Chapter 9: Ding Dong The Bitch Is...

Finally, it was time for the cruise. Though unannounced, it was in fact, the Summer’s last cruise planned for the southern Caribbean Islands. Even with beefed up armament and security personnel, pirates and otherwise desperate people made the cruises ever increasingly dangerous throughout the Caribbean.

AND, there were indications that the Sa’arm might be tunneling towards the islands - an almost surety once they had consolidated the mainland. The US had started a preemptive detonation of nuclear mines on an east-west line north of Trinidad and Tobago to protect the Caribbean Islands, but with the Trinidadians angered and feeling abandoned, those southern-most islands were no longer welcoming.

During the cruise following the harem’s initial contact with Jonathan Hoag, the Summer’s security staff had sunk two armed fishing boats that approached firing bow and stern mounted machine guns. They did not stop to pick up survivors. On two other occasions, Hoag stopped and picked up passengers and crews of overloaded and obviously foundering boats. Conflicted on how to handle the situations, he deposited the rescued refugees at his next scheduled port.

Twice his security team needed to use force to keep small but armed groups from boarding the Summer while she was in port. He informed local authorities that the Summer would not be returning.

Early on, Dora used various means to send at least one drone to every potential port-of-call the Summer might visit. Once they arrived, she found isolated spots and used the drones’ transporter pads to drop enough additional drones to thoroughly scope out the islands. She was taking no chances with her family, and she had an ulterior motive.

By-and-large, the Caribbean had been ignored by Confederacy extractions, and the harem felt that judicious pickups would likely yield some needed cultural diversity. CAP testing stations were sent to islands, yielding interesting results. General extractions were scheduled for islands not on the Summer’s final itinerary on her last Caribbean cruise. Others were planned for after her departure from her ports of call. The harem had first dibs...

Timing could not have been better. The Summer’s first stop was San Juan. The ship’s ‘usual passengers’ headed ashore for tours that included a ‘Caribbean concert’ arranged by Carole and her assistants. Michael and his adult family left the ship and headed for the Ritz Carlton, Dorado Beach, where the Society of Women Engineers and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers were holding a joint annual convention. Normally held in the fall, the previous year’s Swarm’s arrival had preempted both SHPE’s and SWE’s timing and location, and this year’s convention was target rich!

Attendance for both had doubled, for obvious reasons, and local manufacturing operations were well represented by a variety of engineers and scientists. The real bonus was the increased attendance from the island’s three highly respected engineering schools, fostered by SWE’s announcement of a drawing for twenty-five full-ride scholarships for members present at the convention. Winners had to be present for the drawing, and the turnout from the Mayaguez campus and the Polytechnic University were spectacular. The drawing was to be held that evening between a free buffet dinner and an into-the-late-night dance.

In another hall was a gathering of engineers and scientists invited ‘at SWE/SHPE’s expense’ to conduct seminars and lectures.

Both events were anonymously sponsored and totally underwritten by the Confederacy using various well-known company names.

Just after the dinner was winding down and while the band was warming up at the far end of the large conference room’s floor, an interdiction field came down. Actually three interdictions came down - one around the buffet/dance ballroom, another around the lecturer’s dining room, and the third over the entire hotel and conference rooms. The harem was running the extractions from the first two rooms, and a marine detachment was handling the larger area.

Because of the pre-selection, there were no Earth First yahoos among the lecturers, and only a few mixed in with the student contingent in the ballroom. These latter were spotted by Dora’s drones and zapped by Marines monitoring remotely.

From the experienced group, the new colony gained a city planner, two architects, several civil and sanitary engineers, a married pair of environmental engineers, and an assortment of other specialties needed to plan, build, and grow the infrastructure of a greenfield colony. Offered the chance to emigrate, no one declined - including the two servers who happened to be present.

In the larger room, Michael stopped the band and announced a pickup. Once the initial hubbub and stunning of yahoos was done, he offered all present - stunned jackasses excepted - the opportunity to be extracted. As he had after the school rescue, Michael turned to Carole to explain the process.

Carole smiled over her audience and set forth almost exactly the spiel she had used for the school pickup. “Here is the short version. Any of you who wish to be extracted, will be. This is not a usual extraction in that test drives and match ups will take place after you have been extracted.” She paused as discarded garments were retrieved and donned.

“Any of your children and minor dependents you wish to bring will be picked up. Within reason, if you are a volunteer with a prepack, or are a member of a sponsor’s prepack, we will endeavor to extract that prepack. Again within reason, we will endeavor to pick up your children or siblings over the age of fourteen if they wish to be extracted.”

Carole was forced to pause because of the rising babble, and then went on, “If you have a special consideration, we can look at it, but we will NOT pick up an extended family of fifty or your entire Sunday school class. There are limits, and we can and will say ‘no’ if the limits are surpassed or the request is not practical. One of the things that makes this feasible is that many of you are from widely separated areas, and we will not be picking up noticeable numbers from any one location. The exception might be here in Puerto Rico, and we will need to see how that works.”

“Understand, that concubines will continue to be possessions of their sponsor. Sex and childbearing WILL be required. Let me state -- anyone under fourteen -- will be dependents and not concubines, and vaginal penetration is forbidden until they reach fourteen -- period! Some of you may think that all this is a form of slavery, and you would be correct that this is pretty much reality. We hope to ameliorate this somewhat -- listen on.”

The audience was quiet, and Carole waited for effect. “Sponsor and concubine candidates, if you wish to match up with one or more of those present, feel free, but it isn’t necessary as you will have ample opportunity to match up later. We also have a number of available men and women from earlier pickups.”

“Non sponsors! We are well aware that there are some among you who do not wish to be extracted. You may move to the end of the room away from the band and you will not be bothered. We hope that you will reconsider after you hear the rest of our presentation.”

At Carole’s signal, Dora appeared beside her in all her naked glory. “This is the avatar of our team’s AI. We named her ‘Dora.’ For both sponsors and concubine candidates, Dora can help you understand CAP scores to improve the chances of a good match -- in both directions. This is not a typical pickup, so we have some time to do that.”

Dora took over, and her honeyed tones issued from the speaker system. “Hello. I am indeed what is known as an artificial intelligence, ‘AI’ for short. I will do my best to help you, so let me tell you your options. First, as you likely have heard, except for post menopause, Confederacy technology can cure most medical conditions. We will start that process right after you are extracted.”

Another buzz started, and Dora raised her hand for quiet, “And, yes, that same technology can modify -- even drastically change -- appearance. We will mostly not be doing that at this time. You may request removal of scars, blemishes, and the like, and you older folks may start age regression, but a concubine’s ultimate appearance will be totally up to your new owner.”

Michael stepped up and began again, “Those of you who wish to proceed, move to one of the six areas where someone is holding up a sign. You will step through a transporter and move aside so as not to block the next person. There you will be met and guided to your next step.

The movement toward the indicated transporters was about as orderly as might be expected. On the other side of the process, no one noticed that Dora had siphoned off almost two hundred prime candidates to a separate orientation area designated for their colony.

Aboard the Summer, the following day was a ‘sea day’ allowing for a certain amount of recuperation and time for members of the harem to rotate back to the moon to assist with orienting and assimilating the newly extracted.

The family’s younger children were entertained by normally provided shipboard activities, giving their adult family minders a break. Some crew and passengers were surprised - a few even shocked - by the uninhibited behaviors of the family’s preteen and under fourteen contingent. Handholding, soul kisses, boob groping, groin stroking, and the like were normal for this group. Stated boundaries were never crossed, and none of the family’s adults saw reason to call a halt.

The next two islands saw passengers display pretty much typical tourist behaviors with some tours, a little shopping, and general exploration. Unobtrusively armed adults closely watched the children - everyone was packing and aware of surroundings. Both islands had an arranged musical event featuring local talent, and the Summer’s newly acquired calypso band happily participated.

After another “sea day’ the next island was pretty much the same, excepting that Dora had identified three extended families fitting the criteria desired by the colony, and they were individually contacted and extracted.

Then in another piece of astute timing, the Summer docked at St. Lucia’s Castries Harbor early on the second morning of the island’s annual Jazz and Arts Festival. It was Michael’s and Valerie’s birthdays, so his ladies had arranged a private catamaran tour for them that sailed around the beautiful island. The two spent most of the day on the large catamaran, lazing and cuddling, but took two hours to snorkel in a lovely bay and picnic on the quiet beach.

As they sailed close to the Pitons, Valerie snuggled under Michael’s arm, turned, and kissed him lightly. “I’m so glad we’ve had this day alone,” she began, “because I want to talk with you about the future before I know my CAP score. You’ve encouraged us to plan and talk about consequences before we make a decision, and now I want to do that with you.”

She looked up and smiled, “First, I love you and want to stay with you as your concubine or your partner-wife - whatever the test decrees.” She looked in his eyes and continued, “You know, most of your co-sponsors and companions were those you rescued from a violent or untenable situation. Gingerbread ‘n’ Linda and now me are the only women that weren’t. I know for a fact that they all love you - they would each die for you -- but there’s no competition; you’d think there would be wouldn’t you? Then I think, ‘Love happened so fast, ‘ and then I think ‘well, maybe not so fast.’”

Michael looked at her, but when he started to speak, she stopped him. “I’ve done a lot of reading on this, trying to figure out what it is that I feel and why I feel it. I think Rachel and Cathleen and Hannah deeply love you - and each other. From my view, it started as a bonding with a large component of lust after shared violence, but over time it has grown as rock solid as any love could. Other than them, Naomi is the only one who is deeply in love with you. Don’t take me wrong, the others truly love and respect you, but those four - those four would suffer horribly, long and hard, if they were to lose you.”

Valerie sighed, “Then we have our lezzy acquisition. Rachel loves you deeply as a friend or a brother - but then the lust kicks in when your wives are involved. Have you noticed that she really wants sex with you only when Rachel, Cathleen, and maybe Hannah are involved? I think that’s the why of her ‘only you’ declaration. You shouldn’t feel less for that. She wouldn’t bed any other man, only you. And there is no question she would die for you, too.”

Valerie lifted up and placed the tip of her nose on his. “Now we come to the heart of the matter - literally. I told you that there were four who would suffer horribly if you were gone. That isn’t strictly true. There are five! I won’t talk about how it grew, but it’s for real.” She drew back so she could watch his face. “Soooo, tonight I want you to take me - to use me for your gratification. You’ve already made me very happy in bed, and your taking my virginity would be what makes me happy tonight. I want to be yours. I want to be taken! Are you hearing me?!”

Michael nodded, bumping his forehead lightly on her nose. “I hear. I obey!” and he kissed her deeply.

During the two hours sailing back to the Summer, they cuddled some more, drank rum punch, and listened to the steel drum calypso tunes playing on the catamaran’s sound system. They were very glad to be the only passengers.

As the catamaran pulled to the dock, the couple could hear the happy music from the festival. It was almost dinnertime, so they boarded the Summer, showered together in one of their suites, dressed, and joined the family in the dining room. As they entered, he heard the start of In The Mood, Rude, the Soca version of Glenn Miller’s In The Mood. He stood astonished. When his family stood and yelled “Happy Birthday!” the band segued into the birthday song, and then one of his all-time favorites Haunted By Your Melody. “No! It can’t be! They haven’t played together for years.”

“Oh yes it is!” declared Valerie, “and they’re coming with us. Carole bribed them big time.”

“You mean they’re on the ship to Barbados? That’s great! That’s where they come from.”

“Well, yes,” responded Valerie, “but only to pick up their families and maybe prepacks. They’re going with us to Rukbat. You know, we really need to name the colony...”

Michael hugged her tight, then turned and thanked his family. Dinner was one of the best meals he’d ever eaten, but when done, he had no idea what it had been.

For the remainder of the evening, Michael danced with his wives, companions, and dependents, but it was clear that Valerie was his date - and she was no dependent. There were plenty of slow dances, and he danced every one with her.

As the day drew to an end, they went up on deck and listened to the music that was still going strong. Tomorrow was going to be another extraction, so they headed off to bed, but not sleep. After a few minutes, Michael led her into their suite and sat with her on the love seat, kissed her forehead, looked directly into Valerie’s eyes, and stated, “I will not willingly hurt you. Your safe word is ‘spork.’ Repeat that!”

“You won’t hurt me. My safe word is ‘spork.’ Really?” she giggled.

“Really!” he confirmed and added. “You will not become a pain or humiliation slut. Repeat it!”

When she did, he kissed her once more, stood her up and ripped her backless dress from her body. She squealed, and then rushed to obey when he demanded, “lose the shoes and panties, then get on the bed - face down, butt in the air!”

“Oh God!” and Valerie orgasmed.

Even without the med-tube weakened hymen, Michael had no real fear of hurting her. He could smell and see that the little vixen was more than ready. His judgment proved accurate. She orgasmed again when he notched his rampant cock and rammed it home.

Pistoning in and out, Michael felt her grip and release, grip and release. “Stop!” he yelled. “You get no more cums until I tell you! I get to cum next. Say it!”

Valerie shuddered. She moaned. She whined, “I can’t cum ‘til you say I can. You have to cum next.”

He grabbed her hips and pulled her tight, then reached around with his left hand and grabbed a handful of tit. Michael twisted that nipple, and Valerie moaned again but held back her orgasm.

“Your lovely titties may be a little small for it, but I’m going to tit fuck you until your face is covered with cum. I’m going to mark you so the world will know. Be careful what you ask for little girl, because you are mine - now and forever.” And he plunged again and again and came.

“Acknowledged,” announced Dora “Whatever she may be tomorrow, she is and will be yours.”

Valerie exploded in orgasm. He hadn’t given permission, but neither cared.

After a few minutes of cuddling, Valerie went into the bathroom to drain and clean away the red traces of her sacrificed virginity. She brought a warm, wet cloth, and after licking Michael’s flaccid cock, she washed him. Her attentions quickly revived him, and she slathered a layer of lotion from her navel to her neck.

“Master. You said you would mark me as yours. I made myself ready if that’s what you want now.” Valerie’s eyes were pleading.

Michael feigned reluctance, “I don’t know why I should. You came without permission.” He pretended to reflect, “but my dick is hard, and you do have lovely titties. I suppose I could get it over with.”

Valerie squealed and rolled to her back. Michael positioned himself so that he could rock his cock (should that be a song title?) between the beautiful mounds and up to her lips. He began to move as she used her hands to press her breasts to his sliding prick. Every few strokes, the tip reached her lips, and she alternately kissed it or tried to catch it in her lips.

Though Michael was not really into dominance games, the young woman’s total surrender to his will was definitely adding to his pleasure and to his feelings for her - if that were even possible. When he felt himself getting close, he rolled to his side and pulled Valerie so that her mouth could take in his penis. She had done this before during their oral play, but always with her in control.

This time, though careful not to hurt her, Michael was dominant and moved in and out with Valerie providing wonderful head. As he spurted and spurted some more, he demanded, “cum for me, cum for me now!” Valerie’s hips left the bed and she screamed her orgasm around his still cumming cock. Michael’s cock left her lips and painted her face. She was indeed marked as his.

When they were both done, Michael pulled her on top of him and kissed her long and deep. She smiled.

In a moment, Michael squeezed her. Valerie raised her head, and they looked into the other’s eyes. “Valerie, lover mine. That was wonderful. You are mine. I’m yours. I think you are going to be my wife and not companion, and I’m so very glad.”

“Me too!” and with that, the exhausted pair drifted off to sleep.

In the morning, Michael woke looking to the smiling eyes of his newest sponsor-wife. He didn’t know that yet, as Valerie was a few days away from her official test. She had no intention of leaving Michael or the cruise, even temporarily, for something as mundane as a test that would determine the path for the rest of her life.

Pressed into his back were two soft points that were not supposed to be there. He didn’t need to look. A soft voice whispered, “See Valerie, I told you it would be much better when it happened for real,” and Naomi giggled.

Michael reached back and jokingly swatted Naomi’s butt, “This was supposed to be Valerie’s night, her birthday present. Alone!”

Naomi giggled again, “It was. It’s morning. It isn’t her birthday anymore.” And she climbed over Michael to hug and gently kiss her friend.

Breakfast was both joyous and busy. The family took up a significant section of the dining room, so Carole had early on recruited the entire wait staff to ensure their ability to securely discuss ‘business.’ Today, they were going to extract as many bands and musicians as they could. Several colonies had submitted non-essential requests for ‘cultural enhancements, ‘ and the harem inspired by their acquisition of Michael’s birthday present, decided to take advantage of a target of opportunity.

The music was dispersed among several venues, so a large blanket extraction wasn’t feasible. The harem’s brain trust - strategist, Katie; tacticians, Rachel and Hannah; and operations, Carole began to plot and devised an original technique. At each venue, the harem infiltrated the back stage/waiting areas. When a concert was over, the musicians exiting the stage were escorted onto a transporter disc and were met on the moon with a reception committee who offered them what was becoming the harem’s usual terms for extraction. Road crews were similarly recruited as they removed the bands’ instruments from the stages.

Dora’s drones were almost everywhere. During the day and evening hours, musicians were snatched (err recruited) from just about any location where a minute or two of privacy were assured. With no giants lurking and no interdiction fields, no panic occurred. Likewise, with Dora’s ability to access CAP scores prior to the snatch or extraction, no undesirables were obtained.

By the next morning, it was apparent that a significant number of people were missing. Having used the intervening time to pickup dependents and prepacks, the harem then used normal Confederacy notification procedures. At noon, the Summer departed as scheduled for her roundabout way to Barbados.

Shipboard preparations for the promised extractions were consuming almost all of Captain Hoag’s time and energy -- and that of his ‘in the know’ staff. They were over half through the published itinerary on what was to be Hoag’s last days as captain of the Summer Paradise. The music fests had definitely distracted the corporate thorns in his backside, but attitudes were deteriorating again.

Somehow Anita had received word of the extractions that seemed to be following the Summer from island to island. Supposedly, she had no interest in leaving her empire on Earth, but she was becoming annoyed that she wasn’t offered the opportunity. Woe to the ship’s minion that failed to achieve her idea of perfection on any task, no matter how small.

Hoag was exceedingly happy to be on his last cruise with her. Once he had been inclined to have a little mercy and finish out the voyage with an extraction immediately upon docking at Summer’s home port. Now, the fed up Hoag was more than happy with an extraction during the cruise so as to strand the bitch.

Summer docked at Curacao at precisely 6 AM, local time. A music festival had been organized at a new venue just outside Willemstad, and the passengers had sufficient time for breakfast, a tour of the pastel-colored colonial architecture, a light lunch aboard, and transport to the fest scheduled to start at 1 PM.

The music festival drew a larger than expected crowd. Many people viewed it as perhaps their last chance for fun now that the Swarm had arrived, and some because of the extractions occurring on other islands around the time of previous festivals. Musicians were not the prime targets at this event; Michael’s ladies had determined that the forming Merchant Academy would need several experienced snorkeling and SCUBA instructors, as would some of the established island colonies. Curacao had plenty, and a surprisingly large number bore sponsor-level scores and appropriate sub scores. In addition, the island was the retirement home of several retired US Navy Seals and similar retirees from the militaries of US allies. These latter would be welcome as instructors on Pern, but also at the Azahar colony where forces were and continued to be trained to operate from submerged bases on Earth.

With the festival in town, normal interest in water sports was down for the scheduled two days, and the desired instructors were enticed to the grounds to enjoy themselves. Anita and her cronies disdained the early shuttles to the festival grounds, relying on the past patterns of island pickups occurring well into or after previous festivals. When the news of the gray interdiction field reached the Summer, Anita screamed her frustration, beside herself with fury.

Along with islanders and tourists, several passengers and some of the more visible (to Anita) crew had been extracted to wait on Luna. Even a little relief from overcrowding in the crew quarters was very welcome.

The stage was set - Barbados was the next and last scheduled port-of-call for the Summer before her return to the continental US.

After a day at sea, during which Anita gave new depth to the term ‘bitchy’, Summer docked at the Bridgetown cruise terminal in Barbados. Chomping at the bit, Anita was not to be denied. Her admin (Anita still called her a secretary, much to the young woman’s annoyance) called ahead and hired a chauffeured luxury SUV and two local security guards.

As soon as the gangway was down, she elbowed her way down only to be stopped by a customs agent whose clearance ship’s passengers needed before debarking. She fumed and cursed under her breath, but was savvy enough to avoid offending the representative. The short delay gave Brian a chance to reach her before she roared off in the SUV, two hours early, for the start of the festival. Her husband, long accustomed to her personality, sighed to himself and sat back.

Hoag and his team had carefully planned for this docking. Those less-than-desirable crewmembers were on the rotation for the few shore duties and even time off. Michael’s purchase of all unsold cabins limited the number of passengers they wouldn’t wish to extract, and those they wanted were deliberately delayed just long enough. In short, only ‘undesirables’ went ashore.

Rachel and Patricia were on the bridge with Captain Hoag in their respective roles as tactical commander and security chief. When Hoag received nods from his staff captain and Marjorie, he turned to Rachel and said, “Now!” The gray interdiction curtain surrounded the Summer and a portion of the dock - thus including the Summer’s security personnel at the bottom of the gangway. The only unplanned sponsor included within the gray curtain was the young and very grateful customs agent.

After sweating through all the preparations, Hoag’s team began the tricky process of abandoning ship. Many systems could not be shut down until all passengers and most of the crew were gone. He loved his ship, and she was going to be left in the best condition possible.

In key locations such as the restaurants, lounges, sun decks, and lifeboat stations, Confederacy Marines appeared. Rachel, using the ship’s PA system announced the pickup and told all passengers who wished extraction to report to their lifeboat stations with any possessions they wished to carry. At each station, two Marines met the arrivals. They checked their names against the combined passenger list and Dora’s manifest. The Marines confirmed each individual’s desire for extraction and had them proceed one-by-one though the transporters to several receiving stations in the moon where various representatives from the Office of Targeted Extractions greeted them.

Next came the concubines and dependents of the crew. Having been previously vetted, they were routed directly to the Lolli and were met by representatives of the training crew and Michael’s family. Then the remainder of the ‘hotel’ crew ensured that the cabins were empty, galleys shutdown and cleaned, and performed the many tasks necessary for the ship to remain safe and sanitary. Concurrent with those actions, the Summer’s power and propulsion systems were brought down to the bare minimum needed to keep her safe.

As the various actions were completed, they were checked off by the responsible officer or manager and reported up the line to Hoag’s staff and then to Hoag. After review, Hoag would approve the release of that section for extraction. At the end, only Hoag, his staff and the bridge crew were left with Rachel and Patricia. Rachel placed a transporter pad on the floor, and soon only she and Hoag remained. Jonathan swept his hand to invite Rachel to exit first, and then he turned, saluted, and stepped through to Lolli’s bridge.

When the gray curtain disappeared, Anita stormed up the gangway alone. All who knew her also knew they didn’t want to be anywhere around. When she reached the deck, no one was left to hear her angry screams and curses.