Chapter 24: A Surprise Meeting

Tilly, Este and I turned our attention to our meals. Bryn and Jade quickly moved so that they were leaning against my legs as they enjoyed their own food. The conversation quieted down as most of us concentrated on eating. I did notice that Jerome took the time to move next to Matt. They engaged in a quiet conversation as the rest of us enjoyed the food.

Este was the first to finish. She leaned back and thrust her chest forward with a smirk. “Oh, this was definitely a good day. I got to impress my people and still enjoyed some conversation.

Jade looked up from where she was leaning against my knees. “Hey, do you know the difference between sex and a conversation?”

I held back a snort as Este’s face displayed complete confusion. “I have no idea,” the former basketball player admitted.

“Perfect,” Jade replied. “How about I walk Catherine back to your pod and she and I can engage in some stimulating conversation?”

I sat there and smiled as the rest of the table was silent. Jade had turned her face toward me and I could see her struggle to avoid laughing.

“That sounds ... wait ... What?!” Este said finally.

Jade lost her composure and started laughing loudly. I put a hand on her head and looked over at Este. “Sorry,” I said. “I’ll punish Jade later for that. She used to tell a story that her father met her mother and used the same opening line to start their relationship. I’m guessing that the way you mentioned a conversation was in her eyes a perfect opening to try the line out.”

“I don’t ... wait,” Catherine said. “Did she just make a pass at me?”

“Not really,” Jade said. “If Este had immediately agreed I would have just walked you to your home and talked about our futures and how much we love the ladies who took us from Earth. But the implication inherent in the line is that if you don’t know the difference, the asker will take you home and...”

Jade trailed off which only caused Tilly to giggle. “I love it. But I’m glad no one ever used it on me.”

“Oh? There is a story there I’m thinking,” I said as I sat up.

Tilly blushed and then nodded. “Let’s just say that I listened to a couple of the popular boys at my high school once and...”

“Say no more!” Jade said holding up a hand. “The only question is, did you enjoy what happened to you?”

I watched as Tilly’s blush deepened. Her face had the color of a boiled lobster. “Yes,” she whispered as she turned her head and buried it in Cecile’s thigh.

“Wait, you’ve played the slut for some guy from your high school, but you never allow me to be rough with you or play with your ass?” Matt growled.

Jerome stunned all of us by backhanding his fellow male concubine. “Idiot! Did you not attend the same briefing as I did, or are you just that bloody stupid. I can see why you were given the CAP score you have. You’ve earned it with your attitude towards others.”

A loud cheer rang out in the lounge. We all looked over to see one of the groups of gamers had rose to their feet. A young man wearing the Confederacy uniform was playfully bowing to the rest who pretended to worship him. “Thank you, thank you. It was great fun to have this impromptu tournament tonight.”

I glanced over at Este. “Do you know him?” I asked.

“He’s not in the list of people undergoing gunball training. But the uniform is for the navy. He must be slated for another ship,” she replied.

“Considering there are nearly one thousand citizens on this transport and we’re getting only about one hundred, that isn’t a surprise,” I replied. “But if he’s winning a console or computer game he’s probably got excellent reflexes so I wondered.”

The gamers were breaking up. The winner and one other were headed our way. Each had an arm around a topless woman who was simpering to her man.

Este froze for a second and then smiled. “Hey Steve, nice to see that you do get out of your pod for more than a counseling session with me.”

“You promised not to talk about that!” the second man, a teenager with a babyface and freckles complained. “Its bad enough that that harpy Clarissa constantly berates me.”

“She wants the team to do better, and you have gone the wrong direction more than once,” Este said. “Oh, I guess a few introductions are in order.”

Este pointed at the young man. Tanya, Tilly, this young man is currently slotted for Jarl team, I’m not sure where we’ll place him. His name is Steve and he’s an excellent shot. We just need to get him to understand all of the instructions we give him.”

Este then pointed at Tilly. “Steve, I know you barely listen to me most of the time, but this young woman with the braids is Matilda Castelon. You probably know her as Tilly, the voice of the ship during our simulations.”

Tilly had a finger on her lower lip. “Steve? Are you introducing me to the Steve who turned right instead of left and crashed into three other gunballs in yesterday’s simulation.”

The young man frowned. “That was me. And I’m sorry. I’m just not used to how fast the orders change.”

“Its going to happen,” Este said. “The ships might be far enough apart that they will spend hours maneuvering into a better firing position, but when we’re trying to protect the ship by stopping the enemy shots, you have to react as fast as we get information on where in the sky to look.”

Tilly shook her head. “And before you complain to me about that. Captain Walker can tell you that no matter how diligent the tracking team is, there is just too much information flowing into the bridge for me to make better predictions, even if I was able to track it all. I just pass along the orders.”

“Which you have proven to be excellent at. I barely monitor your channel most of the time. Its only when we’ve taken damage and I want to know how to prioritize both repairs and the helm that I’ll listen in. When it comes to getting the gunballs to shoot the correct target, the team has been working very well,” I purred.

“Vannah?” the woman under the champion gamer’s arm said. She sounded stunned. “Is that you?”

Jade’s head lifted from my leg. “We heard Passion was picked up and on the ship.”

“Jade? Jade!” the woman said. She ducked out from under the arm of the man and ran around the table. Her hug of my friend was nearly a tackle as she threw herself around the table and into Jade’s arms.

I looked down at the woman and noticed that her facial features resembled the female stripper that I barely remembered from two years before. Her body was considerably different with larger breasts and longer legs than the girl-next-door body of the woman who had left the club in the arms of a young man.

The man cleared his throat. “Penelope?” he asked.

Jade laughed. “Is that your real name Passion? I know you were far more careful than any of the rest of us at the Pink Poodle.”

“The what?” Matt shouted.

“The Pink Poodle Strip Club,” I said firmly. “If this is Passion she worked there two years ago and management was trying to convince her to become a headliner for them. She was extremely popular, but one night a shy young man convinced her to go home with him and she never returned.”

“But that means?” Matt said slowly.

“Yes, Jade and I both worked there. That’s how we met,” I said.

“A stripper had the CAP to volunteer? How?” Matt asked.

“Vannah was the most protective woman I’ve ever known. She made the madam of the club back off some of the newer girls when she came on too strong. I never spoke to her because she scared me a little, but she helped me more than once when a customer wouldn’t take no for an answer to his demands,” the blonde woman in Jade’s arms said quietly.

Her owner looked shocked. “You’re Savannah? I mean, Passion talked about the women she best remembered. You, Jade and someone named Stormy were the ones I heard about the most.”

“I went by Savannah in the club. There was a porn star with blonde hair that used the name, so I figured it would be a good name for a stripper,” I replied with a shrug. “Not that anyone really noticed the name once I made the mistake of marrying that boor Radov.”

Catherine gasped. “That’s where I thought I recognized you from, my parents are wealthy and my father subscribes to some financial planning clubs. One decided to have a pictorial of the wives and girlfriends of some of the top new talent in the industry.”

“Radov was definitely not top talent, and I never posed for them, so they must have purchased my picture from one of my modeling jobs,” I replied.

Jade giggled. “She always was thinking about how to be a success and working hard.”

“While you were always hardly working,” I replied answering an old banter from our time at the Poodle.

Passion giggled girlishly. “Yup, still Jade and Vannah. How did you end up together. I didn’t pay too close attention after I left because Mark wanted me to leave the world behind, but I remember seeing you in some pictures. The article about some new model who lived in Saint Louis. I can’t picture Jade ever moving that far east.”

“I was picked up in Vegas while attending a special party for executives of top performing offices of the company Radov was cheating,” I said.

“Cheating?” Este asked.

“Radov could barely read and had no financial sense. What he was good at was reading people and convincing most people to trust him. The majority of his suggestions to his clients were produced by other people in the office. And the reality is that the top executives within the company realized that. But the office overall performed very well, so Radov got invites to the parties after most quarters,” I said with a shrug.

“And Jade was there?” Passion’s owner asked.

“I found out that the company was having the party and begged the escort agency I sometimes worked for to place me with one of the unaccompanied executives. They got me in the door and there was a pickup just before dinner was served,” Jade replied happily.

“And then Jade and I got served,” Bryn added. “And I’ll never regret that day. Well, except for the fact that my sister wasn’t there and I’ve never contacted her.”

“I don’t think you can call her, but write something up and I’ll see how we can deliver a message to her,” I replied.

Passion’s owner looked at the table and then pointed to an empty chair. “Can I sit down and chat?”

“Go ahead,” I said. “Steve you can as well. I try to be friendly and compassionate to everyone.”