Aquarius: The Ixthix Menace

By GG Ryan

Negotiator. Diplomat. Woman. Ambassador Emily Tyria is on a mission from the New Star Alliance to negotiate with the council of the planet Aquarius. The Aquarians face a deadly threat in the monstrosity known as the Ixthix. These horrible bug like creatures are eating up the planet's surface, and only the New Star Alliance has the fire power to combat them. However, that's not all there is to the mystery surrounding the people of Aquarius. Given little to nothing to go on, the people of Aquarius appear to be hiding something. Flying mostly blind, Emily must navigate her way around her new assignment, and her bodyguard, Balgar. Can Emily help this alien race, with their tentacled bodies and brightly colored necks? Or is it her own neck that’s on the line here?

• Language: English
• Publisher: GG Ryan
• Release date: Aug 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463886854

GG Ryan

You can call me GG. GG Stands for Galaxygoddess, the screenname I have used since 2000. I started For the Whored as a lark and it just exploded. It started off very small, only a few pages at a time, but as I began to really get into what I was writing, it blossomed into something amazing. I have many fans over on the literotica page and many people have sent me questions about publishing an ebook. This is for them. A little about myself. I am currently married to a wonderful man and we have a 7 year old little boy who drives me bonkers. Things are great now, but they used to not be. My first husband was an abusive piece of garbage who abused me in ways I cannot share. One day I finally stood up to him one day and he broke my spine with a truck. It's a long story, one that I may be able to write about. Just know that now I'm great. I walk fine and only have minor back pain. This doesn't stop me from being a bit of a maniac. *wink* I hope people enjoy my work here as much as I enjoyed writing it. My current husband hasn't read it yet, the maniacal laughter as I wrote it kind of scares him. hehe

Book preview

Aquarius:

The Ixthix Menace

GG Ryan

Copyright 2019 GG Ryan

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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***Chapter 1***

In and out, in and out, the rhythmic sound of her breathing; was the only company she kept this morning. Sometimes she preferred her music, but today she wanted to be left alone with her thoughts. She pressed the button on the treadmill, adjusting its angle. A moment later, she adjusted the speed. In and out, in and out, breathe, feel, move. Tomorrow was a big day, but for now, all she wanted was to run, to push herself to her limit and keep going past it.

Space, it was a kick in the pants. No matter how many times she flew, she still saw it from the eyes of a child. Her friends teased her about it. Of course they would. They were all flight crew; they flew every day and every night. Some of them complained about their jobs, and most often they complained about the loss of time. It was difficult to tell your body what time it was when there was no rising or setting of the sun. It was difficult to have any other type of friend. She was forever being sent to new destinations. Why make friends on earth if she wouldn’t see them for years at a time?

Tomorrow, she would land on a new planet, and then her work would begin. Today… today she was pushing her luck. Hitting a few more buttons on the machine, the speed and incline reduced dramatically, and she slowed to a casual jog. They had been in space for weeks and she wanted to stay up on her game. She eyed the stack of tablet reports on her table as she slowed to a walk. Normally, she would have had the information up on the main screen, but today she didn’t want to think about the massive job before her.

At a mere twenty-six, she was already quite the in-demand negotiator. She went where the New Star Alliance sent her. As ambassador, Emily Tyria led negotiations between her people and the alien races of the galaxy. Tomorrow’s assignment: Aquarians. She turned the machine off and stepped down. While space travel was now open to anyone with a dime to spare, they still preferred for passengers to be in top shape. Snagging a towel off the rack, she mopped the sweat off her brow. She felt as if she was at the top of her game and nothing could stop her now.

A shower was just what she needed. The water hit her aching body and she groaned in pure ecstasy. Recycled or not, water was still a precious commodity, part of the reason for their ties with the newly found race of Aquarians. The fact she was even allowed a shower in her private quarters denoted her status on this mission. Before them lay the untainted waters of a new planet. All they had to do was make peace with one of the major races there.

Similar to Earth, Aquarius was over ninety percent water, and less than ten percent land mass. Its atmosphere was identical to Earth and supported a variety of plant and animal life. Thinking of that statistic, she rubbed her soapy hands across her breasts and stomach. They wouldn’t ruin this planet like they had their own. She wouldn’t let them. The soap she used now was completely organic; she could probably drink it for an emergency ration if something catastrophic happened. It foamed nicely in any event. It was usual by now that she had turned on the monitors to study her so called prey, but she’d spent the last six months studying the dossiers given to her. Today was spent pampering herself. It was a ritual she performed before each new assignment.

Years ago, she had learned that one never knew what the assignment would bring. So, she spent every waking moment studying her new targets and that final day enjoying herself and the perks she got with the job. No telling when she’d lose those perks, or what she would have to deal with in her new temporary home. The Aquarians had already proven themselves to be technologically capable, and their obsession with the earthling’s internet was going to be a bonus to her. Even so, she would rely heavily on the experimental translator implant she’d volunteered for years ago. It took the words of the speaker and translated them to her ear, and the sound of her voice and translated it to her audience.

Her body scrubbed down, she pulled down the sprayer and hosed under her breasts, her arms, and her legs. Satisfied, she replaced the sprayer and let the hot water run down her body. Afterwards, she hit the dryer and stood in the bracing wind. Wrapped in a fluffy robe, and still ignoring her pile of tab reports, she sat down and turned on her music. Something caught her eye and she snagged a tablet containing one of her tab reports off of the table. She had many of these tablets, all of which housed a different type of report, sorted and organized with ruthless efficiency, so that she only needed to grab the correct one and begin her study.

It was a description and picture of the man she would be primarily dealing with, an Ambassador for the other side, Glagor. The picture was taken during one of the first meetings between the peoples of earth and the peoples of Aquarius. A group of human explorers had come to this planet and found a race more than willing to trade. The human explorer in the picture was a good deal shorter than the alien Aquarians, but what caught her eye was the Aquarian in the background. His presence threw the perspective of the picture off somewhat. If she was right, and she had little reason to doubt she was, the one in the back was even taller still. She eyed the brightly colored pattern on the skin of the Aquarian’s neck.

The ambassador had the same brightly colored markings, but his seemed to have dulled over time. One of Emily’s selling points was her ability to assess her situations. Judging by the two Aquarians, she believed the Ambassador was an elder, and the soldier in the back would be in his prime. The Aquarians were a humanoid race that lived in the water making them adapt to their environment differently. The similarities in the two races were striking, and if you ignored the blue and purple skin, you were left dividing the two by the tentacles on the Aquarian’s bodies.

She found herself fascinated by the tentacles. There appeared to be a massive pair coming out of their shoulders. Also to be noted, the Ambassador had much smaller tentacles in proportion to the size of his body as compared to the other Aquarians in the picture. She wondered if they shrank with age. Little to nothing was known about the physiology of the Aquarians. They hadn’t been forthcoming with that information. She hoped that she would gain access to their medical library once she was there. Any information sent back to her kind would greatly aid in emergency treatment of the Aquarian kind.

Tossing the tablet to the side, she picked up her personal data planner and eyed it. On her list of personal pampering today, was a hair and nail appointment at the on-ship spa. Those she wouldn’t miss for whatever world she hailed to. After she was done, she would focus on the packing of her clothes and personal items. A typical assignment had her on foreign planets for anywhere from six months to a couple of years. She had to be ready for anything. At the end of a long day, with her pampering done, and all check lists complete, she settled in for a peaceful slumber.

***Chapter 2***

An artificial sunrise triggered with the raising of the lights. The alarm went off, but she was already half awake. Soft and gentle, the lights reached their full brightness. She wondered what it looked like outside. Months before, she had carefully chosen her clothes for this very day; down to the bra and panties she would wear underneath. Climbing out of bed, she eyed the snazzy dress suit in a bright plum color. While, for the most part, she would be in slacks and jackets, she preferred the short skirts and blazers for her first impression. It often threw her prey off their game, thinking she was an easy target.

The nightgown she wore fell to the floor and her panties shortly after. Tugging on the new pair, she started to feel as if she was getting into character. The bra was next. Eyeing herself in the mirror, she posed a couple of ways and nodded to herself. Oh yes, she was ready. In the vanity mirror, she began to