Chapter 1: Star-crossed Lovers
"You may rise, my good Irken." Tallest Miyuki gracefully touched her long and slender fingers to the male's shoulder. "You know there is no need for such formalities around me."
The Irken male lifted his head, smiling up at his tallest lady with orange eyes full of respect. As she removed her digits from his shoulder, he rose to his feet with a bow.
"Your height and beauty is as stunning as always, My Tallest." He said to her genuinely as he recovered from the bow that he gave her.
"You're as charming as ever, Lou." Miyuki closed her blue eyes and gently shook her head, smiling. "I have a new mission for you this day."
"I try my best, My Tallest." Lou dipped his head politely. "What can I do for you?"
"You'll be exploring some new coordinates for me. They've already been programmed into your ship's system. I need you to go and scout out any life on the planet, to see if it is fit for invasion. I'll be rewarding you with your favorite." Miyuki smiled at that last sentence. She knew that Lou would not refuse her, but seeing his reaction to his favorite food got her every time.
Lou's eyes went wide, his antennas shooting up. "Spicy chicken wings?" He asked, concealing the excitement on his face but not in his voice.
"That's right, Lou." The tall Irken woman nodded with a smile.
"I won't let you down, My Tallest!" He saluted to her, puffing out his chest.
"I know you won't." The blue eyed Irken smiled as she watched her subject leave.
Lou passed many planets at first, occasionally stopping to fuel up or stock up on favorite Irken snacks. The farther he went into his journey, the fewer planets he saw. He had only been traveling for three or so days when his ship's computer suddenly spoke for the first time in what felt like an eternity.
"PLANET AHEAD."
Indeed, there was a planet ahead. It was mostly blue and white, with some green and tan coloration in there. Lou turned the ship's direction, sailing towards the planet's singular moon.
"That's strange.." Lou squinted his eyes as he neared the white moon. It looked as if there were already some sort of structure there on the surface of the planet.
He knew not to draw any unnecessary attention to himself, and landed on the underside of the moon. He activated his gear, allowing a nearly invisible space helmet to encircle his head before exiting the ship.
Quietly, Lou went to the topside of the planet's moon. As he got closer, he realized that the structure he had seen before was a spacecraft. Near it, a flag with red and white strips, a blue portion, and white stars. He cocked his head to the side. He'd never seen a flag like that before.
Lou crept up to the spacecraft, keeping his body tight against it to prevent anyone or anything from seeing him. Standing on his tiptoes, he gazed into a window on the side of the craft.
What a treasure he laid his eyes upon.
Laying on a pullout bed inside the spacecraft was a woman of another species. Her skin was flawless, the color of carmel-based candy. She had lavender tresses that went to her shoulders, the style in which they were worn being corkscrew coils.
Lou had seen many species that had hair before, but nothing like what this female had. It intrigued him. Forgetting to be stealthy, he pressed his gloved hands against the glass of the window.
The woman had been sleeping peacefully until a sudden jolt passed through her body and violently took her from her sleep. She sat up in bed and sighed. As she put her hand to her head, she got the sudden feeling that she was being watched. Slowly turning her head to the right, she got a glimpse of green, black, and orange.
It was in that moment that the woman knew she wasn't alone, and her heart began to pound in her chest. She whipped her head all the way to the right, lilac locks bouncing.
Lou grimaced as the woman's gaze took him in, followed by a horrified squeal. She scrambled to the far side of the bed, her back up against the interior of the spacecraft.
"No, no! It's okay!" Lou began to wave his arms frantically, hoping that the spacecraft walls weren't sound proof.
The woman's muscles suddenly relaxed, a confused look across her face. This alien.. Spoke English? Warily, she crawled off the edge of the bed and towards her spacecraft's window.
"What did you say?" She spoke loudly so that he could hear her.
Lou's antennas shot up. He didn't expect that the woman would be able to understand him.
"I.. I said that it's okay." He responded just as loudly. "I'm.. I'm not going to hurt you."
The woman seemed to be thinking something, though Lou could not tell what it was. After a moment, she said "Meet me at the airlock."
Lou obeyed, moving to his right where there was a door leading inside the spacecraft. After a few moments, the door to the airlock opened.
Lou stepped inside, pressing the button on the airlock wall to close the door behind him. Shortly after, the airlock's second door opened.
The woman stood on the other side of the doorway, her arms crossed. Despite this, she did not appear intimidating.
"Come inside." The woman said, unmoving.
Lou stepped out of the airlock and into the main chamber of the spacecraft. He turned his head to the right, looking around. The technology of this craft appeared rather.. Primitive, to say the least. Of course, lots of foreign technologies were primitive compared to what the Irkens had to offer.
"Who are you?" The woman asked suddenly, leaning against the wall of her spacecraft.
Lou turned his attention towards her, and for the first time, noticed her height. She was as tall as, perhaps even taller than the beloved Tallest Miyuki. He felt his chest tighten.
"What a woman!" He exclaimed mentally.
Lou straightened up when he saw the odd way that the woman was staring at him. "My apologies, tall lady." He bowed, taking her hand in his and kissing the backside. He gazed up at her with a beguiling look in his orange eyes. "My name is Lou and I'm an explorer of the Almighty Irken Race."
The woman felt her face heat up, and she curled her toes inside her space boots. She didn't think that chivalry still existed, especially among aliens!
The woman carefully withdrew her had, suddenly feeling nervous and shy around the green man. "My name is Poni. Poni Lane. I'm an astronaut from the planet Earth."
"Earth?" Lou cocked his head to the side. "You mean the planet to which this moon belongs?"
"That's right." Poni nodded, her corkscrew coils bouncing a bit. "And where did you say you came from?"
"Three days away, I live on the planet Irk. I'm an explorer traveling on behalf of Almighty Tallest Miyuki." He beamed proudly.
"Almighty Tallest Who? What's that?" Poni leaned forward as if Lou was about to relay a secret to her.
"Almighty Tallest Miyuki. She's my leader. She's tall and beautiful, just like you." The Irken male winked to Poni.
"Is that so.." Poni felt her face get hot again, and she quickly changed the subject. "Tell me more about you, Lou."
"More about me?" Lou looked to the right where there was a table and some chairs bolted to the floor of the spacecraft. "Can we sit down?"
Poni and Lou sat down at the table together and talked for what felt like hours.
"I have a sister named Ranmao. She's a retired performer. I also have a little girl. Her name is Anne."
"Aww!" Poni gushed suddenly. "You have a daughter! I bet she's as adorable as you." She reached out and poked Lou where his nose would have been if he had one.
"She's my little smeet." Lou puffed his chest out proudly. "She wants to be an invader someday."
"Oh, an alien invader?" Poni chuckled. "Well, good luck to her. I wish my father had supported me in my decision to go to space."
"Do most of your people not go into space?" Lou asked, confused.
Poni shook her head. "There's around seven billion of us, and I'd say less than one percent of us go into space."
That was shocking to Lou. The majority of Irkens went into space. It was as natural as breathing! He shook his head disapprovingly, and that was the end of that conversation.
Poni and Lou stayed together for a week. They laughed, shared experiences, and gazed into each others eyes. They were falling in love.
"I've always wanted to have a little girl named Lillian." Poni said to Lou one day. "But I never found a man to settle down with, and adoption is expensive."
Lou's curiosity piqued. "Lillian? I've never heard of such a name. Does the human species still reproduce sexually?"
"Yeah, and she could be called "Lily" for short." A curious look came over Poni's face. "Of course we do. At least, that's how most people do it. What do the Irkens do?"
"Well, ninety percent of us are born in pods." Lou began to explain, gesturing with his hands for emphasis. "The other ten percent are born from female Irkens. Usually, DNA from two donors goes into a pod to create a new smeet. That's how an older Irken couple had Ranmao and I, and that's how Anne was born, too."
Poni pursed her plum painted lips, a mischievous look in her violet eyes. "Have two different species ever successfully created offspring through the pods before?"
"Sure they have!" Lou responded. "Once in some blue moons, an Irken woman and her Vortian husband will use the pods together."
"Lou," Poni's eyes filled up with excitement. "Let's you and I use the pods together."