Chapter 592

The Retreat

...”That isn’t necessary,” Olivia tried. “We can fix our own...”

“Drive carefully,” Arlene said before hanging up.

After going back to the living room, she returned the phone to its cradle and approached her father, who stepped away from the Sheriff for a moment. “How did it go?”

“They were going to spend the night here anyway, so that was no problem, but I hate what I’m going to have to tell them when they get here. I wish you would do it.”

“Nope. That would be usurping your authority. You command the wing now, and they answer to you. You deliver the news – good or bad.”

“But, I’m not in the military...”

“So what? I never said that those interceptors were in the military or told anyone that their rank carried over from their military jobs. Ship issued all of you her uniforms. None of my wives are in the military, either, and they’re going to be gunners on Ship. The interceptor pilots answer to you. Besides, after those two have sex for the first time after being enhanced, they’ll be anything but mad at their boss, but remember, it’s your call. If you think they can still be off a couple of weeks and catch up...”

“I don’t know about catching up, but I’ve decided that we’re all going to step up our training. Oh, we won’t overtrain, but Ann and I have thought of some new things that might be worth working on. We all have to be on the same page when we go into combat, and it will take all of us working together. I’ve also decided to limit the scout duties to three-day missions before the crew is relieved. That way no one will be more than three days behind with new tactics, versus a week the way we have the rotation set up now.”

“Good. Go for it. Oh, yeah, I have something else that I just learned today. Ship finished the interceptor that she had already started when I asked her to begin building weapon platforms, and Bill and Kathy want to crew it.”

“Bill? But he’s...”

“... Enhanced, I suppose you were going to say,” he returned with a grin, all the while knowing that was not what she was about to say. “So? He flew Tomcats a long time ago. He was one hell of a pilot then, and I’ll bet that he still is. From what I hear, he certainly is with Wainwright’s planes. And that was true even before he was enhanced. Kathy is sharp as hell, and Bill says she’s as good as he is. I personally doubt that statement, but remember that you still have to train jet pilots to fly and fight an interceptor. Would any of the pilots that you would choose from have combat experience? Bill does. Still ... those are just my thoughts. I didn’t give you the command without giving you the authority to go with it. I won’t open my mouth if you choose someone else.”

“Oh, I don’t have anyone in mind. I don’t even know any of the other fighter pilots. I imagine that I just let Bill’s supposed age ... Now I’m embarrassed. I’ll talk to them, and if they want to try, I’ll give them a fair shot, but they don’t have the time that we had to learn to fly an inertialess drive.”

“So? Help them past the humps so they don’t make the same mistakes you did when you began to learn.”

“I would do that anyway, Daddy.”

“I know, Kitten. Look, Frank and his wives are due in around eight, which is only a half-hour from now, if they’re on time. I left word that they should see you.” (Remember: Bill and his wives are all Frank Wainwright’s pilots.)

“Daddy, maybe you really should make this decision...”

“Nope. That’s why you make the big bucks, Wife.”

“Sometimes I don’t like you, Husband,” she said as she pulled his head down to kiss his ear before nipping it.

“Ouch,” he hissed out as he jerked away. “Be nice and I’ll lick your pussy for a long time tonight,” he whispered in return.

“Won’t work,” she said as she shook her head. “It will probably be very late before Ann and I get to bed tonight.”

“Then you can snuggle in my arms, and I’ll pet the two of you,” he said before leaning down to kiss her for real.

Quinton lifted an eyebrow when Arlene walked away, and Jeff took the couple steps back to be with his friend. “Arlene is the newly appointed Squadron Commander, and she’s having to make some hard decisions tonight.”

Quinton stared at the Alpha Prime. “Jeff, she’s seventeen, for crying out loud.“

“ ... And can outfly all the rest of them with an ease that almost scares me. They listen to her and ask her advice. The appointment is temporary, based on how she does, but despite what you think, she was the logical choice. Actually, the next choice would have been Ann, but she absolutely does not want the job. I’m having Ship check for dissenters, but she says there are none that have spoken about it where she could overhear. For the record, I damn sure do not want my daughter to be in charge, but I have to have someone that can give orders that the rest will obey. Hell, they ask her for advice all the time and seem to hang on every word when she and Ann give them pointers.

“I’m talking about guys and gals who are twice her age and are some of the best fighter jocks out there. Trouble is, she’s handed them their asses so many times in the simulators and in mock combat, that whatever she says when she gives them pointers, is golden. She’s been boss through almost all their training – boss because she suggests and they do. Now she can suggest and it will be the same as an order. And before you say anything, I damn sure didn’t want to do that to her. It’s too much friggin’ responsibility for a seventeen-year-old, but I just don’t have anyone to fill the bill other than her. I had to do something. Those damn aliens are coming closer all the time.

“Oh, I could use rank for the job. Hell, the ranking officer is twice her age and considerably less than half as good in that interceptor. He started out expecting to pull rank, but after she handed him his ass so many times that everyone was laughing at him and his buddy, even he started listening to her – well both Arlene and Ann. It takes two to fly and fight that interceptor.”

“Ah, shit. I opened my mouth when I shouldn’t have,” Quinton returned.

“No, you didn’t. It’s the same thing that I’ve gone over and over until I just did the logical thing and appointed her Squadron Commander. So far, not a single one of the other pilots has said anything of a derogatory nature either publicly or privately that either Ship or I have detected. I just hope my decision doesn’t get two of my wives killed,” he finished as a sick look crossed his face.

“Shit, Jeff. And I thought I had problems.”

“You’ve got a whole town full of people, no telling how many of whom will go batshit crazy when they hear that aliens are attacking Earth. I know that I would rather fight the aliens than try to reason with a panicked crowd.”

Quinton grimaced and nodded.

The Sheriff and his family had left. Jeff and Joe Martin were sitting in the living room talking while the women had gone somewhere, probably to the bathroom. “So, how’s the honeymoon going?” Jeff, at a loss to say something, asked uncomfortably.

“Great. I’m still amazed that she actually married me. Sir, the woman brought some polish along and polished her wedding ring – a brand new wedding ring. I mean, it’s just a simple gold band like you guys wear, but she sometimes sits and stares at that hand. When I think of all the things that had to come together for us even to meet ... Well, she’s the best thing that ever happened in my life.”

The Prison Planet

The next morning, Morales and his women were up even before Junior, with Morales and Jasmine anxious to try out their new equipment on the hunt – Christine and Ashley a bit less so.

Junior, now capable of learning even more since his enhancement, and with the booster station seemingly affecting the chickens’ and the wolves’ learning abilities, the chicken could sometimes understand the intent, even if he couldn’t understand the separate wording. The outcome was that he seemed to understand more all the time, and to a somewhat lesser extent, the other chickens did, also.

He had been overly curious since he was a chick sleeping with Morales and looking to the human as if he were some type of super being. After all, the man did amazing things, even bringing in meat and sometimes sharing with the chickens (scraps). From the pelts, Junior vaguely knew that they had once been animals that instinct had taught him to fear. Yet this person, his person, could kill these things that all chickens were born to be terrified of.

And then there were the wolves that his master allowed to live here, but his Master would not let the wolves eat them even though they could with ease. He could not understand much of what the humans did in the cave, but his master or his master’s mates provided food for him, his mother, his sisters and the other hens. Junior’s mating lasted only seconds, but his master mated frequently and for long periods of time with his mates, or hens, as the chicken thought of the women.

But Junior was an almost fully-grown rooster with much more intelligence than the norm, thanks to the enhancement – maybe more than was probably good for him. Most of a chicken’s knowledge, if it could be called that, came from instinct. Junior and the others were programmed to know what food was, and if the chicken accidentally pecked up something that wasn’t food, well, it would just help grind up food in the chicken’s craw.

Junior’s instinct told him how to fuck, how to eat, and he and the other chickens had learned to crap in a pile near the door and scratch dirt over the feces, where the humans removed it every day. Now, he had things to play with, and plenty of chicken “pussy,” but the enhancement had turned that little chicken brain into something else. Something with way more curiosity than was good for him.

Junior’s momma, Gertrude, had taught Junior and his sisters to enter and leave the cave by passing under a section of the wall near the door. Now, with cold weather and the snow, the chickens had not been able to go outside to their fenced area in a long time. That had not caused an overly large amount of concern for the chickens because they could feel the cold and see the snow when the humans opened the door to go outside. With warmth and food in the cave, they were satisfied – well, most of them were.

All the noise of the equipment being brought in had frightened Junior’s sisters, the hens and Junior too, at least to a certain extent – until his curiosity kicked in with a vengeance.

As soon as the humans left this morning, Junior ran over to the covered hole under the wall and began tugging on the piece of hide that had been thrown down to stop the cold from coming past the hole. The hide was bunched up and heavy, but the determined rooster braced his feet, and with the help of his wings, managed to pull the skin out of the way. Moments later, he had ducked under the wall, and vastly proud of himself, was soon headed out the entrance passageway.

Morales had forgotten to put the electric cart that was in the trailer into the cave. As soon as he put it on the ground, Jasmine wanted to drive it, but the snow was a chewed up mess caused by all the equipment yesterday, and the cart’s10 inch wheels would not negotiate the refrozen muck. It was light, so with Morales on one end and Jasmine on the other end, they put the cart safely to the side until their return.

Morales had left the crawler’s head heater plugged in, so the engine remained warm enough to start easily. After removing the wire to the heater, he showed the women what happened when he turned the switch, pointing out that the operator should wait until the orange preheat/glow plug light went out, which meant that the engine’s cylinders were warm enough for the fuel to fire as the starter turned the engine over. (Fuel in diesel engines fires from heat caused by compression, not from spark plugs.)

Pleasing him, the engine caught almost as soon as the starter turned it over, and within a minute, was running smoothly. “Nothing like a new engine,” he said with a chuckle.

Something they hadn’t paid a lot of attention to yesterday was the shielded gun racks that locked each weapon down firmly, but with a push of a lever, the rifle was available. There was also ample room for ammunition, and as with the rifles, the ammo would be out of the weather but readily available.

Morales had checked the crawler and trailer, noting that the heavy-duty military type tires of the trailer were new, as everything else appeared to be. It even came with two spares, a jack and tools to change a tire should there ever be a flat. He didn’t know whether the General had the crawler and trailer adapted for hunting or whether that was their original purpose, but they were perfect for what Morales and his women needed.

“Ready, Ladies?” he asked as he slid into the driver’s seat and fastened his harness.

With giggles and smiles, they announced that they were more than ready.

“Well, at least the sun is out, and it might even be a little warmer this morning.”

With that, he released the brake and nudged the joystick forward. A hundred yards or so farther along the ridgeline, he happened to glance in his left mirror to see something swooping down on them.

“What the fuck?” he growled out as he brought the crawler to an abrupt halt just as Junior came in for a landing on the roof of the crawler. Apparently, it was a bit slick because he became airborne again as he slid off the side. Morales opened his door only to have a mostly-grown rooster crash-land into his lap a few seconds later.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he said as he glared at the rooster who was in the process of regaining his footing after his somewhat unorthodox landing.

“Squawk,” Junior answered, out of breath after the longest flight of his short life.

“Now we have to go back and do something with this idiot,” Morales groused.

“Why?” Jasmine asked when she could talk past her laughter. “He wants to go with you. He loves you, Daddy,” Jasmine teased as she stretched out the word.

“Let him come with us,” Ashley pleaded. “He’s always fun. Well, other than when he wakes us in the mornings,” she amended.

“Yeah, and when we fire the rifles, it will scare him into next week. If he flies off, we’ll never find him.”

“He won’t fly off,” Jasmine insisted. “He would be leaving his Daddy,” she said while drawing out the word again. “That rooster might as well be your son,” she finished with a giggle as Morales glared at her, while the other wives laughingly agreed with Jasmine.

Morales picked the rooster up and stared into his eye. (Chicken’s eyes are on the sides of their heads.) “If you panic and fly off, you will die out here,” he told the chicken while feeling stupid. No way can he understand me.

“Please,” the women said as one.

“Oh, all right, but no shitting inside the crawler,” he told the chicken. “Go find a place to sit. And no crowing after we get the rifles down.” Yeah, right. As if he could understand me.

With one last glance at Morales, Junior propelled himself to the back of an empty seat. After clamping his clawed feet around the metal rim that supported the back of the seat, he was ready to go.

Morales tried one more time. “We didn’t bring any food for him.”