Chapter 15

I commed James and told him that we would have to start putting several prisoners into each cell for now. He laughed at me. “We have plenty of cells,” he continued laughing. Gwen had told them about the prefabricated, temporary prison blocks that were manufactured much like the temporary housing. Each prefabricated block was four cells wide and 20 cells long and had a six-inch overhang on one side that snapped into a mated channel of the facing side of the next block allowing two units to be fitted together snugly. They also had a three-foot overhang along the length to create a six-foot wide hallway between two blocks. As many blocks as you wanted could be attached together end to end. Each cell was 8’ X 8’, soundproof, and pre-plumbed for water, toilet, video and audio monitoring, and playback. The units were made from 1/8 inch Class K Type VII carbon fiber, which was stronger than the 1/8 inch Class K Type V carbon fiber used for hot fusion shuttles. The construction foreman had built the new prison four blocks wide, five blocks high (the highest recommended and the highest there were elevators for) and 30 blocks long for a total of 48,000 new cells. Even I didn’t think we’d fill that many.

There was an elevator at each end of the eight long corridors. The elevators could go to the surface or down to one of the uppermost underground tunnels beneath the installation. “Where did we get them?” I asked.

“We asked every UN base for half of their supply. All the bases keep several for emergency use,” James explained. He also explained that they had to take out the center runway so the soil movers could dig deep nough. They used fusion tractors in the bottom to square off the outer edges where the soil movers couldn’t quite reach.

“We also installed a new waste treatment facility. The one that came with the mansion would only work for about 2,000 people, and the one for the base didn’t even come close to meeting current standards. In addition, we put in a trash recycling system. Both systems are set up to handle 500,000 people. Tomorrow we’ll install smaller ones in each of the towns under the dome. Admiral Medford thought it was funny that we had facilities for both types of shit on base right next to each other.”

That was pretty good, and I got a good chuckle out of it. “As usual James, thank you for thinking ahead,” I told him. Each of the 20 barracks on the base was four floors high and each floor held 250 people. I wanted a big enough kitchen and a big enough dining room for 1,000 people built onto one end of each of the barracks using the portable housing units. On the other end, I wanted a beauty shop, massage parlor, and therapeutic hot spas for 1000 women.

I called Kateryna and asked how the rest of the Bumblebees were doing. Bumblebees 8 and 9 were being restocked and the pilots were off duty for eight hours. She sent the shuttle transport back to PB2 to assist Bumblebee 15 if they needed it. Evidently, four more ships filled with 248 women and other goods had shown up at the base we just captured, but they and their crews, totaling 73 pirates, were captured well before landing. A quick thinking android on the surface mimicked the voice of the pirate who had been responsible for watching out for arriving ships. They had intercepted enough radio traffic to know their radio protocol. Kateryna wanted to watch the base for a several more hours to see if any more ships showed up. Evidently, the Russian ships had been there buying things, and pirates from more than one base had shown up to trade.

Bumblebees 5 and 10 were waiting for nightfall before attacking PB3, about four hours from now. Nothing significant was happening there.

Bumblebees 6 and 11 were getting ready to raid PB4 and Kateryna sent a transport of troops and one of shuttles in case they were needed. The base was only about 20 buildings, and only four ships were there. Bumblebees 12 and 14 were still gathering intel, but thought that they should be ready to raid their two compounds in eight hours when it was dark. Bumblebees 16 and 17 were heading out to cover Bumblebees 12 and 14. Bumblebee 18 was on standby.

I went underground to see if the judges needed anything else to get everything set up. I was shocked to find fourteen of the fifteen courtrooms in full swing. The wide hallways were newly paneled with real wood and patrolled by hundreds of android troops clad in almost solid UN blue. Only the sleeves were black. Each trooper had a PITA insignia emblazoned on the left of their shirt with a name patch above it, and a black beret pulled through a loop on their left shoulder. I watched as a long line of shackled and dejected pirates was led from one of the courtrooms back towards the new cells. One of the android troops with sergeant stripes told me that so far, all the pirates we had captured and all adult members of the two estates we’d captured had been found guilty of charges that carried the death penalty. Juvenile members of those households had been sentenced as slaves for life to me.

All the guards at the estates and the surviving police officer were sentenced to the same fate. Their families were not involved so they were not charged. I asked the sergeant to make sure that the youngest of the Gomez girls was allowed to stay with the women that her family had kept. He assured me that she was already with them.

The troubling part of the rulings was all of the women we had rescued being declared my property. Since all property belonging to each pirate base, pirate ship, or estate we captured was awarded to me to do with as I pleased, that meant all of the women belonged to me now as slaves, not exactly what I had planned on or wanted.

I found Renee and Johann next door to Johann’s chambers, watching as 100 androids pored over 100 computer displays at 100 desks. “I feel like a slave driver,” Johann commented when he saw me. “These ladies work 24 hours a day for me.”

I grinned hearing him refer to them as ladies. “Have you got a few minutes?” I asked. “I have a few more questions.”

Johann laughed, remembering our last conversation. “Hypothetically?” he asked, chuckling. I shook my head. “Okay, shoot,” he said.

“I’m bothered that all of the women we rescue are declared property and awarded to me. I don’t think that’s right,” I objected.

“What would you prefer that we do with them?” he asked, grinning.

“Set them free,” I protested.

“Okay, let’s say that we set them free. They go home to find the same situation as when they were claimed, sold, or kidnapped. The odds are that many of them will end up right back in captivity. Besides, most of the women need psychological counseling and/or medical treatment, and can’t afford it.”

I had to admit, he had a point. “Now, when we give them to you, what do you do with them?” he asked.

“Get them the care they need and get them back with their families and loved ones as soon as possible,” I answered.

“Damn good idea. I wish I’d thought of that,” he teased.

“What about the minor children of the estate families? The youngest Gomez daughter tried to help all of the women. Why are they all sentenced to slavery?” I knew I’d already lost this argument, too, when he grinned again.

“Where are the other Gomez children?” he asked.

“I assume they’re back in their cells,” I answered.

“And the youngest?” he asked.

“She’s with the women we rescued.”

“And if you were to review the Court’s edict, you would find that none of the minor children have been charged with or convicted of anything. If you go back over the finer points of slavery law, you’ll see that if you decide to release them unconditionally at any time, they’re free, with no conviction on their record. Some of the minors probably should be convicted and sentenced. It will be up to you to make the decision as to their eventual fate. If you feel they deserve to be punished, you’re free to punish them as you see fit for the rest of their lives. If you think they have had a change of heart, you have the freedom to adjust their lives accordingly, even freeing them if you feel that’s the right thing to do.”

“No wonder you’re Head Judge. The rulings are brilliant,” I admitted.

“Actually, you’re the one making me look brilliant. I’ve sloughed off the hard decisions to you,” he laughed.

“Normally we’d have hearings to decide if we should try the minors, and then whether to try them as adults or juveniles. This way, we skip all of that,” he explained. “Besides,” he added, “it was your wife that made the suggestion this morning when we were discussing how we wanted to handle each type of case. It streamlined the entire process. It looks, now, like it should only take a couple of us to handle the pirates’ cases. That will leave more of us to deal with the cases that are going to be filed when the estates start falling. Serena is tracking everyone that was on the payroll of each family. When we find a judge, we pull all of his cases and review them. Once we find enough proof of malfeasance, we’ll pull him in at the same time as the estate family.”

“Okay, next question. I’m not really comfortable that the way we decide to raid an estate is completely legal. Should we run that information by one of you and get permission first?” I asked.

Renee coughed and handed me four sheets of paper. I glanced at the first one and realized it was a warrant authorizing a raid on an estate, “using whatever force is deemed necessary to detain everyone there for questioning and possible trial based on information supplied by the Task Force Pita Intelligence Agency, identifying the estate and members thereof as procurers and suppliers of illegal slaves.”

“Serena gives me the documentation when she feels she has enough to prove a connection. I give it to the Judge to review. If he agrees, he issues a warrant. I give the warrants to Kateryna, and she puts them on the target list, along with names and addresses of any police, judges, or other public officials we’ve connected to each estate. We’ll do basically the same thing with Russian targets,” Renee explained.

“That makes me feel better. One last question and I’ll leave you alone until I think of another one,” I said. “I know that Sven told me that as a UN base, we’re responsible for the comfort and safety of all UN officials. Isn’t it some kind of conflict of interest for you to be granting me all of this property when I’m supplying everything for you?”

“In this case, no, the law is very specific about captured property belonging to the person legally capturing it unless it’s regular UN forces. You guys are a private army, or irregulars. The property is to assist in deferring the cost of what you’re doing. Besides, we decided this morning how we were going to handle real property, the people you capture, and the people that you save. Everything from here on is between the UN and the individuals we prosecute. Therefore, anything you do now won’t have any bearing on any of the cases. The only thing that would be a conflict would be if we had to prosecute one of your troops for excessively violent treatment of or for torturing a prisoner. If that happened, we’d need to bring in an outside judge to try the case.”

Looking at Danielle kneeling happily at my side, her head resting on my knee Johann commented, “It’s just so bizarre seeing you with a woman on a leash knowing how you feel about women being mistreated.”

“Speaking of which, does your wife allow you to mix business and pleasure?” I asked.

“On occasion, and this would definitely be one of those occasions,” he said grinning. I held out my empty hand in front of Danielle. She pulled another collar and leash from her pocket. As always, the look on Renee’s face when she realized what she was in for was priceless. I was putting her collar on her when two of the female judges walked in. Both shot me a scathing look.

“It’s okay, this is what we want him to do,” Danielle spoke up defensively. Not looking like they really believed her, Renee explained it thoroughly to them, including their safe word, and finishing by telling them that the only reason I did it was to make them happy.

I gave Renee the end of her leash. “Why don’t you see if Johann would like to take you for a walk,” I suggested.

“Why don’t we all adjourn to the Judges’ Dining Room? We’ve got time before lunch is served,” Johann suggested.

Sophie, the taller and darker skinned of the two female judges asked, “May I?” as she reached towards Danielle’s leash.

“I guess that leaves you and me, then,” Paige, the other female judge commented as she took my hand. She looked questioningly at me when Penny followed us.

“She’s seen it before and even tried a little and decided that she liked it,” I said.

“Are you okay with other women?” Paige asked her, grinning when Penny nodded. She took Penny’s hand, too, and we followed the procession.

Lunch was delayed and almost cold before we finished. One by one, the other judges came into the dining room and enthusiastically joined us. Penny definitely got a taste, and more. She fucked all ten of the male judges before it was over, even having all three orifices filled simultaneously like she’d watched the women do in Kyoto the other morning. Renee told me later that one of her favorite memories would always be having the Head Judge fucking her ass while another one fucked her pussy, and a third spewed his load down her throat. Decorum went out the window as all five of the female justices joined in, too. I fucked each one of them at least once.

They invited us to join them for lunch, and when Johann determined that nobody had any more hearings after lunch, he broke out a couple bottles of champagne. He looked questioningly at me to see if Penny could have any. “What, are you afraid we’ll get her drunk and take advantage of her?” I joked.

Johann raised his glass. “My first toast is to our host, Commander Omega. He is a man with a vision, the heart, the brains, and, as I’m sure all the ladies present will attest, the balls to see this through to completion.”

When the chuckles and cheers quieted down, he continued. “My second toast is to our beautiful hostess. I did not recognize the name Renee Miller when I first met her. When I found out that she was previously Renee Medford, I knew immediately who she was. I, and several other justices, used to watch her cases with interest, considering her for a position as a judge, and then she just disappeared. We’re happy that she’s back. After watching her in action, and watching her cut to the heart of the cases this morning, we have decided unanimously, that if her husband consents, we will see that she receives an appointment to the UN bench when this is all over. A couple of years of experience there, and she will receive the first available appointment to the appeals court. Finally, when one of us decides to retire, I expect she will be the next appointee to the World Court.”

They cheered; we were stunned. Renee looked at me longingly. I nodded and ended up on my back with her smothering me with hugs and kisses. “I take it that’s a yes?” Johann teased. I nodded as best I could.

Danika, who looked as Nordic as her name would imply, spoke up. “I would seriously like to consider permanently moving the World Court here. The Hague has hundreds of years of history, but that’s about all. I love antiques, but not working with them day in and day out. Almost every week something breaks, and court is delayed. The courtrooms are stuffy and smell stale. The electronics are antiquated, and my staff’s offices are quite a ways from my chambers.

“This place is beautiful, elegant, modern, and ultra-secure. The android guards are superior to anything I’ve encountered before. My chambers are huge, and I actually have room on my walls to have all of my law books in one room. In addition, the lighting is outstanding and I can read without squinting. In addition, there is the house that we’re in. I thought that only billionaires and poor dirt farmers lived in single-family homes anymore. I don’t know how much it’s worth, but I’d like to buy it and live there,” she finished.

“I don’t think that it will be difficult to convince us when we’re done here,” Johann agreed.

I cut in. “Danika, if you or anyone else who is interested would see Renee after lunch, I will have her draw up a bill of sale for your houses. If you’d like to look around a few more days before deciding, that’s fine too. Sale price for each house will be $P1, payable in cash only so I don’t have to report it on my income and pay taxes on it,” I joked.

“Mike, those houses are worth tens of millions of dollars each,” she protested.

“Not to me. I have over 15,000 of them sitting out there empty, or mostly empty. They mean nothing to me. If they make you happy, why shouldn’t I sell them to you? Besides, you already awarded me over thirty billion dollars today.”

Not waiting for further argument, I turned to Johann. Talking about the towns and the houses reminded me of something. “I do have another hypothetical question for you,” I said grinning. Everyone at the table laughed. I explained, “hypothetically,” about Marco and his extended family, asking, hypothetically, if someone in that position could be granted clemency and the right to live outside of Russia and be awarded UN citizenship. Hypothetically. Johann said that he would think about any hypothetical solutions, and would let me know.

Another Judge, Scott, wanted to know if he could possibly go along and watch one of the raids from a safe distance. Comming Kateryna, I checked the time. “Is the raid on PB 3 still on schedule?” I asked.

“Forty-three minutes,” she answered happily.

“What’s the travel time?” I asked.

“Nineteen minutes, should I tell them you’ll be there, too?”

“Just to observe, it’s still their ball,” I answered.

“Roger, I’ll relay the message and have the Avenger ready in five. Command out,” she said.

“Can you be ready in ten minutes?” I asked Scott.

“I’m ready now,” he answered excitedly.

“Could I go too?” Paige asked.

“And me?” Perla asked.

I looked to Johann for confirmation. “Stay safe and out of trouble,” he warned. Penny and Danielle wanted to go, too. I told Penny that she would have to check with her mother about this one. I also commed Natalia and asked if they already had pink ladies with the troops at PB3. They didn’t as everyone left too fast this morning for them to get coordinated. I told her I was leaving in the Avenger in ten minutes if they had anyone ready. Nine minutes later a crowd converged on the Avenger. There were 20 pink ladies (they decided they wanted to be called “butterflies”), five Judges, and my two assistants there. The butterflies brought a grav sled with robes, clothing, and snacks, as well as a portable privacy screen for the women to dress behind. Lupe was in charge of this group and explained that while they understood and were grateful that we had rescued them, they still felt exposed since most were in some state of undress the entire trip back to the estate.

There were still fifteen minutes to go before the raid when we arrived. The reports said that there were 47 pirates, 93 female slaves, two young male slaves, 32 buildings, and five ships. The orbiting ships that were our lookouts reported that the base usually had two more ships, but they had gone to trade with another base. Bumblebee 5 suggested that they might have been among the ships we already captured at PB2, but still wasn’t taking any chances on them showing back up unexpectedly. They had one android assigned to communicate with approaching ships if any showed up after the attack began. I explained to the judges what had already happened and what was going to happen as soon as the attack took place. The actual attack took only seconds, and about a minute later, the all clear was sounded.

Still shielded, although I dropped our cloaking and descended, hovering right above the base so the Judges could see what was happening, watching as the troops quickly bound each pirate. We finally landed when the last of the pirates was secured. I explained as the orange-clad androids went into each ship and hot-swapped the AI before taking off for the estate. They watched as the pirates were loaded into a prison ship. Someone had even put padding in the bottom of each of the cargo containers just for the sake of appearances. Gwen had commented that she was more comfortable severely outnumbered and under heavy enemy fire than under the scrutiny of fifteen World Court Judges.

“We’re still missing one captive,” someone announced over the com link.

“I have her on the scanner,” Bumblebee 10 responded. “West end of the complex, third house in, there’s an underground room beneath the bedroom,” they directed. I was right in front of the building. Cautioning my guests to stay put, and their shielding android to be careful, I hurried inside. The hidden door was simply a trapdoor in the floor. I opened it carefully, wary of booby traps, and went inside after several fireflies cleared the room.

“Medic,” I hollered right before tossing my cookies. The badly beaten body of a young girl was curled up in the fetal position on the dirt floor, unconscious and barely alive. I picked her up as carefully as I could and carried her upstairs. A Medi-doc checked her while I continued on to the hospital ship. I made them work on her while I held on to her. I didn’t know if she was conscious, or even alive at times, but if she was, I wasn’t going to leave her. If she died, it would be in someone’s arms, not on the hard, impersonal surface of a hospital exam table.

I forced back the bile while they examined her in places no little girl should have to be examined. I wasn’t going to throw up again and give them an excuse to make me lay her down on the trip back. When we did get back, it was obvious that Greg had been warned. He didn’t say a word about me holding her. They adjusted their scanners so they only scanned deep enough to see her and not me below. Greg was able to stop the bleeding without surgery, closing up the tears from the forced penetration, and washing cum and blood out of both openings. He told me the bruises were ugly, but there was only one broken bone, her left arm. He gave her two units of artificial blood, adding enzymes to promote clotting and to stop any bleeding that he missed. He put a pain-tac on the back of her neck at the base of her skull to limit the amount of pain she perceived, and let her sleep ... in my arms.

Li’s voice woke me up in the morning. “Are you my daddy?” she asked. Someone had told me during the night that her name was Li and she was six years old. An older captive who said her name was Nana wanted to talk to me as soon as I was available.

“Why do you think I’m your daddy?” I asked, glad I had learned Chinese among the other languages I’d learned.

“Nana said for me to be brave tonight and when the bad man was done, either my mommy or my daddy would come and get me,” she said innocently.

“Yes, Li, I’m your daddy,” I managed to say before my voice failed me. Tears were streaming down my cheeks. I definitely needed to talk to this Nana character. I wanted to either kiss her or strangle her; I just wasn’t sure which, yet.

I called for Greg. He was asleep on the hospital bed next to me. Fifteen minutes later, he smiled. “She’ll be fine. She’s going to be weak and will have some pain for a while, but she’ll be fine. I saw Sharon relay the message to one of the medi-docs and suddenly pandemonium erupted outside the hospital.

“Almost everyone on the base has been waiting outside all night to hear,” she explained when she saw my concerned look.

Li fell back asleep shortly after that. I told Greg what she’d said and asked him to have Nana separated from the rest of the women we’d just rescued until I knew what was going on. I asked him to have Serena talk to Nana and some of the other women from the captured base and let me know what she found out. My wives stopped by en masse after hearing what happened. “You just couldn’t wait to be a daddy, could you?” Vonna teased, rubbing her hands across her still-flat stomach. It almost worked to cheer me up.

Later that morning Kateryna stopped by the hospital, allegedly to be checked to make sure she was healing okay. She let me know that the raids against PB4, PB5, PB6, PB7, and PB8 had all gone off without a hitch. We had captured 373 pirates, 527 captives, 39 ships, and lots of cargo.

A few minutes after that Gwen came in and told me that all of the pirates from PB3 had just been sentenced to death. Carefully I handed Li to Renee. “Hold her for me, please. I’ll be back in a while,” I said. “If she wakes up, you’re her mommy.” I kissed both of them and headed outside after also kissing and then directing my other wives to stay with Renee.

“This is going to be uglier than the duel,” I warned them. I asked Gwen to find out from Serena and Nana which of the pirates had done this to Li. I wanted any and all of them that were involved on the soccer field with the grass track ASAP in wrist and ankle grav cuffs. I didn’t want them harmed on the way out.

Alone, over the protests of Penny and Danielle, I went into the lab. I spent ten minutes collecting my thoughts, and then got out my good Katana and Tanto. The Tanto is a knife that was worn as a secondary weapon by the Samurai. I stretched and went through my normal Kata before I felt I was ready for this.

The single pirate they brought to face me was trying to look defiant, but the fear was there in his eyes, and he reeked of it. “Strip him,” I told his android guards. He fought, but it was a losing cause. “X position,” I barked to the guards. Instantly the pirate was stretched out in an X position by the grav cuffs.

“You failed,” I told him. “She lives, you die.” Before he could even react, the tanto had neatly severed his cock and balls from the rest of his body. He passed out from shock. I woke him back up and cauterized the wound, so he didn’t bleed to death yet. I woke him up again and sprayed him with a plant extract that turns the skin bright red and makes the affected person feel like they’re on fire. My studies in botany while I researched different plants looking for cells that would work better in computers was definitely paying unexpected dividends.

I let him writhe in agony for several minutes, and then started making shallow cuts all over his chest and stomach with my Tanto. His shrieks were music to my ears. I sprayed the sliced area with salt water, reveling in his hoarse attempts to scream even more. My next target was his back and buttocks, following the slicing with salt water again. Finally, he passed out again, and I woke him again. It took long enough to wake him that I knew I might not be able to wake him much more. I called over the A/C male android and adjusted the cuffs on my captive. His eyes bugged out when the overly endowed A/C android (was this Bree’s handiwork?) penetrated his obviously virgin ass, but his scream was nothing more than a harsh whisper.

“What, it’s not so funny when you’re on the receiving end?” I taunted as the android continued to ravage his unlubricated ass. I landed several sharp blows to his chest with the heel of my hand, breaking most of his ribs. His eyes were beginning to droop so I woke him again. All that was left in his eyes was defeat and a desire for the pain to stop.

A quick motion with my now unsheathed Katana released his intestines and other organs to hang out of his body while the android continued to violate his ass. When his eyes closed this time, I couldn’t get them to open again. I thanked the A/C android and had my prisoner’s cuffs removed. I spent the next ten minutes taking revenge on his lifeless body for Li and the girls that had preceded her. I vented all of my anger and hatred as I wore myself out physically. By the time I was done, I don’t think anyone could have found a complete strand of DNA in what was left of him.

I’d been so focused on my revenge that I didn’t even realize I’d drawn a huge audience. I handed my bloody weapons to one of the androids and walked slowly toward my lab, barely able to keep putting one foot in front of the other. The applause started several seconds after I gave up my weapons and built in intensity. When I stumbled as one of my legs almost gave out, two of the butterfly ladies grabbed me and supported me the rest of the way. They even stripped and climbed into the shower in my lab with me, washing me. When I had been dried and clothed, one of them opened the door to the lab and brought in a grav sled to carry me back to the hospital.

The applause started again as soon as I exited the lab and followed me clear to the hospital, getting quieter as we got farther away from the crowd. I realized that they were being considerate of everyone in the hospital by not following.

The next thing I remembered, I was in my bed, surrounded by my wives. Renee was sitting in a comfortable rocking recliner next to the bed and had Li sleeping in her lap. She smiled and continued rocking. “You okay?” Vonna asked when she realized I was awake.

“Great except that I don’t even have the energy to keep my eyes open,” I joked. Sort of. Penny got up and got me a cold EB. I felt better a few minutes later, but still felt drained. I knew that a lot of it was emotional from releasing so much intense emotion so quickly.