Chapter 44: Controlled Chaos Erupts

I ran from the command post. Behind me, I could hear that the conversations had definitely calmed down. Ahead, the hallways were silent. My progress to my home was uninterrupted as I rushed to Janice and Bethany.

I arrived to find Janice laying Madoka on the couch. My sister concubine looked at me and laughed. "Great timing. I just changed Madoka and was going to bring her to you so you could feed her."

"Where are Kitty, Brittany and Bethany?" I asked as I walked over to pick up my daughter.

"Bethany was showing them a bit about taking care of babies and took them upstairs to the nursery. Kitty is having a bit of trouble feeding both of her children. I think Bethany was going to feed Kristi," Janice replied.

That makes sense," I said as I pulled my top up and tossed it on the couch next to Madoka. My daughter was watching me as I sat down on the couch. She cooed as I picked her up and held her to my breast.

"James wants you and Bethany," I told my sister concubine. "We have many ships visiting and he could use the help."

"Is it urgent?" Janice asked as she sat next to me. Her right hand reached out to caress my knee.

"It sounds like the first ship won't arrive for a few hours. But in about an hour Alexis will be using a transporter to go to one of the ships. The ship has had a major engineering failure."

"Which ship? Do we know how many people died?" Janice asked, Her body stiffened. I noticed her hand had frozen on my leg.

"Pebble Beach," I said. "But I can't say how many casualties they suffered. The only message we received was from the Captain, and since then we've had no contact. The scans indicated that the ship had lost most of its communications arrays."

"No!" Janice cried. "I liked most of the crew of that ship. Why is it always the good ships that get beat up?"

"Because the ships with good commanders are also going to be the ones that fight bravely," Bethany's voice rang out. My sister concubine and I turned to find Bethany walking out of the corridor leading to the lift in the pod. "And while we always want to believe that someone fighting bravely will never lose, the truth is that we are going to see friends die in this fight."

"It's still hard," I said quietly. "And the other two ships are also returning ships. Cancun and Cabo San Lucas just jumped in as well. Cancun has no casualties, but Cabo has reported four crewmembers have been killed."

Bethany nodded. "Sounds like it isn't too bad."

Just then there was a knock at the door. We all turned to look at the door. "Who?" Janice asked.

There was a moment of silence and then Bethany looked up. "Um ... AI, is this someone you can open the door for, or do we need to let James know?"

The door slid open. I found myself staring at a young woman I did not recognize. She had a hand up to knock on the door again, but jumped back as she noticed the door.

"Sorry," she said in a near whisper. "I just ... I needed to ask a question."

"Why did you need to ask us a question?" I asked.

"Well, you know the citizens better, and you know James," the woman said. I had a chance to look more closely and realized she had short curly black hair and a European cast to her features. I guessed she was slender, but it was impossible to tell. She was wearing a shapeless sweater that fell down below her knees. I was puzzling who she could be.

"I thought you were trying to avoid all of the citizens, Monique," Bethany said. "Which is completely understandable after what happened to you."

Monique blushed and mumbled something. It was indistinct. Janice leaned forward beside me. "What was that?" my sister concubine asked.

Monique took a deep breath. "Alexis. I was wondering if I could become the concubine of Alexis."

I could see Bethany nod. "Well, she'd have to decide she wanted you as a concubine," Bethany responded. "And I can't make her do that."

"No, but you can whisper in James' ear. And Alexis respects him. I've listened to her quite a bit. She would listen to him if he suggested it," Monique said. She was fidgeting with her hands as she stood in the doorway.

Janice jumped up from the couch and made her way to the door. Monique froze for a moment, but did not run away. She complied meekly as Janice collected her and coaxed her into the room. "That we can do," Janice said. "But are you sure?"

Monique blushed again and nodded. "Manuel ... he kept insisting that we were doing absolutely nothing on this planet. He would promise his men that once Ruth was defeated they would have a celebration that would last forever. Then I found out that the citizens dropped here could really make a difference. I want to help."

Janice frowned. "But Alexis isn't exactly the most helpful..."

I put a hand out and waved at Janice. "Actually, Alexis just volunteered to transport to Pebble Beach and, from what I hear, it's a very dangerous mission. She's trying."

"She's a proud young woman," Bethany said. "Monique, I can't promise anything, but if there is a chance, I'll mention it to James."

I could see Monique start to smile when the speakers burst into life. "James!" I heard Major Bonham cry out. "Where is the marine I stationed in the transporter room? He's not there."

"I'm sure he's just taking a short break," James replied. "And right now, the only people who will be moving through the transporter are the crew of Pebble Beach. From what I'm hearing, they are all going to be too injured to disrupt Colonel Johanes and his research."

"That's not the point!" the major cried out. "Proper security demands that a marine be in the transporter room when it is active. I shouldn't even allow that kid of yours to run the machine."

"Brad is thirty-nine," James replied. "And he's been the primary transporter operator for Ishtar since the beginning. He can handle the duty."

"I don't care if he's three hundred!" the major shouted. "My men are supposed to operate the transporter."

"Why?" James asked.

"What do you mean, why? I am the second in command on this planet and it's my job to handle the operations."

"Actually, I'm not sure how accurate that is," James said. "Colonel Johanes did have orders making him acting governor, but none saying that anyone stationed on Ishtar was being put under his command. If that is true, I still report directly to General Montgomery on Borneo."

"Private, you report to whoever Colonel Johanes tells you to report to," Major Bonham growled. "Now I want to know where my marine is."

"He's pining for the fjords," I whispered to Janice. My sister concubine giggled at this, but Bethany was frowning.

"James is taking a big risk," Bethany said. "He's testing the major's authority rather openly."

I nodded as James responded. "I believe your marine is currently recovering from an altercation. He will be fine once he is released from the medical pod."

"How did he end up in a medical pod?" the major hissed. "Was it you?"

"From where I am?" James asked. "I'm not that good or vengeful. Your man got in the way when we started our standard procedures to recover crewmen on damaged ships."

"So your man in the transporter room caused it. I will be arresting him then," the major growled.

"If you want to be court martialed for causing the deaths of all the crew on Pebble Beach, go right ahead."

"What?"

"Do any of your marines have extensive training on running a transporter platform?"

"They are marines, not some specialist technical grunt who runs a supply post!"

"I thought as much," James replied disdainfully. Bethany was motioning me to halt Madoka's feeding and stand up. I gently moved Madoka away from my breast. My daughter gave a single grunt of annoyance, but quickly settled down. I could see her eyes start to close and laid her down next to Astrid. Janice was pulling my halter top over my head by the time I stood up.

"Major Bonham," James continued. "You might think that what we do is simple, but it does take training. Right now, we have a ship approaching that has had a major engineering failure. If we don't get the crew off the ship, they might die. From what you are telling me, none of your marines would have a clue on how to handle a transport from two stable stations. In this case, Brad is going to have to operate both stations from his platform and do that without a solid communications link with the mobile unit that is about to arrive at Pebble Beach. It's difficult to do and a mistake could cost lives. If you arrest him, then you are claiming responsibility for running the transporter and for rescuing those crewmen. Each death that occurs will be your fault and I assure you that I will make sure that Admiral Himmel has you up on charges immediately."

"I can't allow an attack on one of my marines to go unchallenged!" the major spat out.

"Fine, as soon as we are done with this rescue, Brad will be placed under house arrest and confined to his pod."

"Where Candi and Randi will try their best to get pregnant again," Janice said with a giggle as she finished pulling my halter top over my breasts. "Let's go give our man a hug and a kiss."

"You do the hug and kiss," Bethany said. "I'll give him the blow job he deserves."

"No fair," Monique growled as we all started rushing to the door. "I don't have someone to do that with."