Jerry had thought he'd known what was in store in terms of the Volpir sisters courting him. That he had some concept of the way things worked around the galaxy.

These misconceptions didn't last terribly long after he got up the next day.

He'd forgotten that, by all reports alien women could be... audacious to say the least. Even more so than human men, and that was saying something.

Plus, he'd not counted on one important fact.

The girls had a ringer in the family, Syl herself. Syl who knew a lot of his likes and dislikes. Syl who would hardly keep her own dear sisters from accessing her own apartment. Syl who very much intended to see their family hit thirteen girls strong before too long, and Syl who reminded him that he'd start at the command and staff college soon, and the girls who joined the military would have their own training to deal with soon.

From a paperwork perspective it certainly would be significantly more convenient if Syl's sisters, those who joined the marriage, were on the family register, and as Jerry himself often said, the way of the galaxy was frequently to work out the details after the fact.

So began the craziest two weeks Jerry would ever live through.

Admittedly the morning of the first day started slow, pleasant and down right delightful. Firi had apparently earned the right to do something first. So she turned up early and made breakfast for Jerry and Syl. It would have been for the whole family, but more than the two of them residing full time at Syl’s lab was just… out of the question really.

While it wasn’t uncommon for Galactic families to be split up over multiple domiciles, it was a situation that certainly had the full members of the family down right eager for the Den to be finished in around a month.

Still for what was just breakfast for three, Firi really pulled out all the stops, and apparently did some research on human breakfasts that were also carnivore friendly, so they started out with down right hearty portions of steak and eggs that had Jerry mentally penciling in a run for this afternoon.

Through the whole meal though, Firi didn't hit on him once. Didn't fawn over him. She was just... her. Sweet enough to cause a cavity? Certainly. Yet... that just seemed to be Firi so far as Jerry could tell.

"So uh... I was reading this new book recently..."

Firi goes on like that for a few moments, talking rather confidently about a book she'd been reading that was apparently a Volpir historical fiction. To say it went heavy on its inter clan politics, and the politics within the clans themselves was a mild understatement. Suddenly though, she seems to catch herself, and almost flinches.

"Ah, I'm sorry you probably don't want to-"

Jerry holds up a hand.

"Actually I do. Tell me all about it Firi, and forward the name to my communicator would you? Sounds like an interesting read and I need to start branching out on non-human media."

Firi immediately lights up like a damn Christmas tree. You could probably see that smile from orbit as she starts talking about some of the interesting aspects of the series.

While she's talking though, Jerry exchanges a look with Syl.

It was clear as crystal to Jerry. Someone had hurt this beautiful creature, and that Jerry immediately felt protective of her said a lot already. She was at the very least his sister in law, but she was just... kind. Patient. He kept coming back to the word sweet and it just fit so well it was hard to describe. She had a gentle smile, and a gentleness to her that spoke worlds about her career working with children. She was motherly before she'd ever had children.

It was hard to not want to protect a smile that could warm up an ice world.

Moments like that with Firi throughout the coming two weeks were good like that. A reprieve from everything else in the world as Firi reminded him what the good things in life were before sending him back to work or off on some other task with that same gentle smile.

She never asked for a goodbye kiss when they parted, she never asked anything of him. Not really. A lack of confidence in her perhaps, and a desire to not pressure him too much.

Firi certainly kissed back with the kind of enthusiasm that requires you to remember what breathing is when she started getting those goodbye kisses though. The first of the eight sisters to join the marriage, and perhaps the cleverest of them all in terms of how she went about luring Jerry into her arms.

Not that any of the girls slacked. Firi just stood out because of the unique tone of their time together, like she was willing the world to slow down a little bit. Where Mina sped everything up.

The playful, energetic tomboy by Earth terms was all about little pranks, and had quickly made her mark on their time together with movie nights, usually featuring Earth action movies. Things she'd invite her sisters to usually, but a few times, she got Jerry all to herself.

They talked the whole way through those movies it seemed.

Mina asked a lot of questions. They always started innocuously, or on topic to the movie. Asking about a gun in Predator, or asking about the politics behind the scenario in The Hunt For Red October. Wherever her questions started, they always managed to end up coming around to questions about Jerry. Asking about his country, the time period the movie took place in. Even the Marine background of the hero, Jack Ryan, was used to draw him from watching a movie into telling her stories about his life and experiences. Stories she'd happily swap for with stories from her own life.

While she wasn't a soldier, she was something of a security specialist and had been in the back lines of law enforcement for a few decades, and had some thrilling enough stories about assisting major drug busts or interdicting shootouts with her surveillance platforms or drones.

The one time she got distracted from talking about him, or telling him about her, was when they watched The Fellowship of the Ring... after which she got a date out of him to watch the rest together with her sisters and the rest of the girls after getting everyone else to watch Fellowship the next evening.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Since it was her date, even if she had decided to share it with everyone, Jerry figured she deserved a special treat and offered her her choice of seat. Unsurprisingly she picked his lap and Mina snuggled up happily the whole time. While sneakily making it a point to steal a kiss every time Arwen kissed Aragorn. There weren't a lot of those kisses in the movies, but Mina certainly made them count.

Evelyn had perhaps been the most direct of the sisters. She was a straight shooter in both senses of the term. A crack shot with a hand laser and plasma pistol, she carried a plasma pistol as part of her daily gear. A trophy she'd taken off a pirate on one of her first missions during her military service. So they'd hit the range together a few times, sometimes with company, sometimes just them. Going to an alien owned range that did rentals had also been a lot of fun, giving Jerry a chance to try out a wide variety of galactic weapons with Evie on hand to act as a subject matter expert.

With their similar backgrounds, Evie having specialized in boarding actions to deal with pirates the direct way, they just... spoke the same language. Evie wasn't a gun nut quite like Jerry was, but she was an expert in her trade. A sharp minded, talented woman who'd done the field gig and was looking to find something a little more safer this time around. Not least because she was finding herself wanting more and more to have children, and being a door kicker with kids didn't seem great to Evie. It was no surprise that an easy mutual respect formed between them, and that went... deeper. In a hurry.

Maybe it was just the atmosphere, but getting involved with Evie was... easy. They didn't come together like he came together with Syl. That had been forming an immediate live circuit, humming with energy, from the very first moment. The first kiss like a lightning strike from the gods saying;

'Took you fuckers long enough'.

No with Evie it was more in the sense of the quiet, satisfying way of two well machined pieces fitting together. Like a bolt locking into the chamber of a rifle. Something Evie herself commented on several times;

"It's not always like this, you know."

She'd started, her head resting in Jerry's lap as they relaxed on a comfortable couch.

"You'll have to expand on that for me Evie."

"This. Becoming. Someone. Something. Together. It. I dunno. I've tried before. Matchmakers, dating services and stuff and I... I don't know. I just never. Respected any of the men. They were nice enough, but they didn't... get me. You. I don't know why or how but you get me, and I feel like I... know you. In a way that just makes me want to... sigh. With pure relief."

"Mhmm..."

Jerry shifted, leaning down to plant a kiss on her lips. '

"What kind of relief?"

"Like coming home after a long journey."

"Well none of us are home just yet... but the Den will be done in a month or two. Then we can start building that home. Together."

"Like... we... we?"

"You said it yourself Evie, we fit. Why not?"

Evie had just about knocked the couch over embracing him. Her pure enthusiasm, her joy. The little emotions she suppressed so she could lead. So she could set an example. That little satisfied smile that she only showed him? That was another treasure that he wouldn't trade the universe for.

Of course, those little oases of memory couldn't truly expound upon the absolutely wild ride that Jerry was on.

It was something of a twenty four seven marathon, and a preview of part of galactic family life if he really wanted to live up to his own ideals.

His statements about who he wanted to be to his wives. It made him push hard for all of them.

Because it wasn't just the eight volpir sisters and their various antics. That would have been complicated enough.

No. Wichen was still around, and while theoretically accepted, they were getting to know each other still.

Nadi of course deserved all the love and affection she might desire.

As did the ever imposing Jaruna.

With everything under the careful watchful eye of Syl, the first among equals nevertheless took her due. She was generally content enough to hog him at night, or share with one of the other 'confirmed' wives, but Syl still wanted to be spoiled. Still wanted affection, and Jerry still wanted to give her every ounce of love her foxy heart could handle.

They eventually reached a sort of equilibrium, with the sisters slowly starting to integrate with the family that they wanted to join. Jerry's unique desires aside, this was the way of the galaxy after all. They were just doing things fast even by galactic standards.

Then Eymali came home.

Complete with the preserved head of a Nagala, what she said translated into galactic trade as 'Razor Maw'.

With at least three mouths that Jerry could see on the damn thing's head, all filled with glittering razor sharp teeth, he couldn't disagree with the name.

That had led to an interesting day. First, they'd needed to watch the footage of Eymali's successful hunt together. With Eymali claiming Jerry's lap as her throne to bask in her victory, naturally.

Then instead of a wedding or similar ceremony to ascend to her slot as third wife, they'd done a family meal out.

It was probably a sign of things to come that all eight of the Volpir sisters had been brought along, as naturally as if they were full members of the family already.

After an enjoyable evening, Eymali had taken Jerry back to her apartment, she'd called it her lair, for her wedding night. Which oddly included lessons on how to be invisible, a rope snare or two, and had ended up with more than a few scratches on his cheeks from Eymali's mouth pincers.

Things kind of cascaded after that, and nine marriages followed in short succession as Wichen and Syl's sisters all joined the family, one after another.

It wasn't all easy of course. There were misunderstandings. Disagreements between newly minted sisters, and blood sisters alike.

Jerry stepped on a few toes, literally and metaphorically. Sometimes out of pure ignorance and not knowing his way around the galaxy, but a few times by not quite having outgrown his capability to put his damn foot in his mouth.

For all that though. It was... not easy. It was damn hard work, to the point that Jerry was looking forward to the in residence portion of the command and staff college course he was going to be taking just to get a chance to focus on only one thing for a little while.

Still it all came together marvelously. Enough so that Jerry really didn't have the heart, or the will, to protest. Save to comment on the state of the galaxy. Something that never ceased to strike him as an injustice. He was offered so much, so freely, and so little was even hoped of him in return. That thought alone made him want to work even harder, dig even deeper for each precious spouse, no matter how recently she'd joined their family. First, last or somewhere in between, they were precious to him, and he'd drive himself to the breaking point to make sure his girls knew that.

In the end, the day he was due to begin attending command and staff college was a day of parting for all of them.

The newly married Bridger girls from off world who'd decided to stay civilian were leaving. They needed to go pack up their own lives, tender resignations, and so on, and return to Centris, where in around a month's time, the Den would be ready for occupation.

They'd also be looking after the household goods of their sisters who, like Evie and Mina, had taken military postings, while their sisters attended their own crash courses in being part of the growing Undaunted naval forces in their various positions.

So with thirteen fresh kisses making his lips tingle, they said their goodbyes at the Dauntless, warmed by the knowledge that parting in this case... just meant they got to come home all the way when they returned.