Another Piece Of Paradise Chapter 4 free porn video

Another Piece of Paradise By JJ This is a work of fiction (unfortunately). It may also contain themes and opinions that some may find objectionable. If you are not of the age to be able to view such things, then stop now. I'm writing in the universe of Patricia's "Changes in Paradise." If you have not read her magnum opus, and are interested in mermaids, then you should go right over to Fictionmania.tv and read them post haste. This story assumes that you have some understanding of her fantastic vision of mers. I'd like to thank her for expending so much time, energy, and thought on her story; it's what inspired me to start writing. I'd also like to thank her for her permission to write in her domain, and her outstanding suggestions and ideas for the story. I'd like to thank Len for his input, ideas, and work proofreading my grammar and spelling. Several of Patricia's characters remain in the story, and I hope that I do Patricia's vision of them justice. As with Patricia's story, when you see a character's speech surrounded by brackets [word], they are using CHEW (telepathy, sort of). If you like, please leave a comment. I love to hear what people think of the story. Chapter 4 Jenna slowly came back to awareness, her head pounding, and a ringing sound in her ears. The last thing she remembered was arguing with Prince Mahmoud, then pain, then nothing. She opened her eyes slowly, only to close them again because harsh LED lights shone directly above her. She was laid out on the floor in some kind of enclosed space, probably on the yacht, her hands down at her sides. She tried to move them, but she felt cuffs restrain her wrists. She tried to move her tail, but found it was cuffed and secured as well. She breathed to hold back sobs of panic and tried to feel for her pod mates. Manami was laying below her flukes, and Jaclyn, Kate, and Ann were laid out on her right. Stretching out her mer senses, she felt the electrical impulses of the ship's systems and the signals of numerous people moving around, two of which she recognized as Hailey and Madhuri, the people who'd set them up. They'd pay for that! First, though, she had to figure a way to get free. She turned to her right. "Jaclyn? You awake? Jaclyn!" No answer came, she noticed that Jaclyn's ears had dried blood on them. Lifting her head, she looked down her body as best she could, and saw Manami laying down, similarly restrained to her and Jaclyn, unconscious. How the hell had she gotten captured? Had she tried to rescue them all by herself? She had a welt next to her temple that didn't look too bad, though depending on how long they'd been out, it could have had time to heal. "Manami!" Jenna called. She only heard murmurs she couldn't make out. "Jenna?" she heard a groggy voice from the direction Kate and Ann. Ann had woken up. "Ann. It's okay, we're gonna be okay." She was almost trying to convince herself. "What the fuck?!" Ann panicked as she pulled at her restraints. "Where are we? Where are my sisters and Trevor?" "Kate is right above your head, okay?" Jenna assured her. "Rose wasn't with us to get captured, and Trevor isn't here either." "Mom?" Ann sobbed as she recognized Jaclyn's signal. "Yeah, she's here too, though she's still out of it," Jenna confirmed. "What happened?" Ann said, breathing deeply, but slowly calming down. "We fucked up. That's what happened," Jenna said. There wasn't much stored in this room other than them. Three scuba tanks and a machine to refill them sat just above her head, along with a water hose on a reel, and a watertight door. Ann, Kate, and Jaclyn were on her right, from farthest to closest to her, with a clear aisle between her and them, and another watertight door was on the side of the compartment their flukes pointed at.. "I can't get my hands loose," Ann complained. The cuffs were specifically designed to keep patients from slipping their wrists through, and were cinched tight. Even their enhanced strength wasn't enough. The restraints strained, but held. "Me either," Jenna answered. "Hey, does Manami look okay? I couldn't see well from up here." "She's got a really big bruise on the side of her head, but she's breathing, and healing. It's slowly disappearing on its own," Ann reported. "Thank goodness for siren cell healing," Jenna said. "Ugh," Kate moaned. "Oh my G-d!" she woke suddenly when she noticed her restraints. "Whose fucking sick idea is this shit!?" she yelled. Ann smirked, despite the situation. "Welcome back sis. Are we having fun yet?" Ann asked. "What the hell did he hit us with? I thought my head was going to pop, and then it did," Kate said, closing her eyes to keep the bright lights out while her head cleared. "Obviously some kind of sound attack. I think it blew out our eardrums," Jenna said. "Has anyone come to check on us yet?" Kate asked. "Not since I woke up," replied Jenna. "Jenna..." Manami murmured as her eyes slowly opened. "Hi sweetie. Don't try to move, okay?" Jenna answered her podmate. "I tried to save you," she weakly pulled at her own cuffs. "Guess it didn't work." "Thank you. You were very brave my love." Jenna held back tears. "Is Mom waking up yet?" Ann asked. "No, she's still out, I can try to-" Jenna stopped as the sound of approaching footsteps came down the hallway from the door closest to their flukes. Prince Mahmoud walked in, an enormous, toothy smile across his face, followed by Fredick, Abbie, carrying a bucket and sponge, Ibrahim, who leered at the naked, exposed mermaids, and finally Dr. Hopkins, carrying a medical bag. Jenna glared at her, and she averted her gaze, unable to look at the mermaids. "Don't you all look splendid?" Mahmoud gloated. "Oh, is she not awake?" he pointed at Jaclyn. "Ibrahim, wake her up." Ibrahim unwound a bit of the hose and turned the water on, spraying Jaclyn, who woke up sputtering. "Fuck!" Jaclyn swore as she tried to get her bearings, realizing she was restrained and who was around her. "Jenna? Girls?" she murmured. "Welcome back," Mahmoud greeted her. "We're on our way to your new home. I promise to make you comfortable. You may even come to appreciate my hospitality." "Unlikely," Jaclyn spat. "I can just leave you locked in the aquarium and have the staff toss food in occasionally. Honestly, I would have preferred to be able to swim with my mermaids, but having my guests be able to admire you will be satisfactory too," he shrugged. "Just try getting into the water with us. Those legends about mermaids drowning men had to come from somewhere," Jenna said menacingly. "So you are a beautiful pink rose with thorns, Ms. Swanton. I've dealt with more determined women than you, like Abbie here. "You and her," he pointed at Manami, "you are mates of that blue merman, Josh, correct?" Jenna just glared. "I'll take your silence as confirmation, good. He thought he could outsmart me, play games on my terms, now I've taken two of his wives," he gloated again. "He's going to kill you," Manami said. "Can he swim at 25 knots? Because that's how fast my Blade is going." Jenna prayed that no one gave him any hint that the mermen were capable of swimming at nearly twice that fast. "I thought not. Besides, the mermen were quite unconscious when we left, so we have a considerable head start on them, I'm sure. If that blonde one even survived," he grinned. "What did you do to Trevor?!" Kate screamed. She pulled at her restraints. "Oh, was he your mate?" Mahmoud said mockingly. "I got to use my new weapon for the first time. It was quite messy," he patted the Smith and Wesson on his hip. Kate and Ann both cried piteously. "Tell me, Jaclyn, is it? Are you their more buxom sister?" the triumphant prince asked. "Actually, I'm their father," she said flatly, glaring at Mahmoud. Mahmoud looked confused, then disgusted, then angry at her impudence. He waived his hand. "My servants will feed and take care of you until we get back to my home. Dr. Hopkins can tend to any injuries you might have. If you won't appreciate what I'm giving you, then you'll just be pretty decorations." He bent down and fondled Jaclyn's left breast. "Very pretty decorations indeed," He squeezed, making Jaclyn wince. She refused to give him the satisfaction of a vocal response. "Leave her alone!" Jenna admonished him. He ignored her, but his squeezing caused a white droplet to appear on Jaclyn's nipple. "What's this? You didn't have a nursing child, did you?" He moved a finger to touch the milk. "Don't! It's toxic!" Madhuri quickly said. Mahmoud turned and scowled at her. "Forgive me, Your Highness. When I was talking with them the day before yesterday, they mentioned that mermaid milk is toxic to humans. It can only be consumed by mers," she spoke quickly. "Thank you doctor," Mahmoud said. "It's bad to allow your client to be poisoned. We might have some use for untraceable toxic milk, though, so take some samples for analysis when we get back home," he stomped out, followed by Fredrick and Ibrahim. Madhuri Hopkins found herself the focus of five very angry mermaids. "I didn't know, I swear," she started crying. "I didn't want this to happen. I thought that if-" "You thought what?" Jenna hissed. "You and Hailey asked for our help, he laid a trap for us! What are we supposed to think?" "I wanted to help Abbie and the other girls. Hailey really does want to join you to have babies. I'm so sorry this happened," Madhuri cried. "She did tell Mahmoud that our milk is toxic," Ann offered. "So now he's more interested in it," Kate argued. "Better than telling him what it really does!" Ann replied. "I do have a patient in his cabin that was stabbed by a stinger, according to Fredrick. He can only breathe and move his eyes," Madhuri mentioned. "Good job girl! You must have really nailed him!" Ann smiled at Manami. "Our barbs are venomous, but if he hasn't died by now, he won't. He'll be able to move again, eventually," Jaclyn said icily. "Unhook my tail and I'll give you a personal demonstration," Jenna said, lifting her fluke against the restraint. "I can't, Mahmoud has the only key to the locks on those restraints," Madhuri said. "Please believe me that Hailey and I didn't set you up. We were kept in our cabins by the crew with guns! We couldn't do anything!" she pleaded with them. The mermaids looked at each other. Their mer senses told them that the doctor was truly upset. She might be telling the truth. "Um, I'm supposed to find out what you want to eat, and if you need the bathroom or anything," Abbie offered awkwardly. She stood in awe, she'd been told about the mermaids, but hadn't seen them. "We don't go to the bathroom as often as humans do. We do dry out, at least our gills do. We need to be in water every eight hours or so," Jenna huffed. "If it's okay, I'll wash you down and come back with food in an hour. It will be breakfast. Are you allergic to anything?" Abbie asked. "That would be fine honey, thank you, and no, we don't have any food allergies," Jaclyn said gently. She couldn't be angry at someone who was just as much of a captive as they were. "May I take a milk sample, just to show him I have it? I promise it won't leave my medical bay," Madhuri asked. "Fine, take some from me. Make it quick," Jaclyn said. Madhuri crouched and took out a specimen jar usually used for urine. She gently massaged Jaclyn's breast until she filled it with 3 ounces of milk, then carefully put a cap on the jar, making sure to screw it down tight and not get any on herself. "Thank you," she said. "Just go. We still haven't decided if we like you yet," Jenna said. Madhuri turned and walked away, closing the door behind her. Abbie looked around at the mermaids, who looked back at her. "Should I start with anyone in particular?" she said with a great deal of trepidation. "It doesn't matter," Manami said. Abbie took the hose and filled the bucket, then moved to pour the water over Jenna. "Our gills are on our backs, if you could pour it down behind our necks, that'll make sure they get wet," Jenna told her. Abbie nodded and did so. She poured more water over Jenna's body and marveled as it sluiced off of her hydrophobic skin and hair. "But..." she stammered. "Don't worry, it's just how we are. My gills feel wet enough, thank you," Jenna managed a slight smile. Abbie continued pouring the water over and behind each mermaid until they were all wetted down. She took the bucket and turned to leave. "How long?" asked Manami. "How long what?" Abbie asked. "How long have you been his captive?" "Three years, I guess. I met him, or probably his assistant, online. We talked. He seemed so smart and interesting, and I was into princes and princesses and was hopelessly romantic. He offered to marry me, and I was an idiot thinking I'd be a princess, and flew off without telling my parents. I'm 20 now, I think, I hardly know what day it is," she just let her story pour out of her. "I arrived and his goons took me and he beat me and raped me and put this collar on me and told me he'd kill my family if I tried to contact anyone or leave," she cried. "He'll pay for his crimes," Manami said, fire in her eyes. "How?" Abbie asked. "We're going so fast, how will you tell the other mermaids where you are?" "Have faith, Abbie, was it?" Jaclyn asked, she nodded. "Have faith, Abbie, help is on the way," she smiled knowingly. Abbie nervously returned the smile and left to get food. "Do you really think the others are coming, Mom?" Ann asked. "When have you known your 'Mom One' to ever give up on anyone she loves?" Jaclyn reassured her daughters and the other mermaids. Don't make me a liar, sweetheart. She thought to herself. There was a feeling of being pulled through the water at speed. He'd felt csomething similar to this before. When he'd been human and almost dead. The feeling of traveling across the water on the raft. This was different, now he was the raft. He still couldn't open his eyes, even as he was dragged up onto the beach by a pair of small, feminine hands that were stronger than any human woman's and most men's. His whole head rang and pulsed with pain. Memories jumbled together, angry yelling, his whole head pounding, screaming metal, a storm on the ocean, then what felt like being smacked with a huge fist before it all went dark. His head laid in a lap that didn't feel human, while hands held his mouth open as a sweet liquid dripped in. A rubbery nub was placed into his mouth, and he instinctively sucked. This was familiar, now he remembered! He'd been fed by a beautiful woman, and her milk had healed him and he'd met other beautiful women and turned into a merman! The milk continued rejuvenating him and he grew more and more alert. The memories came back: The boat, the prince, the weapons that hurt them so badly. Oh shit! His eyes flew open. This time, he didn't see the smiling visage of Rose but a chestnut-haired mermaid with circles of fatigue under her eyes, tears still flowing freely. He breathed harder, feeling her signal, but not the signals of his other two pod mates. His eyes began to dart around to look. He tried to move his head, but that was still painful. "Shhhh," Sarah soothed him, running her fingers through his hair. "Let it heal you first. The sun's coming up," she told him. "They're gone," she answered his questioning look. "They took our mates, along with Kate, Ann, and Jaclyn," She closed her eyes and collected herself. "Trevor was shot. It must have been a cannonball or something because half of his left shoulder is gone. Rose and I were able to stabilize him with milk, and it's starting to heal, but he's going to be out for a long time," she said. "Janice and Julie just woke up an hour ago. Janice is helping with Trevor, and Julie is feeding Brian. He'll be done in a moment." Anger burned in him. He almost bit Sarah's nipple, but was able to stop himself. "Anger isn't all that you're feeling," Sarah said. She could feel it rolling off him, covering for another emotion. "I'm scared too," she admitted, crying fresh tears. He raised his hand and brushed her cheek, tears welling up in his eyes in response to his pod mate's distress. He finished drinking, his head clear. He let go of her nipple and sat up, wiping tears from his eyes and facing away from her. No more crying, it was time to act. He breathed in and out a few times, focusing on it to center himself. "Brian, you ready?" he said, turning to where he was finishing up with Julie. "Yeah," was the only response he heard. Josh looked to his left and saw Rose sitting up to her chest in the calm waters of the lagoon, with Trevor's still body floating between her and Janice so he could benefit from breathing through both his gills and lungs. Janice continually applied mermaid milk to his injured shoulder which still had ends of bones sticking out and shredded muscles hanging from ligaments. It would be several days before it was whole and functional. "What are you doing? You just woke up," Sarah asked. "I'm going to grab a knife, and then Brian and I are going to go hunt down that yacht and get everyone back," Josh growled. "No matter what it takes." "Damn right. I don't care who we have to kill," Brian agreed as he sat up from Julie's lap. "What direction did they go in?" "Southeast," Rose said. "Hailey and Madhuri talked about Fiji." "Good," Sarah said coldly. Julie looked at her, surprised. "Eat first, then take some of the preserved food in the cave so you can eat on the way. You won't catch them at the speed they're probably going if you're weak from hunger." Josh nodded. "I'm going with you," Janice said from the water. "Me too," Julie said. "Wait just a minute," Brian said. "I don't want either of you in danger." "I got Hank into this. I convinced him to come back out here and become Jaclyn. There is no way I'm not going to help her or my daughters," Janice said. "You're going to need all the help you can get. It's you against an unknown number of people who almost certainly have guns. I'm not letting my sister go into that without help. Plus, if it's just Janice and you two, you might do the whole merman aggression thing, and you can't afford any mistakes!" Julie declared. "Josh and I will be going, she won't be alone, and Rose and Sarah might need help with Trevor," Brian argued. "We need to make up our minds," Josh said impatiently. "Sarah and I can take care of Trevor," Rose said wearily. "Pregnant mermaids have more potent milk, we should be enough to heal him." "Is that true for healing, or just changing people to mers?" Janice asked. "Those are both functions of siren cells, so it shouldn't matter," Rose said. "I'm going to the cave to pack a survival belt with a knife and food. If anyone else wants to get off their ass and do something, follow me!" Josh yelled angrily. He kissed Sarah, then salamandered down into the water, swimming off at his maximum speed towards the lagoon entrance. "Mom, Julie, go," Rose said. Sarah nodded her assent. "Bring them back," Brian and his remaining podmates swam away. Sarah ambled over into the water, settling near Trevor's injured left shoulder. "I can keep putting milk on it," she offered. Rose's face was, somehow, even more haggard than hers. "Actually, I haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday. Could you help me turn him around and then get food, please?" she asked. "Of course," Sarah said sympathetically, her own stomach rumbling. They turned Trevor so Rose could nurse his wound, then Sarah set off to find food. Josh emerged into the cave and went straight to the original belt Trevor left him months ago. He tossed the signal mirror, flint and steel, compass, anything that wasn't the knife out of the pouches. Clipping the belt on, he grabbed two large chunks of preserved grouper and started eating one of them. Brian, Janice, and Julie surfaced in the pool and moved to the two remaining belts. Brian stripped out the implements other than a knife as Josh did, then he and his podmates ate as well. "Josh, we're angry too. My podmate and daughters are out there, you didn't have to stomp off like that," Janice said. Josh suppressed an impulse to yell at Janice. They couldn't fight amongst themselves now, it wouldn't get them any closer to rescuing their captured loved ones. "You're right. Sorry," he said between bites of fish. "What's our plan?" he asked once he'd finished the last bite and began packing food. "We swim like hell, don't stop. Then, by cover of night, board the yacht and free our people," Janice said. "We swim like hell back here and hide if he comes looking." "What if I want to rip Mahmoud's arms off and beat him to death with his own fists?" Josh asked. "That's a secondary goal Josh," Janice declared. "Our first priority is to save everyone." "Do we still want to save the captive girls?" Julie asked as Brian and Josh finished packing and moved to the water. "We'd have to take over the ship to do that. Let's talk on the way," Janice suggested. She and Julie entered the water, and swam down the tunnel, followed by Brian and Josh. The four of them assembled at the mouth of the cave. "Josh, Brian has done more high-speed group swimming than you have, so he'll take point to start," Janice said. "Our most efficient formation is a diamond pattern. You draft about six feet behind Brian. Julie and I will take spots on the left and right. If he gets tired, He'll let you know so you can switch to the lead position and we'll all draft off of you. We should be able to sense the Alnasl by the end of the day." "Understood," Josh answered. "Okay. Let's go Brian," Julie said. The mers aligned themselves southeast, and set out, building to a high cruising speed. Josh could feel himself straining, but he could keep up this pace as long as needed. [How long should it take to catch them?] Josh asked. [If that yacht cruises at 20 knots, about 36 hours. If it goes at 25 knots at flank, about 48. If my math is right,] Janice said. [We're capable of about 40 knots. If it was just you and Brian, and you weren't wearing belts, you could go faster.] [We need to get there and be able to fight,] Brian said. [Plus we might have to trail the yacht until nightfall, if we catch it during the day.] [Fine. It gives us time to come up with a plan,] Josh said. It was strange swimming in formation with three mers that weren't his mates. The connection between them wasn't the same, he wasn't part of a cohesive whole. He missed Jenna and Manami terribly. The loss of their signals was like missing whole sections of an orchestra in his mer senses. Don't think about that now, you'll just drive yourself crazy. [What's our plan once we catch up?] Julie asked. [Josh and Brian leap onto the back of the yacht and take out anyone on the stern. We come up next and go straight to the engine room. If we can shut off the lights, we'll have the advantage with our mer senses and night vision,] Janice said. [We then get to wherever they're keeping the others, free them, then swim for it.] The four mers fell mentally silent as they kept swimming after the yacht that had taken their loved ones. "Your Highness, I'm sorry, but we have to slow from flank to our cruising speed or the engines will suffer irreparable damage. Even if I replace this oil pump, they are not designed to run at flank for more than 24 hours," Ahmad, the engineer said as he held the broken oil pump in a rag. "Fine. Can you replace the pump?" the prince asked. "I do have a spare, but only one," Ahmad said. "Very well, replace it. We can pick up another in Fiji or Jakarta. Captain, reduce to 20 knots once we're back up and running," he said to Omar. "Yes, Your Highness," the captain acknowledged, then left to return to the bridge. Mahmoud walked out of the engine bay, shaking his head. A state of the art ship couldn't go at maximum speed for more than a day! Well, 20 knots was better than zero, and he had his mermaids. Overall, life was still good. Jason walked down the corridor and knocked on the door of the medical bay. "Come in," Dr. Hopkins said. He opened the door and saw her using her laptop, a specimen container sitting next to it. "Hi. We're ah, all curious. We heard Ibrahim come get you. What's up?" he asked. "The prince has successfully captured five mermaids. He's holding them in the equipment storage on the engine deck," she was disgusted. "No!" Jason said shocked. "He just kidnapped them?" "Are you really surprised?" she asked. "I guess not," he said depressed. "How are they?" "Pissed. They think Daga and I set them up. I tried to explain, but I don't think they believe me," She shook her head, picked up the container of Jaclyn's milk, and swirled it in her hand. "What's that?" he asked. "It's their milk. Mahmoud decided to fondle one of the mermaids and apparently, they're always lactating. I managed to convince him that it was toxic and that he shouldn't touch it," she sighed. "He asked me to take a sample, because hey, a poison could be handy to have for an international asshole of mystery." "Right, Daga mentioned that it heals people who drink it when you guys came back the other day," Jason said. "We've got to help them. This isn't right." "I'm glad you agree. Any ideas?" she asked. "I need to know the lay of the land first. Are there any guards down there?" he asked. "I saw two by the door to the storage bay, though I didn't see any guns," she said. "I bet they have them within easy reach," Jason figured. "Two guys without their guns ready wouldn't be too hard to take out if we silence our UMPs, though," he said. "I'll have to talk to Ben, but I think we should wait a couple of days before we move. You'd be surprised just how bored people get standing around on guard duty, even when they're in a war zone. On a boat like this, there's no way these guys want to be stuck below decks." "Alright. Then what? The mermaids swim off, but then you've got 6 more crewmen, plus the captain and engineer, and a really pissed off prince," she asked. "We can simultaneously take the engine room and hold the remaining crew in their rooms the same way they held us: get the drop on them and contain them. If they're smart anyway," Jason explained. "The prince is a jerk, but he's not a complete idiot, though the captain might be really pissed we took over the boat. I think they'll see reason. Then we can head wherever we want to go." "You make it sound easy, and not a possibly-bloody act of piracy," she said. "Say, I need to hit the loo, stay right there, I'll be back." Madhuri rushed off. Jason looked around. The medical bay wasn?t capable of major surgery or anything, but it could stock everything the guests and crew of an expedition/pleasure yacht could need for scrapes, jellyfish stings, even setting broken bones in a pinch. His eyes gravitated to the container of "mermaid milk" Madhuri had talked about. He picked it up and swirled it around, noting a consistency slightly thicker than water. Unscrewing the cap, he smelled it. It was a slightly sweet smell, with a hint of saltiness. This was supposed to heal people, how much would it take to ease the sore joints he?d acquired in his years as a soldier? Before he could think about it, he took a swig of the milk. He added a small amount of saline from a nearby bottle to fill the full three ounces. Whatever the doctor planned to do with the sample, some extra water wouldn?t hurt it, right? He screwed the cap back on and set the container back down. "Sorry about that!" Madhuri said brightly as she re-entered the medical bay. "Where were we?" "Piracy," he said conspiratorially. "Right," she breathed. "We need to plan things out with Ben, and the mermaids for that matter." "It would help if they could participate in their own rescue. Do you have access to them whenever you want?" he asked. "I don?t see why not," she shrugged. "Let me get you one of our radios so they can speak with us and plan things out," he suggested. "Good idea. You're pretty smart for one of the squaddies," she teased. "Thanks. Let me get you one, we keep a few spares," he jogged back to his quarters and shortly returned with a small radio with a wireless earbud with an integrated mic. "It?s set to our frequency and encryption, just pull the earbud out of the base and put it in. You transmit when you push this button on the earbud or on this button on the base unit on your belt. The earbud will charge from the base when you put it in. Be sure to plug the radio into a wall outlet when you're not using it, especially when you?re charging the earbud," he handed her the radio setup. "Thanks," she put the base into the waist of her shorts and hid it beneath her shirt, she put her earbud in to test it for comfort. "Great. The next time you see them, we?ll be able to talk. There?s nothing else for us to do, we?re officially banned from leaving this deck," Jason said bitterly. "I?m sure you and Ben will think of something. Have you talked to Hailey?" she asked. "Daga? Jim has moved into her cabin, I haven?t talked to her today," he rolled his eyes. "She?ll be heartbroken. I could give her this milk, I guess, but-" Madhuri worried. "One thing at a time. Maybe they?ll be able to give her some more before they leave," Jason offered. "That?s not enou-" She stopped talking and looked at the crewman who had appeared in the door. "Abdi is starting to move. Will you come check him?" he asked. "Sure," Madhuri said. She grabbed her medical kit and set off to the crewman?s cabin. Jason folded his arms and glared at the crewman. He cowered a bit under the gaze of the professional soldier, then recovered his ego and swaggered away. Jason silently scoffed and went back to his cabin to report to Ben over the radio. "They did what?!" Hailey asked over her radio an hour later. "How could they capture mermaids?" "We heard the sonic system go off, and then the explosions and a gunshot. I?d be willing to bet the explosion was those flashbang packs for warding off pirates. At close range, they could almost certainly knock people unconscious," Ben figured. "How can we help them? We are going to help them, right?" Hailey asked. "Yes. We?re helping them," Ben said with determination. "Madhuri, are you on?" "I'm here," she said. "The mermaids are restrained in the scuba storage room with a couple of the crewmen guarding them." "Our first priority is freeing them, though it?s also safe to say that we?d have to take the ship once we do, just for our own safety," Ben proposed. "Yeah. The prince won?t be happy with us. He?ll try to have us all killed once he finds out that the mermaids are gone," Marco said. "It also lets us turn the yacht around and go back to the island," Hailey said. "Don?t forget the promise you made Ben. Jim and I are serious." "Well, Madhuri has a milk sample. Do you need more milk than that to heal you Daga?" Jason asked. "There?s more to it than that Jason," Hailey said. "We need some for Jim too." "What?s wrong with Jim?" Jason asked. "Nothing?s wrong with Jim. The milk won?t just heal, it also starts changing a person into a mer. Jim and I want to be mers and live on the atoll," Hailey explained. Jason?s eyes went wide and he gasped without keying the transmit button. He?d only drunk a little, and was starting to feel a little better. The click in in his left elbow was gone, for instance. But starting to change? What had he done? "Wow, um, okay Daga, that?s great. Let?s refocus on taking the boat and freeing the mermaids." Ben tried to refocus the team. "Two of us can take the engine deck, including the storage room with the mers. We?ll time it for late at night so the rest of the crew will be in their quarters. We only need two of us to secure them. Two of us can secure the staterooms. We just need one more person to control the bridge," Ben said. "Couldn?t we lock Mahmoud, Frederick, and Omar in their cabins? Maybe take them to the crew cabins, then grab the bridge? We can do it before we take the engine deck," Andre suggested. "Good idea. We take the bridge, the crew deck, and grab control of the staterooms. Then Marco and I will take the engine deck while we lock everyone in crew cabins," Ben said. "What about the girls?" Madhuri asked. "Will they be safe?" "By doing it at night, the girls will be in their cabin, except for whoever is with the prince," Ben explained. "Does anyone know which of them is supposed to be minding him tonight?" "Let?s do it tomorrow night. I want to tell the mermaids, get them prepared. Oh, we?ll also need the key to get them out of their restraints. Mahmoud has it," Madhuri added. "Alright. Everyone rest up, get your minds right. We?ll go at midnight, the day after tomorrow," Ben said. Jason took his earbud out and held his head in his hands as he sat on his bed. Holy shit. He wondered if he should ask Madhuri for help. She?d be so pissed that he?d drunk from her sample. What the hell was he thinking? [Hey, I need to drop back for a while.] Brian sent. They?d swum through the day and night, the sun rising again to their left front. It was surprising he?d lasted this long. [Josh, on my mark, drop down out of my wake, but maintain speed, I?ll slow, you come back up where I am now. Janice and Julie will adjust their position as they need to.] [Got it.] Josh was nervous. Ramming another mer could injure them both and delay or end the mission here and now. [In 3, 2, 1, now!] Josh dropped down on Brian?s command, kicking harder to keep his speed without the draft from Brian. He felt the other three mers zip by above him. Rising in the water, he maintained their previous cruising speed and felt the other three mers fall into formation behind him. They?d lost almost no speed in the transition. [Good job everyone,] Brian sent. [Brian, are you okay? Do we need to stop? We?ve actually been doing better than I thought we would,] Janice asked. [No, I?m good,] Brian answered. [Josh, are you okay to take point? Remember that we have to fight once we get there,] she reminded them. [I just want to swim! I think I can sense the yacht,] Josh said, almost frantically. [We?re going to save them Josh,] Julie said gently. [I have to get them back. I can?t live without them!] he was getting more frantic. Anger had turned to fear in the fatigue from swimming for 24 straight hours. [I know. I feel the same about Jaclyn,] Janice said. [Maybe we should stop for a bit.] Brian?s thoughts sounded worried too. [No, we can do this! Normal people have done more with less sleep!] Josh was mentally babbling. [We have to save them!] Janice and Julie looked at each other. Julie shook her head back and forth. [Everyone stop!] She thought. Josh actually kept swimming for half a minute before he realized the others had stopped. [What are you doing?] he asked, wide-eyed as he swam back. [You are not in your right mind, and we haven?t eatenm] Janice said. [But...] He had no answer. His shoulders sagged. [You?re right. I...] [It?s okay.] she reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled fish out. [Eat and relax. Just for an hour. Don?t worry if you fall asleep, we?ll wake you. You too Brian, oh.] Brian was already asleep. He floated in the water, eyes closed. Josh just nodded and handed fish to Janice and Jule before biting into his own. He finished quickly and closed his eyes to meditate, but fell asleep almost instantly without realizing it. Josh felt Julie shake him awake. The two mermaids were holding hands with both him and Brian to stay together. The sun was slightly higher in the sky, but he felt refreshed, with a clearer head. [I?m sorry about earlier, both of you. If you want to sleep for an hour, I?ll stay up.] [Thank you. We?ll do that.] She and Julie closed their eyes. [Are you feeling better?] Brian asked him. [Yes. You?] Josh replied. [The hour did wonders,] he said as he ate his own piece of fish. [Good. I can just about feel the yacht with my senses. How about you?] Josh asked. [Yeah.] [So, why did you agree to this?] Josh asked. [Being a merman?] Brian looked at Julie with the most tender expression Josh had ever seen on his face. [For her, and because we want to have a baby, and we never could as humans.] Josh nodded. [You think we have a shot at rescuing them? Honestly?] [Hell yes! If we can get there, find them, and release them, we?ll be able to jump overboard and swim for it before they know what hit them, hopefully,] Brian said. [What about the slave girls? Do we abandon them? I don?t want to, now that I?ve had time to think,] Josh admitted. [We need to look after our pods first. I feel for those girls, but if it?s a choice between the mermaids? safety, and rescuing them, I choose our mermaids,] Brian said. Josh nodded in agreement. He looked at Julie. [I was never married as a human. I feel like these mer bonds are ?Relationship Easy Mode?.] [Even these relationships take work, as I?m sure you?ve noticed,] Brian said. [Yeah. What was the hardest thing about all this for you?] Josh asked. [It was before the change. Julie and Janice had to do a lot of convincing to get me to believe that I could make Hank a mermaid.] Brian admitted. [I honestly thought that every time I looked at Jaclyn?s face, I?d see Hank. I don?t, though. The bonds make the difference. That and Jaclyn doesn't really look like Hank did. You?] [Two things: Feeling like I forced myself on my pod mates, and feeling like I was cheating on two of them if I was alone with one,] Josh said. [You didn?t crash the plane.] Brian said definitively, then cocked an eyebrow, [Did you?] he asked with mock suspicion. [No.] Josh mentally chuckled. [It was still strange to be told that ?Hey, we know you?ve just met, but the four of you are all married to each other.? It was honestly stranger than the merman thing.] [I can see how that would bother you,] Brian said. [But have any of your pod mates, since they became mermaids, ever said that they wished they could have a different merman?] [No,] Josh admitted. [Then stop worrying about it!] Brian admonished him. [You are in a situation that men would kill for! This asshole that has us out here chasing him is a prime example of that.] [You know, if he?d shown up with his wife, and no slave girls, and asked to join us, I would have said ?yes?. He could have had the life of a merman without all of this drama,] Josh said. [It wasn?t about this life and I think you know that. It was about power. It?s always about power with guys who abuse women,] Brian declared. [True.] Josh agreed. [I?m just gonna say, I?m glad the girls figured this formation out. It would have gotten weird if I?d had to wrap my tail around yours.] Brian said in jest. [I'm deeply hurt.] He deadpanned. [Seriously though, I like you, but not that much.] Josh chuckled as he sent the thought. [I?m going to concentrate, see if I can feel the ship in my senses a little sharper.] [Good idea.] Brian stayed quiet as he let Josh concentrate and kept watch for predators. "I think you?re wrong. K-pop is just freaking weird. It?s some amalgamation of a street gang with a boy band," Kate argued. "It is not. The beats are way catchier, and the choreography is far better," Jenna replied. "The girl groups are actually kind of original with their lyrics too." "How does K-pop compare to J-pop, Manami?" Ann asked. "I never got into any of that, my parents were really strict," she said. "Miki came home one day with some chibi outfit with a pink pigtail wig and my Mom went completely nuts." "Really?" Kate asked. "Oh yeah, it?s one of the few times she pulled the ?You have shamed the family!? card on us," Manami remembered. "She did not want us to get too involved in popular culture. She saw those documentaries of young people who refused to date or socialize, they just stayed in their rooms playing video games or dressing up as characters all day. My okaasan didn?t want us to get so obsessed with that stuff that we forgot about the rest of the world." "Good for her," Jaclyn replied. "Yeah, I could never imagine you in an anime girl outfit. It just doesn?t fit your personality," Jenna said. "Thank y-" Manami was cut off by the door opening. "Good evening mermaids!" Mahmoud seemed chipper as he walked in with a lithe Indian woman the mermaids hadn?t seen before. Abbie and Marie had been their attendants thus far. * "Really?" Manami said acidly as she cocked her eyebrow. "Yes, really. I know what I said before, but I do hope we can be friends someday. Has Ms. Swanton?s attitude rubbed off on you since you were both mates with the same merman? Maybe you were mates with each other?" Mahmoud asked with a lecherous leer. "Wouldn?t you like to know," Manami responded flatly. "If you wanted to be ?friends? with us, you should have gone with the approach that didn't involve kidnapping," Jaclyn said acidly. "I wouldn?t blame you if you were mates with Jenna." Mahmoud ignored Jaclyn?s gibe. "She is quite beautiful, as are you," he kneeled down and stroked Manami?s argent tail, over her vent and along her waist. Manami glared daggers at him. "I wonder, where is your spot for making love?" he asked. He felt where her pubic mound would have been had she been human. Manami remained stone-faced through the abuse. Eventually, he found her vent with his fingers and tried to force his way in. Manami whimpered as she was manhandled. "I own you now, just like I own my servants," Mahmoud taunted them. "You?re mine," He used his other hand to grab Manami by the throat and squeezed. "Let go of her!" Jenna yelled angry as she pulled at her restraints, which creaked under the strain. "Maybe I would if you were friendlier," Mahmoud snarled. "I wouldn?t have to force myself on you if you?d cooperate," he pushed further inside Manami and tightened his grip on her throat, making her sputter.. "Stop! I?m pregnant!" Manami pleaded. "Oh really? An unexpected bonus. At least you?ll have a souvenir to remember Josh by," Mahmoud said. He removed his hands from Manami and stood upright. "Enjoy dinner," he stalked out of the room. Manami felt tears roll down her cheeks. In her mind, she cursed herself for showing weakness. Indira bent down with a washcloth and wiped Manami?s tears away. Manami opened her eyes and saw Indira?s sympathetic face. "The others told me about you. They said you were all beautiful, they didn?t say just how beautiful you are," she spoke softly. None of the mers responded. "They told me you needed to be wetted down. Marie said you had the bathroom yesterday afternoon, do any of you need it today?" The mers all answered in the negative. "Thank you dear. We do need water though," Jaclyn said. Madhuri Hopkins opened the door, stepped in, and closed it. "Good evening," she said to the assembled mers as Indira wet them down. "Oh boy, it?s you," Jenna said sarcastically. Madhuri ignored the comment. "The security team, especially Daga, feels horrible about what happened. They want to help," she said. Indira finished wetting the mermaids? gills and skin down. "I?ll go get their food," she stepped out. Dr. Hopkins pulled the radio Jason had given her from her waistband under her shirt. "They were basically fired the day before you were captured, but Ben, the team leader, has a plan for later tonight. Who wants to talk with him?" she asked as she detached the ear bud. [I can feel their signals up ahead,] Josh sent. They?d done it! They?d caught the Alnasl. It had taken less time than they thought it would, the sun was low in the western sky, but not quite down. The mers stayed in their diamond formation. Josh steered them around the starboard side of the ship. Halfway up the hull, he felt them, he was only feet from them. Hang in there, the cavalry's here. Their emotions changed to excitement. They must have felt their signals in return. There was someone in the room with them, he recognized that doctor that had helped set the fateful meeting. If she?d been in on the trap, she?d be dealt with, just like the signal he felt on the uppermost deck. Mahmoud had never in his wildest nightmare seen anything like what the mers could do to him. There were two more signals in a corridor leading from the engine room to the room the mermaids were in, and one signal in the engine room itself. [Damn I wish our telepathy worked in the air!] Janice thought. [Me too. I bet they can sense us though,] Brian said. [We should wait until nightfall. Let?s ride the bow wave until then. We can plan exactly where we?re going tonight,] Janice cautioned. [But...] Josh stopped himself. [You?re right.] His anger still boiled, and he had to fight the urge to jump onto the deck of the boat and start cracking heads. He accelerated again, and he and Brian took positions in the bow wave, with Janice and Julie behind each of them, respectively. [It feels like they?re in the bottom deck, forward of the engine room.] Brian sent. [So we get onboard, get to the stairs at the stern, take the engine room, shut off the lights, and get to our mermaids.] [I agree. Julie and I can take the engineer,] Janice said. [Don?t start either of you. We?re smaller and will fit through the machinery more easily.] [Fine,] Brian agreed. Jason stared at his face in the mirror. The small scar he?d picked up on an op in Karbala was gone, his complexion was clearer than it had been since he was a kid, and all of his joints felt fantastic. Even his eyesight was getting better, too. As he?d pushed past 30, his vision had deteriorated to the point where he thought he might need glasses, now it was sharper than ever. The door to the cabin opened and Jim walked in. "Hey man," he said. "Sorry, just came to get my tablet charger," Jim said as he went to his side of the room. "How?s it going? Enjoying having your own room?" "Yeah, it?s great," Jason stayed facing away from him. He really didn?t want to have to explain the changes to his appearance. Jim picked up his charger and a couple of books and prepared to leave, when he caught a glimpse of Jason?s face in the mirror. "Are you sure you?re okay? You look different," Jim asked concerned. "I?m fine. Just tired." Go away, go away... "You don?t look tired. You look better rested than I?ve seen you in a while." He took the other man?s shoulders and turned him around. "Damn dude, you look like you did when we got into the army!" Jason became agitated at being handled by another guy. His instincts told him to fight back and assert his dominance over the bigger man. "Back off, I?m fine!" He pushed Jim?s hands away. "Alright, I?m just worried." Jim put his hands up and backed away. "Take it easy. If you don?t feel good, see Dr. Hopkins." He walked out, back to the cabin he now shared with his girlfriend. Jason?s anger evaporated almost immediately. What the hell had that been? He and Jim were old friends, and he was clearly concerned about him. Before he could ponder it further, his radio beeped. He put the earbud in and turned up the volume. "Listen up folks," Ben said over the radio. "One of the mermaids should be on in a moment. Dr. Hopkins left 15 minutes ago." "I?ll take the radio," Jaclyn said. Madhuri placed the earbud in her left ear, then handed the radio to Jaclyn. "Just push this button to talk," she told Jaclyn. Jaclyn keyed the microphone. "Hello?" "Hello. I?m Ben Smythe, who?s this?" she heard over the earbud. "I?m Jaclyn. I?m currently tied up on, I guess, the bottom deck," she answered. "Hi Jaclyn, it?s Hailey. I?m so sorry this happened," she started. "Yeah, we?ve heard. I?ll feel more forgiving about that when my daughters, friends, and I aren?t tied up and being taken into captivity," she snapped. "We?re working on affecting a solution to that right now. We?ll move tonight at midnight. We?re going to take the ship and come set you five loose," Ben told her. "What do you need once we get you free?" "Just a clear path to the water. We?re-" Jaclyn fell silent as the door opened. Indira entered with a tray of food for the five mermaids. She closed the door and set the tray down. "Sorry. We?re capable of swimming back to our atoll," she was focusing on the conversation so much she hadn't noticed Jenna trying to get her attention. "Hold on," Jaclyn told Ben. "What is it?" "You don?t feel that?" Jenna asked, excited. Manami exhaled in relief. "It's Mom," Ann said softly as she breathed a sigh of relief. Jaclyn concentrated on her mer senses. She immediately felt the four signals moving up alongside of the starboard hull. Her mates had arrived, along with Josh. "Oooo, Josh is mad!" Jenna said wickedly. "They are so fucked." "They?re here?" Madhuri asked. "How many?" Jaclyn keyed the mic. "Ben, we need you to adjust your plans. Four mers have arrived. I can feel them swimming along the starboard side of the yacht." "What? They caught the yacht already? Can we signal them? Will they attack now? We can rush it if we have to." She could hear him grabbing and checking gear. "No, they?re moving into position to ride the bow wave. I think they?re going to wait until dark," she said. "It?s what I?d do," said Jim. "I agree," Ben commented. "Just stay out of their way, and keep the crew and Mahmoud occupied. They?ll probably come right to us once they board the boat. You don?t want to get in the way of an angry merman, or mermaid for that matter," Jaclyn cautioned. "That actually works out well. We can take the crew quarters, upper decks, and the bridge," Ben said. "I?ll evaluate the situation once we?re done. We're moving up our timetable. The sun should be down in half an hour, so we?ll go 30 minutes after that." "Don?t we need the key to get the mermaids out of the shackles?" Hailey said. "Oh, I wouldn?t worry about that. The mermen will be strong enough to pull these locks off," Jaclyn smiled as she replied. "So, one hour from now, unless we hear from Madhuri that the mers have attacked," Ben said. "Okay. I?ll tell the doctor," Jaclyn said. Each member of the team acknowledged the order. "One hour," Jaclyn said as she handed the radio back to Madhuri, who took the earbud from her ear and put it into her own. Jaclyn looked at her. "Okay, You?re off our shit list, assuming this works out. Thank you." "You?re welcome," Madhuri said. "If it?s alright, I?ll stay here out of the way." "Sure. Indira, you should stay with us too," Jenna said. "What if he comes looking for me?" The girl trembled. She knew something dangerous was about to happen. "Who is with him tonight?" Madhuri asked. "Aluna, I think." "If she?s serving him, he probably won?t come looking for you. Stay with us, you?ll be alright once our mates get here. Though you might want to come away from the door," Jaclyn assured her. Indira brought the food tray towards the opposite end of the compartment, forward of the engine room, and offered food to the mermaids. Mahmoud stood on the flying bridge. He hadn?t wanted to be cooped up in his cabin that evening. The sun was settling below the horizon, and the stars were beginning to put on their usual show in the clear sky. He was pouring over how to domesticate these mermaids in his head. They seemed wilder and less afraid than normal women. Now that he knew Manami was with child, he could leverage that against all of the mermaids to assure their compliance. He turned to see Aluna stepping onto the flying bridge with his after-dinner nightcap of scotch. His faith banned alcohol, but then again, he?d never cared much about it other than as leverage in politics. "Good girl," he said patronizingly as he took the glass from the tray and turned back around. Now Aluna, he thought, despite her nearly six foot height and proud bearing, was as docile as a lamb. While seeing her as a mermaid might have been interesting, he?d seen through the ruse the mer-people had tried to play on him. Fools. He wondered what Josh was doing. There was no way they could catch this ship. Nothing human-shaped or sized could swim at 20-plus knots over long distances. Even mako sharks and marlins couldn?t maintain such speeds for that long, and they were shaped to shoot through the water. Josh and the mers he?d left behind were probably burying that male he shot, or whatever they did with their dead, and crying for their lost compatriots. Maybe he should go back someday and capture them or wipe them out? On the crew deck, Ben?s team had fitted the suppressors to their UMPs. They made the weapons a little unwieldy in close quarters, but it would let them be somewhat more stealthy should they have to fire. "Radio check," Ben said. "Jason ready." "Marco ready." "Daga ready." "Jim ready." "Andre ready." "Setting off in 5," he confirmed and finished checking his gear. The Glock 19 and two mags, UMP and two mags, along with his radio and an LED torch. He wished he?d been allowed to bring body armor, but Fredrick had forbidden it on account of His Highness wanting to avoid attracting attention by having obvious security on the deck. As if the submachine guns wouldn?t have given them away! [Whoa. You feel that? People are getting tense on the deck above our girls,] Brian sent. [Yeah. One of them is that girl Hailey that was with the doctor that we talked to. Do you think they know we?re here?] Julie asked. [The only way they?d know that is if one of our mermaids told them, and only the doctor and another girl have been in the room with them.] Janice said. [Maybe they?re on our side,] Julie hoped. [It?s dark. We should get in position,] Josh said. [Let?s swing to the stern and get ready to jump. We?ll wait until we see if they?re going to do anything before we go,] Janice ordered. The four mers banked away from the yacht, taking wide, sweeping circles to either side, then met 75 feet off the stern of the vessel with Josh and Brian side by side, with Julie and Janice side by side behind them. Josh tried to steady his nerves. In a few minutes, they would have rescued the mermaids or failed in the attempt. His whole life, he?d grown up with stories of heroes, real and fictional, who faced a crisis, fought long odds, and did what it took to save the day. The problem was, he wasn?t one of those heroes. He tried to think of some quote, some line in a movie or book to motivate him, but none came to mind, despite how he?d marinated in those stories throughout his life. He?d never been in combat, and he wondered if he?d freeze up when the time came. Could he find a balance between rushing in, screaming in anger, and overthinking to the point of paralysis? It could make the difference between life and death for his friends, his wives, and child, too. [They?re moving.] Brian sent. Josh could feel it, six signals on the second to lowest deck, moving quickly, but not hurriedly. Two stayed in the hallway, four made their way up to the main deck, two of them splitting off to the big staterooms on the next deck and two to the bridge. There was no more time to think or worry, it was time to act. [Looks like they left us the engine deck,] Brian said. [Perfect. Count it down,] Janice told him. [Josh, rolling transition from the water in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.] Both mermen kicked with their maximum effort. Their muscles burned after swimming at high speed almost constantly for two days. When they reached a distance of 15 feet, they dove down and rocketed upwards at an angle designed to balance the forward momentum required to catch the ship, and the height required to clear the stairs between the stern and the main deck. They burst from the water, and at the apex of their jumps, tucked their head into their tails to roll as they hit the deck. They landed and unrolled with a soft *splat*, then stayed low, supported by their fins and hands to present as small a target as possible. They heard gunshots come from the forward part of the ship, somewhere in the upper decks, followed by a clattering sound. "What was that?" Josh whispered. "Sounds like someone?s shooting a suppressed weapon," Brian answered. It felt like two people had taken bullets, given their stress levels. Seconds later, two distinct *thumps* landed behind them. Janice and Julie had tried to replicate Josh and Brian?s jump and roll, but hadn?t practiced it, so they landed far less gracefully. "You okay?" Brian asked. "We need to move," Julie and Janice both nodded. The four mers stayed low, salamandering into the main parlor, they located a door marked "STAIRS DOWN," They opened it and listened for a moment before descending quietly. Jim and Hailey were holding the corridor on the crew deck. They?d heard the gunshots and the silenced return, but knew to keep their radios clear. The doors to several of the crew men?s cabins opened, along with Pierro?s, on the sound of the gunshots. "Just stay inside gentlemen," Jim warned. The cabin doors closed again. Hailey faced towards the stairs, covering Jim?s back in a kneeling stance. The stairs switched back several times as they descended. She thought she heard the door at the top open, then saw the top of a head poke around the top right corner. The jewel-like blue eyes gave it away as the head of a mer, Josh in particular. She lowered her weapon, smiled, and waved, and a webbed hand cautiously waved back. "Jim, good guys coming down," she whispered to her partner. "Right," Jim knew now to not turn and fire if he heard sounds on the stairs. Josh clambered down the stairs as slowly as he could, keeping his eyes fixed on Hailey, just in case. Brian followed after, Julie and Janice coming behind. Julie waived at Hailey, who returned the gesture. Hailey knew better than to greet them verbally in a tactical situation. Josh entered the landing on the engine deck. To the aft of the ship was the storage and maintenance for the jet skis, while forward was the home of the two massive diesel engines that powered the yacht. With the engines running at cruising speed, any sound they made should be masked. He moved out of the way to allow the other mers to descend. They could feel the signal of the engineer in the engine room, and the crewmen beyond, before the cluster of signals in the room beyond that. Janice slowly opened the door, and Brian held it. She salamandered in, followed by Julie. There was a water-tight door at the other end of the compartment, so the crewmen guarding the hall wouldn?t be able to alert the engineer. He was sleeping in a hammock to the left, forward of the engines. How the hell did he do that with the clamor? Didn?t he have a cabin? Janice didn?t ponder the question for too long. She crept forward, then raised her tail and extended the barb. Lining up her strike, she jabbed him right in the buttock and felt the venom pump in. He started, gasping, but then quickly collapsed back down into his hammock, paralyzied. Janice paused for a moment to check for his breathing and pulse. He?d live, but he was probably wondering what the fuck had just happened to him. "All clear!" Julie said, and the two mermen entered. Janice looked over the control panels, trying to find an electric cutoff switch. "All I see is this emergency shutdown for all of the electricals, including the fuel pumps. We?ll be dead in the water until sleeping beauty over there restarts them from the batteries." "Do it. Just let us get into position first," Brian said. He and Josh lined up at the door. "I?ll pull the door open when the lights go out. You get down the hallway and take out the guards, fast!" Brian said. Josh nodded. Janice?s hand hovered over the shutdown switch. Brian and Josh tensed at the door. Every muscle in Josh's body was ready to fire him off like a sprinter down the hall. Brian raised his hand, holding out five fingers, he motioned the countdown for Janice: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Janice smacked the emergency shutdown. Several things happened almost simultaneously. The fuel for the diesel engines, which generated power, stopped flowing. This shut off the engines and electrical power. The lights went out, replaced with dim, red battery-powered lighting throughout the interior spaces. Brian yanked open the door, and Josh shot through the opening, though he did catch a mid-tail fin on the lip of the water-tight door?s frame, it was only a minor stumble. Rahman and his crewmate were at the tail end of their watch. Two more men were supposed to relieve them momentarily. He was reading some magazine, now over a month out of date, and his compatriot was talking about how he was going to spend the money they got from this job on a trip to Bahrain, the Las Vegas of the Persian Gulf, where drinking and gambling were permitted. Then the lights went out. Rahman?s first instinct was to reach for the UMP he had sitting in an open storage compartment. He only briefly registered that the door had opened when he thought he saw something slither across the floor at him. He felt a stinging pain in his thigh, and in his last voluntary movement for at least the next four hours, looked down and saw a barb sticking out of his leg, attached to a huge fin. Then his strength left him, and he lost his grip on his weapon and fell to the floor. Laying on his side, he heard an almost animalistic growling as he saw a man-shaped, at least on the top half, monster rise from the floor and punch his talkative crew mate so hard he heard his lower jaw snap. The man went down like a sack of potatoes. Josh breathed hard. The adrenaline rush had given him tunnel vision, so he waited as he felt it drain away. He?d heard and felt the man?s jaw break. Did he really mean to do that much damage to him? Did it matter? He could think about "ripping his arms off and beating him to death with his own fists" all he wanted, but he?d just done real damage that could cripple the man. "Good job. Is the door open?" he heard Brian say as he checked the man he?d jabbed with his venomous barb. Josh snapped back from his brief introspection. He tried the door handle. It was locked, Josh turned harder, grunting as he strained, and heard the lock mechanism in the door snap and the latch open. Jenna was practically vibrating with excitement. She?d felt her mate and the other mers peel off from the bow, then their boarding maneuver. The distant gunshots had worried her until she realized that they hadn?t come from the direction of the mer?s signals. She looked at Jaclyn and Madhuri excitedly as the sounds had gotten closer and closer. Indira had visibly shrunk back, shivering at the growl and the thumping, coupled with a sharp snapping noise just beyond the door. A second later, the handle jiggled, then snapped as the door swung open. Josh saw Manami first, forcing himself to look for threats, he saw the doctor that had met with them on their atoll and set this all up. He charged forward to make sure she wasn?t a threat. She backed up with a terrified look on her face. He forced himself to calm down, then looked to the right to see the two faces he had been missing for 36 hours, though it felt like 36 years. He cupped Manami?s face, tears welling up in both of their eyes, and kissed her. He moved to Jenna and kissed her too. "My girls!" Janice exclaimed as she quickly hugged Ann and Kate, then went to Jaclyn and gave her a deep kiss. "Mom!" the twins yelled simultaneously. Janice tried to pull the locks off of Jaclyn?s restraints, but couldn?t quite manage it. "Josh, Brian, a little help?" The mermen nodded. Josh gripped the lock on Jenna?s right wrist and ripped it off, leaving only the loop of the padlock behind. He finished freeing her hand, then tore the locks off of the restraints for her left hand and tail. Jenna unhooked the now unlocked restraints with her free hand while Josh tore the locks off of Manami?s restraints, then helped Brian finish with Ann?s after he?d freed Jaclyn and Kate. "You?re late, and you look like hell," Jenna teased him as the newly- freed mermaids got ready to depart the boat. "I?ve been swimming, you?ve been lying around in this floating palace!" he protested sarcastically. "It?s not going anywhere for a while now. Janice disabled the fuel pumps, it?ll need a restart, and the engineer won?t be moving for at least four or five hours," Brian said. "What about us?" Madhuri asked. Her radio beeped, and she listened for a moment. "I?ll be right there!" she said. "Ben, the security team leader, has been shot. I need to get to the stateroom level, it sounds bad." "Well, shit. I don?t think we can let him die," Brian said. Jaclyn and Janice looked at each other for a moment. "No," Janice sighed, "We can?t. Jenna, Manami, Kate, and Ann, You?ll go with Josh and start swimming back to the atoll. Our pod will stay here and take care of Ben." Josh was about to protest, but thought better of it. His pod and Trevor?s pod would be reunited, and Janice?s pod would sort out the situation of having a proto pod on the yacht if they had to give Ben milk to save his life. Ben and his people moved out, Andre and Marco went to clear the staterooms on the main deck, while he and Jason went to take the bridge. Marco and Andre peeled off and split up on the stairs to simultaneously secure the captain and prince Mahmoud, who they figured would be the two people who would put up the most resistance, then lock them in Fredrick?s stateroom with the assistant. Andre and Marco counted down, then burst into their assigned rooms. Andre cleared the corners of the immense owner?s stateroom, then the bathroom, finding it empty. "Clear," he called. Marco burst in on the captain, who lay in bed reading in his pajamas. "Sir, if you would come with me, please," he asked. Omar narrowed his eyes at the mercenary aiming a silenced gun at him. He?d had guns pointed at him before. He scoffed at Marco. "Very well. May I get something from the bathroom?" "I?m afraid I can?t allow that sir. If you tell me what and where it is, I can retrieve it when you are secured," Marco replied flatly. "Well, it was worth a try." Omar wouldn?t be able to get to the holdout gun he kept behind the mirror. "This way sir," Marco moved to indicate the door and covered the captain as he walked calmly out of his cabin. Andre jogged out of Mahmoud?s stateroom and down the hall. "The prince isn?t in his room," he said as he keyed his microphone. He and Marco, the latter leading Captain Omar at gunpoint, met at the door to Fredrick?s stateroom. Andre knocked on the door, and Fredrick opened it and found himself looking directly down the suppressor of the Russian?s UMP. "What is this?" Frederick said angrily as Omar was shoved past him into the room. "Stay here, sirs. We?ll be right outside." Just as they closed and locked the door, they heard the rip of an unsuppressed UMP, followed by the clatter of the action of a suppressed one. Ben was the first through the door onto the main bridge through the starboard door. The surprised crewman there fired wildly as he swung his weapon around, but Ben put a precise burst from his weapon into a small group in the man?s chest and he dropped to the ground. Jason entered and together, they cleared the bridge and locked the door on the port side. "You hit?" he asked Jason. "No, but you are." Jason pointed to a spot on his back with blood trickling out of it. "Just a scratch, it?s fine," Ben insisted. He checked the readouts on the digital displays to make sure the ship?s systems were functioning well enough for them to leave the bridge. The autopilot was running, and the radar indicated no targets within its 250 mile range. "Let?s meet up with Marco and Andre." They moved off the bridge, continuing to work deliberately back down to the staterooms so they weren?t surprised by anyone out for an evening stroll on deck. Just as they stepped into the corridor, the lights went out. The red emergency lights came on, and the ship went deathly quiet. The air conditioning in the corridor, the muffled engine noise, it was all silent. "I guess the mers got to the engine room," Jason said. "Everyone keep their lights off unless absolutely necessary," Ben ordered over the mic. He?d kill for some night vision goggles. They met up with Andre and Marco. "Sorry boss, I think we fucked up, Mahmoud wasn?t in his quarters. We?ve secured Fredrick and the captain." Ben felt congested, like there was someone sitting on his chest. "It?s..." He stopped. It was getting harder to breathe. "It?s..." he coughed up blood. Jason lowered him to the deck. He felt around Ben?s chest and back and found a small entrance wound in his left mid-back. He?d been hit worse than either of them thought: A stray round from that idiot?s burst must have ricocheted and punctured his lung. "Dr. Hopkins! Ben?s hit, he?s coughing up blood and he?s having trouble breathing!" he called into his radio. "I?ll be right there!" he heard over his earpiece. Mahmoud?s first indication that something was wrong was when he heard thumping sounds coming from the back of the ship, followed by gunfire from the deck below him. He ran to the back of the sundeck and looked over the back railing. Four mer-people had boarded his ship! How could they have caught them? He couldn?t take the corridors back down if there were armed men and mer-people after him. The four mers did that strange land walk/crawl they did into the main parlor. How had they caught his ship? How had they coordinated with an armed force to assault the ship at the same time? He thought about his options. His crew were likely neutralized, Frederick was no fighter, and who knew what had happened to Omar. He had the two weapons he always carried with him, but that was all he could be sure of. "Stay here," he ordered Aluna. He raised one leg over the railing, then the other. He lowered himself down to the balcony off his stateroom and dropped down. The door to his stateroom had been broken into. He was both impressed and annoyed at the sound-proofing that had concealed that action. The mers were likely to come to the main deck to exit the yacht. The lights went out and the engine shut down. What had they done to his ship? In the hallway, he could hear the security team speaking to each other. How in the fuck could they have coordinated with the mer-people? He heard one of them coughing, and a voice call for Dr. Hopkins over their radio. It had to have been her. She was somehow running messages between his former security team and his mermaids, who had somehow coordinated with the four creatures who had boarded his yacht. He decided to hide in the main parlor behind some of the furniture. He hung down off of the balcony of his stateroom, dropping down again to the main deck and crouching behind a sofa that concealed him from the hallway running from the front of the ship to the main parlor. The mers, along with Dr. Hopkins and Indira, emerged from the engine deck. Madhuri and Brian?s pod turned to head to the stateroom deck, while the remaining mermaids, Josh, and Indira moved toward the stern. Josh kept his head on a swivel, while the mermaids made their way down to the transom at the end of the ship and waited for him. He was so adrenalized that it took him longer than it should have to realize that there was an extra signal in the parlor. He salamandered toward the sofa just as Mahmoud stood. The merman and the prince stared at each other for a moment. "You!" Josh snarled, practically shaking with rage. Mahmoud drew and aimed his Smith and Wesson Magnum. Josh was on him quickly, he stood on his bent tail and grabbed the prince?s right wrist, ruining his aim. He smashed Mahmoud?s hand against a pillar and made him drop the gun. It bounced across the deck as he cried out in pain. Josh switched his grip to hold Mahmoud up by the neck with his left hand. He rose further on his tail to look the prince in the eye. Mahmoud choked and sputtered, the merman?s grip was like a vice. He tried to pry it off with his left hand, while his right worked its way around to the waistband holster at the small of his back. Josh considered what to do. This man had tried to kill him and take his family, but he had the power to end this miserable excuse for a human being right now. He and the other mers weren?t the only people he?d wronged. Indira, cowering in the corner, had been enslaved and abused by him. He?d be doing the world a favor. What right did he have to do it, though? Revenge? Did he have the right because he had the power? The heroes he?d looked up to all had one thing in common: They had power, but they restrained themselves so they didn?t become the monsters they were fighting. He decided not to kill him. "Josh?" Manami said. She and the other mermaids had come up from the transom, and were waiting for him next to the hot tub at the end of the main deck. He didn?t turn around, but could feel through his mer senses that his pod mates were worried. "It?s lucky for you they?re here," he growled. He wouldn?t kill this man, but he wouldn?t let his crimes go unanswered, either. So he raised his right hand and slapped him, full force. This wasn?t a typical slap, Josh?s closed fist had broken a man?s jaw, his slap loosened teeth along the left side of Mahmoud?s mouth and made him bite his lower lip. For Mahmoud, it was like being hit in the face with the flat blade of a shovel. Josh then backhanded his enemy, further injuring and shaming him. "Don?t ever come to our home again!" he warned him. Mahmoud?s response was to pull the Walther PPK from the concealed holster at the small of his back and fire three shots into Josh?s gut. The merman let go and fell to the floor. He heard the mermaids scream, and he held his belly in shock and pain. "Stay right there!" the prince yelled as he pointed the gun at the mermaids. Josh raised his fluke to jab his barb into Mahmoud?s leg, but Mahmoud saw that and shot Josh through the base of his fluke. Josh cried out and his fluke went limp. "Please, let us save him!" Manami pleaded as the mermaids rushed back towards the parlor. "We?ll go back with you." "You most certainly will," Mahmoud taunted them. "Girl, bring me the other gun!" he ordered. Indira ran over to the immense handgun and hefted it. She looked at the scene before her of a group of terrified mermaids, a wounded, bleeding merman, and the man who had lied to her, beaten her, and raped her for years. Was she just going to be a good little girl, a good little slave for him and bring him his gun so he could continue terrorizing these people? Mahmoud looked down at Josh, he smiled with his bloody mouth. "Not only will they go back with me," he said so only Josh could hear him, "I?m going to cut your spawn out of that Japanese whore's belly and keep it in a jar in my office!" he taunted the merman. "Girl, where is my other gun?" he yelled. "My name is Indira!" she yelled. She pulled the trigger, and the massive handgun?s recoil staggered her. Prince Mahmoud didn?t really feel the projectile pass through him. He only had time to look down to see a hole the size of a baseball in the left side of his chest, and the cone-shaped dark stain of his blood and bone bits on the floor in front of him and across Josh?s body. All strength left his body and he fell forward onto Josh, dead. No one moved for a moment. Manami, Jenna, Kate and Ann were frozen, horrified. Jenna snapped out of it first, she rushed forward and pushed Mahmoud?s body off of Josh. She heard footsteps come down the stairs, and looked up to see Marco and Andre enter with their weapons up. They hadn?t seen the mermaids in person before, so they lowered their weapons and just stared. "We need to give Josh milk now!" Jenna yelled, then turned to her pod mate. "Manami, pour your milk down his throat!" Manami broke out of her shocked state and began to do just that, while Jenna applied her milk to Josh?s belly wounds. "What can we do?" Kate asked. "One of you put milk on the wound on his tail!" she told them. Josh had lost a lot of blood. He felt heavy, different than he?d felt when he?d been about to die of dehydration. Strangely, that had been more painful physically, but as he looked at Manami?s face, flecked with blood spatter, scrunched up in pain as she sobbed, he realized that he?d failed her, failed them. He?d been caught by his hubris, and now he was going to die. He tried to convey how sorry he was to Manami non- verbally, but his eyelids drooped down, closing like window shades, and he lost consciousness. "Jenna! He?s asleep," Manami said through her tears. She could feel his heart beating steadily, if faster than usual as his body marshalled its resources, assisted by the siren cells already within him and provided by the mermaids to heal him. "Is he alive?" Marco asked. "Yes," Jenna said. Marco keyed his microphone "Prince Mahmoud is dead. A merman is wounded, but the mermaids say he should live," he listened for a follow-up question. "Indira, one of the girls," he answered. Janice and her pod followed Dr. Hopkins up the stairs to the stateroom floor. They found Marco and Andre guarding a door, and Jason kneeling over Ben, holding up his head. Ben gasped for breath and had blood running down his chin. "Get his shirt off, let me see the wound," Madhuri ordered. Brian tore Ben?s shirt off and turned him over. They saw the small hole made by the 9mm bullet. "Shit, his chest and lung must be filled with blood," Madhuri said as she pulled a syringe out of her medical kit. She jabbed it into his side between two ribs and drew a syringe full of blood out of Ben. He started breathing easier. "That won?t help for long. I can?t do surgery on this boat, so the only way he won?t drown in his own blood is if you heal him with your milk." She looked at Janice. "Ben, this is your choice," Jaclyn said. "Do... it," he gasped. Jaclyn nodded and presented a nipple. She squeezed milk into his mouth, and he swallowed. Janice began squeezing her own milk onto the small wound in his back. Jaclyn continued to feed him, and he almost instantly began to feel better. "I?m... getting easier to breathe," he said. His breathing was becoming less labored. "Thank goodness boss," Jason patted his shoulder, then stopped, He felt strangely aggressive, like he had to subdue Ben, so he began pushing down on Ben?s shoulders. Ben had to turn over. He had to get up! "Let me up!" he said. "What the hell?" Madhuri said. "Jason, Ben, stop!" "How?" Jaclyn could feel what was happening. She was personally familiar with the process taking place in two men. She was distracted by the sound of gunshots coming from the deck below them. Marco and Andre moved toward the stairs. Jason and Ben were still struggling with each other. "What do we do?" Madhuri asked. "What the hell is happening to them?" "There?s nothing we can do," Jaclyn said. "Wait, did you let anyone drink my milk sample?" "No. It was full when I put it away," Madhuri insisted. They heard another, much louder gunshot from the bottom deck. Andre and Marco sprinted down the stairs. That was too many gunshots to ignore. "Give me that," Brian said, pointing at Ben?s UMP. Julie gave him the submachine gun. He took up watching the door to Fredrick?s stateroom. Ben was feeling very strange. He could breathe better the more time went on, but he also felt a tingling sensation going up his spine. He felt more and more tension as the tingling feeling ascended. He had to get up, get Jason off him. Finally, the feeling reached his brain. He immediately relaxed. Something fundamental about him changed. A feeling of peace overcame him, and before he could even ask what was going on, he fell asleep. "Ben?" Madhuri shook him, and he didn?t respond. She felt for the bullet wound, but it had already closed up. "What the hell did you do to him? Is that normal?" "Yes," Janice said. "People our milk is in the process of healing go to sleep, but something else happened." "What? Is he okay?" Madhuri asked. "He?ll be perfectly fine, even if he won?t be a ?he? anymore," Jaclyn carefully. "What?!" Madhuri practically yelled. "Jason, did you drink from the mermaid milk sample Dr. Hopkins took from me?" Jaclyn asked directly. "I... " Jason didn?t understand what was happening. "Yes. I did when she stepped out to go to the bathroom. Daga said it healed people, and I had some old injuries. What?s going to happen to me?" Before anyone could explain, The team?s radios beeped. Jason answered out of habit. "Come in," he listened for a moment. "Who killed him?" he fell silent. "What happened?" Janice demanded. "Indira killed Prince Mahmoud. A merman was wounded, but he should live, according to one of the mermaids," Jason answered. "Josh was wounded?" Janice asked, concerned. "Yes, but Marco said he?ll live," Jason replied. "Shit." He sat down on the ground, holding his head in his hands. "Jason?" Jaclyn said softly. "What have I done?" He sounded distraught. Jaclyn moved to his side and put a hand on his shoulder. "Well, you?re going to be a merman, it looks like," she said. "But, what about Ben? I couldn?t stop myself from wanting to hold him down. What did I do to him?" he pleaded. "Ben is about to take the same journey I did. Our pods always have to have a ratio of one merman and between one and three mermaids," Jaclyn explained. "You and Ben bonded once he drank our milk and the siren cells began healing and changing him." "Bonded? You mean, but I don?t like guys." Jason was on the verge of panic. "There can?t be two mermen in a pod. One of you had to change, and you held Ben down, dominated him, I guess you could say," Jaclyn said softly. "That?s impossible, if there can only be one merman in a pod, then..." "Ben is going to become a mermaid. He will become a she, like I did," the mermaid explained. "But that?s impossible!" Jason insisted. "It?s entirely possible. We?re living proof that it is." Jaclyn put her hand on Jason's shoulder. "When Ben wakes up, he, or rather, she, is going to feel very different, very confused. She?ll need your help to work through it. You?re both going to go through a lot of changes, but I can tell you, the end result, becoming mers, is wonderful," Jaclyn consoled him. "It?s going to be weird at first, trust me," Brian reassured Jason. "But it will be okay when all is said and done." "What have I done?" he wept. "What have I done?" "Let?s not leave Ben laying in the middle of the hallway," Madhuri said. She keyed the radio. "Marco, Andre, can you come get Ben and take him down to the parlor?" "Hey, we?re still holding the crew deck. Any idea what we?re going to do about the guys in their cabins?" Jim asked through his radio. "Just hold on, okay? Ben?s out cold and Jason?s, kind of in shock," Madhuri replied as Marco and Andre reached the top of the stairs. "What the fuck is going on up there? Jason is in shock? What?s wrong with Ben?" Hailey demanded. "Daga, I?m going through some serious shit at the moment, okay?" Jason said. "I?m going to be a merman and I think I?m turning Ben into a girl!" "Wait, what?" Daga said into her mic. "Everyone?s alive, we?re just working some things out. Please hold on," Madhuri asked. "This better be a damn good story. Just don?t leave us here all night, okay?" Jim asked. Marco and Andre gently carried Ben?s sleeping form downstairs. Madhuri went with them to monitor Ben, while Jaclyn, Julie, and Janice sat with Jason. "Hey, not that we don?t have enough issues, but what are we doing with the people in this stateroom? Plus, we left three guys on the engine deck who might be a problem in a few hours," Brian said. Janice rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Dammit. Okay, Jason, who is in this stateroom?" "Mahmoud?s assistant Fredrick, and Captain Omar," Jason remembered, wiping his eyes. He needed to get his head into the game. "I think we have a better chance of reasoning with these two gentlemen than the crewmen Josh and I paralyzed and beat up," Janice figured. "Hey," Jason said. "I..." he paused, trying to verbalize what he was feeling. "I need to check on Ben." Janice smiled compassionately. "Of course. Go sit with her while she heals. Maybe think about a new name for her." Jason was about to correct Janice, but thought better of it. "Take my radio. I can get Ben?s downstairs." He gave Janice the radio bud and the base unit before walking downstairs. Janice?s pod turned toward the stateroom. The two men inside were quite agitated. "I?ll cover you if you open the door. Just push it in and back away," he took up a position to the side of the door, the UMP at the ready. Janice unlocked, then swung the door open into the stateroom. "Who?s there?" came an American-accented voice. "Well, I?m Brian, and I have Janice, Julie, and Jaclyn with me. Jaclyn is a former guest of your storage room. Why don?t we all talk like civilized people?" he suggested. Harsh whispers came from the stateroom, like the two men were arguing over something. "Gentlemen," Janice called. "We have the ship, we have you outnumbered and outgunned. We?re willing to give you the ship back once we?re home on our atoll. That, and to be left alone, of course, is really all we want. Oh, and freedom for the four enslaved girls and anyone else who wants to stay with us." "His Highness will never agree to-" came Fredrick?s voice. "His Highness has gone to his 72 virgins," Brian said. "Courtesy of one of the aforementioned girls, according to our friends downstairs." A man with a stern face and military bearing, even being dressed in pajamas as he was, appeared in the doorway. Brian held the UMP on him, just in case. "That is a mistranslation of the text. The Holy Book promises companions of equal age. The people who claim 72 virgins await those who die attacking innocents are charlatans trying to get our young people to kill themselves," the man said. "I did not know that," Brian admitted. "Now, let?s talk about what it will take to get my ship back." He folded his arms. "You?re the captain, I presume?" Janice asked. "Muhammad Omar, at your service madam," he nodded his head. "Now, I would be willing to speak with you, but if you could lower the weapon, I would appreciate it," to show his good faith, he raised the bottom of his pajama top and turned, then raised his pant legs and sleeves to show that he wasn?t armed. "And your companion?" Brian asked. "He is not my companion, and I don?t think he knows how to use a gun," the captain scoffed. "I do know how to use a gun! In this case, I can see why it would be futile," Frederick appeared behind the captain. "So he?s dead. I can?t say I?m surprised." "You don?t seem too broken up about it," Brian said as he lowered the submachine gun. "I did my job. I thought enslaving girls was barbaric, but he was my employer, so I obeyed," Frederick matter-of-factly stated. "So you were just following orders?" Jaclyn asked. "In so many words, yes." Janice rolled her eyes. "Okay Mr. Banality of Evil, what do you say we reconvene in the main parlor?" The two men nodded and walked past the mers, down the stairs into the main deck and into the parlor. Marco and Andre carried Ben?s body downstairs. He was muscular, but both men could see changes happening. Aside from the general softening of his facial features, his moans had a slightly higher pitch to them. "What happened?" a mermaid with a pink tail asked as they carried Ben into the parlor and laid him on a section of the couch that was clear of blood. "The mermaids upstairs gave him milk, and our teammate Jason went nuts and held him down. Now they?re bonded, or something, and-" Marco seemed confused. "And now we?re going to be mers together," Jason said as he came down the stairs. "Oh wow. I thought his signal felt different," Ann said. "How is he?" Jason asked, pointing at Josh. "He?s healing. Most of the bleeding has stopped, but the wounds will take a while to close. He?ll sleep through the night, at least," Manami said as she cradled her mate?s head. "I?m sorry we had any part in this," Andre said. "We understand that you didn?t help capture us," Ann said. Jason sat down next to Ben?s head. The team leader had continued to change in the time since they?d laid him down. Even in the red emergency light, Ben Smythe?s features and body were becoming something else. Shoulders slimmed down, hips widened subtly as the minutes slipped by. "Why is he changing? For Trevor to change Robbie to Rose they both had to drink milk," Kate asked. "I took a sip from the sample the doctor took," Jason admitted. He still kicked himself. "I thought it would just heal me." "It heals you?" Indira asked from the corner. "Are you okay? You haven?t said anything since..." Jenna asked. Indira stared at the dead body of Prince Mahmoud, and the sprayed blood that marred the luxury furnishings. "I killed him," she sobbed. "It?s a horrible thing, taking a life," Marco said. "But you had every right to do what you did." "How do you live with it?" Indira asked. "One day at a time," Marco answered. "You saved us and our mate. Thank you," Manami told her. "I should clean this up," Indira thought. "Like hell! You?ve done enough," Jenna said. "I don?t think this carpet or upholstery is coming clean, anyway. I think our first order of business should be to get the power back on." "We?ve thought about that too," said Janice as she came down the stairs, her pod, Frederick, and Captain Omar behind her. "The thing is that the engineer is paralyzed." Frederick stopped, staring at the body of his former employer, sighing. "Are you surprised?" Omar asked. "Only that it happened now. I didn?t expect the mer-people to catch the ship, and how did he get down here? The last I heard, he was on the sun deck with Aluna," Frederick asked. "Aluna! She must have no idea what?s going on! I should go get her," Indira said before rushing up the stairs. "About the power," Janice steered the conversation. "Captain, do you know enough to restart the engines?" "Possibly. I?d feel more confident with Ahmad's help," Omar replied. "What exactly is wrong with him?" "We paralyzed him and another crewman guarding the mermaids downstairs with the venom in our barbs," Janice explained. "Josh knocked out another guy, though he probably has a broken jaw and really bad headache." "Was that the snapping sound we heard when you were coming for us?" Jenna asked. "Yep," Brian answered. "Good." "I am willing to go to the engine room and attempt to start the auxiliary power unit, at least. That will give us electricity until Ahmad is able to start the engines," the captain offered. "I?ll go with him," Brian volunteered. "I can let Jim and Daga know that you?re coming down the stairs," Marco keyed his microphone and let them know to expect friendlies to head their way. "Let?s go then," Brian said. "I want to get Josh into water," Manami said. "It might help him heal." "The hot tub on the back of this deck is filled with filtered seawater," Frederick offered. "Thank you. Manami, hook one of your arms under his shoulders, please," Jenna said. "Can I help?" Jason asked. "We?ll take care of our mate. You should take care of yours," Jenna said. She and Manami moved Josh?s still form over the deck. Josh moaned, and they stopped for a moment to check him. "It?s alright my love. We have you, you?ll be fine." Manami stroked his face, and Josh quieted, but didn't wake up. They pulled him to the lip of the hot tub and gently slipped him over and into the water. He floated head up, his fluke hanging on the ledge. Manami and Jenna turned him around, letting his fluke hang off of the back of the tub, resting his head on the lip, letting him settle into a seat. They got into the tub on either side of him, applied more milk to his wounds, and laid with him in the water under the stars. Ann watched all of this. "So, what do we do?" Ann asked her sister. Kate shrugged. "I kinda want to toss the dead guy overboard." "That would be a mistake," Frederick suggested. "Desecrating the body of a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi could have far-reaching consequences. Doctor, you should have body bags in your medical supplies." "Yes, I do," Mahuri said. "But the medical bay is on the crew deck, down a corridor guarded by armed people with some confused crewmen stuck in their cabins." "We need to relieve Jim and Daga anyway," Andre spoke up. "We?ll take the doctor down to get the body bag, then I guess we?ll stuff it in the walk-in freezer for the galley." "Get two," Jason said. "Ben killed a crewman on the bridge." Andre nodded and called down to Jim and Daga, and he, Madhuri, Frederick, and Marco headed for the stairs down to the crew level. As they left, Indria came downstairs, coaxing Aluna behind her. "See? I told you he?s dead. We?re free!" Indira pointed at Mahmoud?s dead body. "What do we do now?" Aluna asked. "Who are you?" Her eyes went wide since she?d never seen the mermaids before. "They?re the mermaids Abbie told us about. They saved us!" Indira said excitedly. "Did you tell her who killed Mahmoud?" Janice asked. Aluna looked at Indira. "It was me," Indira said, her eyes cast down to the floor. "He was about to kill a merman, and he yelled at me to give him his big gun," she pointed to where the Magnum rested on the floor after she?d fired the fatal shot. "I picked it up and the thought just came to me: ?No.? I wasn?t going to do what he told me anymore. I had the power to say ?no? in my hands for the first time," she looked at her own hands. "He called me ?girl? again to order me to give him the gun. No one will ever call me by anything other than my name ever again," she said with a determined look on her face. "You were so brave," Aluna said. "You saved us," she hugged her friend. "Would you like to get those collars off?" Jaclyn asked. "Oh, yes please," Aluna said. Jaclyn waved her over, and she knelt in front of the mermaid. Jaclyn salamandered behind the kneeling girl and got a grip on the collar on either side of the hinge in back. She pulled, snapping the flimsy hinge and bent the thin metal collar so it slid off her neck easily. She repeated the procedure to remove Indira?s collar. "Thank you," Aluna said once it was done as she rubbed her neck. "It feels strange, but good." "Look who we found!" Hailey said as she and Jim came up the stairs with Madhuri in tow, followed by Abbie and Marie. "It?s true! He?s really gone," Abbie said, holding back a wretch at the blood splattered around the parlor as she and Marie cried. They ran to hug Indira and Aluna. "Yes, and Indira did it!" Aluna said. "Come here and I?ll get those collars off of you," Jaclyn offered. Marie and Abbie gratefully accepted and Jaclyn tore the symbols of their bondage off and tossed them away while Madhuri and Jim put Mahmoud?s body into a bag. "Thank you," Marie said. She turned to her newly-freed friends. "What do we do now?" Before anyone could answer, the lights flickered on. "Looks like Captain Omar was able to get the power back," Janice said. The lights revealed just how much blood, from both Josh and Mahmoud, had sprayed the rear part of the main parlor. "I am not sleeping in here tonight," Julie said as she looked around in horror. "There are plenty of lounge chairs on the deck. Wouldn?t be the first time we?ve slept under the stars," Kate suggested. "Aluna, Abbie, Marie and Indira should take one of the staterooms though," she smiled. "We made that bastard?s bed often enough, we should take advantage of it," Abbie said. "It?s definitely big enough," Aluna agreed. "But he, we..." Indira said. "He?s gone. He can?t hurt us anymore," Aluna said. Captain Omar and Brian returned from the engine deck, and Madhuri and Jim went up the stairs to clear the body off of the bridge. "I was able to get the auxiliary power unit running, obviously. Ahmed and Rahman are still paralyzed, but are in cabins being guarded by your people. Rahman?s compatriot, Emaan, I think his name was, is dead," the captain reported. "How? We could tell that he was alive when we left the engine deck!" Janice asked. "Who can say? I could tell that his jaw was broken, but I didn?t see any other obvious injury. Perhaps he hit his head when he fell?" the captain surmised. "A punch hard enough to break his jaw instantly could have done a lot more damage to his head," Brian figured. "Who hit him, and with what?" Omar asked. "Josh punched him when we took the deck and freed the mermaids," Julie said. "You?re that strong?" Jim asked. "The mermen are. We?re no slouches either, mind you." Julie raised an eyebrow. "Should we tell Josh when he wakes up?" Ann asked. "He was talking about ?ripping his arms off and beating him to death with his own fists? before we left," Janice added. "The reality of killing someone is different than thinking about it," Omar said. "We?ll talk to his mates before we tell him," Jaclyn said. "How do we know the second we let our guard down, those crewmen won?t attack and take the ship out of revenge?" Janice asked Omar. "Or you won?t lead them, for that matter." "I know what kind of man my employer was. I?ve served his family for years, watched him grow up," Omar said. "I thought he would come to a bad end. I must admit, I didn?t think it would be because of mermaids." "We?ll get the body from the bridge," Jim said as she and Madhuri started for the stairs. "I can help carry the bodies, Dr. Hopkins. Please, stay here," Captain Omar offered. "Thank you," she said, sitting down next to Jason as the men left. She sat with her hands in her lap, looking nervously at the changing Ben and Jason. "Penny for your thoughts," Jaclyn said. "Just, thinking," she sighed. "Would... would it be easier for Ben if there were another woman bonded to her and Jason?" Jason looked up, surprised. "What are you saying?" "It certainly helped me to have the support of Janice and Julie when I transitioned," Jaclyn said. "I think you know Jason. I like Ben, and you, and being a mermaid is very tempting. So, if it?s alright, would you have me for a pod mate?" she asked. "You know that means that you?ll be mates, sexually?" Janice asked. "With both Ben and Jason." Madhuri blushed. "I thought it was just Jason." "No, it?s your whole pod," Julie confirmed with a smile. "But the bonding we experience makes it completely natural." Madhuri looked at Jason and Ben, deep in thought. "I still think I?d like to join you, if it?s alright." "Of course," Jason said, once again knocked for a loop at the turn of events. "Well, that?s wonderful. Since Jason and Ben have each had milk, would you like your first dose so you can start bonding?" Jaclyn asked. "Oh yes, please," Madhuri gasped. Jaclyn brushed her hair away from one breast and offered it to the doctor. The human women in the room blushed, while Jason averted his eyes. "Come here then, I?ll start you off." Madhuri got up from the couch and walked over to Jaclyn. A thousand thoughts whirled through her head. About her family, her career, and how beautiful and powerful the mermaids were. They all looked gorgeous, but had caught and assaulted a yacht travelling at 20 knots. She knelt in front of the mermaid on a clear patch of floor, took a deep breath, and began drinking the milk that would start her change. Jaclyn patted her head. "I don?t regret changing at all. The bonding, the power in this body, it is incredible. Welcome, Madhuri." Hailey watched, and realized that what Madhuri was doing would be what she and Jim would do for to be healed. "Any of you girls that want to be mermaids are welcome to join us. We?ll figure out the math tomorrow, but Jim and Hailey have asked to become mers too, so there?s a pod for two of you to join," Janice said. "What math?" Aluna asked. Janice explained the required ratio of merman to mermaids in each pod, and the fact that the ratio would be created by someone changing sexes, if needed. "I think we all need to sleep on it," Abbie said. The three other girls nodded their heads as well. Madhuri finished and lifted her head from Jaclyn?s chest. She could feel the effects of the large dose of siren cells moving through her body. "It?s..." "A pretty big rush, huh?" Jaclyn asked. Madhuri nodded in return. "Go sit with your new pod mates. Ben will probably sleep for the rest of the night," Madhuri sat next to Jason and took his hands in hers. Hailey?s radio beeped. "Yes? Okay, good. There are going to be three body bags to go into the walk-in, so you better alert Pierro so he doesn?t lose his shit when he goes to make breakfast. That?s good to know, thanks." "That was Marco," she explained. "Fredrick has gotten Ibrahim and the rest of the crew to agree to stay in their cabins and not attack us, so long as Fredrick and Captain Omar guarantee their safety and pay. They even turned over their guns, which are being locked in Marco?s cabin." "That?s a relief. Though I take it we aren?t going to trust them to keep their word," Janice observed, even as she yawned. "Oh, excuse me." "No, we are not. There will be a watch set. Why don?t you get some sleep?" Hailey suggested. Janice gave Jaclyn a sultry look. "Well, there is one more thing I?d like to do before we sleep." "Get a room!" Ann heckled her parents? pod. "There are two guest staterooms on this level, further forward. Why don?t Jaclyn and her pod take one, and Jason, Madhuri, and Ben can sleep in the other?" Abbie suggested. "Yeah. We?ll sleep on deck. No one should have to sleep in here," Kate agreed. "Sounds good, especially since Josh and his girls are in the hot tub," Janice observed. "Mom, is Trevor okay? The prince told us he shot him," Ann asked worriedly. "Rose and Sarah are taking care of him. He was still unconscious, but alive and healing when we left," Janice confirmed. Kate and Ann embraced each other in relief. "Thanks Mom One," Ann said. Everyone agreed on the sleeping arrangements. Jim and the captain brought the body of the crewman down from the bridge, and Brian assisted them in transporting the two bodies to the freezer, and took the body of the crewman on the engine deck to the same freezer. Everyone retired to their sleeping quarters, settling in for the night. Jaclyn led her tired pod into the bedroom. The bed was king size, so they were all able to sleep together, even if their tails hung off the end. "I?d forgotten how nice it was to lay on a bed," Janice said as she snuggled up to Jaclyn. "Thanks for coming after us," Jaclyn said as she squeezed Janice, seemingly trying to meld with her. "We weren?t going to let what he did stand. We can?t live without you babe." Janice smiled. Alone with her pod mates and relieved from having to keep up the spirits of her daughters or the other mermaids, Jaclyn let her guard down and began to cry. "I couldn?t feel any of you," she whispered through her tears. "I tried to be brave, for the girls, but it was so scary, being without all of you hurt so much," she closed her eyes, mentally concentrating on the signals of her mates and drawing comfort from their presence. "Hey," Janice comforted her. "You did a great job, all anyone could expect you to do." "I kept thinking about what it would be like to be stuck in a tank forever, being all alone, just a ?pretty decoration?, like he called us." She kept her eyes closed. "He... he touched me when he called us that. I?ve never felt so violated..." "He?s dead," Brian declared in a menacing voice. "He?ll never hurt you, or anyone else, again." "Here," Janice moved over top of her. "Move to the middle of the bed." Jaclyn did just that. Julie hugged her from one side, Janice from another, and Brian placed a hand on her hip, all willing Jaclyn to feel safe and loved in their arms. They fell asleep in that position, not moving throughout the night. Sarah sat on the beach, the remains of their dinner laying around. She and Rose had taken turns getting food over the last two days, but they hadn?t bothered to clean anything away. She held herself, shivering. Not with the cold, but with the horrible loneliness of being a mermaid with her pod mates far enough away that she couldn?t feel their signals, even with her enhanced mer senses in the water. The bonds gave her the feeling of perfectly requited love and belonging with her three pod mates. She?d never felt anything like it. When Jenna and Manami had been taken, she?d felt a gap begin to open in her heart as their signals became harder and harder to perceive. Josh?s presence had made the situation bearable. His leaving as part of the rescue party had taken the last bit of the comfort of the bonds away from her. What if they didn?t come back? She was supposed to be the glue that held her pod together, it was the foundation of her identity as a mermaid, down to the colors in her tail. Some pod leader, she?d let all of them go off without her. Would she go crazy without her pod mates? "Sarah!" she heard Rose call from the water. Sarah?s head jerked up. "He?s awake," Rose told her. Sarah salamandered to the water. Robbie?s shoulder had healed in the hours since she?d sat with him over lunch. The bone and muscle had finished regenerating, and new skin had begun growing. "Rose?" he asked. "What happened?" He was still groggy. "You tried to save everyone, but..." Rose trailed off. "He shot me. What the hell did he shoot me with?" Trevor winced, still feeling soreness and stinging pain from the lack of skin and the healing process. "A damn cannon, it looked like. You?re lucky to be alive, there was a hole the size of a baseball in your shoulder. "I have to help them." He tried to roll over to swim off. "No!" Rose held him. "Brian and Josh left with my Mom and Aunt Julie two days ago." "How big of a head start did the yacht have?" Trevor asked. "About 18 hours or so," Sarah answered. "Are you okay Sarah?" Rose asked. She could tell from Sarah?s signal in her mer senses that she was in significant distress. "I really miss my pod," Sarah tried to hold back tears. "I?m sorry." Trevor sat up slowly. "It?s okay." He looked at Rose. "We?re not them, and we can?t replace them, but you aren?t alone right now." Rose moved around Trevor and hugged Sarah, who leaned her head on her shoulder. "What if they?re all gone? What about my baby? Will she survive if I constantly feel like this? What would I tell her when she?s old enough to ask about our pod?" Sarah cried into Rose?s shoulder. "Josh is probably ripping the boat open himself by now," Rose consoled her. "Growling and roaring as he does it. Prince Mahmoud is probably shitting his pants in terror." Sarah laughed at that image. "I wouldn?t count out your mother being the one who kills him." Dhe sniffled and lifted her head. "Thanks Rose." "Thank you. Trevor might have died without you." Rose smiled. "Tonight, would you like to sleep with your tail around ours? It?s better than nothing," Trevor offered. "Yes." Sarah wiped her eyes. "That would be nice. Thank you." "And do some other things, maybe?" Rose asked with a raised eyebrow. Sarah laughed. "One thing at a time, okay?" "You needed that laugh," Rose observed. "Yes, I did." Dawn broke over the drifting yacht. It?s passengers and crew slumbered, with the exception of the two mercenaries, Marco and Andre, who kept watch on the crew quarters. The sun unveiled the true grisly state of the main deck and parlor. Blood from both the prince who had died there and the merman he?d shot had dried on the deck and soaked into the carpet and several pieces of furniture. If created a sickly, metallic smell that wafted across the deck. In the largest stateroom, whose occupant no longer had need of it, four women woke up to their first full day of freedom in years. They simply lay in bed for a while, enjoying the feeling of not having anything to do. Abbie rested her head on her palm as she lay on her side and looked over her three friends. Aluna finally noticed the mischievous look on her face. "What?" Aluna finally asked. "I?m just trying to figure out who?s going to be the guy," Abbie said slyly as she got up and headed to the bathroom. "What?!" Marie said. "If we?re going to be a pod together, one of us has to change," Indira said. She stared at Aluna intently. "Don?t look at me just because I?m the tallest!" Aluna protested. "Are we sure we all want to be mermaids?" Marie asked. "You don't?" "I had a job, and my family probably thinks I'm still in prison in Dubai..." she said. "Do you think they held your job open for you?" Abbie called from the bathroom. "Well, no. I had hoped that I would get to see my family again," she answered. "Lots of things can happen. We can talk to the mermaids today and ask about everything before we drink their milk," Aluna said. "So, who would we be in pods with?" Abbie asked as she left the bathroom. "Honestly, I think I'd want to at least be with Marie, if she stays," she smiled. "So, if I have this right, there's one spot with Ben, Jason, and Madhuri, and two spots with Jim and Hailey," Aluna figured. "We'd be getting split up no matter what unless one of us becomes a guy, or Marie doesn't change and the three of us who do find a merman." "If I do change, Abbie and I could go with Jim and Hailey, and you two could go with another guy from the ship," Marie suggested. "What if we wanted to be with Jim and Hailey?" Aluna protested just a little too vigorously. "Do you have a crush on Jim?" Indira said teasingly. "Or maybe Hailey?" Aluna blushed as the other girls laughed. "No, maybe, Jim is very tall..." Aluna drifted off. "I was just making suggestions, not laying claim to anyone," Marie assured her. "Who wants the shower first?" "What are we going to wear? I never want to put on these stupid tops ever again," Indira said as she ripped her gauzy garment off and threw it on the floor. "The mermaids don?t wear anything," Marie shrugged. "We?re not mermaids yet!" Indira argued. "I unpacked the clothes in here," Marie said as she opened the dresser. "There are some shirts and shorts, and more shirts in the closet," She started getting clothes out. "I?m going to hop into the shower then," Abbie said as she walked into the spacious bathroom. "That thing has space for three people. Make room," Aluna said as she and Indira stripped and tossed away their uniforms and joined her. Marie finished taking out clothes and sat on the bed. Her old life had been better than being a slave girl, but was it better than being a mermaid? She looked down at her feet, and wondered what it would be like to have a tailfin there instead. Manami woke up to a hand on her shoulder. She turned away from Josh to see Kate and Ann smiling at her. "Hello," she said. "Hi," said Kate. "Has he woken up yet?" "No," Manami replied. "We really hate to ask, but there?s nowhere else to do it..." Ann started to say. "Oh, you need water. Sure thing." Manami pulled herself out of the hot tub. The movement woke Jenna as Kate, then Ann splashed in. The tub?s bottom sat at the same level as the bottom of the stairs leading down to the transom, making it deep enough that most of their bodies could fit, allowing them to bend their tails and submerge their heads. "Hi," Jenna said as she woke and checked Josh?s wounds. His abdominal muscles still needed to knit together, while the tail wound was already regrowing skin and was almost done. She sprayed more milk onto all of his wounds, and sighed as she laid back, kissing his forehead. "Man this feels good," Ann said. "Sorry to bother you, we didn?t know where else to go." "Don?t worry," Jenna sighed. "I don?t think Josh minds." She stroked her unconscious mate?s face. "Good grief it stinks out here," Jaclyn said as she and her pod salamandered out onto the deck. The smell of dried blood assaulted their noses. "We?ll just have to live with it until we?re back to the atoll." Kate shrugged her shoulders. "Whenever they get the engines started, that is." "Do you think any of the humans are awake?" Ann asked. "I didn't hear anything across the hall," Julie said. "I?d sleep in if I were them." "Hmph. No kidding," Brian said. "Why don?t I go check in with the mercs downstairs, see if the engineer is up and around?" "Okay. We?ll keep watch up here," Janice agreed. Brian left, heading down one deck. "Hello!" he called down the stairs. "Who?s there?" came a male voice Brian recognized as Jim?s. "Brian, you know, the merman who wasn?t shot last night? I?d like to not be shot this morning either," Briand replied. "Come on down man." Brian ambled down the stairs to see Jim and Hailey coming on guard duty. "How do you do that?" Jim asked. "One fin at a time," Brian replied. "I was surprised how strong they were when I changed, it?s pretty damn handy." "How is the other merman?" Hailey asked. "Josh is still asleep, but healing. He got hurt pretty bad, but he should wake up eventually," Brian reported. "Any word on Ahmad the engineer?" "He?s up and working in the engine bay. He knows the situation, and the fact that none of the other crew are coming to help him," Hailey said menacingly. "He ought to have the engines started in an hour, or so he said. We?ll hold him to that." "How?s Ben?" Jim asked. "We haven?t seen him, her. I don?t know. It?s confusing for me and I?m a freaking mer myself. It?s going to be a weird time for Ben and Jason," he replied. "So, you kids still want to join us?" "Kids? You look younger than we do!" Hailey exclaimed. "I?m 56," Brian said with a cocky smile. "Everybody who changes ends up looking and feeling 25." "I thought Jason looked younger when I saw him in our quarters yesterday," Jim realized. "Mermaid milk does a body good," Brian quipped. "Damn," Hailey was astonished. "That?ll happen to us," she realized. "If you decide you want a tail after all," Brian said. "Personally, I haven?t seen any negatives myself." "Even after all this?" Hailey asked. "Absolutely. I have three beautiful pod mates, including one I was married to for 20-plus years," he said wistfully. "Thanks, man. If you?re wondering about food, the chef, Pierro, has been cooking up a storm since before dawn. He?ll be up in a bit with breakfast," Jim said. "Thank you, not just for that, but for helping us save Jaclyn and the other mermaids. It would have been a lot harder if we had to fight our way off the ship alone," Brian said sincerely. Jim and Hailey nodded to him, and Brian went back upstairs to give the mermaids the good news about the engines and food. Ben knew immediately that something about himself had changed drastically, even before opening his eyes. There were two people laying next to him in the bed, so he couldn?t be in his own cabin?s bunk. His body felt strange, he ached into his bones, and was there hair tickling his ears? He?d kept his hair in a buzz cut since entering the Army. The sheets were far softer, more like a fine hotel sheet and pillowcase, than the utilitarian ones he?d been sleeping on since leaving port. He rolled over and felt the body to his right. His eyes flew open as soon as he felt the muscular, surprisingly masculine arm. "What the fuck Jason?!" he yelled and sat up as he recognized the face of the man lying next to him. Jason and Madhuri bolted awake and jumped out of the bed, startled. He grabbed his throat. "What happened to my voice?" it was an octave higher than he was used to. "So..." Madhuri tried to calm herself and him as she stood next to the bed. "I guess your lung has healed, given the yelling. What do you remember from last night?" "I remember storming the bridge and shooting a guy," his voice sounded so wrong. "Then we went down the hall, and I couldn?t breathe, and the mermaids gave me milk... Holy shit what did they do to me?" he demanded as he looked down at his smooth skin. His body hair had fallen out. "So, this is really my fault," Jason began. "I drank from a sample of mermaid milk that Madhuri took the day they brought them onboard. I thought it would just heal me." "What does that have to do with me half turning into a girl?!" Ben demanded. "Wait, you look younger Jason." He turned to Madhuri. "You look younger too." "Oh really?" Madhuri asked, curious. "Yes, but I still want to know what the bloody hell is happening to me?" Ben asked emphatically. "Well, when the mermaids give people their milk, everyone who gets it bonds together and forms a pod, or pods. Those pods have to have one merman and up to three mermaids," Madhuri explained. "So with me having drunk milk before, and you getting milk last night, we bonded," Jason said. "We kind of fought it out, and my holding you down means that I?ll become the merman for our pod," he said apologetically. "I really am turning into..." He couldn?t say it as he looked at his delicate, uncalloused hands. "We?ll be mermaids in our pod, with room for one more," Madhuri said as she sat next to him in the bed and put her arms around him. "This is mental," Ben said. "Why did you do it Madhuri?" he wondered. "I saw how beautiful the mermaids are, they really are remarkable, and I liked you and Jason as friends, so if I were going to pick a pod, I'd rather be with you," she explained. "I also wanted to make sure I was there to support you. You and Jason have a big adjustment to make in your relationship." Ben and Jason stared at each other. Each felt confused. They?d been friends, colleagues, barmates, but now they were each starting to feel stirrings of attraction. "I can?t do this!" Jason finally said as he went to the bathroom. "You still look like a guy, and even though I feel..." he couldn?t express his growing attraction. Ben felt relieved that Jason hadn?t just expressed his undying love and attempted to kiss him right there, but, also, disappointment that Jason hadn?t kissed him and horror at having the emotion. "Let me go get one of the mermaids. Maybe they can help us sort this out," Madhuri said. "No, let?s go out there together. I don?t want to stay in bed anymore," Ben threw off the sheets and stood up, his shorts dropping off his narrower waist. "I was taller than you Jason, now I?m almost the same height!" Ben said as they stood next to each other after Jason emerged from the bathroom. "Okay, lets go," Madhuri urged after throwing her shirt on over her bra and underwear. The three of them left their cabin, holding their noses as they walked out on deck to see the mermaids gathered, plus the wounded merman from last night, Josh, that was his name, sleeping in the hot tub. "Good morning," Jaclyn said as she salamandered up to the three of them. "How are you all feeling?" "I feel better than I have in years," Madhuri said. "What did you do to me?" Ben asked, wide-eyed. "I know it?s confusing..." Jaclyn began. "Oh you do, do you?" Ben became more upset. "Yes, as a matter of fact, my name used to be Hank," she said gently. "I didn?t become a mermaid accidentally, but I know how confusing the switch in sex is. We all want to help you, so please, let us." Ben sat down on a deck chair, his head in his hands. "I?m sorry. I?m not normally this emotional." "Even the biggest, toughest soldier isn?t equipped for this out of the blue," Jaclyn counseled him. She put her hand on his knee. "In a way, you?re through the hard part. The feeling you had last night that went up your spine and into your brain, that?s what sets your role and starts the change. Now you just need to ride it out and come to terms with all the new feelings in your pod." "You?re joking," Jason said. "I am completely serious. Though, if I remember correctly, I physically transitioned quickly after I turned mentally," Jaclyn looked to Janice and Julie. "You did, but we don?t have the hot tub full of special microorganisms like we did on Mermaid Island," Janice frowned. "She?ll need another dose of milk to really move forward, but I?m not sure we want to do that before we get back to our atoll and are in a position to change them into mers." "There?s another island of mermaids?" Maduri asked. "We?ll tell you the whole story later, but yes, there?s another, bigger island that mermaids originated on," Janice confirmed. "I think for their mental health, it might be a good idea. For Ben, or whatever her name will be, being stuck in between must be awful," Jaclyn said. "It would be good for Jason too, if all of his girls were fully girls," Julie added. "There?s nothing you can do to reverse this? I can?t change my bonds to another girl and be a man again?" Ben pleaded. "Only in death, sweetie," Jaclyn said. "You don?t want that. There have been mers who lost mates, and the experience was horrific." "No, I don?t want anyone else to die," Ben sighed, and looked around. "I?m doomed, aren?t I?" "Nonsense," Jaclyn said. "You?ll have two attractive mates who love you, a community that will always support you, and you don?t know half the benefits of being a mer, but we?ll teach you." "I guess I?ll have to get used to being the one in charge," Jason joked. "Oh forget about that. The mermaids are in charge," Jenna said with a smile. "That?s right..." Madhuri remembered with a predatory smile as she looked at Jason, remembering the talk she and Hailey had had on the beach with the mers. "Our mermen are totally, hopelessly devoted to us," Ann added. Jason?s smile faded as he felt the combined stare of the mermaids boring into him, their jewel-like eyes seemed to gaze into his soul. Ben actually cracked a smile. "I guess I can handle that, then," he said quietly. "What?s her name?" Jaclyn asked. Madhuri tapped her chin. "She should be named for a warrior queen. Rani is one, but not British. Boudicca?" "That?s a bit obvious, and super old-fashioned," Ann shook her head. "Zenobia was defeated in the end, Aethelflaed is impossible to pronounce..." Jenna thought. "Elizabeth is sitting right there. British, kicked ass, both the first and second," Julie offered. "Talk about obvious!" Kate laughed. The other mermaids looked around, everyone smiled or nodded to each other. "Elizabeth it is then," Jaclyn said. She offered her breast to the future mermaid. "Drink, Elizabeth, and become whole." Ben looked at the offered nipple. Everything that he was would change forever when he took that milk into his mouth. If he were being honest, everything had changed, he could feel it down to his bones, somehow. Now he had to accept it, adapt, and thrive. Kneeling down, he took the final plunge. "Elizabeth it is then." She began drinking. "Jason and Madhuri should drink too," Janice said. "We can feed them!" Ann volunteered herself and Kate. Madhuri walked up Ann, sat down, and began drinking herself. Jason stood, looking awkwardly at Kate. "Shouldn?t we do this in private?" "It?s nothing we haven?t seen or done before. Your pod mates won?t mind either. The bonds you?ve started making with them will only get stronger," Kate said, holding her arms out invitingly. Jason looked at Madhuri and Ben, no, Elizabeth now, each drinking away. Madhuri shifted and looked to the side at him and smiled without pausing, waving her own hand to beckon him in. He sat down, seemed to deflate a bit as he gave in to the absurdity of the situation, and began drinking from Kate. The four former serving girls entered from the stairs on the starboard side of the yacht, walking in from the main parlor. "We might want to clean that parlor as best we can just to-" Aluna was brought up short by the scene in front of her. "Good morning," said Janice. "I guess this does look a little out of the ordinary, but Jason, Madhuri, and Elizabeth are having their second feeding. If we ever get the engines started, they?ll become mers back at our atoll." The four girls just stared at the mers and the feeding proto-pod. "We can leave and come back later," Abbie offered. "If you join us, you?ll find we?re pretty wide open. Once you?re naked all the time, it kind of makes modesty about this stuff a moot point," Jenna said. "Nice clothes." "We packed them, cleaned them, might as well wear them," Indira said, pulling on the baggy polo shirt she wore over tightly drawn shorts. Brian emerged from the lower decks. "Hey, engines should be back up within the hour, and food?s on the way too." "What will happen to us once we get there?" Marie asked. "That?s entirely up to you. If you all want to be mers, we could take the obvious route and one of you becomes male..." Janice offered. "None of us is really interested in that," Aluna said, the other girls shaking their heads. "No offense," she said to Brian. "None taken," the merman replied. "Well, Jason?s pod only has room for one more, and that one would have to do some catch-up feeding. We can talk to them when they?re done," the proto-pod had switched to the opposite breasts of their feeders. "Jim and Hailey have expressed an interest too, but if two of you go with them, that leaves one of you hanging out by yourself until someone drops out of the sky," she mused. "Don?t count that out," Jenna said. "Wouldn?t dream of it," Janice replied. "What if two of us went with Jim and Hailey, and two of us found another man?" Marie asked. "You?re limited to the men on this boat, more or less," Julie said. "The captain doesn?t seem too bad, but that Fredrick guy..." "No. Just, no," Aluna said definitively. The elevator next to the stairs opened, and Pierro rolled a cart full of breakfast pastries and fruit, along with a coffee pot and cups through the parlor. "Good morni-oh G-d! Is this where he...?" the chef asked as he maneuvered the cart around the blood. "Yes Pierro. He died there," Aluna told him. "Well, I?ve brought breakfast. I don?t have much fish, and I don?t know if you like coffee, but I made some anyway," he began passing out pastries and setting plates of fruit around the deck. Elizabeth, Madhuri, and Jason finished drinking. "I don?t feel very hungry," Madhuri announced. "I imagine not," Julie said. "Ungh," Elizabeth groaned as she continued shifting. "I ache so much," she hugged her shoulders as she sat back on the deck chairs. "Who is... what?s wrong with... her?" Pierro asked. "Is there a bathtub anywhere on the yacht? Soaking in water will help her joints," Janice said. "There's another hot tub up on the sun deck," Aluna said. "We?ll get her up there," Jason walked up to Elizabeth and helped her to her feet, slowly moving to the elevator. "You need to focus on what you?d like yourselves and your mates to look like. You can actually affect the transformation that way," Janice called. "That looked like Ben, but, that?s not possible," Pierro said. "It was Ben. He had to be healed by our milk, and is now going to be a mermaid mated to Jason and Madhuri," Jaclyn explained, her chest heaving from the stimulation and the flood of hormones from being a feeder. "That's impossible!" Pierro's eyes widened. "I bet you thought mers were impossible until you came to our atoll," Janice said. "Good point," Pierro said. "Shouldn?t we have told them about how to speed up Elizabeth?s change?" Ann asked, smiling. "Do you want to make Jason totally shut down?" Janice asked. "He?s still coming to terms with the fact that he?s turning his boss into a girl!" "I?m going to pretend that I understand what?s going on and serve everyone coffee!" Pierro said. He began pouring cups for any that asked. "Would you like anything else?" he asked the people on deck. They all responded in the negative, so he poured himself a cup and took a pastry, and sat in a chair of his own to eat. "May I just say how wonderful it is that you four don?t have those disgusting collars on your necks? You all look so much happier!" Pierro exclaimed. Janice and Jaclyn looked at each other as they sipped coffee. Jaclyn recognized the mischievous look Janice had in her eyes. It was similar to the one she?d had when she?d plotted Jaclyn?s own transition. "Pierro, is it?" she asked. "Yes, Miss..." he stopped. "Janice Connor. Nice to meet you," she replied. "Do you have any family? Anything tying you to the land?" "Why do you ask?" He was suspicious. "I like to know the people I meet," Janice said after another sip. "This is very good. I've missed coffee." "Thank you. My employer liked having the best ingredients," he said. "My wife went home to G-d years ago, so my only ties are to A.C. Milan football." The four girls realized what Janice was doing and tried not to react. "Have you thought of remarrying?" Jaclyn asked. "Well, that is a very personal question," Pierro replied uncomfortably. "Is that how you speak to everyone you meet?" "Only the ones we are thinking about asking to be mermen," Janice said with a smile. "I?m sorry, I didn?t hear you correctly," Pierro sputtered. "You want me to..." "The girls have a math problem that you might be able to solve," Janice said. "I believe they all want to be mermaids, correct?" "Yes," Marie said, "we do." "Mer pods must all have a merman, and none of the girls want to change sex. Now, Jim and Hailey have also talked about joining us, so two could go with them. There?s a limit of three mermaids per merman, you see," Janice explained. "So where would I come in?" He looked at the girls. "Obviously, I would never think of forcing myself on them." "Oh no, this only happens if everyone involved agrees to it," Jaclyn assured him. "What I was thinking is that two girls go with Jim and Hailey, and two go with you. We have a new full pod with Jim as the merman, Jason with Elizabeth and Madhuri, and another pod of three with you and whichever two girls want to be your pod mates." PIerro looked over at the four girls. "Why me?" "You were always kind to us, and were at least part of planning to rescue us," Aluna said. "What Janice suggested makes sense." "There must be someone else. Marco and Andre are both younger than me and seem like decent men," he protested. "There?s nothing wrong with them, but we?re not looking for just a decent man, we need a good man," Indira replied. "I?m flattered," he said, turning over the offer in his mind. "It feels strange to ask, but which of you would be with me?" "We?d work that out once we get Jim and Hailey?s opinion. If they don?t want more pod mates, three of the girls may be with you and one with Jason?s pod," Janice shrugged. "There are all sorts of possibilities." Madhuri and Jason helped Elizabeth out of her clothes and into the smaller hot tub on the sun deck. Jason noticed that her hair had grown longer, and her shoulders had slimmed down. Muscle wasted away as she floated, while her skin grew softer. Madhuri and Jason joined her, letting her float in the tub. "How are you feeling?" Madhuri asked her. "Like I?m being pulled like taffy in some places, squished in others," she said. "You look different." "Really?" Madhuri asked. "You look younger," Jason smiled. "And, ah, shaplier." "I like this more and more," Madhuri said as she stroked Elizabeth?s arm. "Jason, let?s help her along." "How?" He seemed nervous. "Like this," Madhuri leaned down and kissed Elizabeth, concentrating on a lithe, shapely body for her pod mate. Elizabeth moaned as her hips widened, her waist cinched in, and her hair grew down past her chin. "Oh my..." Elizabeth panted. "It?s so fast," she grabbed her belly. "Ungh. It?s so..." she looked at Jason, and she felt a spark of attraction. "Jason, please," her voice rising to a soft contralto, she reached a feminine hand upward and stroked his face. Looking down at the emerging girl beneath him, Jason warred within himself again. He knew, intellectually, that this was Ben. His boss, friend, and a guy, but there was less and less of Ben left with each passing moment. Her eyes were still green, but she now had longer sandy blond hair framing a feminized, sculpted face with high cheekbones and cupid?s bow lips. This beautiful girl wanted him to help complete her. He leaned down and planted a kiss on her mouth. She moaned, and ran her hands across his chest. Jason felt like he'd gained muscle mass, or was it her smaller hands? They broke their kiss. Elizabeth felt the pace of her change settle to a slower rate. "Lay back," Madhuri said to Jason in a husky voice. He could see that she was breathing heavily, and her hair was lengthening. "Wait, are you sure?" he stammered. "Do it. We are in charge, remember?" Madhuri commanded, pushing his back against a wall of the hot tub. She took hold of his member and began to stimulate him. "Elizabeth, come here." Elizabeth felt the color drain from her face. The last flare of Ben?s perspective blazed in her thought processes as she shrank, with a slightly panicked look in her eyes, against the opposite side of the tub. "It will be alright. I promise I would never let anyone harm you. This is your last step towards being a woman. After that, you?ll just have to become a mermaid and we can live happily ever after," Madhuri continued bringing Jason closer and closer to the edge with one hand, and held out her other hand towards the almost-complete woman. Accept, adapt, thrive. Elizabeth thought the mantra over and over in her head. This was an immense adaptation that Madhuri asked of her. Steering herself, she lowered herself down into the water and took Jason?s member into her mouth just as he grunted and erupted. Elizabeth forced herself to take all of Jason?s fluids, and she felt the changes in her body pick up speed again. She laid her head against her mate?s chest once Jason?s pulses had stopped, feeling the churning of her organs and pressure behind her nipples. "Oh my G-d," Jason breathed as he slumped down against the tub edge again. He looked down at Elizabeth?s pained face and for the first time, saw nothing of Ben there. Now he only saw his beautiful new mate wince, shudder, and hold her eyes closed at the discomfort of her body?s radical reconstruction. He put his arms around her, pushed her sandy blonde mane aside, kissed her, and tried to comfort her. "Good girl," Madhuri said. She was well into the change herself, and felt a lust for these two people she hadn?t felt for anyone else. If this was what being a mermaid was like, she was all for it, she liked this feeling! Setting herself a task, she began bringing Jason to hardness again. "What are you doing?" he asked her. "You don?t expect me to let Elizabeth have all the fun, do you?" she purred as she worked him. The engines of the yacht roared to life, and even through the soundproofing and multiple decks. The yacht moved forward and turned to a northwesterly heading. "Finally!" Janice said. "About damn time. I need to see Rose and Trevor." Kate shivered as she said it. "I miss Sarah. I hope she?s okay without us," Manami added. "You know, there?s no reason Kate, Ann, and either Jenna or Manami couldn?t start out towards the atoll. they?d probably beat us back," Julie suggested. "I?d prefer not to have such a small group of mermaids in the open ocean alone," Janice countered. "I know we can take care of ourselves, but without the extra protection a merman provides, I?d be worried." "Thank you," Brian said. "It?s nice to be appreciated." "Oh please, we ?appreciate? you quite frequently." Jaclyn rolled her eyes. "I, ah, think I?ll take these dishes downstairs and get going on planning lunch. Any requests?" Pierro asked. "Only that you think about whether you?d like to join us. We will talk over it with the girls, Jim, and Hailey," Janice said. "I will think about it indeed. Thank you," he said. Janice could practically see the gears turning in his mind as he considered the possibilities. Frederick finally emerged from his cabin and came downstairs to find the girls and mers enjoying the late morning sun. "What do you want?" Janice said with barely contained contempt. "I was on my way to see what the status of the engines was. It seems we are moving again. Ahmed never fails." He finished smoothing the front of his white button-down shirt. "Oh, there?s no food up here? Abbie, go fetch me some food and coffee," he ordered. No one moved or said anything for a beat. Frederick looked at Abbie expectantly. Brian was just about to tell Fredrick where he could stick a coffee pot when Abbie spoke up: "You can go get it your own damn self," she said matter of factly. "Yes," Aluna agreed. "We quit. Effective last night." "Really?" he sniffed. "Eat shit and die, asshole! I would have thought that would have been clear when Indira blew a hole in your master?s chest," Abbie said, her eyes narrowing in anger. The girls all pointedly ignored Fredrick. He furrowed his brow and walked off. "Holy shit that felt so good!" Abbie laughed once he was gone. The freed girls all hugged, and the mers on deck all beamed, happy for the girls to have so definitively declared their freedom on their own. "Speaking of last night, where are his guns?" Julie thought. "I dropped the big one over here," Indira said as she picked up the revolver she?d freed her and her friends with from behind a piece of furniture. It was covered with blood. "I saw Jim pick up the smaller one Mahmoud shot Josh with when they took the body," Janice remembered. "What do I do with it?" Indira asked. "Mermaids don?t really need guns." Jenna shrugged. "It?s up to you, though." Indira considered the question. She made her decision silently, and carried the gun over to where her and her friends? collars had been left scattered on the deck. She gathered them all up, and threw them and the gun over the side of the boat, where they sank into the depths. She took a minute to meditate, and thank whoever was listening for being finally free after years of being held in bondage. She turned and embraced her friends, and they cried in happiness. "Good choice," Jenna whispered. Aluna turned to the mermaids once they?d finished. "Please, tell us what it?s like, as much as you can. I?d like to know what I?m about to become." "There are some things that are indescribable, but we?ll go over the basics you?ll need to know," Kate said. It occurred to Josh that every time he?d fallen unconscious, he?d woken up with a lovely female breast in his face. He wasn?t drinking from it this time, but he did see the large mammary fill his vision, since his head was rolled to his left. He was strangely half in and half out of the water, and his abdomen hurt like hell. The base of his tail also felt extremely sore. He was alive? He was sure he was dead, who takes three bullets to the gut and lives? The evidence seemed incontrovertible, however. He heard conversation about pods, and mer life, and what mers could do float around the deck. Were they recruiting more pods? He still felt weak but he had to check on his mates. "Jenna," he moaned as he raised a hand and placed it on her hip. "He?s awake already!" Jenna exclaimed. "How are you feeling my love?" "Belly hurts, tired. Are we still in danger?" he asked. Manami slid into the water next to him, took him by the chin, turned his head, and kissed him full on the lips. "You and the others saved us. We are on the way home, and you can finish healing there," she said once she broke the kiss. "Is Miki okay?" he asked, placing his right hand over Manami?s womb. "Yes, she is fine dearest." She smiled, stroking his face with her hand. He propped himself up onto his elbows, looking at the knitting muscles on his abdomen and wincing in pain. "Stupid ass," he said to himself. "I almost fucked up everything." Ignoring his self-flagellation, Jenna focused on helping him recover. "Can you move your fluke?" "Yes," he replied, flapping and twisting the end of his tail, even flexing his former toes to fan and compress his wide tailfin. "It?s just sore now. How long have I been out?" "Maybe 12 hours or so. Less time than we thought you would be. I think the water is filled with siren cells by now, we?ve sprayed so much milk into it," Jenna said. "The constant soaking must be helping you heal. Speaking of which," she bent down and sprayed more milk onto his stomach. "That will probably be the last you need." "So, the last thing I remember is Mahmoud falling on me. What happened?" Josh asked. "Indira delivered our letter of resignation," Aluna said as she and the girls approached. Aluna put her arm around Indira?s shoulders. "She set us all free." "Thank you, Indira. You saved us all from my stupidity," Josh said. "Oh stop it," Manami chided him. "You?re welcome," Indira said. "Anything else happen? Looks like the boat?s moving again," he observed. "Well, there?s a new pod getting to know each other in the hot tub on the top deck, the crewmen are under guard below, and we?ll be home in a few days, I think," Janice said. "Is the new pod Jim and Hailey? I thought they?d been together for a while, they shouldn't really need to get to know each other," He asked. "It?s actually another of the security team, his name is Jason, along with Dr. Hopkins, and Ben, the leader of the team. Though she should be fully Elizabeth soon," Jaclyn told him. "Really?" Josh said. "Josh, we wanted to talk to your mates first, but I think we should just tell you," Janice said gently. "What?" Josh felt his heart pump and adrenaline surge. "The man you punched on the engine deck, he died. We don?t know why," Janice said. "What?" Josh?s eyes went wide. "He was alive when we left the engine deck. I could tell," he went over his memories of the incident. "I wasn?t trying to kill him, I just..." "He would have killed you in a second," Brian said. "Brian!" Julie admonished him. "I?m right on this one honey. Josh did nothing wrong. That guy stood between us and the kidnapped mermaids. He might have even been the guy who detonated all of those bombs they used to knock us out," he turned to Josh. "You have nothing to feel bad about." "I get what you?re saying, but if I don?t feel bad about it, I?m as bad as them," Josh said. "Then feel bad, and then get over it. All that anger and you feel guilty when you unleash it to save your pod? Don?t," Brian advised him. "He could have pulled a gun and shot all four of us." "I get the point," Josh said. I still feel like a monster. "Have you ever killed anyone before?" Indira asked. "No," he replied. "I hadn?t either," Indira admitted. "Maybe we can talk each other through it?" Josh looked to either of his mates for their approval, they smiled and nodded their assent. Ibrahim had finished breakfast an hour ago. All he knew was that last night, they?d heard gunshots, and attempted to leave their quarters, where they?d been stopped by two of those mercenaries. Then, Frederick, that dog, had come and told them that the fool, Prince Mahmoud, was dead and that those creatures they?d captured had taken over the ship. He?d just heard the engines come roaring to life. They must have forced Ahmad to fix the engines, and Captain Omar to steer the ship. He had six men left, disarmed in their cabins. There were six of those soldiers, and four serving girls. There had been five creatures in the cargo bay. If he could seize the engine room and bridge, and free the captain, they could fortify those two vital areas and control the ship. The mer-people would flee when they saw the ship turning away from their island, if they hadn?t already swum away. He had to contact Rahman, if they waited until late in the night, when those guards were bored and tired, they could surprise them, and get to the bridge and engine room. They might even be able to pick up guns. Ahmad would work with them, especially when they?d freed Captain Omar. He picked up his walkie- talkie, it was time to get to work, there was money to be made. In the hot tub on the sun deck, Jason lay back, holding two beautiful women in each arm. Elizabeth had fallen asleep on his right shoulder. She?d finally stopped moaning and twitching with her change. Her hair was halfway down her back, and he could feel two breasts as large as Madhuri?s C-cups against his right side. On his left, Madhuri was awake, a languorous look on her face, with a slight smile and lidded eyes as she stroked his chest. Her hair had grown to the middle of her back as well. "Do you think she?s done?" she asked. "I think so," Jason replied. His stomach growled. "I think we missed lunch, too." He could see the sun dropping towards the western horizon. "I hate to wake her up, she looks so peaceful." "You?ll get to see her sleeping again tonight," Madhuri laughed, and reached over to nudge Elizabeth. "Wake up my dear," she said gently. Elizabeth slowly opened her eyes. Now that the mix of euphoria and shock of the changes and the mermaid milk had passed for now, she felt more rational. She sat up in the tub, feeling the love coming from her pod mates. "That was quite a rush," she said. "How do you feel?" Madhuri asked as she laid her head on Jason?s shoulder. "I feel... different." She cupped her breasts. "Very different. But I still remember being Ben, all of my knowledge and experience is the same. I was worried I might lose what makes me who I am," she said. Even her Yorkshire accent had remained the same. "But do you feel good?" Madhuri insisted. "Yes," she blushed. "I love both of you, and I can tell you love me. It?s really wonderful, I?ve never felt anything like it," her stomach growled loudly. "Maybe we should find some food. I?m sure we?ve burned a ton of calories." Madhuri stood and revealed herself in all her glory. She looked like she did back in medical school, but with more curves and perfect skin. "Let?s go then," she said as she climbed out of the tub and began sorting through her clothes to see if anything could possibly fit. Jason joined her. His physique was enhanced as well, becoming more defined, with more muscle mass than he?d had previously, and hair down to his shoulders. Each of them dressed in what they could. Elizabeth took just the shirt she?d worn previously and wore it like a dress. She was much shorter than Ben, not more than five and a half feet tall. "Really?" she commented, "I was just over six feet! You had to make me this short?" she was actually an inch shorter than Madhuri. "I didn?t realize I was doing it," Jason protested as he tried to button his old shirt. It looked a size too small on his larger frame. "I?ll have to see if I can borrow something from Jim," He took it off and settled for shorts alone. "Too bad I can?t go topless yet," Madhuri said as she struggled into her old top. It stretched across her new chest, and her pants were tight across her wider hips, and loose at the waist. "Daga might be able to loan you something. She and Jim should be off- duty soon," Elizabeth said. "We should take a shift guarding the crew tomorrow. No reason we can?t pull our weight," she shrugged. "You got it boss," Jason said, then smiled. Perhaps the dynamic between him and Elizabeth wouldn?t be too different than the one between him and Ben. "Let?s go," Madhuri said as she walked to the stairs. Josh checked his stomach. His wounds had closed over the course of the day. He could barely see the quickly fading scars from the 7.65 mm bullets. Manami looked him over and smiled. "Now can I get out of the tub?" he asked his mates. "Fine, you can get out now," Jenna sighed. "I don?t mean to sound ungrateful, I just feel cooped up in here," he apologized as he clambered out of the hot tub onto the deck. "Plus, now we can take a dip and wet our gills," Kate said. "We are all a bit dry," Janice agreed. Manami and Jenna vacated the hot tub and the other mers took turns dipping themselves in the water.. "We ought to have this tub flushed into the ocean when we get back to the atoll. With so many siren cells in it,who knows what could happen," she continued. Jason led his new pod down the stairs and onto the main deck. "Hello!" he called as they stepped out of the parlor. "Hey! Look at you three!" Brian greeted them. "Oh I can?t wait to get you back to the atoll! You'll be such beautiful mers," Jaclyn gushed as she approached them. "How are you Elizabeth?" "Right as rain," she responded. "Still getting used to this, but thank you for helping me," she knelt down and hugged the mermaid. "Where are the girls?" she asked. "Helping Pierro in the kitchen. He?s got more mouths to feed, and it lets them figure out who has the best chemistry with him, so that if he agrees to be a merman, we?ll have an idea of who would join his pod," Jaclyn answered. Jason took his radio out of his pocket. "Hey Jim, Daga, you up? Great, can you come up here, there?s someone you should meet," he smiled at Elizabeth who rolled her eyes. "Cool, thanks." Jim and Hailey arrived from the crew deck, having been relieved by Marco and Andre for the night shift. "Holy, Jason?! Madhuri?" Hailey exclaimed as she saw her changed friends. "And who..." "Hey Daga," Jason said. "You don?t recognize your boss?" Elizabeth suddenly felt very self conscious. "Who the fuck are you?" Jim asked. "I, ah, was Ben," Elizabeth answered, gaining confidence as she spoke. "It's a big change, I know, but..." "No kidding!" Jim exclaimed in shock. "How did this happen?" "It was an accident. When the mermaids gave me milk to heal me, they didn?t know that Jason had drunk some milk himself. We bonded and because I was on the floor, and he held me down, I got to be a girl," Elizabeth answered. "I?m sorry, Ben..." Jim said. "Don?t be, I?m fine. I feel good, better than ever, actually. Nothing to do but to get on with it," she said. "By the way, I?m going by Elizabeth now." "Well, it's nice to, ah, meet you, Elizabeth. That'll take some getting used to," Hailey smiled. "You look great Madhuri!" "Thank you," she beamed. Josh salamandered up to the group. "Hi there, Jim, was it? I think we?ve met, though you weren?t in a position to talk. I?m Josh," he offered his hand. "Yeah, we did. You told me I was trespassing, and you didn?t look happy," Jim said as he shook the offered hand. "Well, I was trying to be intimidating," he replied. "Our mate?s bark is worse than his bite. We?ve seen him play with dolphins like a little kid. He?s a big softie when he?s not worried about protecting us," Jenna teased him. "Which one of you was shot?" Hailey asked. "That was me. My mates saved me," Josh said, smiling as he turned to look at Manami and Jenna. "Amazing," Hailey gasped. "Sorry, you must hear that a lot." "Have you thought more about joining us?" Janice asked. "We?ve talked about it..." Hailey said. "We had time today on guard duty, and we're leaning in that direction." "Settle in, we can talk while we wait for food and over dinner," Janice said. Almost on cue, the elevator opened and Pierro wheeled out dinner, and the group of former serving girls came up the stairs. "You all look beautiful!" Marie said. She stared at Jason?s bare chest and blushed. "It really hits you how much people change, aside from becoming mers, when you know what they used to look like." Pierro?s eyes went wide at the sight of the three proto-mers. "Is that what would happen to us?" "Yep. Pretty great, right?" Janice asked. Food was distributed, and they ate quietly for a moment before Jaclyn spoke up: "Has anyone?s mind changed about, well, changing?" she asked. The four girls looked at each other and shook their heads. "We?re all still onboard with changing in general. We just don?t know whose pod we?d be in," Aluna said. "I think..." Hailey paused and looked at Jim, who smiled and nodded. "We?re in too," she beamed and wiped a tear away. "When do we start?" "Hold your horses, we started changing Jason, Elizabeth, and Madhuri because of an emergency. They?ll become mers first, and we?ll start the next pod once we?re back at the atoll," Janice advised. "We also want to make sure that the pods are set before anyone drinks any milk, which brings us to you, Pierro..." "I have given it a great deal of thought, and so long as everyone agrees to how these 'pods' are made up, I will join you," he said. There was relief all around. "Welcome. I promise you, none of you will regret this," Jaclyn beamed. "Three more mermen. We?ll have a good size force defending our atoll," Josh said. Brian nodded. "And having a doctor will be nice too," Manami said, her hand over her abdomen. "We do have three babies on the way." "Three?" Madhuri asked. "Kate and Ann?s mate and sister Rose, and our mate Sarah are back on the atoll, and me," Manami confirmed. "Guess I better brush up on my OB/GYN skills before I grow a tail," she quipped. "So, pod makeup. Jim, Hailey, do you only want to be in a pod with each other?" Janice asked. "I hadn?t really thought of that," Hailey admitted. "We don?t want to force anything, but it would help balance things out if two of the girls went with you, and two with Pierro," Janice said. "It?s up to you Hailes," Jim said. "I wouldn?t want to make it seem like I?m cheating..." "It doesn?t work that way," Jenna asserted. "You?re all mated to each other in a pod. The other mermaids are as much Hailey's lovers as yours," Manami nodded. "It?s true, I feel just as attracted to Elizabeth as I do to Jason," Madhuri said. "Then if it will make things easier..." Hailey paused and blushed as she looked at the four girls. "Then I'd be happy to have two of you with us." "Splendid. Now, do we draw straws, short straws go to one pod, long to the other? How do you want to decide?" Janice asked. "We?ve talked about it a little," Aluna said. "Indira and I would like to stay together." "Abbie and I would like to be in the same pod as well," Marie agreed. "So, who is with Jim and Hailey?" Janice said. "It?s really up to you four, I?m fine either way," Hailey offered. "Jim is taller than me, not many men are. If he?d have us, and if Indira and Hailey agree, I?d like us to be with him," Aluna said. "I agree," Indira said, hugging Aluna. "I am fine with that too," Hailey smiled and held her hand out. "I would be honored," Jim agreed and offered his hand as well. Aluna and Indira each took one of their hands, and the new pod embraced in a circle, their arms around each other?s shoulders. They looked at each other and imagined themselves as changed mers living together on a tropical atoll. Jim gathered the three women into a hug. "I guess this means we go with you, Pierro," Abbie said as she and Marie sat on either side of him. "If that?s alright with you, of course." "I consider myself blessed to be with any of you. I only hope I can give you both the love you deserve," he said. "The only downside is that you?ll lose that nice moustache," Brian joked. "Mermen don?t grow facial hair, or any hair below the neck, for that matter." "A price I will happily pay," the chef replied. Abbie and Marie each took one of his hands in theirs. "I know we're not Angela..." Marie said. "You do not have to be Angela. You only need to be yourselves, and I will be the best I can be for you," Pierro assured them. "Well, that worked out nicely. Once we?re back on the atoll, we can transition you fully. You should start thinking about what color tails you want," Janice sounded relievedas the other mers congratulated the third new pod. Just off the port side of the yacht, a large pod of dolphins surfaced and leapt around the yacht, riding the bow wave. Once they?d had enough of that, they trailed the ship to draft off of its wake, leaping and putting on a show for the mers and humans on the back deck before setting off. "Oh cool!" Abbie exclaimed as she saw the spinner dolphins playing. "I wonder if that?s the pod that visits our atoll sometimes," Jenna said. "You?ll be able to jump like that too, by the way," she mentioned to Abbie. "So you really get to play with them?" Abbie asked excitedly. "When they come by, yes," Manami confirmed. Captain Omar came down the stairs with empty plates in hand. Before descending to the crew deck to return the dishes to the galley, he stopped by the large group. "While this ship is heavily automated, I would appreciate it if someone could stand watch on the bridge tonight. I am an old-fashioned sailor in that way," he said. "All you would have to do is sit in the chair and monitor the systems. If anything goes wrong, my cabin is right below the bridge." "Ann and I can do it! We kept watch on our parents? sailboat plenty of times," Kate offered. "Very well. Please meet me on the bridge in one hour, and I will give you some instruction on monitoring the computers," Omar left, continuing down to the crew deck and galley. "Are you sure it?s a good idea to go off alone?" Janice asked. "He and Fredrick are decidedly on the "Not trusted," list. "We can take him," Kate assured her mother. "Fine. Just be careful please," she cautioned. "There is still so much that can go wrong before we get back to the atoll, and with new pods coming together, we?re more committed to staying on the yacht than before." "Our tactical position is stable, so long as the crew doesn?t pull any surprises on us," Elizabeth said. "I think Omar is resigned to dealing with how things are, and Fredrick thinks only of what?s best for his employer, though that situation is pretty fluid." "Are the crew so mercenary that they?ll just go along with it so long as they get paid?" Janice asked. "Well, that?s the thing. We don?t want them to be so mercenary that they try for a bigger payday, like, say, a bunch of mermaids sold to the highest bidder on a dock in Fiji," Elizabeth replied. "We want them to be just mercenary enough to take the pay they were offered at the start of all this." "Great," Brian rolled his eyes. "I am telling you Rahman, we caught them by surprise before and we can do it again!" Ibrahim insisted on his walkie-talkie in Arabic. "And I am telling you that fighting them without guns or the sonic system is foolish!" Rahman replied. "They move like devils, they paralyzed me before I knew what was happening, and they killed Emaan just by punching him!" "If we get to the engine room and the bridge, we can take the ship back. If we do that, they will abandon the yacht to swim back to their own island. Once we have the ship, we can sail it anywhere we want and sell it, and maybe the girls, to the highest bidder and force Fredrick to pay us double what we were promised by Mahmoud," Ibrahim insisted. "They must have told the authorities that Mahmoud is dead. Fredrick probably lost access to the money when that happened," Abdi argued. "We don?t know that until we get Fredrick," Ibrahim insisted. "Why wouldn?t those mercenaries just attack us once they realized what We?ve done? They could kill us all with the guns," Rahman asked. "We can grab guns from the two guards. We just need to be quiet when we grab them tonight. That?ll be enough to let us sneak to the bridge and take out whoever is there," Ibrahim planned. "What about the engine room?" "Ahmad has no love for them. They paralyzed him and made him work to start the ship for them. He?ll work so long as he gets paid," Ibrahim insisted. "Very well. We can?t afford to wake the creatures before we take the bridge though," Rahman cautioned. "Then we?d better be fucking quiet about it then! Be ready in seven hours. We will go in the middle of the night," Ibrahim set down the walkie-talkie and waited. Thoughts of what he could do with the extra cash and the freedom to go where he wanted danced through his head. To Be Continued.