Chapter 2 - Meeting the Harem

Bethany was still not there, but the AI reported that her initial treatment was nearly done and we could expect her back in another few minutes. It was hard to determine time on the ship, but my internal clock suggested that it was only just after eight p.m. I looked at Tina, Janice and Meiko and smiled.

"I want to do a formal introduction and get to know each other once Bethany is here so that she can get to know you and you her, although you seem to be thick as thieves already," I said looking at the trio. "Since we have to wait for her to come back from medical, how about I get a close look at each of you?"

Meiko looked a bit uncomfortable, but Tina and Janice quickly shed their shifts and then Tina stood in front of all of us.

Tina told us she was a twenty-four year old usher and waitress trying to make her way despite her inability to read. She seemed to lack confidence and as she turned, she cowered a little as if I might reject her for her appearance.

She was not a spectacular beauty, but I wasn't going to complain. Her hair was a deep brown with red highlights. She kept the hair in a short ponytail, which help to draw attention to an elegant neck. Her face was not one of classic beauty, but it had character thanks to a couple of nearly invisible scars on her chin and cheek. It was obvious that she was missing meals occasionally though, as she was almost painfully thin, with some of her ribs showing against her skin. Her breasts also suffered a bit from her light weight, appearing deflated against her skin. She had an unruly mass of hair down below, but no visible flaws. I could see that she was almost in tears as I stood up to wrap her five-foot-nine frame in a hug.

"There is not much that needs to change," I said. "You are beautiful already."

'I'm not," Tina complained. "I'm too skinny, I have dull hair, and I'm flat."

I looked over her shoulder to see Janice and Meiko smiling at me. "I love your hair, and we can change the rest. But you are beautiful for who you are, not what you look like."

"What?" Tina said as she pushed away from me to look me in the eyes.

I smiled and put a hand under her chin. "You've already shown it today. You have been brave, loving, friendly and sexy. You've found yourself in a terrible situation and met it with a smile and courage. That is enough." I bent down and gave her the first kiss I had given any of the four ladies. I had planned on it being a quick peck, but Tina threw her arms around me and held on for dear life while kissing me back.

We might have stayed that way for a while, had not the AI interrupted us. "Concubine Bethany is outside; shall I allow her to enter?"

Tina released my lips, but continued to hold me tight. I took a moment to catch my breath and then answer. "Please allow her to enter." I had barely finished before Tina locked her lips on mine again.

The door must have opened, because a moment later I heard an amused voice say. "I can see that you are handing out kissing demonstrations, Tina. Will you be showing me how to kiss like that too?"

Tina broke off the kiss and turned in my arms. I looked over her shoulder to see a naked Bethany standing just inside the door and smiling. Tina was just about to start babbling when Bethany spoke again.

"I'm just teasing, although that kiss got even my pussy wet. How James is still standing I don't know," she said.

I smiled back. "I was going to just reassure her that I wanted her, and she turned it into a kiss of passion. Not that I'm going to complain about that."

Janice laughed. "You wouldn't."

I looked down to find that Meiko had her hand between Janice's legs moving in a circular motion. Janice noticed my gaze and giggled. "Okay, it got Meiko and me hot too. It was some kiss."

Tina released me and sat on the edge of the bed as I finally unlocked my knees and sank to the floor. It took a moment for me to gather myself before I sat back on the bed next to Tina. I looked up to see Janice smiling and standing in the middle of the room for everyone.

Janice turned and allowed everyone to see her body. For a nineteen-year-old student she was a bit out of shape, although the curves of her hips suggested that having children would not be a problem for her. She had her dirty blond hair in a simple straight cut at the shoulders, which seemed to detract just a bit from her beauty, but otherwise I could find no major flaws. As she finished her turn and smiled at me, I clapped.

"Wonderful. You look marvelous," I said as Janice came to a halt. She immediately jumped over and dropped into my lap. I was going to say more when she locked me into her own kiss.

The kiss lacked the polished fire of Tina's, but its gentle force had a lot of passion behind it and soon Janice broke it off, panting heavily. "God, I've never wanted to kiss a man so badly before, but that was so good!" she enthused.

She slid off my lap ever so lightly and we looked over at Bethany and Meiko. Meiko appeared a bit nervous, so with a smile Bethany stepped forward.

For a woman in her forties, Bethany looked rather good. Her very pale skin obviously had seen a bit too much sun in the past and was blotchy and weathered, but not overly so. She did have probably thirty extra pounds on her five-foot eleven frame, but some of that was her sagging breasts which seemed enormous compared to the much smaller endowments of my other three concubines. I looked up and noticed her hair was still bound up in a bun.

"Your hair is still up?" I asked.

Bethany smiled as she walked to stand just in front of me. She leaned over so that her head was almost directly above me, and reaching back with a hand untied her hair allowing it to fall all the way to her waist as she stood with her breasts in my face. I gasped and she lowered herself until she was looking me right in the eye.

"I always wanted to try that," she smirked and then leaned in to give me a kiss. As she did she felt my pants and could feel that I was extremely aroused. With a laugh she unbuckled my belt and proceeded to pull my pants and briefs off. "Mine?" she asked.

"It belongs to all four of you," I replied with a groan as Bethany's lips touched the tip. She seemed a little unsure, but the passion was definitely there, and her tongue described circles around my cock as Janice and Tina held me close and watched. I worried a bit about Meiko but when I looked up I found her watching over Bethany's shoulder. Her eyes were glazed over with lust.

I tapped Bethany on the shoulder and she stopped to look up at me. I pointed to Meiko and Bethany smiled and moved over, allowing Meiko to kneel next to her in front of me. I could see Meiko nervously reaching out to touch my cock.

"Don't worry honey, it doesn't bite," Tina said. "Although some do spit from time to time, but that's a good thing."

Bethany snorted at this and I could see Meiko's eyes rise up to mine.

"Go ahead, Meiko," I said quietly.

She gave me a shy smile and leaned forward to kiss the tip of my cock. She slowly began to run her lips around it, although at one point I had to remind her to keep her teeth back. It was both sloppy and passionate at the same time. There was no question that Meiko had never done this before, but desire to please me shone through and soon I groaned and came in her mouth.

I expected Meiko to jump back in surprise, but she held on and accepted every spurt until my orgasm subsided. I could see she was ready to swallow when Tina pulled Meiko into her lap and gave her a kiss. Meiko appeared shocked, but accepted the kiss, only to have Janice and Bethany demand kisses once Tina was done. I could see Meiko shaking just a bit as Bethany released her from that final kiss.

"Was I good?" she asked as she climbed up to lay on the bed next to Tina.

"Good?" Tina said with a laugh, pointing at my body lying on the bed as well. "You put him down for the count. I'd say you were great."

"Seconded," I said from my prone position. "If you four are always like this, I'm going to be a very happy sponsor."

"Silly, that's our plan," Janice said and kissed my cheek.

Tina nodded to Bethany and the two stood for a second. They lifted my feet and as Janice moved to the far side of the bed, threw my legs over so that I was lying about in the center. Bethany moved to sit by my head as Tina kissed and crawled her way up my legs.

"I know you want to take your time to introduce Janice and Meiko to sex the right way, but I need this in me now," Tina growled as her kisses reached my neck. She arched her back for a moment and using her right hand, guided my cock into her pussy. I could hear the gasps from Janice and Meiko, but Bethany merely giggled and then jumped up to put her knees on either side of my head.

"I've heard of this, but never tried it," Bethany said as she positioned her pussy right in front of my mouth. As Meiko and Janice gasped again she slowly lowered her pussy until it was right in front of my lips and I reached my tongue out to kiss it.

"Oh god," Bethany and Tina said in near unison. They began moving together, Tina on my cock and Bethany fucking my tongue with her pussy. They kept moaning and screaming for more until I could take it no longer and came into Tina's pussy with a joyous shout. Bethany and Tina came almost immediately after and then collapsed into each other's arms.

I could hear Janice groan from where she lay on the bed. "That was incredible to watch," she moaned. "I hope you don't make me wait long James."

"Tomorrow," I replied as I tried to catch my breath. "Tomorrow, you and Meiko can both lose your virginity. That's if Meiko wants to lose hers."

Meiko jumped up to lie on me and give me a deep and loving kiss. Exhaustion had finally caught up to me though, and I fell asleep with her in my arms hearing Bethany's amused comment. "I'd say she wants it."

I woke up the next morning in a tangle of naked bodies. My four concubines had obviously slept in the bed with me, and the closeness was welcome. I tried to ease myself out of the tangle, but my movements woke up the rest rather quickly.

Tina actually smiled and giggled as we rolled out of bed and to our feet. "Damn, I've never been fucked so good in my whole life!"

"I'm hoping we can make all our nights that good," I said with a smile as I looked around for the ship uniform the AI recommended I wear.

I had just found it when Meiko whispered just loud enough for all to hear. "I didn't get to pose last night."

We turned to see Meiko standing in the middle of the room and blushing. She stiffly held her arms at her side as she slowly turned once all our attention was on her.

Meiko might have been eighteen, but her Asian ancestry, small size and tiny breasts made her appear fifteen or sixteen as she blushed and turned. She had her black hair in a short, rather unappealing bowl cut, and some residual acne scars on her face. The rest of her body was flawless if in a very small package and I smiled as she completed her turn. "Wonderful Meiko. Smile and be proud of your beauty," I said.

Bethany was looking at the gray shifts with a bit of disdain as I pulled the uniform. "This is what we get?" she asked as she held up the cloth.

"Sadly, right now it's a choice between that and nudity," I replied. "I have nothing against nudity, but I won't complain if you cover up for now. However, I do have some outfit ideas for the future."

Tina was looking over at me as Bethany walked into my trap and asked. "Oh? What do you mean?"

I laughed wickedly. "I've always wanted to take my schoolteacher on her desk. And perhaps take two cheerleaders behind the bleachers. Maybe I'll find time for my French maid while she's dusting the living room."

Tina burst out laughing as Meiko looked confused. Bethany just shook her head and threw the shift at me. "Pervert," she laughed. "You'd like that I'm sure. Well I've got bad news for you."

Everyone got quiet and I walked into her trap when I asked. "Bad news?"

Bethany laughed. "I want to do that too. Fuck your teacher hard, James. Fill your teacher's cunt with your cum." She walked over and pulled the shift from me to give me a passionate kiss. I found my arms going around her and might have done more when the AI called out. "Briefing in the Mess Hall in fifteen minutes."

"Darn," Bethany moaned as we all hurried towards the door. She noticed Meiko was still looking a bit confused as we walked down the corridor. "What's the question?"

Meiko looked down. "What did James mean?"

Tina and Janice both giggled as Bethany smiled. "It means that he's going to play some games with us someday. For instance, he's going to dress me like a schoolteacher and fuck me hard on a desk. My pussy is tingling just thinking about it. It's a fun way to keep sex from becoming boring."

Meiko thought about it for a moment and then surprised us all by whispering with a blush. "Perhaps the teacher should have a couple of naughty schoolgirl students join her when James lays her on the desk."

Tina burst out laughing and gave Mieko a long hug. "God, I love my new family!" she said as we reached the door to the mess hall.

We entered and I pointed out a table we could use. I was going to get the food myself, but Janice insisted that I claim the table and she would bring me a tray of food. I found myself reflecting that Tina was right and that we were a family as I sat down and looked over the other sponsors and their concubines.

I could see a number of obviously upset and confused concubines. It was pretty clear that the new rules did not sit well with many of them, and second thoughts were common. The whole hall had an undercurrent of dissatisfaction, which kept conversation quiet and dull. I was looking to find Brenda when Janice arrived and set a tray in front of me before sitting just to my left. She seemed to notice the atmosphere in the room as well.

"Not everyone is happy with the changes," she said quietly as my other ladies took seats at the table.

I looked up at my four ladies and must have frowned, because all for smiled and reached out to touch me. "We are very happy with them," they said as a group.

I found myself laughing and wondering what was going to happen when Brenda dropped down into an empty seat at the table.

"Corporal Mattingly claimed me last night," she groaned. "But for the trip I'm going to watch the rabbits. They all have plenty of food and water as of this morning."

"You happy?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," Brenda replied. "It's going to be a big change. And I don't transfer with the rabbits at your destination. I'll be getting transported to his home on another world after the trip."

"Well, good luck, and we'll talk before you go, because I'll help with the rabbits," I replied as Captain Nelson entered the room.

Once again her voice boomed out. "Welcome aboard the colony pod ship, Will-o-Wisp. First, some of you concubines don't seem to get it. There is no one you can complain to. If your sponsor says jump, you jump. If your sponsor wants you to dance around naked and give every man in this room a blowjob, you start dancing. If you anger your sponsor, they can kill you and no one is going to care, but I really don't want to deal with the bother of getting my decks cleaned cause you left blood all over them. So smile and accept it folks."

"Now, starting today we'll be getting everyone into medical for their initial treatments. These are to clear up general medical issues and prepare your body for the later changes. If a sponsor wants, he or she can request body changes later. They will occur during everyone's second pass through the medical pods.

"As for where this ship is going, that is a bit complex. Most of you will be transferred pod and all to other ships and we'll be taking their pods on. If you stay with this ship you are going to be part of a new colony being set up on the spinward side of the Sa'arm incursion on a planet called Ishtar. Fleet wants an advance supply base and you are going to be there to put in the infrastructure and to defend it should the Sa'arm find it. Transfers of pods will be ongoing, and we have one more day of pickups before we fill up, so we should be on our way in about two days and the trip out will take eight weeks. Also training will begin for those of you staying with the Will-o-Wisp; your AI will tell you when and where that will occur."

The room returned to silence and then a male voice rang out. "No! I won't take this. You promised me that I wouldn't be just a toy to you once you were selected. Now you treat me like dirt and I have to just smile, you sopping cunt? Every one of our friends always told me you were some bull-dyke lesbian, but this is too much!"

The speaker was a young man of about twenty-three standing naked and screaming at one of the women I remembered had made quick selections the night before. She slowly stood and looked at him, whispering something before he attempted to punch her and was floored by a stinger shot from one of the marines. "Still want him?" the marine said as she walked up to her and checked on the unconscious body.

"He's not worth the trouble," the woman spat. "Dump him out an airlock, I'll find another."

The marine signaled another and they proceeded to drag the unconscious man out of the chamber. There was a long silence before Captain Nelson spoke up. "Let that be an object lesson for all of you concubines. Sponsors don't have to give second chances, or even first ones."

The room remained rather quiet and I noticed that more than a few of the unhappy concubines now looked scared as well as upset. I glanced at my four to see them smiling and unconcerned as Corporal Mattingly dropped down next to Brenda. "There's one every trip," he said.

"One of what?" Janice asked.

The corporal shook his head. "Some concubine always ends up angering a sponsor during this first morning briefing, but usually it's one of the females that does it and just gets kicked back into the spare pool. When a male concubine gets kicked out it's generally a death sentence. The females tend to get thrown back into the spare pool a few times and can often find someone to take them."

"Oh?" Tina asked. "How is that?"

Corporal Mattingly looked at me for a moment. "You have uppity concubines. They are too willing to ask questions."

I laughed. "I want them to think of themselves as family and not slaves. Besides, they try hard to make me a very happy sponsor."

"Succeed too," whispered Bethany, earning a kiss and a laugh.

Corporal Mattingly laughed. "Okay, I'm convinced. As for the how so? Many sponsors go for looks and the girls that get bounced a lot tend to be pretty, but back on earth they would be considered high maintenance. They are used to being worshipped so it often takes getting thrown into the spare pool a couple times before they learn to be meek and humble. The guys tend to do what that one did, and get their female sponsor to decide that getting rid of them is all that matters, and go for a permanent solution rather than return them. Men are usually a bit sentimental about the pretty girls and aren't willing to see them die."

I nodded as my family and I went to work on our food. We had all nearly finished when Corporal Mattingly looked at me. "You going to try to get into medical today?" he asked.

"Is that a good idea for me? I'd hate to be transferred right after leaving medical," I responded.

Corporal Mattingly smiled. "You're here for the trip. Someone decided that you belonged on Ishtar; right now the green ring on this side of the ship only has sponsors who are heading there, which is why its half empty. You might as well get into medical early."

"Can I get some modifications done?" I asked. "Basically remove my spare tire and fix the minor physical stuff, not much else though."

"Probably," the marine replied. "Not going to accept the standard physical package then?"

I shrugged. "Sounds like if Ishtar is attacked once I'm there speed and agility will mean more than size and battle armor since we probably won't have numbers on our side. I might as well go with what I know I'm good at. At least if that's allowed."

"It's different, but it's been done before," said a voice behind me. I turned to see the marine from my pickup looking over the room. "I see your harem is happy."

"Very happy," Tina said with a laugh as she gave me a kiss.

The marine laughed. "I just wanted to see you before the end of the day. I'm going to be transferred with some of the pods later today and I wanted to make sure you contacted me later, and told me how things worked out, but I think I have my answer."

Bethany reached over to kiss me as well. "You do, he's given us his test drive and it was better than I imagined. I can't wait for him to pull out all the stops."

Meiko was blushing furiously but nodded as the marine looked over at her. He burst out laughing on seeing her blush. "Damn. I see so many sponsors throw back concubines for being sexually incompatible despite the test drives and here you never touched one of these ladies during the pickup and now they are all fawning over you. Are you some kind of sex fiend?"

Janice laughed. "No, he just cares for us."

I shrugged and then started to gather up all the ladies' empty trays. "I think I'll try to get into medical," I told them as they all stood up. "Can you meet with Brenda and have her introduce you to the bunnies and then think up some decoration ideas for the pod while I'm gone?"

"Okay," they said in near unison, receiving a laugh from Corporal Mattingly.

"Report to the captain and she'll send you down to medical," the corporal said. "I can make sure the ladies get into the rabbit pod and then yours safely."

I waved my thanks and walked over to the captain to report for medical. She absent-mindedly waved me to the door and my PDA gave me direction to the medbay where I found a very bored Ensign Bates kissing a young blond. I wanted until he noticed me and spoke. "Here for the standard treatment?" he asked.

"Just basic if I can. I'm supposed to go into the marines and don't mind the improved reflexes and strength, but I really only want to remove my spare tire and do some minor cosmetic changes. I know I'm not the regulation two meters, but I like my height," I replied.

Ensign Bates reviewed data that popped up on a screen next to him. He paused for a moment in thought and then replied. "The AI agrees with your assessment, although you could later be forced to accept the height increase if you get transferred."

"I can accept that," I said with a smile as I followed him to one of the medpods. Climbing in and following his instructions I lay down and closed my eyes so as to let the machine do its work.