“I think I’ve got it , darling!”

It was Frieda whose triumphant voice announced that the hatch was finally free.

The two lovers dived down to see.  Then they surfaced.

Francesca pronounced her verdict.

“Lots and lots of  lovely juicy kisses are in order, Frieda. How scrumptious!  Come on! Let’s make out! We don‘t have all the time in the world my sweet !  Oh, sweet lovely  Frieda!  Why can’t I be whipped instead of you?  I got you into this, you darling!”

“Because you are too smart Fran! I’m the eternal fall guy! Don’t let it worry you! Just go on loving me and I’ll be fine! One last nice kiss  before we swim back?”

“You’ve got it!”

For the hundredth time that day, the two soft and loving female mouths bestowed their loving and mutual salutations.  Then they swam back to face the music!

……………………………….............................................................................

“Well, Francesca?”

“I think we should be into the hold tomorrow, Commander. Then you can  have Frieda flayed.”

“I’ll ignore that insolence, Francesca. But you’re right. That little cow is really in for it. And you know why.”

“Yes, Because you fancy her yourself, you bitch!”

“OK! That’s the end of your short-lived commission, Private Moroni! I’ll teach you to be insubordinate to me!”

“Fuck you!”

Angela had not expected this and she was taken very severely aback.

“Right, Francesca. I need you and you know it. Just let me flog Brown and I’ll forget your insolence.”

“Fuck you. I love her, Flog us both or flog neither of us!”

“OK, Francesca. You win.  For now, at least.  Go out to the wreck with her and have fun.  I promise not to be looking!  Just come up with the goods!”
 

DAY TWENTY FIVE

“I think your hide is safe for the while, my lovely girl!”

Fran and Frieda were swimming out to the wreck again. Francesca was cold already but the hardy Frieda was loving her swim, as always.

“How did you swing it, you lovely darling genius?” asked a grateful, if slightly disbelieving Frieda. The threat of a whipping had been hanging over for days now and she was glad it was not about to happen.

“You said it my angel! I’m a bloody genius! Aren’t you lucky to have a lover like me!”

“Oh! A thousand billion trillion times, yes, you darling!”

“OK! Now let’s get to work! You know, my sweet angel-faced lovely! W-O-R-K! That horrible, four lettered word!”

It took the rest of the day  completely to clear the deck. The two girls worked furiously to get everything finished and  it was well after dusk before they finally struck back to the shore.  Every so often they would tread water and kiss and hug each other. The combined exhilaration at finishing their task and saving Frieda’s tender hide brought both girls to a peak of ecstasy, such as  neither had experienced before with anyone of either sex.

“Can’t we swim here together all night, darling Fran, my angel girl,” moaned Frieda as their mouths parted for the zillionth time.

“Fuck you, you mad cow! I’m freezing”

“No you aren’t! You love it! Admit it!”

“I love you, my little mermaid sweetheart. Oh, how I love you!”

“Back to the wreck and the lovely rocks for the night, darling lovely Francesca?”

“Whatever you say, you mad cow!”

DAY TWENTY SIX
 

JOANNE

Had there ever been a time when she had not known pain? It seemed an eternity since she had slept soundly and well. It was inhuman to treat her this way! How can Angela leave me to this hell night after night and day after awful day?  She screamed out in her horrible agony, time and time again

Frieda had brought her meal yesterday and one of the new girls - a person who owed her freedom to her - had contemptuously forced today’s food down her throat. This lady had been very inventive. She had ostentatiously turned her head away from Joanne and said, seemingly addressing the distant horizon,  “Sleepyhead - I hope you rot in there. I‘d have shot you out of hand!” In this way she obviously considered that she had obeyed the injunction forbidding communication! Joanne would remember her!
 
FRANCESCA AND FRIEDA

“Did we really do that? I mean sleep together on those sharp rocks? All night?”

“Sure did, Fran my old sport! Great, wasn’t it!”

“I doubt I can save that sweet hide after this, my love. We’ll have been missed. NO! You’ll be flogged and I’ll be busted! I do wish I could be flogged too, the both of us side by side like before! I hate to miss out!”

Without any breakfast or evening meal, the two girls were famished when they got back to shore, a day late and wilting under Angela’s furious gaze.

“I suppose you have an explanation of your absence from roll call last night?”

“We were working late, Commander! The deck’s quite clear now and I think we should be into the rest of the hold today.  I used my initiative and take full responsibility. Private Brown was acting under my orders.”

Angela laughed loud and long. “OK Francesca, you win! Enjoy Frieda, she’s a honey and she‘s all yours!  Be happy!   I’ll look around the rest of the talent, although it’s a pretty sorry bunch. Get some eats and back to work! And if you want to take her to bed with you in future - feel free! A sight more comfortable than out there on the rocks!”

“I wonder what that stupid woman thinks we will do when we run out of food,” gasped Francesca, a little later,  as she spat a wavelet out of her mouth on the way back out to the wreck.

“Fuck knows, Fran. You’re the genius. What’s your brilliant idea?”

“Fly over to the mainland, get refuelled and load the chopper up with loads of lovely food. Simple really. I’m surprised even a thick bitch like you didn’t think of that.  Leave me alone Frieda! I‘m an officer. Stop it, you cow!”

It was fully twenty minutes before the happy laughing couple stopped trying to drown each other and  resumed their way towards the ship. Angela looked at their joyful frolicking, smiled and got back to her phys ed training.  There was one little redhead who seemed quite promising!

Now that the deck had finally been cleared, and both girls, despite all their clowning about, had worked like Trojans to get it done, it was not too hard to get the covers off the hatch and get down into the rest of the hold. Francesca took one look at all the large drums and summoned Frieda to get back up.
“What was all that, Fran?” asked Frieda when they were safely sitting on a rock.

“Drums full of fuel, my sweet darling Frieda. If we can get that ashore, we’re made! We have a helicopter that can fly any where. Let’s have ourselves a yummy bit of sex and then put on our thinking caps. Where can we make ourselves half way comfortable around here?  I want to give you the full works with all, and I mean all, the trimmings before we report back to Her Majesty!”
 
DAY THIRTY

Angela was sitting with Frieda and Francesca before her. Both girls had their arms around each other.  They had just returned from another day at the wreck.

“Stop that , you two! This is an army, remember? I can have you busted, Francesca and the two of you flogged and staked out any time I want. So watch it!”

“As long as we’re together, I don’t give a shit what you do to us. Any way I am the only pilot around here, so you’ll have to like our little love affair or lump it!”

“Oh, Francesca! You really are fond of pushing your luck, aren’t you? I suppose I can at least ask you both to keep your hands off each other in front of the rest of the girls?”

The couple looked at other, kissed and laughed together.  Francesca answered for the two of them

“OK, Commander. Of course you are right. Frieda should know better, of course as a trained soldier, but I’m to blame too. You won’t have any more of our silliness to worry about. I promise!”

Angela realised she would have to be satisfied with this.

“How long do you think it will take to get all that fuel ashore?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Three days, after we have made another raft, and it had better be a more professional job than the last one. Building it could take another three days. I’d say a week from now, Commander. We’ve food enough to last till then.”

Francesca paused and then asked.

“How is Schwarz now she’s been free for  a few days?”

Angela smiled.

“Quite the heroine with all the other girls. I heard one of them ask her how it was and she said. ‘OK, I’d been flogged before, you know. This time was nothing, and as for the twenty days and the two extra - it was nothing either’ . Oh, yes, it’s been the making of that girl. No more being Esterhazy’s pet. She’s a soldier in her own right now. I guessed that would be the way of it when I had her flogged. I’m not a complete oaf, you know, or a heartless bitch!  Mind you, she‘s likely to be in trouble again, if she‘s not careful. There‘s a lot of spirit there!  I guess she‘ll see a bit more of that beach before Esterhazy comes back to take her in hand again!”
 

“If Prisoner Esterhazy lives through her second whipping” replied Francesca, sadly.

“As you say. If. I’m not the one who fell asleep. I did the right thing and the rest is in the lap of the gods.”

Angela continued.

“You and Brown and Schwarz can go round and check on the helicopter. Go and inspect Esterhazy, Francesca. Clean her up a bit and talk to her. Not much and she must not answer back other than yes or no answers. Anything more will only add to her troubles. I think you should fill her in on developments. She may be in command again in time, so it‘s only fair.  Off you go!”

“May I take Schwarz up to see her?”

“OK, but she must not speak to the prisoner, or even look at her. If she does she is to be punished.”

“How severely?”

“Sixty lashes and sixty days on the beach.  And, this time,  don‘t go easy on her. Make sure she bleeds after the first lash.”

‘’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’