First Immortals Ch. 12

We established communication again, and they immediately went on the attack.

"I am telling them that they used energy weapons," was the thought I heard at the same time.

"But they didn't," one replied.

"True, but this will make them think they can have a win by proving otherwise,"

"You used energy weapons when you know they are banned," the first message read.

"What rubbish is this?" Rickson spluttered. He had slowly moved up next to me.

"Don't worry," I said, and I constructed the reply they were expecting.

"We did not use energy weapons, they were all destroyed as required,"

"Why are we bothering? The Parsks are due to attack them in three Linds anyway," one thought, "they have no hope of survival."

"They have said what I predicted," one announced.

"What the fuck are we supposed to do? Just die?" Rickson asked, and I silently thought 'yes'.

"Why do they believe us? Are they really that gullible?" one thought.

"I will tell them we saw the energy signatures."

The constant change of conversation was very confusing. I was listening to multiple thoughts from the Eriguons, comments from Rickson and a few others and then trying to read and construct messages without giving away the fact that I knew what was going on in the background.

"In their society the police are seen as honest and impartial, they just don't realise that it could be different elsewhere."

"It's almost too easy."

I read the message and replied that the energy signatures were from energy drives, not energy weapons. I needed to know how long a Lind was, but I wasn't sure how to frame a suitable question that would satisfy everyone.

I decided to go with the old saying of 'the best defence is a good offence'.

"How is it," my next message asked, "that you gave us one Earth week to finally destroy all of the energy weapons, and then, only fifteen hours after the last one was done we were attacked by the YW's?"

"Do you really think that's wise Josh?" Rickson asked, but it was there and couldn't be taken down now.

"He wants to know why we gave them a quarter Lind to destroy the energy weapons, and then they were attacked just four yoins after the last one was destroyed," the alien thought, and I had my answer.

"Don't let them control the discussion," another added.

From there it bounced around a bit, but ten minutes later it was all over. They had grudgingly accepted that we hadn't used energy weapons and we had adamantly refused to destroy our energy drives after they said we should. They said they were going to seek clarification on that issue, but in the background I knew they were divided on what action they should take to reduce our ability to defend ourselves. Some wanted to try and enforce a ban on energy drives now, but others wanted to wait for later so that they could give themselves the best chance of being the race that would conquer us.

Being able to understand them was a huge benefit, but them not knowing I could do so was infinitely better.

I scheduled a private and very secure meeting with Rickson the next day, and I told him what had been going on 'behind the scenes' during the meeting. He was furious and wanted to take immediate action (I don't think he had really thought that through), but I suggested another plan, and he eventually agreed to go with it. He also accepted the need for absolute secrecy in regard to my new-found power. It was far too good an advantage to lose through a simple indiscretion.

We knew the Eriguons could detect energy weapons, but did that extend to individual parts? I guessed that they could detect only the power source, so I proposed that in every major city we set up warehouses that were reasonably close together and store the key parts of unassembled weapons separately with the power sources being coupled together to look like they were being used as a backup power supply for our main grid. When the need came up we could access all of the parts and then assemble and distribute the weapons quickly.

I vaguely had a notion that as the commander of the Intergalactic Navy I was entitled to the use of a limousine, driver and a blade bike escort at any time. I had never looked into it, but I wondered if it might be nice for Anastacia and Flipsy. I asked Freed Isley about it on the Friday morning and he smiled.

"Sir," he said, "if you do that you will have five very happy sailors." I raised a questioning eyebrow, and Freed grinned widely.

"At all times there is a contingent of five who are assigned as your driver and escort. They are housed in hanger Watson Four, and they do a six-month rotation in that job. They have been getting rather bored."

I never even had the faintest idea.

Hanger Watson Four was huge, and it was off in a corner of the base that I had not needed to go to since we were first setting ourselves up, so I hadn't seen it without the thick layer of dust that had covered almost everything at Hinchlet after all those years of neglect. Now it was a clean olive green building that looked, well useful. It seemed to have a purpose. It was late afternoon when I approached, and I could hear excited voices from within, and a strange noise that was somehow familiar to me. The door was unguarded, so I entered.

When I got inside the hanger I saw that it had been carefully divided in two lengthwise down the middle. On the right-hand side, just inside the large access door was a gleaming dark blue limousine. In front of that were six blade bikes, which were equally shiny. On the left-hand side was one of the old automated firing ranges, the kind that had the mechanical pop up targets depicting hostiles and civilians. It extended down the full length of the building. As I watched the first target appeared, and something tiny on it exploded. Then the next one came up and the same thing happened. It suddenly dawned on me that I was watching an assault course being tackled with the MSU, and the person doing it was taking out objects much smaller than apples. I found out later they were grapes, and they were destroying the red ones only from groups of green and red that were right next to each other.

"Yawsie, that's the best run yet," one of the young sailors shouted triumphantly as I walked closer.

One of the people there finally noticed me.

"Hey," he said, "what are you doing here? This is a restricted area." I smiled, kept my hands where they could see them and made sure I didn't make any sudden moves. The guys were armed and appeared to be very good with the MSU, although I could only see the one uniform.

"I've got a pretty good security clearance," I said mildly, and apart from the one still finishing the course the others turned around to see who the intruder was.

"Oh shit," one exclaimed, "I'm sorry Sir, we weren't expecting you Commander Scabbard. Um... I can explain..." I smiled.

"Explain what Ensign?" I asked.

"This Sir," the Ensign said, waving an arm at the range. "It's just that we have been here for months with nothing to do and we..."

"Ensign," I interrupted.

"Yes Sir?" he said nervously.

"I approve. It shows initiative."

"You do?"

"What exactly are your orders?" I asked.

"Oh, well Sir..." he took a deep breath I could see his confusion disappear, "Sir, we have a squad of twenty and we must have five of us on duty at all times. We have to ensure the vehicles are correctly maintained and cleaned. We have to be fully trained in the operation of all of the vehicles, and we have to ensure we are fully equipped and trained to ensure the safety of Commander... er, of you Sir. We...

I held my hand up and he stopped.

"From the very small demonstration that I have just seen I believe you have better control over the MS than anyone else," I said, "and that is best possible evidence I could get that you are able to protect me Ensign...?"

"Flaverol Sir, er, Rusty Flaverol." He seemed to be nervous, but also seemed to be relieved.

"When we are alone, to every member of this team, call me Josh," I said, "now please introduce me to the rest of the group."

"Right Sir, er Josh," he said, and he beckoned the rest of the team over.

"Our squad CPO and my 2IC is Emmy-Lee Sherparov," he said. Sherparov was tall and lean, with closely cropped navy blue hair. She looked capable, but that was no surprise. She stood to attention and saluted. I returned the salute.

"At ease, sailor" I said, and she complied.

"Pleased to meet you Emmy-Lee," I said.

"Thank you Sir... Josh," I grinned. Knighthoods were a thing of the distant past by then.

"This is Seaper Vin Shale," Rusty said, pointing to a short but very wide man who had a blue body tint with contrasting yellow hair.

"Sir."

"Josh."

"Josh."

"Vin."

We grinned, it was enough.

"Er the shooter you saw back there is Seaper Yawsie Dernett," he said. She was a very muscular girl with a shock of bright orange hair.

"Sir," she said nervously.

"That was some show you put on there Yawsie," I said.

"Thank you Si... thanks Josh," she replied.

"Last, but not least is Seaper Troy Alliard," Rusty said, and he was right with not least. Alliard was a man mountain, at least 190 tall and heavily muscled. He had a short red Mohawk and looked like he had never smiled in his life.

"Hello Troy," I said, smiling.

"Hello Josh Sir," he responded.

They looked like a very capable group, and when I said we would be going out the following evening they were overjoyed.

I discussed the setup with Rusty, and the crew of five comprised of one driver and four blade bike riders. I said that due to the unstable situation we needed to increase the number to six because there should be a passenger in the limo who was equipped to fight while the driver concentrated on their job. Rusty said he would have that organised before we left.

We also had a look at their makeshift MS range, and I was amazed at how this small group had adapted it to the MSU (the uniform mounted MS). They only had one, which had been the first one delivered only ten days earlier, but they had taken turns practicing until they could not only control direction but also the range by mind, and this was now a very feasible weapon. We discussed some ways to upgrade the range, using launchers, environmental simulation and moving cover, and I gave the necessary orders to get it happening, and get every member of every team their own suit. I also promised to spend at least one full day a week with the teams practicing my own skills with the new weapon.

Freed had been right, there were five very happy sailors when I left.

Saturday was spent arranging for the next war. At least I knew now that we had three months to prepare, but I couldn't say so. Regardless of that I wasn't going to waste a moment. I gave instructions for the immediate construction of ten brand new ranges, based on the Hanger Watson Four pattern, and the conversion of all of the existing static mechanical ranges. I accelerated the manufacture of the MSU uniforms too, because I wanted everyone who could take the link to be equipped and proficient with them in time. It was a balancing act for the other training that was required. I needed my people to be proficient with the energy weapons, but I couldn't make any to train them with. I decided to train them half of the time on the Freidrich Lightning, and the other half on the M2K and A5K simulators. The rumour I started to cover this was that we were on the verge of introducing new non-energy versions of these. The new weapons would be a direct replacement for the energy weapons, and would be almost exactly the same to use. That way I knew that if the Eriguons were monitoring our communications they wouldn't realise that we planned to recall the energy weapons back into service. The first fifty of the Stellar 2's were all delivered and I had all of them modified to mount two M2K's for short range fighter work and an A5K for much larger targets.

On Saturday evening my little convoy pulled up outside Anastacia's place exactly on time, creating quite a stir in her neighbourhood. Yawsie was my driver and Rusty was riding shotgun in the limo. A new team member Lairtz Prentees had been borrowed from another shift and had joined the others on the blade bike escort duty.

I was in full dress uniform and, as I approached the door, I heard Flipsy squeal as she looked out through the window. I guess I had achieved the goal of impressing at least her.

Anastacia answered the door, and she was looking great. She wore a long and clingy gold dress with long slits at the side and a daringly plunging neckline. Gone was the tired and worried look. This Anastacia was fresh and sexy, her freshly coloured emerald green hair was tied up in an elegant style that exposed her slender neck. My cock stirred as I pictured kissing that neck later in the evening.

"Anastacia," I said, "you look absolutely ravishing," and she smiled.

"Call me Anna please Josh, and my, aren't you dashing today," she replied.

I put my arms around her and pulled her to me.

"For all the nosy neighbours," I whispered into her ear, and then I kissed her passionately. After a momentary pause, she relaxed and returned the kiss.

"Save some for me," Flipsy said from behind Anna, and we broke apart and stared at each other for a moment.

"Later," I promised, and Anna's deep green eyes sparkled. She smiled and nodded.

"OK Flipsy," I said, "lay it on me." She squealed again and the pocket rocket rushed past Anna and reached up to kiss me. Flipsy certainly was enthusiastic and, of course, I returned the kiss in kind.

When I eventually released Flipsy and stepped back, I could see that Flipsy was wearing a shimmering little black dress that looked reasonably normal at the time. Later on, we found that the sheer material had a surprise twist to it. The girls had gone all out to look their best, and I was glad that I had made the effort to dress up as well.

With a sexy and elegant lady on each arm I escorted them to the limo and Rusty opened the door for us. I quickly made the introductions, and then we got into the back of the limo. There were two seats facing each other, but we crowded into one with the ladies on either side of me. At first they were doubtful about the ostentatious vehicle, but soon enough they were suitably impressed with the luxury fittings, and when I poured us a bubbly each into some gravglasses they were sold.

When I told Flipsy what the gravglasses were. she decided to test it. Gingerly she turned her drink upside down. Of course, nothing came out until she touched her lips to the glass, and when she did do that the glass only released a manageable amount.

The limo moved off smoothly, and we were on our way.

It was an interesting dynamic in the back of the limo. Flipsy was in full party mode, and she was trying hard to drag Anna along with her, but I observed that Anna wanted something a bit more quiet and intimate. I smiled at her a lot and she smiled back at me with a mixture of nervousness and anticipation. Given her Calvanian history this would be something totally outside her recent experience.

Intravinintra was a very upmarket dinner and dance club. Caran Intravinintra and his wife Violeen were the hosts and they provided an excellent environment where only the most famous could go to see and be seen. Androger had been my sponsor for the night, because even with the press I had received Caran preferred to have every new guest referred by a known customer as being 'suitable'. Normally I wouldn't have gone anywhere near such a place, but I thought that going there would provide Anna and Flipsy with some memorable experiences and, of course, some serious bragging rights.

The service at Intravinintra was impeccable. The food was scrumptious and the décor was divine. We ate and then I danced with Anna and Flipsy, sometimes individually and sometimes together, and we were all having a great time.

Unfortunately, the sort of crowd that Intravinintra attracted did include some privileged spoiled brats too, and as the three of us sat at our table taking a breather a stunningly attractive young woman approached us.

"Oh my," she gushed, 'it's Josh Scabbard, the man who saved us all." She looked cattily at Anna and Flipsy.

"Why don't you ditch your old aunties here Josh, and join me for a night you will never forget."

After my experiences on the yacht I had done some research on Roxy Shelby, so I immediately knew who I was dealing with, and I also knew that a normal polite refusal would only inspire her to increase her efforts. I wanted to stop this immediately. I looked at Anna and Flipsy, who were understandably looking extremely uncomfortable, and I winked conspiratorially at them.

"Excuse me for just one moment ladies," I said, and then I stood up, went over to Roxy and whispered in her ear.

"I do not want a scene here," I said, "but I can make one if you want. I was the man picked up by the crew of the Vindication, and I am the man that you suggested should be just thrown back over the side to die." Roxy gasped.

"I didn't..." she started to protest.

"Shut up for once and listen," I growled, and she went tense with anger.

"I am giving you a way out of this right now," I said, "you can turn and walk away and have a joke and a laugh with your friends or you can continue to be the bitch. If you do that your father will never get another contract from the intergalactic navy and I will make sure he knows why. Now take your spoiled little ass somewhere else, I have some real women to look after."

Without waiting for a response I turned away and sat back down, and Roxy just glared at me for a moment and then laughed bitterly.

"You will regret that," she said, and then she turned and stalked away from us.

"Who was that and what the hell did you say to her?" Flipsy asked.

"It was no one important and I just asked her to leave us alone," I replied.

"Yeah, right." Flipsy said, and Anna just stared at me gratefully. But our happy mood had been broken, and I needed to switch things around.

"Who's up for a ride in the back of a limo?" I said, emphasising the word ride.

"Fuck yeah," Flipsy said, emphasising the word fuck, and Anna nodded eagerly. We left.

It had been a really good dinner, but we all knew it was just the entrée for our special evening, and the main course would have nothing to do with food.

The hardest part of having sex in the limo was getting Anna to make a couple of decisions. The night was all about her, so I suggested that she go first, but she was incredibly nervous. She eventually agreed after a lot of discussion and soul searching. The second question was harder. Where would Flipsy be while Anna and I were having sex? Flipsy wanted to be in the back with us, but in the long run Anna decided that it would be too distracting for her if she was, so we had to find another place for her. Much to the delight of my escort, I said we should drive the full length of the gorge road with Anna and I in the back of the limo and Flipsy said she would like to at least start the trip on the back of one of the blade bikes.

In keeping with his quiet demeanour Troy didn't react when she chose him to ride with, and it was all the rest of us could do to not laugh when we saw the man mountain in full combat gear take off on his blade bike with the tiny woman behind him clinging on to him as best she could when she couldn't get her arms around him. It was about then that we noticed Flipsy's dress was transparent when the headlights hit it and she looked like she was just in her rather skimpy black lingerie.

There were a lot of drivers that night who tried to break into our convoy to get a closer look at Flipsy's display, but they were quickly and professionally rebuffed by my team.