Quaranteam: SE - Team Davies Ch. 08 (Patreon)

Quaranteam: Southeast – Team Davies

By 2charlie

The Quaranteam Universe is the creation of CorruptingPower, used with permission.

Thanks to BreakTheBar, AgathonWrites, RonanJWilkerson, The_Licentious_Laureate, BronanTheLibrarian, OtterlyMindblowing, SilverRyden, BirchesLoveBooks, Reader737b, and the other QT Writers for their feedback and contributions with this work. Be sure to check out their work.

Chapter 8

All Characters depicted in sexual situations in this story are over the age of 18.

*** Gainesville, FL – 1500, Monday, August 3, 2020***

Miles read through the proposal one final time, comparing the long-form white paper to the PowerPoint slide deck version. All the pertinent points were there. The data, the recommendations, the priorities. He was satisfied with the results. His team worked with him to put the finishing touches on the work earlier that morning, and he was confident that this was the right set of recommendations. He was able to roll through the different tranches from memory, having done the mental Jenga to sort out the careful order of execution most likely to produce the desired outcome. He’d have to read the projected numbers from the presentation, but they tracked the data that was available. He’d make final adjustments in the morning.

Miles closed his eyes for a moment, pausing to consider the gravity of the proposal he was preparing to pitch. This event represented the most dramatic change to family housing – hell, in a larger scope, to human culture – to be proposed in generations. It was not lost upon him that this change in how basic human needs would be met was potentially more significant than when modern households transitioned from multi-generational homes to single-family homes. The pressure to get it right was there, but more important to Miles was the need to not get it wrong. He always reserved the right to get smarter, and he understood that experience was always the best teacher, but success was rare on the first try, historically speaking, and he preferred to do his best to avoid the easy lessons that failure offered, especially with people’s lives in the balance.

The rest of the afternoon was family time, and he planned to make it count. Having a large family suddenly thrust upon him put him into an awkward position of needing to get to know his partners after the fact, so to speak. Miles felt that - perhaps for the first time ever - he’d gained some insight into what it was like to be in an arranged marriage. The reality of the experience would have been strange and exciting, were it not bundled together with the nightmare scenario playing out across the globe.

He’d already told the girls to get into their swimsuits, so he went upstairs to pass the word along to the kids. Time for a pool party! By the time Miles got changed into his trunks, the pool was filled with several lovely women and three excited children, already playing with the pool basketball set. The kids mostly remained in the shallow end, where they could stand and more easily make shots with the ball, so Jan, Penny, and Ava were all using pool noodles to float in the deep end. Debra, Sophia, and Maddie were all lying out on the reclining chairs, sunning themselves.

Miles stepped out through the sliding glass doors from the bedroom, draping his towel over a nearby chair, then walked over to the edge, looking down into the deep end. The three women sunning themselves cast wolf whistles at him, while the ones in the water splashed at him, calling for him to dive in. He bent over at the waist, putting his hands on his knees, and simply rocked forward, tipping over and tumbling into the water, enjoying the weightlessness of the fall as he slowly sank eight feet to the bottom, his legs curled beneath him, before lazily extending his legs to slowly propel himself back to the surface. His muscles were mildly sore from his morning fitness routine. He slowly stretched his arms, then his shoulders, moving on down his body as he relished the relaxing pool water. The water felt pleasant, warmed by its flow through the ambient solar tubing he’d installed on the lanai roof a few years before.

His lazy relaxation was interrupted by a pair of arms snaking around him from behind, followed by a pair of breasts pressing into his back, and a pair of lips grazing his jawline. Penny, speaking in a sultry voice, whispered in his ear, “Hey sailor, come here often?”

“Not as often as I’d like,” he smirked, turning to kiss Penny. That triggered a cascade of splashing from the other two women in the pool.

“Get a room!” Jan called to them, while Ava made a big deal of fanning herself.

Giving Penny a quick hug, Miles swam over to give Jan a quick hug and kiss, followed by Ava. Having tended to them, he continued to the shallow end to jump into the game, teaming up with Ellie against the boys. He made a great show of making exaggerated efforts, blocking shots from Trent or Sean, allowing a few to get past him, but passing the others to Ellie to encourage her to take shots. The game went on like this for a while, with either side scoring on occasion, but generally having a lot of fun. Eventually, Miles faked an injury and bowed out, tapping Ava to step in, and then he relaxed against the wall in the shade, soaking it all in.

He must have nodded off, because a random splash startled him, and he was surprised to see no sign of the children. Looking around, he confirmed they must have gone inside. His attention was brought back to himself when he felt his trunks being yanked down and saw Jan swimming away from him, his suit in her hand. He thought briefly about giving chase, then shrugged – either the kids got to see him in the buff, or not – no sense worrying about that now. Internally, he shrugged – nudity had never been much of a taboo around the house in the past between him, Beth, and the boys, but he’d not yet discussed the topic with his new partners. Instead of panicking, he laughed aloud, and shook his head, warning the others, “careful – what comes around, goes around.”

Just then, there were several splashes nearby as the women who’d been sunning themselves jumped into the water around him. Before he knew it, they were all joining in the fun, playing a game of keep-away, passing his swim trunks amongst themselves while taunting and laughing at him.

Joining them in their laughter, he decided to take the bait and began half-heartedly lunging for his suit as they passed it dangerously close to him. He really wasn’t interested in ‘winning’, being instead more interested in simply playing the game itself, giving them all some well-deserved fun. Eventually, he trapped Sophia in a corner of the pool, and when she tossed his suit to Maddie, he lunged at Sophia and wrapped her up in a hug, pretending to wrestle with her for a moment, while instead pulling her to him, engaging in some mild groping, while giving her a big kiss before letting her go.

This changed the game – instead of taunting him, they switched to baiting him to come to grope, hug, and kiss them each in turn. It didn’t take very long before one of the girls groped him back; when Ava grabbed a handful of hard cockmeat, she tugged on it for a moment, stroking him a few times before letting him go. This did not go unnoticed, as Jan and Maddie both seemed to have some naughty version of Spidey senses, immediately understanding the new stakes in the game.

Eventually, as things started to get a little more serious, Penny got everyone’s attention by clearing her throat. “Okay, so Jan and I have our little after-dinner date with Miles this evening,” she said, giving him an endearing smile, “so we’re going to bow out of these shenanigans and go start dinner. We’ll make sure the kids aren’t watching from the windows, so the rest of you can take this as far as y’all like.” She paused to wag her finger at the remaining women, continuing, “That said, whoever gets his cum has to do the post-dinner cleanup, so you might choose to share, as more hands make for lighter work.” With that, she and Jan grabbed their towels and went inside.

The other girls looked wide-eyed at each other for just a moment, then commenced to pull Miles over to the steps in the shallow end, returning to the stroking, and eventually taking turns bobbing their heads on his shaft, trying to be the one to get his seed. He did his best to hold out as long as he could, but inevitably he felt the tightness in his balls. Ava did as well, as she stepped up her game to add twisting her hands around his shaft as she sucked on his cockhead.

With a grunt, Miles arched his back and lifted his hips as his cock began to spew jet after jet into Ava’s mouth and throat, triggering an intense orgasm for the girl. Maddie tapped her urgently on the shoulder, and Ava managed to pull away to allow the other woman to lean down into her place to catch the remainder of his cum in her mouth, not allowing a single drop to go to waste as she enjoyed her own serum-induced orgasm. Both girls swallowed large mouthfuls of Miles’ cum, licking their lips and each looking for all the world like the cat who got the proverbial cream.

Debra reached down to take hold of Miles’ softening cock, wrapping her fingers around his shaft, and began to slowly stroke him, milking him back to hardness. It didn’t take long before his prick stiffened once more as he looked on in stunned amazement. His recovery period was unusually short in the past, but of late, he was feeling impressed with his stamina.

 Deciding she wanted more, Debra reached her free hand out and took Sophia by the back of her head, pulling her in to give her a deep kiss, the two thrusting tongues into one another’s mouths. Pulling away from Sophia, Debra threw a leg across Miles’ lap, reached down to pull her swimsuit bottoms to one side, and sat down onto his erect manhood, sinking all the way down before coming to a stop. Sophia stepped up alongside the two and began alternating between kissing Debra, then Miles, and then back again.

As the three of them were engaged in intercourse, Maddie and Ava began to close in. Maddie ran her hands over Debra’s breasts and torso, moving her top out of the way to pinch at her nipples. Ava pressed herself up against Sophia’s back, reaching around to rub the young co-ed’s breasts while reaching the other hand down to rub at her clit, all of them getting involved as they could, adding plenty of visual stimulation for Miles, who was getting light-headed as he enjoyed his first fivesome.

When both Maddie and Sophia leaned down to take one of Debra’s nipples into their mouths, Debra let out a deep moan, and suddenly Miles could feel her pussy muscles clamp down on him with staggering strength as she climaxed, which tipped him over the precipice, drawing forth a deep groan as blast after blast of cum from him coated her insides, pushing Debra into a more powerful orgasm. After a few moments, her spasms beginning to taper off, Debra lifted herself slowly off of Miles, staggering back to sit on the top step. Sophia, the only one left, tried to straddle Miles, but he stopped her.

“I can’t go again right now, Soph,” he told her apologetically, “I wish I could, but it’s too sensitive.”

Groaning in frustration, Sophia looked around for a moment, then her face lit up with an idea. Stepping up to Debra, she gently pushed her to lie back, then bent down to pull the crotch of her suit out of the way, burying her face into the Air Force woman’s snatch. Sophia was hungry for Miles’ cum, driving her tongue deep into the other woman. It wasn’t long before she could be heard groaning loudly, having found some of his cum, enjoying her own serum-induced orgasm. To everyone’s surprise, she didn’t stop but pulled Debra’s suit further away as she continued to eat her out. Debra, still sensitive from having just experienced a pair of orgasms, began moaning, but let Sophia continue. Before long, she reached down to grab a hold of the younger woman’s head and began humping up into her, grinding her mound into her mouth, before letting out a long moan and spraying Sophia with her girl-cum, gently pushing her away from her oh-so-sensitive mons.

Sophia looked quite pleased with herself, licking her lips with a huge shit-eating grin. Eventually, she looked up, realizing everyone was watching her. Blushing slightly, she struck a defensive pose, and jokingly feigned oblivion, asking, “What?”

At this point, everyone laughed and began sorting out each other’s swimsuits. Maddie tried not to look too smug as she handed Miles his trunks back, leaning in to steal a kiss from him in the process. Finally, suits back in place, they exited the pool to grab their towels. Miles decided to sun himself for a bit as the girls went inside to cycle through the shower.

*** Gainesville, FL – 1930, Monday, August 3, 2020***

After shaving and grabbing a quick shower to rinse off the pool water, Miles dressed casually in an aloha shirt, a pair of Bermuda shorts, and boat shoes. He was a bit excited because tonight he was going on a date with his first two partners and, although he was uncertain what the girls were planning, he was looking forward to spending more time with each of them. Giving his teeth a quick brushing, he ran his fingers through his hair, then applied a watered-down splash of aftershave, dried his hands and face, and headed off to the kitchen.

Dinner was fantastic, as usual. Penny and Jan had prepared a large pot of chicken scampi with rotini pasta, side salads, and a pair of sliced loaves of Italian bread, each slice slathered in delicious garlic butter. A few of the girls were enjoying white zinfandel, while Miles – always a man of simple tastes – stuck to his oversized tumbler of sweet tea.

Sean, Trent, and Ellie rushed through their dinner, eager to get back upstairs to pick up where they’d left off watching something new on Netflix. After the others finished their meals, the four women tasked with cleanup detail came up to Miles one by one to give him a hug and a kiss, telling him to enjoy his date.

Miles got up from the table to bus his dishes, and when he turned around, he saw Penny beckoning to him from the pocket door back by the library. When he got near her, she just turned without a word and walked out through the bathroom, exiting to the pool enclosure. She turned left and walked out of the enclosure through the back screen door, heading toward the Outhouse, Miles’ workshop / experimental sustainable living lab in the back. He saw no sign of Jan, so she must have gone ahead of them.

Hurrying a little to catch up to Penny, he wondered what the two women were planning for him. She entered the Outhouse just ahead of him, the light outside already failing, the darkness inside as well. Miles stopped at the door, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness, seeing a small light in front of him, as Penny used the flashlight on her cell phone to mount the stairs.  Tempted to flip on the light switch, he opted not to, instead choosing to leave the darkness intact, since the women seemed to prefer it. His eyes having adjusted, he followed Penny up the stairs, seeing flickering light ahead and above. As soon as he cleared the stairwell, he stepped out into a room he did not recognize.

The women must have been busy earlier during the day, judging by some changes in the room. A small, round wooden table, big enough for four, and four wooden chairs had been brought up and placed in the large room upstairs. A white tablecloth adorned the table, with one lit candle sitting in the middle, its flame flickering slightly. Illuminated by the candlelight, Jan was just placing a dish piled with what looked like brownies on the table, along with a stack of three smaller paper plates and napkins, while Penny was over in the kitchenette pouring a few drinks from what appeared to be a bottle of wine. He smiled when he spotted a few bottles of Mike’s Hard Black Cherry – she already knew that much about him.

“Do you beautiful ladies need a hand with anything?” he asked, moving over to give Jan a hug and kiss.

Jan bumped him with her hip and smiled at him, telling him, “Nope, not just now. Go ahead and have a seat – we’ll join you in just a second.”

As he took a chair that gave him a good view of the staircase, Penny approached the table carrying a tray that held a pair of wine glasses, containing what looked like some sort of Chablis, an opened wine bottle, as well as an opened bottle of Mike’s, which she set in front of Miles. Placing the wine glasses in front of two other chairs – one on either side of him – and leaving the wine bottle in the open spot on the table, she returned the tray to the countertop in the kitchenette, then took the seat on his left. Jan, having finished whatever she’d been doing over in the nearby bedroom, took the seat on his right.

The three of them sat in silence for a moment, each looking at the others, waiting for one of them to speak. Miles finally drew in a breath, let out a sigh, and took the first step. “Well, I can honestly say that I’ve never imagined being on a date with two such amazing women. I have to admit, I’m a bit nervous about whether or not I’ll be able to meet your expectations tonight, but I’m certainly looking forward to making the best of this opportunity to get to know you both a bit better and maybe vice versa.”

Penny smiled gently at Miles, then gave a nod at Jan, who cleared her throat and spoke up as well. “Well, I for one get the whole nervous thing. Ever since I got here, we’ve been moving from one task to another, and there are plenty more of those waiting for us. But I figured that tonight, maybe we’d play a little game. I pulled a bunch of ‘getting to know you’ kind of questions off of the internet, put them onto cards,” she said, as she placed a stack of 3”x5” cards onto the table, “and thought that maybe we could go clockwise around the table, take turns pulling a card, and the person to the left answers the question.”

“Ooh, or maybe we can all answer the question,” Penny suggested, and Miles nodded in agreement.

“Fair enough,” Jan agreed, “though we need to keep an eye on the time, given that somebody’s got a big day tomorrow!” she smirked, one eyebrow raised, nodding at Miles.

He chuckled, suggesting, “Let’s stick with the original method, and others can add in their thoughts when they want. We can always try other forms of information exchange next date.”

“Okay, well, let’s just kick this off and see how it goes,” Jan suggested, reaching for the first card. “First question - this is for Miles. What scares you most?” she put the card down, looking at him with bright, questioning eyes.

“Fuck, that’s a deep question to start with,” he grumbled, scratching at his chin. “What scares me most? Hmmmmm,” Miles gave this question some serious contemplation, rotating through and discarding several more obvious answers which would fall short of the truth. These women were now very important parts of his life; they deserved his openness and honesty. Eventually, he settled on a response which he considered the closest single answer he could give them, “Okay. Living a life without purpose. That’s it,” he nodded, mostly to himself, repeating, “I don’t want to live a life without purpose.”

Penny looked puzzled, tilting her head to one side, her brows scrunched up in thought. “You’re gonna have to explain that just a bit for me – maybe reverse it – what gives you purpose?”

“It’s a bit slippery, I know,” he nodded, staring off into the distance. “A day in which I’ve learned something new or taught something to someone who learned something new from me, or I shared an experience for the first time with someone I love, or perhaps for the last time,” he looked sad for a moment, distracted by recent memories, before moving on. “I’ve made a difference. Not like Indiana Jones in the first Raiders movie. I need to make a difference.”

The two women chuckled at the last bit, having heard Miles’ rant before about how Indiana Jones made zero impact in the movie ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’.

Miles looked at both women to see if they wanted to add anything, but they remained silent. Taking the initiative, he reached for the cards and pulled the next one off the stack, reading it to himself before reading it aloud. “This one is for Penny,” he started, “What does a perfect day look like to you?”, he watched her struggle with that, grinning in anticipation.

“I think,” she said slowly, “a perfect day is one in which I have enough time to get everything that I need to get done, and then have just a little time left over to accomplish something that I want to do – something just for me, or that matters to me.”

“Huh, interesting,” Jan said, a finger to her chin. “Sounds so simple, but I bet those days are rare.”

Penny nodded in agreement, adding, “You’d be amazed at how many days I find myself making a ‘to do’ list, only to later head to bed with items left undone. I’ve either got to get better at managing my time, or I need to become more reasonable in my expectations for what I can accomplish on any given day.”

Shaking her head at herself, she reached for the next card. She read it to herself, nodded silently, then looked up. “This one’s for Jan. How have your goals or dreams changed over time?”

“Oh, yeah – that’s a bit prickly, everything taken into consideration,” she said, looking a bit sheepish. “When I was a little girl, I was an only child. I used to dream of having a big family someday – I mean, I wanted siblings, I wanted lots of kids, that shit.” She laughed softly to herself, looking down for a moment before continuing. “When things didn’t work out with Ricky – he was Trent’s biological sperm contributor, I settled for having Trent and he’s been the center of my life ever since. Scouting started to give me a substitute family, but it wasn’t the same. But now….,” she sniffed, dabbing at her eyes, “I’m getting a do-over. I just got a few more kids, a bunch of sisters, a loving man in my life, and – who knows? Maybe more kids in the future,” she speculated, before shooting a glance to her left. “Not pushing, Miles.” 

Miles gave her a reassuring look, smiling gently at her, then including both women when he said, “I am open to more kids. In fact, I am pretty sure our government is going to find ways to incentivize teams to have more kids. So, I think you’re going to get your wish in spades, Jan,” he chuckled.

Jan fanned her face for a second, regaining her composure, before drawing the next card. Looking at Miles, she read the question aloud. “What’s a mistake you’ve made in the past that you’ve learned from?”

He sighed deeply, closing his eyes for a moment while considering his response. After a few minutes of discarding his initial replies, he finally thought of one that he felt good about. “I have learned that tomorrow is never promised,” he said softly, tears gathering in his eyes, a bittersweet smile on his face, “and that I should never leave anything unsaid that is important, at the risk that I may never get another chance.”

Understandably, his answer brought tears to both women’s eyes. Jan was prepared for this possibility, as she reached to a shelf behind her to grab a box of facial tissues, passing it around. Directly or indirectly, all three of them had experienced significant loss recently, and the topic took a moment to move past. The three of them paused as they each regained their composure.

“So, how’s the date going?” Miles asked innocently, trying to lighten the mood. Both women barked their laughter, and Miles offered the brownie tray to them each, knowing the medicinal value of chocolate. They each took a brownie, smiling at Miles for his consideration. He drained his bottle of Mike’s, then went over to the counter, swapping out the empty for a fresh bottle. Setting his drink down at his place, he made a big production of refilling each of the ladies’ wine glasses, draping a napkin over his arm carefully pouring the wine, and asking each if they needed anything else from him, assuring them that, “Eet ees mon playsure to serve!” in his most outrageous French accent.

They both shared more laughter at that, finally waving him away. Jan admonished him, “Sit down, sailor! We’re not done here. Next card!”

Miles noticed that the border on the next few cards appeared to have been darkened with a marker, making them stand out a bit from the others. Knowing that Jan likely marked them for a reason, he wondered what it might mean. When he drew the next card, he guessed that he knew the answer, grinning to himself. “Okay – you’re up, Pen. What do you think about when you masturbate?” He swore he saw Jan look guilty out of the corner of his eye, but she looked away when he turned her way.

Penny choked a little on her wine, narrowly avoiding a spit take. Shifting slightly in her chair while blushing slightly, she took a moment to consider before she answered. Miles was intrigued to note that she didn’t look upset at the personal nature of the question – quite the opposite, in fact. “Lately, I haven’t needed to do that – think, I mean. If I’m not actually having sex with someone, I’m watching someone have sex, which is like watching live porn. I mean, whew! Momma needs a wrist wrap!” she answered, with a wicked gleam in her eyes. They all enjoyed a chuckle at her response.

They paused their game as each took a moment to enjoy a brownie or drink of a beverage until  Penny eventually reached over and drew a card. Raising an eyebrow, she looked over at Jan, asking her, “What’s a sexual act you’ve never done, but want to try?”

“Oh!” she yelped, blushing furiously. “I don’t know that I want to say! I mean, I don’t think that I can ever do it now, but…” she bit her lip nervously, then let out a breath and forged ahead with her response. Squirming in her seat – whether in excitement or uneasiness, Miles wasn’t sure – she eventually confessed, “I’ve always wanted to try airtight. Or even just double vaginal.” She blinked nervously, shifting more openly in her seat now.

Penny looked back and forth, from Jan to Miles, before she finally spoke up. “Okay, I’ll bite – what’s ‘airtight’? I can guess double-vaginal…”

Miles refused to take the bait, remaining silent. His frequent perusal of online entertainment over the past few years left him familiar with the term, but he was not inclined to let on to that fact. Jan looked at him pleadingly to bail her out, but then shrugged her shoulders and mumbled. “It’s a cock in every hole” in a very quiet voice.

“Beg pardon?” Penny asked, not having heard Jan’s response.

“It’s a dick in my pussy, my ass, and my mouth, all at the same time. All holes stuffed – airtight, okay?” Jan blurted out, a little too loudly now, blushing furiously as she shifted in her chair.

Penny giggled, before realizing Jan was serious, then got a speculative look in her eyes as she shifted to problem-solving mode. “Well, we’ve definitely got enough sex partners to make it work – we just need to get some strap-ons!” This made Jan look at her in surprise, realizing the possibilities, a hopeful expression daring to cross her features. She giggled at the prospect, shifting again in her seat at the thought.

Checking the time on her cell phone, Jan drew the next card, saying, “Last question, as time is getting short.” She took on a very steamy look before asking, “Miles, what’s something I can do right now to drive you wild?”

Miles blinked for a moment, a variety of thoughts passing quickly through his fervid imagination. Discarding most of them, he returned to the purpose of this evening and inquired innocently, “Would you want to include Penny in this hypothetical ‘something’?”

“I told you that first time – has it only been a week ago? – any time you like.” She practically purred.

He remembered. Miles doubted he would ever forget that moment, or the implications that went along with it. He looked thoughtful for a moment, a boyish grin forming on his features, as he leaned forward to look straight into Jan’s eyes, asking her, “Would I be correct to assume the bedroom behind you has been prepared for us to use tonight?”

She blushed slightly, shifting in her seat, but never left his gaze. “You would,” she replied contritely.

“Then, what would really excite me right now would be to watch you and Penny perform the soixante-neuf for me,” he told her with a leering smile transforming his features, “perhaps after a lovely make-out session.”

Jan just smiled quietly at his response, looking over at Penny with one eyebrow raised, asking a silent question. Penny downed the rest of her wine, giving Jan a nod and smile before getting up, strolling around the table to take Jan’s hand, and without looking back, led her to the bedroom.

Miles watched the two beauties strut away from him, pleased that they seemed on the same page in their purpose, while also amazed at the sway of their hips and asses, and how wonderous they were. When they passed into the bedroom and stopped at the foot of the bed to engage in a hot kiss, he rose from the table, blew out the candle, and followed them, only now noticing more candles illuminating the bedroom. Amazed at how well these women had orchestrated the evening, he moved into the room and closed the door quietly behind him, never taking his eyes off their sensuous display.

Slowly, the women undressed one another, only pausing their make-out session to remove their tops. Their bodies began to writhe against one another, as they slowly moved their activities to the bed. Miles, a recent newcomer to such sapphic displays, was watching with keen interest, slowly removing his clothes as they became uncomfortable. As soon as he stood fully naked, he moved to the side of the bed and stood, cock in hand, unable to look away.

Eventually, Jan pushed Penny onto her back and then began kissing her way down to the blonde’s nipples, toying with the piercings gently as she nipped at the sensitive flesh. Penny arched her back, attempting to press more of her teat into Jan’s mouth, moaning loudly as the younger woman took hold of a nipple and pulled at it. Eventually, Jan began moving downward once more, simultaneously shifting herself around to bring her sensitive areas into Penny’s reach. As soon as she could reach that far, Penny’s hand was rubbing up and down Jan’s crease, making soft squishing sounds as she stirred the other woman’s loins.

Ultimately, Jan reached her objective, and at the same time, she swung one leg over her partner’s head and hovered just above her face, letting Penny reach up and pull her downward, both engaging the other orally at the same time. They both began leisurely swiping at each other with their tongues, nibbling around one another’s mons, spiraling inward toward common goals. As if synchronized, they each let out loud moans as they both locked lips on the other’s clitoris, working up a fever together that resulted in Miles stroking his cock carefully, worried that he would lose his shit just observing their carnal activities.

Soon, Miles was forced to slow his stroking and squeeze his cock tightly as his partners began to moan louder, and more frequently, each of them chasing that moment of ecstasy, le petit morte, As Jan’s orgasm hit her, she lifted her head away from Penny’s swollen lips, but quickly recovered her senses enough to shove three fingers into the sodden snatch she’d just been devouring, pumping them in and out rapidly while curling her fingers slightly. Almost instantly, Penny began to yelp and convulse, her peak hitting her hard, and Jan added her tongue to the action, making Penny’s climax ratchet up a notch. The blonde woman immediately reached up to lick her thumb and plunge it as far as she could into Jan’s rosebud, simultaneously latching onto her clit and sucking for all she was worth. This pushed Jan into a renewed frenzy, and her back arched as her torso convulsed, resulting in Penny getting a face full of her juices.

After a few moments, each of the women relaxed, Jan lying still atop Penny, the both of them trying to catch their breath. “God DAMN, I’d forgotten how good you are at that,” Penny sighed, pulling her thumb out of Jan’s backside before leaning her head up to kiss her sensitive tissues there in an attempt to soothe them. Jan just lay her head down in Penny’s lap, panting, her body still hunching slightly as the aftershocks slowly receded.

No longer touching himself for fear of going too far, Miles just shook his head in awe, completely lust-filled after their show. Soon, both women regained their senses enough to turn to regard him, with Jan asking, “Well, did you enjoy that as much as you hoped?”

“Far more than I’d dreamed – it was all I could do toward the end there not to lose my cool and cum all over the both of you,” he groaned, still not trusting himself to touch his bobbing cock. “That was amazing, hands down one of the most erotic things I’ve ever observed up close and in person.”

“So,” Penny asked, arching her eyebrows while absent-mindedly stroking one hand along Jan’s ass cheek, “what would you like to do now?”

“What I want is to sprout another dick so I can fuck you both!” he exclaimed, with a chuckle. Looking down, he feigned disappointment when another member failed to magically appear. “Clearly, I have hit my wish limit for this day. How about this – you did for me, now I will do for you. What would you ladies request of me?”

“Well, I for one was interested in getting fucked. Caveman style. How about this – we both get into a downward doggie with our asses to you, and you take turns on us?” Penny suggested, rolling over and wiggling her delicious backside at him.

Jan got up from the bed and approached Miles, sidling up to him and placing one hand on his back to nudge him forward toward Penny, while grabbing his throbbing cock with the other hand. “I really want to watch you rail her, baby. Please show me what you’re going to do to me next!” she cooed into his ear while rubbing the head of his cock up and down in Penny’s soaking-wet furrow.

Miles groaned and leaned forward, inserting himself into Penny, then adjusting his stance to improve his balance and leverage. Jen let go of his member and began stroking his chest, nibbling on his shoulder as he began to thrust harder and harder into Penny, making her groan each time he bottomed out in her. Leaning closer to watch over his shoulder, Jan began to whisper encouragement into his ear. “Oooh, I just love the way you make her ass cheeks shake like that when you pound into her! Look at how she’s clutching at the comforter – she’s really getting off on this. I can’t wait for you to fill her with your hot jism, so I can eat it out of her while you pound me like this.”

The moans from Penny were getting louder and louder, and Miles was beginning to feel that telltale tingle in his balls – he tried to hold back to let Penny get there naturally, feeling like pushing her with a serum-induced orgasm was a cheat. The urge to climax was difficult to resist, however, as Jan was really pushing his buttons with the dirty talk in his ear. Just as he worried he wouldn’t be able to hold back much longer, Penny arched her back with a howl, the walls of her channel grasping at him, almost totally arresting all movement on his part, and he hung there on the very precipice, forcing himself to wait for one more damn heartbeat, and then another, just one more, until he felt her relax beneath him. At that point, he let fly, pummeling her vaginal walls with his load, firing at least eight salvos deep into her while sending her into a higher climax at the same time.

Penny shuddered and shook in front of him, making all sorts of animal noises as her climax rolled through her, until she finally sagged forward, away from his cock, flopping flat upon the mattress, face down. Jan let go of Miles and stepped in front of him, grabbing Penny by the hips and rolling her onto her back. Tugging Penny’s legs open, Jan proceeded to bury her face into the other woman’s mons while presenting her backside to Miles. Jan shuddered in orgasm as soon as she sucked in the first of his cum from Penny’s canal.

Without hesitation, and before his cock could soften, he lined up and drove himself to the hilt into Jan’s oh-so-hot, quivering snatch. Holding still for just a moment, he allowed her to settle into a more comfortable position, enjoying the feel of her already milking at him with her walls, then began to stroke into her at an ever-quickening pace. His stamina, already above average, seemed to have improved over the course of the past week, allowing him to endure such back-to-back activities without the normal downtime for recovery. He was beginning to suspect his stamina might be improving to the point where he could go perhaps three orgasms without needing to recover, but he’d not yet attempted such a feat.

Jan was loudly vocalizing her enjoyment, moaning into Penny’s pussy in between each stroke, scooping as much cum out of Penny as she could while being railed from behind. Eventually, Penny regained enough of her senses to take ahold of Jan’s hair and actually pull her closer into her loins, humping up at her mouth as she moaned lewdly, licking her lips at Miles, encouraging him to fuck Jan harder. “Pound her, honey. Give it to her! She wants it, She’s been begging to be railed. Use her. Fuck her! Fill her up with your seed. Do you want to watch me eat it out of her like she is doing to me?” Just then, Penny’s eyes closed, and she moaned more loudly, her muscles tensing as she closed her thighs on Jan’s head. This triggered a chain reaction, Jan reaching her climax at the same time as Penny, the former howling her pleasure into the latter’s womanhood, while her walls clamped down hard on Miles, pushing him over the edge right after the two women.

Burying himself balls deep into her from behind, he let loose, sending another half-dozen powerful jets of his semen deep into Jan, coating her cervix and vaginal cavity with his spend, making her howl even louder as he quickened her into an even more powerful climax, causing her to soak his balls and thighs with her squirts.

Curious to know his new limits, Miles renewed stroking into Jan as soon as her walls relaxed their grip on him, resuming his previous frenetic pace within a few strokes. Jan sagged down, and Penny scooted back to avoid further stimulation to her sensitive tissues, watching in amazement as he continued to rail Jan into the next level of enlightenment. His refractory period, he found, was still relatively short, and it was not too long before he felt another orgasm begin to build. Jan was nearly senseless, moaning continuously, and he almost stopped, until he felt her start to push her ass back toward him, slowly adding strength to her movement, urging him to fuck her harder still. Feeling the cum-coated walls of her pussy begin their familiar tightening, knowing she was nearing her peak, Miles let himself go as well, ramming into her savagely a few more times, this time cumming before she did, the serum-induced response to his seed making her scream, then collapse in a shuddering heap. He too sagged atop her, eventually rolling off to the side, where he lay panting, trying to catch his breath, as stars filled his vision for a moment.

Eventually, Penny got up to put out the candles, then got the others to move up fully onto the mattress and under the comforter, where she joined them. They all fell into a sound, dreamless slumber.

***Gainesville, FL - 0700, Tuesday, August 4, 2020***

Miles woke up around sunrise and did a quick workout before grabbing a shower. He’d left Penny and Jan still sleeping in the Outhouse, and the others were still asleep when he went into the master bathroom to shave and shower. He’d just stepped under the water when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. As he turned, he saw someone in the crapper closet, and another was at the sink, brushing her teeth. He began to wash his hair and get through his normal shower routine as the person at the sink – Ava, as it turned out – reached in to turn on the other shower head, then stepped into the shower and began washing quickly. He smiled at her, each of them silently agreeing to no playtime.

Finishing quickly, Miles was about to turn his water off when Debra walked in, asking him to leave it on for her. Stepping out the other side, he grabbed his towel and began drying himself off as his two workwives hurried through their showers. He was already getting into his NWU’s as the two women exited the shower, wrapped in their towels. Before too long, all three were in their fatigues, loading their laptops into their backpacks. He reflected for a moment that they were all in ‘game-day’ mode this morning, each in their own head-space, gathering their focus, quietly preparing for the upcoming effort.

Miles paused, sniffing for a moment, before turning to the two female officers. “Smells like breakfast is about ready.”

Packs loaded with their gear, the three made their way into the kitchen to find Jan and Penny putting the finishing touches on their breakfast. A plate full of bacon and another filled with toast was on the table already, along with their place settings. Jan was pouring Miles a tall glass of tomato juice and setting his Yeti tumbler on the table, already filled with tea. Penny walked over to give them each a serving of scrambled eggs, then walked back over to begin making more for the others. Miles chuckled to himself when he noticed Jan was walking a bit funny this morning, winking at her when she caught him watching her.

“Jan, Penny, thanks for making our breakfast!” Debra said to the other two women with a broad smile. “This is certainly a very nice way to start our big day.”

“Absolutely! Thank you so much!” Ava added, speaking around a mouthful of bacon.

Miles strode over to Jan first, giving her a hug and a kiss, then back over to Penny, hugging her from behind as she worked at the stove, snuggling into her hair and kissing her on the cheek. Going back to sit at his place at the table, he began to wolf down his breakfast, eager to get on with his day. He was already mentally rehearsing aspects of the presentation he was scheduled to deliver within the next few hours and was weighing various options as to how best to achieve his desired objectives.

Jan interrupted his thoughts a moment later, setting a box in front of him, containing his tea brewing kit, along with a bag containing his preferred tea bags, as well as a resealable bin of his monk fruit sweetener. “I have a tea maker just like this at my house. I'm planning to go over and pack up what I want to bring here today and will bring it back with me. This way, you can make more tea at work.”

Miles reached out and pulled her into a side hug. “Thanks, Jan. That’s very thoughtful of you.”

She bent down to kiss him on the forehead before dancing away from him, a distinct wiggle in her hips. Not for the first time he caught himself chuckling at the oddness of his life. Just then, the other two women in their lives wandered into the kitchen, both dressed in shorts and t-shirts, Maddie’s hair pulled back and Sophia wearing one of Miles’ old Gators ball caps. He was pretty sure the UF shirts they were wearing were from his stack in the closet.

Snatching a piece of bacon from his plate, Maddie bent over to kiss Miles on the cheek, “Morning, babe. We’re going to go work out before breakfast. Be sure to text us later to let us know how the presentation is received.” Sophia bent over to kiss his other cheek, snatching a strip of bacon off his plate as she did, leaving with a smirk and a wink.

Miles made a big show of being wounded, looking all around to make sure the rest of the women in the room witnessed the wrong that had just been done to him. He made an exaggerated play of putting an index finger into his mouth, before sticking it onto the remaining pieces of bacon one at a time, saying, “Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine” as he touched each strip.

Penny calmly walked over to the table, making an equally grand gesture of licking her finger, then following behind Miles, poking each remaining strip, saying, “I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care.” Their little show made the others giggle, and Debra reached out and snagged a strip of bacon from the platter, just to be bratty, crunching it loudly as she bit into it with a big smile on her face, giving them all a good laugh.

Finishing what was left on his plate, washing it down with the last of his juice, Miles got up and took his dishes over to the sink, rinsed them, and put them into the dishwasher. Turning, he pulled Penny into a hug and held her tight. Leaning close, he whispered into her ear, “I don’t know what to expect today. It should be safe, but just in case, take one of the Hellcats with you. Also, leave the kids here with those two,” he nodded out toward the home gym on the patio, “just to be safe. I’ll call you later. Love you!” He gave her a long kiss on the mouth, hugging her close, before releasing her and turning to Jan. “Love you, too, dear,” he told her, giving her a kiss and hug as well, before turning to pick up the box with the tea maker to put it out into the Humvee.

The two Air Force women hurried to finish their breakfast, and - following Miles’ example - bussed their dishes. Debra turned and swept Penny into a hug as Miles had done, kissing her on the mouth to her mild surprise, telling her, “I love you, too, dear,” with a comedic grin on her face. As she released her and turned toward Jan, the shorter woman held up a finger, taking the time to wipe her mouth with a napkin from the table, before spreading her arms to give Debra a big hug and kiss, grabbing her ass in the process. All four women laughed at that, and then Jansen and Chavez turned to follow Miles out to the garage.

****

There was no one on the road between his house and the Air Force’s forward operating base. The activity level at FOB Waldo, however, was considerably higher than any of them had seen previously. Miles watched with interest as Jansen pulled up to the masked sergeant guarding the gate, showing her ID, and getting a salute from the sergeant as she waved them through. Taking the first left inside the gate, Jansen pulled them around to the parking area closest to building A-33, taking a spot reserved for O-5 and above, muttering ‘RHIP, bitches’ as she turned off the vehicle and donned her mask. The three of them made their way across the lot and into the main entrance of the building, badging through the secure access doorway, and headed back to their assigned workspace.

As soon as his laptop booted up and he’d entered his credentials, Miles stepped over to an open table and unboxed his tea maker. In moments, he’d started a pitcher of tea brewing, before his AFNet seat fully posted to its desktop. When he returned to his workstation, he began by clearing his inbox, going through the various administrative emails, and confirming the time of his upcoming presentation. The appointment included a Zoom call link, but he knew he would be delivering the presentation in person, in the general’s office.

Pausing for a moment, he looked up across to the office to address his staff. “Jansen, could you please update the numbers for me at your earliest opportunity from the medical wing? I’d like to give an up-to-date count on locals here who have been vaccinated and teamed up, to include projected casualties, estimates on any who’ve yet to be vaccinated, number of teams, as well as size of teams.”

“Can do, sir,” she replied, beginning to pull up the information he’d requested.

“Chavez,” he asked, “could you please take a look at our last projections for housing shortfalls, specific to the targeted apartment modifications, and put together a labor estimate to get all the needed apartment modifications completed within a month?”

“On it, sir,” Chavez responded, adding, "Did you also want estimates for workforce sizes needed to support Assess and Reclaim tasks during Tranche 1?”

“If you have time, sure – otherwise, I’ll swag it. I need to stress the need to engage and involve the local community to provide as much labor as possible for these local efforts. This will become part of the model that I hope becomes templatized for future, similar efforts.”

Miles went over his points in his head one last time, making sure he was prepared to defend his choice of priorities, as well as ready to champion the cultural pivots that – at least to him – seemed like an obvious choice to couple with the inevitable changes that the basic family model was about to undergo.

One of the hidden challenges, in his opinion, was going to involve the orphaned children. He was strongly motivated to blend orphan care into his overall sustainable community pitch, weaving a community care program into the mix, so that every poly-pod – a grouping of 10 or more team housing units - would help support a pod-level home for orphans, right within their community cluster. Those orphans would then become, by extension, the pod’s responsibility. Teams would need to donate time and resources to the care, mentorship, and education of the children without families. Those children not directly adopted, or entered into foster care programs, would live in a dormitory-style building within the cluster of team homes and would be assigned teams on a rotating basis to help be their “life coach” and provide for their basic needs. Miles spent his final hours before the presentation sharpening the slides dealing with that particular area of the overall operation, ensuring it was tightly integrated with the rest.

Finally, with updates from his two staff officers incorporated into the proposal, Miles felt ready. All the slides reflected up-to-date numbers and projections. All the foundational assumptions and dependencies were identified and articulated clearly. Each compartmentalized work effort was delineated to expose effort-specific resource requirements and likely time-to-completion estimates. His team’s work was complete; now it was up to him.

He closed and undocked his laptop, preparing to head over to the general’s office. Walking around from behind his desk, he stepped up to the two lieutenants, putting a hand on each of their shoulders. “Ladies, you’ve done fine work on short notice. Well done. Go grab some lunch over at the m... err, chow hall, and I’ll give you both an after-action assessment when I get back.” Settling for a brief squeeze on their shoulders instead of hugging them, he gathered his gear and headed out the door.

****

The presentation kicked off with a round of introductions, although Miles knew a few on the call already, namely Andrea Palm, the Deputy Secretary of the Dept. of Housing and Human Services, and Jeanette Nunez, the Lt. Governor for the State of Florida, both of whom he’d worked with in the past year during his tenure on Gov. DeSantis’ sustainability advisory board. Others on the call included Barbara Barrett, the Secretary of the Air Force, and Lt. Gen. David Allvin, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force. In the room with Miles were Captain Chandani Swami, and of course General Martha Palmer.

When Miles had entered the room earlier, he’d edged over to the general and leaned in close, asking her in almost a whisper, “Do I call you mom, now, Martha?” She’d snorted at that, checking to make sure the meeting was still muted and the camera off, shooting him a grin and motioning him back to his seat. Opening his laptop, he quickly queued up his presentation, joined the Zoom call – careful to mute his microphone and speakers to avoid generating a feedback loop - and waited until he was introduced before sharing in presentation mode.

As soon as Capt. Swami introduced him to those present, Miles stood and moved over to the main display screen in the room, which also put him on camera, and began his presentation. His first slide was a bit of an eye chart, filled with details, showing the before-outbreak population of Gainesville, FL, followed by their best estimate on the number of those saved, the teens lost, the number of teams that seemed to have been formed, projections on how long to reach zero unvaccinated, and the number of orphaned pre-teens.

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I’ll jump right into it. You’ve all been briefed on the local impact of this recent DuoHalo outbreak, so I’d like to segue directly into discussing Operation Endure.” He clicked the remote in his hand to advance to the next slide, which itemized bulletized elements of the operation he was describing. “Endure will consist of four distinct tranches, the first of which will focus on identifying and acquiring initial housing for the teams that have so recently been assembled. It is to our advantage that these are mostly fledgling teams, not yet grown to anything near their likely eventual size. This means that their housing needs will start out a bit more modest, giving us time to adapt.”

Clicking to his next slide, he continued. “The second tranche of Operation Endure will involve the assembly of a local workforce designed to begin addressing long-term housing needs, as well as completing the relocation of all teams into their interim assigned housing.”

As he was about to move on to his next slide, the Deputy Secretary of HHS interrupted him. “Excuse me, Commander, but you’ve mentioned identifying and acquiring housing – exactly what will that entail?”

Miles grinned, knowing this was where the rough part was likely going to begin. “Deputy Secretary Palm, that is an excellent question, which will take us on a slight detour, but a necessary one that I knew we would eventually have to address.” He moved to one of his supporting slides which showed two matrices – the first detailed the three sizes of teams, based on the number of partners and children: the second showed the total inventory of 3, 4, and 5 or more Bedroom homes and apartments. “Based on this slide, I have grouped our teams according to size, which ranges from Level 1 teams, consisting of 1 male and 2 female partners – this makes up about 65% of the teams; Level 2 teams, consisting of 1 male and 3 female partners, as well as 2 children – making up for another 25% of the teams, and lastly Level 3 teams, consisting of 1 male and 4 partners, with 3 or more children – which account for about 10% of the teams. Based on these three team sizes, we looked to place Level 1’s into 3-bedroom homes, Level 2’s into 4-bedroom homes, and Level 3’s into 5-bedroom homes. As I can imagine, you’ve already concluded that most of these teams will not own a home that meets their needs. This is where a higher pay grade must become involved, potentially requiring an act of Congress or an executive order to move us forward. I can identify potential interim housing solutions, but I lack the authority to allocate these homes, let alone any of the resources we plan to reclaim from smaller homes. This is where I will need your assistance.” He paused for the questions he knew would come.

Andrea Palm leaned closer to her camera, obviously studying the information on her screen, but it was Lt. Governor Nunez who spoke first. “Commander, I take it you have some ideas regarding what is necessary here, or are you simply fishing for a solution?”

“Lt. Governor Nunez,” Miles responded, “I am no constitutional lawyer, nor am I an expert on property law. At best, I would consider options to declare the greater part of Gainesville city proper - potentially to extend to adjacent parts of Alachua County - a disaster area, and then maybe leverage salvage law, but I have to assume there are better legal options that can be exercised. At the end of the day, almost all of these properties, both single-family and multiple-family housing alike, are simply insufficient to meet the needs of Teams in the future. We need to do a mass reset on our housing definitions, as well as expectations, and we need to be able to do so quickly. That usually comes into direct conflict with most property litigation, in my humble experience. Any mortgages or values ascribed to these properties should be considered to have been overcome by events, and new houses should be assigned, along with ownership, according to whatever new laws will need to be drafted and framed based on what the new family structure eventually pans out to be. Now, I can certainly requisition a shit ton of tents to put these people in, or we can simply ask the POTUS to use a stroke of her pen to temporarily amend or suspend property and debt laws, including inheritance, to allow us to leverage these existing structures to house the survivors. I await your preference.”

General Allvin chuckled at this point, relieving some of the tension. “Jim Folsom sure has you pegged, Commander. He told me you were a no-BS straight shooter, and didn’t tolerate the – how did he put it? – nuanced delicacies of politics.” He laughed once more. Miles grinned at the General’s mention of his former skipper from the Normandy.

Deputy Secretary Palm asked, “Commander, where in your plan are you accounting for the teams’ Tier rating? I don’t see any mention of preference being given to higher-tiered teams when it comes to housing allocation”

Miles rocked back in his seat for a moment, unsure he’d understood the question. The General leaned forward to speak into her mic before he could ask for clarification. “The Commander has not been briefed about the Tier system, and it has not been included in the scope of the current activities, Deputy Secretary. Gainesville is not as prominent an area, having very few of what would be considered upper-tier males, and so – at least for the scope of this particular effort – the Tiering system was not considered to be a factor.”

Miles was about to ask a question when Captain Swami slid a hastily scribbled note in front of him. “Will explain Tier System later” was all it said.

“All right – message received, Commander – you need to be able to use the available houses, and you need us to get you that access. What else?”

Miles went back to where he’d been in the deck and moved on to describe Tranche 2. “The second phase involves efforts to deal with gaps in skills and availability of manpower. Ideally, we will draw upon the local workforce to fill this gap – some retraining may be required to skill up the crews that we plan to put together, but essentially we want to leverage local resources to put together squads tasked with gathering up resources from existing housing that can be repurposed for future, upscaled housing – we’re talking about scavenging back major appliances, down to silverware – items that can either go into rehab efforts or place into a haves-needs sort of thrift store that can be accessed by those who participate in the efforts. The stretch goal is to ensure 100% of teams are in their interim homes no later than the end of September. And, if we have to revert to barracks-style temporary housing for anyone, they should be under a permanent roof by mid-December.”

*** Gainesville, FL - 1630, Tuesday, August 4, 2020***

The conversation went largely as Miles had anticipated, stretching well past the scheduled timeslot. In the end, he’d been able to successfully field their questions and felt confident that his proposed approach would be largely – if not entirely – adopted.

When he had mentioned his concerns over the orphaned children, Lt. Governor Nunez had spoken up to let him know that orphaned children were the responsibility of two state-level offices - the Office of Adoption and Child Protection, along with assistance from the Department of Children and Families. Nunez promised that she’d have someone from both offices reach out to work with him, but cautioned that she was keenly aware that both agencies lacked the resources to manage a situation such as what seemed to be evolving.

He chuckled to himself as he recalled the questions regarding the harvest/reclaim activities, not understanding the intent. Miles had taken the time to lead them to the reasoning, explaining his concerns regarding how the size that teams would eventually achieve would make the most devout catholic family look idle. He then pointed out how most American housing was not designed to support those numbers.

Miles took great care to share his vision of things to come with them. Future housing will need to adapt to the new supersized team families. The scale of things such as kitchens will need to shift from what was formerly considered a residential scale to something more akin to a small restaurant. And this will follow for most features within the home – bedrooms will need to be larger, in size and number. Hell, if his team was any indication, beds would need to be larger. Home offices will need to be included, as well as home learning facilities. He heavily stressed that existing homes, built with smaller target occupancy, would require substantial modification to support the new load demands being placed upon them, ranging from extensive electrical rewiring to significant replumbing to overall room sizes needing to be larger.

Eventually, the rest of the conference attendees ran out of questions for Miles, instead pivoting to what legal options were at hand that would enable his team to make this all happen. At that point, his continued attendance was unnecessary.

Having briefed his team on the meeting, the ‘hurry up’ phase was over for the moment. The three of them were left to practice the time-honored next step – they waited. Miles busied himself with filling out the necessary paperwork to get family ID badges for his partners and all three of the children. He was just about to check his favorite online news site when Chavez barked out “Room, Attention!”.

Muscle memory got Miles on his feet before he noticed that General Palmer had entered the room. The general nodded to Miles and his team, relieving them by saying “As you were.”

“General, you didn’t have to walk down here to the dungeon to see us. I could have come to you,” he said, remaining standing until the general took a seat. Then, he walked around his desk to grab a cup and offer the general some tea.

The general took the tea and sipped gingerly from the cup, before grunting in approval and taking a deeper sip. “Good tea,” she said. “Okay, let’s get to it. I have a mixed bag for you, Commander. The leadership bought your proposal hook, line, and sinker. Legal counsels are busy right now clearing away red tape, and the White House Chief of Staff assures me that POTUS is ready to issue an executive order if necessary to support your efforts here.” The General paused to sip her tea before continuing in a lower tone, “You should know that you are not the only ‘expert’ working to address Teams housing needs. Your operation in Gainesville will be one of several proving grounds for future such efforts, so Endure will be under a microscope, as I am sure you can appreciate.”

Miles nodded, commenting, “Makes sense – although, we should be clear that Florida has unique concerns that won’t necessarily matter in other parts of the country, such as the limitations on - ”

“Yes, yes,” she cut him off. “They are aware of the issues and many broader factors not relevant to your operation.”

“Speaking of – what was that about Tiers?” Miles asked, an accusatory tone in his voice. “I hope you’re not going to tell me there’s some bourgeoisie bullshit in play in America during all of this.”

The General chuckled at his comment, then leaned forward with a serious look on her face. “The Tier system has not come up before because very few individuals in Gainesville would have even qualified to be above Tier 2, and almost nobody would have qualified to be above Tier 4.”

“Wait, you’re telling me there are levels of preference being given to Teams for some reason?” Miles demanded, a critical tone in his voice.

“Compose yourself, Commander,” the General warned him sternly. “This is neither the time nor the place to get into this conversation.” Palmer leaned back for a moment, relaxing her features before continuing in an almost whisper, “Suffice to say that there was a certain amount of importance attributable to those deemed most critical to America’s immediate and long-term survival needs, based on multiple factors. Without getting into it, I suspect those will eventually become less of an issue as the broader population factors in, and the whole Tier designation will likely go away at some point in the future. It was really only important during the initial stabilizing response efforts.”

Deciding this was not the hill to die upon, Miles let it go.

“Fair enough – as you said, a mixed bag. Got any news that will make my life better or worse?” Miles inquired sarcastically, a grim smile on his face.

“Be careful what you wish for,” she commented. “The brass is not pleased with this effort being headed up by an O-5, let alone a squid. I assured them that you were housebroken and showered daily, whether you needed it or not, but I wasn’t sure what to do about the rank deficiency.”

Miles sighed – he’d endured the short-sightedness of military brass for almost two decades, so he wasn’t surprised. “So, are they assigning you to be my keeper, ma’am, or does Uncle Sam’s Amazing Flyboys have another flag officer standing by to step in?”

“No such luck, Miles,” she said with a sigh. “There are no flag officers lazing around, looking for an easy billet. I’m afraid I have no choice but to hand this operation over to an O-6.” She gave him a moment to let this ruminate, before continuing. “The good news is that one has just become available.” She stood, and Miles rose to his feet out of habit. “Congratulations, Captain,” she said, extending her hand.

Hesitantly, Miles extended his hand to take hers. He was surprised to find she possessed quite the firm grip, as she shook his hand vigorously. Jansen and Chavez both leaped to their feet to applaud his promotion.

Noting the confused look, the general connected the dots for him. “Secretary Barrett reached out to your SECNAV to explain how much POTUS wanted this to happen but wanted a more senior officer in charge. It took less than an hour to get the approvals, and they told me just a few minutes ago. These birds should do until you make it to a commissary,” she said, holding out her hand to him. “Don’t let this go to your head, Miles. I have no doubt that, in the very near future, you will be dotted-line reporting to some civilian-run advisory board from HHS who will be doing everything short of body cavity inspections on everything you’re doing or planning to do.”

Taking what she offered, he looked down at his hand – she’d handed him Colonel rank devices, which happened to be the same as Navy Captain rank devices.

As General Palmer turned to leave his office, she looked back over her shoulder with one last remark. “Don’t piss on the floors or forget to shower. And tell my daughter to call me later.”

****