“Please sir, tell me he did not demand his whiskey back!”
“No, Number One, he didn’t. Captain Hultz is too honorable for that. Besides, we all knew the risks. Concubines haven’t endured the proper training of the Madonna’s Rites. They have not earned their place to be considered future citizens! As such they either are pleasing to their masters, or they are cleansed. For them, it is the only way to salvation.”
“I was once enticed by the priesthood,” Abdul said, getting a curious look from his admiral. “It is true! I had sat in many cleansing ceremonies when I was little as my father always took me. I always wanted to separate the female flesh from their bodies on my own. I do have skill!”
“I always felt you were more righteous than most, Number One. It is a higher calling, and it doesn’t surprise me that it interested you. Why then would you join the military?”
A flash from the wall screen opposite where they were observing a large orbital was breaking apart, escape pods fleeing only to be blown out of the void by Zikar forces.
“Sir, I agree, there is no higher calling than the priesthood. Bringing truth and righteousness, along with divine judgment, is central to our society. I’m not sure I could have entered the war without the comforting knowledge our priests are here in battle with us, risking their lives to keep us on the straight and narrow. But I’ve always thought my place to be expanding the Zikar kingdom. A dreadnought captain is a missionary, is he not?” His captain nodded his head in agreement. “I am glad that it was my ship that fired the first nuclear warheads at Loyola Prime. A solemn responsibility, but one that makes me glad I forwent the priesthood. We are standard-bearers here on the field of battle. We make straight the way such that the priesthood may follow. But it is us who opens up the possibilities of righteousness.”
A Westerly dreadnought blew apart, along with three Zikar heavy cruisers.
“My thoughts exactly,” Eigor started. “My place is to lead us into a glorious golden age of man, where there will be peace and good will, and neighbors will love their neighbors.”
Several Zikar light cruisers were destroyed while critically wounding a Westerly battleship that was no longer able to defend itself as additional Zikar forces began to swarm it.
“Abdul, I’m going to retire to my chambers for now. Page me once the enemy fleet has been defeated.”
“Yes, sir!”
##
Eigor was looking forward to his downtime. Dealing with the greedy Westerly Federation was exhausting to him. Their motives never seemed very clear. His latest concubines were all prisoners, captured after the last battle above Loyola Prime. The male prisoners were executed, while the female prisoners that were desirable were distributed among fleet officers, with higher-ranking officers such as himself having first picks. The undesirable women were then executed. If a woman was unwanted by a Zikar male, she served no purpose in this life.
He was excited to spend some time with his new prizes, but he could only handle the company of two women at a time. More than that, they just really annoyed him, especially when they started talking.
When he entered his chamber, his steward was there to greet him.
“Hello, sir! How may I serve you?” Julie said standing at attention.
Julie Newman was born Zikar, and it was just bad luck she was never married. As a result, she had been sold as a concubine, but eventually, that came to an end. Her last master, having a hot temper, mashed a hot iron on the side of her face one night after he received a reprimand from his work supervisor. A full investigation exonerated him of any wrongdoing, as well as her. It was her job to take whatever punishment her master saw fit to dish out. After all, how are women supposed to know what is right for them except they please their masters through obedience? After this, the master sought to get rid of her. It was just by luck at the slave markets that her new master passed by at just the right moment. Perhaps he saw her unscarred side and the striking beauty that she once was. Perhaps it was something else. Whatever the case, he bought her and made her his personal steward.
Eigor enjoyed having her around as she tended to his cabin, his laundry, and his meals. When he was bored, sometimes she spent the night with him. Julie was special, more so than regular women. She knew things, knew how to process complex situations and strategies. She had more natural talent for military situations than most admirals he knew.
It seemed to Eigor that the Madonna had bestowed him this woman, after all, women were not supposed to know these things, were they? Julie was heads above the rest, was his steward, his confidant, and his strategist. Most did not know that many of his recent gains in his military career had been because of this gem of a Zikar woman.
For Julie’s part, she knew she would never be a concubine again, and with her facial burns, she could never hope to find a husband either. This was the best she could hope for in this life, and they both knew it. She offered up her insights to her admiral, helped him process situations, but she knew she was very replaceable.
“I wish to have a relaxing evening with two of my women,” he said.
“Which two, sir?” Julie asked meekly. She did not know how much the admiral leaned on her for her mind, only that knew every time he chose another woman she figured she was still on the outside and at any moment could be cast out to starve as a homeless woman or even cleansed. No, she was going to be the best steward he ever had!
“Um, I had the two brunettes the last few nights, how about the two blondes?” he said, walking into the holding cell.
His flag quarters were expansive. Not only that but like every other high-ranking officer in the Zikar navy, it included a room to house concubines. The holding cell was a simple room with metal chains mounted to the floor that attached to the metal restraints on the prisoners, or in this case, the concubines.
“Yes sir, I’ll get them cleaned up right away, sir!” Julie said excitedly as her admiral walked away, presumably to go clean himself up in his private shower before she brings the two women to him.
She reached down and detached one of the shock-sticks from her side. The women in the room all jumped and began whimpering when they heard the sizzle from the end of the stick, having already learned the purpose the device.
“You and you,” Julie said with a stern look on her face. “There will not be trouble, or there will be pain.”
“Why are you doing this to us? You’re a woman just like us!” Emilia cried out.
“They told me Westerly women do not know their place,” she said with no small amount of malice. “Be silent, or you will have another lesson on where that place is.”
Emilia Shepard was weeping. Being a “thing” was not the future she had envisioned for herself. Indeed, she had a respectable career as a lieutenant in the Westerly Federation, if it even still existed.
Julie first went to Emilia to unlock her. As she was trained to look for signs of noncompliance, she noticed Emilia steeling herself to attack. Julie immediate poked her with the shock-stick, causing the woman to drop to her knees, howling in pain.
“Leave her alone! Don’t touch her!” cried out the other blond, knowing she was next to get ready for a night with the admiral.
Julie held her gaze on the second and shocked Emilia twice more without blinking.
Really, it felt right to do it. It had been done to her so many times that it was pleasurable to be the one with the power. She would do this for her admiral that he would always be pleased with her. And perhaps if she did her job well enough, he would allow her to spend the night with him again in the coming months. For right now he had his new playthings, and she was sure he would tire of them eventually. Concubines would change, but she would remain the faithful steward.
With the first woman subdued, she addressed her. “Strip. Throw your clothes to the side and stand by the door.”
Emilia complied. Her fight was driven completely out of her.
“You,” Julie said, pointing the shock-stick at Margaret
as she walked over and stuck her with it, causing writhing pain in the older woman.
At this point, Admiral Margaret Ziolkowski was regretting all the anti-aging treatments standard to the Westerly military personnel. It kept her looking every bit as beautiful as she was when she was twenty-five, even though she was now sixty-two years old. She thought grimly if she had looked her age, they would have simply executed her, instead of subjugating her to this life of humiliation.
Her daughter Emilia would not even be in this position if it were not for her. She had pulled strings after the whole Jacqueline Campo thing blew up and everyone associated with her was arrested. Everyone except Emilia. She made sure Emilia was posted to her group. And when the Zikars came, she made sure they were both on a battleship taking a one-way ticket out of the Loyola Sentra system. That is before the Zikars intercepted them.
A lot of this mess was her own fault, and she knew it. As one of the primary members of ‘The Chosen’ within Westerly space, she played a key role in crippling the nation by sabotaging both its communications network and its early warning systems. If those had functioned as they were intended, the Commonwealth could have been called for help and more people could have escaped, perhaps even the Zikars could have been held off, sparing the larger populations of the core worlds.
“Did you not get the hint?!” Julie said with an angry voice, striking her a second time with the shock stick. “Strip!”
Once Margaret’s body stopped shaking from the electrocutions, she quickly took off her clothing then walked over to the door next to her daughter.
“Both of you, in the shower, now!”
They walked across the hall and both got in the shower. Julie oversaw them properly bathing themselves and then washing and conditioning their hair. She made sure they shaved their legs properly, all the while holding the shock-stick, looking for an excuse to use it again. She was not going to hear a complaint from the admiral about how either of these women smelled or felt. They would be sweet, soft and inviting, or she would turn up the setting on the device and show them the true meaning of pain.
After the women had been cleaned up, she made them dress. Not in full clothing, but in lingerie. It pleased the admiral to have something to unwrap, he just did not want to work too hard at it.
“You will please him, and you will make him happy. I am suspicious of both of you, and will be only a few meters away should he express displeasure with you for any reason. And when he is not pleased, I am not pleased,” she said, patting her stock-stick.
Indeed, the safety and comfort of the admiral were her top priorities and reason for being here. And even though these infidel women had the priests blessing, she would always make sure her admiral was perfectly attended to. She would remain in the bedroom with the admiral and both of these women for the duration of the evening, standing in her usual spot at the foot of the bed.
Whatever her admiral needed of her she would do, for he was her god and king.
Chapter 20
Lenox System
On approach to Lenox-5
ARNS Mars
“That’s a lot of bad guys,” Rick commented.
Tabitha sighed. “Colonel, you have a way of understating a problem.”
After opening the Gate, they were surprised not to be challenged by the now dormant Gatekeepers. The Westerly Federation had kept them in place, but apparently, they had abandoned them.
Jackie had first sent her stealthy corvettes and newly commissioned stealth cutters through to give them “the lay of the land.” The cutters were now the smallest ships of her fleet, at seventy meters long. They had been Zikar corvettes in a former life, back during the time of the first dynasty wars some five hundred years earlier. Jackie had found a use for these ships as the cutters would be completely unmanned. They were staffed exclusively by the ACUs, and five of them were put under the command of a human-operated corvette forming a squadron, and they had many squadrons.
What they found in the Lenox system was beyond disturbing, an unbelievably large fleet of Zikar ships was there with what looked like the last of the Westerly fleets.
Jackie at once directed them to seed the theater with FTL satellites, allowing for real-time views of the entirety of the field battle, though it spanned light minutes.
Over fifty thousand Zikar ships in the system, Jackie thought to herself. How will we ever stop that many?
“Where did they get so many ships?” Tabitha asked.
“My guess is they’ve been planning this for a long time,” Rick said.
“What’s the disposition of the Westerly fleets?” Jackie asked.
Jackie missed having Alice on the flag bridge, but she now served as the admiral over a separate Askirti fleet.
“It appears to be about fourteen thousand ships, most of them damaged,” Tabitha said. “Also, about a third of them are recently recommissioned.”
“Recommissioned?” Jackie raised an eyebrow.
“Well, taken out of the mothball fleet and put back in service without refit.”
“Ouch,” Jackie commented. “So not the best the Westerly’s has to offer, but probably all they had left.”
“We also see the remains of about ten thousand Zikar ships,” Tabitha continued. “So, the Federation is putting up a fight, but the Zikars have not even engaged the bulk of their fleet!”
“Put me through to whatever high command is left here,” Jackie ordered.
A few moments later, an image resolved on the screen. The backdrop was the flag bridge of a Westerly dreadnought. But the most grabbing image was who had responded.
“Hello Rear Admiral Waters,” Jackie said calmly.
Rear Admiral Josh Waters had previously been assigned to manage Anderson Station in a backwater system. It was there Jackie had been initially assigned to the WFS Colt, commanded by Captain Jeri De Vitis, Josh’s best friend.
“Oh, my God! Is that you, Jackie?! Tell me you are in system!” answered Josh. “And Jackie, it’s now Admiral Waters,” he said, tongue-in-cheek.
“Congratulations, and should have happened a long time ago. I'm surprised they did not arrest you for ‘knowing’ Jacqueline Campo,” said Tabitha.
“Tabitha? Happy to see you too!” Josh responded. “You here to pull our butts out of the fire? These guys aren’t exactly friendly. They’ve started launching nukes at the planet. Thus far, we’ve been able to intercept them, but it always costs us ships,” he said somberly.
“We are here to help, and will drop out of FTL in a few minutes,” Tabitha said.
The look of relief on Josh’s face was palpable.
“Josh,” Tabitha continued, “what happened? I mean, you were assigned to Anderson Station, and now you’re it for the defense of Lenox-5?”
“Things got bad really fast. The secret police had been inactive for decades, we thought they had been disbanded, but apparently, that was not the case. They started arresting a lot of people, a lot of high-level people. Then more people just started disappearing! The funny thing was it was mostly officers, including flag rank. Once the Zikars appeared over our core worlds, most of the leadership that hadn’t been killed elsewhere by the enemy was gone. As such, I got promoted! Not exactly what I envisioned my promotion would look like.”
“Well, after this, I will be sure you and Jeri get to recap over a few beers,” she said.
“Jeri is with you?”
“Right here, my friend,” Jeri walked into view, having been included in the video conference. “We are here to send these guys straight to the grave, and save what’s left of the Westerly Federation! And perhaps after that, you’ll get that retirement you’re always talking about!”
“Jeri, it’s so good to hear your voice, my friend! We’re taking a beating here. You guys couldn’t have had better timing! How many ships you’ve got?”
“Four thousand, give or take.”
“What? That’s not enough!” Josh threw his hands up.
“Josh,” Jeri said in a
comforting voice, “they are very special ships.”
“Josh,” Jackie said. “I need you to trust me. You have to slave your battle network to us as we’ll have algorithms better suited for the defense of Lenox-5.”
Josh had a surprised and highly skeptical look on his face.
“Josh, trust us,” Tabitha urged. “For this to work in the best possible sense, there really can only be one leader, one battle network. Plus, I figure the High Queen is planning something crazy enough that we don’t need you blasting our ships from the void!”
The look on Josh’s face said it all. They were asking him to put all his eggs in one basket, and he felt he only had one egg left.
##
“Take us to battle stations! Condition One!” Tabitha said.
Immediately klaxons went off ship-wide. Personnel began scrabbling in preparation for battle conditions.
“Drop us out at ten thousand kilometers from the main Zikar fleet,” she commanded.
They dropped out of FTL a few moments later, their approach still completely undetected by the Zikar fleets.
“Open fire with the ACPs.”
The ACPs, or Automated Combat Projectiles, had been developed at San Agustin as AI-driven stealth projectiles that were to be fired through the massive ship-mounted railguns. Each shell held robotic spiders that would attempt entry on targeted ships, then try to subvert all of its systems.
As the Commonwealth fleets were upgraded to the same standard as the Askirti fleets, all the ships the size of a heavy cruiser or more opened fire with the ACPs, targeting the largest Zikar ships first, of which there were a great many of them. They were hoping to disable as many of the larger ships as they could early on, and even use them against their comrades, if possible.
With the battle network active, and FTL-satellites now giving them real-time positioning of every ship, they had an incredibly accurate view of the events taking place and could react much faster than the Zikars could ever hope to.
The hologram in the middle of the flag bridge started turning enemy ships from red to pink, showing infiltration underway. While it was nice to think about the machines doing the most dangerous tasks, they knew they would shortly have to commit their marines.
Rumors of Wars: The Askirti Chronicles - Book 2 Page 19