"So this pirate officer..."

Cascka gestures Jerry to continue as she pours a cup of tea. It was their usual venue, but while tea was on the cards, training was not, Jerry had asked to speak with her.

As part of the small talk Cascka had taken the opportunity to get a status report of the ship straight from the horse's mouth. She wasn't entirely sure what a horse was, and to Jerry’s knowledge hadn't yet looked into it, but she enjoyed the saying all the same.

"Manila, yes. Interesting woman. She's spent most of the last 48 hours sequestered with Commander Lawson, she's proven to be quite... adaptable considering her whole world just got turned upside down. Though Diana tells me there's signs she was under duress for most of her pirate service."

"Remarkable adaptability if true... and determination."

"She's a survivor, not just of happenstance, but the type of person who will fight through a situation on sheer force of will. She brought quite a few of her crew with her to safety too. No resistance at all, they just did as they bid her. Far more discipline than I would expect from pirates. It makes me want her."

Cascka's dusky blue blushing catches Jerry's attention and he throws up his hands as if pleading to defend himself. "Not like that! Not like that! I want her as part of my officer cadre. Not to marry her. She's really not my type."

The Nagasha woman's coloring returns to normal, and she covers her embarrassment by sipping slowly at her tea before quietly asking. "What exactly is your type Captain? I ah... heard about Ms. Gaucha proposing to you. Seems the ship thinks that's a smart match... and that the two of you should do a husband and wife tag team at the Shellcracker tournament in two consecutive years. As your master I'd certainly bet on you. You have tricks most Apuk never consider."

"The ones at the Shellcracker tournament aren't most Apuk. They're the cream of the crop and have been training their entire lives for the sole purpose of engaging in gladiatorial combat to win themselves a title. I don't have the sheer horsepower of Franklin Smith or the raw autistic audacity of Vernon Shay. He's got a real gift for using as little axiom as possible to do even the biggest things, while Franklin moves insane amounts of power around by even galactic standards. I do however have a tactics briefing from an Apuk Sorcerer named Brin'Char on just how to take on a Battle Princess... there's a possibility that as a leader of warriors I'll be expected to engage in an exhibition match when we visit Serbow and call on the Empress."

"Oh my. Would they demand that of Admiral Cistern?"

"No, nor of a normal diplomat, but as a field commander of troops under arms I'm apparently in a special strata in Apuk society, and one of the ways they like to test each other's metal is to have commanding officers go head to head in friendly competitions. Subtle way to communicate who's boss back in the day... but modernly it's more to promote camaraderie than anything. Masha's sister Mari'Nelindra sent me a file on it. Apparently the standard unless both parties get serious for some reason is fighting to a point where both parties can call it a draw and back out without losing face. Not a bad system, but I really don't want to lose either."

"Sounds like we'll need to intensify your training."

Jerry chuckles. "Sure, right after I get the damage repaired, my people out of sick bay, these pirates dealt with... thank whatever goddess you please that our casualties were light. Until we cut through that fused bulkhead I was damn worried about Petty Officer Smythe and Chief Hargrave. Good Chief Gunner's Mates are hard to find. And rather than any goddess I have you to thank for that Cascka... which is what I wanted to speak to you about."

Cascka bows her head, trying to cover the dusky blush darkening her features again. "Please Captain, we don't need to speak of it. I simply did my duty."

"I don't accept that. When my people do exceptional work I believe that needs to be recognized... and honestly I'm still trying to figure out the sequence of events from your perspective. How the hell did you get up to the dorsal section?"

"I am wary of personal teleportation for a variety of reasons, but I have mastered multiple forms of that discipline... as to what happened... I was listening into the communications traffic on the ship's command frequency as I waited in the redoubt with some of the other civilians. When I felt the impact of those naval grade guns, I heard the damage report... I... confess I'm not entirely sure what happened. I wanted so desperately to help. To do something to ensure there wasn't further loss of life. To help. I blinked... and I was in the damaged section of the hull. I immediately threw up my most powerful axiom shield."

The color bleeds out of Jerry's face. "Wait you were... down there? I knew you were in the dorsal section, that's where the response teams found you, but actually in the breach!?"

"Yes. Behind the emergency axiom fields that helped repressurize and contain the damaged area."

"That was insanely dangerous, if they'd managed to pierce your shield..."

"They weren't going to pierce my shield."

Cascka's bright green eyes flare, and for a moment, Jerry is reminded just who Cascka's mother is... and her father. Her Cannidor side, or indeed, the nature of her primal queenpin mother didn't come through often in the refined and gentle Cascka. When it did though, it always made Jerry sit up and take notice.

Cascka's face softens, the moment passing quickly. "Pardon me, but they were not. I was in no danger Captain I-"

"Am a goddamn hero in my book. Because you were in danger whether you admit it or not. That you had the skills to mitigate that danger doesn't really change much in my book. Hell you hadn't exactly tested your skills against naval grade weapons either. We don't really have civilian awards yet, but I mentioned you specifically in my report back to the Dauntless. There was a concept in some earth nations called ‘mentioned in dispatches’. So there's that, and a one time pay bonus. We've gotten a bit used to handing out cash rewards because there's so much abundance in the galaxy..."

"And because of the EFL?"

"Very much so. They are somewhat mercenaries after all... well. Were."

"Were?"

"They're married in now, I doubt those crews will go against their husbands. Many are doing like the crew of the Claw and settling down or transitioning to other work."

"Yes... it's easy to be less risk averse when you have no children, and are unlikely to gain children. We discussed this somewhat during my interview regarding killing, and how the galaxy at large can fail to value life in some very disturbing ways if you have a moment of clarity. I wrote a thesis on the subject while in university actually. It's my belief that some of the more reckless behavior we see in the wider galaxy is a result of not so much the scarcity of men, but the perception that getting a man is near impossible, even in a 100 woman marriage or clan. Or larger. When you have no hope for a future, which for most organic, or even synthetic life involves children, it's easy to value yourself less. Mix that with abundant wealth, and never having to age and it can be a potent, extremely dangerous mix of emotions."

"I'd like to read that thesis sometime. Speaking of reckless behavior though, I also need to remember to discipline Chief Hargrave and now Petty Officer Hargrave..."

Cascka blushes. "Ah. Yes. I ah... I heard they found... productive ways to spend their time post battle while waiting for rescue."

"Yes..." Jerry's eyes narrowed. "They're lucky I was more worried about them being dead. They were inches away from peddling vacuum on one side, and they had the sheer gall to rut like teenagers. I appreciate there's a instinctual desire to do things like... have sex after a very close shave survival wise, but they were still in danger! So Hargrave, nee Smythe has been reassigned to a different gun crew. Can't have a wife working for her husband in the direct line of command."

"Technically all your wives are in your direct line of command."

"Fair, but I'm significantly less likely to have an on duty tryst in a broom closet with one of them. Our clan also owns the ship, which changes the command environment a bit from anything we've got back on Earth. Back on topic though, you were asking about my type… what did you mean?”

Cascka chuckles, relaxing for just a second before her eyes open wide as her blood runs cold. He had remembered. Of course he'd remembered.

"Well. I just mean your wives are quite varied... though they do tend to be more... bombastic shall we say. Or so it seems to observers. For example Ms. Gaucha and this loud cat woman who's been causing something of a stir recently. They're both..."

Jerry holds a hand up, stopping Cascka. "Point of order, they're not joining my marriage. Not yet. Especially not the loud cat woman. Her name is Nezbet for the record. I've said I'll consider it, but we'll see. They need to talk to Syl and the girls, go on some dates with me. We need to get to know them as a family, and I need to get to know them as just me. Syl in particular is determined come hell or high water that every wife in the marriage will be something special because of the hard upper limit I've set. Maybe one day I'll be pushed past that limit, but I'm damned stubborn."

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A strange expression crosses Cascka's face that leaves Jerry stumped for a moment. Cascka was hard to read on a good day, childhood training from her mother no doubt, but that almost looked and felt like... fear?"

"So... you would... not consider someone after a certain point?"

"Twenty wives is the hard limit I've set."

"I... see. And there's quite a few of them already." A flash of concern crosses Cascka's face as she focuses on her tea for a bit, clearly thinking. "But you were saying about your type? If not more... loud women, what do you like?"

"I can appreciate all manner of women... physically the galaxy plays to my tastes, or perhaps my wildest teenage fantasies in the general shape of your average alien woman, but I can also appreciate more slender, less ah... chesty... women like Zombie. Wichen's noisy, Eymali is a whisper on the wind. The Volpir sisters all might share a species and a father, but are otherwise as distinct as can be. So long as a woman carries herself well, takes care of herself, and is engaging to talk to, I think there's romantic potential there."

Cascka visibly forces herself to keep a possible giddy look off her face, that's exactly what she'd wanted to hear. Quickly she changes tacks, maneuvering him towards the conversation she actually wanted to have. She couldn't get bogged down. Not here. Not yet.

"On a... another note Captain, perhaps you might indulge me with a question about your home world."

"Sure Cascka, whatever you want to hear. Something more about our culture again?"

"Oh, not this is more about yourself actually. Your... personal history. Humans keep many pets, yes? A startlingly wide variety of creatures, some humans seem to practically keep personal zoos!"

"That is more or less how it goes for some folks, my family always had a lot of pets when I was growing up."

"Did you perhaps ever keep a pet snake of some kind?"

"I did bring a garter snake home from the creek a few times, but my mother made me put the little critter back."

Jerry grins, clearly thinking fondly of the moment, though slightly distracted by the odd look on Cascka's face.

"Why do you ask Cascka? That's a rather specific question."

He's instantly rewarded with a mild look of panic as Cascka tries to figure out how to respond to him.

"Well... it ah. Was a research question! Yes. Research. About human mate selection once freed from Cruel Space. I'm considering doing a joint paper on the subject with your wife Matiya. It seems humans tend to be more readily attracted to races with seeming ‘precursors’ on the human home world. Dogs, cats. Things in your mythology also work. Like there's a warrior race that looks a lot like the Horchka! Male Horchka, but Horchka all the same. So I was just... hoping you'd have had a pet snake too.”

Aha. She hadn't meant to let that last part slip, and as she drank deep from her tea settling back into her mass of coils, it seemed to Jerry she was growing a spine as her mother had hoped. If indeed she was maneuvering for an opening... or just working up her nerve... to propose.

"Heh. While your theory might make sense in a very general way, I never had a fuzzy shark or lizard as a pet. Nor in fact did I ever have a pet fox, and the bulk of my wives are Volpir. So... why the pet snake Cascka? Do you perhaps... have something you want to ask me?"

He couldn't be more obviously giving her a lead in than that. He had almost literally put a damn neon sign up at that point. Now it just remained to be seen if Cascka would take the on ramp.

"I ah... this will sound silly Captain, but... I am not a woman who is good with... social situations. I am shy, awkward, and inexperienced at best. I wrote out perhaps half a dozen different general speeches thinking one would at least get me in the ballpark of what I wanted to say, modified for how you would answer my questions. Some of them had very horrible attempts to flirt... My eldest sister is not... as introverted, as I am... but she is similarly terrible at flirting. She took after our father greatly, and courts like a Canndior. I probably should have consulted another sibling."

"What's an example of one of the lines?"

Cascka's eyes shoot wide open, panic covering her face for a brief second before she relaxes. "Well... I... if you had had a pet snake as a boy, my sister suggested leaning in, emphasizing my bust... oh, scales, I was supposed to wear something with an actual neckline... and ah... hold on."

Cascka reaches into an axiom pocket and pulls out an honest to god cue card.

"Ah. Yes. To lean in, emphasize my bust and cleavage and to... tuck some of my hair behind my ear and ask you breathily if you'd like to have a pet snake again. I am... not entirely sure how to speak breathily..."

The slightly bemused man sitting across from her resists pointing out that she's so anxious she's doing a decent job of being breathy in her tone of voice right now. He had to keep a straight face, minimal jokes. This was very important to Cascka, and to him. He couldn't ruin the moment for her.

The serpentine beauty blushes again as she realizes what she'd just done, and the card quietly incinerates itself in a little flare of axiom fueled flame.

"Primal veins of my own mother I am sorry Captain for this... indignity, I'm sure that you can find someone..."

Jerry rolls his eyes as Cascka begins to swan about a bit, clearly trying to gracefully deal with her perceived failure to woo him properly. He quickly coats his lips with a little axiom, and kisses Cascka hard on the mouth, shutting her up as she gives a needy little moan before he releases her.

"My apologies for taking such a liberty with you."

"T-take more if you want."

Cascka pants, clearly enthralled by the kiss even without getting a dose of human pheromones. Some emotions were stronger than the very sensitive personal biochemistry of most galactic species it seemed.

"I believe you were about to tell me I could clearly find someone better suited to me than you, and then you'd flee. Possibly teleporting. That about right? Nod yes or no."

Cacka nods yes, having a harder time meeting Jerry's eyes post kiss.

"That's not what you want is it? Nod yes or no again."

Fervent no.

"So why are you running away? You haven't even asked me anything. I haven’t had a chance to say yes or no... and nothing in our conversation has told you anything about how I might answer that question. Well. Not until a second ago. So if you want something from me Cascka... just ask. As you. No script, no advice from your sister, no guidance from your mother. Just Cascka."

Cascka gulps, licking her lips for a moment as if they were dry. This would be a big moment for the young woman. The old Cascka would probably run. She'd run from things before. Still Jerry had seen an interesting person that had been shaping up in the background of Cascka's life, and while Rikaxza might be proud of her daughter already, Jerry knew she'd rather like the woman that had been quietly maturing and coming into her own behind the walls of the monastery.

"I ah. Oh scales. I love you. I think. I haven't quite... been in love before. Then again most people haven't, and they figure it out. But just looking at you from afar can make my heart race. I ache to be near you and to hold you in my arms and coils. Your... sweat... should probably count as some form of torture. I don't think of myself as anyone exceptional, but I can be a good wife to you I assure you... So I ah... would like to formally apply to join your marriage. I know it'll take time to go through some da- mmmph!"

Jerry kisses Cascka again, no axiom in the way this time, she gets a full dose of human pheromones and immediately calms down slightly stunned.

"No need to apply, if you want in, you're in. Syl's suggested bringing you into the family a couple times. You make quite a good impression almost everywhere you go you know? Wichen and the more... physical girls might not understand you, but even they like you well enough. So... I suppose Cascka, the better question is to ask if you'll marry me?"

Cascka's emotional state at that moment could be best described as shifting without a clutch. She barely manages to squeak out a yes before pouncing on Jerry and bundling him up against her body. The full body embrace of a lovey dovey Nagasha woman was a new experience, and one he was most looking forward to enjoying more regularly. Literally every part of him was embraced by Cascka’s body or her coils, her slightly cool scales squeezing like a passionate hug across his entire body.

They snuggle for a bit, taking their time as Jerry strokes the back of Cascka's head, already mentally writing the notification email to Cascka's mother when Cascka suddenly ‘sits’ bolt upright.

"Wait something doesn't… Doesn't... that mean you're putting me in front of Ms. Gaucha and that cat woman?"

"Yep."

"B-but... why? Not that I'm complaining, but they're bold, smart, aggressive even. I'm just... me. And they both came forward before I did."

"Well for one, we've been getting to know each other intimately for a while now. We've had some pretty deep talks since I started training under you. So that gets quite a bit of credit from me. I like Gaucha well enough, she's a good woman, but I don't know how she sees the universe like how I know how you see the universe."

"I wager you can guess, Ms. Gaucha seems the consummate warrior's warrior."

"Even then there's always these wonderful little differences between people. It's perhaps the great treasure of being afforded so many wives. So many unique points of view to come to understand. So many singular existences joining themselves with mine. It's a treasure beyond comprehension sometimes. But as for being just Cascka... If I haven't made it clear yet, let me underline it for you. Just you counts for a whole hell of a lot more than you're giving yourself credit for. Masha, for all her skill, couldn't have put that axiom shield up the other day. The so-called cat woman couldn't even begin to dream about using axiom like that. You saved a lot of lives Cascka... but even if you hadn't, you came to me as just you. No need to display, or puff yourself up. Just Cascka? Just Cascka's worth the galaxy to me."

Cascka sniffles. "I really see why you've charmed your wives so readily. Even by human standards. Even with all the love that seems to well up around humans, they love you so much it's like basking in a sunbeam just being nearby. I can't help but think it's because you say these sappy, romantic things without even thinking about it. Like a romance novel protagonist come to life... but we're all the heroines of the story."

"You are all the heroines. Each a legend in the making in her own right. At least, that's the story I intend to write, I just need you girls to help me. Can I count on you Cascka?"

The pretty redhead beams up at him, smiling through tears of joy and relief. "Yes!"