Chapter 1

It's a great time to be a senior, Jake Whitman thought to himself as he strolled down the hallway. Girls from freshman to seniors were letting it all hang out, quite literally. The coming of the Darjee, and the news of the impending Swarm invasion, had turned the world on its ear. It was quite a change from his freshman year.

A lot of the changes were in society. The coming Sa'arm invasion and the introduction of the CAP system had turned out to be a boon for men, and some women. What was acceptable clothing had changed drastically, and three years later, the school dress code had relaxed to more conform to the new societal norms.

Granted, clothing was required, although it could be as little, or as much, as one wanted to wear. Total nudity was banned, and the school "suggested" the genitals be covered, for hygienic reasons. The school board reasoned no one wanted to sit in a chair recently vacated by someone not wearing underwear.

Of course, the students pushed the envelope at every chance, many of the girls wearing short skirts, sans underwear, or with nearly non-existent thongs as their only covering. The guys didn't complain, as the current dress code allowed for sights previously unseen in the hallowed halls of West Central High. The vision now approaching him was a perfect example of that, Jake mused.

A freshman, or so he assumed from her apparent age and the fact he did not recognize her, was walking toward him wearing a see thru silk shirt that ended level with her crotch. A tiny triangle of cloth attached by two small strings that ran around her hips was all that prevented her from being nude under the shirt.

Jake turned to watch her as she passed. The strings joined in a y, disappearing between her round ass cheeks. Jake watched as her perfect heart-shaped ass twitched down the hall. He might not know her name, but he sure planned on finding it out.

Jake was something of an enigma at school. Everyone knew he had racked up quite a score in the sack over the summer, but no one was more surprised than he was. Before June he was a nonentity at school, noticed only in passing, but now he was one of the more talked about kids in the school, and it was only half way through the first day of the new school year. It was rumored that he had bedded half the girls in the senior class over the summer.

"What's so special about him," one of the freshman girls asked upon having him pointed out. A passing senior girl stopped and held her hands about seven to eight inches apart. "He knows how to use it too," she said with a smile, leaving the younger girls staring after Jake with increasing curiosity.

When Jake had left the school for summer vacation he was a 90lb weakling, literally. For some reason, when other boys his age had begun going through puberty back in fifth and sixth grade, he had not. He seemed to have stalled in his physical development, a situation the specialists couldn't explain. His parents had taken him to many doctors over the years, some recommended hormone treatments, others wanted to run more tests, but all they could do was guess at the cause.

It was his family doctor, who had delivered him and his father before him, who calmed his parents and Jake down. He had explained that while what Jake was going through was unusual, it wasn't unheard of. He had seen two other children go through the same thing in his fifty five years as a doctor. He had advised them against hormone treatment, saying that when Jake's body was ready, he would begin puberty.

Well, he was right. Jake had started noticing changes early in the spring, right before the whole family had gone in for their CAP testing. Jake had accompanied his parents and his sisters to the CAP center for testing. Many of their friends had already gone, but Jake's father had held out until the testing was made mandatory.

"Kids, we are going to get our CAP cards today." Mark Whitman had called them into the den for a family meeting early one Saturday. "I want to make something very clear before we go. When you come out from your testing, whether you do well or not, you are not to act any different than you do right now." Mark Whitman was the local Police Chief, and his kids knew when he spoke in the tone he was using now, he meant business.

"Some of you may do well, some of you may not. It wouldn't be very nice to have someone crowing about their score when you did poorly. Keep that in mind when you exit the facility." His eyes swept them as they sat on the couch, making sure they were paying attention.

"You are not to reveal your score to each other at this time. You can show it to me and your Mother, but not to anyone else. That includes friends, classmates, counselors, or teachers. There are several reason's for this, first and foremost is your safety. People with qualifying scores are being attacked and even killed."

"There are people targeting them out of anger at their own inability to escape from the coming invasion. A secret between two people is just that, a secret. But every time you add a person to those who know your secret, you substantially increase the chances your secret will become common knowledge."

The siblings agreed to abide by his decision, although the two girls later said they were sure their friends could keep a secret. Jake knew better, and admonished his sisters to keep their mouths shut.

"What's the matter Shorty, afraid we'll do better than you?" Bonnie was teasing him, although she knew being reminded of his short stature bothered him. Jake drew himself up to his full height of 5'3" and looked up at his sister, who although younger stood three inches taller.

"No, but Kimmy can't keep her mouth shut. I know this for a fact, as word has gotten back to me, one of the least likely to hear it, about the blowjob you gave Kevin at the lake last weekend."

Fifteen year old Bonnie's mouth popped open in astonishment, she had told no one but Kimmy about that. Of course Jake knew that the one who had done the talking was Kevin himself, a fact Bonnie would eventually figure out. He was hoping that his little verbal slight of hand would keep Bonnie's mouth shut.

"Oh my, that's rich," Della laughed, smiling at her younger sister's surprise. "Bet you and Kimmy will be having a talk before long, ehh?" Bonnie shot her older sister a sharp look, although Della was a year older, she was also shorter by about an inch. Della winked at Jake, laughing at Bonnie's discomfort.

"I'm going to kill that little bitch!" Bonnie said vehemently, reaching for her cell phone. Shit, Jake thought, if he let this go on it could break up Bonnie and Kim's friendship, something he didn't want to do. As she picked up the phone Jake grabbed her arm, stopping her from dialing.

"Actually sis, I heard about it from Austin, who heard if from Zach, who heard it straight from Kevin's mouth, as he was bragging to the boys in the locker room. He said you were a good..." Jake broke off as he realized he had almost said too much.

"He said I was a good what?" Bonnie demanded.

"Never mind, I'm sorry I brought it up. What I was trying to get you to realize was that deep down you know that this kind of thing is something that always gets out if too many people know about it. Hell I bet Kevin promised he wouldn't tell anyone either."

Bonnie nodded, looking like she might cry at first. Jake hoped Bonnie would drop it, but the determined set her jaw took on, and the way she flipped her long blonde hair, courtesy of a bottle, back let him know she wasn't gong to give up easily.

"Jake, you tell me right this instant!" Bonnie said, sounding just like their mother.

"Look, I wasn't there, but Zach was, and you know how he has the hots for you, right?" Bonnie nodded impatiently, knowing it would do no good to rush Jake. Having the hots for her wouldn't help Zach either, as she had no interest in him.

"Well Zach heard Kevin bragging and wanted me to know, the whole big brother watching out for the little sister thing." This produced a snort from Bonnie; she had Jake by several inches and twenty pounds, although a lot of the difference in weight was in the form of two well rounded mounds on her chest. "Anyway, he shot video with his phone, and sis, you just need to take my word for it. Kevin was running his mouth about you."

Jake hated telling his sister this, but knew she would want to know. Bonnie was very serious about people, especially boys, breaking her trust. She didn't put up with it, and had lost more than one friend over the inability to keep a secret.

Bonnie didn't cry, and Jake and Della would have been shocked if she had. She did turn a little white around her compressed lips, her eyes flashing in her anger.

"Send the damn video to my phone, I want to see it!" Jake thought that was a bad idea, but Della and Bonnie convinced him it was for the best. Jake did as Bonnie asked before leaving the den to get his shower and get dressed for the trip to the testing center. He returned downstairs fifteen minutes later to find Della and Bonnie talking in the kitchen.

"Thanks Jake, for warning me about Kevin," Bonnie said. "He denied it at first, but when I sent him the video he finally confessed. I can't believe he called me a good little cocksucker right in front of half the football team. I'll be fighting those bastards off for the next two years!"

"Come on kids, lets hit the road," their Dad called as he passed through the kitchen. He was dressed in plain clothes, instead of the uniform he usually wore. Jake could see the bulge under his suit jacket on his right hip that indicated he was wearing his gun. His father would laugh when asked about it. "It's like my American Express Card," he would joke. "I never leave home without it."

The drive to downtown didn't take long and they parked around behind city hall, giving the appearance that they were merely stopping at the Police Department for a minute. This was something their father did often, and his family was well known by the personnel there. Their trip through the department was quick, as they simply walked through and into the elevator and took that to the basement.

Once in the basement they followed their father down a dim hallway that lead under busy Main Street and into the basement of the County Courthouse. The tunnel's existence was not common knowledge, being used mainly by officers going to and from court in inclement weather. It had been installed years ago as a secure way of moving prisoners from the city's holding cells to the county jail after processing.

Since the city and county had consolidated their penal facilities the tunnel was little used, and only dimly lit. The ceiling was low enough Mark had to duck in a few places, the pipes and conduit that had been added over the years cluttering the space.

Emerging into the courthouse, Mark lead them up the back stairs and out into the back parking lot, where the temporary testing centers housed in specially modified trailers sat. The new Testing Center across town was open, but Mark had made arrangements to use the old ones today.

The girls thought the cloak and dagger routine was a bit much, but went along quietly. Jake was worried, his father obviously took the threat of the terrorist group seriously. This worried Jake more than anything his father could have said, and impressed on him the importance of keeping their scores within the family.

The testing itself was rather anticlimactic Jake thought. He wasn't sure what to expect, but he left the room feeling more like he had just spent a few minutes talking with a trusted friend than taking a test. He was relaxed and cheerful, but unable to explain his good mood. He was humming a tune under his breath and almost walked past the sergeant who was manning the help desk.

"Hey son, you did good didn't you?" the man called out. Jake slowed and turned his steps toward the speaker.

"I'm not sure, I don't remember a lot; just that it wasn't like any test I've ever taken before." He looked the Marine in the eye, shrugging.

A machine at his elbow made a whirling sound and a small black piece of plastic dropped onto the table top. The man handed it to Jake, who looked it over. The card was shiny black plastic, centered on one side was the Confederacy logo with Jake's name in the lower right corner. The rest of the card was blank, and Jake asked the Marine why it didn't show his score.

"It's a new security feature, fingerprint and DNA activated" the Marine explained. "Lots of folks don't want to advertise their status anymore, what with the nut cases running around shooting volunteers. And then you got the folks who try to counterfeit a card, although they always get caught. Anyway, the Darjee came up with this, to keep ahead of the game."

"It stays black like that until you pinch it between your thumb and forefinger for five seconds. It will clear and you can see your scores. To change it back, do it again, or wait ten minutes, it clears itself after that. Just holding it or handling it won't activate the feature though, it takes deliberate pressure to do it."

"We've been getting questions from folks worried about someone seeing their card accidentally, or them losing it and someone finding out their score. I can't see where it would be that big of a problem, but the brass thought the change would be a good idea. Makes folks feel safer anyway."

Jake nodded, the feature made sense, especially if someone lost their card. He stared at the black piece of plastic for a moment, wondering what it said. He knew his family expected him to do well, but he wasn't sure now. He didn't remember the test at all; maybe there had been some thing the AI found that kicked him out early.

Shrugging he headed toward the small waiting area to wait for the rest of his family. His father had instructed them to remain in there at the rear of the trailer until all the family was present before going outside. They would then return the way they had come.

The public, or anyone watching them specifically, would see the family go into the Police Department and then emerge from the same place later. The assumption that they were at the Police Dept. the whole time would be automatic.

Jake couldn't stand not knowing any more and stopped in the hallway, pressing on the card as the Marine had instructed. After five seconds the card cleared and Jake looked at his score. He was shocked. He had expected to score well enough to volunteer; he was a certified genius after all.

He had not expected to do as well as he did. He had researched the testing process on the web, and while most of the information there was conjuncture and guess work, he had believed his being a late bloomer would hurt his score.

If it did, I don't think I want to know what I would get once I do finish puberty, he thought. The large number in the corner read 8.7, much higher than he had expected. He shook his head, pinching the card again, blacking it out. He knew there were other numbers there, sub scores in various categories, but he would look at them later.

Still dumbfounded he walked out into the waiting room, surprised to find his whole family sitting there.

"Jake, we were starting to get worried," his mother said. She stood and pulled him into a hug. "We've all been done for at least an hour."

"An hour, how long was I in there?" Jake asked.

"We got here at a few minutes before 11 a.m.," his father said softly. "It's now five till one."

Two hours? Where had the time gone? Jake felt a little out of sorts with the revelation, but his sisters immediately reminded their parents that they hadn't eaten lunch yet. Mark led the family back into the courthouse and down the stairs to the tunnel. He dropped back, there was little chance of getting lost here, and walked beside Jake, who was deep in thought.

"Son, do you want to tell me how you did, or would you rather keep it to yourself?" Jake shrugged and held his card out; remembering to activate it once he saw it was still black. Mark's eyebrow's shot up a notch, but he made no other sign that he had seen what was on the card.

"Alright, blank it back out. Your mother and I will want to talk to you about this sometime, if that's alright." Jake nodded, he would have some questions for the adults, but he would research the issue first, as he did with anything he wanted to know more about.

Jake knew his wait for puberty was almost over. Subtle changes, a new awkwardness, his voice cracking, and body aches had him guessing the long awaited event was arriving. However, the main changes were ones he hadn't really put a lot of thought into, as they were in his head, not his body.

He was noticing girls more, or noticing their bodies more at least. His mother had noticed one of the changes, coming into the bedroom one night after starting a load of laundry with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. When Mark asked what was wrong she had told her husband she had found a crusty t-shirt hidden under Jake's bed. At his puzzled look she shook her head.

"Don't you remember why you kept an old shirt, or sock, or something like that, close to your bed when you were going through puberty?" Mark had gotten a shocked look, maybe he believed women didn't realize what a young boy spent a great deal of time doing at that age. "It wasn't as bad as some of the ones I found in my brother's room when we were growing up, but it's a start. At least he's showing some signs," she had said with a smile.

Mark checked on something on the sly the next day, not mentioning it to his wife. Judy was worried about what the kids would get up to on the internet, but didn't want to seem like she didn't trust them. Mark had assured her he would take care of the matter and had promptly called Judy's brother Jed.

Jed was retired at age 35, having made his fortune several times over by writing a software program that the Pentagon promptly bought. Mark wasn't sure what the software did, but he knew that no one knew more about computers than Jed.

Explaining that he wanted a way to monitor the kids' online activity without being intrusive or overbearing led Jed to write a program that would keep a log of each user's activity. Mark had felt a little guilty about doing so, but each time he received a bulletin from the Missing Children Center or the FBI about a young person who had disappeared after setting up a meeting with someone they met online, his guilt got a little less intense.

After Judy had found Jake's cum rag, Mark had checked out the log the next day. He found where Jake had made several searches regarding sex, most of them to educational sites and articles at first. Then the searches began to center more on pictures and free videos. Mark was astounded to find that Jake had purchased a membership to an amateur video site, and that he had paid with a credit card his father didn't know he had.

He had immediately opened the secure folder where he kept his financial information, including a list of his credit cards. There was a folder there named "Jake's Card" that he hadn't seen before. Inside was the information on the card, including online statements showing the balance was paid off promptly every month from Jake's checking account. There was also a text file labeled "Please read me first Dad".

The folder contained a note explaining that Jake couldn't get a card in his own name as he was too young at just seventeen. He had gotten the card, without permission he knew, and hoped his Dad wouldn't be mad at him. He was just curious about some things and too embarrassed; mainly due to the big deal his mother had made over his late development, to approach Mark openly.

Mark had added a note saying he understood, but to never do anything like that again. He had also agreed to keep the secret from Judy, figuring that Jake would eventually tell his mother himself.

While his mind was lost in the past the family had arrived back at the back door of the Police Department. After getting into their SUV, they had driven to a local steakhouse for a late lunch. While they were eating in the mostly empty restaurant -- the lunch rush was over -- Bonnie brought up the issue of sharing their scores among the family.

"Dad, I know you said we were going to keep our scores secret to prevent anyone in the family from being embarrassed or feeling like they were not as good as someone else. I think we should know each other's scores though, I mean, what if one of us has the ability to get the other's off of this planet, shouldn't those that need a little help know about it?"

"Bonnie, think about what you're saying," Mark said, after swallowing his bite of medium rare steak. "Say I was the only one in the family who had a qualifying score and a pickup were to occur right here right now. Would you be willing to go with me as a concubine? Think about it before you answer."

"Being a concubine means having sex with your sponsor, in this hypothetical situation that would be me, and you would be having my children. And not just once either, but over and over again, for the rest of your child-bearing years, which, from what I understand about the Darjee medical treatments, might last for another sixty or seventy years."

Bonnie sat in silence, she was a bit of an airhead, and Jake thought her hair color suited her, but she wasn't stupid either.

"Well, if it was either that or get eaten, maybe. But still, I mean, what if it wasn't you, what if it was Mom, or Della?"