Outlaw Badjans (Six of Toigan)

by D Gemcats Purcell

  Jessi got back to her home, ran to the shower then came back downstairs and hugged her Mum Susan who asked, “So how was it my Darling?”

  Jessi said, “All went well with the drive there and back, and gosh Mum it was so incredible those few hours, spending time with Jonah and his family. They were all muddy working in the fields. I’m glad I brought a change of clothes or you’d have seen me come back in his shorts and shirts. We even went inspecting the fence rows by horseback. It’s been a while since I rode. I’m actually feeling a tiny bit sore now. And Mum,” she said somewhat breathlessly, “we talked about getting married!”

  Susan said, “I know. We expected that sooner rather than later actually. You have that blush when you’re around him. It reminded Jace and I of when we were hot for each other. We still are, by the way.”

  Jessi blushed and gave her Mum a quick hug. “I’m so glad you understand Mum.”

  “So do Dad and I have to give you lessons like about the Kama Sutra stuff and protection?”

  Jessi shook her head, “Mum it’s all up here in our heads from the Immersion. Come to think about it, it’s so cool that we’ve had so much information rammed up there just waiting to become needed and out it pops!”

  Susan said, “Yeah it’s beyond amazing that you don’t have to go look up most stuff. Things that took years of college to learn, you guys got it pumped in over just days. You guys are like where we were at age 29 and beyond. It’s amazing how well it has matured your outlooks too. So adult, so thoughtful for soon to be eighteen year olds. We were wild children still then, even though we had a touch of primitive immersion to help us along.”

  Susan said, “You all are doing the right thing, planning ahead, taking your time. Is Jonah taking good care of you?”

  Jessi asked, “Yes Mum. Are you asking if we’ve done it yet?” Susan bobbed her head. Jessi decided to save her any embarrassment. “No Mum, we both want to wait a bit longer, although we are sure about each other. He is innocent like me sexually.”

  “Well my advice is to take charge when the time comes, to physically guide him as to where to touch and how. Men still are too, well you know immature, to admit that they really don’t know how. The theory they learn is not always accurate for each person’s body. That will set up a good foundation so that both of you get fully satisfied. I did that and I’m happy compared to some of my friends, who never got into a good balance and sexual dynamic with their spouses.”

  Jessi nodded, “Thank you Mum.”

  “Also you all should talk about whether you want to carry a baby or use the still somewhat risky artificial womb thingy in a lab or getting the popular surrogate option. If you plan to have a significant career to do space travel, you must think of those options carefully. As you know, you were born from a surrogate and you’re doing fine. Plus you both need to save your seed before you get bombarded with too much cosmic rays.”

  Jessi said, “That Defnet man, Buenafe already spoke to us about all that Mum.”

  Susan said, “Between the Immersion and your tutors, there’s very little room for us parents to teach you all anything nowadays. I guess I should be happy, since I’m witness to the past lots of parents who did such a piss poor job or none at all of imparting knowledge and values.” She continued, “I will let your Dad know and I am happy for you both. Did you all decide when the formal decision between you two would take place?”

  “Oh no Mum, this was the first time we even talked about it. But it feels so right that I wanted to give you just an inkling of it. No formal engagement yet, but soon.”

  “He is a great lad, I’m happy in every way,” said Susan.

  Jessi was laying in bed, a bit too early to sleep and she was expecting to say good night to Jonah soon anyway. She touched her chest and could feel her nipples harden and tighten into hard raisins just thinking of him. She thought about what her Mum had said and a little giggle escaped her lips. What would she say if Jordan asked her how she knew to tell him how to touch her? She chuckled at the thought of him getting his rocks off. Well it wasn’t confined to boys, doing that. She was almost slapping herself in laughter at the whole thing. She thought to herself, I won’t admit to anything. I will just tell him, shut up and do this and then that and show him. She hoped that her parents weren’t just now walking past her door to hear her giggling loudly.

  Ah well, “Hi sweetheart, I’ve been waiting.” She said mentally when Jonah tuned in. Jessi purred, “Thank you for allowing me to come over today Jonah. I don’t think I could have survived a day longer without seeing you, without being with you.”

  “Neither could I Jessi, neither could I. I have never had an experience like what we shared today my love. I am cherishing it and will keep doing so.”

  He said after a pause, ”It was incredible Jessi, I am just so glad that it’s mutual, that’s all, and that I was not going to have to deal with rejection. I don’t know how I could have coped with that.”

  She said, “ I totally understand. I look forward to us being together romantically as well as working together on the projects we like. Jonah, I have to say though that we will have to be careful that our love for each other doesn’t become a liability when we have to do dangerous work together though. There may be scenarios where we may have to leave each other in danger when it is the best decision for everyone and we will need to be professional about it, right.”

  He said, “Yes, I have given that some thought too. Yes it may be difficult, but we are professionals and we cannot let each other or the team down on the basis of sentiment. It is right to confront those issues now and resolve it before we are faced with it in reality. See, that’s another reason why I cherish you so much. We will do just fine my lady.”

  “Anyway Jessi I am going to sleep well tonight and I hope you do too. Are you ok, not too sore from the riding? I am sorry, I should have stopped after half hour. It was a bit too much if you’ve been out of the saddle for a long time. Then you had to drive home too.”

  “I am just a teeny bit sore yes, but not a problem. I wouldn’t have missed spending that time with you for nothing. Love you. See you the day after tomorrow Darling.”

  “Can’t wait sweetheart,” He said.

  I did not tell her that as soon as she’d left, Moog came up to me in the living room with the printed pages from a few shopping sites. “Ok little brother, time to pick out the most suitable one as it must be ordered this evening to get it delivered to us at the beach condo. You must give her that engagement ring and propose now. No better time than now with Six and all families there. She is the one, so grab her before someone else does ok!”

  I looked up and both Mum and Dad nodded affirmatively. Mum had a big mischievous smile on her face too. Neither of them said anything though. I didn’t know what else to say, so after a thoughtful, “Well,” appropriately drawled I grabbed the sheets of paper out of his hand and I saw two that looked suitable for her. Of the two, one offered the option of engraving and it won out. “One heart Jessi and Jonah” is what it would say I told him and he got down to the business of ordering a pair. Neither of us would be able to wear such accessories while on missions but it would be nevertheless a keepsake of our budding commitment to each other. It was now Wednesday and we were to leave Friday mid morning from Pommerose so a little earlier from our farmhouse. Then from her home we’d still have another four and a half hours of driving; not bad for such an important trip.

  In fact, my brother Moog got the pair of engagement rings in by courier at 0900am just as we were boarding Dad’s big van to leave on Friday morning. That was fast service indeed. Everyone made sure that I had it packed away safely. I did pack some spiffy casual wear as did everyone. The day before I had gotten a haircut, nails were groomed and my teeth had just been cleaned at the dentist less than two weeks ago to boot. Moog packed some protective equipment for himself but he made a point to show me where they were, as he said, in case of hanky-panky. I looked at him like he had just grown a ten poi
nt antler rack and he doubled over in peals of laughter. For the whole trip thereafter, the whisper of a smile lifted the corners of his lips whenever our eyes met. That was very irritating. But I appreciated my brothers concerns. He was being mischievously helpful in his own way. I am so lucky to have had a brother. Not many families had more than one kid nowadays, excepting amongst some of our noncom families.

  At Jessi’s place, we piled out, hugs everywhere and quickly helped to stow their stuff. Dad was driving for now with Jace next to him. Mum and Juliana were in captains chairs in the second row and Moog and I were in the rear with Susan and Jessi in front of us. It was a big van, so quiet and comfortable. Everyone was engaged in quiet conversation but Moog and I were quietly reading. Jessi put her hands back and patted my knees periodically. Of course I could say a word or two silently to Jessi. Mostly we were on autopilot with Dad monitoring ready to take over if needed and we made one stop about an hour from our destination for a top off at the charger and a restroom break.

  There was no problem getting to our condo and we had actually met up with the rest of Six at the charging station. They had two similar sized vans that they’d rented apparently. We pulled into our condo, meeting with the caretaker who reviewed the features including security, gave us the keys, codes and beach rules. We would have ample space away from each other if needed. It was clean well kept with lots of high end features. We learned that the same thing was mirrored with the other four and with everyone settled into their quarters, we all streaked out into the backyard barefooted to get the clean white sands between our toes. Out over the anti erosion berms we walked sixty feet on walkways then down onto the sand. We carried a few deck chairs with us and a few of the group, just wanted to walk on the water’s edge. There was still strong sunshine and the salty air tinged with that characteristic tinge of seaweed made us all feel great, like we were truly on vacation.

  We, mostly us younger ones had slowly traipsed up and down the beach, checking out our surroundings thoroughly at least four miles in both directions. There were no threats detected. We met and mingled with a few others in our age groups and were invited to a few parties already. But those folks seemed to be the types who believed that getting away also meant inebriation and none of us were into that. So we declined politely. We did offer a few of them, a bit of volleyball early in the morning - Saturday. It was so good to see Matt, Dillion, Cherese and Mader with their loved ones too. It was already a fun thing to watch how the parents hung out together and probably were telling tall stories about us. They were having a rollicking good time, that was obvious. Jealously we said, “Well old people must lighten up too.” In actuality we soberly had to reckon that in just 20 years or so we would be them, if we lived long enough. We’d better hurry up and get them some grands for them, on the way.

  Dinner came in a large van and we had them set it all up in the next door big house where there was enough seating for all twenty people with spares. What do you know, if Adrianna and her parents didn’t show up too. There was more than enough food spread out buffet style. Today we got a mixture of cuisines mostly asian style with even portions for vegetarians, though no one had declared themselves to be. The staff was certainly scanned by us for our safety. All seemed focused on providing good service to their guests and they were rewarded with generous credits in tips above and beyond already included gratuities. They cleaned up and left, leaving us all like lazy seals to flop about on the beach.

  Everyone gathered at our condo in order to play some board games and cards. It was really nice to see the parents in particular get totally absorbed in it. One of the Six was always on guard with sensors on full. There were just too many of us here and our loved ones too, to retreat into oblivious innocence. We would never ever truly let our guard down. So we rotated the duty every forty five minutes or so.

  It was during Mader’s turn that he suddenly cocked his head to the side and sent out the alarm to us. He motioned for Matt to listen and we all tuned in, magnifying his power. There was a horrible struggle out maybe 1/4 mile up the beach and it sounded like someone was being choked. We told Adrianna and Dillion to stay in case it was a ploy to draw us all away. Then we five ran to the edge of the yard just at the beginning portion of the board walk and as one we teleported in the darkness toward the area where we had heard the sounds.

  A male broad shouldered figure was leaning over a female form who lay spread legged thrashing weakly in the sand. His hand seemed to be fiddling with his shorts but the other was pressing into her neck. She was barely vocalizing now, just a few rasping squeaks. Matt and Jessi’s vidcoms were recording video and the moment the male figure looked up and saw us walking fast towards him, he reached over to pull a metallic object towards him and started to raise his hand. To us it was clearly a weapon- “gun” went through our heads in unison. He was already pulling the trigger and the simplest thing to do was to redirect. As soon as he pulled the trigger, the gun was now pointed at his right temple with our nudge. His head exploded instantly in a spray of blood and gore. The poor lady still had the presence of mind to squirm away a foot or so why trying to catch her breath. He had tumbled backwards and was left laying sprawled out with his pants pulled down and his member hanging out as if in a macabre coitus interruptus scene.

  We mind talked with Adrianna and Dillion, attempted violent rape, attacker accidentally shot himself. We called up Breecher and sent him the video and he was instantly relaying the info to the precinct close to the beach. He told us to stand by and give a statement but keep out of the news. We were just some visitors who came upon a rape assault in action and took a video while attempting to intervene but the rapist seems to have accidentally shot himself. We skirted around and only one person, Cherese went to the lady to ask if she could breathe ok. There was always the danger of her throat swelling severely from the compression; there could even be fractures of the throat cartilages. She hoarsely said, “I am traumatized but I am beginning to breathe a little better. Thank you. I am convinced this man was not going to let me live. I was jogging and got caught out here a little too late. I do this all the time and nothing like this has ever happened.” The poor lady who looked to be in her forties and in great physical shape was shaking violently with fear, now that it was hitting her how close to death she had been.

  We videoed that statement too as well as passing it onto Breecher as well, plus the scuff and footprints in the area. We did not touch either the lady nor the dead violent rapist. The police and ambulance arrived and we kept back after pointing out the crime scene and the victim. The lady walked away from the scene as directed after giving her statement and got into an ambulance. We gave up the names of Matt one of the video takers and Cherese who had approached the victim. The others of us faded into the background. When they had given their statements, they were allowed to go and we took off. The scene was to be processed thoroughly. We muttered as we walked back, “Breecher must have put a hex on us. Can’t we go to a place with no crime?”

  Back at the house, we explained that we were able to stop a violent rape and that the criminal shot himself. My Mum said, “He saw my scary kids coming and he knew he was done for! Good riddance. I feel so safe having team Six around.” Jace and Susan nodded and everyone got right back into their games. Though a little more somber, we watched as Mader and Adrianna smooched in a corner until it was time for her parents to head back to their hotel. They would be back tomorrow mid morning they said. They were invited to stay a few days extra with us in either house but declined. Adrianna could stay they said though.

  The next morning after a great night’s sleep we woke up early Jessi and I, to get some early morning walking done. Later on we knew that we’d be having a great catered breakfast. Jessi and I were out walking the beaches looking at shells and occasionally skipping stones off the water only to find out that my Mum and Dad were out doing the same thing. “Sorry for being up so early to disturb your walk Jessi and Jonah, but we just couldn’t stay in bed wit
h the lovely beach a stones throw away.” Dad said. They, our family as a whole were so used to being up before 0600am.

  “Oh no Dad it’s a pleasure to get company, especially you all.”

  So we walked mostly quietly, heading away from where the commotion took place last night. We didn’t want to see yellow crime scene tape and other reminders of the near tragedy. As it was the appropriate person, the criminal, had been the one to harvest his own bad karma. Jessi and I were in our own world, and Mum and Dad too were just totally focused on each other. It was a wonderful start to our first full day on the beach. We had until the following Saturday. We aimed to relax and have fun every day.

  After returning to the condo, and enjoying a good breakfast it was time to meet our boat rental folks and the tutor. We all sat in the sand while the tutor drew diagrams on a white board showing how to tack upwind and downwind with sail and rudder to get to a set point, how to sidle up to a dock, all the critical safety rules and right of way. We all knew about signaling and use of emergency locator beacons, but he still went over that too. Most of the parents were standing in a partial ring around us, taking in the lesson too. Then it was time for real water work and we all got to practice correct personal flotation device use, getting in and out of the boats after doing the assembly job since they came on a truck to our site. How to right a capsized vessel and to rig up the sails plus simple repairs and use of the emergency water proof radio.