already described. I want to reiterate, that by all means, we are to perform our duties to the very maximum. This preparation that I am suggesting is only to provide our best means of survival should our ship be destroyed.”

After his shift on the bridge, the First ordered a large meal, but instead of eating in the alien’s equivalent of the officers’ mess, he took the food back to his quarters – again, nothing unusual for him. He could have had the meal delivered, but he had chosen food high in protein which the females were denied, and he did not want to chance the Captain noticing and possibly wondering why he was suddenly eating such large amounts of protein-rich foods.

At the quarters of the females that were set aside for the officers’ use, he supposedly randomly chose two females, ordered their usual food and told them to follow him to his quarters. There was nothing unusual about this, either, and it was expected that officers would have a stronger sexual appetite than that of the crew. They were restricted to having sex in the areas provided for it, but the officers were not limited to this, and could take the females to the officer’s own quarters should they wish.

He divided a sizable amount of the high protein food between the two females while disposing of an equal amount of their food, then ordered them to eat. “Yes, First,” they responded together.

“Are we going to learn more after we have finished eating?” the taller one hesitantly asked.

“Yes. We shall read and learn new things for a few cycles, then I will require the use of your bodies.”

“But we wish to reward you for helping us. Could we have sex before we study, then again afterward?” the other asked demurely.

Both smiled at him as they began removing their tunics. “First, we wish to please you more than we have ever done before, and ... we have devised a method where we might be able to serve only you. Would that be satisfactory with you, First?”

Hmmm, devising a way to increase their intelligence seems to have its own rewards, he thought as he considered what the female had said.

“Yes, that would be satisfactory – very much so – but be extremely careful. We do not want our little secret to become common knowledge.”

As he sat, he pulled the two females against him. Odd how he now enjoyed teaching them to read, even if he could be having sex with them, instead. He had enjoyed these two throughout the whole trip, but now that they were beginning to read and their minds were becoming sharper, he sometimes thought about them even when he was on the bridge and going about his duties – odd.

“Yes,” he said. “I think that I like the idea of the two of you having sex with only me.”

As they snuggled under his arms, somehow, he felt more relaxed than he had in a long time.

The Retreat

Jeff sat in Sergeant Higgins’ office at Security Headquarters. As usual, both men had a cup of coffee in hand, but Higgins was becoming a bit worried. Colonel Matthews seldom visited unless there was something wrong, or perhaps something new coming down the pipeline, yet he had been sitting there through two cups of coffee chatting about only inconsequential things. Lieutenant Mayfield basically left him, Sergeant Higgins, to run the Matthews Security section while Mayfield was in overall charge of Security for both the Base and Matthews.

The General’s Command was definitely not top heavy in its command structure. They had only the one Colonel, now that Colonel Matthews had gutted Buckmann in the ring, and it appeared that the General wasn’t going to appoint another Colonel – at least not just now.

It didn’t seem that the lack of higher officers had anything to do with the General saving money, though, because his Lieutenants, Sergeants and even Corporals were well paid, indeed, as was his troops.

Twice now, Colonel Matthews had mentioned Lieutenants Cox and Caldwell – seemingly in passing, but Higgins knew the man he protected. “Sir, respectfully, there’s something on your mind.”

Jeff sighed. “Sergeant, I’ve already spoken to Lieutenant Mayfield, but I know who really runs this unit. Dammit, I have reason to believe that Lieutenant Cox and Lieutenant Caldwell are going to ask for a transfer to this unit. If they do ask and pass the tests, how do you think they could fit in?”

“Sir, I’m only a Ser...”

“Just stop the bullshit,” Jeff interrupted. “As I said, I know who runs this unit, and I know damn good and well that it is the absolute best of our Security forces. Without you and your unit, at least some of my family would be dead. Now if Cox and Caldwell do ask for a transfer and it’s approved, is there a place for them in the unit? And don’t give me any more of that shit about you being only a Sergeant.”

Higgins sat back in his chair to think. After almost a full minute, he began. “Wellll, Lieutenant Mayfield is in charge of the whole unit, but he remains mostly at the base, as you know. We have three shifts here. I also have a Corporal in charge of each shift, and another for relief two shifts per week. They all report to me. Really, there should be at least a Sergeant in charge of each shift and a Lieutenant would be more logical. But ... a Lieutenant isn’t going to report to a Sergeant – meaning me, but...”

“And if Cox and Caldwell did transfer, that would leave one Lieutenant’s slot open, right?” Jeff asked.

“Well, I could be in charge of one of the shifts...”

“You have been basically running the place, anyway,” Jeff said with a grin, “so if you were a Lieutenant, everything would balance out perfectly. You could run the day shift and the other two Lieutenants would head up the other two shifts and report to you. You could use one of the Sergeants as the relief shift commander.”

“Education,” the Sergeant began.”

“Don’t even start down that road. With your college credits and all the extra training you have volunteered for over the years, you have more than enough.”

“But I would be the lowest in seniority,” Higgins tried, but Jeff cut him off again.

“Not in the Security unit, you’re not, and I’m not about to screw up something that is working as superbly as my Security Force does. I’m trying to give you a little help, not put someone over you who is new to Security. Okay, here goes. Do you think that each of those two could learn to be in charge of one of our Security shifts? Note that I did say, ‘learn’. And, to be clear about things, you would still be in charge of my Security, which means that you would be promoted – assuming, of course, that the General will go along with this – and I think he will.”

“Sir, I have read through their files and I talked with them a bit when I issued them some gear for their extended stay, but I don’t...”

“Sergeant, do what it takes to acquire the knowledge to answer my question. I do know that both have seen combat on other worlds, but I haven’t read through their files, yet. I don’t have to tell you to take your time with your research and do it right. I ... have a feeling about those two, and we definitely need to revamp the rank structure of my Security unit. You have way more on your plate than you should have as a Sergeant. As I said, all of this will be contingent upon what the General thinks, but ... I suspect that he will go along with this if I approve it.”

“Time frame?” Higgins asked.

“I know how busy you are, Sergeant. At your convenience. Even if the General approves this, Cox and Caldwell will have to pass all the tests first and that will mean a lot of study, but my gut tells me that they can do it.”

The Colonel came to his feet. “Thanks for the coffee, Lieutenant, uh, I mean Sergeant.” Then with a grin, “We’ll talk about this again in a few weeks.”

As soon as Jeff returned to the Retreat, he walked on to the outdoor firing range and dug through the trash barrels. Shortly, he was sitting in the range house with Cox’s and Caldwell’s used paper targets spread out on the table. After checking the pistol targets, he did the same for the rifle targets. Smiling, he sat back to think.

Much later, he and Diana were in the living room with her sitting snuggled in his lap as usual. Out of the blue, he asked, “What did you think about Cox and Caldwell?”

“He’s an Alpha isn’t he?” she asked as she nibbled on his ear.

“Yeah,” he said with a faint chuckle. “I might have known that you would pick up on that. Then with a grin, “I wonder what’s going on with Jasmine and Morales?”

Diana hesitated before saying, “Consternation and shock from Morales, probably. Jasmine wanted this, so I hope she’ll be pleased. I just trust that the reality isn’t more than she can cope with. Then after a short pause, “I wonder how they’ll spend their first night together?” When Jeff raised an eyebrow, she continued, “Well, Jasmine will fill me in one of these days. In the meantime, it’s getting late and I know how I want to spend my night. Come on, Husband, I’ll bet your other wives are waiting for you in our bed.”

“As you command, M’lady,” he said as he stood with her in his arms.

Much Earlier on The Prison Planet – Continued

The three stood staring at each other for a few seconds. It’s really happening, Jasmine thought. Jeff and Diana did it; Ashley and Christine are really here.

Despite how much she had thought about this moment, she froze, not having the foggiest idea what she should say or do. Well, I don’t suppose I should say, ‘Glad you could drop by to screw my husband into submission.’ Oh, shit. Say something, you idiot.

“I, uh, this is awkward,” she began.

“You’re his wife? Oh, crap. Of course, you’re his wife,” Ashley stumbled out. “Uh, this is Christine,” she said as she motioned to her partner, “and I’m Ashley.”

“Well, I suppose you know that I’m Jasmine. We’ve never met, but, well, Morales has talked about you two a lot.”

“He has?” Ashley responded, obviously at just as much a loss of what to say as Jasmine was.

“All good,” Jasmine quickly inserted.

They stood looking at each other for a moment, before Jasmine, frustrated, blurted, “Oh, hell, we all know why you’re here. If you didn’t at least care an awful lot about him, you wouldn’t be here. I asked for you because it’s obvious that he still has feelings for the two of you, and from the way he described things, it’s equally obvious that you two have feelings for him, too. But let me make one thing perfectly clear from the outset. I love him and no one is going to take him from me. I won’t say that I expect to be boss wife, but he will always be mine.”

“We wouldn’t have it any other way,” Christine said as both she and Ashley took the few steps forward and hugged Jasmine, which was the last thing she expected at the moment. “We’ve spent quite a bit of time talking to Jeff and Diana. We know what you want, and we want to tell you that we love your man, too.”

“And have for a long time, but we never got around to telling him, since we were prostitutes and were certainly not good enough for him,” Ashley added.

Jasmine smiled at the two young women. “Diana had the General’s people send me a note through the portal giving me the information about how you two had been living. As far as I’m concerned, your past professions to get you through college are just forgotten history. If you don’t mind, though, please let me have a few words with my husband, rather than the two of you just showing up.”

“Whatever you think best,” Ashley returned after she and Christine passed a glance.

Turning to the wolves, Jasmine said, “You two please come closer.” When they did, she introduced them to the two women much as she would have if the wolves were human beings. “Watch out for them until I come back, please.” The wolves had been restless earlier and Jasmine was worried.

Each of the wolves smiled (it didn’t look like a smile to the new women) and sat to guard the two as Jasmine hurried inside.

Now that her idea was a reality and standing just outside the cave, Jasmine was so nervous she was almost shaking with fear. What will I do if he doesn’t want them? Oh, crap, what if he wants them more than he does me?

By the time she was back inside, she was more scared than she had ever been in her life. “Baby?” she tentatively asked.

“Uh hmmm,” he responded as he continued to wipe the smelly mixture onto the buffalo hide.

“Uh, Baby, maybe you need to wash your hands. We, uh, have company?”

“Sure, it will be just... What!” he yelled out as he came to his feet, obviously thinking that another of the prisoners had somehow found them.

“You need to wash the stink off your hands, Baby. You really do.”

Indeed, he was wiping his hands as he demanded to know what she was talking about.

“Well, I uh ... That is to say that...”

The door slid back and Ashley and Christine hurried in, obviously herded by the wolves. As soon as they were inside, Lila stared at Jasmine for a second before both wolves hurried back outside, Lobo taking time to slide the door closed behind them.