Chapter 13

You fight like you train.

Sophia regained consciousness and experienced a moment of disorientation. She looked around and realized that she was in her cockpit seat and then she remembered that this was part of her survival training. She had been knocked out and dropped off in an unknown location. She manually undid the hatch cover and crawled out into the hot desert air.

The survival exercise was designed to be as lifelike as possible. Sophia woke up in an exact replica of a Swift ejection pod which consisted of the cockpit area and the surrounding break-away portions of the airframe. The Swift was designed so that any two of the ejection pods in the aircraft could be jettisoned and the third crew member could still fly the plane. In a real emergency, retrorockets would fire and lower the pod to the ground. There was also an emergency parachute in case of rocket failure.

Sophia reached into the cockpit and removed her sword from its holder behind the seat and then retrieved the survival kit from its storage location. The survival kit contained food and water for five days, a utility knife, a med kit, a compass and matches. It also contained one of the new invisibility “cloaks” that had recently been developed, a space blanket, a folding survival rifle and a backpack to put it all in. The .22 magnum caliber rifle came equipped with a laser sight and a 20X spotting scope. It was intended for use as a weapon to kill wild game.

After unloading the equipment and putting it in the backpack, Sophia retrieved her PDA from its cradle on her instrument panel and checked it to make sure that the electronic maps and GPS were functioning. The AI had loaded maps of the region into the PDA prior to her “ejection”, but the GPS function was showing no satellites.

“Just great,” she thought. “They’re not going to make this easy.”

One of the first things the Confederacy does when orbiting a new planet is to set up a navigational grid. Using satellites or navigational beacons from military ships, a grid is established much like the GPS system on Earth. Ground-based and air-based operations could then use the grid for navigation. The lack of a signal told Sophia that she was going to have to do her navigating the old fashioned way, with a map and a compass.

The last two things she did were to strip the pod of any useful items and then set the pod’s proximity charges. Sophia quickly removed the parachute and the retrorocket fuel cells which contained a propellant that could be used to start a fire in an emergency. She also stripped several wiring harnesses out of the instrument panel and removed the seat cover and cushioning. She shoved all of this into her backpack and manually set the charges. By the time the charges armed themselves, Sophia was several hundred feet away and moving toward high ground. If anything bigger that a dog got too close to the ejection pod now, they were going to have a very bad day.

Manuel finished packing his survival equipment into the backpack and quickly set the proximity charges. Unlike Sophia, he had not stripped the parachute, fuel and wiring from the pod. Manuel’s plan demanded that he be able to travel light and fast. Manuel quickly made his way to a small hill near his drop-off point and consulted his maps. Using his compass, and by measuring the bearings to surrounding hills and other terrain features that he could identify on his map, he quickly determined his location.

Next he reached into his flight suit and withdrew a small hand-held device. He had stuck it to the inside with Velcro. Manuel turned the device on and it quickly displayed an arrow that pointed in a northwesterly direction. Satisfied, he turned the device off and placed it in his pocket. The tiny tracking device that Manuel had hidden in Sophia Santini’s flight suit was working perfectly. Manuel headed out in the direction of the signal.

Sophia was peering over the ridge using the spotting scope off of the rifle. Below her was a mock enemy base, complete with vehicles and Sa’arm dummies. A large opening had been dug into the side of a cliff, simulating an underground Sa’arm warren. As she had been instructed, Sophia marked the location of the base on her electronic maps. She then took several photos of the base using the built-in digital camera in her PDA followed by several minutes of video before moving below the ridgeline and going into hiding. The hottest part of the day was approaching and it would be better to go around the base just before dark and then find a shelter for the night.

Manuel had been moving almost non-stop since he had left his pod, only taking a few hours rest in the afternoon and for a few hours each night. He was beginning to get nervous, if he didn’t catch up to the bitch before tomorrow, he wouldn’t have enough time, or water, to get back to his designated pickup location by the end of the exercise. If he wasn’t back in time, then suspicion about that cunt’s disappearance would fall on him.

A flash of light, as off of a piece of metal, caught his eye and he immediately dropped to the ground. He pulled the survival rifle out of his pack and unfolded the stock. Slowly he rose up until he could scan the countryside. Before long he saw a figure moving along a narrow ridge. He turned the magnification on the spotting scope up to its highest setting and once again observed the figure.

“Fuck!” Manuel spat. “It’s one of the Germans.”

He sat down and waited for the German to move on. While he waited, he pulled his tracking device out and checked the direction to his target. He noticed that the direction had changed significantly since he last checked it. Excited now, he hurriedly did some simple geometry in the sand next to him. His equation indicated that he was now approximately 8 kilometers from his objective.

“I should be able to catch up by dark,” he thought as he begun to move again.

Manuel took a chance that the instructors wouldn’t put anyone closer than a few kilometers of each other to prevent them from working together. He pushed himself as hard as he could, even moving through the heat of the afternoon. He exhausted his supply of water, but he didn’t care. Manuel fully expected to be taking the rest of Sophia’s food and water tomorrow.

By dusk, Manuel calculated that he was within one kilometer of Sophia’s position. He crept forward until he figured that he was within four or five hundred meters. He decided to stay put during the quiet of the desert night. He didn’t want to give that sword-wielding whore any warning.

Manuel was ready at first light. He watched the tracking indicator until it started to move before he eased himself out of his hiding place. He cautiously scanned his surroundings before bringing his scope up to look for his target. He quickly found her walking away from him at a distance of approximately 300 meters. He resisted the temptation to take a shot at her. 300 meters was simply way too far to try a shot with the small caliber weapon. Manuel removed the invisibility cloak from his backpack and draped it over his body. Once concealed, he followed his prey, quickly closing the distance. After an hour of careful stalking, he was within 50 meters. He had just set up to take his shot when the bitch disappeared from sight. Manuel, fearing that he had been detected, waited for ten minutes, but she didn’t reappear.

Manuel’s curiosity finally got the better of him and he slipped quietly forward. He was nearly to the spot where his target had disappeared when he saw the steep ravine that cut across his path.

“She’s crossing the ravine,” he thought. “Excellent, she’ll be a sitting duck down there.”

Manuel was almost to the edge of the ravine when his target suddenly appeared on the rim of the ravine opposite him. He was so surprised that he froze. Manuel could see that she was walking downhill and would soon be out of sight. Not able to wait any longer for his revenge, he brought the rifle to his shoulder and depressed the laser button. He quickly placed the bright red dot on the back of his target’s neck and squeezed the trigger. A sharp crack echoed down the ravine. The woman spun around and fell to the ground, out of his sight. Manuel chambered another round in the rifle and began to look for a way to cross the ravine. The sides were steep and Manuel didn’t want to slide down. Removing his cloak, he began to walk along the edge looking for an easier way down.

Sophia woke up on the third day of survival training with a sharp pain in her neck. Using a backpack for a pillow was definitely not travelling in 5-star luxury. She ate a breakfast bar from her pack and took a couple of swallow of water to wash it down. Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, she began to head out toward her designated pickup point. At her current pace, she figured to be there by mid-day tomorrow.

Before she had gone very far, she encountered a steep ravine. It was nearly 40 feet deep and had steep walls. She slid down the side of the ravine, using the cover off of her gunner’s seat to protect her hands. Once at the bottom, she began to search for the easiest way to the top. Luckily, there was a narrow gully eroded into the opposite side of the ravine that provided for a steep, but not impossible, climb to the top.

Sophia had just reached the top of the ravine and started to walk again when she was struck hard in the right shoulder. The blow spun her around and knocked her off of her feet. As she fell she heard the crack of a gunshot. Sophia reached up to her shoulder and felt liquid seeping out of her flight suit. He hand was wet with blood when she pulled it away.

“Oh Fuck! I’ve been shot!” her mind screamed. “What the hell is going on?”

Sophia cautiously raised herself up using her good arm and looked back the way she had come. At first she saw nothing, then suddenly, Manuel Esteves appeared as if by magic. Sophia saw him drop something that shimmered for a second as it fell.

“That mother-fucker snuck up on me in his cloak,” she thought. “Now what am I going to do?”

Sophia crawled as quietly as she could down the hill until she was certain that he couldn’t see her. She opened up her backpack and rummaged around in the med kit. She swallowed two general-purpose nanobot pills and pulled out a package of wound powder. Setting the package aside, she stripped out of her flight suit as quickly as she could then dumped the powder over the wound in her shoulder. Then she took the space blanket and parachute from the backpack and stuffed her flight suit full of the material. After arranging her scarecrow face-down on the ground, she propped her boots up against the leg openings and tucked the arms under her “body”.

“This won’t do, there’s no head,” she thought, panic starting to set in. “Think, think, think,” she berated herself. Finally she had it.

She pulled the knife, invisibility cloak, and PDA out of her backpack. She debated trying to take the rifle, but it was disassembled and she felt she wouldn’t have enough to time to put it together. She positioned the backpack as though it was blocking a view of her head and then she used the knife to cut off a handful of her long, dark hair. She quickly arranged the hair around the collar of the flight suit to help give the dummy the appearance of a head. The dummy wouldn’t pass a close inspection, but it might give her a chance. Taking nothing but her sword, PDA and invisibility cloak, she hunkered down under the cloak next to a nearby boulder to wait.

She didn’t have to wait long. Manuel fired another round into the dummy from atop the hill and then strutted down the hill toward the body. As Manuel passed her hiding place under the cloak she took a photo of him approaching the fake body with his gun at the ready. “Maybe someone will find this if I don’t make it,” she thought as she carefully tucked the PDA out of sight.

Trying to stay under the cloak, Sophia snuck up behind Manuel. Just as she was getting close, Manuel discovered her deception.

“You bitch!” he yelled as he spun around, searching the area. “I’m going to get you yet.”

He continued to look for her as she slipped closer. Unfortunately, her right arm was beginning to go numb from the wound and the cloak began to slip. She tried to hold it, but her hand fell outside of the cloak. Manuel saw the movement out of the corner of his eye. He spun and began to bring the rifle up.

Sophia reacted just as her training had prepared her to. She grabbed the hilt of her katana and, using an Iaid? technique that she had practiced over and over again; she drew her sword and struck in one smooth motion.

Manuel watched the cloak fall, revealing the cunt who had embarrassed him. Grinning, he pointed the gun at her chest, and at point blank range, pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Manuel looked down to see what had happened, only to find that both of his hands had been cut off at the wrist. His hands, still wrapped around the gun, were lying on the ground at his feet. He looked back up at Sophia, who was standing at the ready, blood dripping off of her humming katana.

“YOU FUCKING WHORE!” he yelled, an angry sneer fixed on his face.

“I told you I was going to bust your fucking head open,” Sophia said.

Before he could respond, her sword flashed and his vision spun crazily for a second, coming to rest looking straight up at the sky. The last thing that Manuel Esteves ever saw was Sophia’s naked, blood covered body squatting over him to piss on his decapitated head.

Aaron, Reggie and the rest of the family waited impatiently in the squadron ready-room for midnight to arrive. All of the pilots and gunners had reported in from the survival exercise except for Sophia and Manuel Esteves. They were afraid that she might be hurt or dead. The exercise was not officially over until midnight, at which time Sophia’s PDA would activate and send out a homing signal for rescuers.

At the stroke of midnight the AI spoke, “Neither Lieutenant Santini nor Lieutenant Esteves has reported in. Their homing signals show that they are located at the same location; 10 miles from Lieutenant Santini’s pickup point and 35 miles from Lieutenant Esteves’ pickup. Emergency personnel are on their way.”

Twenty minutes later, Colonel Walker entered the ready-room.

“She’s alive, but in critical condition. The EMT’s have her stabilized and she’ll be arriving at the medical center in a few minutes. I have a transport ready to take you to medical,” Walker told them. “It’s waiting outside.”

The family hurried outside and began to climb into the transport vehicle. Aaron, Reggie and Ken waited until last, wanting to ask the Colonel what had happened.

“What happened out there?” Ken asked.

“We don’t know for sure yet. All I know is that Lieutenant Santini has been shot,” the Colonel replied.

“The AI said that Esteves was there too, where is he?” Aaron asked.

“Lieutenant Esteves was found dead.”

“Dead!” Reggie blurted out, “How?”

“He was decapitated,” the Colonel said with a frown. “I assume that Lieutenant Santini cut his head off, but I don’t know that for sure.”

“Good for you, Kitten!” Ken thought to himself as the rest of them piled into the transport vehicle for the ride to the medical center.

Sophia was extremely lucky to be alive. Killing Manuel had almost taken the last of her strength. Barely able to stand, she had pissed on his still sneering face, then staggered over to her flight suit. She passed out from blood loss while trying to pull the space blanket and parachute out of her impromptu scarecrow.

She wandered in and out of consciousness throughout the day. During her more lucid moments, she was able to cover herself with the space blanket and to retrieve her last water bottle. Remembering that the water would do more good inside of her than out, she forced herself to drink it all. Early in the evening, she lost consciousness for good.

Fortunately, the nanobots in the wound powder had sealed off the blood flow from her gunshot wound before she bled to death. The general purpose nannites kept her from going into shock and worked like mad to keep her stabilized. Even so, 40 hours of hot desert day and cold desert night almost killed her before the emergency crew arrived.

They found her huddled up under the space blanket against her half-dismantled dummy. The crew immediately placed her in a mobile med pod and hustled her into the waiting Panther assault shuttle. The EMT’s left Manuel’s body right where it lay so as not to disturb the scene any more than was necessary. It was obvious that there would be an investigation.

Sophia spent two hours in surgery, where the .22 caliber bullet was removed from her shoulder. It was found just millimeters from her lung, which had it been pierced, would have killed her. After surgery she was moved into a medical pod where the nanobots repaired the bullet damage and healed her exposure-ravaged body. 36 hours after surgery, Sophia walked out of the medical clinic and into the arms of…the Military Police.

Sophia was sitting alone at a table in an empty room inside the newly finished 1st Air Fighter Wing headquarters. Outside of the room, two very large Marines were guarding the door. Sophia had given her statement about the killing twice, once to a Marine MP and the second time to Colonel Walker. She had not seen anyone else since they put her in the room two hours ago.

The door opened and a Marine private entered. He was carrying a tray containing a plate of food and a drink. He sat the tray down on the table. He started to leave, but he hesitated at the door.

“I’m not supposed to talk to you, but I have to know. What could a little girl like you possibly have done to warrant being guarded by two fully-augmented Marine guards?” he asked.

Sophia looked at him with an amused expression. “He must be new to Trenat if he thinks I’m a little girl,” she thought.

“I took a sword and cut a man’s head clean off,” she said with a smile. “Oh, and thanks for the food.”

The private stared at her for a few seconds before quickly opening the door.

“Hey!” Sophia called to him before he left the room. “Could you bring me a knife? There isn’t one on my tray. Make it a sharp one!”

He skipped out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Sophia chuckled as she began to eat her meal. She just hoped it wouldn’t be her last.

Ray Walker sat and listened as the MP’s gave their report on the Esteves investigation. The longer they talked, the more amazed, and angry, he became. It was obvious that Manuel Esteves had gone out to the desert to murder Sophia Santini. He was 35 miles away from his rendezvous point and the bullet from Santini’s shoulder was a ballistics match to his survival rifle. An electronic tracking device had been found on his body and the transmitter was found in a small pocket on Santini’s flight suit. Lastly, they had found Lieutenant Santini’s PDA hidden next to a boulder. Inside was a picture of the attack site showing Esteves standing over the decoy that she had made.

“The only other thing that we feel we need to mention is that Luietenant Santini’s urine was found on the head of the deceased,” one of the MP’s said.

“I don’t think that is relevant,” Walker said. “I’m sure that she just lost control of her bladder. You know, being injured and all. She probably didn’t even know what she was doing as hurt as she was.”

“I’m sure you’re right, Sir,” the MP replied. “As far as we’re concerned, this case is closed.”

“Very well. Thank you gentleman,” Walker said as he ushered them out of his office.

“I’d have pissed on the bastard too,” he thought as he closed the door.

Sophia was released soon after finishing her meal. The Marines returned her PDA and sword to her and well as the medals from her flight suit. The bloody and torn flight suit was kept as evidence. Sophia walked into the lobby of the 1st AFW headquarters to find her family, and a lot of others, waiting for her. After lots of hugs and kisses and “glad you’re OK’s”, Sophia and her family left for home.

Ann and Wanda hustled into the kitchen as soon as they arrived at the house to make something to eat. Most of them had been awake since before Sophia was brought into the medical center, almost 48 hours earlier, and had hardly eaten. The other women went to check on the children who had been watched by Faith while they were gone.

After everyone had eaten and the kids had been put to bed, Sophia recounted her story for them. She didn’t leave out any details, except for pissing on Manuel’s head. She wasn’t proud of doing that, in retrospect.

The family had some news too. Uma and Bonnie were pregnant. They had gotten the confirmation the day after the survival exercise began. Uma was having a girl and the father was Reggie. Bonnie was pregnant with a boy and the father was Marty.

“Marty again! You must be making up for lost time,” Sophia said, giving him an appraising look. “We’re going to have to add on some rooms before long. Aiko and Takara are due in a couple of weeks, Ann in 5 months and the two of you in 8 months. Thank God we don’t have to buy diapers!”

“We want babies too,” said Heather, who was sitting next to Kelly. The two had become best friends.

“We’ve already discussed this,” Ann replied. “You still have some growing to do Heather. Besides, it’s almost as easy to take care of two or three babies as it is one, so we have agreed to try and group the births.”

“By the time we get back from our first deployment, you’ll be ready,” Aaron said.

“Besides,” said Takara who was also trying to get to her feet. “I can assure you that you won’t be thrilled about pregnancy when you get this big.” She said, pointing to her very swollen abdomen. “You can’t move and you have to pee every 30 minutes,” she said as she started toward the bathroom.

“Hold on, I’ll go with you,” Aiko said. Ken’s concubines, both of whom were carrying baby boys, waddled off to the bathroom.

“I’m going to bed,” Sophia said, standing and stretching. “Who’s coming with me?”

Everyone jumped up at the same time.

“Whoa, my bed isn’t that big!” Sophia said, laughing.

“We all want to be close to you. We almost lost you,” Reggie said.

“Reggie’s right,” Tammy said. “You’ll have to choose.”

Sophia thought for a minute then said, “I love you all but I think that tonight I want to sleep with Bonnie and Uma. I’ve been pulled from the brink of death and they’re creating new life. In my screwy way of thinking, that’s significant.”

Sophia kissed everyone goodnight and then went with Uma and Bonnie to their bedroom. The three women stripped and climbed into bed. Sophia snuggled up between the women and fell into a deep and contented sleep.

Sophia woke the next morning to the feeling of mouths licking her nipples. As she lay there with her eyes closed, enjoying the sensations, a pair of hands parted her legs and another mouth began to lick her clit. Sophia opened her eyes to see who had joined Uma and Bonnie in bed with them. She was shocked to see all of the women in the family.

Tammy and Bonnie were suckling her breasts. Aiko was kneeling and licking her pussy, her ass stuck way up in the air to make room for her pregnant stomach. The rest of the women were sitting on the bed watching and waiting. When they saw that she was awake, Bonnie leaned in and kissed her good morning.

“Surprise!” Bonnie, said. “You just lay back and enjoy.”

The women took turns, rotating between Sophia’s breasts and pussy. Between long passionate kisses, Sophia could see lesbian sex happening all over the bed. Sophia experienced a nearly unending stream of orgasms as her lovers pleasured her. Suddenly, the mouths on her body disappeared. Sophia looked up to see Tammy kneeling on the bed in front of her. Strapped to her waist was a large, purple dildo that had a smaller dildo just above it for penetrating an anus.

“I’ve always wanted to find out what it’s like to DO the fucking,” Tammy said with a hungry look in her eyes. “Roll over baby; I’m going to rock your world.”

Sophia got on her knees and presented her ass and pussy to Tammy. Uma rubbed some lube on Sophia’s ass and on the dildo. Tammy positioned the larger dildo against Sophia’s pussy and pushed it in. Sophia felt the molded veins of the fake cock rubbing her pussy as it slid easily into her wet snatch. Tammy stopped as the head of the smaller dildo touched Sophia’s bottom. The blonde woman rubbed the head of the dildo against Sophia’s butthole to help it relax, then slowly pushed the head of it in past her sphincter.

Sophia felt a few seconds of pain, but her asshole soon adjusted to the intrusion. Sophia motioned for Tammy to continue. She obliged her and slowly inserted the toy all the way into Sophia. Tammy set up a rhythm that soon had Sophia cumming in a continuous riot of pleasure. Eventually, Sophia couldn’t take any more and waived Tammy away. Once the dildos were withdrawn, Sophia rolled over onto her side, reveling in an amazing sexual afterglow. Her lovers piled onto the bed to give her kisses and hugs, telling her how happy they were that she had made it home alive from her ordeal.

“I love you all so much!” Sophia told them with tears in her eyes. “Thank you for this morning, it was wonderful!”

“If you think this was great, wait until tonight!” Heather said with a small hint of jealousy in her voice.

“Why? What’s going on tonight?” Sophia asked.

“Tonight it’s the men’s turn,” Takara said.

“Well then, I guess I’d better rest up,” Sophia said with a smile.

Sophia woke up sometime in the middle of the night. She was sandwiched between two bodies lying with her in bed. One of the bodies belonged to Marty, she could feel his chest hair pressed up against her breasts. She started to raise her head up to look around, but it was stuck to the pillow. After a moment she realized what was wrong, her hair was stuck to the pillow with dried semen.

Memories of her evening returned to her with a rush. The men had indeed planned a special evening for her. They gave her the gangbang of her life. All six of the men in the family had entered her bedroom after dinner, naked as the day they were born. They proceeded to fuck her in every way that the seven of them could imagine. Sophia’s pussy, ass and mouth were each filled several times with loads of hot sticky cum.

They finished the evening by fulfilling one of Sophia’s fantasies. She wanted them all to cum on her. The men stood around Sophia who was kneeling on the floor and masturbated furiously. One by one, they shot hot jets of cum on Sophia’s face, hair and tits. Sophia rubbed their essences into her skin, orgasms rippling through her body every time one of them ejaculated. After the last of them came, Sophia climbed into bed and fell asleep, not even bothering to clean up.

Now that the remains of the evening festivities had dried on her, Sophia wanted a shower. Carefully, she pulled the stuck-on sheets from her body and extricated herself from the bodies on the bed. She slipped quietly into the bathroom and closed the door. She turned on the light, and when her eyes adjusted to the brightness, examined herself in the mirror. She was a mess.

Cum was matted in her hair in large clumps. Added to the fact that she was missing the large hunk of hair that she had cut off in the desert, her hair had definitely looked better. She made a mental note to get over to Tiffany’s in the morning so that Faith could cut her hair. The rest of her upper body was covered in a thin film of dried semen, some of it cracking and flaking off. Her pussy lips were still swollen and distended, the inner lips hanging down a good inch below her outer lips. “Aaron would appreciate that view,” she thought to herself. She gently explored her pussy with her finger. Her clit and was sore to the touch and she could feel a dull ache inside her vagina. She knew she would be sore in the morning. “It was so worth it though,” she said softly to herself.

Sophia took a long, hot shower. She had to wash her body twice and her hair three times to get the cum out of it. After she dried off, she put on a long T-shirt and went back to the bedroom. The smell of raw sex hit her as soon as she left the bathroom. Even though she was tired and completely fucked out, the smell still made her pussy start to moisten.

The thought of climbing back into the sticky bed, even though Marty and Darren were still there, didn’t appeal to her after getting cleaned up, so she slipped out of the bedroom. She saw Kyle sleeping on the sofa in the living room as she walked toward the kitchen. After getting a drink, she headed upstairs. Most of the bedroom doors were closed. Ken’s door was open and she could see Ken sleeping with Aiko, Takara and Wanda. Tammy’s door was open and she was snuggled up with Reggie. The only other open door was to the children’s room. Tammy always left it open so she could hear them if they woke up.

Sophia walked into the room and watched the toddlers sleep. Craig and Cindy were sharing a full-sized bed. There was no box spring so that the bed would be low enough that the children could climb in and out of it. Cindy was up against the wall and Craig was snuggled up next to her. There was plenty of room left in the bed so Sophia pulled back the covers and lay down with them. Craig turned over and put his arm around her. She kissed him on his forehead and he opened his eyes.

“Love you Kitty Mama,” he murmured, then closed his eyes and returned to sleep. Sophia fell asleep smiling.