Chapter 20: Herding cats and parrots, and changes for concubines

On several levels, Terry had to herd cats, or, in the case of working with American intelligence, selectively herd specific cats in a much larger pack of slavering bureaucratic cats. The metaphor struck him repeatedly, and, for he and the concubines depended, above all, on Dolores, his first concubine. While she gave many people the impression of an oversexed airhead, and she was known to encourage that impression when useful, she was actually his right hand and executive officer. Her people skills were superb; she had had the odd hobby of logistics, and was an excellent administrator. She also would anticipate him.

They were meeting one day, and he kept tripping over his tongue, never sure whether to refer to his household, he and his concubines, the team, or what. When he finally mentioned his frustration to Dolores, she chastised him, "Boss, boss, boss. Why didn't you just say so? I have it handled. Just a minute so I can get the flag.

"Flag?" He wondered what they would do with one certainly in space, where it wasn't likely to flap in the wind. She came back carrying a couple of packages, followed by Mary, his second concubine and also a fine leader. Terry assumed that Mary, an emergency and trauma nurse practitioner, didn't have a sponsor CAP because she saved life, rather than taking it. Many trauma surgeons considered her a better Incident Commander than they were, and they'd rather operate anyway. He tended to think that he didn't need to fix Mary, but to get the AIs to understand her abilities and raise her CAP.

Terry gave a theatrical sigh. "The sponsor is the last to know, when concubines conspire." He looked up. "That's a Chinese fortune I just invented." They giggled at the truth of the remark, as they reached into one package and pulled out a flag, which they shook out and held at the ready.

It was the Skull and Crossbones, the traditional pirate flag. He remained baffled. Mary turned to Dolores. "Okay, you win the bet. What was it? Fifty quatloos?"

"How dare you, Mary? It was a hundred zorkmids if it was a copper piece!" This did not enlighten Terry. Opening the second package, they offered him comic books. Comic books?

From his childhood, a light dawned, as he looked at the lurid covers of Terry and the Pirates. "I give in. You got me. I hadn't thought about it. The Pirates we are. Still, it's not quite the same thing. No Dragon Lady." Mary and Dolores looked at one another, and, in slow unison, shook their heads in the negative. They went to the corridor door and opened it, and, dressed in a shimmering red silk costume out of a traditional American fantasy about Asian women, Kim, their geophysicist of pure Korean heritage, strode in. "Ah," said Kim. "But it's Terry and his Pirates."

Terry dropped his head to his desk, gently beating it because he knew it would feel much better when he stopped. Of course, he stopped beating his head against the desk when he felt Kim's silk and even smoother skin, wrapping around him. Actually, he concluded, things felt especially good when he stopped beating his head. A pair of firm warm springy breasts around his head was high on the good-things-to-feel list.

Earlier, he had communicated with a generic "AI", and one associated with his physical location would respond. The AI informed him that he, and the Pirates, could have an AI instance and avatar that followed them to different locations.

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.

There was no quick agreement on the name of the avatar. Terry fought a losing battle for Tinkerbelle. Norwegian, however, it would be, and, Terry was told, if he didn't like it, he would pine for the fjords.

Back in his office, Terry returned to his thinking about the development of the Confederacy military. From what he had seen, the CNO, Admiral Jason Tucker, appreciated tactical, but not strategic, intelligence. He knew that Admiral Hawkins felt the same way, as did Sir Samuel Cassell, the ostensible head of Confederacy Intelligence. Sir Samuel was actually focused on intelligence about Earth organizations' focus on the Confederacy, as well as security.

The three had an informal agreement that Terry would take on the strategic intelligence function.

More seriously, he was concerned that the Confederacy lacked anything he would recognize as a strategic intelligence organization. The Navy and Marines did have branches that dealt with tactical intelligence, but they were weak at the operational level of task forces and fleets, and brigades and divisions. Terry really did not want to manage an intelligence organization, but his experience, as well as that of some of his concubines, could go far in planning the function.

Overall, Terry believed, the Confederacy didn't do enough strategic thinking. They did not even have a strategic doctrine, other than slowing the Swarm, and expecting a major battle at Earth.

There was a person who sent a cuckoo as a gift.

However, the cuckoo would not sing,

Nobunaga Oda would just kill the cuckoo

Hideyoshi Toyotomi would persuade the cuckoo to sing

Ieyasu Tokugawa would wait patiently until it sang.

While Ieyasu was the greatest Shogun, Ieyasu had the time and resources to wait. The Swarm was not giving such time.

Terry's household was the core of the clan, but Moe Berg's was already allied. Since Rona Klein knew of his operation and had an extended household, he expected her to join them, probably bringing more medical people.

Purely from an operational standpoint, he knew he needed people experienced in modifying modular weapons and sensors, and adapting them to ships. While he had not expected recommendations from that direction, he now suspected that recommendations from Bob's children might well identify in weapons systems. Siobhan's children could provide the core of Marine skills.

As he mused, Ishmael materialized. 'Boss? Got a minute?'

'Sure.'

'You've been worried about getting enough people, but Dolores has been finding you some creative solutions. I'm not sure if I should be saying I or we, with respect to an AI opinion, but, if you agree, the AIs are of the opinion that we now have a much better understanding of her creativity and leadership. Based on that information, we agree to revise her CAP score.

'Part of the upgrade comes from observing her in action, and part of it is refining the criteria we used to score her original test. She, and a few other people, are teaching us a great deal about human leadership. We had originally though of leadership in terms of direct orders, but now we see how persuasion is a big part of the leadership picture.

'You and your household also showed us that she's very good at interdisciplinary thinking. Her specifying the use of a sleep trainer derivative, to adjust nanite hair and makeup, might seem silly, but it's very creative. Is that what you call 'out of the carton? '

Terry grinned. 'Out of the box'.

'In addition, we had to revise our sexual scoring, which, at the higher levels, we had assumed to be pathological. With her, it's not.

'We greatly underestimated her potential, and, while we might want to test some more, we give her a provisional revised score of at least 8.2. We also consent to her being commissioned as a Major in the Confederacy Navy, and formally being designated your Executive Officer.

'The rank might seem high, but we believe she needs that authority. Indeed, based on performance, she may rise higher. We note that your technical leaders are also likely to reach Sponsor status and be commissioned."

Terry was stunned but pleased. 'I'm glad the leaders, and I include Mary in that, are up for retest and commissioning. Let's face it though -- every concubine, so far, exercises judgment and authority. I'm concerned that they will have problems with people outside the clan, in space. Perhaps we could adopt something like the wartime Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, or a Technical Corps? '

'Terry, that's the sort of decision we leave to your commander, Admiral Hawkins. It in involves nuances of human custom that we may not always observe. Is it likely to be an issue in space, though, if people don't know they were once concubines? While it's fairly easy to get access to current CAP information, CAP history is available only on a need-to-know basis.'

'Let me talk with Moe, and decide how to announce it. Technically, I suppose, she should volunteer for the Navy, but I can't imagine why she wouldn't. Please ask Moe to visit at his earliest convenience.'

Terry hadn't really internalized military custom, so was pleased that Moe showed up quickly. He didn't think of it as a very senior colonel calling a major. When Moe arrived, Terry said, "The AIs, I believe, are starting to get more insight into human capabilities, especially of women. A first step has been taken, but I suspect it will eventually affect all of our present concubines. Please share that opinion with Athena." Moe was puzzled but fascinated.

"Moe, Norwegian volunteered that they re-scored Dolores, with a hefty raise in her CAP, and authorized her to be commissioned as a major and my executive officer." He grinned. "You're still senior to her. First, will there be any resentment from the others?"

"No, I don't think so. I think most will see it as a correction of errors, and as something that's apt to happen to them soon. Should it be a surprise?"

"I'm going back and forth about that. Surprise would be fun, but it also will be a shock. I'm inclined to have you and me tell her privately, but make it a surprise announcement. It may be sneaky, but I then want to enlist Athena in the surprise aspect.

"Athena routinely wears black outfits. The Navy uniform is black, and, while many female officers wear trousers, a skirt can be worn instead. Let's have Athena talk to the group while in a black skirted suit, keeping the lights a little low, and then have the two of us precede Dolores, who will be in uniform without insignia. We'll then do a pinning-on."

"I love it!" Moe explained the situation to an increasingly enthusiastic Athena.

"Athena, stay with us. I want Dolores to know there is no tension from you. Incidentally, I suspect Dolores doing well on some independent missions has been part of this. If Moe approves, let's try to get you doing such things. Mary definitely will, in the medical area."

••••

Moe, who already was staying, with Athena, in the DIA offices, asked Terry's permission to have his other concubines join them. Terry enthusiastically agreed. Terry, and the rest of his household, already knew Athena, but not Dawn, Bernice and Chloe. Terry introduced them, not as simple concubines but as experts. Dawn was a navigator and astronomer. Bernice was his administrator, while Chloe was a mechanical engineer who focused on pods and airlocks. Bernice had two children.

Terry subvocalized, 'Dolores, would you join us, please? ' He didn't exactly lie when he said 'Athena wanted to see you.?' asked Dolores to join them.

When she entered, she giggled, and went to Athena for their game of who was wearing the higher heel... "Dolores my dear, hold the slapstick for the moment -- I have something serious to say. Let me hasten to say it's serious in a good way. A very good way.