If I have to say one thing about my time on Vax’s ship, it’s that he certainly knows how to have fun. Well, sort of. I know that the big blue-skinned oaf has a soft side to him, and I know there is personality behind those serious eyes of his, but he’s uptight so much of the time, that it’s easy to lose track of all that.

There is no denying that he is good in the bedroom department though, and in those next few days I quickly become a big fan of our activities behind closed doors. While Vax still refuses to engage me in regular old sex, we do pretty much everything leading up to that. At first it’s limited to the confines of his bedroom, but soon after our insatiable lust spills out into the hallways of his ship. Stealing fevered kisses in empty hallways, making excuses to get a spare five minutes from our Riga guests.

He takes me in all sorts of places. The engine bays. The bridge. The artificial gardens. He lifts me against walls, throw my legs over his powerful shoulders and smooths those lips over my sex until I’m howling for air. Needless to say, I’m a fan of intimate time with Vax. I never figured I’d be a fan of the old ‘Christian-loophole’ sex, but I quickly grow to love it. The mornings just don’t feel the same without that numb warmth from the night before.

Despite our physical compatibility, there are definite personality clashes between myself and the brute that continue to infuriate me. I’m always referred to as property, and though Vax has made efforts to stick around after we have a little fun, his presence feels forced and I get the impression he is only doing it because I asked him to. His indifference almost makes me feel like I am being the needy one, but I feel more than justified. He’s supposedly taken me for some mating program. Wasn’t I entitled to expect some sort of emotional attachment beyond our animalistic mating?

He makes me feel like I’m a household plant that holds some magical ability to mate. I air the grievance to the Riga girls one day while Vax is busy on the bridge, navigating us through an asteroid cluster (whatever hell that is.)

“Oh honey, that’s just the way Argonians are…” Loola says while letting out a large laugh. Her brows dance as if to say she’s not surprised, and she shares a knowing look with Phasma and Vyra. We’re all sat at a table in the Deteraz (a small mess hall), sharing some much-needed girl talk. I figured they would understand Vax better than I, as their races were almost co-dependent.

“I just want him to try and have some emotional connection with me,” I say. “Our physical connection is great, but there’s no emotional attachment at all…”

“I had an Argonian boyfriend once,” Phasma says. “Lasted a few weeks before I had to call it quits. Don’t get me wrong. Best sex I’ve ever had in my life, but to the Argonians women’s emotional needs are not a concern. They are built for fighting and fucking. And they are great at both. Anything else? Not so much.”

“Stubborn creatures,” Vyra says with a nod. “That’s why we’re in this situation in the first place. “The Argonian’s stubbornness is the only reason the shield around earth fell.”

I smile politely but don’t engage the subject. It seemed the Argonians and the Riga both thought the other was equally responsible for the Horkax invasion. Both had made mistakes in my opinion but trying to make them understand that was next to impossible. Thankfully, Monroe’s voice fills the room at that point, and we don’t have to get into that argument for the thousandth time that week.

“Attention passengers. We will be arriving at the Riga Mothership very shortly. Please prepare for landing.”

“Home!” Loola screams, jumping up from the table in time with her servants. I smile in excitement as I watch their joy, and we all run back to our rooms to get ready for landing. I see the approaching figure of the massive Riga mothership through a window on the way back and stand in awe.

The mothership is a shallow bowl that must be several thousand miles across. A large glass dome extends above the bowl. In between the dome and the bottom of the bowl there is a futuristic-looking city of sparkling silver towers which are interspersed with beautiful cyan-colored trees and flowers of a thousand different colors.

“This is your home?” I say to Loola, who is stood beside me with tears in her eyes.

“Our mothership home,” she says, nodding to me in pride. “Come on! Let’s get dressed and we’ll show you around!”

* * *

Vax stations the ship on a landing platform which stands high on the Riga skyline. Loola and her servants disembark with an almost childish excitement, running onto the platform and meeting the welcoming Riga who are waiting for us at the edge of the landing pad.

The welcoming party is comprised of more slender-figured alien women, all with robes and hair of varying shades. The party is a dozen strong, and the woman at the center does most of the talking.

“Welcome back Princess Loola. It is a relief to have you back home with us.” The woman narrows her intelligent eyes on Vax and I. “You must be the saviors. The Argonian and his human female. We are very glad to have you here with us. You are most welcome to stay.”

“Let’s cut to the chase,” Vax says with some abruptness. “We rescued your kind when they were stranded to the Horkax. I need an interstellar engine enhancement in return. Please install it as fast as possible, so my human and I can be on our way.”

His boldness takes me off guard, but it doesn’t surprise the welcoming Riga woman. I remind myself that she is probably used to Argonian hospitality. She smiles slightly and continues. “Of course, you will be rewarded for your heroic efforts, Vax Enzala, but let us have our welcoming feast first and accommodate you as guests. We have seen no Argonian males since the Horkax invasion and will need to discuss the attack before we let you go.”

And so, we enter the world of the Riga. The night devolves into an evening of high-dining, refined conversation and alien entertainment that is mesmerizing and unlike anything I have ever seen before. I did wonder frequently what a world would be like where there are only women, and our first night with the Riga reveals it to me: not bad.

Our welcoming party takes us on a tour across the Riga home-city. Loola informs us that we are their honored guests and are rewarded as such with a taste of the finest things the Riga have to offer. We eat at exquisite restaurants. Riga food is sweet and easy to stomach, even for a human like me. Bonnix—the elder Riga that welcomed us—takes us to an Opera of some sorts, where the singers are somehow suspended in the air amongst a three-dimensional grid of lasers that make shapes which look surreal to my human eyes.

The entertainment and high-conversation are something of a relief to me after being trapped on Vax’s ship for the last few days. There’s a charming female intelligence to the Riga kind that is ever-pervasive and comforting. I can tell that Vax hates being here from the get go. He quickly realizes his Argonian ‘manners’ aren’t going to fly here with the Riga, so he resigns himself to sulking quietly in the background and complaining under his breath.

It’s quite fun to watch him suffer.

Vax might be keen to get his interstellar-whatever and fly off into the sunset with me back in his grasp, but I’m more than happy to spend some time here with the Riga, talking with people that can hold conversations about things that extend outside of combat and sex.

It just so happens that I’m in luck, and my wishes are granted the next morning when Loola visits Vax’s ship to relay an update on the engine enhancements he wanted.

“What do you mean it will take a week?! We cannot wait that long!” Vax roars.

Loola rolls her eyes at Vax and decides to finish the conversation with me while Vax storms about, throwing heavy things across the cargo bay. “Vax might not like it, but he’ll just have to wait.” She leans in closer and whispers to me. “The truth is we have the parts he wants and we can fit them now, but our elders wish to talk about the events leading up to the shield failing. We want to understand what happened and how it happened. Can you talk him into staying?”

“I can try,” I shrug. “But you know what Vax is like.” I look across the room at the rampaging alien and pull a face to indicate my uncertainty.

“I know what Argonians are like,” Loola says. “I’ll be the first to admit that we can be as head-strong as they are. My elders are too stubborn to admit that, just as Vax is. If we can get a dialogue going between them though it might help repair our relationship with the Argonians. Right now, neither of our leaders are talking. We don’t know how bad things are at the Argonian mothership. Vax was there when the invasion started. If he can help us understand we might be able to repair that relationship and help protect earth from the next Horkax attack.”

Vax does calm down eventually after finding out he won’t get his toys right away, and he agrees to go with the elder Bonnix for a meeting with the Riga elders. I’m not allowed to go apparently (being human) so Loola decides to show me more of the mothership while Vax is entangled in long and boring council meetings.

We fly across the city skyline in her personal ship. She takes us to the city outskirts and flies us into a cyan-shaded countryside. Broad fields of blue and sprawling azure forests stretch below us like crystal lakes of fir.

As it turns out the Argonians weren’t the only ones that were damaged in the Horkax invasion. The scenery is captivating until fire and ash comes over the horizon. Loola brings the ship to a high point in the air and we hover there. We are on the opposite side of the thousand-mile bowl that acts as the mothership—the side that wasn’t visible to us when we first arrived.

“What happened here?” I gasp as I look down at the wreckage below us. Hundreds of miles of forest and countryside have been reduced to black. There are smaller towns of spiral towers here, and all are burned. It reminds me of the brief devastation I saw back on earth.

“Bonnix informs me the Riga mothership was on the way to assist the Argonians when the Horkax attacked. We have never had a problem facing their kind in space before now. They must have acquired new technology since our last battle because their weaponry has advanced greatly. The Horkax hit our ship with one solitary blast before Bonnix ordered an instant retreat. A few more hits and our mothership would have been severed in two.”

“Just like the Argonian mothership,” I say, recalling the image of the split ship in my mind. The sheer force of the Horkax’s destructive capabilities sends a chill down my spine. I look down at the destruction below us and feel scared. “How many died?”

“Several thousand,” Loola says with great sadness. “And it would have been much worse if Bonnix didn’t pull out of there immediately. The attack that downed my own ship was equally surprising. I doubt we would have escaped were it not for you and Vax. Now I’m back here I will be helping those that were hurt in the attack.”

Something beats in my chest and I feel an opportunity. A chance has presented itself and I jump at it. “Then let me help too.”

Loola leans back with surprise, staring back at me from the other side of the cockpit. “Really?”

“Yes. If we’re going to be here for the next week or so, then I want to help. I refuse to sit around on Vax’s ship while he slams his head against your panel of elders. I already feel helpless as it is not having a chance to go back and help earth. I want to do something Loola. Let me help you.”

A tear of gratitude rolls down Loola’s golden cheek before she lunges across the cockpit and smothers me in a delicate hug. I’ve never been one for hugs, and I’m extremely uncomfortable, but she feels so fragile that I let her have her moment. She pulls back and laughs at herself a moment later.

“Never let it be said that humans aren’t compassionate. Of course, you can help me Piper Denzel. I am honored to have you by my side. We can come back later in the week.”

“Why not now?” I say with a questioning shrug. “Vax is going to be in talks with your elders all day. I’ve nothing better to do.”

“Well… sure! Let’s go!” Loola takes our ship down to the surface and we spend the next couple of hours with Riga that survived the Horkax attack. We talk with farmer-women, we help country folk clear roadways and use laser-guns to haul piles of rubble into giant skips that have been stationed everywhere. There’s never really a question of what we’re meant to do next, and we’re never short of things to do. People are delighted that a Riga princess is there among the regular people, and they’re also especially fascinated to see an earthling there too.

The days on the mothership are just a little longer than those on earth, clocking in at about thirty hours, which Loola informs me is the cycle back on their original home planet. “We have the capability to generate artificial sun in the dome,” she says, “but it was damaged during the attack.”

It turns out they have since stationed the mothership by suns which best resemble the sun on their home planet. The mothership is then orientated on its side and turned slowly on a thirty-hour circle, mimicking life back on planet Riga. The sun before us looks as though its setting on the horizon when we finally call it quits for the day. We’re so tired on the flight back that we talk little. My body is aching from the labor, but it’s a good ache filled with positive feeling.

We made a difference today, and it feels good knowing that. I’m starting to think that nothing can ruin the day until Loola and I get back to Vax’s ship. As we touchdown we see him standing there on the landing platform, waiting for us. I hop out of the cockpit with Loola and he storms across the pad to meet me.

“Vax?” I say. “What’s wrong?”

“Just where in the name of Vutaz have you been?!” he yells. “I’ve been looking for you all day!”

“I’ve been helping Loola on the other side of the mothership.” I say. “We were cleaning up the damage from the Horkax attack. What’s wrong?”

“We’re in the company of morons!” he barks. “That’s what’s wrong. Get on the ship now. We’re leaving this place.”

“I take it your talks didn’t go so well,” Loola says dryly. I look from her back to Vax and see the fury in his eyes.

“I will not stand here and be insulted by your elders all week!” he shouts. “They take no responsibility for this war and put the blame solely on the Argonians. Well, I’ll not have it!” He looks back at me. “Get on the ship now. We’re leaving!”

“But Vax—” I begin.

“Now!” he roars. He lifts his hand and I feel the words vibrate around my neck as the Obedion collar takes control of my body. It’s unwarranted, it’s unfair, and I hate it.

“Stop it!” I scream back. “Don’t use this thing on me! Let me go!” My words seem to get through his thick skull, because he does release me, and I drop to the floor. I try to collect my thoughts to get us out of this mess. “Maybe I can help you Vax. I can come with you tomorrow and we can talk to the elders together.”

“If I see those morons again I will kill them Piper, and you have my word on that!” Vax holds his hands behind his head, his chest breathing frantically as he attempts to hold his rage. “No. I cannot do this anymore. Piper and I are leaving. I’ve had enough!”

Vax storms up the ramp to his ship and turns back to face me. “Come Piper. We’re out of here. The days between Argonia and the Riga are over. Our alliance is dead.”