"...To get any help from me, she had to agree to several conditions," Nick explained while tending to Aqua the Ocea.

"What kind of conditions?!" excitedly asked the freshly promoted Constable, while enjoying the massage. Considering the fact that she belonged to the aquatic species, her body got engulfed in a cold water cocoon with optimal oxygen concentration, maintained by a stable gravity field. To be able to penetrate it without problems, the human masseur donned long gloves with penetration rings. "I trust in your obedience to the law so that they are not illegal of any kind!"

"I assure you, I didn't ask for anything unreasonable." After being born from a fertilized roe, Ocea spent their juvenile youth with a long, powerful tail instead of legs. That meant a bunch of muscles, quite a lot of fins, and a solid skeletal structure. "First of all, she had to stop stalking me. This behavior, in any way, must be stopped. Second, she has to listen to what I am saying and follow my instructions. Hildmarterias can object, but that will end our endeavor. I swore to not ask anything weird, illegal, or unreasonable on the record. And third, she will spend her own money on all expenses we shall have. Nothing draining, but she seems to have no lack in the financial department."

"That sounds more-or-less reasonable!" the massage for Aqua was a staged one. Members of Ocea had many different types of muscles that required varying amounts of pressure, angle, and points. Nick had some hardships memorizing all of them back in university, so there was an active dataslate right next to him for reference. "But I have seen your actions during the invasion and thus trust to keep your end of the bargain!"

"You honor me." Upon reaching maturity, Ocea went through a metamorphosis called "split". Their skeletal structure of the lower torso started to duplicate into two smaller ones, but still connected together. At the correct moment, the muscle structure also started to diverge, creating a thinner connection between the two halves. "Anyway, this is a long process to perform. My first action was to get her acquainted with all of the females I trust. This will give her some insight on the femininity in other cultures, while I am researching her people's take on the subject."

"Oh, so you are basically preparing her to make a choice right?" The apotheosis was a physical detachment of the two from one another, becoming a pair of autonomous limbs with working fins on the end. Such change made Ocea much more agile and nimble in their watery domain, while also keeping the ability to connect both of them, which provided a considerate boost of speed.

"Yup. Both xenophilia and xenophobia have taught us, humans, that enlightenment is achieved through experience and comparison." the most problematic part of these mermaid-like creatures were their gills. Firstly, these areas were very sensitive and easy to cause discomfort or even pain. Secondly, since Ocea were breathing through them, you have to be careful to not block or contaminate the way with anything. "Information is a tool, a weapon, and the best friend you could ever have."

"So true, citizen Nick!" she was practically beaming with pride. Resonators on a very low power were perfect for massaging Ocea gills, but even then extreme caution had to be applied. And also scales. Those had to be treated just as carefully, since they all faced one direction, demanding a special glove cover and technique. "I understand your approach very much! I am collecting laws and regulations from all the existing species and analyzing them to look for flaws!"

"Oh, you are planning of becoming a lawyer?"

"This is one of my goals! My dream is to experience all of the law enforcement has to offer and bring better everyday life for all of those under the vigilant gaze of the police and government!" her optimism and even idealism were inspiring. This wasn't just some empty bravado - this mermaid had a lot of solid goals in front of her. "I promised it when swearing the oath of the lawmen!"

"I wish you good luck then." when the human man moved to the easier areas, he remembered something: "By the way, I heard CPD got pretty busy lately. Is everything alright?"

"Oh, you've gotta hear about this, citizen Nick!!!" she almost leaned onto him, like an excited nerd about to spew the narrative of their entire, beloved franchise. "Recently we've received a massive surge of crime! It felt like these miscreant cockroaches just spawned from everywhere, bolder than ever! It was hell at first, but then something incredible happened! Higherups got a massive stack of anonymous information, which helped us to make incredibly effective police raids! Not only did we break the back of the criminal activity, but we've caught them off guard! Someone powerful and influential sent the lawless bosses into turmoil - easy pickings for CPD forces! We've also managed to find ties to more than fifty other worlds, which brought illegal goods to Cornucopia's black market! The local authorities were informed and the dealers there got arrested! This is the most successful operation in the history of CPD!!!"

"That sounds incredible! You are truly standing a vigilant guard against the worse of our society." Nick smiled softly. He was almost done. "Thank you."

"Mmmmm, I am feeling so refreshed now!" she dressed up into the hydrosuit and contently stretched. "Feels like I would probably attempt to prostitute myself to you if I weren't a law-abiding citizen too!"

"Hah, I appreciate your honesty." while also adding inside that he has to deal with this every time his regular clients are in. Sequoia almost constantly gave him the "fuck me" eyes, with Voltana, Holdereen, and Arteris being solid seconds. Not that he was against it, but work regulations were something that existed for a reason.

When Aqua paid and left, Nick received a message on his dataslate. It was from the 13th Military Detachment.

"Oh, Nick, thanks the salty waters you are okay!" the Crustia stormtrooper was acting relieved, but there was also something else. "Listen, do you have the last two appointments tomorrow vacant?"

"Hello, Holdereen. Let me check..." after a short scrolling, the human masseur replied: "Yeah, no one registered there yet. Do you want to make an appointment?"

"By the obsidian teeth, YES!" that came from Arteris, who joined the conversation. The Sangui looked pretty pissed and unhappy. There was very little left from her usual very stoic and unemotional state. "Nick, are you free after that?! Please, tell us you are free!"

"Well, yes, but not for very long. I have around an hour and a half of free time after the end of my shift tomorrow. Do you two have something in mind?"

"Yes, we wanted to celebrate our return from this damn campaign! Don't prepare anything - we've got the stuff here with us!" and here are the "fuck me" eyes again. Nick was wondering what kind of things they brought. Wasn't their assignment like a military campaign? Anyway, he would be glad to hang up with the two. They were pretty chill gals...