Chapter 11

My household and I barely arrived at the mess when Sergeant Auvray pulled me aside for a second with a very serious look on her face. I gulped, wondering what weird situation had somehow entangled me this time. She stared at me for several seconds before clearing her throat to actually say something. Then she smiled for some reason.

“Well, I have good and bad news for you, if you choose to see it that way. It concerns Margret, your pregnant concubine of whom you seem especially fond. I gather that she is carrying your child, but she’s not your concubine anymore. That’s the bad news. The good news is the reason WHY she’s no longer your concubine. Her previous CAP score of 6.3 was based upon a confidence level adversely affected by her aging.

“When she demonstrated superior courage and loyalty earlier today, Margret Dubsky’s case was brought to the attention of the Civil Service. After a thorough review, she was raised two tenths of a percent, making her exactly a 6.5, thus making her eligible to volunteer for the Confederacy. The Civil Service actually wants her, in fact. They want you, too, sir.

“It’s your call, but they had a point, that for every one of you and her, they have a myriad of Marines and Navy personnel. It’s a lot harder to replace the kind of leaders who can help organize things or persuade people to go along, not to mention handle mothers, children, etc. Those are the kinds of skills you’re going to need for managing the concubine pool. You have apparent administrative abilities, too, and the colony to which you’re going has a rather understaffed Civil Service. They’ve tapped you and her to help run it, if you’re open to such things.

“I know that some people regard the Civil Service as cowardly or unnecessary meddlers, but actually they serve a vital function on the homefront, one that protects the concubines and children from starvation and ignorance, among other things. They’re starting schools, clinics, and other infrastructure that help prepare the next generation of sponsors and concubines alike. Anyway, as her sponsor until now and the one who basically saved her life, not to mention the likely father of her children, I figured that you would wish to give her the good news,” Sergeant Auvray informed me with a wink, visibly pleased that I was visibly pleased at the news myself.

“Awesome, and yes, I’d love to give her the great news! That girl is definitely most useful as a sponsor, and this means that she gets two concubines from the pool for herself, I assume. That’s very good news for them as well. Yes, I know that I’m losing my power over her, but I don’t care. I’m happy for her. She’s a great woman and will make a splendid officer in the Civil Service for sure,” I grinned at the news about Margret’s new promotion.

“Oh, I knew that it was true love! You love your concubines, all of them already, I can just tell, but you are IN LOVE with Margret. Do not even attempt to convince me otherwise. I can see that she loves you back as strongly and I can see why. Which reminds me that you still owe me some dick and you had better pay up, monsieur, oui?” Sergeant Auvray reiterated the favor that she wanted from me in return for her help, “Oh, and Mr. Martin?”

“Yes, Sergeant?” I smiled sweetly at her as I prepared to inform Margret of her change of fate.

“She gets three concubines, not just two. In in the interests of fairness and to help further reduce the pool of concubines, we’re giving her a supernumerary as well. For the record, she was a special case, so normally we wouldn’t replace her for you, but here, we need to limit the numbers of unclaimed concubines, so you get to pick a new concubine to keep your numbers at eight. Yes, you still have two extra conks, not just the one like the others. That’s only two new concubines and that is a bit easier to manage, I should imagine,” Auvray explained, bringing another smile to my face.

I tapped Margret on the shoulder and whispered the news to her, and by God, that woman threw her arms around me and kissed me in full view of the whole mess. She slipped in a lot of tongue, too. She whispered repeatedly that she was still mine and would still be happy to be another co-sponsor of mine, along with Zoe Mancuso. Zoe mouthed that she heard, anyway, and that she was pleased with this as well.

“Citizens and concubines, let me introduce the newest volunteer in the Confederacy, Sub-Decurion Margret Dubsky of the Civil Service. She and her co-sponsors, Sub-Decurion Zoe Mancuso and Decurion Jack Martin, will be assigned to the Anshan colony on the planet Meta Kappa. She will be given clothing after the mess, and then she will receive her insignia of rank in short order for her position. For those of you who do not know, she is also pregnant, so she will be a very busy woman soon enough. Congratulations, Sub-Decurion Dubsky,” Sergeant Auvray shook Margret’s hand, as she wiped her tears off her cheeks.

“Wow, baby, you’re really a sponsor now!” I hugged Margret as we sat down to eat, just as I heard Sergeant Auvray whisper in my ear her intentions for me ... later.

“Yes, and I believe that I have you to thank for that. If you hadn’t knocked me up, and trust me, I am confident that it was you, I would have had to go back to Earth by now. Good news for Sammy, but rotten news for me, and for the three concubines that I get ... and the extra one that you get. Thanks to you, I won’t be here when the Swarm arrive.

“Thanks to you, I have a baby at last. Thanks to you ... Oh, God, I’m going to live to a very ripe old age and another world, just as I dreamed of doing as a child! Want to talk about favors? This was a big, motherfucking favor that you did for me, Jack Martin, and I’ll never, ever forget my debt to you!” Margret choked back more tears, kissed me again, and got busy eating.

“So, I’m Civil Service now?” Zoe asked, “Well, it makes sense. I’m your co-sponsor, and from what I’ve heard, Anshan is one of those ‘breeding’ colonies that is going to produce a motherlode of babies for what is likely to be one long-ass galactic war. I’m more than happy to do my part for it. This is good news for Larry, too, as he’s going to be even more of a stud for me than he ever guessed.”