CAUTION... CAUTION... CAUTION... CAUTION... CAUTION...

STANDARD WARNING

This story is of an erotic nature.

I wouldn't dream of telling you what you can or can't read but if the law, in your part of the world, says you must not read this sort of fiction then please go read something that they'll let you.

Don't break the laws, change them.

CAUTION... CAUTION... CAUTION... CAUTION... CAUTION...


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Journey

A Story in The Swarm Cycle Universe

by Duke of Ramus

A Piece of my Imagination

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The Swarm Cycle

The Swarm Cycle is a collection of stories manufactured around a concept introduced by the Thinking Horndog positing an alien invasion and Earth's reaction. The intent is for this to be a multi-author universe similar to the popular Naked In School stories. If you're a budding author of erotica or sci-fi and see something here that strikes your fancy, pop over to the Author's Page for more info on what's going on here and how to submit a story for this collection. The rest of you are probably here to read, so...

---oOo---

Disclaimer

This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental

© 2007 Duke of Ramus.

All rights reserved.

---oOo---

The Swarm Cycle Universe

Copyright © 2007 The Thinking Horndog

---oOo---

Cadet Colonel Alex Flowers stepped out of the shimmering field that marked the terminus of the transporter and into bedlam. After taking just three paces he stopped, not knowing what to do and unable to see anyone in charge.

Behind him he heard a curse, then Captain Roberts, Confederacy Space Marines, stepped around him and bellowed "Halt!" His voice, commanding and loud enough to reach the far corners of the room, caused everyone to stop and look towards him.

"Who's in charge here?" he demanded.

When no one replied he asked, "All Confederacy personnel make yourselves known, now!"

Three hands shot up, all around the edge of the room.

"You three stay on your feet, everyone else, sit down! Now!" he barked.

All around the room people sat down, some on benches or convenient boxes, the majority on the floor. They did so in silence, cowed by the big Marine officer, who now moved through them towards the nearest of those left standing.

"You are?" he asked, towering over the oriental man who, like the Captain, was in the uniform of a Confederacy Space Marine.

"Private Nguyen, Sir." The in built Universal Translator provided the Captain with an English version, though the statement had been easily understood without it.

"And what are you doing, Private?"

"Processing the intake from team Gamma, Sir," said the Private, standing rigidly at attention.

Captain Roberts looked around the room. "Relax," he said. "Are those two part of your team?"

"Yes Sir, Privates Liang and Yang," said Private Nguyen, still standing at attention.

"One moment." The Captain got that far away look as he consulted his AI, "OK, what's happening on this ship?" It may not have been the most clearly constructed of questions, but after a million years of development the Confederacy AI's had learned to interpret and anticipate their owners' needs.

The AI, sounded embarrassed, muttered, "It appears that a problem has occurred on the Colony Ship Chiang, so Command Central has decided to utilise this ship for some of the extractions performed by team Gamma." The AI paused momentarily, "You should also be aware that, as a way of increasing the diversity of the gene pool in this group, it has been decided that those volunteers extracted by team Gamma and moved to this ship will be joining those extracted by team Delta. This ship will then go to the Poseidon system and will be establishing a new colony on Demeter, Poseidon three."

"Oh fuck," muttered the Marine; originally this group would have been going to the Poseidon system but would have been joining the colony that had already been established on Persephone, a moon of Poseidon Six. Taking another deep breath to calm himself Captain Roberts focused again on the Gamma team soldier and asked, "So Private, where's your boss?"

"Sir, she's with the rest of the extracted persons on Chiang." The private answered calmly.

The Marine, knowing a cluster fuck when he saw one, consulted his AI again, "So, where are the rest of my team?"

"As was originally planned the members of your team have been transferred to the troopship Orion, except for Sergeant Horn, who is in the med bay receiving the final nannite infusion." The AI paused for a moment, whilst querying the ships AI. "The deck handling staff, who would normally be here, are currently dealing with a pressurisation issue in the forward pod cluster."

The early colony ships, of which the Aurora was one, were really just converted Darjee freighters. When looked at from a distance they consisted of six rings of pods, three rings forward and three rings aft of a bulbous centre section. Each of the rings contained sixteen pods, which had started life as part of an orbital transfer system, used to get goods from the ship to the planets surface. These pods were now configured to support human life whilst in transit and, after deployment to the colony's surface, become the permanent homes of the new colonists.

The pods were attached to a central hold area that made up the backbone of the ship. This vast space had been sectioned off in the colony ships and had been configured to provide the medical facilities, canteen and instruction areas along with a transporter terminus.

The forward and aft habitation clusters were separated by a central section which contained the ships bridge and crew accommodation. This area, manned by the Darjee, was off limits to all except the liaison officers. At the rear of the spacecraft, safely shielded from the colonists, were the fuel tanks and drive modules. These were, effectively, bolt on units and could be replaced or upgraded easily.

Dave Roberts raised his eyes to the ceiling before taking command of himself. "Private Nguyen, How many people have you bought with you to this ship?"

"Twelve volunteers and thirty six dependants, Sir."

"And I've got twenty one -- that leaves us space for another dozen or so groups." Dave thought for a moment before asking the Private, "Are you making the journey to Demeter with your people?"

"I believe we are to return to the Chiang as soon as we have handed over to the ships company, Sir."

'Wonderful, just wonderful,' thought Dave Roberts, 'looks like me and Emily are babysitting the lot of them on our own.' That bought up another question for his AI, "Is the Orion still accompanying us?"

"Yes, as far as Persephone. Sergeant Horn and yourself will be rejoining your unit at that time." The AI replied.

Captain Roberts looked around at the confused, and in some cases scared, faces watching him and squared his shoulders. "Private, stick with me and translate as necessary." With that the Marine made his way to the centre of the hanger bay and activated his voice amplifier. "Listen up, I want everyone to cluster around their own sponsor. Once the sponsor is happy that he has all his concubines in one place then the group is to sit down and the sponsor is to come here." He looked around to ensure that everyone was paying attention and to give Private Nguyen a chance to translate his instructions, then gave the word to begin.

It took a while for everyone to get themselves sorted out. The cadets had a few minor issues because of the way they'd allowed two sponsors to form an enlarged family, but after a little discussion everyone was sitting, waiting to see what happened next.

Whilst he was waiting for the sponsors to make their way to him he spoke with the Chinese Private, "I know there are four kids that need picking up from the group I bought up with me. What about your group -- are there any children we need to collect?"

"I'm not sure, the group I was processing seemed to have one but I don't know about the rest of them."

"We'll find out soon enough."

When the sponsors had clustered about the two Marines, Captain Roberts began his introduction.

"Okay, listen up, just to remind you all, you're responsible for whatever you've ended up collecting -- that is totally responsible. We're going to start trying to get you processed now, but the crew are busy so it may be a little haphazard to begin with."

"Firstly, you need to go through your concubines and find out if they have children to be collected. Remember, they have to be under fourteen and you have to want them as well, if you don't want them just don't tell me and they'll be left behind. I also need everyone's IDs, including yours. These will be used to facilitate processing you through the system and also be used to identify and locate the kids that need recovering."

"Secondly, everyone will go through medical screening, but check your people and see if any of them need anything urgently -- insulin, blood pressure tablets, that sort of thing. If they do, we'll push them through first."

"Thirdly, after everyone has been through the screening you need to sort out who is staying in what pod. The pods will be your home, both for the journey and when you land on the colony world. To aid integration I want the families that came up with Private Nguyen intermixed with your people. Colonel, see to it."

"Yes Sir," replied a surprised Alex.

Through a quirk in Private Nguyen's translation, Alex, although he didn't realise it, had just become the senior colonist in this half of the ship, a position which was consolidated a moment later.

"Right, go get started. Colonel, hang back a minute will you?"

---oOo---

"Alex, this whole show is turning into a cluster fuck. I need you to keep on top of your people, and if possible, integrate the people that team Gamma have bought aboard." He indicated the clusters of Orientals with a sweeping gesture of his arm. "Because of that I want to send you through the med process first."

The older man watched as the cadet processed his statement, seeing the curiosity building, before filling in the details.

"In the first pass through the med bays, under normal conditions, you and everyone else would only get the basic fitness screening but I want them to add the Universal translator implant for you. It'll help you deal with both groups without having to drag a translator around with you to understand what's being said and I have the feeling that we're going to need you there pretty soon. So what do you say?"

Alex braced up, "Yes Sir."

"Just like that, no questions? I'm surprised," said Captain Roberts, raising an eyebrow.

"I read everything I could before volunteering sir," explained the cadet, "including details -- well those that had been released into the public domain -- of what happens after extraction. I'm aware that I will undergo a certain amount of augmentation and will be permitted to modify, for want of a better word, any of my drones. I'm taking it that this is part of that process." Alex smiled, "Though not necessarily the normal sequence of events."

"Got it in one," replied the grinning Captain. "Keep smiling son and we may be able to get through this without too much pain."

"How long will I be away from my people, Sir?" asked Alex.

The Captain consulted the AI, "Put someone in charge of your group and head for that green door," he said, pointing to one wall of the hanger space, "Tell them you'll be back in about five hours. Don't worry, it's going to take much longer than that to get everyone through processing."

The Aurora was fitted with four med stations of which one was already in use on Sergeant Horn -- though she only had about another hour to go -- and one had just been committed to Alex for a five hour operation. Generally it would take about fifteen minutes for each med bay to run through the basic check up and inoculations on each person. With over a hundred and fifty people to get through it was going to take, now, the best part of twelve hours just to get them processed and ready for augmentation and 'improvements'.

"Sir." Alex turned away from the Captain and was immediately joined by Private Nguyen as he made his way across the vast hold to where Rebecca had their family waiting.

Alex passed his arm around Rebecca and pulled her in tight. "Looks like I'm still in charge, at least for now," he said. "I've got something to do that's going to take five or six hours so Rebecca can you look after the family? Get those things that Captain Roberts needs -- ID cards and what have you -- and then you and the Private here," he indicated his shadow, "get everyone accommodated in the pods. Remember what the boss said, that each volunteer gets a pod for his family, that means both you and I get a pod."

Alex paused to take a breath, then finished off, "If you put seven of us, and four of his volunteers," he indicated the Private, "in each ring, that should mix them up enough to start with. Any problems we'll sort out later."

Rebecca gave him a hug and turned to the Oriental Private, "Shall we get started?"

Leaving them, Alex headed for the green door and the first step in his conversion to a member of the Confederacy military.

---oOo---

"How you feeling, Emily?"

Sergeant Horn looked at her boss and grimaced, "About normal. You'd have thought that after all this time using those damn nannites they'd have figured out some way for them all to get along."

Dave Roberts nodded in agreement. Having nannites introduced into your body was not the most pleasant of experiences and as Emily had just rediscovered, different nannites took time to settle down with each other and get on with their designated tasks. The one time he'd asked why they didn't have a single nannite capable of performing all the necessary tasks the Darjee medic had looked surprised. He'd then held up a fist sized ball and explained that the nannite would need to be this big to do all the jobs, and did he want something this big wandering around inside his body?

"Anyway boss, how's it going?"

"Not good at all, at either end of this tub." He looked around, ensuring that none of the volunteers were too near, "The front end is having a rough time of it as they're having some problem with pressurisation which is popping everyone's ears at the moment. Back here we've got a bunch of Orientals over from the Chiang who'll be taking some of the slots we had originally. We've got about a dozen slots left to fill, probably in a couple of days, then it's off into the wild blue yonder -- which got a little bit wilder whilst you were sleeping."

Emily Horn shrugged off the barbed comment and asked, "Wilder, in what way?"

"This lot are now earmarked for a new colony world."

Emily looked to the ceiling, "And where is this new colony world?"

Dave smiled, "Don't worry Ems, it's still in Poseidon, but it's the third planet. After we've dumped this lot we get to go back to Persephone, so you'll get your leg over before we do our next tour."

Emily bashed him on the arm and grinning added, "It won't just be me that's getting their ashes hauled will it?"

"It better not be." He replied with an answering grin.

Looking around she asked, "So what do we do here?"

"At the moment I've got the senior kid getting a translator, he'd going to need it to look after everyone. There's no one in the Orientals who's got any command experience, so, though they're older than he is, I've stitched him up as the boss."

"As they're all going to the same place I'm trying to get them integrated as a single community. According to the plans the puzzle palace have released our two groups are creating townships around the core infrastructure which has been established."

Emily butted in, "Already established? I'd not heard of anything on three when we left."

"From the little the AIs have been able to scrape together it seems that the atmosphere on three had the same bug as on six. When they figured out what it was it meant that three became viable. The basic pods were already in position to create six townships, they just hadn't been deployed. By the time we get there this lot should only be under domes for about six weeks before they're free to spread their wings."

"For now we need to get this lot through medical screening, recover the kids and get the initial briefings out of the way. Once these are tidied away we can get the last batch of volunteers and then high tail it home."

"So for now it's just be available and make sure no one gets lost."

"You've got it." He said, "And whilst you're doing that I'm going to get my head down for a couple of hours."

---oOo---

The initial briefings began after everyone had made an initial pass through the med bays and, as normal on extraction flights, kicked off the usual shit storm as people suddenly found out just how much they'd given away to get a sponsor. Many had offered sex as an inducement but now found that the sponsor could take it whenever they wanted and tough if you didn't like it, though many, drones and volunteers alike, didn't realise just how tough that could be, not deep down inside where it really mattered.

In some instances the volunteers were briefed separately from the drones and the talk on responsibility was one of those occasions. It was emphasised to the volunteers that they were responsible for any actions of their drones. The drone wouldn't be punished by the authorities, the volunteer would. If the volunteer didn't maintain discipline then they would suffer. The volunteers were also introduced to the stinger, the generally non-lethal means of controlling people who got out of hand. It looked like a set of brass knuckles with a spike sticking out from the middle. The firing button fell, naturally, under the thumb when the fist was closed. Each volunteer was shot with it, as an example of what it did before they were allowed to draw one for their own use. A lot of them swore never to use it after they'd had their insides flipped by the electric shock.

The general briefing also introduced them to their new home, the pod. These where the very ones they were occupying for the journey. The briefing explained how the pod would be deployed to the planets surface and would open up to effectively create a sphere around them, most of this sphere would comprise of a force dome above and below the physical habitat.

This space would become a controlled environment for the volunteer and her family but, as more than one of the drones noticed, it was only the volunteers that could move around the habitat freely. The drones movement was limited by the will of their sponsor.

The grounded pods would be linked by short walkways, initially underground so that they could be sealed against ingress of the planets ecosystem. Construction robots would expand this network but it was a slow and resource hungry task and would take a long time before it expanded beyond the bare minimum required for the colonists to get by.

Once the pods were firmly established the volunteers would begin basic training in their assigned employment. The rest of the population would be expected to do whatever was required to improve the habitat and over time, the general living environment.

As industry was added to the township employment opportunities would occur, these would be filled from the non-volunteers who could be released by their sponsors. Schools would be established as they became necessary. Medical, power and sanitation systems were already in position before the pods landed and would be hooked up by remotes as soon as the pods had finished deploying.

Alex watched as people trooped out of one of the briefings. He listened as more than one of the girls who'd come up with his cadets gave vent to their anger at what they'd just been told. He glanced across at the Marine contingent by the far wall and noted that all of them had their stingers fitted. After a moments thought Alex returned to his pod and fitted his own.

In the end it was Mandy Simpson who provoked the first explosion. Only she and Bethany Williams knew what was said but after a couple of minutes of screaming at each other Bethany swung for the smaller woman. Emily Horn, who'd moved towards them as the noise levels had increased, dropped her long before she made contact. The young woman jerked, then dropped bonelessly to the floor, her body twitching with the after effects of a stinger strike.

Mandy stood over the fallen girl then turned to the Marine Sergeant and screamed, "Dump her, I don't want her anymore, I'll go one short." Her face twisted with spite as she ranted.

Around the room, people froze as the impact of her words struck home, remembering the briefing they'd just left.

Alex had drifted over to join the group of Marines as the altercation had begun. Now he looked at the Marine Captain and asked, "I take it there's nothing we can do?" His voice strained at the tension the incident had invoked.

"Not a lot," The Captain replied, "If the girl is rejected by her sponsor she's pushed to one side. We have a finite amount of time to get her relocated or else she's dumped."

"Dumped?"

"That's right Alex," the Captain said, "dumped." He paused to let that sink in, "This close to Earth I'd aim to get her returned to the planet but if this happened a week from now the stupid bitch would just be thrown out of the hatch into deep space." He looked the young man in the eyes, "And take it from me, that is not a nice way to die."

Alex looked on as the unconscious Bethany was carried away and a space opened up around Mandy, as though she had the plague. 'Not a good start,' he thought, 'not a good start at all.'

---oOo---

Alex got his first real chance to use his Universal translator shortly after that incident. Private Nguyen bought one of the Oriental guys over to see him.

"Sir, this is Kam Ho. He feels that he may have a problem and would like your advice." Said the Private in Chinese, Alex could just hear the words but a clear voice spoke in English in his ear. It was a little disconcerting because it was only the spoken words that were hard to hear, all other sounds came through clearly. 'Must be some sort of negative feed back as the translation is performed,' he thought. It only helped him understand, he still couldn't speak the language and until everyone was fitted with a translator there would still be a need for Private Nguyen and his two compatriots.

Alex vaguely recollected that with Chinese names the first part was the Family name and the second bit was the same as his Christian name, but he decided against taking chances and possibly insulting the man. "Yes Sir, how may I help?"

"Please call me John," the Oriental said and, no doubt seeing Alex surprised look paused to explain, "I'm from Taiwan, most of us there have Anglicised names which we used for business meetings." Alex nodded in understanding, allowing John to continue.

"I have four females, as my concubines -- unfortunately I find that I do not get along with one of them. I would like to have her replaced but I don't want to do it the way the young woman did earlier. As the head of this colony I am putting the matter in your hands." He concluded with a slight bow.

Alex pondered for a moment, "Does the replacement have to be an Oriental or would you accept a Westerner?"

John smiled, "Whatever you decide I will attempt to make work, Sir." He said but something in his look made it clear that he was more than prepared to accept a Westerner.

"I need to give the matter some thought, I will get back to you as soon as possible with, hopefully, several options." Alex fought the impulse to bow.

As the two Orientals walked away Alex crossed over to Captain Roberts, seeking information and advice.

"Sir, can I ask a few questions?"

"Go ahead Alex, it's one of the reasons I'm here, you know."

"I suppose it's all about the drones Sir. How many spares did you bring up with you and what happens to them and whoever they replace when it's time for us to go?" The young man asked.

"Grab a seat son, this could take awhile." As the two made themselves comfortable Dave Roberts got his thoughts into line. This always had the potential to be a problem and more than one volunteer had ended up alone at the far end of the trip. There was some leeway but not a great deal. "As it happens we don't have any spares as you call them, along. I know that's not normal but neither is how organised you were, when we came to get you. If the Chinese had any extras I'm guessing that they're still on the Chiang because they didn't bring any here."

"So the only spare we have, at the moment is Bethany and unless people are rejected that's all we'll have."

"Not really," said Dave, "we still have carrying capacity so we will be making at least one, and possibly two, more extractions. If things go as normal we will be picking up extras at that time. Why all these questions?"

"One of the Orientals guys has been to see me, it appears he's not happy with one of his women and wants her replaced. What he doesn't want is a screaming match in the middle of the deck so he's dropped the problem in my lap and I'm trying to find out what the options are." Alex looked the Marine in the eye before stating, "You still haven't told me what happens to those who aren't picked up, have you?"

"You got the official answer when your friend dumped her concubine and officially that is the only answer there is. However, what has happened in the past is that those who don't find sponsors end up going around with the extraction parties and I'm sure you can figure out how they are used." Dave watched as Alex went pale. "I've told you before, this is not an easy new life, it's hard and often dirty but that is part of the job. Don't like it, tough, you volunteered."

Alex got thoughtful, then asked, "What do you think would happen if I took in an extra, one over my limit so to speak. Would you come and drag them out before we were disembarked?"

"I really don't know," said Dave, "hang on a sec." He consulted his AI and slowly got an amused look on his face. "Well I never." He smiled at Alex, "You know, it has happened. Twice so far, and in each case the extra was allowed to land with the volunteer." Dave looked thoughtful alongside the cadet. "I wonder just how many they'd let you get away with?" He mused.

His eyes shot open, "I see," he said. He turned his attention back to Alex, "Don't try it with more than one, if you do they will pull out concubines at random until you are down to the correct number and eject the excess immediately."

That stopped their conversation as they absorbed the impact of their discovery and the warning that came with it.

Alex recovered enough to get back to his original problem, "So, at the moment, we have one spare, Bethany. In a couple of days we may have a couple more but no guarantees and, as a last resort I could take one extra down to Demeter with me."

The Marine looked him in the eye, "That's about the long and the short of it."

Alex stood, "Is there any problem with me having a word with Bethany?"

"None at all, she's just a body as far as we're concerned." He pointed towards the last row of pods, "She's locked in pod C1, help yourself."

"Thanks Captain." Alex made his way to the third ring of pods and the one spare female in this half of the ship. He had an idea but he didn't think Bethany would like it, then again, he didn't figure she'd like the alternatives either.

He walked in the pod and found Bethany slumped in one of the chairs in the living area, she glanced over at him and looked away.

Alex barked, "Stand up!"

Bethany glared at him from her position in the chair, "Fuck you." Her attitude implied the finger was raised even if she didn't make the gesture.

"That's one option," Alex said and watched as the angry flush went pale, "the other is to just throw you overboard."

"They're not going to do that." Bethany said.

"Don't you believe it, the current plan is to get rid of the excess baggage," Alex stated. "You are, currently, surplus to requirements and unless someone else takes you in, you're off the ship."

"No way, I've been extracted, they'll take me with them." Bethany said, but she didn't sound so sure any more.

"You really think so?" Alex looked at the ceiling, "AI, what is the procedure for dealing with those rejected by their sponsors?"

A speaker came to life and a female voice responded. "If the rejectee cannot find a new sponsor within a reasonable time frame they are ejected from the ship. If a planet is convenient they will be placed there, if not they will spaced." There was no inflection in the voice, just a simple statement of the chilling facts.

Alex glanced at Bethany before asking, "What is considered a reasonable time frame for finding a new sponsor?"

"At the present moment in time a period of 48 Earth hours is being considered as a reasonable time frame for the rejectee to find a new sponsor." The voice answered.

Lowering his eyes, Alex asked, "So Bethany, how long has it been since Mandy chucked you out?"

Bethany was very pale, the realisation that she could actually be dumped shook her to the core. "What did you say?" She muttered.

"I asked how long has it been since Mandy rejected you?" Said Alex patiently.

"I, uhh, I'm not sure." The confused girl replied.

Alex looked at the ceiling and thought to himself, I really should stop doing that, before asking "AI, how long has it been since Bethany was rejected by Mandy?"

"Two hours, eleven minutes, thirty two seconds," answered the voice.

Alex dropped into a seat opposite Bethany, "So, at the moment, you have less than forty six hours to find a new sponsor, and just to make it more interesting, all of the sponsors, with the exception of Mandy, have their full quota of concubines. Could make it a bit of a challenge, don't you think?" He asked.

The two of them sat there staring at each other, Alex waiting for Bethany to do something, Bethany stunned at how stark her future had become. Alex was patient, he needed Bethany to make the first step before he could offer her any sort of alternatives.

Bethany raised her eyes from her lap, "I suppose you have an offer?" she asked diffidently.

"Not an offer, Bethany," Alex said, "at best it's an opportunity and probably not much of one then. You'd have to give up the way you act, not just pretend but change completely. If you can't do that, I wouldn't even consider the opportunity. If you fuck this up the guy will beat you and nobody, but nobody, would do a damn thing about it."

Bethany was watching him like he was a snake, too dangerous to trust but also the only option. Alex continued, "Chuck in the fact that he's one of the Orientals and you'll probably have race problems on top of your attitude problem to deal with. Do you really think you can handle all that?"

Alex watched on as Bethany dug deep down inside herself, and then as she came back out again. A trace of a smile graced her face before she nodded. "Yes," she said, "I can and will change, I've got to, really, haven't I?" She finished.

"I'm glad you understand that," Alex said then stood up. "Now strip and follow me." He turned and walked across to the hatch, before turning to watch.

Bethany rose to her feet and pulled the standard issue grey smock over her head to reveal a pair of pale blue bikini panties. In one smooth motion she pushed them down her muscled legs and stepped out of them. Standing proudly she moved towards Alex and the door, her pleasant boobs riding high on her chest, a small, slightly podgy stomach, revealed by her nakedness. Before she reached the hatch Alex opened it and went looking for Kam Ho and a possible solution to his problems.

---oOo---

Alex snagged Private Nguyen as he crossed the main hold. His progress across the main room was accompanied by gasps, stares and pointed fingers as people spotted the naked Bethany behind him. There had been a lot of nudity and semi-nudity going on ever since they'd arrived on the ship. The standard issue grey smock didn't do a lot to protect the modesty of the wearer as it barely covered the ass, regardless of how tall the wearer was.

Alex leading Bethany across the hold was the first time that anyone had seen nudity being forced upon a drone in public and it came as a bit of a shock to most of the audience.

After Private Nguyen queried the AI the small group made it's way to one of the briefing rooms where Kam Ho and his family were undergoing another routine indoctrination session.

Alex pushed through the privacy field and entered the briefing room, the rest of his party followed in quietly. "John, this is Bethany." Alex said, pointing at the naked girl behind him, "She's the girl that Mandy dumped earlier. It means she's available if you want her."

This simple statement was greeted by loud gasps and one small cry as the occupants of the room took in the meaning of the interruption.

John asked Bethany to step forward, in Chinese and whilst Private Nguyen translated for Bethany, Alex pointed out that everyone would be fitted with a translator before they reached their destination so language would only be a problem for a short while.

As John was inspecting a very compliant Bethany, Alex was looking over the only woman in the group who wasn't paying attention to the inspection, assuming that she was going to be the one who was dumped by John. She was clearly a mature woman, not some young girl, she had the same dark, medium length hair that most of the Oriental women had and her face was pretty, not beautiful but perfectly acceptable. She was dressed in the same grey smock that Bethany had been forced to leave behind which did little to reveal her figure but it didn't appear to be excessively fat or thin.

Alex was jerked back from his inspection of the woman by John's voice. "I'll accept her." He said before simply turning to the woman Alex had been inspecting, "Su Wan, I don't need you any more. Go!"

Alex thought that was a bit brutal, but kept his mouth shut. This was one of the things he'd not been looking forward to ever since he started considering the consequences of the system the Confederacy had imposed on the human race.

Su Wan stood and, keeping her head bowed, walked straight out of the briefing room before she uttered a pitiful wail, fortunately unheard by the occupants due to the privacy field. Alex nodded to John and turned to follow the distraught woman from the room.

Alex threw an arm around the diminutive woman and led her across the hold, receiving almost as many stares on this journey as he had on his last. He guided her into the same room that Bethany had been in and noted, peripherally, that the former occupants smock and knickers had disappeared.

Working with Private Nguyen he explained, as best he could, that if Su Wan was unable to find another sponsor before they reached their destination then she would become his and join his family.

The woman, wailed about her child and it took awhile for Private Nguyen, working with the AI to determine that it was scheduled to be recovered later that day and that the recovery would still go ahead if Alex wished it to.

When Su Wan heard that, she threw herself to the feet of the young man and begged him to bring her little girl, Lian to her, she'd do anything, with anyone if he would. Alex, totally embarrassed gave his permission and then beat a hasty retreat from the crying woman.

---oOo---

John looked his new slave over and lust overtook him. Whether it was that she was young and fresh or simply because she was a westerner he didn't want to think about. What he wanted to do was bury his suddenly rampant prick into her soft flesh.

He pointed to the nearest table and told her to bend over.

She may not have understood his words but his meaning was abundantly clear. She moved forward as tears started to flow down her face. The two women who sat at the table, Fen and Wei, looked on as he started to remove his clothing.

Fen, who knew a little English, bent forward and asked the young girl something and then looked shocked at the answer. She asked again, her tone much sharper and the girl answered. Her answer must have been the same as Fen looked at him and her expression begged him to ask what the problem was.

John wondered if there was something seriously wrong, maybe the girl was diseased or something. "What is the problem?" He barked, his lust making him abrupt.

"The girl is a virgin, Sir."

His eyes went round at that revelation. Everyone knew that Western woman lost their virginity as soon as they started High School and this girl was much older than that. She had to be lying. But if she wasn't then what he was about to do would be no fun for anyone and she may even be ruined for his future enjoyment.

It just wasn't worth the risk.

"Mei," he called, gesturing to his youngest concubine, "see if she is speaking the truth."

Mei went pale, she'd never touched another woman, not in that way.

"Come on, if she's lying I intend to punish her and if you don't get a move on you will be joining her."

Mei moved forward and dropped to her knees behind the bent over white girl. She placed her hand on the firm buttock and felt the girl twitch as she made contact. She could see Fen whispering to the girl and was taken by surprise when the girl shuffled her feet further apart.

Taking a deep breath Mei ran her fingers down the crease between the girls buttocks and onto the plump mound beneath. She gently prized the outer and inner lips apart, marvelling at how fine the hair covering it was and tried to slip a finger into the pink pussy she'd revealed, but failed miserably because the girl was so dry.

Mei looked around but could see nothing she could use to lubricate the girl. In the end she licked her finger, getting it well covered with saliva before attempting to slip it back between the girls thighs. It slid in a short way then she ran out of lubrication. Closing her eyes she pulled out her finger and stuck it back in her mouth, shuddering slightly at the taste as she did so.

Three times she had to lick her finger before she found the girls intact hymen. With her finger still buried in the girl's pussy she turned to John, "She is telling the truth Sir," she reported.

John had been watching mesmerised as his youngest woman had been pushing and sucking her fingers and didn't want it to stop.

"Continue what you are doing," he ordered. At the table Fen looked across at Wei and jerked her head towards John, Wei lowered her eyes in submission, then smiling slid from her chair and made her way, on her knees, to John.

Fen lowered her mouth and started to whisper in Bethany's ear, John couldn't hear but saw the young girl start to undulate under the ministrations of Mei. Wei reached out and grasped John's erection, gently stroking his manhood as he watched the scene before him.

Mei was terribly embarrassed as the girl she was touching began to move, then her pussy began to lubricate and she could hear the squelching noises as her fingers began to plough what was becoming a quagmire. To her shame she found that she too was becoming excited.

Wei rocked forward and took the prick into her mouth, sucking on John happily and bobbing her head in time with the hand that was stroking the new slave's cunny. The odour that permeated the briefing room caused each of the drones to respond in a sexual way, far more than they would have done before they were extracted.

None of the participants gave any thought to the fact that the privacy field was completely transparent. Outside a small group of voyeurs, both Oriental and Western, had gathered to watch the show. As Bethany screamed out an orgasm, causing John to ejaculate into the willing mouth around his prick, the audience let out a cheer and broke into applause, none of it, fortunately, heard by the actors in the show.

As John relaxed he looked at his senior slave, Fen and smiled, "You did well to tell me," he said. "We will deflower your new sister later, in the comfort of our own home." Fen lowered her eyes, happy that she had made her master happy and saved her sister slave from unnecessary pain, she was also looking forward to a wonderful evening when, hopefully, she would be allowed to participate fully.

---oOo---

A couple of hours later a group of cadets, all of them volunteers, were sitting around, relaxing after another of the initial briefings when Doug Rutledge spoke up. "You know, don't you Alex, that a hundred years from now, each of us here is going to be the founder of a noble house on Demeter. Unless something changes drastically, we, or our descendants, are going to have more power than any historical baron ever dreamed of."

Loraine glanced up sharply, "What do you mean, Doug?"

"Ask Alex, I'm sure he's thought it through," the Cadet Major replied.

Loraine turned to Alex, "Alex?"

Alex sighed, he hadn't thought it through completely, but he had considered some of the implications, especially after the incident between Mandy and Bethany and then with Su Wan. "Think about it Loraine. Each of us has the power of life and death over our drones, slaves, concubines or whatever you want to call them. If we decide to kill one of them, for whatever reason -- and remember rejecting them in the middle of the journey is condemning them to death -- there are no comebacks. Hell, they've even assured me that they will have spares along, just in case we didn't like what we picked in the first place. We can swap them around, treat them how we like, including physical and mental abuse and nothing, absolutely nothing, will be done to us."

"Add in the fact that any children we have with them, and Rebecca and I have at least four who are going to be capable of dropping a child every year for the next ten years at least and you can see that, when we hand over power to our children, they could easily have a hundred subjects totally dependent on their whim. As I see it, the drones have only one hope for freedom and that is to score higher than six point five when they get CAP tested at fourteen and just how hard do you think it would be to ensure that none of them received sufficient education to make that a possibility?"

Alex looked around the small group of volunteers and shrugged, "Volunteers had to have a CAP score higher than six point five because that was supposed to keep us aggressive enough to fight but still have sufficient loyalty to the Confederacy that we wouldn't go causing any trouble after the war was won. As far as I've been able to tell, there was nothing in those original criteria, nor in the ground rules on the colony worlds established so far, that forbids the imposition of a feudal structure. It's as though they are relying on our own sense of justice and fair play to ensure that what we do create meets minimum social and moral standards."

"What worries me is that the initial set up, with volunteers being totally responsible for the behaviour of their drones, is the exact opposite of that and it would be far too easy to keep it that way. I mean, just look at what happened earlier between Mandy and Bethany. Mandy set Bethany up before we left Earth just to get back at her for what had been going on between them in school, and Mandy has a pretty high CAP score which didn't seem to have any impact on the way she behaved. I believe I've sorted that little problem out but if there are any more, well who knows, we may end up with a drone being thrown out of the hatch."

Alex sat back and waited for his friends to assimilate what he'd said before continuing.

"One of the tasks that falls to those who haven't volunteered to serve in the Armed Forces will be the defence of the planet -- just like it will be on Earth when the Sa'arm invasion actually arrives." He looked around, "If you think about it, that would imply that those left behind, the drones, will receive training and weapons to carry out that task. If those same drones are being kept as slaves, with the likelihood of abuse and physical violence that goes with that, what's to stop them turning those weapons on their oppressors, meaning us, when we come back from wherever we've been deployed to? I'm sure you've all heard of the various slave revolts that plagued human history, well we could be setting ourselves up for one in the future."

Troubled, Loraine asked, "So what do you think we should do Alex?"

"I really don't know." He stated, "I've had a few thoughts but until we find out what the colony we're joining is like, and what those already there have established, there's not a lot we can do. And lets face it, although the Confederacy considers us as adults I doubt if any of the grown ups already in the colony will. One thing is for sure, I don't think I'm going to accept total domination over the drones as an acceptable option, no matter how much I'd like to on a certain level."

"Yeah," said Loraine, smiling at Alex as she held her hand at crotch height, "that level -- but I see what you mean. We could end up having more trouble at home than we do with the Swarm if we're not careful."

---oOo---

Jeri Burt looked at her fellow volunteer and partner, Gerard Gilmore and scowled, "Don't even think about it," she stated clearly but quietly.

"Think about what?" Gerry asked, looking a bit like a kid who'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Jeri indicated the screen in front of him, "That!" She exclaimed. "I'm not letting you turn the girls into Pamela Anderson look-alikes."

Jeri was a pretty girl, but she was also a military cadet. So her body was fit, and that fitness tended to reduce excessive padding, including boobs, a point which had given rise to a slight inferiority complex, a state that had been highlighted when her military college had suddenly been inundated with girls from two local schools, many of whom had bigger busts than Jeri and weren't afraid to flaunt them.

"So what changes do you think we should make then?" Her paramour asked, suspiciously.

"If we go on what Alex was saying, they are going to need to be fit, agile, have good eyesight, all the things a soldier needs. Other than that I think they're fine as they are," she said, almost daring Gerry to contradict her.

"Really?" Asked Gerry, taking up the challenge. "You don't think we should sort out Tamika's teeth, or what about Erika's glasses, though I suppose that's covered by the requirement for them to have good eyesight. Then again, Harriett is so short she wouldn't be able to keep up, should we make her taller?" Gerry paused, looking his wife, for want of a better term, over. "Jeri, I love you just the way you are and these girls will never be a challenge to you, but we need to decide whether they are going to be warriors or breeding machines, or even both. And whatever we decide we need to pick the best enhancements we can for them, even if that does mean that they get big tits to feed the babies they'll be dropping." He finished smiling at his partner.

Jeri didn't look totally convinced but her aggressive stance softened under Gerry's soothing words. "Well, Tamika, Christine, Harriett and Cornelia have the best sub-scores in baby making so lets set them up primarily to produce kids. We can block fertility on the others for six months or so." She glanced at the available options on the screen before continuing, "I don't suppose it would hurt to have everyone about the same size physically and have the basic nannites installed."

The basic nannite set allowed the body to perform a lot of routine functions in a more efficient manner, included damage repair, adrenaline management, pain relief and sexual performance, though that was more of a by product than a designed response.

Gerry nodded, "Then what? Use Erika and Isabel primarily as soldiers and keep Trudy and Naomi to help around the habitat?"

Jeri pondered for a moment, "Sounds like a plan. I'm sure we can swap them around later if we want to. Have you any preferences on how old everyone looks?"

"I guess twenty five should do it, old enough to appear grown up when we get to Demeter but still young enough to be sexy," he said with a grin. A grin that faded until Gerry looked troubled, "You know, this must be how God felt -- picking and choosing, making decisions to fill his own needs without really considering what the drones thought of his decisions."

"Maybe it is," said Jeri, "but it has to be done and we're the ones given the task." She looked at the screen again. "What changes are you going for?"

"I guess it'll be the basic Marine package. I don't see what else we can do." He said pushing his doubts to one side. "They've indicated that all the volunteers on this ship are slated for the Marines, even if they haven't given us our job specs. So we may as well start down that route."

Jeri indicated Sergeant Horn, who was sat in the main holding area studying another screen. "Are you going to max out on body size?"

"I don't think so, I'll ask for more body mass but I figure 2 metres high and the weight to match should be enough, at least until I find out what I'm going to be doing. What about you?"

Jeri looked wistful for a moment before giving a wry chuckle, "I'd considered going for the Pammie Anderson look but, like you, figured I may as well get started on being a Marine. So do you want me taller or shorter than you?"

"How about exactly the same, after all we are equal in all things, right?" He asked and opened his arms.

Jeri stepped forward into his embrace, "Too true, love. Too true."

Throughout the ship similar conversations were taking place and the results were not always as sympathetic. Brenda Edwards had her male drone, Darrel, given a ten inch prick and then had Anne, her female drone, sized to accommodate it. The formally petite girl grew a forty inch, D cupped bust and was clearly expected, for the foreseeable future at least, to be churning out babies. On the Oriental side Andy Chan had his two drones, Wendy Ho and Jin Hui turned into Pamela Anderson clones, except for their eyes which he kept Oriental for some reason.

Most of the volunteers, occasionally with a little prompting, took the basic Marine package and settled for being two metres tall, though a couple, Cathleen Shepherd and Tony Walsh, took it to two and a half metres. When asked about it Tony explained that Cathy had been so short she'd wanted to get away from that image and he hadn't wanted her to feel like a freak later on so he'd followed suite.

It would take a good three weeks to get everyone through the change process, but the decisions had now been made.

---oOo---

That morning those colonist already on board the Aurora had been instructed to keep well clear of the transporter area as it was going to be in use by the team for the next extraction. So when the screams started from that end of the deck there was no one near the transporter terminus. The rush of people across the hold quickly changed that.

Alex arrived with the first wave and looked on in shock as two young women, probably a little older than he was, rolled around on the floor, one of them covered in blood, though whether it was actually hers was hard to say, they were moving that much. Before they could do anything another body crashed through the shimmering transporter field, this one arriving travelling backwards. The man promptly tripped over the prone bodies of the women and crashed to the steel decking with a savage curse.

Alex didn't wait for any more to arrive, he just started giving orders. A quick glance to see who was present and, "Loraine, grab those girls and get them out of the way. Doug get up by the transporter with Tony and catch people as they come through, Jeri keep the arrivals grouped together over there." He looked around, then raised his voice, "Any of you with first aid training move over next to Loraine and get ready to help people. The rest of you step back and give us some room. John, see that they stay back." The Oriental was surprised and, he admitted to himself pleased, to be included by Alex.

Instinctively Alex looked to the roof, "AI, I need medical assistance here, now." He demanded.

The AI responded with her usual voice, "The medical bays are prepared for incoming wounded, mobile aid stations are available in cubicle seventeen if needed." Alex caught the eye of the Gerry Gilmore and jerked his thumb in the direction of the cubicles. The cadet Captain rounded up a few assistants and headed off at speed.

Tony and Doug were catching people as they came through the transporter and were quickly handing them off to those around the periphery. Those that appeared injured where shunted across to Loraine, who'd established an aid area by the simple method of ordering people to stand back and form a square.

Seventeen people were scattered around the transporter when Sergeant Horn, with a body in her arms, staggered through the field. Tony grabbed the woman from Sergeant Horn before she started to sag, Doug had just enough time to grab her arm and cushion her fall to the floor. As she hit the floor her back was exposed, revealing what looked like a couple of bullet wounds.

Captain Roberts stepped backwards through the shimmering field, his arm fitted with its stinger extended back the way he'd come. As his foot hit the deck he barked out, "Terminate transporter!"

The shimmering died away immediately and the big Marine sagged before turning to survey the damage.

Gerry had just got back with the first of the mobile aid stations and the Marine Captain took it and knelt at the side of Emily Horn. It didn't take him long to set the system in operation. He looked up and Alex pointed to where Loraine was knelt over a couple of people and two of the cadets were holding the aid stations, not sure what to do with them.

"Thanks," the Marine muttered as he headed over to deal with the remainder of the injured.

A commotion behind him stopped Alex from following the Captain over to the injured. One of the latest arrivals bellowed, "Get out of my way you stupid bitch," and started forward.

Alex stepped forward quickly but found that he wasn't needed. The man tried to push Jeri Burt out of the way and, much to his surprise, found himself face down on the floor with his right hand up between his shoulder blades.

"Sir, there is no need for that." The cadet said in a calm voice, "You will wait here until people are available to deal with you.

"That's my sister," the prone man said, attempting to break free.

Alex stood between the man and the injured, "Let him up Jeri."

The man sprang to his feet and started to move forward but Alex, who was a good bit bigger, stuck a hand in his way. "You were told to wait." He caught the man's eye, "You can do it awake or you can do it out cold, which is it to be?"

"But that's my sister."

"She may be," said Alex, "and she's being treated. You being there would be a distraction and it isn't going to happen."

The man seemed to settle down although he kept looking towards the injured.

"So what happened down there?" Alex asked.

"They tried to kidnap my sister and some of the other women, I wasn't going to let it happen." Another glance at the wounded, "It looks like I wasn't the only one."

"Kidnap?" Snapped Alex, shocked.

"How else would you describe it. We were in McDonalds when they locked us in. No one could get past that damned interdiction field. Then they told the volunteers," he said with a sneer, "to pick their slaves."

"Did they tell those who didn't want to leave to move back, that's the normal procedure."

"Of course they did, but who's going to give up the chance to get away?" He looked at Alex as though he had a screw loose, "That doesn't stop it being kidnapping, no one got to pick who they went with, it was just, 'you, you and you.' That's not right!"

"What's your name?" Asked Alex.

"Josh, Josh Evans. Why?" The young man demanded.

"Well Josh, did any of the volunteers pick you?" Alex asked.

"No, and I wouldn't have let them take me." He said.

Alex shook his head, "So you really shouldn't be here then?"

Josh suddenly realised where this conversation was going, "No, but you're not sending me back without my sister."

"Jeri, can you keep an eye on Josh here, while I go and check on the injured. We'll sort this mess out later."

"Yes Sir," said Jeri, as she stepped up beside the angry man. Alex, happy that Josh Evans wasn't going to cause any more trouble for a moment, strode across the deck to the Captains side. "How's it going?" He asked.

"The med units reckon they'll all live, though it may take a few days to put Emily back together." The Captain said.

"So what happened down there?" Alex asked, a little nervously.

The Captain looked off into the distance, "It started out as a straight forward extraction. There were six volunteers on a course of some sort and they'd all gone to McDonalds for lunch so we dropped the interdiction field around the place and started out as usual. We'd got about half the concubines picked and over by the transporter when somebody started yelling about kidnapping. Twenty seconds later and shots are being fired, God knows where from, there aren't that many guns around in England. Then the mob charged us. We got the hell out of there. Emily grabbed the volunteer who was hit and we ran, pushing as many before us as we could."

The injured, now strapped to grav sleds, were taken across the hold to the med bays for treatment. After watching the four of them go the Captain turned to the new arrivals, where Josh was being restrained from following the injured by Jeri Burt. Captain Roberts eyed the small crowd, "How many of you shouldn't be here? Don't think you can bluff, we've got the ID records of those picked to be here locked up in the system," he asked.

A young woman immediately held up here hand, then her hand was joined by another but that was all. Sighing Captain Roberts pulled out his hand pad and got the far away look as he addressed the AI. His pad beeped and he held it up to read its contents.

He looked at the two women who still had their hands up, "What are your names, ladies?"

"I'm Gabrielle Morgan, Sir," said the redhead, who looked about nineteen.

"And I'm Chelsea Stackpole, Sir," said the blond who was about the same age.

"Thank you, please step over to my right." He paused while the two moved out of the way.

He indicated the person nearest to him, "What's your name?"

"Scott Lloyd, Sir."

The Captain scanned his list then pointed off to his left, the man moved without being told.

The next person in line was a middle aged woman with bleached hair, "Name?" He demanded.

"Summer Morgan, Sir."

"Over there," he indicated where Scott Lloyd had moved to.

This procedure was repeated until there where ten people in that group and just three left stood in front of the big Marine, Josh Evans was one of them. The other two were both middle aged women who identified themselves as Lydia Bevan and Melissa Rees.

He called the first two women over to him; he looked the group over, "Sit down, here. I'll sort you out when I've dealt with them," indicating the larger group.

Josh opened his mouth before the Captain had moved, "I'm going to my sister, wherever they took her."

Like a snake striking the Captains right arm shot out and grabbed the denim jacket that Josh was wearing. With no sign of strain the Captain lifted the noisy man off his feet and pulled him so that his nose was less than two inches from his own. "Listen you little shit," he hissed, "I've just told you what you're going to do, now do it quietly or I will rip your balls off and use them as a gag, do I make myself clear?"

Josh, for once showing some signs of common sense, nodded frantically.

The Captain put him down so firmly that the young mans legs buckled under him and the Captain let him fall to the floor. Without a backwards glance the Marine crossed to the main group.

"Everyone pay attention." He said, "We'll get you started through processing as soon as possible, though as I'm sure you will appreciate things are not going as smoothly as they normally would. For now I want you to go with Alex here," he indicated the cadet Colonel, "and he will ensure that you are fed and watered and given clothing if needed. Just listen to him and we'll get this sorted as soon as possible."

He turned to Alex, "Get their ID's off them and see if there are any kids needing pick up. I know that they haven't got sponsors at the moment but take it that the approval will be given. Other than that, just keep them out of my hair for an hour or so. When I've spoken with our uninvited guests I'll send them over to you as well."

Alex nodded his understanding and collected his charges and headed off for the canteen area.

Captain Roberts crossed back to the five stowaways, consulting with the AI as he did.

Without inviting any questions he pointed as Josh, "As soon as your sister is well you will be allowed to see her. You will then be returned to Earth."

"I'm not going without Madison." Josh stated.

"Tough. That's not your decision -- it's hers," he said, then turned to the four women. "If you can find someone who will sponsor you then I can let you stay, otherwise you're going back with him." He looked them over, and despite his own anger at how badly the extraction had gone, he felt admiration for the guts it had taken to fling themselves into the transporter field, not knowing what was waiting for them at the other end. Sighing he offered them some advice, "You see that young man I was talking too," he said, "His name is Alex." He waited until they'd all looked over and identified the cadet. "If you get a chance, speak to him. He's heading up the colony we're going to; if anyone can sort out a space for you it'll be him."

---oOo---

Alex paused at the edge of the briefing area and waited for Captain Roberts to acknowledge his presence. With a flick of his finger the Captain did so, beckoning Alex forward. Alex stepped through the privacy field, an invisible barrier that absorbed noise in both directions without impeding vision, and headed for the chair the Captain had indicated.

The last twelve hours had been hard and the strain was showing on the Captain, his hair was tousled and he looked physically drained. The extraction had been blown resulting in injuries to evacuees and the extraction team. Then Josh Evans had been loud and obnoxious, a real pain in the ass, even after his sister had made it plain to him that she was staying aboard. In the end Captain Roberts had stunned the loudmouth with his stinger and carried him to the transporter unconscious.

The Captain rotated his neck a couple of times to ease the muscles before speaking. "Alex, thanks for your help earlier. It made things a lot easier for us all."

Alex was embarrassed and didn't know what to say, so he kept quiet.

The Captain nodded, as though in understanding. "Now we get down to the nitty gritty. We haven't got time to do another pick up and we don't have enough slots to accommodate the concubines we've already collected." Alex went to interrupt but the Captain raised a hand and kept talking, "Because this was beyond anyone's control it has been decided to make an exception for this group. Note, this is a one time thing only, OK?"

Alex found himself nodding, though he didn't really understand why.

"The powers that be have decided that anyone on board this ship with a CAP score of six point four will be given the opportunity to volunteer now. If they decide to accept this offer then they will be allowed two concubines and will be treated in all ways as if they had a CAP score of six point five. If they decline this offer then they will remain as concubines to their current sponsor and will not be given the opportunity, in future, to change their minds."

The Captain rubbed his neck again before continuing, "What I'm going to do is get all those with a CAP score of six point four in here and put the deal to them and see if they want to volunteer, if they don't I'll send them back to their pods. Once we've done that you can bring in the spare concubines and we'll let the new volunteers take their pick. OK?"

Alex had a thought, "What happens to the sponsors who loose a concubine?"

"If there are any left we will see if we can get their slots filled from what we have here, if not they'll just have to go short."

Alex raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything for a moment as he ran through the list of volunteers in his mind. He wasn't worried about those with high scores as they would only lose the odd person, it was those in the sixes that may have difficulty, especially if both of their concubines were six point fours.

He couldn't think of anyone who'd be affected in that way so nodded and stood up. In his own mind he wasn't sure if this was a good idea but, like the Captain, he was getting too tired to think clearly. He went and rounded up everyone, including Su Wan, who didn't have a sponsor and waited outside the briefing room. When Erika Mullen and Jasmine Wu stood up and walked out of the room he waved his party forward.

They were eventually joined by those who had lost concubines because of their CAP scores. This whole selection process was both quieter and more civilised than normal but in the end everyone except Lydia Bevan and Melissa Rees, the two middle-aged women who'd crashed the party, had found homes. Alex looked at Captain Roberts and indicated the two women and got an answering grin.

As the pair sat there naked and snivelling, having done their best to be selected, Alex walked up to them and placed a hand on their shoulders to get their attention, "Come with me," he said, "unless you want to go back to Earth.?"

Each of the women looked surprised then, with a joyous yell, sprang to their feet and hugged Alex, who admitted to himself that he enjoyed the feeling. As the three of them crossed the hold area Alex explained that they'd found a loophole in the extraction rules and were going to exploit it. He would take one of them as a supernumerary and his partner, Rebecca, would take the other. They needed to keep this information quiet but they would be safely away from Earth and he and Rebecca would treat them the same, in every way, as their other concubines.

The two women seemed both relieved and happy with this turn of events, which was hardly surprising.

---oOo---

The Aurora broke Earth orbit and headed off on its four week journey to the Poseidon system and the planet Demeter, otherwise known as Poseidon Three. The new colonists quickly settled into a routine of briefings, augmentation and preparation for their new lives.

They learnt that Demeter was a world pretty similar to Earth in relation to land mass and water ratios, though it was heavier which meant it had a gravity about ten percent higher. The real bug bear was the atmosphere which, whilst its oxygen/nitrogen mix was perfect, contained a very strange mix of toxic pollutants. These had recently been isolated and now were well on the way to being neutralised though it meant the colonists would be kept inside their domes to begin with. The planet had no developed inhabitants and only fundamental insect life, Earth based organisms and animals were being shipped in to the planet to aid in its development and provide basic foodstuffs for the colonists.

The main purpose of this new colony was to supply troops for the Marine Assault Brigades which were currently being formed. It was therefore planned to establish six townships, each with an average population of six to eight thousand volunteers, call it twenty-nine to thirty-nine thousand people in all over the next two years. Each of these townships would be used to create and support a MAB for the period of the war. Other colony worlds were being set up to achieve similar objectives.

The Poseidon system already had an established base on Persephone, one of the moons of the gas giant Poseidon six. This earlier base, with its infrastructure, would continue to be used as it was conveniently situated to the systems asteroid mining zone and the ship construction yards. Demeter had the advantage that it was easier to colonise, especially with the planned expansion in colony numbers.

The personnel on this vessel, the Aurora, would be the initial colonisers in the township of Celeus and, once the township was established, the volunteers would go on to be trained as Marine assault shuttle pilots. On completion of their training they would be assigned to the 1st Marine Assault Brigade, the MAB assigned to their township. To facilitate this all of the volunteers would undergo basic Marine training on arrival in the colony, utilising instructors from Persephone, before taking on pilot training.

The township, as it developed, would be equipped with the flight simulators, and when they became available, the assault craft to continue this training. Other ships, following the Aurora, would carry the volunteers required to form the majority of the fighting troops for the MAB.

Alex, as the designated leader of the colony, insisted that all volunteers and drones, regardless of their designated tasking, received basic Marine training. He had to brow beat a few volunteers to get the idea that drones should be trained accepted but after he pointed out that these people would be there to keep their homes safe they acquiesced, grudgingly. To his surprise the Marine Corps and the AIs had no objections to this decision.

---oOo---

Two weeks into their journey, Alex, along with the rest of the colonists, was intimately aware of just how painful physical augmentation and its associated procedures really was. His body had objected to being modified in a most strident way and if it hadn't been for the neural blocks and pain relief medication that had been so freely available he believed that he'd have lost it completely. More than one drone had borne the brunt of a volunteer's frustrations but so far nothing too damaging had been inflicted.

As it was he and the rest had just about finished the transition process and where now into the learning phase of the change. Having your body increased in all dimensions along with changes to reaction times and sensitivity made what used to be easy tasks, like walking and scratching you nose, into voyages into the unknown. These voyages where often achieved alongside hysterical laughter at the comical consequences of things going wrong. The audience may have been enjoying themselves but for the experimenter the voyages often inflicted painful reminders that things were not as they once where.

Alex had poked himself in the eye on a couple of occasions whilst trying to push his hair out of his eyes, a manoeuvre which used to be subconscious and which was now carried out with a great deal of care.

Experience from earlier extractions had shown that practising some form of martial art or formal dancing was an excellent way to gain mastery of the new, improved body and as the volunteers on the Aurora where destined to be Marines a martial arts class had been arranged to this end. Sergeant Emily Horn was, in addition to being a good combat soldier, an experienced self defence instructor and taught the classes in the rear section of the Aurora. She had been surprised at how quickly several of the volunteers had picked up what she was teaching until it had been pointed out to her that the 'experts' in her class where all military cadets who'd kept quiet about their previous experience. This had stimulated Emily to demonstrate how good she really was and in the process she'd inflicted a few painful reminders to some of the more cocky cadets of the difference between a good amateur and a true professional.

Alex, Rebecca and the two Gerry's where cooling down from their latest bout with the Sergeant, their bodies sweaty and in a couple of cases bruised from the workout they'd received.

"I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again," said Jeri, "but that woman is mean."

"Tell me about it," said her partner, Gerry, as he massaged his shoulder. "I'm sure she's trying to kill me."

Rebecca laughed, "Gerry, if she'd been trying to kill you, you'd be dead, not just bruised."

"Serves you right anyway," said Alex, "You should have told her you were on the college karate team."

"She never asked," said Gerry, "and it's a sound military tactic to keep your assets secret."

"That's true," said Alex, "but for it to work they have to stay secret."

"Come on," said Rebecca, "let's get a shower, I want my back..."

Bang!

Everything went black and a shudder ran through the ship.

"Shit!"

"What the fuck..."

Seconds later the lights came back on and a strident alarm call was broadcast from all speakers. A strobing red light produced a disconcerting colour cast to the surroundings. People where yelling all over the deck, a few where even screaming in panic.

The speakers cut off their alarm call and Captain Roberts voice boomed out in its place. "All concubines to their pods, All concubines to their pods! All volunteers to the mess hall, All volunteers to the mess hall!" Then it went quiet, no other strange noises could be heard though the red strobe was still in action.

"You heard the man," said Alex, "Lets go."

The four of them made their way to the canteen, avoiding the mad scramble as people criss-crossed across the hold as they headed for their pods.

"Any ideas what's going on?" someone called out

"Not a clue," responded Alex as he avoided a concubine frantically dragging a toddler with her.

Emily Horn, in her sweat soaked training suit was directing people to take a seat as they entered the room. Captain Roberts was at the front of the room apparently talking to the AI as there was no one else with him.

A couple of minutes after the last volunteer was seated the Captain looked up and the held up his hand for silence. "There's been an accident of some sort in the forward half of the ship," he announced. "As far as we can ascertain the rear half of the ship is in no danger at this time. The handlers and ships crew are endeavouring to find out the cause of the accident and its consequences. At the moment though it doesn't look good for the people up front."

After giving them a moment to absorb what he'd said he continued, "For now we will keep the concubines in their pods, it's the safest place for them. Most of you will be returning to them to keep them calm. Where you've paired up I'd like one of each pair to stay here in case we need some manpower."

The single volunteers headed for the entrance and those in pairs decided who was staying before splitting up.

A very tense hour followed for the volunteers, all of them former cadets of the military college, as they waited to see if they would be needed. They made idle chit chat to pass the time, talking to Captain Roberts and Sergeant Horn whenever they got the chance.

At the end of that hour a couple of handlers entered the canteen and made their way across to the Captain. Alex and Sergeant Horn weaved their way through the tables to join the three men and listened in.

"So the aft section is secure. The bridge, engines and life support seem to be OK, it's just the front section." Concluded one of the handlers.

"Any chance of survivors?" Asked the Captain.

"Not on the main deck; decompression like that killed them before they knew it was happening," answered the handler.

"What about the pods?"

"In theory they should have sealed when the pressure dropped but whether they'd have been quick enough to handle that type of explosive decompression is another matter."

"How do we find out?" Chipped in Sergeant Horn.

"We can't. The AIs are telling us that all the communication conduits have been shattered, the one working lens is showing us a hole about eight feet across in the forward bulkhead. The EVA suits we've got don't have a way of tapping into the door comms of the pods, so there's no point going into the hold to try it. Unless someone can come up with something novel we're going to have to write off the forward pods."

Alex bit his tongue, the front half of Aurora was similar to his half. That meant anything up to a couple of hundred people could be trapped in those pods and there was nothing they could do about it.

"We can tell our people they're safe and to carry on as normal, then," said Captain Roberts. Both handlers nodded, "but the front half is probably a write-off."

The whole group looked despondent but the handlers nodded confirmation again.

Captain Roberts shrugged then said, "Right, I'll let everyone in this half of the ship know what's happened."

The handlers headed for the door and Alex made his way back to where the cadets were sat. He quickly explained what had happened.

"Shame we haven't got one of the assault shuttles with us, we could go check the pods from outside." Said Jeri.

"How's that?" Asked Alex.

"The hatch mating rings on the pods are the same as those on the assault shuttles, according to the manuals I've been reading. All of the pods have identical hatches on the six cardinal points, so at least one should be accessible from outside. There's even some proviso to couple pods together in case they get someone with a CAP score of ten and needed to have more room." Jeri explained.

Alex rocked back in his seat, thought for a moment then looked around. "Captain!" He called out, "Have you got a moment?"

The Captain crossed the room, looking relieved to have something, no matter how trivial, to do.

"Yes Alex?"

"Jeri here just said something that may have possibilities." He said, "Do we carry any assault shuttles on the Aurora?"

"No, only a couple of tenders. Why?" The Captain asked.

"Do they have the same mating hatches as the assault shuttles and the pods?" Alex asked.

The Captain got that far away look as he consulted the AI, then smiled, "You may have something there, they're going to take a look at it."

Ten minutes of inane conversation amongst the group followed before the Captain froze in mid sentence. "They think they can do it," he said, "they're going to check each pod out and if they're serviceable they're going to bring them to this end of the ship and mate them with the pods here."

He listened again, "We're to prepare to deal with survivors as each pod is secured. They've got two tenders so they'll be doing two transfers at a time and estimate thirty minutes between each operation. First transfers will be to pods A1 and A9."

Captain Roberts looked at the cadets, "Lets roll people."

---oOo---

In the end twenty-seven of the forty-eight forward pods were recovered. Of the twenty-seven pods, now locked securely onto the original forty-eight pods of the aft section, fifteen had had occupants who could be saved, most of whom where traumatised in some way. To the colonists in the rear half of the Aurora some of the things they found from the front of the ship where as funny as hell, whilst other things were seriously worrying.

The front half of the ship had been conducting extractions for a week before the aft half of the ship went active, this meant that assimilation and augmentation had been finished before the accident occurred. The difference in thinking between the two halves of the ship was stark.

In pod one the cadets had found four drones, a male and three females who'd belonged to a male volunteer. The females all looked and dressed as though they were fourteen year old schoolgirls complete with gymslips and white socks, when questioned they'd revealed that their actual ages where twenty-one, thirty-two and thirty-seven. The male drone had been changed to look like your typical dirty old man, balding and forced to wear glasses, he was in reality only sixteen years old.

Pod seven had been done out like the inside of a cave, all be it with all the modern conveniences and its surviving occupants, two female drones, looked like extras from the film A Million Years BC, even down to the fake fur bikinis they where wearing. In pod fifteen the cadets were confronted by three female drones, all three had been augmented to have perfectly identical eighteen year old bodies but one was a blond, another a brunette and the third a redhead. To complete the picture they were all dressed in identical French maids outfits. This got a couple of the guys thinking but one look at Jeri and the ideas went out of the window.

Pod thirty-two was the really worrying one, at least when you envisaged the mind of the volunteer who set it up. It contained three female drones, all of them pretty much naked except for a leather collar sealed around their necks. Two of them had been found secured in a room set up as a dungeon, which had been locked from the outside so even if they'd been able to break their bonds they'd still have been trapped. The third and most traumatised of the women had been found in the kitchen area with a chain linking her collar to a central pillar. None of them had any means of getting free without the assistance of the volunteer and were in a terrible state emotionally when they where rescued.

In total, across all of the recovered pods, there where five volunteers and forty drones, of whom five were males. After the surviving volunteers had made good their losses by taking their pick of those available, there were still twenty-eight drones requiring a home. It took just short of fifteen hours in the end to transfer all of the usable pods to the aft section of the ship and release the people in them.

Most of the people were sedated as soon as was possible, the AIs had some trick probes that could deal with trauma whilst the patient slept. How successful it would be only time would tell. Emily Horn had known a few soldiers who'd gone through the treatment and she told them it was about ninety five percent efficient, but that last five percent could pop up at any time and often changed normal behaviour patterns.

It was another twenty-four hours before the subject of what to do with those survivors who hadn't got a sponsor reared its ugly head. The initial thoughts expressed by the AI where that, as there where no sponsors available to take on these concubines, under the rules, they should be rejected. This was slapped down by Captain Roberts before any of the volunteers present could voice an opinion, which was probably just as well. It was pointed out to the AI that if each volunteer who could took a supernumerary there where more than enough slots to accommodate everyone rescued so there was no call for rejecting any one.

A couple of the Oriental volunteers offered to swap a concubine on a two for one basis and Alex actually thought this was a reasonable idea as it would encourage the genetic diversity that everyone was after. It was just after he'd had that thought that he felt like slapping himself, he was starting to treat the drones like property rather than people and he didn't want that attitude to set in but it was so difficult to avoid.

He'd seen other volunteers doing the same thing, and initially he'd been surprised that the drones had accepted the treatment but Dave Roberts, with the aid of the AI had explained that the drones where being conditioned to accept their position in life. Alex had then had a heated discussion with the AI concerning the ability of the drones to fight in defence of their planet if they'd been pacified. The AI had promised that the conditioning would be removed after the colonists had been deployed on Demeter. Alex wasn't sure he trusted the AIs to do so but only time would tell.

Three days after the accident all of the body juggling that was required had been performed. Each of the volunteers had their full complement of drones plus a supernumerary if they wanted one. The largest family grouping was, unsurprisingly that of Alex and Rachel with fourteen drones plus two supernumeraries. The smallest family consisted of only three members, the volunteer and their two drones. There were three families like this.

Two comments had come together to get Alex thinking and he'd gone on to discuss the ideas with Doug Rutledge and Jeri Burt who'd made the first comment. When the accident had happened she'd mentioned, in passing, that pods could be linked together for those with high CAP scores. The second comment had been from one of the handlers who'd mentioned that they were going to have to eject the pods before they went in for repairs.

Some quick calculations had revealed that they now had a total of forty-three volunteers and a collective total of seventy five pods. What Alex wanted was some ideas for the best way to utilise these pods for their colony. He gave the task to Doug and Jeri and suggested that they got one of the Orientals and one of the rescued volunteers in on the planning as well.

---oOo---

Gerry looked across the room that he and Jeri had set aside as their private domain and waited. Jeri wanted to say something, he could tell and until she'd said it their evening would be one of short jerky passages followed by silence. He had no idea what was on her mind but it couldn't have been life threatening or she'd have reacted already.

Jeri looked up and stared straight into her lovers eyes and recognised his patience. She blinked; was she being that obvious? she thought. 'Must be,' she concluded.

"Gerry, I uhhh..." How did she phrase the request she'd received?

Jeri started again, "Scarlett would like to have a word with us," she said. "From the hints she was dropping I think it may have something to do with the time she spent up front."

"When she was a slave?" Gerry asked.

Jeri nodded.

"Any idea at all of what she wants?" he asked.

"Not really, I just got the impression that it was very important to her and," Jeri paused, a puzzled look on her face, "that she wasn't sure how we were going to react."

"I take it she's available now?"

Jeri glanced at the time piece on the wall, which was still using Earth hours, "She'll be outside the door in five minutes," she said.

"Then I suppose we better find out what this is all about, hadn't we?" Gerry said, smiling at his beloved.

When Scarlett entered the room the two youngsters, who no longer looked like the children they had been when they left Earth, were sitting comfortably on a sofa. Without prompting, she crossed the room and sank to her knees before them, her eyes on the floor. Gerry looked like he was going to say something when Jeri rested her hand on his arm and squeezed gently.

"You wanted to speak to us Scarlett?" Jeri asked.

"Yes mistress," the kneeling woman said.

Gerry couldn't be restrained this time, "Scarlett you're not a slave anymore, you don't need to address us by those terms."

The woman looked up and the pair could see the tears starting to run down her cheeks. "And that's the problem, Master," she said. "I don't know what happened to me, whether there was some change over which I had no control or whether I've always been this way, but since I've been here, with you I just know that I'm a slave inside. You may have freed me, Sir, and I know that when I was tied up in that dungeon I dreamed of being free but now I know that, deep down, I need to be kept -- it is the only way I can be sure that I'm loved." The tearful woman dropped her eyes to the floor so her final words could barely be heard, "Can you Sir -- and the Mistress -- do this for me?"

Gerry didn't know what to say, he looked at Jeri who seemed much more composed than he was feeling. He raised an eyebrow, asking for her opinion. She shrugged back at him then turned towards Scarlett.

"What would you have us do, Scarlett?"

"Make me wear my collar, that would let everyone know that I was yours," she said. "Then, when I fail in some way, punish me. Then I'll know that you are watching me and that I mean something to you." She raised her eyes again, "Sir, you don't have to beat me if you don't want to, though I would make no objections if you did. I just need to know that I have a place with you and that the firmness you show me is the sign that you care."

"Wouldn't love be enough?" Gerry asked.

"I would always doubt you, in my own mind, Sir -- that is my problem. I've thought about this for nights now and I believe that I must have been damaged in some way by my ordeal. Now only a physical demonstration of 'love' would assure me that what you where saying was indeed true." Her head dropped again, "I'm sorry Sir, for not being able to take you at your word."

"Return to your room, Scarlett," ordered Jeri, "while I discuss this matter with your master."

Scarlett, her head still down, turned and fled the room. As the door shut Gerry opened his mouth to explode but stopped as Jeri placed his finger to his lips.

"Gerry," she said softly, "Is what she is asking for so very different from how we are with the rest of the family? They're drones and as such they need to obey our every whim. Scarlett just wants us to be more open and physical with her than any of the others have requested." She looked thoughtful for a moment, "You know, I think Cornelia may have similar leanings, she's been watching Scarlett with a look that I'd call pretty close to envy."

"But I can't go around beating up women just because they do something wrong." Gerry stormed.

Still calmly, Jeri answered, "You wouldn't have to beat up on her. She made that clear, didn't she? All you'd need to do is physically chastise her from time to time. That could be as simple as tying her to her bed for the night or draping her delectable body over your lap and giving her six of the best on her naked backside, with your bare hand, until something was throbbing," she finished with a wicked grin.

Gerry couldn't help but chuckle, "You think that would be enough?"

Jeri grinned, "At least to begin with. Whether it would be enough in the long term only time would tell. I think she'd become secure in our love and it would be enough but if she didn't then I think the occasional beating would have to be firmer, maybe even seriously painful." She looked serious, "but I think we can leave that for the future." She cuddled up to him, "So what do you say, Master, shall we tell Scarlett that she's a slave again?"

"You'd better make sure you've got a collar before you tell her then," he concluded before pulling Jeri onto his lap.

---oOo---

Chung Kan, now known as Chuck more and more, looked at his petite concubine and realised that he loved her more than the young wife he'd been forced to leave behind. As a twenty year old that revelation had come as a bit of a shock. When he'd asked for the hand of Lin Hua back on Earth, he was convinced that it was a match made in heaven, a life pairing that nothing would be able to separate. Yet three months after his wedding he was now light years from home and in love with another.

Rong was nearly ten years older than he was, yet after augmentation, even with the enhancements that Alex Flowers had insisted upon, she could have passed as his daughter. She was petite and, he felt, in need of protection from the wicked world. Her husband, make that ex-husband after his decision to keep her, had been an evil man, beating his wife for every little mistake. Beatings were something that Chuck promised her, and himself, would not be happening in this new world.

Still one aspect of sex had fascinated him and whilst he wouldn't have forced it on any of his Chinese concubines it was something he could dream about. When the option of swapping one of his concubines for two of the rescued westerners had presented itself he had been unable to keep that lewd image from his mind. That led directly to this little soiree with his loved one and the two westerners he'd accepted.

Ruby Stinton and Natasha Wade had been reasonably happy before the disaster and even more so since. The man they'd found themselves attached to was besotted with his Oriental concubine and whilst he had done his duty with each of them they were expected to act more like the help than as part of the family. This lack of anything objectionable, when coupled with the way they'd been indoctrinated made for a couple of very happy women -- women who's bodies where now twenty years younger than their physical age and in excellent shape.

The four of them were gathered in a cosy little split level bedroom. Both levels had padded floors that negated the need for a proper bed. Chuck and Rong were seated on the upper level with Ruby and Nancy on the lower.

Chuck was whispering in Rong's ear, "I have got these two westerners to help look after the children you will be having, they will also be a source of entertainment." He said so quietly, "Have you ever been with another woman?"

Rong shook her head.

"No, well watch as these two show you what can be done and in time I will have them serve you as well." Chuck looked up from beneath Rongs dark hair.

"I would like to be entertained." He said staring pointedly at the two women on the lower level. "Make love to each other," he ordered.

Natasha didn't know what to do, her mouth dropped open but Ruby slid comfortably into the breach. She slipped an arm around her new friend and asked, so that Chuck couldn't hear, "Never done it with a girl before?"

"No!" Natasha hissed.

"Well, don't worry," comforted Ruby, "I did it plenty of times when I was in college." She smiled, "It's fun, just lay back and follow my lead. If it gets to be too much we'll sort something out then."

Not waiting for an answer Ruby moved into an embrace with Natasha and gently pulled the younger blond woman into a kiss that started out gentle and became more passionate the longer it went on. Ruby slowly stripped off the grey tunic and matching knickers that Natasha was wearing and, never letting things cool, managed to divest herself at the same time.

She toyed with the naked blonde's body, exploring the enhanced and very sensitive breasts that their previous sponsor had requested before moving, an inch at a time, southwards, stopping for a while to play with Natasha's navel before sinking to her lightly covered pussy.

All the time she explored she was aware of the way Natasha was breathing, the sudden catches as something new was touched or tried and the gasps from the upper level as if in sympathy with the excited woman below.

Natasha was on the very edge, her gasping, almost pleading voice, wanting penetration. As the blonde's breath caught one more time Ruby plunged her fingers into the gapping maw of the woman's abused sex and was rewarded as her back arched and a high pitch whine ensued. On the upper level another orgasm could be heard happening but to whom she didn't know.

As they all relaxed, coming down gently, Chuck breathed out, just loud enough for all to hear. "And soon you'll join in too, dear."

---oOo---

Alex looked up from the hard copy report he'd been reading and muttered "Fuck it." He thought he'd been pretty quiet but Rebecca looked across.

"Problems?" she asked.

"I'm still trying to get my head around the way this whole mess is being organised. Or should that be not organised." He said. "As far as I can find talking to the AI each colony is a separate entity as far as the Confederacy is concerned. Persephone, which to any sensible person should be considered a single entity, is actually classed as two colonies. The orbital shipyards and asteroid mines count as another. We, although in the same system, will be another."

He waved the papers he'd been reading around, "When they've finished there will be six colonies on Demeter, all of them answerable only to themselves. There is no government other than what the volunteers set up under the auspices of the AI which may, or may not, be willing to lay down specific rules of operation."

He looked at the ceiling and scowled, "We're not even allowed to talk to the AI that will be running our colony until we enter it's orbit of control, which means after we land. In addition," he said, taking a deep breath, "the defence of the township is up to the drones we take with us. You have to assume that the volunteers are off planet for most of the time so they are very much on their own. Is there provision for an army or training or even weapons? No."

He looked over at Rebecca, "You know, if I hadn't already volunteered I'd be very tempted to tell them to stuff it until they got their act together."

Rebecca just smiled, "So," she asked, "do you feel better now?"

Alex couldn't help it, he chuckled, "Yes, I suppose I do."

"In that case, what are you going to do about it?"

"Me? What can I do about it?" He demanded.

"Didn't they put you in charge of the colony?" she asked.

Alex looked thoughtful, "They said they did, but I figured it was just until we got there. I hadn't realised that it was a completely new colony."

"If that's the case, what would you want? Will they give it to you and if not, what can you do about it?" she said, pointing him in the right direction as usual.

Alex walked over and gave Rebecca a kiss on the forehead, "Thank you," he whispered lovingly.

"AI, we will be raising a militia on Demeter from the drones. It will require equipping for combat operations -- what is available immediately and what can be provided at a later date?"

Three hours later and Alex had many more answers than he thought were possible, he also had some announcements to make both to the drones and the volunteers.

The Confederacy Space Marines had announced the ranks that were being allocated to the volunteers in the township of Celeus. The former cadet Colonel Alex Flowers was now Marine Lieutenant Flowers and the senior officer in the town. There were ten ensigns -- two had been cadet Majors, four had been cadet Captains. In addition, Andy Chan, John Kam, Phoebe Phelps and Jasmine Horton had all been picked out for that particular honour. In addition all the other volunteers would become Space Marine Privates with the proviso that when and if they completed flight training they would be automatically promoted to Sergeant.

After the discussion between the AI and Alex, a Militia was being formed, nominally organised as a light battalion. It would start off with nine platoons of about 18 people commanded by an Ensign or Lieutenant, three platoons would then be grouped together to make a company which would be commanded by a Captain. The drones had sufficient bodies under this organisation to form three companies which would make up the light battalion, which to start with would be commanded by a Major. When the colony could support sufficient troops this would grow to be a regular sized battalion and the command slot would become a Lieutenant Colonels The platoons would be enlarged as new arrivals were trained and the children came of age.

The Militia officers were drawn primarily from those cadets who didn't have high enough CAP scores to volunteer. Alex picked Johnny Porter to head up the militia both because he was a friend and because he had the highest CAP score of all the cadets available. The only thing that Alex hadn't been particularly enamoured with over the Militia officer corps was that it was all male, a hang over from the limited number of females who'd been in the college.

The AI had been forced to accept that this was going to happen and had been able to provide over five hundred infantry assault weapons for the Militia. These weapons would become available as soon as the pods were deployed to the planet. Armour, communications equipment and transport would have to be sorted out at a later date. All in all things were starting to look better for our latter day Spartans.

---oOo---

Every tick, click or shudder the ship made as it progressed through space was noted by it's passengers. Though nothing untoward had happened since the decompression of the forward section people where naturally nervous and not just those who had started the trip in the forward section. Rumour had it that the AIs had had to sedate some of the Darjee who commanded the ship -- they were that nervous.

So when the alarms rang and the ship juddered gently there was a moment of panic that, in most cases, only lasted as long as it took to listen to and decipher the announcement over the speaker system.

They'd arrived in the Poseidon system and where dropping out of faster than light drive -- that was the cause of the juddering that had been felt. Alex thought it would have been kinder to inform the passengers that the event was due rather than just let it happen. The next three days would be spent edging into the system and arranging a rendezvous with the third planet out from the G class star.

First impressions of Poseidon where undecided as the view of any system from outside the orbit of it's outer planet doesn't reveal much. In the electronic spectrum the sixth planet, or at least two of it's moons stood out like lighthouses on a clear, midsummer night. The third planet was, relatively, a tiny glow in the distance. Nothing could really be seen of the third planet through the ships optical systems, people would have to wait until they where much closer for a view of the planet that was going to be there new home.

The attitude on the ship changed though. Now they where near their destination and would be out on their own. Volunteers began to run around ensuring that they had everything in their pods that they could think of. Drones, now much more compliant than they had been at the beginning of the journey, rushed around at their sponsor's whim, on more than one occasion bumping into each other as they tried to do the same thing.

When the ship crossed the orbit of six, now only a day from its destination, Alex called a command conference of his expanded staff. What had once been a group of six cadets now numbered ten and included Andy Chan and John Kam representing the Orientals, Phoebe Phelps for the six point fours who'd been promoted and Jasmine Horton representing the small group of volunteers who'd been rescued from the forward part of the ship. The only non-volunteer in the command staff was Johnny Porter, who Alex had earmarked to command the townships militia in the absence of the volunteers.

The whole group had been pretty well integrated initially through the willingness of the cadets to help out but the disaster and its consequences had forced everyone to pull together emotionally as well as physically and that had smoothed out a lot of the rough edges. Things weren't perfect but according to Captain Roberts they were a lot better than some of the groups he'd dropped before.

Alex ensured that everyone was seated before starting the meeting. "Pay attention everyone. Tomorrow we arrive at our new home and we need to finalise a few details. Doug and Jeri here have been looking at some of the options so we'll let them brief us then get on with thrashing out the final details." He dropped back to his seat then waved at Doug to continue.

"Alex asked us to look into what we would need on the planet and how we could utilise the many extra pods we had available to further those aims." Doug glanced around at the audience, "Jeri and I were out on a limb here so we got hold of Andy, who it turns out was in town planning back on Earth, and tried to prioritise what we'd need. I'll tell you now that this wasn't as easy as it could have been. If the AIs had been more forthcoming with what was already available and how fast new systems would become available our whole task would have been both easier and quicker."

"One thing that I don't think any of us was aware of is just how flexible the basic pod structure is. We were used to them being a habitat and as such things that went along that line were understandable, school rooms and a hospital were the first things that sprang to mind. It was Andy here who realised that the power source for the settlement was a modified pod and asked the question of the AI. The list we got of what a pod can become, in a very short time frame, was staggering."

Doug held up a list a several pages long. "This is the basic specifications that are available. The ones we think that are of interest include a remote manufacturing facility that would take up four pods and can be used to produce just about any unpowered device you care to think of. A similar three pod assembly that is used to produce electronic circuit boards would also be a useful addition as would a five pod assembly that produces self contained power supplies. All of these facilities are controlled by the AI and therefore will get by with a minimum of staffing requirements."

"We have assumed a habitation level for the pods of five people so your family Alex, which is the largest will get four pods, the average is two pods and a few will only get one pod. This exceeds, by a long way, the standard normally used where by a CAP ten is the first place they start looking at allocating more than one pod per volunteer."

"In all this level of deployment would account for fifty three of the available pods. Add in the three production units we've described and total usage rises to sixty five pods." He glanced down at the list he had before him, "The ten pods we have left open up a lot of possibilities, not all of them strictly necessary."

He glanced across at Jeri as he said that and she grinned in return. "Some of the options include a pub, a shrine and a church but the complete list is there if anyone has any preferences." He concluded tossing the sheets onto the desk before him.

The group accepted their recommendations for the first sixty five pods and then spent the next two and a half hours sorting out what to do with the last ten pods.

---oOo---

Alex was surprised to discover just how long it was going to take to get the pods and the people down to the planets surface. He'd assumed that they'd just be dropped, a bit like World War two paratroopers and they'd sort it all out on the ground.

In this he was sadly mistaken. Each pod was decoupled and effectively lowered into place by the ships tender, which meant two at a time for the Aurora. Each operation, coupling up the pod, descent to the planets surface and returning to the ship took about three hours. After the pod was correctly positioned on the ground remotes had to couple it up to the basic infrastructure, the pre-deployed pods that provided the power, water and sewage facilities for the fledgling town which, fortunately, took less time than it did to deploy the next pair of pods.

Then the pod had to perform a metamorphosis as it generated a full spherical shield into which it injected an Earth like environment, all of this after it had totally purged the sphere of any nasties the native world may have left behind. This took half a day to accomplish and had to be done correctly to protect the colonists. The later arrivals, once the terraforming had been completed, would not have to go through this stage.

All of this had to happen seventy five times to get all of the pods deployed so, to those colonists waiting to be transported down to their new homes, time seemed to crawl. In terms of Demeter's twenty five hour day it took four and a half days to get the pods to the surface.

Priority had been given to the habitat modules so Alex was able to take his family to the surface the day after they'd arrived in orbit. To say that he was impressed would be an exaggeration, the view from the pods showed the planets vegetation to be on the blue end of the green spectrum, rather than the yellow end they were used to. The area around the township was made up of rolling hills with what looked like small copses of trees scattered about, all of which was vaguely reminiscent of home.

Alex felt Rebecca draw alongside him and look out over the blue green vista. "It's home, Alex," she said, "our children will grow up knowing no different and their children will, hopefully, wonder what all the fuss was about."

"I know," he said, "I just wonder how much we, as a people, are going to change?" He hugged his spouse before continuing, "We may have known for a couple of years that this was going to happen but it all feels so rushed, almost desperate and I'm not sure if we've given it enough thought. It's as though we've reacted rather than planned and to be honest I don't trust the Confederacy to treat us honestly at the end of it." Alex paused, drawing comfort from the closeness of Rebecca.

"One thing I do know," he said firmly, "is that if they think I'm just going to let this town, and the planet, fall neatly into line they've got another thing coming. We're humans and humans need to be free to make their own mistakes, to explore and to discover new things. Just because they've been there before and didn't like what they found doesn't mean that we won't like what they found."

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of charging feet, Deirdre, the seven year old daughter of Mabel Turner, one of his drones, clattered to a halt beside the couple. "When can I go out to play Daddy?" she asked, looking out at the virgin planet.

Rebecca smiled and answered, "Soon sweetness, very soon." The small group turned and went back into their home, alive, free and determined to stay that way.

---oOo---

Many thanks to The Thinking Horndog for his editing of this piece, any errors that survived are due to my changes after the event.

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