Chapter 7: Drinking Buddies

The second full day as a member of the Confederacy's Uniformed Services had been a stressful and energy-draining one for the 13-year-old, but Samantha walked into the Officers' Club with her head held high. Starting first thing this morning, she had been officially on her own – the Grey Goose was on her way back to Earthat with a fresh load of pods to pick up yet more potential survivors from the Swarm.

Feeling quite grown-up, she went to the bar and ordered an appletini from the list that sprung up on the bar surface in front of her. The concubine, a cute blond woman who looked about mid-twenties but could have been anything, quickly mixed up the concoction and handed it to her. Samantha took a sip - "A mocktail, I assume?"

The concubine gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm under strict orders – you're too young for booze."

Samantha gave a slight shrug and with a shy smile thanked the bartender anyway. Sipping the colourful drink still made her feel more like an adult.

Chaz rose and gestured to her to come over.

As she settled down, Chaz began gently grilling her. "How are things so far?"

"So far so good. Nobody's kicked their concubines to the curb, and in fact I'm getting a lot of help from the sponsors volunteering their concubines."

"Yes," Chaz chuckled, "it's amazing how co-operative everyone is when the Old Man cracks the whip."

Samantha grinned back. "And the school will be open for business on Monday. We'll start with the older kids, the concubines and sponsors who haven't finished high school, and work that somehow into the Marines' training regimen." She sighed. "We're lucky there's so few at the moment."

"Give me a list, and I'll have the Marines transferred to special platoons. We'll train them as Marines half the day and have them take their high school through the other half."

Samantha nodded in relief. "That'll be a help." She spoke into her wrist communicator, asking the AI to provide the list to the two of them first thing in the morning.

"How about the brothel?" Chaz wanted to know next. "The Beauty Saloon?"

Samantha blushed. "The Officers' Club bartender staff will be increased, and will rotate through the brothel's bar. I've got a few ladies who used to be waitresses at bars and rougher restaurants, so I've got my wait-staff. One of the concubines used to run a bar, she's going to run the brothel. And we picked up a model shoot, so I've got experts in hair, makeup and dressing to help the unassigned concubines. I'm just missing one important detail."

"And that would be?"

"Unassigned concubines." Samantha grinned happily.

"That's a nice situation to be in. Don't expect it to last, however," Chaz warned.

"I don't," Samantha replied fatalistically.

"And on that note, there are some changes coming along that will impact you rather directly."

"Oh?" Samantha grew wary.

"First, in less than two weeks the second of the five drafts will be arriving – the kilopod ship CSS Hotel California. That's another thousand or so families right there. And on its first trip, its sister ship the Hotel Maine should follow within two weeks after."

"Oh, goody." Samantha chewed her lower lip.

"And the Navy has finally decided they're sending us something. To start with, three Castle-class corvettes, the Pendennis Castle, the Rayleigh Castle and the Scarborough Castle, and two assault ships, the Sir Lionel and the Sir Griflet."

Another officer overheard and complained, "We want Tarawas!"

"For training, you're not getting them. They'll come later." Chaz took a sip of his bourbon and cola. "As soon as they're built."

A few days later, a small group of officers stood out in the snow welcoming the first of the new draft of Marines to Thule. Along with the Colonel, his 2IC and the Sergeant Major, Optio Redburn stood bundled up in her own white parka. To differentiate between herself and the Marine officers, her epaulets were grey.

As they watched pod after pod settle gently into its support cradle, Michael talked to the young CS cadet for the first time in many days.

"How are your plans coming along?"

"I need to know how many concubines and dependants I'm getting, how many of those need to be added to my school roster, how many I can borrow for the colony's use..." She shrugged, barely noticeably in the thick parka. "The usual."

"I'm most concerned about the Navy's impact, although I shouldn't be. I'm afraid that until Scott Base is completed, they're going to be leaning on us for support."

"I understand, Sir. I've arranged with Lieutenant Carruthers for assignment of some of the pod production to Scott Base, plus I've managed to sweet-talk him out of some pods for the transient quarters."

"There's a story there, I'm sure," was the Colonel's wry reply. He wasn't expecting to hear it, but Samantha didn't see why not.

"The Lieutenant's daughter turned fourteen last month, and he didn't want to do her. I made a trade: I find Julia a nice sponsor to breed with, and Carruthers gets me my pods. Commander Walker's concubines were boasting that he didn't go for the 'Big Bud' package, as he didn't need it because he was already very nice. I've seen it, at the swimming pool on Thursday night." She smiled at the memory, growing moist between her legs. "I brought Carruthers and Walker together on Friday night, and convinced the Commander to do the deed, not that that took much persuading, and to keep his manhood as it is. It's a win-win-win: the Commander gets the ego-boost of popping a young and very willing girl's cherry, the Lieutenant avoids feeling like he's an incestuous version of Humbert Humbert, and I get my pods."

"Gonna get the Commander to do yours when you turn 14?" teased Butch.

Samantha flashed a happy smile behind her face mask. "I might. He's on the short list."