*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Click, Click, Click, Click*

  "You got her, Mia. You got her." John said, looking over at the woman. Tears were flowing freely from her eyes as she continued to shoot the empty weapon at the dead pirate at their feet. He put his sword in its scabbard and deactivated his armour, intent on trying to comfort her. However, the moment he put the sword away, he started to shake, the extra energy that had been supporting him disappearing in a fsh.

  He colpsed to the floor, barely hanging onto consciousness, when he noticed a very battered-looking Sandy tied up nearby. Her breasts were exposed, both bloody as hell from the wounds presumably made by a nearby razor bde. "Heal!" He chanted, burning the rest of his mana up before falling unconscious.

  John drifted in and out of consciousness for some time, his mind pushed beyond its limits yet again. He thought he heard snippets of conversation now and again, some crying, some ughter, a child's voice saying something, but nothing stuck in those semi-lucid moments. Most of what he felt was being surrounded by warmth, and he knew he was being cared for, so he allowed his mind to continue to drift until it was ready to return to reality.

  No visions came to him this time, no weird oceans of bubbles, no demons trying to capture him, or white rooms with gods awaiting inside for him. Just a comforting bckness with a feeling of warmth. He wrapped his arms around that warmth, or thought he did anyway, and continued to drift along in this void.

  John came out of his slumber to the sounds of two people talking quietly on either side of him. He felt warmth surrounding him and a light weight on his belly and chest. He y there a few moments, allowing the fog to lift from his mind, listening to Lucy and... Mia? chatting. He could feel their bodies tucked into either side of him, his arms wrapped around both women.

  "Are you sure you are okay with this, Lucy Kurita? I do not understand all your customs, but many of you Freeborn seem to give significant meaning to only being with one person."

  "Yes, I'm sure. Where I'm from, it was highly probable I would have been sold off as a concubine to some noble if I did not already have a child with my te husband. To accept someone who risked her life for us is one of the easiest decisions I have ever made in recent memory. Besides, you're now my Danna's bondsmen, are you not? The way you describe it, it is simir to my own code of honour in Bushido, of finding honour and satisfaction in servings ones lord. Like you, I owe him a debt I can never repay, so I will stay with him for the rest of my days. Falling in love with him was just a happy bonus."

  "Yes, there is honour in serving as a bondsmen. That is the only path I feel I can follow to retain any honour I have remaining. If he were to release me as I am now, I would truly be lost and would need to end-"

  "Don't you ever say that again, Mia, especially if John is awake. He doesn't like it when people are self-deprecating, and I am certain that goes for wanting to take one's own life, stained honour or not."

  "Of course, Lucy Kurita, I will do better in the future."

  "I wish I hadn't let slip my st name. I still haven't told my Danna that I am from a side branch of the ruling house yet, just from high nobility in the Draconis Combine. If you must call me by a st name, can you use Wayne instead?"

  "That would be lying to him, though. I cannot lie to my Bondholder, please do not ask that from me."

  "You're right. *sigh* I will tell him as soon as he wakes up, then. He deserves to know just in case we need to remain in this world."

  "What do you mean? Are you pnning on leaving Bckstone?"

  "John will tell you more when he is ready, but yes, we will at some point, and you'll be coming with us," Lucy said, then ughed a little. "Besides, I will need your help with him in bed. I am still walking funny from our tryst three nights ago. Despite his age, he has a lot of vigour. If it wasn't for the fact we had a battle coming ter that day, I am sure he would have kept me up for hours more until I begged him for mercy."

  "I will gdly fight this battle with you, Lucy Wayne. Though inexperienced, I will show you how the stamina of youth will prevail against any challenger."

  "Oh my sweet, naive girl, you have no idea what you are saying. You will be in for a massive shock when that time comes."

  "Maybe. But bravado in the face of the unknown is better than cowardice."

  John chose that moment to open his eye, looking at his Tsuma and his Bondsman in turn, then at the sleeping form of Rei on his belly. "Are you two seriously having this conversation where our daughter could hear it, Lucy Kurita? Mia?"

  "My Danna!" "John Wayne!" They excimed, nearly jumping away from him.

  He pulled them both in tighter, his hands on their lower backs. Luckily, everyone was dressed, though he wasn't sure where they had found him a pair of pyjamas. "Now, I'm not against waking up like this, but could someone please expin to me how we got to this point? The st thing I remember was sentencing that pirate bitch to death and having you shoot her, Mia. Then I healed Sandy...that's it."

  Mia started telling the tale of what happened after he had passed out. The Guards had pretty much managed to finish subduing the remaining pirates upstairs while she had snuck into the basement where she knew captives were kept. They brought him and the other captives to the medical facility first to get checked out before they rolled John home in a wheelchair.

  All four of them had colpsed on the bed in exhaustion and slept until nearly noon. Rei had woken up first, then shook Mia to ask if she was going to become her Mommy too because she was cuddled up to her Daddy. That had woken Lucy up, which led to the pair of them having a long discussion out on the deck about her origins and being broken by the pirates.

  Lucy picked up the story then, empathising with the cnswoman's situation and wanting to help her recover. Their warrior codes were simir; Mia's moral code was almost like an offshoot of Bushido, and Lucy found a kindred spirit in the woman. Of what could have happened to her if she had stayed with the pirates much longer.

  Several Guards had stopped by to check in on them, including James. He thanked Mia for her contribution the previous night and pardoned her for any crimes she may have committed while ensved to the pirates. He then popped her colr off and bid them a good afternoon, asking to be informed when John woke up.

  They stopped in to visit Sandy afterwards, the woman still in the hospital. She had been healed by John, but the doctors also managed to reattach her sliced-off nipple. John was happy the woman was whole again and wished he could bring Susie back from the dead so Sandy could kill her as well.

  They spent the rest of the evening chatting and pying with Rei, then Lucy invited her to stay the night again, rather than having her return to her lonely room.

  "And we woke up and continued to talk, my Danna. I believe you know the rest." Lucy said, her head resting on his left shoulder. Her bck eyes were almost pleading with him to understand. "Please, don't be cross with Mia for being so forward. This was my idea, and I will accept any punishment you see fit."

  "We need to talk about this, but..." He looked into her bck eyes, then over to Mia. She was resting on his right shoulder, her stoic look betrayed by a slight quiver of her full lips and fear in her eyes. Fear of being rejected by him. "You can stay with us."

  Damn, I can't say no to eyes like those.

  "John Wayne. I, Mia of Cn Steel Viper, give you my rede*. My life is now yours. I will never betray you and your family. Your needs will always come before mine and my old cn's. Allow me to serve as your bondsman for as long as you will have me, even if that is the rest of my life. To this I swear." She intoned, almost as if she were reciting a chant.

  Lucy nudged him, prompting him to reply. He had no idea what he was supposed to say, so he just said what came to mind. "Mia. I accept your pledge to me and welcome you into my family. Your honour is now mine, and mine is now yours. Serve well as a member of House Wayne, and you will never be alone again."

  "Sey," She replied, closing her eyes and nodding as she had just said 'Amen' (That is what it means)

  "Sey," He replied, nodding to her in return. Her serious expression broke then, a wide smile forming on her face, her eyes tearing up a little.

  Lucy broke out in giggles then, causing him to look over at her. "What?"

  "Were you accepting her as a servant, or as another wife? That almost sounded like a marriage vow."

  "I have no idea! You're the ones who cornered a guy who just woke up with this!"

  "Kiss your bride, my Danna, then kiss me too." She teased.

  He looked back over at Mia, who looked back at him expectantly.

  In for a penny, in for a pound.

  He kissed the ginger-haired woman, a chaste kiss on the lips. Anything more could wait until they had a further discussion about his own preferences and this whole situation.

  "I knew she was going to my second Mommy!" Rei said, apparently wide awake, but had sat quietly listening to the adults talk. She bounced up and down, causing John gasp for air and suddenly need to run to the bathroom from having his bdder pushed on.

  He just ughed at that, then gave Lucy her kiss as well. When Rei tried to snag a kiss too, he kissed her forehead and ruffled her hair, causing her to giggle and bounce away from him. This wasn't what he was expecting from this world when he first got here, but he would take it. He would take it every day of the week for the rest of his life.

  Leopard DropshipEnroute to Star League Cache"Sir, I am getting some strange readings. It looks like a contact coming in from the Nadir point." The sensor technician said, alerting his Captain.

  "We are expecting two Unions coming in from that direction." The Captain reminded the tech.

  "That's the thing, it isn't a pair of Unions. It is singur and rge. Very rge."

  "Nothing coming up on the IFF system yet?"

  "No, Sir. Whatever it is, it's moving fast enough that it will be in orbit tomorrow morning, approximately eighteen hours from now."

  "Roger. Communications, send a message back to the Starport. Be advised, one very rge vessel is approaching the pnet. Identification unknown, ETA eighteen hours."

  The comms officer copied that, then sent it back to the base. The Captain looked over at the sensor dispy for a few minutes, wondering why it seemed so familiar to him. He put it out of his mind for now; he needed to drop the crew off at the SLDF facility to continue operations there, not to mention bring back the mech they had left to Bckstone. There always seemed to be something that needed doing, and his crew were usually the ones to do it.

  "God damn, thankless job this is some days. The Mechwarriors get all the glory, and we get cleanup duty." He mused.

  "You compining, Captain?" One of the techs asked, a sly smile on the man's face.

  "Hell no! Who in their right mind would want to strap themselves on top of a damn nuclear reactor? I like mine just the way they are, at the far end of my ship!"

  The crew ughed at that, forgetting about the contact for now. It was probably nothing, or maybe an error of some sort. They would check again on their return journey.

  * - A promise or oath that reflects on the swearer's honour. Breaking a rede is considered extremely serious, and is sometimes punishable by death.