Chapter 31: Visitors

The admiral huffed. "Well, do that. And get me a full report when you can." The speakers burst into static and then cut out.

"Sorry, Sir!" Gina said. "He cut the connection."

I was turning to Louis to check and see what he might need when Yvette's voice came over the speaker. "Damn! How does it go? When it rains, it pours? James we have a problem at the doors."

"What kind?" I asked as Tamara and Gina gasped.

"They're kids!" Tamara said. "They have to all be sixteen to eighteen. What are they doing there?"

"What?" I called out.

"Refugees it looks like," Yvette said. "If we go by looks it's a young man, two female concubines and two children maybe two or three years old. The man and his concubines don't look to be eighteen."

I sighed and stood up to see what was happening. I had just stepped into the command post section when Gina sighed. "James, I have a man claiming to be Marine Commandant General Montgomery calling. He specifically asked for you."

I stopped and looked over the repeater screens, which showed the young man and his companions as Yvette described, but Gina was looking at me expectantly. "AI, can you unlock Tasha's pod? Yvette, get Barbara to help you with this business at the door, she may know them. AI, connect me to Bethany." There was a ping and I continued. "Bethany, we have another refugee party at the door and I'm not going to get out of the command post for a while. Could you go meet Yvette and Barbara at the crossing and escort this group to Tasha's pod and talk to them there for a while? I'll try to join in, but everything appears to be happening at once. Ladies, admit them but don't trust them yet."

I heard a faint acknowledgement and watched the repeater screen as the middle door open as Yvette, Barbara, and Timothy stepped forward. Gina was watching as well, but called out. "Putting the call through."

I sighed. "Good evening General Montgomery, how might our little colony help you?"

"You can start by giving me a status report," an angry voice growled. "I've got two reports that just crossed my desk. One says that your system was visited by some kind of Sa'arm courier or scout three weeks ago. Then I get one that says you had a Sa'arm ship attack only to be destroyed. I need to know what happened, and what weapons you used. And I need to know who the fucking hell I'm talking to!"

"Sir, I am James Rabb, citizen of Ishtar, currently I'm working with some other citizens to bring in the damaged corvette Nassau so we can conduct repairs. Ishtar is a resupply and listening post on the far side of the Sa'arm incursion sphere," I replied.

"If that's all, why does every report coming from your planet have the addendum that you are the primary contact?" the General growled.

I looked over at Gina who shook her head. "I wouldn't know," I replied. "I know that I try to keep things running down here, but officially we all are just citizens and marines."

"And how many are you?" the general growled.

I sighed. "Eighteen sponsors I trust work on our side of the colony. We have one inside our walls who is useless, and currently there are approximately sixty-two colonists currently engaged in a fight for control outside our walls."

"What?" the General squawked.

"This is a dumping ground planet, sir. The marines dumped one hundred colonists who they decided not to train up. The landing groups split into four factions. I just happen to be part of the faction that remained active in supporting the Confederacy," I answered.

"Something tells me I need to check our pickup protocols," the general hissed. "Very well, what about this report of an attack earlier?"

I shook my head. "I'm beginning to think I should have the AI record this. Tamara, send the general the backup details. Basically sir, we are on a death world, with an extremely acidic atmosphere. Before we landed I requested that a spare pod be converted into a ground based laser battery. When the most recent Sa'arm ship visiting us entered the atmosphere we took the two lasers in that battery up to the surface and fired on the ship. One of the hits must have opened some critical components to the atmosphere because the ship exploded before it could reach firing range for any missile considering the corrosion it would incur in flight."

The general huffed. "Interesting. Meanwhile, what's your plan for now?"

I felt myself smile. "Well, we just had one of the colonists who was outside our area seek refugee in our enclave and I need to go meet them. Then, once the Nassau docks, I want to meet the survivors and organize what best we can until their ship is operational. And we need to get some space-based defenses before the next Sa'arm visit."

"Go do it," the general said. "I'll call back when you aren't busy."

Gina giggled. "James is always busy general, that's why we follow him." She killed the connection as I sighed.

"Yvette, Bethany? Can you tell me a bit about our refugees and do you think I can meet them quickly?"

Bethany responded. "They are nice kids, but very scared. The boy is the sponsor as you expected. The surprise is the children, they don't belong to him or his concubines. One of the other neutrals decided to try to talk to Manuel and gave this sponsor the kids, to protect them. She never returned, and her concubines are missing."

"Damn," I said. "Louis, how much time to I have?"

Louis looked up. "We should have another ten minutes until braking starts, but I've shifted their vector some. It should save us some time because we can do the braking a bit slower and catch Astarte on a tangent vector. It will be tight, but the math adds up."

"Bethany, can you bring some of the newcomers to the briefing room. It looks like I don't have time to wander around," I asked.

She giggled. "Not me, I'm showing Meiko how to change diapers. But Janice and Tina can, they relate best to this group anyways."

"Go ahead," I said as I shook my head. "This is just too complex," I grumbled.

I walked back to the briefing room and looked over the information that Tiffany and Louis were putting together. It was clear that the Nassau was heavily damaged and the limited telemetry was very limiting in what preparations we could make. When Louis sighed I looked up.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He looked up mournfully. "I just wish this hadn't happened when it did. I love dancing with Heather and we don't get to do it often enough. How can I convince her that I love her if I don't get to spend time with her?"

We heard a giggle from the briefing room door and turned. There was Heather and Maggie, standing in the short black cocktail dresses they had worn to the party. Heather smiled and strutted over to Louis and gave him a kiss. "You think I don't know you love me?" she growled. "If what you show me every night isn't love, then love doesn't exist."

Louis looked surprised but put his arms around his ex-wife as she sat on the arm to his chair. I could hear Commander O'Brien ask. "Um ... is there a problem?"

Tiffany burst out laughing as Maggie walked over and added her own kiss to Heather's. "No," Tiffany said. "Louis is just receiving a reminder that his concubines love and adore him."

I could Maggie giggle. "You forgot to say that we need him. Louis is entirely too gentle with me."

Louis started sputtering. "But, you are too young, and Heather and me ... I mean..."

Heather burst out laughing and held Louis close. "You lug. I want you to want her. She's like the younger sister I never had, and the gentle lesbian lover I've always wanted. But she wants your cock. She and I have talked about this, and were going to tell you when the party broke up, but instead we'll do it now. Starting tonight, Maggie sleeps with us and you have no excuse not to fuck her until she can't walk."

Maggie was blushing as Tiffany and I shook our heads. Tiffany smiled at me. "The Tradition works again!"

Louis was sitting there gaping like a fish out of water as Heather and Maggie continued to kiss and caress him. I looked over at Tiffany. "Can you guide Commander O'Brien in? I get a feeling that Louis needs a few minutes to..."

Tiffany laughed. "There is a mattress in the morgue. He just needs to go there. I can help the Nassau the rest of the way."

Maggie looked at us and gave a cry of joy before she and Heather pulled Louis to his feet and dragged him off toward the morgue as I shook my head. The door to the morgue had just closed when Tina and Janice walked in leading two figures.

The lead figure was a young man. He looked about sixteen and seemed extremely nervous. The thick glasses and extra weight surprised me and he looked like he had spent far too much time studying. He had his left hand holding the right hand of a young lady of about the same age, who shared the thick glasses with him. She had long thick hair and a slender build, but the general impression was not one of glamour, but of a young and budding librarian.