Chapter 2: Pickup Standoff

I had barely stepped into the seating area when Walter shoved me aside. "Move pipsqueak. I'm the one who'll take that blond slut to the stars."

Walter's shove had barely moved me, but he had twisted his body and then jumped onto a chair to get in front of me. I just kept walking as I looked for my ladies. I found them sitting in a row on the bench seat I had been at. Ashley pointedly was eating the French fries I had been enjoying just before I noticed that a pickup was going to occur.

Lenore stood up as Walter approached and moved to stand between two tables so that Walter could not reach Ashley. "No," she said as she put a hand on Walter's chest.

"Out of the way tart. You couldn't even keep your legs together long enough to get through college. I don't want your kid so I'm not offering to take you with me," Walter growled as he reached out to grab Lenore's blouse.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to manhandle my lady," I said as I walked up behind Walter.

"Then tell her to get out of my way!" Walter shouted. "That blond is going to go to the stars with me."

"It's not happening," I said quietly. "You heard the rules, the lady has to agree. I haven't heard Ashley agreeing."

"And I won't," Ashley said.

"Why not," Walter said as he whirled to face me. "You want this wimp!"

Walter put both hands against my chest and tried to push me away. I took a step back with my right foot, but quickly returned to my original position.

"Walter," I said calmly. "I'm no wimp."

Walter tried to shove me again. "Bull. You allowed your father to walk all over you for years. Then you don't even try to impress all the girls at school with your score. You tried to hide your score. Heck, you backed down from every fight you could since you tested."

"Is the Confederacy at war with my father? Is the Confederacy at war with the teachers of our high school? I was trying to protect people. It's hard to protect them if you fight and lose. You have to know when to fight and when to bluff," I said.

"What you decided to play "Coward of the County?" Walter said scornfully. "I always hated when my father played that song over and over."

"And as I remember the boy ends up killing three people in that song," I said. "He had promised to avoid fights when he could and did, but fought when he had to. Courage isn't fighting every time. Sometimes it's about knowing what to fight for."

"Who cares? I'm better than you. I'm bigger than you. I'm a better fighter than you. And that blond slut is going to be my concubine. You can't stop me," Walter said firmly.

"Oh?" I asked.

I turned to look at the lobby and order counter. "Can I get a marine over here to clarify something?" I shouted.

"What? You can't beat me so you are going to call over someone to help you? If that isn't cowardice I don't know what is," Walter said.

I looked him in the eye. "I hope they can find you a nice safe position in the front lines."

The Lieutenant walked over. "What seems to be the problem?" he asked. "I told you I wanted this to go smoothly and quickly. Neither of you appear to be working on auditioning any concubines."

"That's because Mark here is preventing me from doing that," Walter said angrily. "I want to give that blond slut a test drive."

"And I wanted to see if something was true. You said that once a concubine declared that she had accepted someone they belonged to him," I asked.

The Lieutenant's gaze moved back and forth between me and Walter. He looked over at me and spoke. "Yes, if a person makes a formal verbal declaration that they are willing to become someone's concubine, Confederacy law says that it's a binding agreement if the citizen is willing. But you can't keep this recruit from giving someone a test drive."

"I thought I could if she was my concubine. Ashley are you sure? It looks like you need to make it formal," I called out.

"Hell yes," Ashley shouted. "I Ashley Roberts am for now and forever more the concubine of Mark Parker. Now will someone just kick Walter in the crotch so I can start showing my man what he means to me?"

"Bitch!" Walter shouted. He grabbed the drink that Angelique had left on the table and threw it at Ashley. She ducked as the Lieutenant clotheslined Walter.

"Recruit! You better stop doing things that are stupid! That woman belongs to another recruit. You just attempted to damage someone else's property! Do you want to spend time running laps around the ship? Or perhaps we can just retest you and then throw you out an airlock if you don't get a six point five."

"You can't retest me," Walter said petulantly as he lay on the floor and checked his lip.

"The Confederacy allows any citizen convicted of a crime to be retested," the Lieutenant said coldly. "Now, I heard that young lady make a clear declaration that she was Recruit Parker's concubine. Why don't you find someone else to chase."

Walter stood up. He immediately marched over to glare into my eyes. "This is not over," he growled. "You don't get to keep that blond slut. I'll take her from you."

"Walter I don't gamble. I don't drink. I don't take stupid risks. There is no reason to expect that I'll die, but if I'm allowed to make a request I'd have it so that Jessica or Jason inherits my ladies," I said

"Ladies! They are sluts! They exist for the real man to use for pleasure," Walter screamed.

One of the ladies who had come in with Walter walked up behind him. She was a rather attractive redhead who was unfortunately wearing a pair of clam diggers that had obviously never been to a beach and a halter top that had shrunk after far too long in the dryer. "Walter?" the woman said timidly.

"What?" Walter shouted as he half-turned to look at the girl. "I'm talking with someone here. You can wait for me."

"That's just it," the girl replied. "I wanted to tell you that I won't be your concubine. Lydia feels the same way, but didn't want to walk over here. You can look elsewhere, but neither of us wants to be bothered by you."

Walter raised his right hand over his left shoulder. He started to swing it, but I jumped forward and grabbed his arm. He spun around to face me.

"What is your problem?" I shouted at my former friend. "You heard she has the right to say no. Find someone who wants to go with you."

Walter glared at me for a moment. I wondered if he'd try to strike me, but the Lieutenant came over and stood between us. "You need to head off to the front," he told Walter. "Any more disturbances and I will definitely have you retested."

"It's not right," Walter grumbled as he turned and walked away.

The Lieutenant turned to look at me. "And you need to make your choices as well."

"Oh, I have," I said. "Ashley, Lenore, Miki, Tatyana, please come and attend me."

Giggles arose from behind the Lieutenant. His mouth opened in shock as the women I had called for walked around him to kneel at my feet.

"Are we not enough?" Ashley asked cheekily.

"You have four already chosen? But they are still dressed," the Lieutenant said.

I looked down at Ashley. She smiled winningly. "Oh, we just haven't had time to take our clothing off. We all decided we'd turn it into a striptease contest. The one who gets Mark to grab her and pull her in for a kiss first wins."

"Actually, I'd say it should be the one who excites me the most. The first might just be because I want to stop her," I said with a smirk.

"Jerk," Lenore said. She pulled the blouse she was wearing off and tossed it at me. "Just for that I won't strip."

"You won't have to," Kelsey said as she slipped and put a hand on my chest. "We all know that Mark is going to take me."

"We do?" I asked.

The girl I had once planned on taking turned and pressed her lips against mine. Unlike the loving kisses of my ladies her lips tasted of too much lipstick. I turned my head and her lips slipped away from mine.

"Mark," Kelsey whined. "You promised to take me with you."

Chapter 3 »