Word about the lunch time tussle must have gone around, 'cause gray suiters grinned at me as we all headed back to Orientation. Several girls winked, and I made sure my wedding ring was visible when I waved at them.

The Navy guy I had dealt with was blocking the doorway when I was headed that way. Beside him were half a dozen of his friends, including the two from lunch. I just grinned and kept moving forward, there were two dozen gray suiters behind me. He turned pale and tried to body check me as I pulled open the door. Didn't matter, I was expecting it, and the door was pretty heavy. His head thunked into it nicely, and I pushed the door open so the rest of the Engineers could go in.

The Navy puke was stuck behind the door, and I leaned into it. I looked at him and smiled. "Look, I don't want to have a problem with you, we're all on the same side. But I'm willing to have a problem if you think you can keep getting away with stupid stuff. End it, and we'll get along just great."

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He glared at me and hissed. "You don't know who you're messing with."

"No," I replied. "But I can count, and there's two of us for every one of you. Them's not good odds, when you get around to reading your tactical manual. You might want to rethink your strategy."

I let the door go and went inside. The gray suiters had moved near my friends, but they had saved a seat for me.

To be honest about it, I wasn't sure about all this. There was just so much I didn't know, and I was here to learn how to be a good Merchant Marine officer. As a walked through the sea of gray, I smiled at one guy and shook hands with another. That cycle repeated, until the lady at the lectern glared at me and harumphed into the microphone. I sat down quick as I could and nodded to her.

Raul, Conrad, and Patricia enjoyed being the center of attention. I was pretty sure I knew how the conversation would go tomorrow. I didn't ask for this, not directly, anyway. But I'm here to learn. Might as well build the crew while I do it.