Chapter 9: Learning from a new friend

The girl knelt limply at my feet and offered no resistance when I lifted her into my arms to step back into the room. She had her eyes closed as I stepped in and set her on the bed. Sarah smiled as I set the girl on the mattress. "Hey Fate," my concubine said.

Fate gave a cry that was a combination of joy and panic before opening her eyes and noticing Sarah sitting next to her. She burst from her position and hurled her body at Sarah, almost knocking her down with a hug, as her loud and anguish-filled wails filled the chamber. I gave Sarah a quick nod and then retreated to the back where I found Linda nibbling on a salad.

"That woman is unbelievable," Linda said as I sat down.

I nodded. "I had heard that Miles, the man who is the current head of DECO was a bit of a CAP elitist, but I had never met someone with that attitude."

Linda shook her head. "It's worse than you realize. I guess Miles has been pushing an agenda where only those with CAP above eight are considered worthy. The man just wants to pull all the high CAP people off the planet and leave the others to rot. And the man has a pathological hatred of the military. Jennifer doesn't hate the military, but she was happy to proselytize about the glories of a high CAP."

I laughed. "And you told her about your CAP score I'm sure."

Linda joined me in laughter. "No, I didn't want to hear her reaction to that. The problem is that I can see her joining in a conspiracy against low CAP volunteers, and from what you've said only three of the Ishtar bound citizens had scores above six five."

I nodded again. "Sarah found a commodore who definitely wasn't the most supportive either. Unfortunately she doesn't have a name, only that the man is a recent pickup and definitely worked at Fort Benning before pickup."

Linda sighed. "Are there any nice people on board this ship? Its like the worst part of being in high school combined with real power. I feel slimy after spending time with that witch."

Sarah must have heard the comment because she shouted from the other room. "I've met a few, but remember that this is one of the command ships. All of the high ambition people want to be here to direct policy and there is a lot of infighting going on."

I could see Linda look at me mournfully and I reached out to give her a reassuring pat on the shoulder while nodding sadly. "She's right. I won't deny that most investigations take me into the underside of our communities, but this place has a higher percentage of the aggressive personality types that make things frustrating."

Linda nodded, but then gave me a questioning look. "How did that concubine get here? I mean this is a military ship, so I don't think she lives here."

It was my turn to smile. "There is a Kilo class pod carrier in orbit nearby, the Townhouse. The pods it carries are the homes for people stationed on the Success. Everyone here just commutes back and forth via the teleport."

Linda nodded. "I understand, I commute back on Borneo. I might ask for my pod to be transferred though."

"Why?"

Linda smiled. "Well, I wasn't picked up at the same time as Brian. He was picked up about eight months before me. We were very shocked to find out that chance had resulted in us being home-based on the same planet, although he serves on ships and my original assignment was on the planetary command staff. We've tried to have our pods near each other, but I don't like some of my neighbors. Its like you said, some of them are abusive to their concubines, and now that I think about it, I don't need that near me if Jill is to blossom."

Sarah giggled and once again called out from the other room. "Try for Bewu if you do that. It's the best of the specialized townships."

"Concubine," I growled dangerously. "You are supposed to be cute and naked and not offering advice."

Moments later Sarah burst around the corner in the stateroom. She was gloriously naked and leapt over the table to fall into my arms. As I gathered her in she gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Ok, I'm naked," she said.

Linda was giggling, but I gently guided Sarah to sit next to me. She fought me more than a little and I finally got her settled by running the fingers of my right hand over her pussy lips as I looked at my trainee.

"Sorry. She's being troublesome. However, her advice is good. Bewu has a great reputation on Borneo, and since you are a female citizen, you can move there," I said.

Linda nodded. "But weren't we talking about the investigation?"

Just then a timid voice called out. "What investigation?"

Linda and I looked over at the entrance. The girl, Fate, had obviously followed Sarah and was now standing in the entryway to the room. The fact that she was standing finally gave me an opportunity to look at the woman I had ended up acquiring.