After crueling months of combat with pirates, slavers, and creatures from the darkness of space it looks like HumanGov HQ has finally decided to give Angel company a "working vacation". Officially called a "Standard Escorting of Males" mission, everyone in colonized space has dubbed them "Man-scorts" since there was such a thing.
The idea is simple, the relative short supply of men means that any man that can at least be made fertile enough to impregnate a woman through meds is worth their weight in gold. Because of this HumanGov made up a color-coated classification system so that these men can be identified on sight. Red means he's sterile, has no sex drive, and probably has so many genetic diseases that a bullet in his brain would be merciful in comparison, ranging up to the theoretical classification of Violet which means he's not only healthy but is fertile enough to knock up old spinsters for days on end. From that HumanGov made it official policy that any male above a certain classification that wants to travel through space has to do so on board a military ship, the exact level reveiwed every 5 years according to population policies and altered accordingly.
As for the "Man-scort" missions themselves, they're notoriusly easy as only the dumbest of the dumbest pirates and slavers will even attempt to steal a live human being from a military vessel. Everyone else knows that there's way too many risks involved for everyone concerned. The only real source of complaints is HumanGov's directive that vessels on "Man-scorts" avoid all but the faintest radiation sources and never run their engines at higher then 70% power to avoid exposing the males to radiation. As a result trips that normally take only a couple days can be stretched out to as much as a month, testing the limits of a crew's patience.
The shuttle was designed to hold 2 squads, a fact of which Joanna's squad has taken full advantage of as they wait with not a small amount of excitement. Afterall, of the Angel company they did get the first shots at the only men that aren't trying to kill them they will have seen in months.
"So, who are the lucky bastards?" asked Private Kelly Arnold.
"Not sure, for some reason H-G won't let me open that file in my orders until we're clear of the Persephone's basic radio communications grid. All I know for sure is whoever they are, they'll be our guests for 6-12 weeks as we head to Luna, depending on what space feels like throwing at us."
"They don't do that for a bunch of Yellows."
"Been on many 'Man'-scorts, Private?"
"Just something I've heard, Ma'am."
Minutes pass as the planet grows larger, minutes that only add to the dramatic tension and atmosphere of joviality. Suddenly a tone rings as a file changes it's access restriction. Joanna opens it immediately, curious as to the reason for the secrecy.
"That's weird."
"What is it Sarge?"
"There's only one name on the list of men we're picking up."
The confusion spreads through the squad as Joanna reads further.
"Name is Henry Collins, age 25, medium build, a bit on the tall side. . .Oh, here's why."
"Don't leave us in suspence Sarge."
"Looks like Collins is Class Blue. He doesn't need any meds and can be counted on to get it up at least once a day, but needs rest between lays and has an adverse reaction to some potency meds."
"Didn't know guys like that existed."
"Seems he like to keep it that way, says here he's taken to trying to pass for a Yellow when on a planet so he can get a little peace and quiet. He then keeps moving so nobody notices a Yellow that just happens to be able to go into heat almost daily. H-G thinks he's just shy of 400 pregnancies across 3 planets since hiting legal breeding age."
"Damn, so instead of a squad of studs we'll have one superstud on the ship."
"Maybe."
"Why maybe?"
"Someone's figured out he's really a Blue, right? Think they're going to just hand him over? "
"Guess not ma'am, and can't say I would blame them if they didn't."
"Lock and load ladies, we may have a fight on our hands." |