Chapter 14

Month -3: Norwegian, the group's AI, wanted to bond more with the group, but wanted more discussion before his avatar was decided. Until Norwegian had a gender, this AI instance, which responded to anyone in the household, remained "it". Ishmael remained Terry's personal AI instance. When Terry was back in his office, early on the morning after Karen's joining the group, Ishmael called him. "Terry, it has been observed that you have managed to take a difficult concubine into your group. Central Command, as you know, did not tell you about your future commander. Several senior people wanted to see you deal with a difficult personnel matter, and you have done so.

"We are now authorized to tell you that you will be assigned to the 17th Naval District, which is forming under Vice Admiral James Hawkins." Terry indeed had worked with Hawkins, a Royal Navy officer, in bilateral and NATO operations. While Hawkins was principally a line officer, he represented the Fleet in discussions of the secret UKUSA intelligence agreement among Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S. While he is still setting up his staff on Earth, he regrets he cannot meet personally with you at present.

Darjee-crewed Aurora-class ships began to arrive in Earth orbit. Their design allowed for separate quarters for Darjee trainers for Confederation Navy personnel. Earth men and women, detailed from national navies and air forces, would both be the initial ship crews, and would be, with AIs, the trainers for the next groups of human crews.

Since there was a strong suspicion that the Sa'arm space tactics included boarding, the ships immediately received Marine guard detachments from a variety of countries. The initial detachments tended not to come from the larger Marine forces of the US and UK, but of small special operations units. Terry's ranking Marine officer, Beatrice Oonk, had been a major the Dutch Marines, but became a lieutenant colonel when she volunteered for the Confederacy Marines.

Most of the Auroras were assigned to be the initial headquarters of human Naval District commands, which would be responsible for military operations, and supporting colonization, in various regions of the galaxy. A few more were used for general training, and one was reserved for the Darjee.

Earth's Central Command was on the Moon, with special long-range transporters connecting it to the ships and selected locations on Earth. Terry occasionally visited the Command, but not yet the District or the ships, since his exact command relationships were still evolving.

"The interim District base on Earth will be on Midway Atoll. Its orbital presence is a little unclear, but you will be assigned a trading exploration ship of the Peter Minuit class. The Admiral might get a larger Aurora class, if that would be used for the initial settlement of McMasterat, the planned home of the District. More Minuits might be assigned as a replenishment and auxiliary for you, and as the flagship proper for Admiral Hawkins.

"McMasterat is not believed to have been discovered by the Sa'arm. Your first assignment, Colonel Wagner, is to scout it and be sure it is not before the colony ship embarks the initial colonists.

"It is your choice, but he would like to send one of his staff officers, and one or more of that officer's concubines, to work for you as an adviser. The proposed officer is Major Moe Berg, who is now the captain of the ship assigned to you, but is being promoted to command all of your Navy resources. Commander Wreford-Brown, whom you know, will be promoted to captain of that ship. It is judged that his philosophy, a strange idea to we AIs, will be compatible with yours, and he and his concubines are willing to assist in all ways, including the sexual. Do you accept a visit from Major Berg and his senior concubine?

"Lieutenant Colonel Oonk will also be assigned as your Marine unit commander and Marine adviser. She can join at any time.

Terry was pleasantly surprised. He knew Admiral Hawkins had been involved in asking for him. "Yes, I accept. Give me a little time to tell my concubines and prepare rooms. An hour?"

"Yes, they are ready to transport whenever you like."

Terry called together his household. Grinning at Karen, he said, "We've hit some sort of milestone in the eyes, or whatever they have, of the Confederacy. Now, I know who our big boss will be: Vice Admiral James Hawkins, a Brit with whom I've worked a bit, and like a lot. They've offered to send us some people to help, specifically a naval adviser and one or more of his concubines. It's been suggested they will have compatible personalities, and are willing to help in all ways, including the bedroom.

"I knew all of you before we formed this household, but I don't know much about this officer, who is named Moe Berg. Perhaps ironically, I know more about his namesake and ancestor, who was known as a professional baseball player -- but was also one of the most successful U.S. spies in Japan before WWII. The elder Berg went on to be something of a wild man in the WWII spy agency, the Office of Strategic Services.

"I've read papers by the current Moe, and I understand why he's considered a brilliant and upcoming strategist. Now that I think about it, he's been mentioned, in intelligence circles, as principally a planner and commander of Navy operations, but who is very wise in working with intelligence people.

"My suggestion is that we give them a suite of rooms, and perhaps set up a brunch to talk? It's 0730 now; they can get here in an hour. Bob is coming at ten; I don't necessarily suggest the visitors be in the initial talks, but we could bring them in -- Bob is one of the people that will help with overall planning.

"Let's prepare now for Moe and his people. We will also have some others supporting us. Dennis Wreford-Brown is a British submarine officer who has worked for me, and will be the actual captain of our first ship. He's a fine planner.

"Lieutenant Colonel Beatrice Oonk comes to us from the Dutch Marines, where she is a special operations officer. I've also worked with her and think she's smart, with a strong combat record. Remember the Dutch are different than some other forces, so don't be surprised that she's a lesbian commanding ground combat troops.

"Might I suggest, then, that you go for a fully attractive and sexy, but also professional look? I'm told that he also uses his concubines as staff, but I don't know how he treats them -- the concubine could show up naked or in formalwear." There was general agreement.

An hour later, they were all at the transporter pad. Terry was in his Confederation Navy working uniform, wearing the rank insignia of a colonel. He was fascinated by his staff's clothing choices.

Dolores had her hair in what he thought of "business-grade Farah Fawcett." Unquestionably attractive, he wouldn't call it flamboyant. It was, however, the first time he'd seen her wear a business suit, admittedly with a thigh-high skirt, dark brown stockings and blue shoes matching the suit. They had a mere 4" heel. A long jacket somewhat compensated for the skirt, although he hadn't, in the interest of his concentration, looked at the neckline.

Mary also chose a suit, but changed the red leather she had worn for Catherine to a well-cut cloth. Her black hair shone especially well.

Kim did wonder who designed non-"designer" suits that were not copies. In any event, she chose a replicated, pure silk Albert Nipon-inspired suit, with a tight short jacket. Terry was not going to make a quantitative determination of shortness of skirt between Dolores and Kim.

Catherine remained in semi-preppie semi-rebellion. She chose a Lord and Taylor button-down plaid shirt and button-up long skirt. The shirt was unbuttoned low enough that her string of pearls was notably hanging into mild cleavage, and the skirt was unbuttoned almost to the top of her cinnamon-brown thigh-highs. She wore red spiked heels that would complement the red tones of her hose, especially when she sat down.

In his Navy uniform, Moe Berg was a solid-looking athlete reflecting his ancestor, a backup major league baseball catcher and intelligence officer. Terry would later learn that Moe I's baseball card was the only one on display in the Central Intelligence Agency museum. He introduced himself to each of Terry's household, pausing, after a thoughtful recognition of Kim's background, to repeat greetings in fluent Korean. Surprised but pleased, she acknowledged cheerfully.

He had brought his senior concubine, Athena. While one could not tell if she had had medtube enhancements or if her superb figure and hair were natural, her face was strong rather than pretty. She was petite, but busty. Over black pumps that had to be at least 5", she had beautifully shaped, but muscular, legs shown in a short-skirted black business suit. When she introduced herself to Karen, she said, quietly, "We share a lot. I hope to get some private time to chat."

Moe said, "We are here to support you in what you want to do, I'm not trying to wear Admiral Hawkins' rank, but to use his resources to help you.If they can help, my other wives are eager to beam down, but we didn't want overwhelm you.

"Let me be frank. In my opinion, the AIs essentially see humans in two and a fraction ways: fighters, breeders and leader-thinkers. They are confused by the leader-thinkers. I suspect they really think of us as savages without coherent philosophy. My wives and I, like you, refuse to accept that separation. Every woman in my household has great talents as well as beauty -- and, I must say, greatness in the sack." He grinned. "I know you are still working out the staff roles in your household, but Athena shares the organizer function of Dolores, and the research skills of Karen. She's an attorney by training, but one who would dig out the more obscure precedents. Since she worked in patent law, she has a broad but not necessarily deep technical background outside her undergraduate major in electronic engineering.

"Pitcher?" An avatar of a baseball player popped into view, wearing an old-style baseball uniform, but with a revolver in a shoulder holster. "You'll notice that I don't talk to a vague 'AI', but to a specific avatar. The more you talk with your specific AI instance, the more that AI tends to be your advocate to the others. I urge you to personalize your AI. Like my ancestor, Pitcher speaks multiple languages, including New York Brooklynese."

Terry had communicated with a generic AI, the one associated with his physical location. The AI informed him that he, and the Pirates, could have an AI instance and avatar that followed them to different locations. The current rule was that any Sponsor who requested an avatar of the AI could have one, and could authorize his concubines to invoke that specific avatar. Dolores rose and asked for a break to consider the best avatar identity.

Barely had he mentioned this to the Pirates, when he was told, by many lovely voices, "The avatar is going to be a parrot if you ever want good sex again. Awk." That rather amused him and he agreed, but it did get a little tiring to have technical, erotic, and romantic comments prefaced with "Arrgh, matey!" That, at least, was abandoned. Terry, however, insisted the parrot's plumage be brilliant blue, and addressed it as Norwegian. "Ishmael" remained his personal AI, responding only to him, and "Maslow" would talk to people concerned with psychology and education.

Beatrice arrived next. Terry knew that she planned to wear a skirted uniform, and, consistent with uniform, intended to show off her attractiveness. While he knew her sexual orientation was on women, he also knew she had no hostility to men, and they hoped to minimize any tensions. When they talked beforehand, he had told her, "Beatrice, that doesn't mean that you can't flirt like hell with the women, and if you want to get informal, you have my blessings. Remember, no one there will be in your chain of command, but all will be people with whom you will work. One caveat -- we have a couple of kids who have Marine backgrounds and are about to be commissioned as junior officers, and you will find they are much more competent than the average butterbar."

When she arrived, she wore the uniform of a Confederacy Marine lieutenant colonel. Clearly, she had physical augmentation; she was tall and athletically solid, with thick white-blonde hair, brilliant blue eyes, but a tan that suggested she spent much time outside.

Feeling generally comfortable with a first encounter, the group went into the dining room for brunch. Athena made a point of being visible in crossing her legs, so her skirt rose almost to her waist. She did not appear to be wearing panties. "Gentlemen and ladies, I try not to do things by accident. I hope I haven't offended anyone, and doubt that I have, but I wanted to make it clear that I was sexually available. Let me put that in context. I am delighted, as is Moe, to help strengthen our relationship with physical as well as verbal, and eventually I hope emotional, communication. When I was dating, I often told my partners, 'Let's go to bed early. If we are incompatible there, why continue?' In this brave new world of the Confederacy, I've tried to adapt that attitude. Now, some concubines, in this situation, might crawl under the table and please people orally, but, unless that's a particular fantasy, I don't like things to be anonymous. When I suck or lick any of you, and, looking around, I hope I do, I'll look you frequently in the eye. Moe thinks in a similar way, but, like most men, he's too shy to say that."

She again grinned. "Ladies, we know how frank we are in the ladies' room. Remember Kipling writing about the female of the species being more deadly than the male. Shall we dine?" Athena, with a smile either apologetic or seductive, deliberately spread her napkin over her thigh. Everyone in the room wanted to remove that napkin and sample that which it covered. Beatrice's eyes met Athena's, and they grinned, as Beatrice stretched her legs, Beatrice only slightly extended the uniform, wearing tan hose and dressy but not exotic brown knee boots, complementing Marine green.

Terry wanted both to share the insights Moe had given him, and to get the Bergs working with his family "He's handing over ship command to Dennis Wreford-Brown, a former Royal Navy submariner whom I know. Dennis has had a strategic planning fellowship, after which he worked with me. It's going to be a temptation to use him as a resource, but we have to remember that he's got a ship to maintain and a crew to train. Even there, we can borrow crew members.

"We will need to operate both on land bases beyond these offices, and in space.

The first two ships assigned to the Pirates would be of the Peter Minuit class, used by the Confederacy for merchant exploration. After much discussion, Terry and Moe agreed to rename the first ship after a heroic armed merchant cruiser of the Royal Navy, Jervis Bay. While that ship had sacrificed herself to save a convoy, they meant to draw inspiration from the tradition, but survive to continue their missions. The second Minuit, which would usually be a supply ship but could take on missions of its own, would be the Sancho Panza.

Rather than commanding individual ships, Moe would be the unit commander. Two ships would normally be a "division", but, to avoid confusing the ground troops, they decided to call it a "squadron" because it would also control base facilities.

Victor A.C. Crutchley IV would be the interim captain of the Sancho Panza, although he was more of a staff officer by inclination and eventually would become squadron navigator, and as the force grew, chief of staff.

"For testing, training and integration, we have gotten use of part of Midway Atoll in the Pacific. It's mostly uninhabited, except for a huge colony of protected albatrosses, and I think the AIs have agreed that moving them to one uninhabited island will minimize complaints from environmentalists.

"I intend to give few direct orders, but this is one: don't shoot an albatross. I had to memorize the Rime of the Ancient Mariner and I really want to forget it.

"We don't own the base; it's the 17th Naval District facility on Earth. Nevertheless, we will be a major tenant. Shuttles and pod tenders will fly from Midway to the ship, although we'll also have a transport portal here that can go to it.

"Midway will be the first test of our extended organization. A retired Navy Construction Battalion officer -- you've probably heard of them as the Seabees -- will be the atoll commander for now, and build the facilities. His name is Mike Lofton., and his family has long been associated with Midway. Eventually, Mike will lead the construction of the McMaster-3 colony and space facilities. Mike served in Iraq, but was medically retired after being caught in an improvised explosive device (IED). He was CAP tested, met Sponsor scores, and was rebuilt by the medtubes. Now, he's eager to build his own household as well as support our operations. Mike technically is a subordinate of Admiral Hawkins, but I have operational control of Mike's work.