Chapter 72

Dear Will,

I guess this will arrive before you get back from your trip to escort some orphaned concubines. Or at least that's what I understand.

Yes, I did call them orphaned. I don't know who used that term first here on Wadi, but everyone in Third company agrees that it fits. The law makes concubines a form of pet or child, so if they have no master or mistress they are orphans. And it shows in their demeanor. I've told you about how happy and loving my concubines are.

No Violet. I want to write to Will.

Well, I know I'm no Civil Service occifer, (sorry, lame joke used by third company tankers. Except for Major Fabio and Colonel Frost, we don't have much respect for the officers on Wadi. A bunch of fobbits and REMFs.) Violet, I know I'm just talking. I wanted to try out that knew voice to e-mail technology. It should be a faster way to write this and I'll have more time for you.

Anyways, I'm not in the Civil Service, but Erica and I decided to stop by the barracks where they keep the concubines who have lost owners. I know I've told you that the lost men from third company did have wills, so their concubines are still on our island. Yes, no one got voted off the island. Erica and I figured we might be able to help and we are still looking for another young man to compliment Larry. It was a bit surprising. Wadi has received one full Kilo class transport and then some assorted reinforcements, but the maximum population on the planet has been about eleven hundred. I hadn't realized that it still meant there have been over four hundred warriors killed in action on the planet. Most have been infantry, but we've seen quite a few tanks destroyed or damaged, and I never realized how high the death count was rising.

And remember that our military doesn't have much tail.

No Violet I'm not talking about an animal's tail. It's a term used to describe how most militaries need people working at a base supplying the needs of the warriors. Thanks to Confed tech we don't need all of the maintenance and support people a military on Earth had to have. So we have a lot of teeth and little tail.

Violet! If you want to play with some "tail" go and grab Katya.

Sorry Will, I was talking about how we only have a couple of support people and everyone else fights. Heck, third company doesn't have a single mechanic. Some of the concubines have learned a few tricks. Katya, Alexis and Jennifer are proving to be great at cleaning our tank and reapplying the paint schemes we use to try to be harder for the Sa'arm to see. That actually has been extremely successful at times, although it can be hit and miss. I get a feeling that the Sa'arm are somewhat colorblind. They are great at noticing movement of any type, but something motionless and colored to be hard to see they often miss. Except near water. A light mist makes any camoflague useless. The infantry hates fighting near the shore because of this, even though the Sa'arm won't enter water, ever.

I know Violet, no human will enter the oceans on Wadi either. I remember they tried sending a few drones into that trench in the Cephaltria Ocean. What? You hadn't heard they gave it a name? Yes, supposedly its some kind of mix of Latin for squid and a nonsense syllable. Our naming specialists aren't full of imagination. But they are part of Vincent's Villains of Violence.

Oh, one thing you will discover Will, is that most units eventually start to give themselves nicknames. I've told you about the Roughnecks. The infantry unit that was transferred here after Tufts fell. Their leader somewhat hates the name, and she wasn't the one who made it popular, but the unit built its reputation under a former commander who insisted on using that name. I guess the fool thought he was some kind of reincarnation of John Rico.

No Violet, that's not a real name. It's a character from a book, and later from a movie where humans end up fighting an endless army of giant insects. The character eventually ends up leading a unit of infantry.

My understanding is that John Rico's unit changes through a couple commanders, but was called the Roughnecks, so this man with a few delusions insisted on the name. He might have had a questionable connection with reality on that, but Char tells me that he was an able commander and cared deeply for his men. The unit is a very cohesive group.

Other units I've heard of include the corvette flotilla out of Kelor. I guess the ships have names like Cancun, Cabo San Lucas and Waikiki, so everyone calls them the Spring Break Flotilla. They aren't a party group though. These little ships that really weren't designed to fight are well commanded.

No Violet, I'm not just saying that. Yes Violet, I've heard that Cancun is nicknamed Trash Can by some who say it never arrives in a system in one piece. It's a good ship with a good captain. No Violet I'm not saying that because I find the captain attractive. Violet, she's very attached to her own households.

I have a concubine who is feeling frisky. Somehow Louisa got all our babies to go to sleep at the same time. I think Mei, Larry, and Alexis are watching the babies right now, so Violet is leaning over my shoulder and placing kisses on my neck. You never said how it worked on Atlantis and for your family, but all of our girls are back to their svelte and sexy selves. It's been a double boost to their morale. Not only do we have six wonderful babies to hug, kiss and play with, but our ladies feel beautiful again. That's true for all of Fabio's Charging Rhinos. Yes, that's the nickname Third Company has. Erica and I laughed about it and then had a fake rhino horn added near the end of our tank's cannon. The men loved it.