Xenojournalism

"I was going to start with some basic questions about how you're settling in," I said. "But I wanted to-"

"What is that?" he asked, gesturing with a claw towards my notebook.

"Pen and paper. An antique style of conveying information. Not as efficient as a drone transcriber, of course, but I like the classics."

The red scales on his body shifted blue.

"Ah. I see. I too, 'like the classics.' I prefer the older versions of hook-spears, rather than the newfangled ones that are embedded with machines to aid in the aiming process. The old ways are not as efficient. But...is the joy of use not a sort of efficiency?"

I smiled at that and jotted it down, sure that I could find a place for it within my article.

"As I was saying, I wanted to ask about what happened down below. If there something I said or did that-"

"This is not to be discussed." Three scales turned green. "Ask the questions you prepared."

I cleared my throat, certain that I'd find a way to draw the answer out of him one way or another, but I went back to the routine questions for the moment.

"So...why New Mars? Why now?"

"New Mars and its colonies are responsible for thirty percent of lithium production in this sector."

I cocked my head at that.

"Daxgoran ships don't use lithium and the moons of your homeworld hold immense deposits that haven't even been exploited yet. There's no demand for it among your people, so why make a diplomatic decision based on access to it?"

"You have embraced knowledge, Yanira."

"That's my job," I said with a sweet smile.

"We do not make these diplomatic overtures out of a desire for lithium access. We ally to keep New Mars strong, so that their lithium can continue to supply other nations. To keep the flow strong, so that others are not tempted by what we possess."

"And forging such bonds now ensures that New Mars will come to your aid if anyone tries to make a grab for your deposits."

"Precisely."

"Clever. I think a lot of humans hold a stereotype that Daxgorans are...straightforward. Focused just on fighting and war. Obviously that's incorrect, and I think it's important that I convey that to my readers."

I ran him through a few other boring questions about plans for the embassy and if there were other planets in the sector he planned on visiting. After asking about the state of relations between the Daxgorans and the M'hell, I shifted in my seat and tossed my hair back over my shoulder.

Renhai's claws scraped against the floor; green splashed through his scales once again.

I quickly put two and two together.

Something with the damned hair.

"I'm sorry," I said, running my hands through the dyed strands. "It was foolish of me. But I read that Daxgorans spent a fortune on a particular purple flower and about an unusual settlement project on a planet rich with amethyst. I assumed there was some sort of cultural reverence for the color and-"

"It is not reverence," he growled, those claws scraping the floor as he rose. He said something that resulted in another error from the app. "It is...a warmth. A hunger."

My eyes widened; had that warrior down in the courtyard wanted toeat me?

"I can leave, remove the dye and-"

"What?" he hissed, the sound rumbling like the roar of an engine. "This was a dye? A choice? You chose this color?

"Yes, like I said, I thought-"

He took several rapid steps towards me. I flinched, but before I could rise from the chair Renhai was already looming over me, the scales rippling and shifting.

Within moments, his entire body had shifted from that dark red to that deep green.

"The females of our species...their scales shift to purple when they are..."

Oh shit.

I realized what I'd done.

I'd come strolling into this place as if I was in heat.

"Ready to be bred," he finished. "Especially when they afflicted with the deepest, most painful need. It is a rare thing. For some, it happens only once a lifetime. Most Daxgoran males never get the chance to rut with a Daxgoran female in such a state."

My jaw dropped and I cursed myself for not delving deeper into the facts before making my visit. But given how little humans knew of the Daxgorans and the rarity of that condition among Daxgoran females, maybe no other researcher had actually gotten to the bottom of the obsession with that color.

"Perhaps it is best if you leave, then," he said, backing away. The green faded back to red. "When your hair has returned to normal, we can conclude the interview."

The wheels churned in my mind. It certainly wouldn't be the first time I'd slept with someone for a story and certainly not the first time I'd bedded an alien. That Zelkite ambassador had been incredibly boring during the interview, but had been quite wild and inventive in bed.

I would certainly leave out the rutting from my actual story, but if this helped to develop Renhai as a source... If I could get an even bigger scoop once Renhai had taken his fill...

I shuddered at the prospect of being used by that brute and also at the thought of what a big break could do for my career.

"Wait," I said, remaining in my seat. "Will it...hurt? I don't know if our bodies are even compatible."

The green returned in full force.

"They are. I have rutted with a human once."

I blinked, wondering how that had happened and how word hadn't gotten out. Usually first-contact sex stories with aliens made for prime entertainment, or at least fodder for VR porn.

"How? When?"

"Three years ago, a scout ship crashed on one of our colonies. I was among the rescue team and I befriended the ship's engineer. We...enjoyed one another's company while we waited for the relief ship to arrive."

Once I was done with the interview, I might have to look up that woman and compare notes.

"But she did not have the...display that you have. This will be more intense than it was with her. But not harmful. Unusual for you, yes. But not harmful."

He turned around, his eyes now wide and glowing green.

"Is this what you desire?"

I licked my lips and glanced at the door. I had gotten enough details for a basic, barebones story. I could just walk out now, enjoy a brief boost in readership, and get on with boring political interviews with other visiting dignitaries.

Or I could shoot for the stars...spread my legs, and open up a whole new world of political journalism.

"Yes," I said with a nod.

Remembering how that flick of my hair had set him off earlier, I met his gaze and brushed my purple hair over my shoulder.

Renhai lunged at me with the same speed and ferocity as his subordinate had down in the chamber below.

But nobody was there to stop Renhai.

I had time for a shriek before he collided with the chair. We tumbled to the ground as the chair collapsed. His four strong arms wrapped around me within a heartbeat, his scales serving as a surprisingly nice cushion against the impact. The jolt still knocked the breath out of me and I let out another squeal as those claws gripped my shirt andtore.

The fabric parted like paper. His other hands grabbed my jacket and tore it asunder, while another ripped off my skirt. Within seconds I was clad only in my skimpy bra and panties, my ruined clothes lying in a pile around me.

That would certainly be hard to explain to the soldiers at the security checkpoint.

"Wait," I sputtered. "Don't tear these."

His claws hovered mere inches over my bra, his eyes glowing with hunger. I wriggled beneath him, undoing the clasp of my bra and freeing my pert breasts, then slid the panties down my legs.

Sighing, I spread my legs for him.

Was I really about to do this?

I looked down between his legs. Most of his body was still covered in those armored scales, and I truly had no idea what Daxgoran genitalia were like. They were human-like in other respects, but that didn't mean he would possess anything remotely resembling a cock.

I got my answer a moment later and I gasped at what he revealed.

Armored scales slithered aside to reveal a thick, writhing mass of dark red tentacles between his legs. Each one was about as wide as a finger and they varied in length, with some stretching to at least two feet long. Several of them were already oozing a dark green substance that I assumed was semen or some sort of natural lubricant.

Renhai had said the experience would be 'unusual' for me. And this certainly was. I'd had my fair share of alien lovers over the years, and a variety of advanced sex toys had graced my pussy.

But this?

It terrified me. But also enthralled me.

All for the story.

I spread my legs wider and reached down for a touch.

The tentacles writhed and caressed my hand: they were firm but flexible, and that dark green substance left a soothing, warm sensation on my skin.

"Safe to taste?" I asked.

"Yes," he murmured.

My curiosity growing along with my lust, I moved my fingers to my lips and took a careful little lick of the dew I'd collected. It tasted a bit like a honey, though less sweet and with an earthy aftertaste. Not entirely unpleasant and a bit more palatable than human seed.

God, I wondered how much of it he'd unleash when he climaxed...

His four clawed hands braced against the side of my head and I whimpered at how small and weak I felt.

But also...safe.

Renhai had protected me from the warrior down below and had even taken care to shield me when he'd tackled me to the ground.

I was his plaything...but a plaything he would protect.

His glowing green eyes bore down into mine and the tentacles caressed over my inner thigh. I giggled a little at the ticklish sensation, then moaned as one of them strayed higher and brushed over my folds, with all the skill of a lover's tongue.

I tilted my hips up to encourage him.

"Eagerness requires no translation software," he growled.

And with that, three of the smaller tentacles slipped up inside me.

My eyes bulged at the depth of that intrusion. Technically it wasn't the biggest thing I'd taken inside my pussy, but the way those tentacles wriggled and writhed made me feel totally and utterlyfull.

Two of the longer tentacles wrapped around my thighs, splaying me even further apart, while two smaller ones slipped over my folds, exploring and gently teasing over my clit. That scout ship captain had clearly taught him a few tricks.

"Fuck," I sputtered, my hands balling into fists.

I wondered if the app had translated that as a command or just as a curse.

Either way, Renhai grunted and slipped two more tentacles inside of me. I wailed, my hands clutching against his scaly wrists.

The massive alien did not even move his hips: he remained statue-still, while his tentacles writhed within me and over my folds. Something about that stoic control drove me mad and I was grateful for his immobility, unsure that I'd make it through unscathed if he actually fucked me properly.

A single tentacle drifted lower, the sopping tip grazing over my ass.

"I was told that some human women find this hole to be...pleasurable."

"Yes," I whined. I loved it when a man stuck his finger in my ass while he fucked me from behind or slipped a toy inside my rear while using my pussy. The thought of those writhing appendages deep in my ass, though...

I arched my back and cried out for more.

Renhai did not tease or torment me any further.

One tentacle probed gently at my ass, smearing that dark green cum along my rear entrance before sliding inside. My eyes bulged at the movements of the tentacles within my ass and cunt; the tentacles gently thrust in perfect sync, sending rapturous waves throughout my entire body.

A second tentacle joined the other inside my ass.

I came, my head lolling back to rest upon the floor. Drool leaked from my lips as my eyes rolled back, my chest heaving for desperate breaths.

He didn't stop.

Nor did I want him to.

"My warriors will smell you upon me, even after you have gone," he growled. "They will know I mated with you. Their jealousy will burn brighter than the sun of this system."

He finally moved one of his hands and gently clutched me by the throat, careful not to let his claws pierce the skin. I cried out at the danger of it all, of the implied threat in his grasp, at the gentle but foreboding touch.

I stared up into his burning jade eyes, then looked down at the mess between my legs: a thick cluster of tentacles writhing over my folds and within my sex. The dark green seed rolling down my thighs, mixed with my own juices.

It was depraved. Unseemly.

Beautiful.

"Let them be jealous," I muttered back. "Consider it punishment for not controlling themselves despite your commands."

"You are right. Coming to this new world has made some of them forget their place. They require a reminder of who reigns over them."

I reached up and gently caressed one of the spikes on his shoulders, in a silent token of respect for his position.

Words thrummed from the massive alien, but the translator didn't make sense of them.

Suddenly he moved, his massive lower hands grasping me by the waist, while he still kept his wriggling tentacles inside of me. The sudden shift in angle and intensity drew forth another climax. I moaned and thrashed in his grasp, squirting all over him even as he walked me over towards the window.

One of his claws reached out to brace against the reinforced glass, allowing me to slump forward and rest my head beside his claws. His two lower hands remained on my hips, keeping me aloft.

I now had a perfect view of the warriors down below. One by one they glanced up, taking note of their leader plowing the woman who had unknowingly taunted them.

Their scales rippled and shifted to green. I laughed in delight at their arousal, at how envious of their leader they were, and how hungry they must have been for me.

I almost felt bad for them, and wondered if I should make an appointment for a second interview to help soothe things over...

Such thoughts flew from my mind as those two longer tentacles finally released my thighs. Limp and exhausted as I was, my legs dangled down beneath me, a foot or so off the ground. My tensing body remained aloft, suspended in his gentle but steady grasp. My moisture and his thick seed rolled down my thighs, over my shins and toes.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

An obscene little puddle formed beneath us. A testament to our unusual coupling.

I almost wanted him to release me so I could lick it clean.

The green-scaled warriors below continued to watch, enraptured, while their leader brought me to yet another climax. My head thudded gently against the glass and those two longer tentacles writhed up the inside of my thighs.

One went for my cunt, the other for my ass.

Oh. That was going to be tough.

I took a deep breath and relaxed, then let out a choked gasp as the shorter tentacles in my pussy wriggled to make room.

I let out a broken scream as both of the larger tentacles slid home in perfect harmony, one joining the smaller tentacles inside my sex, the other gently thrusting into my ass.

My vision nearly went white. My lungs burned and one of his claws tilted my head back so he could leer down at me. His four eyes, burning like verdant jade suns, stared down into mine.

I had no idea what would happen when a Daxgoran came. No idea how intense or messy it would be.

I didn't fucking care. I wanted it all. Wanted him to fill me with his alien seed and make a wicked mess of me.

My pleasure-addled mind grasped at memories of our earlier conversation, about Daxgoran females turning that color when they wished to be rutted. To be mated.

Bred.

To play into the depraved fantasy and to really give him what he needed, I moaned out two simple, soft, and weak little words.

"Breed me."

His hips finally moved.

Just one slow, gentle thrust.

It was all it took. That gentle little rock of his hips sent the tentacles deeper and the little ones circling my clit started to vibrate. Too broken and weary to scream, all I could do was gasp and whimper as my climax struck me.

My head thrashed, my sweaty purple hair flying back and forth, clinging to my breasts.

I felt those tentacles twitch, all at the exact same time.

Then they swelled. My delirious, agonizing bliss swelled along with them.

I came again, awestruck at the impossible sensations within my ass and pussy. I squirted, the droplets spraying onto the glass before rolling down to join the mess beneath us on the floor.

A tide of warm, thick seed assailed both of my holes, as every tentacle came at once. The burst of seed was surprisingly not as intense as I'd first wondered: each one only spewed forth a few drops.

I swooned, overwhelmed. Seed dripped past his tentacles and down my thighs and I let out a ragged scream at another twitch and pulse from those perfect appendages.

Gently, oh so gently, he lowered me to the ground. I whimpered and bit down on my lower lip to stifle a pleading cry as he withdrew his tentacles from me. More of our mess splashed onto the floor, and I twitched and gasped.

"There," he said slowly. "Now that that is out of the way, did you have any further questions for your interview?"

I took over a minute to catch my breath and focus. Yes. The interview. I'd come here for answers about the Daxgorans' foray into galactic politics and to assuage my curiosity about the apparent civil war tearing their culture apart.

"This conflict your people have been fighting on your homeworld," I murmured, my fingers tenderly brushing over his green scales. "It has the rest of the galaxy concerned. So what is the reason for the war?"

"It is not a war. At least not in the sense that your cultures would perceive. It is a...ritual, for lack of a better term. When we reach out to other cultures to make peace, we war with ourselves. A means of expending martial energy, a means of seeking glory and honor through mass ritualistic combat. War with the inside, peace with the outside."

"And is it...bloody?"

"Death is not the intention, but it can occur in rare cases. It is about the veneration of combat, not the taking of life."

My gentle fingers continued to explore his body.

"It would be a great relief to the people of this cluster if I could tell the truth of this war, so they don't get worried it might spill over into their systems. Is this something I can share on the record?"

Not only would that news put people at ease, it would be one hell of a boost to my own credibility and readership.

One of the tentacles between his legs gently lashed against my thigh.

"I suppose you have earned the right to spread that truth, Yanira."

My fingers reached down, brushing over that playful appendage.

"And have I earned the right to another fuck, ambassador?"

Renhai reached up, his clawed hand gently closing around my neck. I shivered, feeling so small and helpless as those hungry eyes bored into mine.

"I think you have," he growled.

**

One year later.

I sat in the massive ballroom at a table alongside my colleagues, dressed to the nines. The purple gown I'd chosen for that evening had cost almost a month's salary, but given the award I was up for, the price had been worth it. Nearly every major news organization in the galaxy had someone at the awards ceremony, as did several planetary governments.

It was, without a doubt, one of the most important nights of my career.

I beamed as my editor took to the stage to begin his speech.

"It's not often," Jayke began. "That a piece of journalism can fundamentally alter the course of two entire cultures. It's a rare thing for a piece of journalistic writing, orany writing, to shift the paths of economies, nations, and entire species.

"But that is precisely what my talented colleague Yanira Acaso has done. What started as a simple, routine introductory piece on a new Daxgoran embassy helped open the door for greater cultural and diplomatic ties, deepening relations and encouraging the Daxgorans to send more merchants to our systems, and in exchange allowing our explorers and scientists access to the wondrous discoveries of their outer colonies.