Chapter 20: Defending the Enclave

The next few days were relatively quiet. Yvette reported that there were a couple of tentative calls from Ruth or her minions, which the AI always seemed to route to her, no matter who was the intended target. Donna and Terrence had received three calls from the neutrals outside our colony. Each time the neutral said they wanted to work with us, but begged for rescue from the situation outside. All three were told that if they could arrive at our tunnel door without weapons the door would let them in and then they should call for someone to meet them, but all three swore that it was not possible to reach us.

The other activity that the council indulged in was checking on the progress at the various pods. The armory pod was obviously receiving priority because after just four days the command post section was usable, and we immediately set up a regular rotation. Of the sponsors we quickly discovered that only eighteen were willing to attend, and fourteen of those were dependable. Tasha and Eric outright refused to help; while Jack, Linus, Xavier and Timothy used outrageous and obvious lies to avoid serving their first shifts before wandering in after the shift was half over and a replacement was already working. The duty roster was quickly adjusted to have Terrence, Brad, Tyson, Louis or myself working the same shifts that the others were on in an effort to open dialogue. In truth we were very early in getting the command post set up, but everyone who served agreed that it was great practice and we were starting to develop a system, which we hoped would be successful in the future.

The medical bay and recreation hall also were developing quickly. Gina's concubine Michael, and Reggie's Bren both had experience in medicine and were taking sleep training classes on medical bay usage. Donna, Shawna and Ed also were taking medical training, as they were uncomfortable in the command center.

The news from outside continued to be bad. Both Manuel and Ruth had discovered ways to get the neutrals to open their doors and before five days had passed only nine of the twenty-three neutral sponsors out there were still free and alive. If being trapped in their pods and afraid for their life could be considered alive. The saddest part was that Bernard Russell, the sponsor with a seven point zero CAP among the neutrals was still alive, but had isolated himself completely, leaving his potential followers panicked and alone.

Finally, our recreation room was completed, and I informed the AI that since the command post was not required to be operational, we'd slave most of the settings and have a repeater in the recreation room to monitor the local space in case of a surprise visit by the Sa'arm. Once we had agreement I informed all the sponsors that the general party would start in about two hours.

My ladies were happy, and Brittany was almost ecstatic when a check of the nest boxes showed that nine of our pregnant does had given birth during the night and we now had thirty-nine tiny baby rabbits. There were three that I was pretty sure would not survive due to a common birth defect that occurs in dwarf rabbits, but there was a lot of hope for the future, and seven more does due to give birth in the next three days.

The news cheered up the ladies, but the kits needed to stay with their mothers, so we brought a trio of the braver young males who could be trusted to play together and set up a small run area in the recreation room for them to play in. Brittany promised to watch them and help any children who showed interest.

The party proved to be a great success, and during it Terrence and I managed to get Linus alone for a long discussion. He was dreadfully afraid that Ruth or her friends might get through the doors, but a detailed description of all the safeguards in place relaxed him. He finally came around when his daughter ran up to him and dragged him off to see the rabbits. Terrence laughed as she dragged Linus off.

"He'll come around," Terrance said. "He has three children in that pod of his, and dotes on all three. Once he's sure that we know what we are doing, he'll be fine."

"What about Timothy and Xavier?" I asked. "It would be nice to get those two back. I've given up on Eric and Jack."

Terrence laughed as the twins walked up.

"We are"

"Missing Tasha"

"Although"

"Her concubine"

"Zenita"

"Is here." They chorused.

Terrence and I laughed. "You just do that to drive Donna crazy don't you," I said with a wink.

The girls winked back, then one spoke. "True, but its fun and it reminds people of just how close we are. However, it's true we are missing four people. Tasha, her male concubine Jay, and Eric's two concubines."

I sighed. "The people I expected we might miss. What about Jack and his son? I've heard he dotes on the kid."

Donna was walking up and heard the question. "He's here, but don't ask! The kid is over-bred, under-educated and spoiled rotten. If he manages to score better than a five on the CAP when he tests in three months I'll be shocked."

I groaned, but looked around the gathered crowd who were happily enjoying the festivities for what the twins had happily dubbed "Landing Day". They had taken my twenty-seven day months and created a calendar with three nine-day weeks per month and a number of holidays to celebrate. They even proposed a concubine rest day, where one day every three months all concubines could refuse to do any work if they chose. They had earlier happily signed on to my proposed tradition of loving concubines and I smiled to see Paula fawning over Craig and visibly happy to be near him.

I was trying to socialize with everyone when the AI called out. "Alert! The first door into this area has been forced open."

"What?" I called out. "AI how did it happen?"

"Access to the armory in the colony center was forced earlier today. Due to the fighting around it, it appeared that only small arms were taken, but it now appears that Manuel managed to get his hands on some amount of explosives. They used a blast to warp the first door and allow them to force it open. Currently they are stymied by the second door," the AI reported.

"Shit!" I cried. "How many are involved?"

The AI displayed the view of the space between the first and second doors on a nearby console screen. We could see six men, all with signs of marine enhancement standing and investigating the second door.

I sighed. "What is the repair time on the first door, and do these guys have any more of that explosive?"

"Repair on the first door will take half a day. Analysis on possible inventory is inconclusive. Both Manuel and Ruth have had forces get into the armory and take some arms, and the fighting in the area has been fierce, much of the equipment has been damaged beyond repair," the AI said.

Brad looked up. "Does that mean there have been casualties?"

"Yes, its hard to be certain as some of the neutrals have been forced to fight, but it appears that Ruth's side has had at least seven fatalities and Manuel's two. Right now there are twelve confirmed sponsor deaths, but the other three appear to be neutrals. It is very hard to determine at this time," The AI said.

"Well, we can't wait for them to get more explosives, and I want to remind both sides that attacking us is a bad idea. I'm going to head to the armory and we'll show them that we mice have teeth," I said as I headed to the exit for the recreation hall. "Anyone who wants to come can join in."

"But we can't just open the main doors," Jack whined as he came up to our group. "They'll get past you."

I smiled wickedly. "Who said I'd open that door. I prepared for just this eventuality. Yvette, you'll need to stay either at the command center or the last doorway to let the others back in if I get hurt. Get our medical personnel to the medical bay and prepare a gurney or two just in case."

Yvette nodded. "Understood. Gina! Reggie! Get Bren and Michael on their way, Shawna get going as well, and take David, if someone gets hurt we'll want him on the team moving the gurney."

I headed to the door, only to be grabbed by Bethany and given a passionate kiss. "From all of us," she whispered. "I'll have Brittany get the rabbits home and then try to hold the fort here, the party will still be going when you come back." I could see Brad and Terrence getting similar kisses and then dashed off before the rest of my concubines got ideas.