Dynah Battleship, Fourth Quadrant, Andromeda Galaxy.

Mya was exhausted, she'd been concentrating so hard on sending waves of calm and peace into the surroundings that she hadn't considered it would have physically affected her. Her head pounded as she sipped on some brae-water that the medics had brought over after seeing her sway on her feet.

When the safety alarm had gone off it had been confusing, she'd seen all the passengers suddenly whirl into an organized evacuation. She hadn't known where to go and was following Yavik when she saw Zogan, Azazel and three others walking purposefully in the opposite direction. They'd been suited in the same black armor, half of their faces hidden, dripping with weapons she couldn't even name. Fear had coiled in her middle as she remembered when last they'd worn those suits. She'd almost been killed by a hungry alien. She'd opened her mouth to ask the commander who or what was the cause of the alarm, but her guide had grabbed her and hustled her forward. She and the other non-essential passengers had been put into safety rooms. It was fully equipped with food items, brae, and cushioned seating for all. Yavik informed her that the safe rooms were impenetrable and there were many more located in secret pockets throughout the ship. It was only able to be opened by Zogan or one of his lieutenants. She'd felt a bit safer at that, knowing none of those creatures could get inside and rip them to shreds. She shuddered at the memory of those serrated teeth within inches of her face. Curling her arms around her feet she huddled closer to Yavik who'd put an arm around her sensing her discomfort and fear.

When they'd asked for volunteers to help in attending to injured refugees both she and Yavik immediately shot to their feet and were led towards a room teeming with injured crying and wailing aliens. Walking into the room she'd seen the commander and his team directing the refugees into the receiving areas, they were dripping in gore and blood. She felt a sliver of smugness knowing whatever had been aboard the other ship had been mercilessly defeated. She'd then almost stumbled under the wave of despair and loss that swept across the room as she wound through the moving streams of children screaming for their parents. The elderly sat staring blankly ahead, as if too traumatized by whatever had taken place on their ship. After asking a bustling medic she'd learnt that the people before her were known as the Qai. Her heart ached and she dropped to her knees, facing a small alien who was weeping on the ground, seemingly forgotten by the chaos around the room. She pulled the screaming infant into her arms, sending waves of calm towards them and into the room. The babe calmed, shuddering from the sobs that had been wracking its small body. Looking up at her with wide green eyes, its tiny four fingered hands wiped at the tears left on its face.

"What's your name honey?" She asked softly, unaware that others had gathered around her, drawn by the calming cloud she'd pushed out into the room.

"S-Sanvi." Its tiny voice shook as a faint purple color rippled across moss green skin.

"Are you alone?" she asked carefully. Sanvi nodded; a stronger wave of purple rippled across their features. Little ears extended from their head on stalks that shifted with the movement. It was utterly adorable, Mya tried to control the feeling of rage she felt, knowing that there were many like this baby who were now alone in this room. "Are you hurt?" She held the little alien close to her chest, looking them over.

"My stomach hurts." Sanvi's lips wobbled and a more tears flowed from their big eyes.

"I'm going to get you all healed," she motioned to a medic nearby, "She'll take very good care of you."

Sanvi looked up worriedly, "You- you promise?"

Mya looked up at the medic, whose eyes were soft with kindness and she nodded, "I promise."

She continued pushing out feelings of happiness and calm, stopping to help the medics clean and wrap the less serious injuries. Hugging the lost and comforting them as best as she could. She remembered learning physical contact helped those who were too traumatized to speak. She couldn't imagine what had been done to this group.

When the room was mostly cleared, she felt a warm hand on her arm and looked up to see Zogan looking down at her, something flickered in his eyes but she couldn't identify it.

"You need to rest." She started to shake her head but winced at the pain that shot through it. He gripped her arm helping her stand and he inclined his head. She walked out of the room leaning into his arm more than she liked.

"Thank you for helping," he began, "what you did was amazing."

She looked up at him in surprise, not at all expecting a thank you from the serious commander.

"It was the least I could do." She mumbled, truly meaning what she said. After all he had rescued her at the Elder's Sanctuary and offered her a place on his home planet, probably rescuing her from a scary and debilitating life as a test subject. It was the least she could do, her mother had always told her protecting and helping those unable to do it for themselves was a great practice and should be done whenever the situation presented itself. She'd lost those words somewhere along the way of grief but had remembered it the moment she'd stepped into the crowded reception area.

They continued in a comfortable silence and she realized Zogan was leading her into the deserted eating room.

"I don't think I can eat," she said realizing his intent, her stomach took the opportunity to loudly protest her opinion.

Zogan wheezed out a short laugh. It was warm and rich, Mya wanted to hear more of it, her body tensed. "I think your body says different."

She winced, rubbing her stomach. "So, you are capable of both laughing and sarcasm," she pretended to think hard, "interesting."

He shook his head, walking up to the automated kitchen station, "What would you like to eat?"

Her mind immediately went to the purple pasta-like meal she'd been obsessed with. "The purple noodly thing."

She had no idea how to pronounce the plant-based meal. Zogan cocked his head, reminding Mya that he was definitely not human -as if she could ever forget. He was almost eight feet tall, covered with black glittering scales and had slitted pupils.

"You know, the thing with the purple long squiggly things, with herbs and seasonings and roots?" Her hands moving in the air as she tried to describe it, Zogan's eyes followed the movements interestedly.

"Ohhh, you mean the sqashi." He entered it into the command area, the system whirred to life. She noted the pronunciation for future use, apparently her virus had trouble with food names, which was pretty frustrating. Especially since her life revolved around food if she took the time to admit it to herself. There was a soft chime and a rectangular container holding her steaming meal pushed out. Zogan began to hand it to her and looked over her outstretched hands, he then plopped it onto a nearby tray.

"Your human flesh would burn if you held it, I think." His tone was slightly amused.

She curled her hands into fists, sucked her teeth and picked up the tray. She walked haughtily over to a nearby table muttering about aliens who thought they were so superior. He stalked over and relaxed into a seat opposite her, she guessed he wanted to eat with her. Fine. Mya shoved down the pleasure that bubbled up at the realization. She immediately dove into her meal forgetting about the heat. She was so hungry.

"Ahh!" She tried to blow around the steaming food in her mouth. She frantically fanned her open mouth. Her eyes streamed water. She eventually managed to swallow after her spasms and had to take a long drink of brae afterward. She looked up to see Zogan actively trying not to spit out his food from the laugh that was threatening to escape him. His hand clapped over his mouth and he looked away to control himself.

"That doesn't prove anything!" she snapped, carefully separating her food so that it would cool faster.

He looked down at her, still towering over her seated, "Sure, of course not.... Humans."

He shook his head sending his locs flying, the decorations tinkered merrily. She rolled her eyes, trying not to give in to the traitorous giggle that threatened to escape her. He was magnificent to look at, closely resembling dragon art from old earth paintings, she wondered if that was a coincidence or if there had been some interaction at some ancient time in earth's history.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked, sobering slightly. Mya looked up and tried to sense him to see if he actually asked because he cared. She got... nothing, a blank wall of scaled darkness rose to meet her.

He hissed, "Royalty are taught from a young age to shield against empaths, telepaths and others who hold similar power." He rolled his shoulder and cracked his neck, "It is also very rude to try to sense what someone is feeling without warrant."

Mya looked away sheepishly, she'd only been trying to see what was going on behind that serious composure. He'd joked with her a few moments ago but whenever she'd seen him onboard he looked completely unapproachable, brutal even.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to know why you cared to ask is all." She finally dove into her meal, her eyes almost rolling at the greatness that caressed her taste buds.

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't." he said simply, and she could feel the truth of his words.

She nodded, smiling softly now, "I'm better, thank you."

Zogan gazed at her and then looked away. She remembered her eyes and sighed bitterly, once again reminded that no one could look at her for too long without feeling uncomfortable. She swept her loose hair over her shoulder and ate quietly, wondering at the tightness that had gathered in her chest.

"You're not what I expected from a .... Human," he looked at her again after finishing his sandwich type meal, his eyes burned with intensity.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked warily, she was tired of being made to feel too small and insignificant around these alien beings. He held up his hands hastily, "I don't mean to sound rude, it's just that we were taught that you were all a mistake, and you weren't ever expected to grow into a somewhat civilized race."

She supposed she could understand that it seemed she was more than a novelty, probably the only testament for earth that this galaxy would meet. Talk about a weight on her shoulders. She swallowed "Yeah? Well don't believe everything they teach you in school lizard-boy."

His eyes bulged, "Lizard-Boy? Really?"

She saw his expression and laughed almost spewing the brae from her nose. Coughing and with watering eyes she looked over to see Zogan laughing too. His laugh was rolling, deep and it caused heat to pool in her lower abdomen, she'd never felt the sensation before. His laugh was breathtaking.

"That's gonna be my name for you now, if it gets that reaction from you." She was a bit awed.

His full mouth smirked, and he stood, taking her trays and dumping them into the steamer.

"If you ever call me that in front of my legion, I'll put you in a locked room with a Kyeet." He cut a glance at her; his eyes were molten.

Her lower regions pulsed. She was in trouble. She tried to control her reaction and rolled her eyes, "Promises, promises."

His tongue flicked out as he spoke slowly, as if trying to restrain himself -from what she had no idea. "Would you like to go to your quarters?"

OH.

She stilled, was he asking her to fuck-like do the horizontal dance?! Because if that were the case she'd say yes without hesitation. Something about the imposing badass-ness, his deep voice and authority coupled with this unexpected side of himself did something to her. It wasn't love but it was definitely lust, and that was something she could work with- in fact, it was what she preferred. She wanted to know what his package would look like; she was an explorer after all. She had to do it for the women of earth who would never know of his species. Yes, of course, that was the reason. Her lips twitched upwards, he looked down at her, arm extended and waiting. She took it and asked boldly, "Am I going alone?"

His slitted pupils ballooned to fill his eyes a deep abysmal black, it seemed to swallow her as he answered gutturally, "Not a chance."

When they entered the room, she realized she hadn't showered since helping the sick and told him, "Make yourself comfortable."

He smiled lazily and answered with, "Take your time," settling into her huge soft seat, filling it completely. Of course he did, it had been designed for his own kind.

She hurried into the cleansing room, covering her mouth thinking, Oh shit Oh shit. She had a fucking alien commander in her room, and they were about to do the nasty. She was already excited and a little nervous. He was huge, she came up to his abdomen, what if it didn't fit? Did she bite off more than she could chew? She scrubbed herself down and oiled her skin with a fragrance that had become her favorite, Yavik had called the clear, thick oil Gruut when she'd shown it to him. She ran it through her hair making sure the curls were perfectly defined. Taking a deep breath, she looked in the reflection screen. She breathed out slowly, trying to control her heart's palpitations. Okay, she was doing this, she was horny, and he was too hot to pass up. Her gaze lingered on her scars, but she quickly turned and left the cleansing area wrapped in her robe. It was best not to think about this too much.

"Sooooooo." She began but stopped as he stood and walked toward her, his eyes following her hands as she undid her robe letting it fall open completely. His eyes became darker if that was possible and he pulled off his shirt. His body was sculpted perfectly, she was kind of intimidated by its perfection to be honest. He lifted her effortlessly and climbed onto the bed. Hovering over her, she could see that there were faint scar marks along some of his scales. She lifted her hand and traced them lightly, mesmerized by its almost dark grey appearance on his ebony scales. He shuddered, his pupil retracting and expanding with the movement. He held still while she explored with her hands further, they reached his face and she leaned up putting her lips against his, lightly pressing at first and then molding their lips softly together. He didn't react at first but slowly opened up and followed her movements. His answering kiss was careful, to avoid any damage his shortened fangs would have caused her. Mya stuck her tongue into his mouth and lazily stroked his as she pulled him closer. He deepened the kiss while running his hand down her leg and hitching it around his waist. Eventually breaking away he trailed lighter pecks down her neck, his tongue flickering out as if to taste her. He ripped off her robe, softening his hastiness with soft kisses on her open mouth, as if he couldn't get enough of her taste. She smiled against his lips at the thought.