Chapter 4: The Warring Sisters
Author's Note: Welcome back! I hope you enjoy this new chapter of Fourth Vector. Just as a reminder, I'm not an expert on naval terminology. While I do try to offer a level of realism to fit the story, I do take plenty of liberties on describing the ships and roles. Remember, this is a work of fiction. Don't expect full accuracy and you won't be disappointed.
*****
"So do you want to tell me again how you
somehow
talked them into having an orgy with the granddaughters of the council?" asked Luke with a sarcastic tone.
It was almost all Jack could do not to double over with laughter. While the events had proceeded a little differently than Luke's retelling, the man had an incredible ability to reduce any story to the finer points.
"Not exactly. They wanted us to partake in their Moon Festival. It's how their people get pregnant. Lishkerran men and women can't breed together so they need humans. Being that Greg and I were the only humans there, well . . ." Jack intentionally left the ending open-ended.
"How do you always end up getting the lucky assignments," said Luke with a heavy shake of his head. He crossed to the other side of Jack's headquarters on the
Destiny
and looked out the port window. Immediately within his sight was the main city of Lishkerra, dominated by its massive palace in the center of the city.
The docks of the harbor were situated just outside the main wall of the city where all three vessels of Task Force 21 remained anchored, taking in crucial supplies from their new friends in the Vector.
Friends. Although Jack would've loved for that word to be allies to coincide with their mission, the elder council had made it clear that being a friend of Lishkerra was the highest honor they could bestow. It did afford a lot of privileges similar to an alliance, and that was the reason they were able to dock here to resupply before heading further into the Vector.
Luke turned away from the window and looked at Jack expectedly. It was then that he remembered he'd never responded to Luke's last question.
"You mean how were we lucky enough to get captured?" Jack asked with a grin. "We're just lucky we didn't end up getting speared."
"From the sounds of it, you're the one who did the spearing," said Luke with a heavy laugh. He made a lewd gesture with his hands which was enough to earn a laugh from his commander.
Jack got up from his desk and patted his friend on the back. "Some days, I don't know how Kim puts up with you."
"She likes a good laugh, just like you. Face it—I'm too fun to be around," answered Luke while raising his chin. The Kim that Jack referred to was of course their head of operations division on the
Valiant
, Kim Cross. It wasn't well broadcasted among the crew, but Jack knew they'd been sleeping together for some time.
"Anyway, I'm sure you'll see your share of action soon. How's the arm feeling by the way?" asked Jack while pointing to the man's arm which was still secured in a sling.
"Ready for it to be fully healed," growled Luke as he cast a glare down to his sling. "I could have killed that traitor sailor who shot me during the
Tiger
takeover."
"If he hadn't tried to kill you first," said Jack with a chuckle.
"It's just too bad someone managed to kill him before I did. Anyway, it's just the little things that bug me with it now," said Luke while tapping the sling gently. "I need help getting dressed. Wiping is problematic as a righty too."
"Too much information. Didn't need to know that," said Jack while shaking his head and holding up his hands.
Luke laughed. "Hey, you need to know the struggle. But in all honesty, I just want to be able to have full mobility. I hate having the crew see me like this. It's almost like . . . like . . ."
"What?"
Luke grimaced. "I feel like less of a man wearing it."
Jack patted his friend's back once more. "You're not the only man who's ever had to wear a sling, Luke. It's just temporary. We have plenty more ahead of us now and trust me, you'll see your share of action."
Luke began to nod a moment later. "I'd better. And the next time we land ourselves in an orgy, I want first dibs."
Jack started to laugh. "You're lucky Kim isn't here or else she might smack you."
"I take enough grief from her as is," said Luke with a roll of the eyes. "But enough about me. I kind of figured this wouldn't be a social call. What did you want to see me about?"
Jack shrugged and then sat down at his desk. "Honestly, I'm thinking of calling a meeting with all the commanders."
Luke looked toward the door and then back to Jack. "So where are the rest of them?"
"Well, that's the thing. I'm thinking of inviting the elder council to the meeting as well. I wanted to plot our next course, and I'm thinking we could use their knowledge of the local area with where to go next."
Luke grimaced. "Is that entirely wise? They aren't exactly our allies. Just our 'friends.' Whatever that means."
Jack stood up and approached the port window as well. The way the sun gleamed off the palace walls produced quite a sensational glare. "I know. I struggled with it myself but the long and short of it is that we are foreigners here. We've been sailing blind, and I don't want to if I don't have to. The Lishkerrans must know about their neighbors here. They'll be able to guide us on our next best stop."
"Or send us directly into shithole or a war if we're unlucky," grunted Luke.
Jack found himself chuckling. "We've been pretty lucky so far and I don't think they would betray us like that. Not after the festival and what we've done for them."
"What we've done for them," repeated Luke with a heavy chuckle. "Screwing them senseless?"
Jack continued to laugh. "You know what I mean. For once, let's have some foreknowledge of where we're going. Landing here in Lishkerra has worked out well for us but it very easily could've gone badly."
"No, you're right. That's fine by me. I can't really speak for Vicky, but I'd imagine she wouldn't have a problem with it either. However, I have no idea what Abigail might say about it."
"I think she'll be all right but you never know. That woman never ceases to surprise me," said Jack with a shudder.
"It's got to be nice spending most of your days by her side. The body on that woman," said Luke with a low whistle. "Have you . . . you know?"
"Come on, you know better than to ask me that," said Jack with a rueful smile.
"I know that look! You did, didn't you?" asked Luke with the biggest grin.
"Luke!" warned Jack while trying to act serious but still failing to contain his smile.
"How was she? Was it good? Can it be my turn next?" pestered the commander of the
Valiant
.
"Luke?"
"Yeah?"
"Get the hell out of my quarters," said Jack with a joking laugh.
"I always miss all the action," said Luke with fake pity. "Just promise me you'll tell me one day?"
"Not on your life," answered Jack.
Luke threw his arms up playfully. "You think you know a guy . . ." The lieutenant commander was still shaking his head as he left Jack's headquarters to go back to his ship.
Jack continued to chuckle as the latch was shut to his quarters. Returning to his desk, he grabbed a report from the engine room that had landed on his desk from Twitch thirty minutes earlier and briefly scanned it. Finding everything satisfactory, he set it down with relief. There were few things on the ship that could make him sweat like problems coming from the engine room. If anything was wrong with the reactors, they could be in serious trouble.
It was funny to him how much they relied on the relatively new technology. He remembered when the Polonium reactors were installed on the first ships and how skeptical everyone had been of their value. Prior to that, the only reliable fuel source was coal and that was far from satisfactory. It was dirty, it took up too much space on the ships, and it required more frequent port stops. Ever since Javan scientists had created a way to use the abundant resource of Polonium as a source of fuel, it eliminated all three of those problems.
To start, it burned much cleaner and whereas all the old warships used to be easily identifiable by their distinctive, dark exhaust clouds coming from their smokestacks, Polonium burned much more clear. Now it was possible to move without a visible cloud indicating your position to anyone that could look at the horizon.
Secondly, Polonium released an incredible amount of energy relative to its size. A sample size of two tons of Polonium could keep them at sea for months. Once fed into the reactor, it provided enough energy to easily feed the boilers and turn the propellers. And it took up far less space than coal. Overall, Jack was relieved to see the two reactors on the
Destiny
were operating at full capacity.
There was a knock on his door that captured Jack's attention from the report in front of him. After giving his greeting, lustrous, dark hair appeared just beyond the door.
"Just me. Can I come in?" asked Abigail as her head popped through the frame.
"For you, that answer is always yes," said Jack with a playful grin.
"Charmer," said Abigail as she came forward to sit on the portion of his desk directly in front of him. "I saw Luke on the way down here. Any idea why he was looking so amused?"
Jack pursed his lips as he remembered the last bit of that conversation but managed to shake his head. "Just Luke being Luke, I'm assuming."
"Boys will be boys," said Abigail with an eye roll. "Anyway what did you need?"
Jack hazarded a glance down to her body as she sat exposed right in front of him. "That's a loaded question," he answered with a chuckle.
She snapped shut her legs and then raised an eyebrow. "Behave yourself or I'll tell Anna what you've been up to."
Jack opened his mouth to argue but found himself closing it just as quickly. While Abigail knew all about his extracurricular activities with her sister, Anna couldn't exactly say the same. Jack preferred to keep it that way, seeing as how the younger sister seemed to be a bit more possessive than her sibling.
"I need to call a meeting with all the commanders," started Jack with a serious look.
