Jerry growls at the unicorn look alike that he now knew was called a Mrega on the comm screen. The pastel alien looked like she'd jumped out of a children's cartoon if you stripped away her scrounged armor and barely covered breasts. That she had the gall to threaten him just made the whole conversation that much more surreal.

"No Captain, let me tell you what YOU need to understand. I am an officer of the Undaunted Navy. I understand you have some inbuilt gender bias because of galactic culture, but I swear on all that is unholy to your people, if this ship is attacked and you survive, if I can trace it back to you and your crew, we will go to the ends of the galaxy to kill every last one of you. Because if there's one thing you should learn about our species it's Humans. Don't. Stop. Not ever."

And with that, he cuts the call, blocking the comm address of the startled Mrega pirate captain.

These unsolicited vid calls from various pirate captains and admirals offering "protection" or other methods of not so subtly asking for protection money, had started to roll in after they'd registered the Crimson Tear as a commercial vessel.

Her second registration as the second human warship outside of Cruel Space had quietly gone through the process while a well bribed media had made a fuss about the start of the Undaunted merchant marine.

"Goddess damn them all, we really did get the cream of the pirate crop when we formed the EFL didn't we? These bimbos can't all be this brain dead can they?"

Jaruna chortles, clearly amused from where she was leaning against the wall of Jerry's office. "Heh. You ain't seen the half of it babe. Don't get me wrong, that stupid twat would still gut you if given the chance, but piracy is a wide field of endeavor, easy to operate on the fringes, and there's too many fires to be put out all at once by the time you hit the frontier. I'd say humanity's taken out almost the entire top 10% of the field with the EFL. At least on this half of the galactic sphere. You literally got the hardest bunch of bitches in the galaxy in terms of riff raff, flotsam and jetsam. Pretty much the entire who's who of the rebel faction that took out the Dark Cabal. I'm looking forward to meeting Agenda Lilpaw in person, that bitch was on a lot of wanted posters the last decade or so. It will be hilarious to see her all gravid and soft."

"Careful Jaruna, you're liable to end up gravid yourself you know."

Jaruna leans in, all big toothy Cannidor smile. "Oh you don't gotta tell me twice. If it wasn't date night for Eymali I'd be riding your lap till you knocked me up already after that little display. I think that Mrega just about pissed herself when you leaned in to threaten her. Teeth bared, fire in your eyes. Damn near set my snatch on fire, and probably looked like you were about to come through her screen and tear her fucking throat out with your teeth before carving her up for steaks to her."

Another rumbling chuckle from the massive shark-like woman.

"Still amazing anyone ever mistook you humans for just pretty faces. Now that I know what to look for... well. I'm damn excited to get MILF'd up and see what kind of world shattering war ladies you pump into me."

Harsh words to most, but Jerry had grown accustomed to the uncouth way that Jaruna showed her affection.

"We'll make life takers and heartbreakers out of them."

"You can consider that a promise."

"From both of us."

Jaruna leaps back as Eymali decloaks, gracefully dropping in from the ceiling.

"Gah! How the hell did you manage that? I didn't hear the door or anything! I know you and the damn Dzedin can be invisible but silent too?"

"Trade secret sister.” Eymali says with a wink before turning to Jerry. “Husband, I believe the hour is nigh... shall we go out for the night? I thought we might enjoy dinner and a walk, just the two of us."

Jaruna double takes.

"What, with no security? I'd ask if that's safe, normally in the clans a husband doesn't go out without at least two wives, but around here... heh. The only people who need protection is anyone trying to hurt our man."

Eymali chuckles into her hand daintily. "Dear sister, you are correct, between myself and our husband, the only people on Centris needing protecting, need it from us... besides, I was thinking we might play a little game. And if we play right, no one will ever know we were there."

-Later-

The couple walk unseen across the spires, the occasional person looking askance as they triggered fares on shuttles or bought drinks from vending machines. Eymali's invisibility was advanced even by Yauya standards. Far from just being nothingness... She's adding background information back in, mimicking the breeze as if her body wasn't in the way, erasing the tell-tale shimmer of light that gave away most Yauya using only the gifts nature had given them without training.

To be a huntsmistress was to be one with one's environment. To disappear utterly to all eyes. Eymali had been teaching Jerry her special blend of invisibility, and found the human commando to be an apt student.

Finally they reach their destination, cloaks dropping as they walk into Defenestration Nation without a care in the world. The Yauya owner looks up from her desk with her usual greeting, before her little grabber claws go wide with what Jerry had come to recognize as surprise in a Yauya. She clearly recognized the markings on Eymali’s hunting leathers that proclaimed her mastery to those who understood them, and she quickly bows.

"Ah, huntsmistress! You honor my establishment with your patronage, and that of your husband."

Eymali returns the bow gracefully. "I thank you for your hospitality, shown now to me, and shown to my blood previously. My sister and her sister wives are regular customers of yours. They rather enjoy stretching their legs here. My husband and I thought we might play a bit ourselves."

Jerry nods affably. "We've heard a lot about the place from Eymali's sister and her husband... the Tret lad, what was his name?"

Eymali feigns a shocked face. "Goddess I was focusing so much on the walk that I seem to have forgotten. My sister will never forgive me. It's in my datapad however dearest so we can cheat."

The owner nods sagely. "I admit if I remembered even half of my sisters husband's names I'd remember nothing else. I must ask though dear customer... would you perhaps be one of the humans?"

"Ah, it seems I've been caught. Yes, I'm surprised you haven't seen some of the trouble I've been involved in on the local news."

"I don't put much stock in the news though I..." Her eyes go wide as she leans in a bit. "Wait! You're that man who took on those Nagasha gangsters and their thugs!"

"That's me. Just here to relax today, but I am checking the place out to potentially bring some of my troops for training. Do you do group rates?"

The older Yauya's eyes light up. "Hell I'll close the whole place and install some safety gear to allow for live fire training if that's what you humans are interested in."

"I have an entire pack of commandos who could use some free range axiom practice. Live fire training would be a bonus."

"Well we'd be happy to cut you a special rate, and for all Undaunted units for training. Maybe even an exclusive deal on this spire?"

"You'd have to talk to the Dauntless's contracting office, I'll put you in touch with them. For me however I doubt I'd take my troops anywhere else."

"In that case..." She slaps a wrist band on each of them. "I'd been intending to comp your visit anyway, having a huntsmistress visit alone raises my profile a great deal, visiting with her husband? Even more. Visiting with her human husband? Hah! You're practically worth your weight in credit disks just for the word of mouth."

Eymali's pincers clasp as she gives the other woman a conspiratorial wink. "And the opportunity to marry off some of your daughters perhaps?"

"I'd never put it in such crass terms huntsmistress... but if my daughters and other staff members happen to... be wearing their extra tight hunting leathers when the commandos come to train and just... happen... to snag themselves a human husband, I certainly won't complain. I have a lot of girls whose hearts would flutter at the thought of male commandos on staff. My daughters of course, other Yauya, Dzedin, a few Panseros girls. You know the type."

Jerry chuckles, imagining a Panseros, a black furred pantherine alien that was theoretically a quadruped like a Lopen sneaking up on one of his commandos for a surprise make out session.

"Well I can't say the lads wouldn't be interested in such women... plus it'd make maneuvers on the course more interesting if they suddenly get pounced by a panther woman."

"Hell if even one of my daughters or staffers ends up married I might have to pay you! You're every little Yauya girl's dreams come true, you know that? A whole lot of other species aside. I heard there's all sorts of interesting stirrings among the Cannidor over humans."

"More than you'd believe I think madam. Eymali? Shall we?"

The couple start to walk towards the entrance only to be stopped by the shopkeeper again.

"Wait! I almost forgot. Huntsmistress, though I normally maintain discretion for my clients... your sister? her husband, and some of her sister wives are here. I'm not sure if she's with them."

Eymali and Jerry immediately share a wicked smile as they walk through the doors into the park proper.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, husband?"

"That we need to mess with your sister, her sister wives, and Herbert? Oh yes."

"Excellent, the usual tac channel?"

"Encryption code Sierra 7 9 Gamma, they're probably not running comms, but we might as well get some training of our own in."

With a kiss, the two lovers vanish from sight, and the game is afoot.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

"Think you can nab Herbert?"

Eymali's voice comes over the comms system the Bridgers had all started to carry out in public as standard loud and clear. Jerry had mandated the gear along with some other pieces of equipment after getting annoyed with having to improvise under fire one too many times.

Besides the comms, each woman now sported an axiom shield ring, an emergency beacon, small trauma kit and some other surprises, including a firearm for the girls who weren't armed as a matter of course.

No one fucked with the Bridgers.

"I can nab Herbert. He's good, very good in fact, and Sir Philip's one of the best, but I was doing black ops in the sand box before Herbert's balls dropped the first time. Kid's good, and I’m sure Sir Philip’s training him into a terror, but he's got a whole new kind of learning to do when it comes to wet work."

"Why is the idiom wet work?"

"Considering you're the mistress of killing things and people with sharp things darling I thought that would be fairly self explanatory."

"Ah I see, I... eyes on. Seems the girls are doing a proper search pattern now. My sister told me Herbert was eluding them more often, and I offered them some... minor assistance in tightening up their search patterns, it requires some practice, but I can see they have indeed been practicing."

"Going to throw a wrench in their plans?"

"Oh yes. I taught her how to do this pattern after all. It's called the weaving archna. It's rather complex, but pulling at the threads of the web in the right spot can ruin the coordination it requires. Herbet will spot it eventually, I'm sure."

"I'll make sure he's too busy this time. I... ah. Got him I think. Check left, 210 degrees off the beacon from the ship. He's perched himself on, not in a building."

"Ah, I have him. He is very good, well into the advanced stealth techniques, in good practice with the more mundane kinds too."

"Too perfect actually. He's practically a hole in the air. Even merging with the background axiom, he hasn't faded away completely, he's got the opposite issue now. That was a problem with human stealth my homeland had to solve."

The couple begin working their approach, with Eymali leaping across the rooftops as Jerry bounces from wall to wall like a hyperactive gecko, "running" the entire time, a mix of momentum and axiom keeping his feet steady on the vertical surface.

"Oh? How did that work? I thought humans couldn't use axiom in Cruel Space."

"We can't, so stealth was even harder. One of our greatest applications is a submarine. They tend to be quite large, and instead of research are generally warships. They fight predominantly by stealth, whether hunting other warships or merchant vessels. Early on, a counter was discovered, sonar. Active and passive sonar can both detect a sub."

"Ah, yes I'm familiar with the concept. Both in the technological and natural forms, echolocation and such."

"Right, so the issue is my homeland's submarine stealth got too good. So skilled sonar operators began to be able to find them by what wasn't there, a lack of noise, water flowing, fish swimming, that sort of thing. So to fix the issue, they basically set submarines up to play background music to any pesky sonar operators around."

"That's ridiculous, but it makes sense without axiom at play both in the name of sensors, propulsion, and stealth. I... wait. Patrol to your two, only one girl out alone."

Jerry grins. "Oh that's just perfect. It's time we got started throwing wrenches in the works. I think I'm going to take a leaf out of the books of my Sioux ancestors and drop down for a visit."

"Oh? What do you intend to do?"

"I'm going to count coup. Counting coup was the measure of an elite warrior, getting close enough to the enemy to land a blow, but doing him no harm, and escaping unharmed yourself. It was one of the tasks required of a brave to earn the right to become a war chief. The last man I know of to do such was Joe Medicine Crow. Hmm... just a touch isn't enough though..."

Jerry runs straight down the building, leaping across the gap to a tree and arresting his fall with axiom to drop feather light on a branch. "Do you have eyes on Herbert?"

"Yes, near where you first spotted him, it seems he's gone to ground. Looking for a hole in my sister's search pattern no doubt. Smart boy. Well trained indeed."

Jerry slowly advances, swinging under the branch and slowly crawling behind the prowling Dzedin woman.

"Throw a rock for me, just to get her attention. I need to be able to drop without her noticing, I should be able to deaden the sound but just in case... three, two, one..."

THWOCK!

The rock slams home hard into a nearby wall, instantly getting the prey's attention and leaving Jerry with a perfect fall right behind her. He jumps her swaying tail a few times before slowly removing the bow she had tied just above the massive blade at the end of her tail... and re-tying it into a much prettier and more ornate bow.

"A lady should always look her best, you know."

He whispers before leaping away, already one with the environment, leaving the confused Dzedin girl to call for one of her sister wives for back up.

"Perfectly done husband. I've gone ahead to prepare a few traps. Nothing lethal, but plenty silly. 290 degrees off the beacon. My sister will know it's a "gift" shall we say, to encourage her and her sister wives to be better. Shame I don't have some trytite manacles, we could truss Herbert up like a turkey for the girls.”

"I'm not sure they're into bondage and frankly I don't want to know. They can catch their husband themselves. Moving right, I'll flush the game your way."

Jerry switched from leaping to ever so quietly scaling, inching up the side of the building they'd last spotted Herbert on like an oversized gecko, his lessons with Cascka were already paying off. The Nagasha woman was a real master of her craft, men like Vernon Shay and Franklin Smith might be beyond powerful from sheer nerdy enthusiasm, but a natural nack for a martial art couldn't always make up for decades, or centuries, of faithful, attentive practice... and Cascka was no slouch in the natural talent herself.

The Nagasha master adept had ensured he focused on studying pin point manipulation for a while, mostly as a focusing practice. A few hours of what amounted to axiom-fueled mediation had led to something of a eureka moment, and after some experimentation, Jerry had been happily scaling walls in a far more subtle way than Eymali's usual method.

Another moment to focus reveals Herbert's position, the breeze flowing around him as he crouched in his dark corner. Herbert settled for longer than he should have, perhaps thinking he was more or less out of his wives' search pattern for the time being, and taking the moment to breath and observe.

Good instinct, and falling back on observing wasn't a bad trait in a spy. However when they were already hunting you, you should never go to ground for too long except in the most secure of circumstances, and as Jerry was about to prove, Herbert wasn't nearly as secure as he thought.

Throwing his voice with Axiom a bit, Jerry says at a normal speaking volume

"Bad form Mister Jameson." and is rewarded by Herbert nearly jumping out of his skin.

Jerry quickly reaches out and grabs Herbert by the collar, tossing him across a gap and through a break away wall to make a little noise for the girls below to find before following Herbert into the building.

"Who the hell are..."

Jerry drops his cloak, unable to keep a smirk off his face. The smirk would be a good motivational tool for Herbert too.

"Captain Bridger? What are you doing here? And how the hell did you detect me?"

"I was out for a walk with my wife, who happens to be your sister in law. As for how I detected you, consider that your homework, from me if not from Sir Philip, but I'm sure he'll have the assignment at your personal terminal by the time you get home. But just remember kid, like Sir Philip has shown you, experience and guile go for a lot. I had you in that department when you were a grown ass man, and I'm still running on all that experience now that you're a teen again."

Jerry chuckles. "That said, you've definitely gotten laid more than I have ever have. So at least you can hold your head up high in the "draws tail like a champ" department. Even if they are all horror movie monsters straight out of the world's weirdest strip club."

Herbert goes through a few facial expressions before relaxing a bit. "I guess you have a point. I mean... weren't you... you know. A company man?"

"Maybe. Even if I was you know I couldn't tell you. I never left MARSOC once it was established as far as my records show, and the Marines have their own black teams within MARSOC. Not everyone working for the United States as a field spook has to work for SAD."

"Fair. Say... mind if I ask you a question?"

"Sure, shoot."

"...Do you think this whole de-aging thing has... done anything to me? Like. Changed me in a fundamental way?"

Jerry stops dead from where he'd been pacing between various look out points, keeping an eye on Herbert's wives.

"That's a heavier topic than I was expecting on a fun night out with the wives."

Herbert had been caught up in a political play. He’d intentionally gotten caught up by an arrangement system, with the expectation that Cistern and his people would spring him, then use the political leverage to get a change to arrangement system laws to put an exception for men on active duty in a stellar power’s military.

They’d gotten that… but political enemies of the Ambassador of the system they’d selected for the operation had gotten ahold of Herbert. Instead of holding him for going through a state sponsored matchmaking service Herbert had woken up in the middle of being more or less raped by predominantly two alien species that looked like horror movie monsters.

Disoriented and more than a little frightened, Herbert had run for it. Right out a window, and landing himself smack into a healing coma that left a man in his thirties in the body of a fourteen year old, with a hundred woman strong harem made up of some of the more dangerous aliens available, Yauya and Dzeden to a woman.

He’d since made up with his wives, they’d both been used after all, and were making their relationship work. Hence why he was out playing mating hunt with some of his girls.

Undaunted Intelligence had also taken advantage of Herbert’s new age and status by training him as an intelligence agent, trained specifically by Sir Philip himself.

With all that in mind, Jerry could feel the sheer weight in the young man’s voice as he pressed forward with his question.

"I'm usually too busy to have a heart to heart with just about anyone. Just all the shit happening with my wives. Training, actual missions. I don't really have any trauma from you know... the incident, I don’t even remember it. But the healing coma thing. I dunno. I lost scars. Tattoos. Parts of myself. Parts of my story."

Jerry nods, clasping the now much younger man on the shoulder.

"And now you'll have all new scars, and you can always get the ink again if it was truly important to you. You're asking a fundamental question Herbert, and no one can really answer it for you. But if you ask me, you are your memories. If you'd gotten a mind wipe, like those victims they rescued on Vucsa 5 from that organ harvesting operation... Well, brand new man. Back to your baseline. Whatever you were born with. Nothing more. Nothing less."

"Not going to tell me anything about my immortal soul? Sounds like a set up for that."

"Wrong religion for that kind of talk, but from my own faith and the faith of my mother's people, souls aren't just... us. Not just you as you are now. It's complicated. Too complicated for your wives being about forty seconds away from catching us flat footed, but I wouldn't fuss about it too much. You are Herbert Jameson, soldier, spy, husband times a hundred, and shortly father many times that. Makes me feel glad I've set a hard limit on twenty. That's a lot of diapers to change."

"You ever thought about getting a healing coma? You're what? early forties? You have to be slowing down a bit."

"Early fifties..."

Herbert’s eyes go wide.

"Bullshit, you don't look it."

"Clean living and lots of exercise, as to the coma... I have, and I am. Gonna turn back the clock to my mid twenties, maybe try to keep some of my more distinguished features. I'll lose some ink. Lose some scars. But I gotta be there for my wives. My babies. My crew. My troops. A fully rejuvenated Jerry Bridger's a bad day for the enemies of humanity... and so's a very much alive and still going strong Herbert Jameson, even if you'll need to learn to shave again in a year or two."

Jerry whirls and lashes out with a kick, forcing the surprised Herbert out a window where he pushes off the frame and towards a secure ledge by pure reflex.

"They're here. Break left! I'll go south and try to draw them off! See if I can give you a head start."

Herbert bounces out of view, invisibility sliding back into place as Jerry races across a few roof tops after ducking out an open window. The spike of adrenaline should have Herbert obeying orders instead of thinking he might not notice he was being herded... and that means he'd go right into Eymali's forest of quickly arranged traps, and bring the twenty or so Dzedin and Yauya women with him.

Unbidden, a mental picture of Herbert catching a spring loaded pie to the face comes to mind, and Jerry escapes into the night, stifling a giggle as he heads towards his meet up point with Eymali, a chorus of shocked shrieks echoing behind him.