Which side are you on? (Nadie and Nymph)

Just another day on the ship. Navigator Dellis Zaran was at her station, making sure everything was in order before she let the second shift navigator relive her. Once she was satisfied the brunette hopped off the chair and headed to the mess hall to get something to eat. After sitting down to eat she began to wonder what to do with her time off. Hit the gym? Head to the recreation floor? She continued to ponder this as she ate, suddenly wondering what her best friend was up to?

Manasa T'roll, engineer was in her quarters doing her daily sit ups. She liked having a toned body, so whenever free, she often worked out. Sometimes alone, other times with her best friend Dellis. They had been on the ship together for some time. They had even grown close. Close enough that at times, Manasa toyed with the idea of telling Dellis the truth about herself. That she was actually a Viperia. A humanoid with snake like ancestors. But with humanity's misgivings about other races, Manasa feared too much for her life to ever be honest.

She hoped up for her bunk and got dressed. Using her natural camouflage abilities, she hid her tail, and made her otherwise shiny green body appear pinkish like humans. Putting on the dark grey tank top and pants that were standard issue, she made her way to the mess and plopped next to Dellis with a plate of food. Moving her dyed cropped short crimson hair behind one ear, she looked at her friend with bright green eyes. "Did I misss anything?" She asked. Still unable to hid some of her natural speech.

Dellis saw Manasa enter the mess and her pale blue eyes brightened at the sight of her friend. She sneaked quick glance at Menasa's body before she sat down, a little envious of her toned form. Dellis's body was trim an fit but she didn't have the muscle tone Manasa had. She just smiled back at her friend. "Nope, nothing much." she said as she took another bite of her food. "I was thinking about what to do on my time off." she added after swallowing her food.

"Are you free? Wanna go to the VR range and practice some?" The ship was fully equipped with a virtual range to train the crew in both firearms and hand to hand combat without risking any injury.

Manasa took a minute to eat. She was famished from her work out earlier. So she had a plate full of food. Mostly meat. She tried other human food. But her favorite was when they had any meat. Even better was when they had eggs. If the mess ever had any hardboiled eggs, Manasa did her best to get as many of them as she could. It was....the closest to home she could really get.

"I'm free after this." She commented, in between bites of chicken. Her other favorite human food. "I'm on duty on graveyard tonight. But until then I'd be more than happy to do some practice with you. What weapons were you thinking?" Manasa was naturally best anything her heat vision came into play. That's why it was almost impossible to sneak up on her. Even in the darkest places in the ship.

Dellis leaned back and thought over what to practice. "Well I was thinking...." she said then raised her arm and flexed her bicep. "Practicing with these weapons." she said with a smirk. "Besides, you always best me at weapon combat. I can never sneak up on you." She took the last bite of her food. "It's like you have x-ray vision or something." she chuckled then got up to toss her trash away. "I'll see you there." she said with a smile before heading out.

Dellis headed to the training floor and got ready for the sparing session with Manasa. She removed her shirt and was in just a tank top and her uniform pants. She did a few warm up sessions as she waited for Manasa.

"You really think you're going to get the best of me at hand to hand?" Manasa playfully scoffed at her friend. "Okay. But I warned you....." Makes a waved off her friend when she left. Quickly eating her meal with a sigh. She had to think every now and then to make sure she was camouflaged properly. She did actually have some human ancestors. But her lineage was still primarily Viperian.

After eating her meal, Manasa heading bellow deck and down to the combat room. In no rush, she finally got there and to the part of the room where Dellis was. "Ready to rumble babe?" she asked her friend as she took of her own shirt and tank top. Fighting in only her pants and dark grey sports bra. Exposing her tight and toned abs.

Dellis turned and smirked at Manasa. She tired her best to ignore that familiar surge of arousal at the sight of her friend's body. "You bet." She said as she shook herself out of her daze then got in her defensive stance. "I have been working out a lot you know." she pointed out as she readied herself. "I will give you a run for your money this time." And with that she launched herself at Manasa. She was quick and agile, sending out a series of jabs and kicks. But no matter how fast she was, she was still only human.

Manasa smiled at her friend. The familiar tension igniting between them. At times when they fiught, she felt like they were the only two people in the whole ship. But she always had to correct herself and resume her careful facade. Letting her guard down too much with Dellis was dangerous. No matter how she fely, Manasa would have to forever be vigilant and guarded . who she was was a danger to herself.

That was why she never used her full strength or speed around her friend. But that strength and speed was dependant on warm surroundings. If she was ever subjected to extreme cold, like the stillness of space, Manasa would be as slugish as engine discharge.

"Give it your best hot stuff" she quipped as she fought back. Letting Dellis stay on a relatively equal ground to prevent suspicions from being aroused.

Dellis continued her jabs and kicks, restraining herself so she wouldn't hurt her friend. Soon it was like a dance with the two, like how it always ended up with them. Soon she was panting and sweating from the exertion. She lunged one last time and finally got the better of Manasa, kicking her feet out from under her and pinning her to the floor. She restrained her friend by the wrist and looked down at her, locking gazes with Manasa, still panting as her skin glistened with sweat. She had no idea what came over her, she was always so aroused when they sparred. But she had never bested the other woman. Perhaps the dominance caused the surge of desire to increase to a point that she could no longer handle.

Dellis soon found herself straddling Manasa's hips as she leaned down and came within inches of her lips. She would have closed the distance is she hadn't heard the sound of a throat clearing behind them.

"Hey ladies." A gruff voice said. "Can I join....whaaatever this is?" Standing off to the side was a tall, blond haired man, a smirk spreading along his clean shaven face. "Crap, why did it have to be Perry, of all people, to come in." Dellis thought as she pulled away and stood before helping Manasa up. Perry just chuckled. "Geez, was that sparring or foreplay I just witnessed?" he asked as he continued to watch the two women, enjoying the view.

Manasa was surprised a little by the ferocity with which Dellis fought. It was not abnormal, but for the first time ever, Manasa was actually having to increase how hard she fought to prevent herself from getting her ass kicked. But even so, Dellis managed to sweep her legs, causing her to crash on the ground. "Oh shit!" she gasped as her ass hit the floor. "That was crazy. I don't think you've ever put me on my back before. I've got to hand it to you, you bested me fair and square."

Manasa had expected Dellis to get off. But her brunette friend just kept straddling her. She was unable to take her thoughts off of her best friends thighs, which were tightly wrapped around her hips. "Ummm...." She murmured. But Dellis leaned down, lips getting closer to each other. Just when they were about to kiss, Perry interrupted them.

"It's okay Perry. I think we were just done actually." Manasa grumbled. Irritated at being interrupted. "We do get a little....aggressive with one another when we fight." She grabbed Dellis's hand and stood up. Maintaining a decent distance from her friend. But.....she'd have to find some more alone time with Dellis later.

"Aggressive, eh?" Perry said with a grin then turned to Dellis. "How about you show some aggression with me some time?" he chuckled. While he found both women very hot he favored the brunette. He wasn't sure what it was about Manasa that rubbed him the wrong way but something seemed....off, about her. Dellis just rolled her eyes. She was not at all interested in this prick but he never seems to get the hint.

"Sorry Per, but you will have to handle that yourself like any other night." she said with a grin. Perry opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by the alarm sounding. Then suddenly the ship shook violently, causing Dellis to stumble back and bump against Manasa.

"Attention! Haul breach in cargo hold! Repeat, Haul breach in cargo hold! All available armed personnel report to cargo hold!"

Dellis cursed under her breath and raced out with Perry to grab some weapons and head to the cargo hold.

Manasa really hated Perry. Not for any other reason than pure spite. He was always getting in the way whenever she got closer to Dellis. Often, it seemed that he had a magical gift to shown up at the most inopportune times. This being one of them. Just another moment and she may have shared something with her friend.

Friend. That word didn't always seem fitting.

She was busy pondering things when the roar over the coms came in. So she did what she always did in such situations. She grabbed her clothes and ran towards the weapons locker. Throwing on her clothes as she ran. She grabbed a full compliment of weapons. Both firearms and a knife or two . Then she ran with everyone else to the cargo hold. Ready to face whatever awaited.

Dellis arrived with a rifle, gun, and a knife tucked into her boot. Perry and several others arrived as well, fully armed. The commanding officer on deck gave out orders. Dellis, Manasa, Perry, and a fourth crew member were to head in and investigate. Dellis stayed close to Manasa as they entered. Dellis headed right with Manasa as Perry and the other crew member went left. Dellis walked slowly along the stacks of cargo then spotted the haul breach which was already sealed by the ships safety measures.

Dellis was so busy checking for any leaks that she failed to notice something sneak up from behind her. Even if she was distracted the unknown being was heavily camouflaged. So much so that someone would have needed infrared so see it's body heat. The creature crept up and began to lunge at the brunette.

Manasa crouched low as she and Dellis began to move around the cargo hold. Being capable of infrared vision, Manasa had no difficulty seeing in the dark like her crew mates did. It was one of the reason's why she was so good at her job. She always did well in the engine room, seeing what other's couldn't. She also was a great fighter. But this had been one of the first time the ship had ever been attacked in her tenure there.

She was spinning around trying to find the intruder, when she suddenly saw the heat movement that was encroaching on Dellis. She had only a moment to react.

"LOOK OUT!!!" She screamed to Dellis as she dove to block the intruder. The thing, whatever it was hit her full on. She found her guns knocked out, and she reached for her knife to engage in hand to hand. The creature clearly had one of it's own. Before she knew it, her right hand had been sliced off. Leaving her left, which thankfully was her primary hand. She knew the right would grow back. But for now she was just focused on sparing with the creature. Especially since she was the only one who was capable of seeing it in this dark.

Dellis spun around when she heard Manasa yell and jumped into action. She cursed herself for not grabbing some infrared goggles. She pointed her rifle at the direction of the noise but didn't fire because she didn't want to accidentally hit Manasa. The creature, a large, centipede like creature about the same height as Manasa. The blade was not from a knife, but from it's claws. It lunged for Manasa, claws swinging. It slithered around Manasa and got behind her before getting back to full height and closed it's many arms around her, enveloping her and slowly squeezing, aiming to crush the life from her.

Dellis's eyes finally adjusted to the darkness and she was able to make out the scene in front of her. She, like all of her crew mates where genetically enhanced to see well in the dark. However, human's eyes still needed time to adjust. She could make out Manasa, caught in a creatures grasp. She had to act now. She leveled the rifle and fired, hitting the creature in it's head and upper thorax. The shot hit true, missing Manasa completely. It's upper half exploded in a mass of fluids. Dellis rushed over to check her friend for any injury. "Manasa are you..." she began to say then saw her friends missing hand. "Oh christ! Manasa! Your hand!" she exclaimed then called for the med team.

Manasa had always been quick, but now she found herself in the clutches of this giant creature. Clearly a giant bug like thing. Which would explain it's wrath against her. Given that lizards and bugs are natural enemies on any planet that they are found on. She tried to fight its stranglehold. Using all of her might and kicking at it. But to no avail. For a moment, she feared her own death. The hot breath of the creature coming down on her from above, she knew that her life could very well be at an end. She closed her eyes and resolved herself to her fate.

But just as she gave up hope, she heard the discharge of a rifle, and the whole creature suddenly began to keel over. Her body was soaked in fluids as the creature burst. She suddenly noticed Dellis with a rifle, and realized that her friend had hit the creature in a weak spot, causing it to explode all over her. She felt Dellis rush to her side and worry about her missing hand. In that moment, in a weak state given her own possible mortality, Manasa contemplated telling Dellis the truth. But the med team soon rushed in and carried her off to sick bay. She found herself getting patched up and treated. She had never even gotten a chance to say anything to her friend. But hopefully they'd see each other soon.

The shock of the incident finally hit her as the doctor began to examine her hand. She blacked out, and lost consciousness.

Dellis watched Manasa get carried of then quickly followed. She wanted to know how she was as soon as possible. Perry watched Dellis leave then helped with clean up. It was a mess but it was an easy clean up for the team. As Perry sprayed sanitation foam on the area he spotted something. He leaned down and saw it was Manasa's severed hand. Wouldn't have they have grabbed it reattach it? He reached with a gloved hand to pick it up but the dissolved the second he touched it. He whipped his hand back. Human hands don't do that. He always knew something was not right about Manasa.

"What the hell are you?" he growled to himself. He wasn't sure what kind of alien Manasa was but he was damn sure she wasn't human, and he would not stand for a smiley freak waltzing around here like she belongs. Also, he was NOT going to let her seduce Dellis and lay her eggs in her or whatever she would do if she tricked her into bed. He quickly stood and stormed off, determined to out his his rival.

Several hours later Dellis was pacing in front on the door to the med bay. She stopped in her tracks when the door opened and the doctor came out.

"Is she ok?" she asked him. The tall man with salt and pepper hair nodded. "Yes, she will make a full recovery and have full function of her hand in a few weeks." he said as he looked down at his holo-tablet. As the head of the medical team he already knew Manasa was not fully human. He needed to know so as to not give her any medication that would harm her. She also needed a different type of blood than humans, and she did lose quite a bit. "She blacked out while we were treating her but she is resting comfortably and you may go see her of you like." Dellis nodded and he led her into sick bay and to were Manasa was resting. Dellis pulled up a chair and sat next to her friend. She stayed there for the rest of the shift and soon was asleep, her head resting on Manasa's thighs.

When Mansa had been rushed to sick bay, it had been clear to her that she would have to tell someone about her secret. It would be impossible to let the doctor work on her, without at least explaining what she was and details about her physiology. So she told him the truth. Thankfully, he was sympathetic. Also, as a doctor, he was prohibited from sharing patient information without their express consent. So Manasa had dodged a bullet there, so to speak.

The medicine they'd given her during the operation had knocked her out for hours. It was some time later when she finally awoke. Feeling very groggy. She glanced around at the bright white room of the med bay, and noticed that Dellis was sprawled out across her, fast asleep. Something in that sight made tears well up within her. Manasa knew that Dellis did truly care for her. But to what end, only Dellis knew.

So the lizard descended woman tried to relax. She reached down and with one hand began to stroke Dellis's cheek. With the other, she ran her fingers through her hair. There was something intimate in the moment that overwhelmed her. She laid her head back down and just stared at the ceiling.

Dellis stirred and let out a sigh of content when she felt a soft caress. She slowly opened her eyes then sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before meeting Manasa. She straightened up an gave her friend a smile. "Hey, you're up." she said as she put her hand on Manasa's remaining one. Dellis still couldn't get the sight out of her mind. Manasa lost so much blood she was terrified she wouldn't make it. "Are you hurting anywhere?" She figured Manasa would be a bit groggy and perhaps a bit sore from her ordeal.

Manasa had begun to doze back off when Dellis had finally awoken. She was startled, but altogether pleased to be speaking with her friend. Despite her weakened state.

"My hand hurts like hell." She admitted with a sigh. Leaving out the info that she would grow one back in the coming weeks. She looked at her friend and continued to caress her face.

"Thanks for saving me Dellis." Manasa said. " I owe you my life. How can I ever repay you? " she hoped this might be a way to get closer to Dellis. Maybe enough so to where Manasa could finally be absolutely honest with her.

Dellis smiled and gently squeezed Manasa's remaining hand. "You don't need to repay me." she said. "I would have done it all over again. You're....very important to me." Dellis could feel her relationship with Manasa evolving at the moment. And she was glad it was.

Several weeks passed and Dellis spent every spare moment with Manasa. Mainly just hanging out in sick bay. The two women's friendship had been on the superficial level up until then. Now Dellis found herself talking to Manasa about herself. Her upbringing on a mixed colony, where humans and other species co-inhabited. Her family and what academy she went to. She was never happier to grow closer to er friend. Perhaps, they could be more. Dellis was debating on telling Manasa about her growing feelings for her.

Also, during the past few weeks Perry had been looking into Manasa and if he could find out what she was and drive her out of the ship. Then he could move in on Dellis.

Manasa smiled back at Dellis, eagerly taking in the new budding relationship that was changing between the two of them. Manasa had wanted this for so long, and despite how painful it had been to lose her hand, she was actually somewhat glad about the whole ordeal because it was bringing her closer and closer to Dellis.

The weeks flew by. Manasa was stuck in sick bay for a significant portion of that time. She had been forced to wrap her hand every now and then to prevent anyone save the doctor from knowing about her true nature. But it was becoming harder and harder to hide. Her hand was very close to being back to it's full functionality. So she decided to take a leap. She was going to tell Dellis the truth. Both about who she was, and how she felt. So she talked to Dellis one day after she was leaving sick bay from her routine check up.

"So let's do something tonight." Manasa interjected as they were walking. "I have the night off, so do you want to go to the observation deck with me?" Manasa had a plan. She had promised some favors to the people in the kitchen, and gotten them to prepare a special dinner that Manasa was going to surprise Dellis with that night. Then, she was going to pour out her heart to her friend and see what happened.

Dellis turned to Manasa, surprised but delighted. "I would love to." she beamed then took Manasa's hand as they walked. She was so glad one of them finally took the chance and asked the other out. Dellis was looking forward to the night with her friend and potential lover. When they reached their destination Dellis turned to Manasa, hesitated for just a moment before leaning in and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you tonight after my shift." she said then headed passed the sliding door.

Little did they know they where being followed. Perry was close behind them, watching the two women. His anger nearly bubbling over when he saw Dellis take that thing's hand and walk with it like it was nothing. The last straw was when he saw Dellis kiss Manasa on the cheek. He resisted the urge to vomit when waited for Dellis to leave and when the door slid close he came out from his hiding place.

"You think you can just parade around like you belong here?" he said as he walked up to Manasa. "I am on to you. I don't know what you are but I know you are not human and I will NOT let you think you have any right to have any of our women." He added "Back off now and this stays between us." Perry stood his ground and waited or Manasa's response.

Manasa was having a hard time containing the joy within her. Just the simple yes that Dellis had given her was enough to make her heart sing. Her whole life felt like it was changing for the better. She blushed when Dellis gave her the kiss. "I'll see you tonight." She said to her friend. "Can't wait."

Manasa headed off to her bunk. Having had an earlier shift in the engine room, she had little else to do for the rest of the day. So instead, she was going to go back to her room and back to working out a little. Maybe a little reading before the night came. But on the way, she ran into Perry. Who began to fling insults at her. His accusation that she wasn't human hit her to the core, but she kept a stoic face and didn't make any acknowledgement to his claim.

"Go to hell Perry." She replied with disgust. "I don't know what you think you know. But I wouldn't be flinging accusations around like that without proof. So like I said, go to hell."

Manasa headed off to her room and spread out across the floor by her bunk. She began to do crunches, losing herself in her workout. Perry's words had cut. She was worried that he might indeed know something. But his knowledge was nothing without proof. She sighed and then looked at her bandaged right arm. She had unwrapped the bandage earlier to find her hand almost completely whole. She would have to work hard to hide it if Perry was looking for things. If it was discovered, she was screwed.

Perry grinned wickedly. "Proof? Oh, I will get the proof I need." he smirked. "You will not have Dellis." he said then walked off.

Dellis stared at her screen, unable to get into her work due to the plans she had later. She began to hear whispering around her.

"No way. Manasa?" of voice said. Dellis lifted her head up at the sound of Manasa's name. Maybe word had gotten out of their budding romance. "Yeah, I heard from Julia that she was half alien." Dellis listened more about the rumor and just shook her head. "Just rumors." she murmured to herself when went back to her screen. Even if she was.....so what?

Later that night Dellis fixed herself up and dressed in her clean uniform. Since she was on a ship she didn't have much for casual clothes. She then headed to the observation deck, wondering what Manasa had in store.