Sir Philip follows them into the outer office, promptly sealing the door behind himself. Top quickly salutes and makes himself scarce, the lifelong infantry NCO preferring to spend as little time in officer country as humanly possible.
“Well timed Captain.”
“Coming from you Sir Philip I’ll certainly consider that a compliment of the highest order."
The older man smiles. “On an intelligence note, I have a few things for you and your family. Firstly, the crime family that you offended is indeed no more. Their parent organization, and by extension their birth mother, sent us several axiom ride trade bars as blood money, apologizing for what she considered a disgusting and vulgar display by her... less successful children. It seems she was actually rather pleased that you and Warrant Officer Jaruna finished them off, as it saved her hiring someone to do the job and spared her reputation the damage their continued existence would undoubtedly cause.”
A case is promptly offered to Jerry, and he takes it before Sir Philip continues.
“The bars are in this case, obviously we didn’t feel we should take money earned on your private time. There’s a further few lesser trade bars in there as a wedding gift, though I suspect you’ll be investing quite a bit of that into your new ship. Then there's yet further coinage amounting to 385,000 credits that are the sum total of the bounties on your assailants. Mostly small time, but there were quite a lot of ruffians weren’t there?”
The case is popped open and is exactly as Sir Philip described, filled to the brim with money.
“Damn, I haven’t seen this much cash in one place... ever!” Jaruna’s eyes widen a bit as she runs a finger through the case, habitually counting out the payment.
“I haven’t seen this much hard currency and I’m hardly without significant funds of my own. We’ve just had a significant amount of our investment into the Crimson Tear and its various facilities covered.” Syl nods, also doing the numbers in her head, albeit with far less mercenary intent than Jaruna.
“Covered and then some if I’ve got my numbers right. Makes me feel a bit better about getting them to throw those two gunships in Eymali and I wanted.” Jaruna notes.
“Hold it. How the hell did we qualify for a bounty? I’m no bounty hunter. Unless I signed something again without looking.”
Jerry puzzles, snapping the case shut and sticking it into an axiom pocket.
Sir Philip bows slightly, gesturing to Jaruna.
“Lady Jaruna takes the credit there. She is a registered bounty hunter, and we were able to force through a bounty hunting permit for yourself Captain Bridger. I’m told the special operations teams will all be getting licensed as bounty hunters for at least one set of identities. Cover for operations, and a way to fund continued operations in Wild space and on the Frontier.”
Sir Philip paces a step, clearly affecting a thinking pose to the ladies, but letting Jerry see a wolfish smile of a man who’s just been handed a golden opportunity.
“As for myself, I’ll be selecting the intelligence cell for the ship personally. I think I know just the officer to command the cell too. She’ll send over details on the lab they’ll want to lock down as their offices in the next week or so after reviewing the blue prints. They’ll handle the modifications, just keep people out of that sector after they begin to move in until they’ve secured it.”
Jerry nods sharply. “Almost seems you knew about this in advance Sir Philip.”
Another smile from the old gentleman, a twinkle in his eye. “Oh not quite young sir, I had actually been considering such a capacity for quite some time, and you have proceeded to offer my intelligence staff something better than I could ever dream of in terms of an opportunity. A commercial cover that isn’t even a true cover! Entirely legitimate. Ah. Almost reminds me of the old days. Old Q ships and vessels under the red ensign got quite a workout, let me tell you!”
Another flourish of Philip’s hand brings forth a small tri d projector and projects an image of a Feli that Jerry recognizes as the woman he’d spared at the plaza engagement.
“For your crew, I believe this young woman is an excellent immediate addition. She’s been entirely cooperative and extremely apologetic the entire time she’s been in captivity. She’s also been very consistent in her desire to speak to you and your wives so she can formally apologize. She’s the sister of Mabby Smith, a pirate engineer in service to the EFL and the wife of Commander Franklin Smith of the same. Ms. Wichen is a qualified engineer of decent talent according to her sister, but tried to break out of the family business and into something a bit more exciting. Apparently she’s a noted hand to hand combatant in the local market, using either plasma swords or her own natural claws reinforced with axiom.”
Jaruna nods thoughtfully. “Yeah I’ve heard of her, she’s supposed to be pretty good if you need security, or have a job that requires a mix of tech skills and violence. Something of a two for one deal in that regard for a lot of employers.”
Philip nods in Jaruna’s direction, waiting patiently for her input before continuing.
“She’s incredibly upset about this whole sort of thing because she was brought in as an outside contractor like Warrant Officer Jaruna, and wouldn’t have taken the job if she’d known humans were involved.”
“Why in the worlds would she draw a line there?” Syl asks, ear twitching with curiosity.
The butler simply presses a button, and the still image switches to a video recording with full audio.
"What? Goddess no! Last thing I need to do is bring discord between my family and the new species my sister married into. Besides, she said humans are almost universally hunks! That guy who throat punched me was pretty hot for someone doing a decent job of killing me. I couldn’t turn a claw against all that man! I mean, it’d be like ruining art work! Anyway those slithery witches didn’t say a damn thing about this stuff when they hired me on as a bodyguard for Silria. As far as I’m concerned they broke our damn deal so I’ll roll on them all day and all night if any of them managed to survive... I’m thinking they didn’t. That dude took Silria’s head off like he didn’t exactly have a lot of mercy saved up. I’m shocked he saved me. Guess I was looking pretty pitiful at the time huh?”
Philip hits the stop button and puts the projector away.
“She goes on like that at length. Honestly it was the easiest interrogation I’ve ever performed. It was harder to get her to stop talking once we got her patched up. She is, as you might have guessed, rather enamored of you Captain Bridger, but I doubt it’ll be much of an issue to redirect her attention should you decide four wives are sufficient for you.”
“I think it’s more a case of them deciding what is or isn’t sufficient Philip, but I’ll take that under advisement. I’ll stop by the brig with the girls and we’ll interview her personally, but I suspect we’ll be taking her on.”
“Oh no sir, I shan’t allow pregnant women to make such a trek into the bowels of this ship. I’ll have her fetched. Please wait in conference room three, I’ll send someone by with some snacks and tea, and coffee for yourself. Two lumps of sugar?”
“Please and thank you Sir Philip, you have our appreciation.”
Sir Philip quickly hands them off to one of his subordinates who leaves them in the nicely appointed conference room alone.
Mikasa immediately tears off to start exploring the strange new place, which smelled of fresh cleaning chemicals but her sensitive nose likely could pick up all manner of interesting new scents, be they aliens, or more importantly, traces of food!
Syl lets out a deep sigh. “Whew... we did it! I thought we would but I was a bit worried all the same.” A sly smile crosses her face. “They’re going to have a hell of a time tailoring up a uniform for you, Jaruna, but I imagine you’ll look quite sharp in it.”
A mild look of distaste is the immediate reaction from Jaruna, but she forces it down.
“Hey if that’s the price I have to pay then so be it... but just for reminding me I’ll make sure they design a uniform for the Undaunted Merchant Marine so you have something to get stuck in too.”
Laughter does the rounds as stress bleeds off them. Sure they’d been confident, confident enough that they’d purchased the Crimson Tear earlier this morning, but still it had been a serious risk. Now though, they could be confident in what they were doing... and there they were going.
“So... rescued a Feli while seducing a Cannidor did you?” Syl’s eyes narrow as she leans in to tease her husband. “Probably made the poor girl fall stone dead in love with you when you saved her life, I bet she thinks you’re some sort of angel now. Probably forcibly imprinted on you just looking at you even. Shall we assume she’s wife candidate number five?”
Jerry face palms. “Don’t remind me. I was fine with just you. Nadi’s sweet, and it’s the way things are done out here... and now there’s just... so many. I don’t even know this Feli! I mean. Fairly cute for someone trying to murder me... but then Jaruna was out to kill me too.”
“Heh and you didn’t even have to crush my throat to get me to play nice.” The Cannidor barks with laughter. “Well if she’s a decent engineer and as good a swordswoman as her rep says she is she’ll have my vote should Syl want to consider my opinion. A clan can always use another strong woman in it. Especially with special skills. Even if the Feli are almost as cute as Kohbs as a rule. Those damn claws can scratch the shit out of you all the same.”
Nadi giggles. “Honestly, we have such incomparable luxury in this marriage, a fifth wife isn’t that much of a fuss, there really is only five of us theoretically, and you certainly have the energy to keep up with a fifth. But really... five... you’re practically a bachelor darling!”
Eymali joins in the general laughter at Jerry’s confusion. “Honestly, I was talking about this with my sister, her husband seems to be adapting to... “living in a harem anime”, neither she nor I understand what he means, but if Herbert can adapt to a hundred brides, I’m sure you can come to terms with an extremely conservative marriage. If we do visit my home world, we’ll have to make sure you wear deodorant, or you’ll cause a city wide mating hunt.”
“Now that’s something I’d pay money to see. Shit, get some camera drones, tell all the girls that the first five to capture hubby get to join the marriage and give him a ten minute head start. Edit it well and put it in theaters and you’d make a mint with how acrobatic he can be.” Jaruna reaches over and smacks her husband on the back.
“Some small mercy my loves. I’m coming from a world where one wife is the norm and a man should feel blessed to have her. I’m just working out how I feel about more blessings, and how to order my life around such blessings... then again, that’s part of why I wanted to make the Tear our home. So we can be together and really make a proper go of things.”
Jerry shifts, getting a bit more serious as his tone drops.
“I’ve discussed this with Syl, but I want to make it clear to all of you. I’ve heard of every style of group marriage ranging from cold breeding contracts to widespread hundred woman strong groups where the spouses see their husband annually at best, save a small core group usually composed of the mothers of newborns. I might not fully understand how things work in the wider galaxy yet, I may not be able to comprehend having a hundred wives... but I do know I don’t want that kind of... unfamiliarity to any relationship I’d call a marriage.”
All four wives found themselves leaning in as Jerry talked, their breaths slightly held before erupting in a chorus of awws as they pile into their husband for a group embrace, laughing as a group before Syl’s communicator starts pinging with the tone for a priority message.
The group quickly pick themselves up off the floor and dust each other off, the wives muttering to themselves about what a romantic Jerry was as Syl accepts the transmission.
A display window pops up, the message was as a full video. A Volpir woman waves to the camera with an almost familiar smile, her purple eyes flashing with excitement.
“Hey Sis! The girls and I are about a day out from Centris so we wanted to give you a heads up that we were arriving. No need to meet us at the space port, just confirm where you’re living these days okay? We’re all really excited to meet your new husband! You make him out to be some kind of mythic story book hero, the kind you can properly fall in love with. Reminds me of that news story going round about that human adept who married an Apuk battle princess! Your guy sounds a bit more robust and cultured though, a real warrior and commander of... well. Men. Weird to think of men as soldiers, but if he can sweep you off your feet he’ll get a happy salute from this retired soldier.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The Volpir woman looks around a bit, as if checking if someone’s listening.
“Look, I know you were alright sharing initially but it’s okay if you want to wait. But if he’s really all you say he is... well, we’ve all shared that dream since we were small, but it’s fine if you just want this to be a normal family visit okay? Your big sis will make sure the other girls play nice. Anyway! See you soon! And give that adorable little puppy a cuddle for me!”
The room is dead silent and Syl is dead still, blushing not so much in her cheeks but with her entire body.
“Syl...” Jerry reaches out to his first wife, gently laying a hand on her shoulder. “Everything... okay?”
“I uh... in all the excitement I may have forgotten that I messaged my sisters about you. RIght after we. You know. Got married. I was excited... and well... there’s nine of us, across multiple litters and two birth mothers. We’re from a big family of Volpir... and well. Or family’s not... the best for our species’ reputation. They tend to live down to it. We didn’t like that as little girls, and we didn’t want to live that way. Or go into various types of white collar work... or in one mother’s case some very mild organized crime. Just smuggling, but still.
Syl takes a breath, calming herself down a touch.
“Evie, that was her in the video, was the first of us to rebel, she had the nose pieces I used to control my pheromone sensitivity made for us. Then she enlisted in our home world’s military. Did pretty well too, but was forced out after she got injured fighting off some pirates and ran afoul of some local politics. The rest of us weren’t quite that bold, but she convinced us to follow our dreams, build our own lives our way.”
Syl fidgets quietly for a moment. “I didn’t... promise them anything. I just said they should come meet you, because they’re my sisters and I love them, and I know they’ve had about as much luck as I have, and then I found this perfect man. But there’s no pressure... and now that there’s five of us total, we all get a vote, especially you darling. I’m sorry, I should have...”
Jerry presses a finger to Syl’s lips, following it up with a gentle kiss.
“Shh. Relax honey. We’ve had a busy time of it lover mine, It’d be weirder if you didn’t forget. Considering we’ve had a lot of things happening. New wives, multiple firefights, two pregnancies. I won’t promise anything but I’ll give your sisters a fair shake at the very least, same as I’ll give this Feli a chance to work her way into the family.”
“So they’re all moving in next week, got it. Eight Volpir vixens and a Feli engineer who likes to moonlight as hired muscle.”
Everyone shoots Jaruna a look.
“What? He’s a bleeding heart and a bit of a push over when it comes to mushy stuff, you heard him talking just now! Those girls will have him falling all over himself to make them all feel like the special delicate princesses he’s determined to treat us like! Even me for the goddess’s sake!”
Syl considers for a moment. “Plus he loves those little cat animals almost as much as dogs and foxes. Honestly, Ms. Wichen’s probably a shoo in just for that from Hubby’s perspective, but I’ll put my foot down if I don’t think she’ll be good around the babies we’re going to have running around soon.”
Their husband’s hands come up somewhat defensively. “It’s not like that, honest! Though admittedly, she is pretty cute. Cream coat, seal point markings. She’s almost like a Siamese cat from back home. Be cuter if she hadn’t tried to bisect me with a plasma sword, but I got a plasma sword out of it, and I nearly killed her, so I think we’re square on that one.”
“So glad you agree!”
Wichen herself walks in through the conference room door, a security officer saluting Jerry before spinning on a heel as the Feli perches herself in a chair.
“So you’re Jerry Bridger huh?”
Wichen peers at Jerry curiously, glancing at him from different angles.
“Yep. Pretty damn hot. I like you much better not punching my throat through my neck though. Admittedly. I did try to dice you, so fair enough as we just said. What did you do axiom wise to make that punch happen? It was incredible! If I could do that to my claws I’d...” Wichen stops, thinking for a moment. “Nah I’d keep using plasma swords, but I’d use my claws more. Speaking of, you still got the plasma sword?”
Jerry slips his hand into an axiom pocket and withdraws the weapon. “Right here.”
“Great, I was hoping you’d keep it. That one’s a Wichen custom, you totally earned it by battlefield seizure so it's not really a gift, but I'd gladly make you a second one if you want. It burns a bit hotter than your average plasma sword, and it’s got some neat secondary abilities. For example you can modulate the energy to mess with shields, or better burn through heavy armor, and you can shorten or lengthen the blade once you figure out where and how to touch the hilt. I can show you if you’re up for some spar..."
Syl coughs into her hand. "Ms. Wichen."
"Oops. Sorry. I tend to run off at the mouth. Or get distracted when things I like are in the cards. Being weapons of all sizes, making weapons, upgrading weapons, sword play, and him."
Wichen says, pointing at Jerry before her eyes widen.
"...Oh! Hey you're the earpiece lady! I recognize your voice from when he was patching me up."
"Your ears are that sensitive?" Eymali's pincers twitch in a way that Jerry's learned is the equivalent to a human arching an eyebrow.
"Yep! Very sharp hearing, the top of the scale for Feli actually. I always make sure to wear hearing protection to keep them that way. These babies have made me a lot of money as a bounty hunter, bodyguard and mercenary. Speaking of which..." Wichen rises and bows deeply. "I'd like to apologize for that whole mess. I was practically black mailed in, and even then still wouldn't have taken the job against a human man. And then they told me the wife that was with him is pregnant! I wish I could dig those damn snake's corpses up so I could spit on them. Absolutely disgusting behavior!"
Jaruna laughs. "Seems we've a bit in common then little Feli. I also switched sides because of this stud, and I was damn pissed when I heard Ms. Syl was pregnant."
"Yeah you sounded pretty pissed off. I was gonna leg it if you made the stairs. I figured at that point no one would be alive to stop me."
Wichen kicks her heels a bit.
"Soooo... I hear you might have a job for me? I mean I totally want to ask which one of you's the first wife and what type of standards you have to join the party. I’m guessing the first wife is you actually.” She points at Syl. “But you all smell like him, so I'll assume you're all married to Jerry. I’d do that, but I feel like that's a bit presumptuous after we tried to kill each other so recently... Then again, Jaruna's in, and she tried to kill him too, so maybe it’s not as big a deal as is in my head..."
Wichen goes on like that for a few seconds, rambling before smacking herself in the side of the head.
"Sorry!"
Syl looks down at her data pad for a moment.
"...Jerry dear, would you like to explain the position? As for spousal applications... honestly Ms. Wichen we'd be surprised if you didn't form a bond just from the rescue. We'll... consider you, but we'll take our time collectively getting to know each other."
"Suits me fine! But let’s get down to business!"
Jerry nods. "We're recruiting crew for our ship, the UCV Crimson Tear. We'll be making long deep space journeys to a variety of colony worlds, predominantly supporting the various worlds of the Undaunted with cloning services, but also accommodating various forms of trade and commerce, and supporting some classified operations. Your talents as a weapons designer, engineer, and hand to hand specialist could be quite useful, and you'd be employed in that capacity. We'll have weapons ranging from naval grade lasers to steel knives, and in principle you'd be in charge of them all."
Wichen gasps, a smile on her face and stars in her eyes. "Dear goddess, you couldn't offer me a better deal!"
"Even if he was offering to put you on your back and make you a wife of his right now?" Nadi titters, the Kohb clearly having an eye to tease her possible new sister.
"Even then!" Wichen is completely earnest. "I'm ah... well. I’m a gun nut. Anything you can imagine, be it capital lasers or something handheld and exotic like an Endless barrage, power armor, light armored vehicles, gunships, all the way down to the little hold out single shot plasma pistols. My sister Mabby’s the real engine head, she does stuff with the Claw that probably violates numerous laws, both the physics kind and criminal kind, but when it comes to weaponry I simply can’t and won’t be beat. I normally only take merc work to pay for new projects. I hear you humans really dig your kinetics right? I’ve always wanted to get into those! I love vintage gear! Give me some books and let me use my tools and I’ll be churning out more of whatever she tried to shoot me with in no time!” Wichen points at Syl. “I’m really glad you missed by the way, kinetics seem like they hurt to get shot with.”
Jaruna rumbles with laughter. “Reminds me that I need to get my hands on some kinetics. Especially now that I’m serving the Undaunted. Y’all use kinetics. So I’ll use’em too. Assuming you’ve got some in my size anyway. Even better is something I can back mount in my power armor.”
“Maybe that’ll be your first job Wichen.” All eyes turn to Jerry. “Make that Cannidor a cannon. Cannidor love cannons. Full auto, a big deep magazine, 20mm or 25mm is the preferred autocannon round.”
Wichen gamely takes notes. “I have no idea what any of that means! But you can count on me. I’ll get in the books and I’ll develop an autocannon. I’ll make Jaruna one of those! With integrated targeting just like her other back mounted weapons, it’ll be great! Oh... hmm. It might take awhile if I have to develop the ammunition from scratch...”
“Please... please use an extant round.” Jerry sighs. “We have a variety of 20mm, 25mm, and even 30mm rounds that you can use. The measurement is... forget it for now, I’ll get you the books. We have some smaller weapons I think Jaruna’d like too. No need to improvise on them, just work to integrate them into her gear.”
Wichen salutes. “Aye aye sir! Hah. Sir. Sounds funny saying it and meaning it in a quasi military context as opposed to it being some sort of weird fetish roleplay stuff in a dirty comic or something.”
Syl just stares in awe. “Do... Do you ever stop talking? I’m not... complaining, or demanding you shut up or anything, but you seem to have an outstanding lung capacity.”
“She’s like one of those nerd squad kids who debriefed me about some of my weapons.” Jaruna snorts. “I like her though, she’s cute and amusing, and if she’s half as good as she can talk she’ll be a goddamn magician with her weapons. Plus, if she’s down for group fun in the intimate sense, I kinda wanna hear her run off at the mouth while Hubby’s pounding her brains out.”
The Feli woman displays an admirable capacity to blush through her creamy fur. “Wha- What like right now? I mean I would say yes, I’d rather we maybe go to dinner a few times first, or maybe at least find somewhere with a bed. But if Jerry really wants to bend me over the conference table and fuck some kittens into me I’m down to pound. I was super jealous when Mabby announced the news she was pregnant to the family, but she’s always been good at leading the way for our litter you know? Though I beat her to building the first pipe bomb. Blowing up an air car... and a few other things at least.”
“How many of those firsts involve explosions exactly?” Syl’s eyes narrow, she clearly doesn’t think Wichen is dangerous per say, but she is trying to get a measure of the woman. “...And how many fingers have you lost over your life?”
Wichen takes a moment to think, clearly counting on her fingers for a moment. “All of them actually now that I think about it. As for lost digits, none! That I can think of any way. There was almost that one time, but I got away before they managed to take my fingers off. I got out of the pirate life after that, not everyone can find as nice a Captain as Mabby did. Cap’n Lilpaw’s a ferocious bitch, but she’s good to her crew as long as they’re not fucking her off. That’s uh... not the standard everywhere.”
Wichen shudders slightly, clearly remembering something unpleasant before popping back to her usual cheery self.
“So! I’ll take the job! And I’ll once again state for the record, I want in on the marriage.” The energetic Feli suddenly realizes what she’s saying and how again. “You know. If you’re accepting new girls and stuff.”
All eyes briefly turn to Syl, who sighs. “Honestly, part of me wants to make you wait just for propriety’s sake, but from what you said Jerry’s going to be wrapped around your finger in no time. Jaruna’s a soldier, but I wouldn’t call her a proper gun nerd for Jerry to nerd about guns with. Eymali’s an aficionado of bladed weapons and making the same, Nadi is more peaceful, and I’m still learning how to shoot that massive pistol. Besides... I can’t say we’re closed considering my sisters will be coming to visit soon. So I suppose it’s a yes from me to make Wichen wife number five.”
Jaruna snorts. “I’m almost a bit annoyed you have me pegged so well. Weapons are just tools. Never been particularly interested in the art of them per say. Or fond of’em. I can go to town with my bare hands and teeth and rip through most armored vehicles without any issue. I just wish I could figure out how to do Apuk style warfire. I’d ditch guns and maybe even power armor at that stage haha! Anyway, I’m a yes. We can use the reinforcements.”
Nadi smiles beatifically. She’s unlikely to ever vote no, that much is clear. “Always happy to welcome another sister to the family.”
Eymali takes a moment to roll the thought around in her head, “I would welcome another huntress, especially if she can help me with my wrist blades and other weapons.”
“Aww shucks, I don’t have to join the marriage to do that! I’ve always wanted a look at those Yauya huntress blades. They’re wicked cool.”
There’s a slight cough as Syl calls the conversation back to order. “Well I suppose that’s all of us then, that leads the deciding vote to you darling.”
“Four beautiful wives and I’m practically a bachelor... and if I ever set foot in an arrangement system outside of a uniform I’ll be arrested, confined and held until I’m married to a hundred women. While I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with that idea... I certainly won't resist a beautiful woman more or less throwing herself at me if you girls are alright with it. Welcome to the family Wichen."
"Woo hoo!" Wichen leaps out of her chair and drops herself into Jerry's lap with a happy purr. "I wasn't going to mention it, but just getting close to you seemed to have a bonding reaction... if I didn't know any better I'd have suspected I'm half Volpir, but I didn't want to try and hold you hostage with my biology freaking out and going all possessive on you..."
"You'll all notice what he said about women throwing themselves at him. I shoulda bet you all that Syl's sisters would be joining the marriage. I'd have made some nice pocket money I'm sure." Jaruna boasts, grinning like a mad woman.
"Well. There will be limits. Whatever sisters of Syl join us, if any, will hopefully be the last for a while. If they’re anything like their gorgeous sister, I'm sure they'll be respectful and after a proper relationship instead of a bond solely in personal biochemistry."
Jerry rises and pops Wichen down on the table.
"Right girls. Let's get out of here. We have plenty to do... and not all of it's work. We have a honeymoon times five to plan after all!"