Commander Zesta was standing in the station's docking bay, waiting for the Captain's Dropship to arrive. Once she had secured two guards for the Terran male, Zesta had made her way with them and several members of the station's command personnel. Due to the size of Border Station Five, Cruiser class ships were too large to land and so everyone onboard the Pride of the Matriarchy had to use Dropships. As Zesta waited, she looked around and could see two that Destroyers had docked since the small fleet, commanded by Captain Ema, had entered the system.
Both ships were sat next to each other, a dozen or so pipes and cables had been attached to their respective hulls, their purpose was to refuel and charge each ship. The streamlined grey hulls of the two Destroyers shined in the light of the hangar and Zesta could see that the armoured bays of their Vortex engines had been opened, the station's engineers performing routine maintenance checks. She watched as a nearby engineer ignited their Jump Pack, the two jets on either side of the boxy device launching her up in the low gravity of the hangar.
Something moved within her peripheral vision and Commander Zesta turned away from the Destroyers and watched as a large, dark grey Dropship pushed itself through the thin, light blue shield of the docking bay, beyond it was the airless vacuum of the Arroganza system. The Dropship's four engines, located on each corner of the boxy craft, activated and then rotated so that they were pointing down, their combined thrust slowing the craft as it descended onto its designated landing pad. When the Dropship was about six feet above the pad, four sets of landing gear, one near each corner, lowered and with a metallic crunch it landed.
Commander Zesta and her entourage walked up to the Dropship and waited for the side door to open. With a hiss and a mechanical clanking, the door unlocked and slowly began to open, an automated ramp lowering from the craft and Zesta was bathed in red light, emanating from inside the Dropship. Standing at the top of the ramp was Captain Ema, the light of the hangar shining off her obsidian black scales. Zesta could also see how bright the Captain's bioluminescence was as it glowed a lovely warm purple.
"Captain Ema," the Commander said while stepping forward and slamming her right fist against her chest, "may I be the first to welcome you to Border Station Five," she then retracted her hood and bowed. The Commander's entourage copied her salute and bow.
"Thank you for your warm welcome, Commander," Captain Ema replied, Zesta could hear her descend the ramp, the clink of her Uniform's claws tapping on the ramp as she walked down it. Standing up again, the Commander could see Matriarch Theka had appeared.
"On behalf of the entire crew of the station, may I also welcome you, Matriarch Theka," she said, and again Commander Zesta saluted, retracted her hood and then bowed, deeply. Zesta could hear her entourage copy her movements.
"You don't need to be so formal Zesta," Theka replied with a warm smile, she too made her way down the ramp. Zesta stood up straight again and saw that the Terran male had appeared in the doorway of the Dropship.
"Are you sure the pilot knew what they were doing?" he asked.
Commander Zesta was surprised by how much she found the Terran male attractive. Granted he did not have any scales, a tail, or even any bioluminescence, however, the Terran did have lovely smooth skin and he was taller than Viper males. He smiled at Zesta as he walked down the ramp and the Commander watched how friendly he was with the Matriarch.
"May I present to you, Captain John Lawrence," Matriarch Theka said, pointing towards the Terran male with her right hand. Without realising it, Zesta and her entourage saluted the Terran.
"Were they meant to do that?" John asked, looking a bit confused.
"While you are not a part of the Matriarchy," the Commander said, "you are a Captain. I thought it best to provide you with the appropriate respect," Zesta then smiled at John when she finished talking.
"Commander," Captain Ema said as she stepped forward, "I assume you have made available a Primary Male Suite for John?" she asked.
"Yes, Captain," Zesta nodded, "it is located in the VIP section of the station's living quarters, and I have also assigned these two to guard him," she then gestured towards two female Vipers standing closeby.
*****
John looked to the left of Commander Zesta and watched as the two guards stepped forward. The primary scale colour for the guard on the left was white, while the secondary colour was a dark blue (without the lights of the hangar it could be mistaken for black), that ran up the top of their blunt nose, up their head and down the back of their hood. The dark scales also started from just below their lower jaw, down their neck, chest and abdomen, past their groin, the inside of their thick thighs, and then ending on the soles of their feet. The guard on the right had the same scale colours but the other way round. They also shared the same bright, neon blue bioluminescence which made their eyes, mouth, and tongue glow blue.
What surprised John the most, however, was their uniform or lack of it. Unlike the skintight Nanosuits worn by the crew on board the Cruiser, the two guards had thigh-high leather boots (minus the actual boot, due to their claws and digitigrade legs), a Viper equivalent of a thong, leather sleeves on each arm that had spikes at both ends and were attached via a strap and buckle (similar to a belt), fingerless leather gloves, and the most surprising part - a blue fishnet crop top. John tried his best not to stare at the two glowing pairs of bright blue nipples, which bounced as the guards walked forwards.
"This is Nisku and Etsala," Commander Zesta said, gesturing to the Viper on the left and then the right.
"Not to sound rude," John said, interrupting the Commander before she could continue, "but what are they wearing?" he asked. Nisku and Etsala looked at each other and then looked back at John, looking at what he was wearing. Nisku winked at John when she made eye contact with him.
"Both Nisku and Etsala are the Station's best guards," the Commander replied, "you can normally find them working in the best Brothel the station has, and they are very experienced with preventing females from getting too close to the males we have on board," she finished and then made eye contact with John. "Is there something wrong with what they are wearing?" she asked.
"Oh er no, they both look great," John said and saw that both guards were smiling.
"That's good to hear, now as I was saying, " Zesta continued, "I have assigned them to be your guards during your stay on the station. Because you are the only Terran male on board, they will ensure you don't get harassed," the Commander then looked up at Captain Ema, "we have also made a VIP suite available to you Captain," she said.
"Thank you, Commander," Captain Ema replied.
"If it's okay with you, I'll be heading to my quarters," Matriarch Theka said as Uszu walked down the ramp, carrying what John thought was a suitcase. Theka took hold of her steward's free arm and pulled him alongside her as the Matriarch headed for the nearby doors, which lead into the station proper.
"I assume you have received the docking requests from the fleet, as well as the Pride's Dropships?" Captain Ema asked the Commander.
"Yes, Captain," she nodded, "as you can see," Zesta then gestured towards the Destroyers nearby, "we've received two of your Destroyers, and we expect the other ships to dock soon," the Commander then looked back at John, "if you could follow your guards, they'll take you to your suite," she said and then smiled when John looked up at her.
"Okay, sure," he said and then walked up to the Nisku and Etsala, both Vipers smiling at John when he stopped in front of them. "Hello," he said, looking up at them.
"Hello, handsome," Nisku replied, "Hello to you too," said Etsala, "I'll lead the way," Nisku said and then turned about and walked towards the exit.
"Before I forget," Commander Zesta called out as John followed behind Nisku, "feel free to enjoy them, they'll be staying in your suite," she then watched as they left the hangar. Turning to face the Captain, Zesta looked up at her "will the Terran be okay?" she asked.
"Oh, John will be fine," Ema replied, "he managed to survive an encounter with Officer Thissa," the Captain said, Zesta hissed at the mention of the Officer's name.
"You still owe me for the last time she came on board," the Commander said.
*****
Estala watched John as she walked behind him. The first thing she had noticed was that he was taller than the average Viper male. His body also appeared to have a slightly muscular physique to it, just noticeable under the dark grey Nanosuit he was wearing. When John approached Nisku and herself, she had noticed that the Nanos around his groin were thicker than normal. Thinking about it as they walked along the outer corridor of the hangar, Estala remembered reading about Terran sexual organs, and how, unlike Viper males, theirs were external.
"What do you think of our station?" Nisku asked as she turned her head and looked back at John. Estala guessed he was lost in thought as he seemed surprised by the question.
"From what I've seen so far, it looks nice," he replied.
"Perhaps when you've had a rest, you would like a tour?" Estala asked. She watched as John turned around and started to walk backwards, she smiled at him when he looked up.
"That would be nice," he answered, with a smile. John then turned back around and continued to follow close behind Nisku.
After about ten minutes of walking along the corridor they were in, Estala smiled to herself when she noticed that both of John's buttcheeks wobbled slightly as he walked. Looking up at her sister, she wondered if John was enjoying the view. The light from the corridor was shining off her sister's scales, buffed not too long ago by Estala. "I hope John is good with a buffer," she asked herself. Returning to what was in front of her, Estala could see how her sister's buttcheeks were wobbling. "How's the view?" she asked.
"Sorry, what?" John asked as both guards laughed.
"Don't mind my sister," Nisku replied, "she's only playing," she said and then walked up to a pair of doors to their right. Nisku placed her right hand against the palm reader and after a few beeps, the two doors slid open.
"This is the VIP section of the station," Estala said as the three of them walked through the now open doors.
From where they were standing, Estala could see three matching corridors, one to their left, one to their right, and the last was directly in front of them. The floor, walls and ceiling of each corridor were padded, similar in design to the standard quarter's of the station or a Matriarchy vessel, however, what made them different was the quality of the material used and the softness. Hanging from the ceiling, at set intervals, were simple chandeliers, gold in colour and they emitted a pleasant and warm glow.
"This was not what I was expecting," John said as he looked around. Estala watched as John removed his pad from his right thigh and deactivated the Nanos from around his feet. After a flash of neon blue, she cocked her head to one side as she looked at his feet.
"They look weird," Estala said. John turned to look up at her and then down at his feet. Nisku turned around and also looked down.
"No claws, how weird," she said.
"Hey, no foot shaming" John complained and went to reactive the Nanos. Estala stepped forward and placed her large right hand on John's.
"Sorry," she said looking down at him, "you did it for a reason," Estala then stepped back, removing her hand.
"I was curious to see what it felt like," John said, looking up at her and smiling. She returned the smile. "It does feel nice," Estala stated.
