A Viper's Nest

John had a splitting headache. Opening his eyes, he sat up and then proceeded to rub his forehead. "Ow," John said as he looked around. He had been moved to one of the other beds in Medical.

"How do you feel?" came a familiar voice. John looked to where he had heard it and Doctor Mizta was standing nearby.

"Apart from this headache, I feel fine," he replied.

"It should pass shortly," the Doctor said. She stepped forward and used the scanner on her wrist, "so far my scans show that your body took to the treatments quite well," Mizta frowned when her scanner beeped.

"What's wrong?" John asked, concerned that the beeping noise meant something bad.

"I keep getting an odd reading from your groin," she replied.

"What's wrong with my groin?" he asked and looked down. John couldn't see anything was wrong, although, his balls did ache.

"Your reproductive organs are fine," Mizta replied, deactivating her scanner. "I'll have the Chief Engineer have a look at, perhaps it's malfunctioning," she finished and looked at John. "I think it's about time we went and saw the Captain," the Doctor said and then smiled.

Before he could reply, John's stomach grumbled, "can I get some food first?" he asked.

"I'm sure Captain Ema won't mind," Mizta replied. John swung his feet around and hopped off.

"Damn this floor is cold," he said and then there was a flash of neon blue light as John activated his Nanosuit. "Much better," he smiled and looked up at Mizta.

"If you follow me I'll show you to where we get our food," the Doctor said and then headed towards one of the exits. Following close behind, John tried his best not to stare at Mizta's backside. He noticed that her tail swung left to right as she walked and each impact of her feet made her butt wobble.

"If I was on my own, I think I'd get lost," John said from behind. Slowing her pace, Doctor Mizta looked down at him as they walked.

"Once you see the Captain, you'll be issued with a pad, it has a map of the ship," she said, tapping the tablet attached to her thigh.

"Oh, you call it a 'pad'," he said, "I've been calling them tablets," John looked up at the Doctor.

"Pad, tablet, I guess they're the same thing," she shrugged as they continued down another identical corridor.

Around ten minutes later, after walking through several more corridors of the same light grey material, John stopped next to Doctor Mizta as they came upon a queue of Vipers. Looking ahead, he could see that there were around fifteen of them, all waiting patiently in a line, some chatting, and others reading from their pads.

John tugged on Mizta's right hand, "why's there a queue?" he half-whispered.

"You don't have to whisper, John," she said with a smile. One of the Vipers in front looked behind her.

"Hello," she said with a smile.

"Hello," John replied, looking up at her.

"This is John, the Terran male we rescued," Doctor Mizta chimed in.

"Well, I'm Thissa," she smiled at John again.

Looking at Thissa, John saw how her dark green scales covered the top half of her head and hood. From her jaw and down her neck, her scales were a lighter shade of green. Dotted about her dark green scales, Thissa had a black camouflage pattern, similar in design to the now extinct Leopards back on Earth. Her eyes shone a warm yellow, along with her mouth and tongue as she spoke. John then looked at the Nanosuit she wore. Instead of the skintight uniforms, he had seen before, Thissa's Nanosuit looked like armour. It reminded him of the Iron Man nanosuit armour from the MCU films he loved as a child. However, just like the skintight Nanosuits, John could still see how large her breasts were.

"You have a lovely pattern on your scales," John said and his compliment seemed to make Thissa's smile even bigger.

"Thank you," she replied. A few of the Vipers in the queue heard the conversation and turned around, however, before the others could make a fuss over John a voice called out from the front.

"Next fifteen," the unknown speaker shouted. The queue of Vipers started to move, John and Doctor Mizta behind them. As they reached the front of the queue, he could see they were all walking through a large pair of doors. John guessed they were the same height as the ceiling in Medical and their width was around five feet.

Standing in front of the doors, John could see the Viper who had shouted. Wearing the same armoured Nanosuit as Thissa, the new Viper had jet black scales. Around her eyes, her tongue and inside of her mouth glowed a vibrant turquoise. When the Viper turned to look at John, he could see that the inner, softer part of her hood was also glowing.

"Doctor Mizta, and...I don't believe we've met?" the Viper said.

"This is the Terran male we rescued from the unknown ship," Mizta chimed in.

"Hello, I'm John,'' he said while looking up at the black Viper.

"Security Chief Yutsi," she said looking down at him, "you'll have to wait your turn," Yutsi then looked over at Doctor Mizta. "I thought you were taking him to see the Captain," John's stomach grumbled when she finished.

"As you can hear, he's quite hungry," Mizta replied, "I thought it wouldn't hurt letting him have some food first," she then pressed her thumb against the pad Yutsi was holding. John heard it beep and then the Security Chief held it lower and in front of him.

"Just place your right thumb onto the pad, it'll scan it and you'll be registered," she said. John walked forward and after a few seconds his thumb was scanned and the pad beeped. "The Doctor will show you what to do when you get inside, just be careful in there," Yutsi turned around and headed through the large doors.

Taking a step back, John turned and looked up at Doctor Mizta, "what did she mean by that?" she asked.

"You're a male entering a room filled with around fifty females," she replied, laughing when she saw John's expression. "Don't worry," she said, "I'm here," Mizta then turned her head to watch as a small group of Vipers appeared behind them.

"Why do I feel like you're about to hold my hand so I don't get mobbed?" John asked, following the Doctor's gaze.

"I can hold your hand if you want?" she said, smiling at him when he looked up at her.

"Haha," John said and then looked back at the doors. Security Chief Yutsi had reappeared.

"Next fifteen," she shouted.

Mizta lead John through the two large doors and he was surprised to find that he had entered a canteen. Just to his left was the group of Vipers who had been in front of them when they had arrived in the corridor. Officer Thissa smiled at John when they joined the queue. Looking around the canteen, he could see light grey tables and benches, neatly placed inside the large room. He guessed the walls were about fifty meters long and the sides around twenty. At each table were groups of Vipers and John guessed each group worked together as they had matching uniforms. He was also surprised to see how varied the scale colours were. What John did not expect was the vibrant light show as the crew ate their food.

"What do you think?" Thissa asked.

"I'm not sure what I expected to see when I entered, but not this," John replied, "why does the food give off light?" he asked.

"It's how we get our bioluminescence," the Doctor replied.

"I'm not going to start glowing am I?" John asked as the line moved several paces forward. Mizta shook her head.

"No, you don't have anything in your body that would give off light," she then handed him a familiar-looking tray. A few minutes later John and Mizta arrived at the food counters.

"How do I choose?" John asked as the Viper behind the screen waited for his request.

"Your body can now process our food, I suggest you just ask for one of everything, the cooks won't mind," the Doctor replied.

John looked up at the Viper and smiled, "erm..I'll have one of everything," he said. With his tray raised, John watched as she placed ten small bowls onto his tray and a cup of what appeared to be water.

"I'll keep him company while you get your food," Thissa called out as the queue moved forward. Mizta nodded and John followed Officer Thissa as she made her way towards a table.

Following behind Thissa, John noticed a few heads turn in his direction and that the noise level had dropped. Weaving his way around several groups of tails, he arrived at an empty table. John now noticed how big it was and the two benches. Picking a spot, he placed his tray down and then hopped up onto the bench, laughing when he saw his feet dangling in the air.

"I like the yellow one," Thissa said as she used her long tongue to lick the contents of her larger bowl.

Tipping each bowl so that he could see what colour the contents were, John found the one with the yellow paste. For the first time since he entered the canteen, he realised everyone was licking out the contents of the bowls. John picked up the small bowl containing the yellow paste and sniffed it. Nothing. He then scooped up some of the paste with a finger and placed it inside his mouth.

"It's great isn't it?" Officer Thissa said, her mouth full with paste.

To John, it didn't taste of anything. He chose to finish eating the yellow paste and then try a different colour. One of them tasted a bit like fish, another chicken, John thought the green paste tasted like chocolate. He glanced over to where Thissa sat and saw the glow of her mouth get brighter as she licked the contents of her bowl.

"What did you think?" Mizta asked as she sat down opposite him.

"Some have no taste, while others remind me of food from home," he replied.

"We used to eat live food," the Doctor said, "however, it made spaceships impractical," John watched as Mizta's long tongue came out of her mouth as she started to eat her bowl of glowing paste.

"How come you don't glow?" John inquired.

"I'm an albino," she replied, "our bodies don't contain the necessary parts for the bioluminescence," she looked up at John and he laughed.

"You have some on your nose," he pointed out. John then watched as Mizta used her tongue to clean it off. He then shifted where he sat as the ache from his balls came back.

"Something wrong?" the Doctor asked.

"It's nothing," he replied. Sniffing the air he looked up at Mizta, "by the way, why is everyone wearing the same perfume?" he asked.

"Perfume?" the Doctor said, "we don't wear perfume," she replied as she continued to lick her bowl.

"Really?" John was surprised, "then how comes ever since I woke up outside the quarantine shield, I keep smelling warm berries, it reminds me of a favourite perfume?" he asked. John noticed that the conversations near to where they were sitting died down.

"You like the smell?" Thissa asked, a look of surprise on her face.

"Yeah," he replied, "I could probably enjoy it for hours," John said as he started to eat some glowing pink paste. He then noticed the canteen had gone quiet. "What did I say?" John asked, concerned he had done something wrong.

"Musk," Doctor Mizta replied.

"Musk?" he repeated.

Both Officer Thisssa and Mizta nodded, "a Viper has musk glands located in several locations on our bodies," she said, "the largest is located just inside our anal canal," John wasn't sure this was the best time for a Viper anatomy lesson, "between females and males, we produce a stronger smell," Mizta then made eye contact with John, "apart from Viper males, you're the only other male from another species who has said they liked the smell," as Mizta finished, John could feel all the eyes in the canteen looking at him. He glanced around and could see looks of surprise, a few of the Vipers smiled at him, and one or two winked when he made eye contact.

"Doctor Mizta," John jumped when he heard the Security Chief's voice, "perhaps it's best if you take the male to see the Captain," she said, "while it's nice to know John enjoys the smell of our musk," she looked around the canteen, "I would prefer it if there wasn't a fight," Yutsi then smiled at John.

"Shall we?" Mizta said, looking over at John. He nodded and then hopped off the bench.

"Either finish your food or leave," the Security Chief told the crew watching. There were a few lingering looks at John as he and Mizta got up and headed for the exit. As they left he heard the varied conversations continue.

*****

The small fleet of sleek, off-white Matriarchy ships arrived at the outskirts of the system. Adjusting their position, the nine smaller ships huddled around the larger Cruiser, Pride of the Matriarchy. Sitting in her command chair onboard the Cruiser, Captain Ema gave the command for the fleet to engage Vortex shields and to spin up their Vortex drives. Across the fleet, compartments opened up and rising from inside their hulls, large, oval-shaped Vortex shield generators activated. As they glowed a vibrant yellow, a teardrop-shaped bubble formed around the fleet, the pointed tip at the front. The glowing engines of each ship deactivated and from inside armoured compartments, located just in front of each ship's engines, three spinning gold-coloured spheres rose. As the spheres spun, a golden light, similar in brightness to that of a sun, appeared within the middle of each one. The spinning spheres started to glow themselves and just before it looked as though they would melt, the energy being produced was channelled down heavily armoured cables, towards the front of each ship.

"Vortex drives at fifty percent" called one of the crew, sitting inside the Cruiser's bridge.

"All hands, this is the Captain, prepare for Vortex jump," Captain Ema announced.

Throughout the Cruiser, the crew packed away anything loose and then strapped themselves into nearby jump chairs. A few wayward Vipers hurried out of the canteen, Security Officers shouting at them to hurry. Doctor Mizta took hold of John's left hand and pulled him towards a nearby door. As she opened it he could see that it was an armoury and that there were three spare jump chairs. Stepping in, the Security Officers inside looked up.

"Doctor Mizta?" one of them called out, she noticed John by her side, "hurry up and get him strapped in," the Viper finished and tapped away at a control pad on her chair. Before he could say anything, Mizta picked John up and placed him in the middle chair. The jump chair's harness looked almost identical to the five-point harness the Poseidon had. After the third strap had been slotted in, Chief Officer Yutsi appeared.

"Mizta, get yourself strapped in, I'll finish that," she said and walked over to where John was. She slotted in the last strap and then pressed a button on his chair's keypad. There was a hum from behind him and then each strap adjusted itself to his build. John watched as Yutsi sat down into the chair to his right, strapping herself in.

"Vortex drives at eighty percent," the Captain heard as the fleet markers, projected in front of her, changed from blue to a bright red, notifying her that they were ready to jump.

Drifting through space, the tear-drop shaped bubble started to glow. The energy released from the Vortex drives started to coalesce at its tip.

"Vortex drives are at one hundred percent, all Captains report ready to jump," announced the Comms Officer.

"Helm, commence jump," Captain Ema ordered.

With a push of a button, the energy collected at the front of the fleet opened a portal into the Vortex. A blinding light surrounded the tear-drop shaped bubble and the fleet was dragged through. Inside the armoury, John felt as though he had been punched in the gut and then blinded as he was enveloped by a bright, yellow light.

*****

John's balls ached. It was a familiar feeling, however, he still didn't understand why they ached. His ears picked up the sound of muted voices and then as John opened his eyes he saw Yutsi was looking down at him from her seat.

"What the hell was that?" he asked, resisting the urge to rub his groin.

"The ship jumped into the Vortex," she replied, the light from above reflecting off her pink eyes.

"What's the Vortex?" John asked while stretching his arms and legs. He noticed that his feet were dangling off the ground.

"It's how we travel faster than light," Doctor Mizta replied. She scanned him again and the same beep from before was heard.

"I thought you said that didn't work?" John asked.

"I did a maintenance check while you were asleep, it came back as functioning normally," Mitza replied and frowned when she read the result.

"Let me guess, something wrong with my groin?" he asked while noticing the other Vipers were listening.

"It keeps coming up with an anomaly," she replied, "have you felt any different since you last woke up?" the Doctor asked.

He leaned over and whispered to her "well, my balls ache for some reason," John answered.

"What are balls?" one of the Security Officers asked. John looked over to where she was sitting.

"You heard that?" he asked, his face starting to go red.

"John, Vipers have excellent hearing," Mizta replied, "everyone in the armoury heard you," she then scanned John again and her scanner beeped.

"Do I have to answer?" he asked. Looking around he saw all of the Vipers were looking at him. "Balls are.." John was interrupted by a voice heard from above.

"All crew can resume their duties," it said. Hitting the middle of the harness, hoping it was the release, John hopped off the jump chair as the straps were released and promptly walked out of the armoury.

"Aww, I wanted to know what balls were," said one of the Security Officers.

"Perhaps he'll tell you if you are ever alone with him?" Security Chief Yutsi said as Doctor Mizta released her harness and stood up.

Mizta found John at the end of the corridor, "are you alright?" she asked.

"Oh I'm fine," he replied, "I just didn't expect I would be explaining what the slang word for testicles was," John said and then looked up at Mizta. "Shall we head to the bridge?" he asked. The Doctor nodded and then continued down the corridor, John in tow.

Arriving twenty minutes later, John could see two large armoured doors as they approached. Standing near to them were the twins. Seeing him they both smiled and then bowed their heads.

"We're sorry for what we did," the twins said in unison.

John smiled at them when they stood up again, "that's okay," he said, "at least you've apologised," Taki held out her pad and John saw the Doctor place her right thumb onto it. Zoki did the same thing to John and he copied Mizta. Once both pads had beeped, he could hear the doors unlock and slowly open.

Following behind Doctor Mizta as she walked onto the bridge, John looked around. Unlike the parts of the ship he had already seen, the walls of the bridge were split in two. The upper half was the same light grey he had seen as he walked the ship's corridors, while the lower half was a darker grey. The shape of the bridge was an oval, and he guessed it was around thirty meters by fifteen with the ceiling around fifteen feet high. John could also see a circular light in the middle of the ceiling, which was bright enough to light the majority of the bridge. The entrance to the bridge was on the righthand side of the oval, a series of unknown, boxy machines were positioned on either side of the door.

Looking to his right, towards the front of the bridge, John could see a large hologram, projected onto the curved wall. Positioned so that the hologram was in front of them, were three rows of curved computer consoles and each one was manned by a Viper. Two were at the front, then three, and the last row had five Vipers, he could see that each one was busy working. Getting his attention, Mizta lead John towards a raised platform located just off centre to the rear of the bridge, and as he walked up the steps, John could see two large chairs, one positioned behind and above the other. Behind those, he could see a large door. John saw that Doctor Mizta had stopped next to what looked like a table, with a bright green hologram projected above it. Standing around the table was a group of Vipers, two of which were taller than the rest.