Art by @dragon-draws-art
I've been going back through some unfinished stories. I just updated a chaper for this one. It's a Sci-fi setting where we find Andra in a unfortunate travel conundrum. During some extended space travel she ends up on a station with no meat products. A very big problem for a large carnivorous dragon like her.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
First chapter under the cut. You can read the rest on my Ao3 linked above.
Anyone that was forever planetside might think that deep space travel is instantaneous and if not at least luxurious. The reality is it was usually neither, and unfortunately comparable to public transit on the surface. Sure your Voyage from an FTL station was prompt but those were only for vast distances. Going to more specific planets, stations, or connecting stations was a nightmare of navigation and meant going on multiple vessels of varying quality and comfort. Andra was in the middle of one of these less than exciting journeys and was eager to be done with it.
The large red dragon kin dwarfed the occupants in the cramped sitting area. Her sizable tail was beside her on the flat hard seat and spilling onto the metal floor. The tip of it wiggled like an agitated snake and Andra fought the urge to let her entire body fidget impatiently. She had been on this ship for hours after going through customs and an FTL jump. The jet lag was already setting in. Her feet slid back and forth joining her tail in a dance of impatience. She was tired, hungry and just wanted to get out of here and fix both of those.
The job Andra took paid her a rather handsome sum of relocation credits. So she planned on getting a room with an actual bed and the largest slab of meat she could find. Her kind was purely carnivorous and metabolized food rapidly. She’d eaten well at the start of her journey, but it didn't keep her sated for long. Underneath her royal blue jumpsuit she could feel the unpleasant gnawing of hunger in her stomach. She crossed her arms across her noticeably plump middle and glanced up at the monitors. Her estimated arrival time was still half an hour away. She pressed her forearms into her midsection as a hunger pang formed. It would be over an hour for her to dock and go through a security check, not to mention booking a room.
*Gooooaroorrr*
Her stomach groaned softly and reminded her that food should indeed be her number one priority. She leaned forward in her seat and pressed her arms deeper doing her best to be subtle. It was relatively quiet here and she didn’t exactly want every passenger to overhear her inner workings. Her tail resumed its fidgeting dance on the floor and she stared at the clock counting down. It was hard for her to concentrate on much else but food. Once her body demanded it her mind was clouded with the thought of it. Large racks of ribs, juicy thick steaks, roasted bone marrow.
*GRRRROOOOWWLLLL*
Her stomach erupted in a ferocious audible growl at her thoughts. That one earned her more than a few glances from other passengers as the cabin was filled with the noise. She leaned back in her seat and clasped a clawed hand over her stomach. If her organs couldn't be subtle then she didn't need to be. The ache in her gut was now being accompanied by a persistent pounding in her head. Yet another “friendly” reminder from her body that she should have eaten already.
This only made her anxious fidgeting worse and even more noticeable. She began to pick at her nails and scales as she struggled to occupy her mind with anything but food. Even the horns of her head weren't safe from the onslaught as she grabbed at them and thought of filing them down. Eating wasn’t the only self care she had neglected she was also in the process of molting and it was making her all the more irritable. A hot bath would be nice, something to loosen up the brittle scales that were begging to come off.
As the shuttle finally reached Verdura station Andra couldn’t disembark fast enough. Luckily her size and clear desire to go ment most were happy to stand aside. After an identity check, bag search, and ticket authentication she was set loose into the main station. Her next shuttle wasn't due to leave for twenty six hours. Plenty of time for a meal, sleeping, and well another meal, God she was hungry.
Andra rubbed her stomach idly as the strides of her long legs carried her through the spacious atrium and extended hallways. Bright signs and screens of sprawling advertisements told her she was heading to what turned out to be a rather sparse food court. This connecting station was quite busy and it took her some effort to get her bearings. Looking around she didn’t even recognise half the species on this station. Plenty of humans thought, no matter where you went they were always prominent.
After a bit of a wait she was able to browse an open information kiosk where she made a horrible discovery. This was a harm free station, no meat products were sold here and only synthetic materials were legally allowed. This realization caused a sharp twinge of anxiety in her chest. She was sure her destination didn't have these sanctions, but she didn't think to check the connecting station.
Andra tried to maintain her composure standing at the kiosk, her typically sturdy legs felt like rubber. The thought of going the rest of her stay here without anything to eat seemed daunting. As she navigated restaurant menus her insides were screaming. She was searching for something even close to her nutritional requirements for nearly half an hour. There were plenty of meat substitutes offered that omnivorous races enjoyed or at the very least tolerated. Surely that would be better than simply fasting, something was better than nothing at all. She couldn’t be sure though she'd never had to make that compromise. It was all too much for her jetlagged brain and she could feel her tail swinging anxiously as she thought.
Her stomach was now rumbling deeply every few minutes and it had become impossible to ignore or muffle it. Her now unsteady legs carried her forward, as her body made its decision long before her mind could: She needed to eat.
