Adventures of Tash and John Ch. 03

The woman tried to give off the warmest smile she could. "You two are very... interesting." She said. "And my curiosity seems to be getting to me. If you wouldn't mind I would like to try to get to know you better."

John smiled and chuckled. "I don't see why not. What do you think, dear?" He asked, turning to face Tash.

"I suppose that would be alright." His mate said, relaxing a little more now. "But first, why don't you tell us who you are."

A flush of green washed over the other woman's face. "Oh gods, my apologies! I should have introduced myself!" The woman exclaimed. "I'm Petran."

John had to admit, after spending so much time around his girlfriends people it was a little odd that Petran introduced herself without using her full name. Nearly every other Kai'ani he had met had done that, including Tash. And by the look on her face, Tash seemed to be thinking something similar.

"I'm John and this is Tashaiea." He said, pointing towards his mate and deciding to use only their given names as well. He then turned and extended a hand towards Petran. "Pleased to meet you."

Petran looked down at his extended hand, then up at him and then towards Tash. John could see a look of confusion in the woman eyes as she did so.

"It's alright." Tash said after a moment, seemingly amused at Petran confusion. "It's how his people greet one another. Grip his hand with yours."

Petran followed Tash's instructions and tentatively gripped John's extended hand with her own. John gave it a light squeeze and a quick shake before releasing her. Petran gave a quick look at her hand before drawing it back towards her person.

"Now," Tashaiea continued. "What did you want to ask?"

Petran refocused herself on John.

"You're human, correct?" She asked.

John was a little surprised she knew his species. The only other Kai'ani to recognize his species was Tash.

"Yes, I am." He replied, wondering where this line of questioning was going.

"I thought so." Petran said with a light amount of confidence in her voice. "Your people have really had an impact over the last few years. I just want to say thank you."

John gave her a quizative look. "Thank me for what?" He asked.

The woman let out a long sigh.

"I used to be a slave to the Breten Hvas." John could hear the pain of an unpleasant memory being dug up in her voice.

"I'm sorry to hear that." John said, having an idea about where this conversation was about to go.

"Well I'm obviously not anymore." Petran said, trying to force a smile. "I'm a surveyor for a construction firm on Artasia-Ra."

"How did you get free?" Tash asked, her previous tension now completely gone.

"I was rescued by a Human ship." Petran stated. "I had just been sold to a new master and was being transferred along with the other purchased slaves when our transport was attacked and boarded by Human soldiers." Petran paused, taking a deep breath. "I thought we were under attack by another pirate faction. We had heard stories of infighting among the pirate clans. Many of their leaders had been killed and new clans were trying to seize power from the old. The new clans wanted to show that they were not to be trifled with, so when they attacked one of their rivals ships, they would not destroy them outright. They would steal their food, water and air and destroy their engines. And that was what we thought was going to happen to us. We were going to be trapped in cages and left to slowly suffocate."

"That's horrible!" Tash cried, covering her chest with her hands.

A tear fell out of Petran's eye as she took in another breath and let it out.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't welcome the idea." The woman said. "I had been captured years ago. I had been sold so many times I lost count. I was abused and raped. My masters found pleasure in watching us suffer. We were barely given enough food and water to survive. It would be days sometimes before they remembered to feed us. Other times they would simply leave us in dark cages, naked and chained to a wall." A few more tears ran down her face as she continued to recall her nightmare.

"When I saw that first Human soldier in his black armor and helmet, carrying his rifle I thought to myself. 'This is it. One way or another it's finally going to be over. I am finally going to die'. But instead of leaving us there he opened our cages and removed our bindings. He beckoned us to follow him, and we did, because this was different. More soldiers joined him and they lead us to a shuttle that they had used to punch straight through the hull. They even carried those of us who couldn't walk. They took us to their ship. I don't remember much after that as I collapsed after disembarking the shuttle."

A small smile appeared on Petran's face. "I awoke in what I assumed to be a medical area as I was laying down on a bed, the first one I had laid on in years. My skin felt clean and I was wearing some kind of robe. A small machine was pumping fluids into me from a small, clear hanging bag. For the first time in as long as I could remember I felt... safe. I kept thinking I was going to wake up back in that cage, chained to the wall, but it never came. I later learned that the people who had saved us called themselves Human." She paused, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. "Human's gave me my life back. And now that I have finally met another one I just had to say thank you. Thank you to you and all your people."

More tears were flowing out of Petran's eyes now. She kept trying to wipe them away but it seemed to be a futile attempt. Tash had gotten up out of her seat and had walked over to embrace the crying woman in a hug. John didn't know what to say. This was the second time now he had heard this kind of story. Humanity really had made a difference in the galaxy, and there was no denying that. It made him wonder how many others out there shared a similar story.

"Human's saved me too." Tash said to the other Kai'ani woman, still embracing her in a hug. "My mate is actually a soldier who fought the Breten Hvas. He's helped save countless lives and asked for nothing in return."

John supposed that was partly true. Tash may have been embellishing a little however. He was paid for his time, and he supposed that removing xeno scum was a reward on its own as well. Not that all xeno's were scum, mind. His present company was obviously a case and point for that. He didn't even consider Khera, the woman who had tried to claim him by government order, to be scum. Sure she was a self entitled bitch, but those existed in nearly every culture.

"Thank you so much." John heard Petran say, bringing him back into the conversation.

"Well I can't take credit for rescuing you. My unit never did any ship boarding actions." John told the woman. "Can you remember who it was who rescued you?"

Petran looked up at John with a confused look on her tear streaked face. She pulled away from Tash's embrace slightly.

"I was rescued by your people. Humans. Are there different kinds of Humans?" She asked with genuine curiosity in her voice.

She had stopped crying now and Tash had let go of her. The three of them now sat on the same couch with Tash newly joined in the middle.

"Yes and no." John began to attempt to explain. "There are many different nations of Humans. Different factions who like to conduct themselves independently. Humanity is not exactly a united species."

"It's true." Tash chimed in. "Many Human's pride themselves on their nationalistic independence. It's a core part of their culture."

"Then how does your species cooperate if all of your nation are independent? It seemed like all of Humanity was fighting the Breten Hvas." Petran asked once more.

John chuckled. "Humanity is not so independent that we can't work together. It's happened many times in our planets history that the nations of Earth will ally or unify in order to take on a larger threat. And that just so happened to be what we did when we learned of the threat the Breten Hvas posed to us and our allies in other species. Humanity decided that the need to protect ourselves and our interests outweighed our desires to be independent."

Petran nodded. Seeming to work over the information in her mind.

"That seems like an inefficient system." She said at last.

John chuckled again. "I won't argue with you on that. But it has worked for us for hundreds of years, and I can see it working for quite a while to come." The human said. "Now, about your rescuers, what do you remember about them. Things like symbols, insignias, colors... Names if you can pronounce them. Maybe I can tell you who they were."

John could see Petran thinking. He had to admit, he was curious himself as to who had rescued her. There were so many different space faring navies that the nations of Humanity operated. Nearly every major player on Earth had their own. Even some of the colonies like Mars were starting to build up their own navies.

"Well," He heard Petran say. "There were large red stars painted on some of their equipment and the soldiers that had rescued us had a small rectangle on their armors sleeves that was three vertical lines of white, blue and red. I couldn't understand the language they were speaking behind the translators, but listening to you now it doesn't sound like yours."

"It sounds like you were rescued by the Russian Federation." John said, fairly confident in his deduction after thinking it over for a moment. "They are, land wise, the largest nation back on Earth and have a fairly large space faring navy as well. My peoples ancestors and theirs were fairly large rivals about a hundred or so years ago. And now that I think about it, we probably still are."

"The Russian Federation..." Petran repeated the words. "If your two peoples are rivals, where are you from?"

"I'm from a place called Texas. We're on a continent separated by two large oceans from Russia. My nation used to be part of a larger nation that broke up about one hundred an fifty years ago. That larger nation, America, was Russia's largest rival." John explained without trying to go too much into historical details.

"If you're no longer part of that larger nation, then why are you two still rivals?" The Kai'ani asked curiously.

"I think it's more of a tradition now than anything else." John said, chuckling. "No large scale fighting is allowed on Earth anymore. My species has seen the dangers that inhabit the galaxy and have generally agreed to focus ourselves outwards rather than inwards."

"You are a very odd people." Petran said as she took a moment to process the information.

"Yes, I suppose we are." John said smiling.

John took a sip of his water while the conversation took a momentary pause. Petran was fidgeting slightly on the couch. It almost looked to John like she was trying to work up the courage to ask something else. John decided to give her an opening.

"Is there anything else you want to know?" John said, trying to coax whatever the woman was thinking about out of her.

"Actually yes." She said after a moment. She turned to look at Tash. "Where can I find a male like him?" Petran asked his girlfriend.

Tash seemed a little caught off guard by the question.

"Pardon me?" The younger Kai'ani asked back.

"I don't have a male of my own so I was wondering where you found him so I can find one for myself." Petran attempted to clarify. "I... I want to feel protected. And after seeing how he was able to defeat two other males single handedly and seeing how much he genuinely cares for you and how well he treats you, I've decided I want to find one for myself."

"Umm..." Tash said, probably trying to find a way to explain that they had met completely by accident on a backwater Voss colony. "Well first thing you have to understand is that Human males are not like Kai'ani males. They are much more... aggressive."

Petran cocked her head at Tash. "How so?"

Tash started to open her mouth but was cut off by John.

"Let me try to explain, dear." He said, putting a hand of Tash's shoulder. "In most human cultures the males are the pursuers, not the females. A human male will most likely try to court you if he finds you attractive and if you show a little interest towards him. You can not simply outright claim one of us, it goes against our provider and protector nature. So you will have to spend time talking and getting to know each other before you can take it to that next step."

It was Tash's turn to jump in now.

"John's right. There has to be a connection between the two of you. If my time with John has been any indication, once you have that connection he will be incredibly loyal. And he expects loyalty back. John has put my needs and desires before his on nearly a daily basis. In return I do everything I can to make him happy." Tash turned and smiled at John, who then proceeded to give her a kiss. She smiled more and turned back to Petran. "You also can't be concerned with your genetic line as our two species are not genetically compatible."

That news didn't seem to phase Petran.

"But we are... physically compatible correct?" The older woman asked with a slight bit of embarrassment flushing in her cheeks.

"Oh yes." Tash replied with a huge grin. "We are VERY physically compatible."

Petran let out a chuckle and a sigh.

"That's good to hear." She said. "I'm not able to have children anyways. The Breten Hvas sterilized me, removed my eggs and sold them. I'm completely barren."

"I'm so sorry!" Tash exclaimed "I didn't mean to..."

"It's alright, there is no way you could have known." Petran said, putting her hands on Tash's legs to try to comfort her. "The doctors said there was nothing they could do for me. Once the eggs are gone, they're gone. My body won't make any more."

"That's messed up." John said, wondering if that is what would have happened to Tash had she not been rescued as well.

"But enough about my infertility," Petran continued on, seemingly forcing a smile. "Where would be the best place for me to find a Human male for myself?"

"Well," John began, regaining his thoughts. "You could try one of the colonies. The outer most ones tend to have more single, pioneering men who are looking to start a new life. If that is not your kind of thing you could try visiting Earth itself. There is," John kind of chuckled to himself. "Much more variety to choose from."

John could see Petran thinking about his words. After a couple of moments she spoke.

"Starting over fresh does sound appealing. I want my male to be tough, so a pioneering settler seems like it would be a good choice. And Human colonies are some of the safest to live on I've heard." Petran mused to herself. "Yeah, when we get to Kai I'm going to start searching for appropriate colonies. Thank you two so much for talking with me. I feel like I really have a future to look forward to now." Petran smiled at the couple.

"Of course." Tash said. "If you have any more questions, please, ask us. We'll try to help however we can."

John nodded at Tash's statement. Petran didn't immediately get up to leave. She stayed around the Human/Kai'ani couple and ended up chatting with them for a good extra hour. She was trying to avoid talking about her time in captivity. And neither Tash nor John was looking to push her on that subject. Petran told them how she had grown up on Kai and was heading home to visit her family. John found that fairly funny and explained that they were doing the same. She told them about how after she was released she found herself on Artasia-Ra. She managed to get a position with a local construction firm and was one of the people responsible for mapping out the terrain for upcoming building projects.

It paid decently enough and she had been able to save quite a bit of money. She wasn't sure what she was going to do with it yet though, she had explained. The cost of living on Artasia-Ra was fairly cheap. She figured she could use it to help start her new life, where ever that happened to take her. John said it definitely wouldn't hurt her chances of finding a mate if she could show that she was already fairly well off and had something to offer. There was one thing that was bugging him however. John held his tongue until his curiosity finally got the better of him.

"Petran." He asked, catching the woman's attention. "You're the only Kai'ani who I've met who hasn't introduced themselves with their full name. If you don't mind me asking, why is that?"

"Oh, it's simple really." Petran began to explain. "I can't have children so I can't contribute to my family. So to avoid the stigma that would be attached to my family by having a sterile daughter, I've discarded my family names."

John nodded. He supposed that made sense. In a culture that prided their genetics as much as the Kai'ani did, being sterile or infertile would probably be looked down upon.

"My mother says that she doesn't care if I'm sterile or not and that I didn't have to discard my names, but I still feel it's for the best of the family." Petran continued. "Potential suitors may not understand that it wasn't my fault and it's not a genetic problem. It's better to try to avoid that altogether."

"That's brave of you." Tash chipped in. "My family would disown me had I been in your position." She let out a small laugh. "They still might because of John."

"They don't approve?" The other woman asked.

"They don't know." Tash explained.

"Ah."

The three humanoids sat in silence. Petran seemed to understand Tash's predicament without the need for any more words. The older Kai'ani woman shifted in her seat before getting up and excusing herself. John watched as she moved towards the access to the dormitory hallways and disappear inside. When she was gone he refocused his attention on the only other remaining person on the couch. John put his arm around Tash's shoulders and pulled his mate close to him, planting a kiss on her head as he did so. Tash just nuzzled into his chest. John was about to ask Tash if she wanted to head back to their room when he heard a clinking sound coming from somewhere behind him. Cautiously turning himself as to not disturb Tash he looked around.

Coming out of the same hallway access that he had seen her enter was Petran, although this time she was carrying a large curved metal bottle and what looked like three small, clear, bulbous containers. She walked over and sat down on the couch opposite the couple and set her wares on the table between them. Tash had now perked up and was looking at what Petran had brought. The older woman arranged the containers in a row, they looked more like bulb cups now to John, and opened a latch at the top of the metal bottle. She poured an amount of red liquid into each. Once she was satisfied with the amount she pushed two of the cups towards him and Tash. John looked at the cups and then at Petran.

"I was planning on saving this to share with my mother, but I have a feeling that you might need it more right now." She smiled and motioned for them to pick up their cups.

Once they did, she did the same. John gave the liquid a quick sniff. It smelled... John really couldn't determine the smell. There was a sweet bitterness to it. Whatever it was it was completely foreign to him. However there was one component he could identify. He gave it a quick sip. Yup, it was definitely alcoholic, but not very strong. He switched his focus from the drink to Petran.

"What is it?" John asked.

"It's a type of wine they make on Artasia-Ra." Petran explained, smiling. "It's a mix of local fruits and berries. I discovered it about a year ago and it has quickly become my favorite."

Tash picked up her bulb and took a sip. She promptly coughed after swallowing. John turned to make sure she was alright. Without a word she held up a four fingered hand to John and waved him off.