A quick note: { } = Galactic Sign Language communications

A man ran through the dark alleys and streets of the capitol city of the planet Meracene, making his way toward the spaceport. Gone was his usual arrogance, it had been replaced with paranoia and fear after facing the terrifying individuals chasing him. He continually looked behind him as he ran, clutching at a wound in his side as he tried his best to staunch the bleeding.

Where are they? Where are they?! Did I finally lose them? No! There's no way I could lose such monsters!!! He screamed in his head as he continually looking around in paranoia and ran.

Just as he thought he might have finally lost them, the man stumbled around a corner into an empty square. Normally this would be a good thing, but the man recalled that this particular square was never empty. It was normally brightly lit, and so crowded with people that it was easy to slip into the crowds and disappear. Now, it was completely empty, devoid of life. He turned back in fear, only to find some of those terrifying beings blocking the alley he had come from.

He turned back once again in fright, only to find the entire square surrounded by these mysterious beings in their black gear. All possible exits were covered, as well as all the building tops. He backed away in horror, it had only been a short moment since he turned away from the square yet they had appeared in that short couple of seconds. As the man drew toward the center of the square, the beings slowly closed in on him, appearing within the square from their rooftop positions as if they were imaginary phantoms.

The man turned around continuously like a trapped animal, he kept looking for a way out of his predicament, but none appeared. He turned faster and faster, desperate to find a way to keep his life.

F*** it! If I'm gonna die, I'm gonna take as many of these f***ers with me as I can!

Just as the man determined to fight to the death, he felt a sharp pain in his chest, and looked down to find a strange metal weapon he didn't recognize sticking out from where his heart was located. Shock filled his eyes as he stared down at that surreal sight, he hadn't heard a single sound. The weapon was pulled out, and he collapsed to the ground, twitching uncontrollably.

"Welcome to the jungle," the very same phrase he had spoken earlier that day had come back to haunt him as he faded into oblivion.

-----

"Somebody clean up this mess," a melodic voice rang out as Crevna Teraise spoke.

Despite his androgynous features, and feminine voice, the leader of their task force was 100% male, and none of the 15 person group would dare make fun of him for said features. A number of males had hit on him, but Teraise was not into men, and they were ignored, or told off if they couldn't take the hint. He had never taken to any women that his group knew of, but it was abundantly clear that he wasn't into men.

The body was soon gone, in addition to all evidence of it's existence. Teraise overlooked the process, and nodded in satisfaction upon it's completion. "Disperse," he ordered, and his taskforce members disappeared in less than a second.

"I suppose it's about time I report to the boss, he'll want to know what that b**ch had planned." Upon completing his sentence, it was as if he completely ceased to exist.

Not long after, the black suited individuals disappeared, the square returned to it's usual busy state. One might find it surprising, considering what had happened, but such events were a common occurrence in the dark side of the capitol. Their outfits might be uncommon, but the event itself was common, so it was soon forgotten and the people went about their business, as usual.

The next day the capitol was shocked by the complete, and utter disappearance of one of the capitol's strongest gangs, and every supporter or captive they held. Their erasure was so complete that it was hard to believe that it could be so complete and yet not leave any traces behind.

-----

Thraxc sat in his office, looking lazily out the windows of his "Highrise Penthouse." It had been quite some time since he sent out his operatives to check on the Terasien case, but as reports came in, he found himself more and more convinced of the boy's innocence. He showed himself to be quite kind, even going so far as to forgive a saberlion female who had raped him in his sleep. Unfortunately, a great many cases like the boy's, where people judged them based on their external appearance, happened throughout the known galaxy. Most cases didn't involve something like the murder of their own parents, but being charged with crimes they did not commit happened more often than he'd like.

A slight breeze appeared, but he didn't even react, he only said, "Computer, activate anti-bug and communications field, Authorization: Red, Alpha, 243678, Tango." He then waited for the confirmation before asking, "What are the results?"

"He is, indeed, innocent," Crevna Teraise responded from behind him. "The perpetrators were erased, but there were four innocents who were present. We couldn't leave them there, but they had to disappear, so I had them brought here."

"Who were they?"

"The perpetrator was a middle aged human male named Draeven, no last name. As for the innocents, they were 4 young girls who had recently been captured and turned into sex slaves," he answered. "Their minds are pretty disturbed, and they barely responded during our trip here. I've been keeping a female member of the taskforce with them at all times as a preventative measure, I don't want them to kill themselves after I took the risk of keeping them alive. I'd have ordered the men to kill them, to put them out of their misery, but I know you don't like that sort of thing."

"How responsive are these girls," Thraxc requested.

"They're lucid, but their spirit is pretty much broken. They don't even remember who they are, and they're terrified of males."

"Age range, and race?"

"Around 8-10 years of age," Teraise replied, his voice making obvious his disgust. "Two Zevrai, one Corthan, and one Trellian. That b*****d deserved to die long before we killed him, he got rid of our innocent man because he protected the girls from being kidnapped."

"So he protected these girls before?"

"Yes, Sir," Teraise replied, Thraxc could almost feel him nod. "There is one problem. The man has hired professional hitmen to kill the victim, a guild called "The Sabers." He has also put out a general hit order with the assassins guild."

"I like this boy more and more," Thraxc said while laughing. "Collect your belongings, I want you to move into the manor inside the orchard and protect him. I'll also have the girls transferred over there, so choose four women from your team to transfer there as well. The boy has managed to turn a pride of saberlions to his side, and recently also turned a tribe of badgers, and a herd of deerlings into his allies. They're rapidly warming up to the boy, and I estimate they will be his solid followers within one to three months."

"We haven't been able to tame a single one of these animals in four years, and this guy manages to turn three of their races into his friends within six months?"

"Indeed," Thraxc agreed, "There's a fourth group of animals that is beginning to take a healthy interest in the boy as well."

"How lucky can one get?"

"I suspect luck isn't the answer to why these animals are taking an interest in Andaros," Thraxc answered while smiling. "He is the only human on the planet, and certainly the only person here with such a unique temperament."

"Wouldn't his looks scare them away," Teraise asked doubtfully.

"Hahaha, that's the best part," Thraxc replied in amusement, "His looks seem to be gaining their respect more than anything, giving him enough time for his kind personality to bring out their latent humanity. According to that A.I. he scavenged from the robot, they were all once human colonist groups that were changed through genetic manipulation in order to counteract a virus that was killing them off at the time."

"Seems a bit strange, couldn't they have just gotten rid of the weakness to the virus?"

"Their only real expert with enough knowledge to do so didn't have the proper equipment for doing so without changing their race drastically," Thraxc explained, "and the rest were just piggybacking off his technique using animals they thought would survive better in this environment. Both the saberlions and the velociraptors on planet were actually human-made hybrids that emulated ancient animals from earth's distant past."

"Ah, that explains it. Do we have communicators setup between the orchard and here?"

"Yes, they were set up last month," Thraxc replied. "They're older units, but they cover a much larger range than the communicator's we've been using. That boy's a genius, he rigged the ones going between here and there on a different frequency than the one we usually use, and even adjusted our current ones to use a second set frequency outside the normal range for the teams heading over there to use."

"I'll grab a set of the adjusted kind for my team, and head over there then."

"Ah, by the way, how's your grasp of Galactic Sign Language?"

"Good, why do you ask?"

"You'll know when you get near the orchard. The passcode is my name, we had to keep it a bit more basic than I'd like for our natives."

"Understood, I'll be going then," and with that, Teraise's presence disappeared from the room.

Thraxc continued to stare out the window at the landscape outside.

"Keep that brat alive for me. . . His mother would kill me if any harm came to him, were she still alive," he muttered to himself, as he had made sure no one was around to hear it. There was a decidedly mournful tone to his voice as he spoke. He added slaughtering any would-be assassins to his itinerary.

-----

A few weeks later, Andaros quietly sat in his workshop thinking about what had happened since he had arrived on the prison planet six months ago. Everything had been strangely better than his life before the prison planet. That is, until the incident involving Caera . . . Well, it still was better, truth be told, but he still found himself bothered by the event. True, her race were once human, but a part of him still worried that it was bestiality no matter what logic said, and there was still the fact that she had basically raped him, even if it was in a hormone induced, mind-altered state. He did like Caera, but the event still left him uncomfortable even now, and it bothered him that it influenced their interactions so much.

Caera suffered silently, and did her best to be helpful despite his reaction, but he could tell it hurt her. For a time he had been able to calm himself by stroking Caera's fur, but Qora had to ruin that by joking that he was "petting his pussy."

He sighed as he thought of that one, the giantess was quite beautiful, but she had a serious lack of tact sometimes. This was especially true around Andaros, as she found it much easier to be herself around him, but she also let Reiya see that side of her quite a lot. Reiya told him this was a side she only showed to her, her twin, and a few other female friends. In fact, she was pretty certain Qora was only so forward around him because of their bond, as she had never once heard her make such jokes around any males before her virginity was lost. Now, she only made the jokes around males when Andaros was present, but she had left a number of people stunned by those jokes since then.

The matter concerning Caera truly bothered Andaros. He had forgiven the saberlion female, but he still worried about the matter from then. Facing Caera was difficult for him as he really did not know how he was supposed to treat her now. He couldn't treat her as a lover, her beast form still bothered him, plus his sensibilities wouldn't allow it. Still, in his beliefs they were now connected, so the whole matter was very troubling for the young man. It was hypocritical, but he couldn't help feeling the way he did, torn between one way of thinking and another.

Andaros sat there, still muddling through the problem. It wasn't until later in his experiences that the boy would fully come to terms with what had happened, but at that time the situation would have decidedly changed.

-----

While Andaros was worrying over his own issues, a shuttle slowly floated down toward the planet. Using its anti-gravity devices, it made a slow approach toward the prison facility landing pad. Upon landing, a single person departed with their luggage before the shuttle began to quickly ascend toward the heavens once more. The strange shuttle soon disappeared from view, never to return to this particular planet. It docked with its mother-ship, and the ship turned toward its next destination before accelerating to near light-speed long enough to leave the planet's gravitational field. Once out of the field, the ship folded space, and disappeared from the star system.

"Sister!"

As the young woman who had departed from the ship walked down the ramp, she was bowled over by a green girl, this girl was precisely her twin sister, Reiya. "Sister, why are you so emotional," she asked, "we are always connected."

"I, I know that," Reiya replied in an embarrassed manner, "but this is different. It's nice to see you again."

"I'm glad to see you too," she replied gently.

"Lady Meiya?"

Meiya turned to see a strangely dressed individual wearing black, rather baggy looking clothes that covered the individual's body completely, all that was left uncovered was the eyes. "Yes?"

"I've been tasked by the Master to bring you up to speed on the matters surrounding your sister and the young human named Andaros," the individual said in their androgynous voice, making it hard to tell if they were male or female. "We have received reports from our operatives that. . . ."

The individual's explanation went on for quite a while, and by the end both Reiya and Meiya were thoroughly shocked.

-----

Andaros entered the offices of the prison. While he had been agonizing over his troubles he had been approached by one of the prison staff, and was shortly brought to this place. Upon entering, Andros looked around while trying to figure out where the right office was.

"Mr. Terasien," a voice called from his right, and he turned to see a woman standing in a doorway, waving him over, "Right this way. The Director has been expecting you." He followed the woman into a large secretary's office. "Please go through those doors, he's waiting for you."

"Thank you," he stuttered out. In response to his words, he received a gentle smile before opening the door and entering.

"Ah, Mr. Terasien, good to see you."

"Doctor Gliediv," Andros was surprised to find the portly man sitting behind a desk, and stuttered more than normal as he questioned.

"I'm a bit surprised you still remember me after six months," the Devonian responded, "but, in truth, my name is not Skaelvaer Gliediv. My name is Thraxc, and this is not my true form. My true form is rather terrifying for your species, so I chose to present myself in the form of our prison's head doctor when I greeted you upon your arrival. No one is aware of this fact besides the good doctor and myself, so I would appreciate if you do not speak of it to them."

"O-o-o-okay."

Andaros wasn't aware of the reasons the director would make such a request, but chose to accept without considering it too deeply. His earnest response pleased Thraxc, and the being grinned happily.

"You must be wondering what I have called you here to discuss," Thraxc stated. When he received a nod in response, he continued speaking. "To be truthful, Reiya's sister, Meiya, is due to arrive on-planet at this time, and should be touching down at this moment. The twins' father is an old friend of mine, and I have taken the two into my protection. The reason I called you to my office is related to this."

"The twins face a dilemma when it comes to love, and this issue is related to their race. You see, their race has a rather annoying quirk, every once in a while there is a born a pair of twins that share a very special connection. Reiya and Meiya are one such pair of twins. This connection allows them to experience the other twin's senses, as well as emotions. One twin can even help the other in a time of need, by taking control of the other twin's body for a short period of time, but this is very taxing on the second twin."

"As you may imagine, their people tend to use these twins for military purposes. The one twin stays in a safe location and supports the other when they are in danger. These twins are very rare, so their existence is not well known outside of their own race."

"You might wonder where I am getting with all of this information, so I'll get to the point. These joined, or connected twins have a rather troublesome quirk related to their physiology. These twins are connected on more than just a mental and emotional level, and it even goes so far as to implicate their bodies themselves. This is not troublesome in itself, but the quirk goes beyond this fact. These twins are unable to mate unless they can either find another pair of such twins, or unless they can somehow find a mate that can mate with both of them at the same time. If they mate separately, their physiology is such that the act will kill both twins. As such, I have taken it upon myself to find them a mate."

"This is where you come in," Thraxc stated seriously, "You will be undergoing a genetic procedure to make yourself compatible to the twins."

"Eh? I couldn't possibly. . ." Andaros was rather lost for words, and his stuttering was rather more pronounced than usual.

"Who said you had a choice."

As the coldly spoken words echoed in the room, Andaros was overcome by a sudden, overwhelming fear. Before his eyes, the visage of the doctor began to distort, and grow in size until what stood there was a towering behemoth that looked like the dragons of Old Earth mythology. Ruby red scales that glittered in the light, four legs with razor sharp claws extending from the fingers and toes, razor sharp teeth set in the jaws of the angular head set on top of the long neck, two large wings, and a long, prehensile tail. Thraxc's true form was easily the size of a diplodocus, although the actual size and shape was different, he was just that huge. A draconian, Thraxc was one of a race long since scattered to the solar winds, and almost extinguished. It was no wonder the director's office was so spacious yet had a human sized desk.

"Hmph, you disappoint me boy. I would prefer to do this in a more genial fashion," Thraxc stated unhappily, "so I'll give you some time to reconsider your decision. Let's see, those girls are fifteen this year. It is tradition for their race that the father, or parental guardian, provide a husband for them when they turn 20 years old. As I am their parental guardian now, I have decided on you. You have 5 years to get to know the girls and decide whether or not you will change your mind. Should you do so, I will happily release you from this prison, exonerate you, and provide a generous stipend after the 20 year minimum prison term stipulated by galactic regulations. Should you disappoint me however, you will spend the remainder of your life on this planet regardless of your innocence. Now leave, go greet my nieces."

Andaros quickly left the room, straining himself to maintain his composure. As he closed the door behind him, Thraxc sighed gently, the hard look completely gone from his face. He gazed out the window in melancholy as he remembered the past.

"I shouldn't have responded so harshly," he berated his own stupidity, "but I owe both of their parents so very much, especially that boy's mother. . . Marie. . . Terasien. . . I'll do what I can for your son, but I also have to look out for those girls, please forgive me."

Thraxc quietly gazed out his office window at the large orchard where her son now lived, his eyes betraying a deep sadness. He had lost many friends over the long millennia, but the loss of these two friends left him more heartbroken than any before. For a long time he gazed out the window, not speaking as he stared into an eternity of solitude. It wasn't often Thraxc found he could love people the way he had loved Andaros's parents.

------

Andaros worried as he walked home from the prison, accompanied by his three guardians. Caera had been joined by two other female beasts in her guard duties toward the boy, which was quite calming for his nerves. Over the two months, he had befriended their races, and a couple weeks back the two had pledged themselves to protect him. He was worried how their races would see it at first, but the two races had pledged to become his allies shortly thereafter, so those worries had proved unfounded.

Unfortunately, this new circumstance was just piling upon the other issues he had. This was not a fun time in his life. These were heavy matters that kept being thrust upon him one after the other.

{What do I do, Caera,} He asked the Saber Lioness as he was on the log he normally sat on to think. {First, there is the matter with Qora. Then, there is the matter involving you. Now, the Director is practically forcing me to undergo a procedure and become the mate to both Reiya and Meiya. I have no idea what to do.}

{Master should just do what you want. I will honor your decision.}

As she signed to him, Caera looked very sad. Andaros, noticing her sadness, became even more conflicted. It was childish, but a part of him was still angry at her despite his forgiving her. Still, he was also quite attached to the she-cat, and wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice himself for her. This overall state, along with everything else, led to his being extremely agitated when compared to his normal self.

Andaros was certainly not used to being popular with females, he was used to being treated like a monster by them instead, so the current situation was not something he could normally handle. Not to mention the fact that everything was happening so fast that he had no chance to come to terms with it before more was piled on, that was certainly making things harder on him. This lead to him constantly second guessing everything, and only becoming more and more confused. He simply did not know how to handle the current situation that was far outside of his expectations.

The young man had no clue that these current situations and worries were tempering him in ways he could never imagine, it was a tempering that would help him throughout the rest of his life. He heaved a big sigh and indicated that he wished someone could just appear and give him all the answers.

"That's not possible, unfortunately," an unknown voice stated, and Andaros looked up to see a strange man dressed up like the ninjas he had learned about from the few remaining working storage devices he had found that were from the colonial expansion period.

He had found those storage devices within the warehouses of one of the junk dealers back on his old world. Andaros had been pleasantly surprised when he found that these devices still had surviving data files that were not degraded in the least, this was especially true once he managed to decode those files and play the videos. For a time, Andaros had even dressed up, and played ninja with the few friends he had at the time. Unfortunately, that had not lasted long, as the three siblings had moved from the planet when their parents' company had "gone galactic," he hadn't seen Magnus and his sisters since.

"None among the sentient races can give another all the answers," the man continued. "It's just not possible for them to do so."

{You are?}

"Ah, please forgive me," the man said, "my name is Teraise. I've been monitoring your situation from the shadows, as per Director Thraxc's orders, while my team-mates have been preparing to bring our new charges to the manor."

{New charges?}

"Yes, we recently saved four young girls from a despicable individual while out on a mission for the director, and have brought them here," Teraise explained. "They had been treated rather terribly, and have experienced physical and emotional traumas, so we brought them here to the planet when we finished our mission. Director Thraxc seems to think you might be able to help them to open back up, but they're very afraid of males as of this time. They also tend to be unresponsive to females as well."

{I do not believe I could help,} Andaros replied petulantly, {I scare most people with my looks.}

"I suppose you would doubt your own ability to help considering how you have been treated throughout your life," Teraise replied while giving a wry smile, "but I, personally, sense a calming atmosphere from you. I know you're in turmoil after what has happened in the time since your mother was murdered, but that calming atmosphere is still there."

{I do not understand.}

"If you mean knowing about your mother's murder, Director Thraxc had me investigate the case," Teraise responded, "If you mean the calming atmosphere, only a truly inexperienced individual would have no way of seeing past your physically angry looks, if it's someone in my line of work. The ones who can't learn to read people properly don't last long."

{I see. . .}

"The reason I appeared before you at this time is that the rest of my team will soon arrive at the manor with the young girls, and I wanted to introduce you to all of them," Teraise explained. "Due to circumstances, we will be dwelling within the manor and acting as additional security. We've also been instructed to assist in preparing you and the individuals the director has chosen for the prisoner reform program he has in mind. I'll be introducing the method tommorrow, after we have gathered in the manor's main hall, which means you will have to be in attendance. The other prisoners participating in the reform program group should settle in the manor within a couple weeks, and my team members should also be ready soon. Shall we proceed back to the manor, or would you want to express your troubles and seek advice first?"

Andaros hesitated for a bit before he responded.

{. . . We should head back.}

"As you wish," Teraise responded. "If you ever desire to speak to someone of your worries, do not hesitate to do so, I will most certainly regard your worries carefully, and impart what wisdom I may."

{Thank you.}

"You are very welcome, let's be going now."

So it was that Andaros finally met the ninja known as Teraise, a man he would come to regard as a friend closer than a brother in due time, although the circumstances for that would be quite surprising.

-----

"Hey Andaros, you're just in time," "Reiya" said as he approached. He and Teraise actually met the girls and the new residents a bit outside the manor, and were greeted there. Andaros, strangely enough, noticed that this was indeed not actually Reiya speaking, "Come meet my sister, Meiya."

{You should not lie,} Andaros answered immediately, {That is Reiya, and that means you must but her twin, Meiya. It is a pleasure to meet you.}

Meiya looked completely shocked for a moment before finally stuttering out, "H-h-how did you kn-know?"

{For one thing, your hairstyle is a bit different} he answered, {and for another, your eyes are slightly different in color than Reiya's eyes. Other than that, you girls are complete clones of each other, physically speaking.}

Meiya and Reiya were both a bit stunned, but Meiya could feel her sister's inevitable delight at the fact that he could tell the two apart. At first she wasn't so happy because their trick had failed, but Meiya soon came to realize a delight in the fact that he could tell them apart as well. Meiya was the trickster of the two, but she wasn't so stuck on this that she couldn't find delight in being recognized as herself. She and her sister might be linked, but both Meiya and Reiya had always desired to be known for themselves, without having to tell everyone around them who they were. Playing tricks was just how Meiya dealt with the stress of not having anyone who would recognize her for herself, even their father was terrible in this regard.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

One thing that is often taken for granted by most people is a sense of self, and indeed some twins do not mind being confused for their "other half", but Meiya and Reiya were not like this. While the two were inextricably linked, the twins had a strong sense of self. Outwardly, the two shared "the same" appearance and manners, but inwardly they were very different from each other. Meiya was strong-willed and fiery, while Reiya was gentle and forgiving, but had a strong sense of filial piety. Meiya would often get the two into trouble, while Reiya often got them out, and cleaned up the mess afterward. There were times when the two's roles were reversed, and Meiya was the one getting them out of trouble, but this was actually not that common due to Reiya's personality. The two were like counter-balances to each other, but for the most part Meiya was the one who started the problems.

"You knew from so little clues," Meiya asked in surprise, this situation was just too surreal, she couldn't get her mind fully around it. Two features had told the boy all he needed to know, and one of them was a feature that was quite difficult to see from the distance Andaros had been away from them when he spoke.

{My mother always said I have sharp eyes,} Andaros explained with a shrug.

Meiya heaved out a sigh. "You know, that's not much of an excuse. . . and here I thought I could have some fun with you," she said while sighing once again.

This action caused the green girl's four ripe melons to jiggle seductively, which in turn caused Andaros's eyes to be drawn toward them for a slight moment. The young man quickly averted his eyes, but not quickly enough for her to miss. His eyes were inadvertently drawn to Reiya's chest, and he once more turned his vision away while the blush grew. A grin appeared on Meiya's face, but she didn't say anything as she and Reiya both noticed the blush on Andaros's face. In truth, all of the females noticed this, but only Qora chose to say something at the time.

"Hehehe, can't keep your eyes off their boobs, huh," she teased. "Here, you can have mine all you want, hubby," and with that she buried his face in her cleavage.

"Qora, have you no shame?! Don't do something like that in front of others," Reiya reprimanded her angrily. Qora ignored her, and a moment later she yelled, "He's even starting to turn blue! Let go of him before he suffocates!"

"He's not going to suffocate, I'm not squeezing them together, so he's got plenty of room to breath," Qora replied. "If anything, he's turning red from embarrassment."

"No, he really is turning blue Qora," Teraise responded calmly even in this ridiculous situation. "I think it would be best if you release him now, before any serious repercussions occur."

"Eh, really," Qora's surprised voice rang out like a bell. "Oh no, sorry Andaros, I didn't mean to," she cried out as she quickly brought him out from between her breasts.

Andaros couldn't reply for a moment as his lungs were heaving greatly in an attempt to restore the necessary amount of oxygen and nitrogen in his bloodstream, it took him a few moments before he could even think to reply to the giantess.

{Thank you,} he indicated to Reiya and Teraise, {Please don't suffocate me like that again,} he told Qora, {I do not know if it was heaven or hell, but I think I would rather not experience it again.}

"Sorry," Qora answered sheepishly once again.

{It is fine,} Andaros told her, {Just . . . be careful next time.}

"I, I will," Qora said, blushing profusely.

"Heh, aren't you lucky, having such a beauty bury you in her chest in front of others," Meiya said while grinning.

{Not funny,} Andaros responded to her teasing. {We should go inside the manor, it has been getting cold recently, and the little girls appear to be a bit cold.}

"They are shivering, but I don't think that is the reason," one of Teraise's team members said in response to Andaros's statement. "I didn't think his looks would have such a large impact," she told Teraise, "It's quite terrifying."

"Looks don't make the man," Qora replied laughingly, "Don't worry girls, Andaros is a very kind man. There is no way he would harm any of you, besides . . . he's got me here if he even wanted to attack someone."

{I would not do that,} Andaros replied while sighing. {I certainly don't have a little girl complex.}

"Lolita complex huh," the woman from before replied with an unhappy tone.

Andaros hadn't noticed before, but the woman was quite petite, in more ways than one. It didn't matter much to him, as he wasn't really interested in anymore confusing relationships. Still, she was quite beautiful, and he thought she should be well received by the opposite sex despite her small size.

{I have nothing against petite women,} Andaros told her, {but these four are little girls. What happened to them that they are so afraid of men? They weren't this way the last time I saw them. I noticed they will not even look at him, and he seems like a pretty nice guy,} he continued, indicating Teraise.

"Before? Nevermind, they are pretty much afraid of all men," one of the other women said, "These girls were captured by the target of our last mission, and were raped by that scum and his men."

{Ah, so that is why,} Andaros replied understandingly, {For such a thing to happen to them at such an age. I would love to give such scum a piece of my mind.}

"That's not possible anymore," the woman replied, "That scum will never harm another living being again." The woman's voice was like ice as she spoke, causing everyone to feel a shiver go down their spine.

"Calm down Iliase," Teraise anxiously told the beauty. "He's already been dealt with, dwelling on this anymore will only dredge up painful memories."

"...Sorry, Captain," she said after a moment, seemingly having calmed herself.

{Is there a problem?}

"Not a problem per se, but. . ."

"It's okay captain, I'll tell him," the woman name Iliase interrupted Teraise's words. "I . . . was kidnapped when I was 6 years old, and sold as a sex slave. I was brutally raped every day for 7 years before I was rescued by master Thraxc, they were the most horrific days of my life. After I was rescued, all I wanted was to end my life, but Master wouldn't allow it, he told me I had to use my life to protect, and save other girls who were put into the same situation as me. Still, I was more like a zombie at that time, yet Master Thraxc would not allow me to kill myself, or let anyone else kill me. Eventually, I met Captain Teraise, and I finally began to recover, but that past still haunts me even now."

{I don't know what to say.}

"You don't need to say anything."

{No, this is all the more reason to say something. I, know you have a heavy heart from what happened, and I would just like to say something. Even if it does not help, I want to say it,} Andaros told her in his clumsy sign language. {On behalf of all good men, I would like to tell you, I am sorry for what you had to endure.} Upon finishing his sign language, Andaros bowed at an almost 90 degree angle.

Iliase was rather surprised by this action that reminded her of someone else. After a moment, she began to giggle incessantly, it took her a moment before she could calm down.

"I'm sorry," she replied to him, "It's just that you reminded me of a certain clumsy someone.

"See, I told you he was a good kid," Teraise told her as she broke out into a second giggling fit.

"Tehehe, you certainly did," she replied, smiling brightly, "He's just like your brother Teraise."

Teraise let out a huge sigh at that remark. "I have big shoes to fill, don't I," he asked her. "Wish he were still here. . ."

Iliase became quiet upon his last words.

"We can't change the past," another of Teraise's team members told them, "all we can do is look foward, to the future."

"You're right," Teraise answered while sighing, "There's no way to bring him back. All we can do is move onward."

{I am sorry,} Andaros told them while straightening up, {It seems a difficult topic has come up because of me.}

"Don't worry about it, dear boy," the fourth member of their group told him calmly. She had a kind of motherly, relaxed atmosphere that could make one calm down.

The woman named Verdne's intervention helped calm Iliase and Teraise almost immediately, and the two returned to their earlier appearance, but for some reason Iliase opened up toward Andaros quite quickly after that. The group moved to the manor a short distance away, and situated the mainly unresponsive girls and the female members of Teraise's team that would act as their caretakers into their new rooms. There were quite a few more rooms in the new manor, and each of the little girls was able to bunk with a female team member in a paired room, but that was not to be.

One of the women suggested putting two girls and two of the women team members into a single larger room in order to avoid any unpleasantness due to false accusations, so the women of Teraise's team and Andaros's group began debating whether that would be best or not. In the end, they adopted this approach, and bunks were quickly allocated for the girls and their guardians. They chose simple utility bunks that were easy to transport and assemble for the time being, and contacted the proper personnel about manufacturing more elegant looking, and luxurious wooden bunks to be installed later on. After this, they settled in and scheduled a meeting for the next day in order to set down guidelines for the manor, and any future additions to those living there. Then they all got situated, and settled down for the night.

-----

Andaros awoke fairly early the next day and snuck out of bed in order to begin preparing a breakfast for everyone in the manor. The cook had to head back to the main prison the day before and get back to his duties, so meals had been decided to be prepared on a rotation until a permanent cook could be arranged.

Today had been decided for him to cook, so he began preparations for a simple breakfast that was as simple as bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches, but made with ingredients of another name. The eggs were still eggs, but were Quoren eggs, a type of bird that was a mix of goose and chicken. The bacon was made from Denvels, an animal that was a mix of pig, sheep, and cow genetics. Last, but not least, were the cheese and bread, which turned out to be pretty standard, since grains and molds were pretty standard the galaxy round.

Andaros first cooked the bacon, then the eggs, and finally grilled the bread on both sides using the remainder of the fat before putting the eggs, bacon, and cheese on the bottom piece of bread. He assembled it, with the top piece of bread separate, so he could prepare the sauce, and finished by letting the cheese melt a bit after moving the entire sandwich to a plate. Andaros repeated the process a number of times, until he had just short of assembled enough sandwiches for everyone to have seconds if they wished. The sandwiches for Qora were unusually large, and his own were surprisingly small for his large frame.

Andaros tended to have smaller meals with small snacks as he needed them throughout the day, rather than large meals. This course of action was something he adopted in order to provide enough energy without overdoing things. He didn't actually snack all that often, but he did so when he felt he was running low on energy. This practice actually helped, as most of his work was not all that labor intensive, and he could eat more if he was intending to do something that would be. He kept from over-eating, and only ate what he needed in order to get the job done.

"Mmnnnnnnn, That smells reeeeally guud."

Andaros turned to see Teraise stretching as he came into the room. His speech was slurred due to his sleepiness, and he looked a bit dishevelled. He had a few twigs caught in his previously tidy hair, and was visibly tired.

{Morning,} Andaros greeted him, splendidly ignoring the situation.

"Ah, G'morn' And'rus," the man answered sleepily.

{Still tired?}

"Ah, Yeh, we hod a ruud guust dis morn'n," Teraise replied sleepily. "T'ird dis wiik."

"Rude guest?"

"Ah, sourry," Teraise replied in a wry manner, "Da bouss sent meh ta prutact yuuu, so Au'm dealin' wit' dah bugs dat come afta yeh."

{Bugs?}

"Yeah, sorry," Teraise replied, finally straightening out his speech. "Oi, get in here!"

Soon after Teraise yelled to the door, a young girl came in through the doorway, she looked pretty battered. Andaros looked toward Teraise with an uplifted eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Sorry, but you've got another mouth to feed," the man told him. "I'd dispose of her if she wasn't the daughter of a troublesome individual, but there's no need to fear her. I've already explained the situation to the director and her father, and he's cancelled the kill order after speaking with the director. Still, that man's stubborn as always. She's been basically thrown away because she couldn't accomplish her job, but she won't attack you. His exact words were, "If she can't eliminate the target she'll just have to become his slave. I don't mind if he knocks her up, since he can manage to get your approval," after we explained the situation to him. So basically, that's it, the boss came to an agreement for her to be your sex slave, and is entrusting her to you. He already sent the paperwork off for processing with the legal division."

Andaros couldn't believe it, a sex slave? This was yet another situation where he had no choice or input in the matter at all. He looked toward the young woman for a moment before turning back to his cooking. Slavery was unfortunately far from uncommon in the greater galaxy, but there were pretty strict laws overseeing the making of people into slaves. It was actually fairly difficult for someone to become a slave through things like debt, unless it was an astronomical figure, and the ones taking the slave by such means were carefully monitored. Sex slaves were on another level of difficulty, but Andaros himself thoroughly despised slavery. The only reason he said nothing was because it would do no good to rile a draconian, and it was doubtful Thraxc would listen to him regardless of how he felt.

Teraise noticed his unease in a heartbeat. "I know this isn't something you're happy with, but our hands are tied considering who the boss and that guy are. She's being registered as a sex slave, but you don't have to use her for that. If nothing else you can have her do simple things to help you with your chores and the various projects you're working on around here. It's not like you have to force her to do all the work herself either, or do chores that are disturbing or disgusting."

At Teraise's words, Andaros couldn't help but let out an exasperated sigh. Thinking about it, that was the case, and he didn't have to be one of those stereotypical J***-a**es who treat their slaves like something less than trash. He looked toward the young woman once again.

The woman appeared to be six or seven years older than himself, and was quite attractive. She had beautiful cherry blossom colored tsurime eyes with slit pupils, flowing blue-green hair that looked like a waterfall spilling down from her head, and long, pointed ears with dual ear canals. She was short when compared to Andaros, with wide, flaring hips, and a rather large version of the Triple-breasted bust common to her race. Her dark brown skin and hair color made her look like some kind of dryad or tree sprite out of a fantasy novel. This beautiful girl was now his sex slave, but Andaros didn't rejoice over that. For him, this only made his burdens heavier than ever.

{Fine,} he relented, {she can be my assistant, but I absolutely refuse to treat her as if she is a sex slave.}

"Oi, she came here to kill you, you know?"

{I do not care,} Andaros replied. {This is not about what her goal was when she was sent, but about whether I can look at myself in the mirror and not be disgusted with myself.}

"That's fine, but you should know that galactic rules state that she'll have to sleep in your room, in your bed, and cannot hide her body from you in any way during the night, she even has to be under the same bedsheets," Teraise told him. "I told the boss you wouldn't be happy with that, but those two decided on their own again."

Teraise just shook his head, but didn't continue to say anymore. Andaros growled, but didn't reply, he knew Teraise couldn't argue with Thraxc anymore than he, himself, could. This other existence sounded just as bad as Thraxc based on the tone Teraise used when speaking of him, so there was no point in complaining to the man.

"Seems hubby's troubles have multiplied," Qora's voice came from the single entrance to the dining room that she could use.

{Morning Qora,} Andaros told her, continuing to prepare food.

"You heard," Teraise asked the giantess.

"Yep, I heard! Don't worry hubby, I'll train her properly," Qora replied in an excited tone.

{Please don't,} Andaros signed. He turned toward the woman. {How good are you with a knife in the kitchen?}

"I'm sorry, I don't understand," the woman replied.

"He asked how good you are with a knife in the kitchen," Teraise explained, "You'll have to learn Galactic Sign Language to get by with your new master. He has a serious stuttering issue, so he's been learning to use it so that simple conversations don't take hours to finish."

"Plus he's a bit embarrassed about his stuttering," Qora added needlessly while grinning broadly. "Personally, I think his stuttering is cute, but it's my hubby's choice. If he wants to use sign language, I'll support him."

"I'm sorry that I do not understand sign language, Master," the woman told him in a regretful tone, "I will take any punishment you deem necessary. I do have some knife skills, but my cooking leaves something to be desired."

{It's fine,} Andaros signed, {I do not expect you to take any punishment for not knowing sign language. I did not know any until recently, so it is not like I can judge. Can you help me with cutting the bacon to proper thickness?}

"He wants you to cut the bacon down to manageable slices," Qora translated, conveniently leaving out the rest of what he said. "Cut them to about 1/8 inch thickness for the others and about 1/4 inch for me and hubby. As for your punishment, he's too kind to do something like that, so I'll be training you extra as the punishment."

{Do not,} Andaros frantically signed, but Qora ignored him as she grinned broadly. While the new woman was ignorant of the meaning of his signs, Teraise was watching on with an amused smile plastered on his face.

Andaros realized he hadn't asked something important, and told Qora, {Ask her what her name is, please.}

"Hubby wants to know what your name is," Qora told her while giggling.

"I have no name," she replied, "We were only known by a serial number despite Lord Quormn treating us as adopted daughters. Master may change my name as he pleases, I have no choice in the matter. The slavery implant does not allow such a choice."

{Slavery implant,} Andaros was startled and directed his signs at Teraise along with a questioning gaze.

"She was subjected to the implant under Master Thraxc's orders," Teraise said with an apologetic tone and a glance toward the woman. "He worried she would try something under that man's orders, so he had it implanted. He had some rather . . . interesting . . . options activated by the doctor, but I'm not allowed to tell you what those functions are. You'll find out soon enough anyway."

"I wouldn't have done anything even without the implant," the woman replied, pouting a bit. Andaros found this action of hers to be quite cute, but kept it to himself.

The young man had some worries about the additional woman, what the additional settings on the implant were, and what Qora would do to "train" her. He never seemed to be able to stop the giantess from doing anything, so there wasn't much point in objecting to her statement before, it was just a reflex. Stopping Thraxc was like trying to stop a train with a grain of boiled rice, not an easy task at all, so doing anything about those settings was even more impossible.

{Ask her if Yleiha would be acceptable,} Andaros signed.

"Andaros is asking if Yleiha would be an acceptable name," Qora relayed the question.

The girl looked at him rather startled for a split second before her facial expression returned to normal. "Yleiha, huh? Where'd you get the name from," she responded inquisitively.

{It was the name of a friend,} he signed, and Qora faithfully relayed the message.

The girl shook at his statement, "It, it was," she asked in an surprised manner after a moment.

Andaros nodded, and told her, {Yes, I was told she and her entire family had died while on a vacation, it was a hard loss to take.} Teraise relayed the message this time, and the girl shook once again before tears began to fall. {What's wrong?}

"N-nothing," the girl replied, not even needing an interpretation this time. "Then, then I'll be called Yleiha from now on." Under her breath, she added, "He couldn't be," in a low enough voice that no one heard. "Could he? ... Does, does he remember me?"

{Then, please ask Yleiha to finely dice these vegetables, and continue to slice the bacon like she had been doing,} Andaros asked while she was quietly talking to herself. {We shouldn't need too much more bacon, but I may as well make more sandwiches, just in case.}

Andaros used the vegetables for a sauce to be used on the sandwiches and put the top piece of bread on, then proceeded to make a variety of dish that was similar to coleslaw, which was traditional on the planet Elix. Everyone gathered in the dining area while he was working, and once it was done, the meal was served using a large hot-plate made from ceramic with a steel core to keep the sandwiches warm. Everyone was warned that the platter-like dish was hot before they began to take the sandwiches off and put them on their plates alongside the side-dishes which were already placed there. Like so, everyone began to enjoy their meal, including the slave Yleiha who had given minor assistance in making it.

------

After the meal had finished, everyone gathered in the large room designed for entertaining guests. Those responsible for them had completed any miscellaneous chores beforehand, so they were free to discuss what Teraise had to discuss in a leisurely manner.

"I've gathered you all here to inform you of some things, and discuss how chores will be divided up from now on," Teraise informed them. "My team members and I have been placed here for several reasons. First, there is the fact that a certain man has put out an assassination order on Andaros."

"The individual responsible for this hit order has already been killed and all his assets seized, but the galaxy is a big place, and interested individuals may not learn of this in time to stop them from acting in order for them to earn the reward. One such example is this young lady here, Yleiha was apprehended late last night as she tried to sneak into the manor. Master Thraxc has already spoken with her original master, and she has been turned over to Andaros and registered as a slave with the galactic union."

Thankfully, Teraise was tactful in the way she was presented to the rest of the people present, but unfortunately someone else was not.

"You mean sex slave," Qora stated, grinning evilly. "You already have me and Caera, how many other women do you need," she added, changing her look to a saddened, betrayed woman. Her acting itself wasn't bad, but everyone just rolled their eyes at this, it made the tension in the room relax once again.

"If she tried to assassinate him, why is she being registered as his slave," Reiya asked, sounding a bit angry, "shouldn't she be taken away and not staying right beside him, where she's a danger to him?!"

"Calm down Reiya," Teraise told her, "She is no longer any threat to him. First, her former master is quite honorable. He only took the job and sent her because he believed Andaros had killed his own mother. Second, she has been subjected to a slavery implant that will prevent her from harming him should she think to do so, but it is doubtful she would even try. She was turned over as a slave because her adoptive father felt responsible for taking a job that he hadn't previously verified the details of. Furthermore, her last order from her father was to faithfully serve and protect her new master, and gratefully bear his children should he wish to procreate with her. The guy has a bit of a strange sense of honor, but he would never dare try to deceive Master Thraxc, he knows the consequences of that. I was there when he gave his orders, so I can verify the words he said."

"Ugh, more competition," Meiya could be heard stating under her breath. It was faint, but everyone could hear her statement, a statement which made Andaros quite nervous.

"*cough* Anyway, moving on," Teraise tried to gloss it over and get things back on track, "The second thing I have to inform you of is that the master has decided on using Andaros and those inside this manor as either a control group, or supervisors, depending on the individual, for his new prisoner reform program. This program entails using the galaxy's largest VRMORPG and it's virtual worlds as a way to safely work towards reintegrating prisoners who have had exemplary behavior for at least six months back into society."

"In reality, this program is mainly a test to see how the prisoners act within that world and judge if they are ready to go back into a regular society," Teraise explained. "The group here will be acting as a control as they have either never been convicted of a felony, or have been proven innocent in the case of Andaros here. Unfortunately the galactic laws do not allow us to release him for a long time, but we can give him a chance to live a free life in Trinity Online. Master Thraxc ordered us to procure a very special pod for Andaros, as he hates injustices and thought to make up for it in some small way. After some coaxing, we managed to procure a platinum pod that has never been activated directly from Supercal, the company that controls Trinity."

"During the next few weeks, we will be teaching all of you about Trinity, and giving you a small head start on actual play inside the game. Master Thraxc has chosen to use the planet Farside as the starting point for your adventures as it is the only starter planet in which the special tutorial has not been cleared in the past 3,000 years. We'll explain more about it in our classes."

"So, we're just expected to do this," Reiya asked unhappily.

"Unfortunately, these are the orders of Master Thraxc," one of the women, whom Andaros had not yet learned the name of, said. "This is not something we can do anything about. Master Thraxc is someone who is so far above us, we wouldn't dare argue with his decision."

With this, an ominous light was cast on the prison director, but after a moment everyone recovered and they continued discussing minor issues. In the end, it was decided, against his better judgement, that Andaros would cook for at least one meal a day, in addition to his normal technician work. Like so, the days continued as they took their classes and made preparations for the day they would enter Trinity Online.

That night Andaros was forced to have sex with Yleiha. One of Thraxc's settings made it so she became far too sexually excited, and another forced her to have sex with him at least once a night. She was also forced by the implant to be comepletly faithful to him, no matter what. He tried to resist this, but it was no use when her life was on the line.

Unfortunately, he couldn't escape the fate, sleeping with the young woman plastered to him. Even after what they had been forced to do, it was a restless night for Andaros with a naked beauty snuggling up against him, and he barely got any rest. It was a wonder that he didn't lose his composure and attack her a second time, but somehow managed to control himself and avoid that.