You all know the drill. I do not own X-COM, any characters, racial and technical information, along with any other such lore belongs to Firaxis Games.

To me the Viper King, was always the most interesting, narratively of all the alien rulers. Being potentially the last male of his entire species makes me wonder how he could react.

Let me clear a few things up. I have no intention of this being a stock harem story. (More to the point I'd consider that a failure.) I want to try to look at the Viper Kings situation in a reasonable way. Also not planning on Viper X Human at least for now. Not saying it won't happen…

Chapter 1

Nest

Zsuksehsu stretched languidly as he carefully extracted his form from the coils of Assi a light teal viper. She made a faint snuffling noise as her coils settled and bunched for warmth under the mass of furs she had assembled as bedding. Pulling on a tunic, which was specifically made for his kind, as to not get caught on their hoods when they needed to take them off, he headed for the room's door. Just as he reached it the distinct rustle of scales caught his attention. Turning back, he saw that Assi was clutching her tail to her chest and rubbing against it in her sleep. Shaking his head, he slipped out the door with only a faint rustle and pulled the door shut with a soft click with the end of his tail. It was still early morning, the halls were cold, so he didn't waste time heading back to the hot spring which was off the room, which had things had been different, he would have shared with only one other. His mate Azshessa.

His trip back to his chosen quarters was mostly uneventful. He passed Otszuh and Mektluh who were descending from the roof wrapped up as much as possible in fabric to ward of the dawn's chill. He would have simply gone to the side of the hall and let the pair pass him, but they would have none of it. They split to the sides and bowed, granting him the passageway.

"My king." Otszuh a former ADVENT viper muttered with reverence.

"Your majesty." Mektluh a large black scaled viper whispered.

Zsuksehsu resisted the impulse to mimic a human by rolling his eyes. At least he thought that was how humans expressed exasperation. He made a mental note to ask the next human he encountered who didn't shoot at him about it, as he inquired.

"Anything to report?"

"No nothing your grace." Mektluh replied. "The last of the night watch has just relieved us."

"Good now go and get some rest." Zsuksehsu commanded.

"Yes, my king." The pair chorused as they slithered past him, with Otszuh's coils brushing seductively against his scales as she moved past. He moved swiftly and seized her tail. Otszuh inhaled sharply as she turned her torso to look at him.

"Otszuh. You know the rules, if you choose to try to bear eggs, you cannot go into the field." Otszuh deflated slightly as she hung her head.

"Yes, my king." She said softly. "It won't happen again."

Zsuksehsu gave a hissing sigh. "I'm not angry Otszuh. I understand your desires, but we must be careful. If we get to large, it will be impossible for us to survive." With that he released his hold.

Otszuh looked up and met his eyes shyly. "I know, I'm not sure what came over me."

"You want what you were told you would never have. Children of you own." Zsuksehsu replied. "If there is nothing else?" Splitting his gaze between Mektluh and Otszuh.

The pair shook their heads their scales making faint rustling sounds before they headed for their quarters. Once they were out of his sight, he finished the short length of hallway to his own quarters and he looked in on his mate on his way to bathe.

Azshessa was asleep, curled around a nest which contained their eggs, keeping them warm with her body. He gathered some of the soaps which the humans who had abandoned this place had left behind. This one smelled of some plant, mint. He thought, or at least that's what the box the bar had come from said.

As he slithered passed their bed he paused and almost touched Azshessa's hood, but he hesitated. He couldn't touch her, not now, not until he had washed Assi's scent off of him.

Yet when he reached the door to the small hot spring, he looked back at Azshessa, and hung his head, before slithering inside and shutting the door.

Azshessa

She knew the moment he entered their room.

She was careful not to betray the fact that she was awake. She had been sleeping less since she had laid their first clutch, quite possibly the first clutch in, well a very long time. She didn't really know what had happened on the home world. As far as she knew, all they had were half remembered stories from that time, passed down from matriarchs to hatchlings. The elders had said that there had been a long series of wars between the ruling dynasties of males which had damaged the planet to the point of pushing her species to the brink of extinction, and how the elder's generosity had saved them all, but they had also said there had been no males left.

She knew the instant he almost touched her, she could sense his shame under the smell of Assi and mating. Suppressing her instinctive jealousy, and more importantly guilt was an effort. She couldn't let him know that it bothered her, he felt bad enough about the situation without her adding to it. She watched under barely cracked lids as he gathered an armful of the various towels, soaps, and lotions the humans had left behind, before retreating to the spring off their room. She caught his backward glance, and it almost broke her willpower not to go to him then, and there.

She waited several minutes by the clock on the wall before pushing her torso up with her arms, keeping the majority of her tail wrapped firmly around their eggs. The elders had been quite clear that there had been no surviving males, and she had believed them. They had, to the best of her knowledge back then, not lied. So, she had had no reason to doubt their word.

She shuddered, as her thoughts drifted to the day, she had met Zsuksehsu. No matter how overjoyed she had been to discover that there was a surviving male. Nearly dying from a gunshot to the stomach, followed by a black coated maniac trying to disembowel her with a knife soured most of what she still remembered of that day. If he hadn't found her and intervened, well… She shook her head to banish the dark cloud of those memories.

Her life had been simpler then when she was just a matriarch of a hatchery. It had occasionally worried her that without any way to produce more offspring their species could and would likely fade away. However, the humans had ways of preserving genetic "samples" for later use, so it hadn't been out of the question that there were samples to ensure the continuation of her species.

Not that she needed to be worried about, that, anymore. She thought to herself with a small hint of smugness.

She looked back to the door which her mate had gone through, the arrangement hurt them both no matter how necessary. The she wanted to keep him for herself, no matter how selfish that desire was, but their people needed children, sons, to ensure that they had hope for the future. She understood that better than most, that didn't mean she liked it. Maybe she needed to remind him that this was only for their species, that no matter what, he was hers.

She made up her mind, and, with a few practiced moments, she uncurled from her clutch before swiftly covering them in furs, then slithering quietly after Zsuksehsu. Shedding her tunic as she went.

Zsuksehsu

The hot spring felt so good as he vigorously scrubbed at his scales, not enough to inadvertently peel any of them off, but harder than he knew was necessary. The warmth was a little intoxicating all things considered. He still didn't know if it was something the "elders" had done or if it was something Vahlen had done.

He shuddered at the memories Vahlen's name brought to mind. He still dreamed about his time under her care, and such dreams were seldom pleasant. The ice which now flowed through his veins was not something he had been born with. There had been a strange group which had adapted to some cooler climates but to the best of his knowledge they had never been able to spit freezing venom.

He froze; accidently dropping the soap in his hand into the water. How did he know that? The past beyond his first awakening in Vahlen's lab was a distant fog. He had had language, the basics of being able to fend for himself, and general day to day living, but anything beyond that…

It felt as if something or someone had gone into his mind a surgically removed anything personal to his identity, but that wasn't even correct. There were times when some situation or thought process brought up a skill or nugget of information. Such as the day he met Azshessa. If the knowledge of how to treat a gunshot wound hadn't surfaced when it did…

No, that line of thought wasn't going to help. He decided as he fished about for the slippery bar under the water.

He had just managed to find the blasted thing when a pair of arms wrapped around his waist. A quick check confirmed what he suspected.

Azshessa had joined him.

Her bare torso pressed against his back lightly as her snout rubbed a spot just to the left of the base of his hood, causing his back to arch slightly into her.

While she had him distracted, Azshessa plucked the bar of soap from his grasp before getting to work on a patch of scales he hadn't reached yet. They were quiet for several minutes before Azshessa broke the awkward silence.

"So how did it go with Assi?" She asked in a very neutral tone.

Zsuksehsu hung his head, collapsing his hood as he did, and did not respond.

Azshessa sighed, placed the soap in a tray on the edge of the spring, before cupping his face in her hands and lifting his violet eyes to meet her green ones.

She was still breath taking to him, where he was blue and white, she was red and black, with a line of silver just above her eyes. They were balanced in more than just color, they were almost the same size, he was about twelve of the human inches longer than she, but that wasn't really important.

He took a deep breath wishing he could just sink into her eyes, but she had asked a question.

"We will have to wait and see." He paused and looked away before saying quietly. "I wish there was another who could take this task. I don't like how this hurts us, hurts you." He finished in a bitter tone.

"I know, but please remember. We talked about this; it was my idea." She consoled him.

"I know that, it doesn't really help. Especially when I know you like it about as much as I do." He replied meeting her eyes again.

Azshessa hoped her face was blank, she had thought she had been successful at hiding her feelings, but before she could reply, Zsuksehsu laughed quietly and kissed her. He pulled her close before whispering to her. "My heart, I know that we would both rather live like a normal couple, in a city, with whatever that would entail, instead of some abandoned human resort, but that is not the plan fate dealt us."

She relaxed in his arms and nuzzled the base of his neck again. "Since we're being honest with each other, what is the other thing which has been bothering you?"

He returned her nuzzling with interest. "Fair enough. You know that feeling you get sometimes? The one which makes your scales itch and you can put a finger on why?"

She hummed an acknowledgement. Signaling him to continue.

"I've been having those of late, when ever I look at our eggs." She cocked her head just enough to catch his eye asking a question with the glance.

"I feel as if it's taking longer than it should for them to start hatching." He explained.

She pulled back a little to look him clearly in the eyes again. "You thing something that was done to you either by the elders or that woman maybe affecting their ability to develop?"

He nodded looking away again.

"It's a shame we don't have anyone who could tell us these things." She muttered and he stiffened his eyes sapping back to hers.

"Don't we?" He asked softly.

She was about to ask him what he meant before her brain caught on. "No! Absolutely not! I will not have that, that woman brought here!" She hissed in rage. "You're still suffering from the scars she left you!"

"We don't need her, but her equipment, data, notes, those could help us, help me understand if I'm over reacting. I think I know were the lab is, providing the others didn't collapse it. The gate could get me there." He told her.

"And what then? We don't have anyone who could even have a chance at analyzing or understanding it." Azshessa shot back. "And what if she is there? You would be running the risk of falling into her clutches again. I don't want to lose you…" Her voice cracked as she trailed off.

He pulled her back into his embrace. "Neither do I. I promise to be careful. If there's no point in risking it, I'll just come back."

She closed her eyes. "Ok. I can agree to that, when do you want to go?"

"Not today, tomorrow evening. If I'm right. It'll be daylight where I'll be going."

"How many others are you taking?" She asked him.

He thought for a few moments. "Two. I don't know how much equipment we may be bringing back."

"Of course, you want me to stay behind." She replied.

"I'm sorry, but if this goes really wrong…" He trailed off. "I don't want to leave our children without anyone." He finished rubbing her back gently.

"I understand." She mumbled.

"But until then I'm all yours my love." He whispered to her as his tail slowly started to entwine hers.

Authors note 1

Well here we are, the end of the first chapter.

Some beating my head against writer's block, a little too much time pondering where certain *cough* organs would be, slowed me down, until I figured that unless I want to get, descriptive, it wasn't really important.

I appreciate constructive criticism as it helps me improve my writing.

This is an experiment where I try to handle themes and concepts, that I wouldn't normally touch with a ten-foot pole.

Also, yes, I do know what Zsuksehsu's background is.