Chapter 8

"If I die fighting the Swarm,

Box me up and ship me home,

Pin my wings upon my chest,

Bury me in the leaning rest."

The sound of several hundred voices singing in unison woke Martin. About once a month one of the units on post detoured their morning run through the on-post housing area. He slid closer to his wife, cupping one of her ample breasts with one hand. Outside the sound of the running unit's cadence drew closer. Jocelyn stirred as the singing grew louder. This morning they came right up Martin's street. Two doors down lived the Sergeant Major for the Provost Marshal. Right about the time he expected, the cadence caller saw the CUCV (a militarized Blazer) with the police lights on top of it.

"Up on the left, what do you see?

You can't spell wimp, without MP.

Wake up,

Shake up,

Can't be,

Like me,

Airborne

Infantry."

"Fucking grunts," Jocelyn groaned, "Why did they pick today? I've got a final this afternoon."

"I thought you liked fucking grunts."

She made a sound that was halfway between a groan and a laugh. "That's not funny Paul..." Whatever else she'd been going to say was interrupted by a cry from the other bedroom. She started to get up, but he held her down and kissed her.

"I'll get him Jo," he said and walked naked into the other room. Felicity was still sleeping, and Joe quieted as soon as he saw Martin coming for him. The baby wasn't wet, and when he took the boy in to Jo, he only sucked for about ten seconds and closed his eyes. "I guess he's just lonely; wanted someone to snuggle with."

"He missed his mama," Jo agreed.

"Well if he doesn't want it, I do," Martin teased, bending down to lick her other nipple, then gave it a little suck. Primed by little Joe's cries, her milk came out instantly, warm and sweet. "You taste great, but I gotta do PT first, or I'll stay in bed with you all morning." He covered them with a sheet, got dressed and went outside. After some warm ups, he started on his Thursday routine, pushups, sit-ups and a three mile run followed by pull-ups before he went into the house for a shower.

Jo was asleep again when he came in, but a look at the clock told him the alarm was about to go off anyway. He turned it off and crawled into bed with her. Moments later he slid into her hot wet channel. She was still slick with sperm from the night before. Jo clenched him tight as he rode her to a noisy orgasm. Her stifled screams woke little Joe up and she shifted him to her breast where he sucked greedily as she came down from her peak. Drops of milk formed on her other nipple and slid down the curve of her breast to the valley between them. He didn't quite manage to bring her off again before he came, squirting ropes of cum into her womb.

Martin held himself up with one hand, barely able to move from the sensation of her squirming pussy on his cock, while he used his thumb to bring her over the edge. "Uh, uh, uh," she panted, shaking her head back and forth.

Their baby ignored the noise and movement, concentrating on filling his belly. Molly had never done anything like this for him. She'd never done anything with one of their babies in the room, even if they had been asleep. He frowned, banishing the thought of his ex-wife from his head and lay down beside the love of his life. "Morning, my love. Were you serious about another baby?"

She shifted their son so she could scoot closer. "Yeah, I know how you feel, and I liked being pregnant. In a year or two we won't be able to have another one, I really think they are going to make me get an implant. They'd probably let me get out instead, but I want to fight. If I get pregnant by next year, the twins will be at least six, and maybe even eight or nine when the Swarm gets here."

"The twins?"

"It could be twins, they run in the family. Look at me and my sister, or my cousins. Besides, if we plan for twins, we'll be ready when they get here."

Martin shook his head. "Twins are fine, just don't be too disappointed if only one shows up. I don't mind trying to get you pregnant."

Jo kissed him hard. "Don't mind," she laughed. "You love it and you know it." She turned serious. "Not tonight though. My last two finals are tomorrow morning. I'm going to study tonight and go to bed about twenty-one hundred. What about a nooner? Can you get away?"

He shook his head. "I have to go out to a DZ on the far side of Mackall, I won't be back 'til late again."

Their bedroom door opened and Felicity walked in, her fine blonde hair standing up at odd angles. "Mommy, I'm hungry. Can I have eggs?"

"I'll make you some in a little bit," Jo told her. "Go get your school clothes on." When their little girl had gone, Jo turned back to him. "Can you stay for breakfast? Omelet and coffee?"

"That would be great. I've got some paperwork to file; give me about half an hour?" Martin dressed quickly, ACU pants, boots and brown t-shirt.

It actually only took him about twenty minutes. He'd filled out the 'Contact with an Agent of a Foreign Government' forms before. They were required to keep his security clearance. The 'Extraction of Family Member' forms were a lot quicker, even though he had to fill out four of them. The Milnet website auto-populated most of the information for him. He sent an email to his daughter, writing a quick note and dragging over the pictures folder, logged off the computer and walked into the kitchen.

"At-Ease!" Felicity bellowed, in a credible command voice. Jo popped out of her chair where she'd been trying to get the baby to eat mushy cereal. She popped out of her Kimono too. The belt fell to the floor and the two halves parted exposing her bare breasts and panties. The tableau only lasted an instant, but it was enough to get him hard again. Well, halfway anyway, he wasn't as young as he once was. Felicity nearly fell out of her chair laughing. He found himself laughing too.

Jo just shook her head and sat back down. She didn't bother to do her kimono back up and he could see clearly inside it as he sat down at the table. "You two have the same sense of humor. Just you wait, in three weeks, you'll have to salute me."

Martin leaned over and kissed her, sliding one hand inside her kimono to cup one ripe breast, feeling the nipple hard against his palm. "I salute you every time I see you, Jo."

She reached down and fondled him through his pants. "Already? I wish I had time. I have to take the joker here to school, drop off Joey at day care, then go to the library for my study group." She handed him a spoon. "Here, you feed him and I'll get your breakfast."

Little Joe didn't want to eat the food, he just wanted to play with it. After a couple of minutes of trying to stop the little boy from smearing it in his hair, he gave up and handed the spoon to his son. "Go for it kid, you can't do a worse job than I was." Jo brought him a ham and cheese omelet, poured him a cup of coffee, and then sat down and started up her breast pump. Martin took a few bites then reached into the fridge behind him for the cream. There wasn't any. "We have any cream Jo?"

His wife swallowed a bite of food before she answered. "No, the entire dairy section of the commissary was closed. They're installing replicators there. Our grocery budget is going to stretch a lot farther once everything is in place. Milk, meat, bread, everything perishable is going to get a lot cheaper. For now," She unscrewed the half full bottle from the pump and poured some into his cup, "try it this way." She said with an evil grin on her face.

"Eeeww, gross Mommy," Felicity said.

Martin surprised them both by stirring it in and tasting it. It tasted a little sweeter than normal, but that was the only difference. The only difference in taste that is. He was rock hard again, and wanted more than anything to drag Jo upstairs for a rematch, but they just didn't have time. "We can save more money this way, if that's the way you want to do it," he told her. She didn't say anything, just shook her head and smiled, blushing. After breakfast he helped her get the kids in her truck, then left for his unit.

The morning was uneventful until about 0900 when he was about to head out to Drop Zone Lima. One of the other instructors ran over to him as he was climbing into a Hum-Vee. "Sergeant Martin, you need to report to Colonel Fletcher over at 6th group HQ"

"What about the selectees?" Martin asked. "I've got to be there for the drop."

"I'm supposed to take over. You might be over there all day."

Colonel Fletcher was the commander of the 6th Special Forces Group, which had been re-activated last year. They were based right here on Camp Mackall. Martin had met him before, back when he was a Major in 3rd group, when they were over in the sandbox. He'd heard that the Colonel had led the 5th Group C-Team that had disappeared for about six months a year before the announcement about the Swarm's approach to earth.

He grabbed his gear from the vehicle and put it in his wall locker. After putting on his reflective vest, he tucked his beret under his belt, grabbed his helmet and rode his bike over to 6th group HQ. He found a visitor space right by the HQ buildings. They were old and dilapidated having been constructed during Vietnam or earlier. The colonel's office was in a Quonset hut. The only signs of modernity were the air conditioners protruding from the curved sheet metal, and the satellite dish on the roof.

He knew all of the NCOs and two of the three officers in the orderly room. He checked to be sure the Colonel was ready for him and then knocked on the door. A voice sounded through the door. "Enter."

Martin shut the door behind him, walked to a faint ridge in the paint where a balk line had been painted over, came to attention and saluted. "Sir, Master Sergeant Martin reports."

Colonel Fletcher returned his salute. "At Ease. In fact, have a seat." He pointed to a chair and waited for Martin to sit before he continued. "I'm jumping the gun a little here, so I'd appreciate it if you don't spread it around. You've only got ten weeks left in your tour, and you're not going to get that extension you put in for. That's because in nine weeks the 12th Group is being reactivated. I'm losing a third of my people, including fifteen of my Command Sergeant Majors." There were only twenty-one CSMs in the entire group. "Keep it quiet, but you're being promoted. I need you here."

That was fast, he'd only just made Master Sergeant a year ago. "CSM in a B-Team? I can handle that."

The Colonel smiled. "I know you can, but I want you take the second C-Team. We've got to get everything together. In three months we deploy, so as far as I'm concerned, that rank and position is effective now."

A C-Team, that was the equivalent of a brigade. Deploy? Where the hell to? The Middle-East was out, with industrial replicators churning out oil that area just wasn't important anymore. The reconstituted 6th Group's AO was North America, they weren't supposed to deploy anywhere. It wasn't something he could ask, so he just said, "I won't let you down Sir."

"Your first question is probably 'where'. I'll ask you, where, or rather doing what?"

"A cadre mission, got to be, but I've got no idea where," Martin answered.