Authors Note:
Firstly I want to apologize for not having this out sooner, I've had a lot of personal issues to deal with over the past couple of months. But fear not for those of you who are interested this series is not done yet. I wish I could promise more regular updates but as the last few months have shown me I can't rely on any of the free time I think I have.
There was also originally going to be more to this chapter but I have decided to split it up into two parts for reasons. I also am planning to go back and rewrite the old chapters to fix plot inconsistencies. I would also like to thank a Drunken Editor for helping me out with some of this chapter. Thank you for reading and please enjoy.
Humaboo Anon
*****
Tashaiea groaned. Something was poking at her. She turned herself over, grabbing a fistful of blankets as she did. There was a moments peace before the poking returned. She swatted at it, still not willing to open her eyes to see what it was. Her four fingered hand failed to connect with whatever it was and a moment later it returned.
"Go away." The young Kai'ani woman groaned.
The poking stopped and a low and somehow familiar voice followed it up. "Ah, so you are awake." A male voice said.
Tashaiea shifted around in the bed again, trying to once again find that perfect comfy spot she had been in before the poking so rudely interrupted her. Without opening her eyes she responded to the voice.
"No, I'm sleeping. Go away." She mumbled to the voice.
"Huh?" The voice once again responded.
"I said I'm still sleeping." Tashaiea said again, attempting to fight her body now trying to fully wake up.
The voice chuckled. "Tash, don't make me get my translator. Come on, it's time to get up."
"What are..." Tashaiea suddenly realized that the voice was speaking English and she... wasn't. Slowly she opened her eyes to see her male... her boyfriend, standing over the bed beside her. Tashaiea rubbed her eyes and sat up. "You should learn to speak Teheki." The sleepy woman said, in English this time.
John smiled at her. "You know, I've been trying. But my teacher appears to be in bed, hungover again."
Tashaiea sat up a little further in the bed.
"I'm not..." Almost as if right on queue a flash of nausea and head pain shot through her.
She could see John's smile widen. She knew he could see the look of discomfort on her face. Tashaiea waited a moment for the nausea to pass before continuing.
"Ok, maybe I am a little hungover." The Kai'ani confessed.
"That makes, what? Three times this trip so far?" John jabbed at her, barely containing a laugh. "You and Petran make quite a pair."
"We're not a pair." Tashaiea protested. "We're just friends."
That caused John to laugh.
"Whatever you say, dear." The Human said before handing her a bottle of water and a few small pills. "I went to the infirmary and got these for your hangover. Figured you'd need them this morning."
Tashaiea took the offered items and quickly downed the pills. Nearly the entire bottle of water was gone before she even realized she had drank it. She must have been really thirsty, she thought. She finished off the water and returned to look at John's amused and smiling face. He was just... gorgeous to her. All the proportions were just right. He was so alien, so... exotic. She knew that many among her people would look down on her for taking a male from outside the species. Because what female in her right mind would want to destroy her genetic line with something so obviously incompatible and alien? A question she would undoubtedly be getting from her own family. And one that she would probably struggle to answer.
She doubted they would understand. Maybe it was because they couldn't understand. Maybe there was something wrong with her head. A random genetic defect that made her attracted to a xeno instead of her own people. She had almost never heard of anyone, especially in her family, who had claimed someone from out of the Kai'ani. It mostly seemed to be something that other species did. Still not very often, but certainly more often than hers. Regardless she couldn't change how she felt. If it was a genetic defect, it suited her just fine. Everyone else just didn't know what they were missing.
"What?" John said, snapping Tashaiea out of her train of thoughts. She now realized she had been staring at him for a good minute. She pushed her hair out of her face and looked back at John.
"How did you know I was going to be hungover? Tashaiea asked, motioning at the now empty bottle.
"You don't remember?" John asked. Tash shook her head. John smiles and continued. "I had to carry you back to the room from Petran's last night. After dinner you two went to go spend some 'girl time'," John held up two finger on each of his hands quickly curled them down twice as he said the words. Tashaiea wasn't exactly sure what the hand gesture meant, so she just assumed he was mocking her. "And when you didn't come back to the room after a few hours I went to investigate and found you in Petran's room, drunk out of your mind, slumped in one of her chairs and giggling like you had just heard the funniest thing in the world. So I picked you up and carried you across the ship back to our room while you insisted on telling me how pretty I was and, this is what my translator said, that you wanted to 'swallow my meat pole'."
Tashaiea cringed at that last part. She vaguely remembered being carried and saying something like that. But she had thought it was just a dream. Apparently that wasn't all she said either. Tash shifted uncomfortably on the bed as she listened to John recount to her about how when they got back to the room she had tried to seduce him with a strip show, but had instead tripped on her pants while she was trying to get them off and fell face first on the floor. John had rushed over to make sure she was okay, but she had just fallen asleep right there on the floor, with her top naked and her pants around her ankles. So he had finished undressing her, put her to bed and went off to the infirmary to get some medicine for her for the morning. Tashaiea had to admit, it was most certainly the most embarrassing thing she had ever heard someone tell her about herself. She was almost glad she couldn't remember it. Well, most of it anyways.
"The Captain made an announcement not long ago that we would be arriving in the Seya system soon." John told her, changing the subject after taking a few moments to chuckle and smile like an idiot at his girlfriends reaction to her previous night's escapades. "So I thought we could wait here until we have to strap in for deceleration then head out and grab something to eat. Captain said one hour, so it shouldn't be too long now."
John had been correct about that. No sooner had Tashaiea finsihed getting dressed then the Captain came over the ship wide PA system announcing that they were about to commence deceleration. The couple strapped in and waited. A few minutes after a crewman came by to make sure everyone was secure, the ship began it's deceleration out of warp. Tash shut her eyes as hard as she could. Normal warp transitions made her a little woozy, and she certainly wasn't in her peak condition at the moment. A nauseous wave crashed over her. She tried as hard as she could to keep her composure and not vomit all over herself. After a short few agonizing seconds the nausea was gone and they were back in normal space.
The Captain once again came over the PA informing their passengers of their successful deceleration and to welcome them to the Seya system. They were also informed that from their current position it would take them about three hours to reach the starport terminal they were scheduled to dock at. Three hours, Tashaiea thought. Three hours and she would only be a short shuttle ride away from her hometown. Three hours until she had to face her mother and try to explain John to her. Tashaiea let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding in.
"You alright?" She could hear John ask from beside her. He had just started unbuckling his harness from his crash chair.
"Fine, I'm fine." Tashaiea lied. "Just feeling little sick."
"Need me to go to the infirmary and get you something?" John asked once again.
"No, I think I just need food." Tash replied, unbuckling herself as well. "Soak up the alcohol with something."
"Alright, if you insist." John said, standing in front of her and offering his hand.
Tashaiea took it and her Human pulled her to her feet with that ease she had become so familiar with. The young Kai'ani woman had never really known she wanted strength in a male. It wasn't really what one looked for. Strength of character maybe, but not physical strength. She had always been stronger than all the boys, as was fairly custom. Because what self respecting woman would let themselves be seen as weaker than a male? Of course there was the biological factor. Kai'ani females had to birth young, so of course they would have to be larger and stronger to provide for them. But there was also the social aspect to it. Sure, people wouldn't normally come out and say it, but there was a stigma to being seen as weaker than a male, weaker than the ones who couldn't carry life within them.
That she had become attracted to that part of John was probably another sign that there was something wrong in her head. She knew it was different for his species. The males were the biologically stronger ones. Just a product of their evolution. And John was a special case as well. He wasn't just naturally strong but conditioned through years of military service and training. Even though he was technically crippled he could still outperform most others. The thought put a smile on her face. Yep, there was definitely something wrong with her.
The couple left their room and walked towards the dining room. The ship seemed to be more in a buzz of activity than it had been over the previous week. The corridors were full of passengers. Families, business types, tourists... All seeming to get prepared for their docking at the spaceport.Evidently John had decided to pack all their belongings the previous night in anticipation for the morning. He definitely was more organized than she was. Tashaiea knowing herself would have probably just left it all to the last possible minute and scrambled around as they were docking, shoving things in bags and not so much caring where they went. They entered the dining room and took a seat by a window. The light of Seya itself was now filtering into the room. It had been years since she had seen the Light Giver of Kai: The yellow dwarf star that had given life to her home planet and all of the Kai'ani species. The thought that she was just that much closer to home put a smile on her face.
"You want some Felpei this morning?" John asked her, interrupting her reverie of home.
"Uhh, not this morning." Tashaies replied. The thought of the sweetness of her favorite dessert put her stomach a little on edge. "Maybe just some bread or something."
"Wow, you not wanting Felpei?" John said, faking a gasp and smiling. "You must really still be drunk."
