Page 6 of Ngozii's Plight

Sitting down in the open seat, I lean over, holding my head between my legs as I take deep breaths, forcing the nausea to pass. Vahru doesn’t seem nearly as affected as I am by this jump through space, so he focuses on resetting the auto pilot for me so I can breathe. I must admit, it’s amazing to be able to literally jump through space like that, making a journey so short, but it’s also disorienting. It’s difficult to describe such a feeling, almost like falling from a great height but sideways. I felt like my stomach was left behind on the other side of the portal and had to catch up. Wrapping my arms around my thighs to hold them around my head, I take long, deep breaths in my nose and out my mouth to settle my body. After a few moments of listening to keys clacking and the beeping of buttons, Vahru’s large, warm hand slides along my back in a soothing motion.

“Will you be all right, Princess? Should I grab a bucket?”

I chuckle, shaking my head but refusing to sit up. “No, I should be fine in a moment. Just need to let my stomach settle. It’s like a bad roller coaster.”

He huffs a silent laugh and continues to rub my back, helping to ground me. “I’ve set the autopilot for a slow drift back home, we have time. We could land in a matter of minutes if you want or we can drift here for a bit before heading in.”

“A few moments would be nice.”

He steps away in silence, typing on the control console, no doubt sending a message to Garvon to alert him to our impending arrival. I slowly sit up and watch him for a moment as I let my body settle. His long black hair is tied in a neat braid along his back for the first time, small wisps framing his handsome face. His bright blue eyes scan the screen in front of him, back and forth, as he types and rereads his message before sending it. He has on dark blue pants and a tan shirt that Willa made, the material soft and just tight enough to see his figure.

Standing, I slide a hand along his arm, relishing the feel of his muscles beneath my fingers before gliding past him to the window, staring out at the beautiful planets in front of us. The sun is shining behind Tumbilion, barely visible, the small earth-like planet off to the left a pale comparison of beauty next to the brightly colored giant. A ship flies off to the right, surprising me for a moment before I remember the cities all have interstellar travel.

My eyes focus on the earth-like planet for a long moment, making me homesick, before my gaze slides back to Tumbilion. My lips tug up in a smile as I think about how happy I’ll be to see Willa’s smile again, to hear Jeff’s voice, and to feel Melodia’s tentacles embrace me once more. My friends are all there, waiting anxiously for my return. It’s been a long and quiet few weeks as we’ve traveled to Ithosirah, but we’ve come home in a literal flash. It’s disorienting, but I’m glad to be home.

Having this new technology will make things so much easier in the future. If there’s another incident like what happened with the Sautiitions, this time, we’ll make it there in plenty of time to save them. With the new comms, I’ll never have to go a day without contact with my best friend. I’ll always know how my people are doing, if they need me to come home.

It’s those fears of something happening while I’m unavailable that make me anxious. As a captain in space, I never left my crew, we did everything together. Leaving Jeff, Willa, and the girls on Tumbilion was a tough choice, but a necessary one. We needed this, and it was better that they were there to watch over Criido’s recovery. God, I hope he’s feeling better. I can only hope that there have been no more attacks by Tavionna in my absence. If something has happened to them, I don’t know that I could forgive myself for leaving, even if it was a necessity.

We still have much to sort out about this Tavionna and how to handle this situation. She may be his long lost daughter, but that doesn’t explain why she wants him gone to take his place. This can’t just be about her getting back at him for being absent in her life. That wasn’t even his fault. There’s something we’re missing. Annoyingly, no matter how I try to analyze her actions or words, I can’t seem to find the piece to the puzzle. Either she hasn’t clued us in, revealing a hint of what the issue is, or I’m not analyzing enough. The loops that my thoughts circle through day after day cause my head to pound, aching as I fight to figure this out.

On top of that, how did she even figure out who he was or how to reach him? She’s supposed to live on a planet with no technology, nothing to reach the outside universe, so what means does she communicate by? How did she get that poisoned treat to Criido’s study? Where does she get her information if not from sources like the internet or other people? Her people supposedly never leave and don’t let in outsiders, so she couldn’t possibly know of us unless her mother told her, and if she didn’t tell Criido, why would she tell Tavionna? Since we don’t have much information about her world or her people, it’s tough to get answers. I may have to make a trip there myself and discuss this with her. Not that anyone will want to let me since I may be risking my life, but it’s to save my chief, my village. I will do what I must.

Another ship sails off into the stars, grabbing my attention, and I study the giant planet before me. I’m also meant to somehow mend this massive divide in the Nyan community, but how? Where do I even begin? Studying history, perhaps, learning about how the divide came about, seeing how it’s progressed may help. Then what? I can’t just yell at people to get over their issues, so I’ll have to be creative. Who knows how long that could take. If this is something that came about due to a person or group, there may be a way to reverse the damage they did by exposing them, stopping them. Then again, how does one undo centuries of mental poisoning? These people have been bred and raised to hate each other over minute differences, and hate like that is not easily removed. Just look at Earth and all the fighting over the years over simple skin color differences and religions. These things don’t just go away, not even with war.

Not to mention that I’m destined to be some savior to those among the stars, helping species of peoples all over the universe. How am I meant to run a village, a planet more like, and go galavanting through space to help people I don’t even know!?

I rub at my temples, my head hurting from all this. It’s a lot to drop on my shoulders, and, at times, I can push it all aside to focus on the one mission at hand, but there are always moments like this when the weight of it all comes crashing down, and I’m lost among the rubble. Is this all really something I can even accomplish? This destiny of mine is heavy and difficult, and I fear that I’ll fail, hurting so many in the process. Failure isn’t an option, though, so I keep finding things to cling to to help me get through, reasons to keep fighting.

Large hands knead my shoulders, my eyes catching his reflection in the glass as my head rolls back, falling into his chest as he chuckles. “The weight of the universe is not yours alone to bear, Princess. Don’t forget that you have a team of people behind you to help with all of this. It’s why we went on this errand, why we bought all this stuff. Let us help you carry it.”

My eyes close as my shoulders relax, the tension fading from me. He’s right, I do have a team behind me. Jeff has been handling the day to day goings on in the village in my absence, and before I left, he had a team of his own to help him. He’s got that handled for me. Tonya and Melodia have been nursing the chief back to health, so that’s covered. Vahru is always with me to make sure I care for myself and have backup. I’m never alone in my missions.

Turning to face him, I grin and slide my arms around his neck, lifting onto my toes for a kiss. “What would I do without you?”

Chuckling as he kisses me back, he presses me into the glass, our kiss deepening as we cling to each other. When he pulls back, his breath slightly labored, I fight myself for control, struggling not to simply devour him right here. This newly formed bond between us is strong, allowing us to feel emotions from each other, sometimes snippets of thoughts, too. It’s odd, and amazing, and only heightens my attraction for the man. It seems I’m not the only one who struggles to fight the intense emotions and need because he gravitates to me, teases me, just as much as I do him.

“I can’t think of you without me, I never want to think of that. You’re with me now and will be forevermore. Any way I want you, isn’t that right?”

My left eyebrow jumps as I stare at him, noting the way his voice drops, his body pressing into mine as he tells me without words where his thoughts have gone. Licking my lips, I pull my bottom one between my teeth and watch as his swirling blue orbs track every movement. “Is my big purple pussy eater hungry for more already?” I put a sweet lilt into my tone, teasing him as I run a finger along his bottom lip, tracing it.

He growls, lifting me in a swift motion as he storms across the bridge, whirling around as he drops my ass onto the control console. I laugh as he quickly unzips the captain jumpsuit I’m wearing, shoving it off my shoulders so it pools around my waist.

“I was going to make you change out of this before we landed anyway. No time like the present. Speaking of…” He steps back, letting my feet drop to the floor as he slowly lowers himself into the chair in front of me, his pants tenting tightly over his cock. “Once you’ve removed that ugly jumpsuit, I want you to present yourself to me, right here on this console.”

I huff out a laugh before realizing how serious he is. Swallowing, I decide to make it even more fun and turn around, bending at the waist as I slowly step out of the suit. He growls as his hands grip the armrests of the small chair, his control waning as I tease him. With my back still to him, I slip out of the makeshift bra I made from his old shirt, dropping it to the side in a flourish, before I spin around and lean myself back onto the console. It takes a bit of shimmying to get up onto the smooth surface, but I manage. Luckily, he’s locked the touchscreen so we won’t be sending ass mail to anyone.

Once my ass is balanced, just barely, on the edge of the console, I lean back on my elbows, the sloped surface keeping me mostly upright. Opening my legs slowly, I grin at him and await his next move. When he doesn’t even blink, his gaze glued to my body, I clear my throat. “Well, come and get it.”

Sliding the chair forward, he quickly lifts my legs, knocking me flat onto my back as he throws them on his shoulders, his tongue sinking into me before I can get my bearings. All I can do is sigh, holding onto the edges of the console as he devours me as if I’m his oasis in the desert, and, damn, is it a wonderful thing to be.

Pulling back, he bites at my inner thigh, making me scream in surprise at the sharp sting. “I want to hear you scream my name, Princess. We don’t dock this ship until I hear it, understood?”

Nodding, I take that challenge, noting that he didn’t say he wanted to hear it right now, just before we’re done. Of course, that means I get to draw this out as long as I want. He thinks he has control, but he just handed me the reins.

This time, when he dives back down, his fingers sink into me, his tongue attacking my clit with swirls and strokes that have me seeing stars way sooner than expected. His fingers curl into that magic spot within me, and it takes all my control to not scream his name. I moan, sigh, and scream, but it’s nothing but noise.

He growls as I refuse to do as I’m told, his ministrations growing more fierce as he attempts to pull his name from me, but, still, I fight. Only once I’m shaking and sensitive does he relent and pull back, standing to shuck his own clothes.

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