Chapter 55: Tensions Rising

"Wow!" Brittany replied. "The AI just shot him down hard. I didn't know the AI could do that."

Kitty just giggled. "Well are we going skating then?"

"Actually," James said, "I thought we could play some three on three hockey, or at least practice for it."

"Hockey! You have duties and you are going to play a kid's game?" we heard Colonel Johanes snap. "I'll be adding dereliction of duty to the charges at your court martial."

"Really?" Yvette snapped. "How do you figure that? Do you even understand how we rotate people through the various duties?"

"If he's playing hockey, he's clearly not attending to any duties he might have," Colonel Johanes growled.

James leaned back for a moment. I was surprised by this and looked at him. He had an amused smirk on his face. "Well, why don't we walk you through all the duties? AI, the primary duty of this colony is to monitor local space, correct?"

"Affirmative," the AI stated.

"And right now Lily and Madison are in the command post, at the duty stations with Tamara and Tiffany backing them up and training them, correct?"

"Affirmative."

"Our next duty is to repair visiting Confederacy Navy ships, correct?"

"Affirmative."

"And none are here to repair."

"Affirmative."

"And right now, we do not have any repair docks or system defense units requiring attention and maintenance, correct?"

"Affirmative."

"So at this moment the only duty posts are the command post ones, correct?"

"Affirmative."

James nodded. "Well Colonel, you heard it from the AI, right now the only duty posts are the command post stations and they are covered. I am still going to be ready should there be a problem."

"It's still dereliction of duty," Colonel Johanes growled.

"Oh, get over yourself," we heard Alexis snap. "The AI has already told you off. James is the reason this colony is even alive. He started planning before we arrived and made sure that we had a way of surviving the war that broke out the instant we landed."

The only response was a loud sniff from the speakers. James waited for a moment and then hugged Tina with his left arm. "Time to go," he said.

We all started to get off the bed. I remembered that they had started out eating breakfast and glanced around. Janice was quietly stacking empty trays as the rest of my sister concubines got up and dashed over to the closets to find clothing.

I gave James a hug as he followed the others. "Thank you for last night," I whispered.

James laughed. "You surprised me," he admitted. "Now why don't you rush out and start getting all the babies ready. We should have them near the ice so we can watch them."

"I can do that," I said. With that, I dashed out of the bedroom. There I found Bethany had already pulled out several strollers. She had Astrid sitting in one and was heading to the cribs.

I followed her to the cribs and watched as she picked up Madoka and held my daughter in her arms. She turned and noticed me standing there.

"I hope you don't mind if I put Madoka and Astrid together," she said with a smile.

"Why would I? Madoka appears to enjoy being near Astrid," I said as I reached down to pick up Joy. "I'll put Joy with Tolwin, and the newborns can all go together."

Bethany giggled girlishly. "And we will all go together when we go."

"Oh please," we heard Brittany comment. "Nothing morbid today. Not even that song. We need to be cheerful, it's our first family outing in a long time."

I was strapping Joy into a stroller. Tina stopped by with Tolwin, putting him next to Joy. We worked together to prepare the babies. Once they were comfortable, I looked up and found that the rest of the family was ready to go.

We left the pod and started out through the tunnels. At first the tunnels seemed abnormally quiet, but once we passed Yvette's home we found a few others were awake and moving. James always stopped to chat with the others, so our progress was a bit slow. We were finally passing the main blast doors that separated us from Colonel Johanes when we heard a voice.

"Umm ... James? I'm sorry, this is Lily. Um ... Well, Colonel Johanes has a new complaint," the timid and young woman said.

James snorted. "What does his Excellency want from me now? He's already tried to take me for far more than he deserves."

"It's far less than I deserve," Colonel Johanes snarled. His hostility was clear even through the speakers, but James just kept us walking toward the entrance to the ice rink.

"We've already decided to permanently disagree on that," James said calmly. "Now what is your latest complaint?"

"Why aren't you working to repair the lasers?" Colonel Johanes asked. "After all your earlier comments about them and their importance to the colony, I'd have expected you to put a lot more concern now that they are destroyed."

"Well..." James said slowly. We had arrived at the door and he signaled that my sister concubines and I should proceed him into the room. I stayed next to him as Janice approached the doorway. "There is a simple reason why we are not repairing the lasers. After an earlier incident with them and some other colony improvements, Yvette and I realized that having the lasers in the middle of the colony was not a good idea. New stations are being brought online and should be ready in about three weeks. At that time, we were going to shut down the laser room anyways."

"I demand to see the new emplacements," Major Bonham shouted.

"Certainly," James replied. "All you'll need is acid proof skin and the ability to breathe in a vacuum. The new sites are some distance from here. We will have tunnels to them and a special subway that can take gunners to their stations, but nothing is finished. The first priority was to get the new emplacements ready, so the AI started by sending out power couplings and some replicator modules along with construction units. The new lasers don't exist. Right now the emplacements are hollow caverns in the rocks on the bluff to our north."

"Are we safe?" Colonel Johanes sputtered.

"We still have all the space based defenses, and those are solid, even if they are limited due to the restrictions on computerized targeting," James replied reasonably. My sister concubines had all entered the doorway, so I followed, tugging on James' arm to make sure he did not stay behind.

Once inside I found that my sister concubines were looking around in confusion. The locker room with its padded seats and colorful boxes was no different from the previous time I had visited. Ignoring their confusion, I stepped around them and tapped the door to my locker. It slid open, revealing the skates I had tried on previously along with a selection of pads and clothing.

"Meiko! How did you know what to do?" Janice asked from my shoulder. She was looking down at my locker and its contents. "And what's all this?"

I reached in to pick up one bundle of blue and gold cloth. I shook it out and discovered that it was a blue hockey jersey. As I spread it out the front opened up revealing the icon of a rabbit standing on its hind legs.

"Oh cute, I guess you play for the Rabbits," Kitty said with a giggle. "But is that really yours?"

I spun the jersey around to view the back. The outfit had a large number five on the back. Above the number, my name was written in gold. I showed this to the others. 'I guess it's mine."

"Wow," Brittany said from just in front of me. I looked over and she had reached into my locker and was looking at the items. "Padded uniform pants, skates with built in socks, a pair of hockey sticks and a couple of pucks. You have everything you need."

"Yes, and I should take it to the bench so I can get dressed," I said. I moved over to the nearest bench and set down the jersey before returning to the locker. I used my next trip to take the skates and stick to the bench. On my next trip, I paused to remove my skirt and put it into the locker before claiming the pants. As I turned away, the locker slid closed.

"How?" Janice asked. "And what about the rest of us?"

I pointed at the wall. "We all have boxes under the one for James. It's set up that way for all the citizens and concubines."

My sister concubines all gasped in surprise and then ran over to check the wall and start opening lockers. As they did, I stepped into the uniform pants and pulled them up. They fit comfortably, despite having thick pads for my hips and thighs.

Once the pants were on, I slipped into the jersey. Like the pants, it appeared to have built in pads. I had to wiggle around a bit, as the chest protection started out pinching me, but soon was pulling my hair up so it was not trapped under the collar.