Chapter 28: The Peace Ends

For the next week, every citizen had concubines hovering around him or her. If a citizen showed any fatigue, they were dragged back to their pods and forced to sleep. James and Yvette grumbled a bit about the concubines taking over, but the rest was definitely doing them good. Once again, gathering in our large recreation room became a popular pastime. Tyson, Terrence and Brad even came up with rules for three-person hockey. Teams were formed from a citizen and his concubines. Janice and Tina, who wanted James to start playing, coaxed me onto the ice. We struggled quite a bit at first, as none of us had much experience, but I have to admit it was great fun.

Tamara and Tiffany were probably the most affected. Paula and Jillian had been horrified when the twins slept for almost twenty hours after being dragged to bed by Claire and Whitney. After that, any attempt by the twins to go to the command post was fought by their own concubines, who insisted that the twins needed to be at their best the next time there was a real crisis. Eventually a compromise was set up where one twin would be at the command post with two concubines.

Everyone still worried. Borneo Command could provide no information regarding Chief Scientist Colonel Clint Johanes, and Central Command could only confirm that he had embarked on Sir Paridell as planned, and was in transit.

Candi and Randi proved their value to the colony over the next week. The duo acted like ditzy teenage cheerleaders most of the time. However, now that all the concubines were united in keeping the citizens from overworking, it was these two who scheduled everyone's duties. They even got with Bren and Rene to come up with a training plan to get more concubines trained for duties in the medical bay and laser pods. They even coaxed me into training in teleport operation. I spent four hours in sleep training learning the basics before passing a test administered by the AI.

We still had time to relax. I had two shifts where I helped in the medical bay during our first week, but otherwise I spent my time watching James or working on my first tapestry.

For my sister concubines and I, we also worked out a plan where every afternoon two of us took James back to the pod for a little cuddling and lovemaking. This had served to strengthen our bonds.

The final day of that week, we had our first crisis. Kitty and Brittany were serving in the command post. I had joined them while James napped with Tina and Janice. Kitty was talking about her child. We knew that she should be having her baby in about two weeks, and she was excited. Brittany was a bit more nervous, but it was clear she was looking forward to giving birth.

They had been asking me about my experience with giving birth to Madoka. I was trying to figure out a way to describe the combination of embarrassment, excitement and discomfort I had felt while lying on the maternity bed when the tracking display in front of Kitty lit up.

"Damn!" Kitty said as she spun in her chair to look at the lights. "One moment!"

She started hitting some switches to adjust the signal. At one point she paused, while looking at the small informational display directly in front of her. Then she glanced over her shoulder at Brittany.

"Jump point opening. Based on the location and vector, the ship probably came from the Wolf system. Do we have any communications?"

"We had no scheduled ships," Brittany replied as she checked her displays. "I've got repeaters in the area, but they aren't picking up a signal."

Kitty sighed. "Better make a call. We've got a visitor."

I could see Brittany's shoulders slump. She reached out and touched a control. "We have an unscheduled arrival. It appears to have jumped in from the Wolf system. As soon as more information is available, I'll update the announcement. Currently the ship has not emerged from the jump point."

I walked over to look over Kitty's shoulder. She was intently viewing a small display. Words and numbers scrolled across the display when I glanced at it.

"You understand that?" I asked.

"It's not easy," Kitty said. "I'm guessing that the design for this display came from one of the alien races. There are a number of elements that take some getting used to. Wait, the ship just emerged and I have a reading."

She leaned forward to look at a new display. Her left hand turned a dial, but then she nodded. "It's a Confederacy design. Brit, do we have any communications?"

"Not yet," Brit replied testily. "There is a bit of a lag at first. I should be able to read any IFF signal in a minute."

Kitty nodded. "No other jump points opening. It looks like we just have one ship. From the energy signature, it's more powerful than a corvette. I'd guess either a destroyer, or a damaged battle cruiser."

"Destroyer," Brit replied. "Their IFF is working. It's the Sahara. The computer reports that she's an African class."

"We should let the colony know," I reminded Brittany.

She turned to look at Kitty. "Any idea of the damage?"

"I can see at least three holes through her armor, and it looks like she's missing most of her port side anti-missile stations," Kitty replied. "The power readings are fairly steady though. It looks like minor damage."

"Got it," Brittany said before reaching out to hit a switch. "We have a positive identification on our visitor. It's Sahara, an African class Destroyer based at Borneo. No communications from her, but Kitty says her scans show mostly minor damage."

"Sounds good," a voice said from the door. I turned to look to see Candi and Randi entering. The door to the hallway remained open as Candi move to stand behind Kitty.

"May I?" she asked Kitty. When my sister concubine nodded, Candi bent over and began to hit several of the switches.

Randi had grabbed a chair from one of the combat stations and was sitting next to Brittany. She was asking questions as she walked Brittany though a procedure.

I was thinking I should get out of the way when Candi stood up straight. "I've refined the scan. It looks like Sahara has taken five or six hits on her port side. The engines don't appear to be damaged, but her defenses are definitely compromised. We can also expect her to have casualties. Several point defense stations took hits."

Before anyone could respond a voice came in over the loudspeaker. "Sahara to Ishtar Control, please respond. This is Captain Thomas Narvaza. Repeat, Sahara to Ishtar Control, please respond." The voice sounded extremely worried.

I glanced over at Randi, but she merely pointed to a couple of switches. Brittany hesitantly reached out and activated one of the switches. "This is Ishtar Control. We see you Sahara. What are your current needs?"

"Current needs?" Candy said quietly. "You trying to sound professional?"

"I'm sorry," Brittany replied. "I don't know what to say."

"You did fine," Terrence's voice called out. I whirled around to find him standing in the doorway. He entered followed by Veronica.

Veronica dashed past everyone and claimed the station were Louis usually modeled repairs. She sat down and started activating some of the systems. Several moments passed in silence.

"We're getting communications lag," Randi said. "It looks like Sahara has lost her more powerful antennae."

"How bad will it be?" Terrence asked.

Kitty shook her head. "Sahara is out near the orbit of Kali. If we have to trust to light speed communications we will have a lag of nearly thirty minutes in each direction. If they can transmit in the higher frequencies it will be a one way lag."

Terrence nodded. "Veronica?"

"She's definitely still spaceworthy," Veronica replied. "But she made the jump here, so that was expected. If we want the ship to survive another combat we'll have to replace the broken armor and point defense. You really need Louis or Tim here for the final estimate, but I think we can turn her in fifteen hours or so. It will depend on how deep the damage goes."

"I've been trying to refine the scans more," Candi said. "It looks like most of the damage was kinetic. I'm not seeing deep penetration in the holes I've scanned."

Terrence looked over at Candi. "Any idea why we have the communications lag?"

Candi whispered in Kitty's ears. I watched as Kitty entered a series of commands. Candi knelt next to her watching a display. "Stop!" she suddenly cried out.

She pointed at the screen. "Kitty, what does that say?"

Kitty looked at the screen. "It looks like the primary and secondary antennae for the in-system communications system run down the port side of the ship."

"Right where the ship has taken the worst damage," Terrence finished. "We really need to create a report about the design flaws we discover. So we can hear Sahara quickly, but they have to wait until their back-up communication systems pick up a transmission."

Brittany turned to her console. "Sahara, our scans suggest that you have lost a lot of your communications systems. Can you confirm?"

"And now we have to wait for Sahara to receive," Randi said.

We waited in silence. James and Yvette burst into the room. "Terrence," James called out. "What do we know?"

Terrence smiled. "That Kitty and Brittany will be very successful in the command post," he replied flippantly. My sister concubines giggled as he looked over at the display Veronica was using. He watched the display for a moment and then shook his head.

"Actually, that is about all we know," he admitted. "The ship is Sahara. She's an African Class Destroyer. Our scans show considerable damage on her port side, and it appears that most of her ability to receive communications was destroyed. The commander, a Captain Thomas Narvaza, did call out, but if their communications are as bad as we think, it will be five more minutes before they receive our response."

Yvette sighed and looked at me. "Meiko, you took teleporter training, correct?"

"Yes," I admitted.

Yvette nodded. "Get to our new teleport station. I'm going to send Michael and Lindsay to the medical station now."

I glanced at James. He nodded at me. "Right now, Terrence, Brad and you are the only ones to pass the teleporter training.

"What about Maggie and Claire?" I asked. "I thought they'd been involved with the teleport pods we use for crippled ships."

"Moving them into position only," Terrence said. "They don't activate the teleporters once they are in position."

I nodded, but turned and started rushing towards the door. As I departed I heard James speaking. "Kitty, Candi, keep refining the scans. Yvette, we probably need Maggie here. I'm guessing that Sahara will have some critically wounded that need to be teleported to our Medical Bay."

I missed the reply as I dashed out of the door. Once in the corridor I could hear rapid footfalls echoing up and down the passages. I had to dodge a couple of others as they hurried through the passages until I arrived at the first of the heavy doors separating our homes from the area we planned on using for guests.

The door was closed and I looked up at the ceiling. "AI? I need to get to the visitor teleporter. Can the doors be opened?"

There was a pause and then James replied. "Meiko, the doors will be opening now. We received a reply from Thomas, they have three critically wounded crew. Maggie is guiding a teleport pod to the ship."

The doors started to open. "Who will be in medical?" I asked.

"Me," I heard Lindsay say from behind me.

I turned to look. The former supermodel was wearing a lab coat and wearing glasses. She looked proficient and sexy at the same time. I wanted to say more, but the door had finished opening, so after nodding to acknowledge Lindsay's comment, I dashed through the doorway.

Lindsay ran alongside me. She had no trouble keeping up with me as we passed the other two now-open doors and headed to the old colony center.

"Jacques should be here shortly, to handle gurneys," Lindsay said as we ran. "Nathan is supposed to come as well, but he might be a few minutes.'

I nodded again. The pace Lindsay was setting left me with no breath to spare for speaking.

A moment later we entered the teleport room. Lindsay looked confused. "What about medical?" she asked.

I was making my way to the control station. My right side had cramped up once we reached the colony center. I kept inhaling deeply, trying to get my breath back. Finally, I stopped to lean against the control panel.

Lindsay was looking around the small room. Confusion was evident on her face. She looked ready to leave the room to head down the hallway and the entrance to the medical bay. Then as she started to turn away from the teleportal pad, the wall directly to the left of the pad started to open up. As we watched in silence a new doorway appeared as the wall slowly slid upward. Behind the wall we could see several medical units.

"It's close," I said needlessly. My side had stopped hurting. I pushed away from the controls and started working on powering up the pads.

Lindsay giggled. "Well, it makes sense. We've had too many times where we had to rush people from the teleporter to our medical bay back home. This will definitely minimize the distance

She started walking to the now revealed medical stations when Jacques and Michael burst into the room. "Donna will be heading this way," Jacques said. "Or she will once she escapes Tanya."

Lindsay giggled. "Hopefully my sister can keep her busy. Will Ed be coming?"

Jacques nodded. "He's at the command post. One of the injured needs immediate attention and he's going to try to talk them through triage while Maggie navigates the teleport unit."

I felt three sets of eyes turn towards me. Quickly, I scanned the displays on the control unit. I had a clear and strong connection with the mobile teleport unit. "I have a strong signal. Ready to teleport."

Lindsay nodded. "Michael, Jacques, see if we can get some gurneys ready."

They walked past her and into the medical bay. Lindsay looked over at me. "And now we wait."

I nodded. Michael and Jacques soon returned with four gurneys. They lined the gurneys up near the teleport pads and then walked over to a wall and leaned against it.

None of us appeared interested in talking. Lindsay hovered by the doorway to the medical bay. I watched the displays, checking the signal to the mobile teleport unit constantly. Outside, the hallways on this side of the colony were silent. We stood in this stillness for what seemed like an hour or more.