“You are going to piss on the ground from now on,” I reminded her with a big grin. I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face the first time sh... did.“Master Mike didn’t say I had to do that yet. I am not in training, Sir. Please?” Buttercup reminded me.“Well, you can ask him when you see him. Until then, you can piss on the ground while we walk,” I said.“I can’t even stop to squat, Sir?” Buttercup scrunched her nose.I asked her how she thinks Ponies piss and shit all day. I had seen Pony Doris. He even tips me off if something is going past what I will allow down in the crew decks.I run a tight ship by running a loose ship. It took years working under various Chief Secs to understand that was the best way to keep control on something like a heavy freighter with almost a thousand beings in the crew. I let the men... or women... or whatever... get away with a little... like bringing some authentic Amboria Ale aboard. But that gives them something to lose if they go over the line. A. I had three tremendous shocks all within twenty seconds or so, the first was feeling the sharp hot pain of a bullet burrowing into my back and through my right lung.After hitting the floor with my face, the sensations evaporated, and after I regained my senses enough to take inventory of my condition, I was then shocked again by the knowledge that besides a slightly bleeding lip, I was fully intact without holes in my body that weren't supposed to be there.The instant obvious conclusion raced. “I just love you, and I never wanna lose you,” I replied.“You won't, Alyssa. I'll always be here for you, always,” Matt put on the record.“But whats happens when you meet someone else, you could get married, and what's gonna happen after that?” I asked.“You'll still be a huge part of my life, Alyssa. I'm not just gonna get married, and ditch you, or anything like that. You know I love you, and sense I'm naked, and you are naked, we're already a hell of a lot closer than most really good.