"Stop this madness and let my slave go!" Icaan's voice commanded from somewhere nearby. Immediately I opened my eyes, but the baton struck me anyway, catching me in the side. Despite my resolve to handle this with dignity I screamed, the pain as it shot through my torso so intense I couldn't do anything but.
"I gave a command. Let that slave go!" Icaan yelled and immediately the pain receded and I crumpled to the floor.
Tears streamed down my face, the pain still so intense I could barely move. Frith appeared at my side and gently tried to lift me as Brinto and several of the other guards hurried to my side and surrounded me, physically pushing Sadisk and the other men back, but the slave trader didn't appear to want to give up.
"She's not your slave yet, and she needs to be punished. Twice now she has tried to escape."
Silence had settled into the room for at least a minute as no one seemed to know what to do or say and my mind slipped into the turmoil it felt. I couldn't be bought by Icaan. Despite our best attempt at bringing in the credits, he didn't have enough.I couldn't help but cry as my fate ran through my head. Despite Icaan wanting me and me wanting him I was stuck as a slave and I had been put there initially by the very Frentin I loved. It seemed so heartless and unfair but there was nothing I could do about it.Although I considered trying to run again, I knew it was pointless. Every man in the room bar Icaan was now bound to keep me here and I didn't doubt Sadisk planned to punish me enough as it was. Shaking, I reached for Icaan, but he shook his head and pulled away.The movement broke a dam as almost half the room started to talk a
It took a little while to get back to the shuttle platform, but immediately I noticed a similar large carriage to the one I'd used to get to this dome. It was sitting on a section of track out of the way, but as soon as we approached more guards in red hurried over to it and got it moving back onto the main line."Come on, I'll help you strap in," Icaan said, as he also helped me up and into the shuttle in the first place.There wasn't room for every single red guard and my own loyal team of six, but there was a second compartment on this shuttle and a selection of them made their way in there as Icaan got me safely in my seat and then sat down beside me and took my hand once more.The doors slid down again with a much gentler and less noisy motion and then, almost effortlessly and with almost no jerking the shuttle started moving. We
As I'd seen the job offer on the notice board my mouth had fallen open. Even now as I flew to the unknown and uncharted sector of space that was part of the job I needed to pinch myself.A thousand credits just to fly to uncharted space, spend a few hours there and then come back to the space station again. It was a dream come true.Already I was almost there, my little ship fast, if a little old.But I'd only been there a few minutes, the ship scanning and charting the stars around me when a warning sounded.The area of space was full of debris, and asteroids, as if several planets had collided here long ago. As the alarms blared I tried to find the source among the chaos.The asteroids blocked my view in several directions, but the radar on the ship clearly thou
As I moved towards his ship I knew this was likely to be the last chance I had to do anything to get away, but I also knew there was little I could do. If I so much as moved a muscle he would lock my limbs together, and he had to only so much as think it.Crossing the threshold of our ships and passing through the open airlock I left my hope behind me. It was bad enough that I'd been tricked, but the slaver market was notorious. I didn't want to be sold to anyone. A Frentin was a thousand times worse.The ship I moved into had a darker decor than my own rust bucket, something I found so fitting that it almost made me laugh out loud. Despite my fear and dread I looked around and studied the ship. It might help me one day.The airlock came out into a corridor, much the same as I'd just left on mine. We were on the side of his ship, and
I lost track of time, only aware of the bladder that felt like it would burst, the ache in my throat and the endless darkness.Now and then I heard a noise somewhere else in the ship and I grew hopeful that my captor would reappear but then I was left in the dark even longer.I'd given up trying to find a way out, kicking and flailing had been hard with my wrists and feet clamped together. Fear still engulfed me and threatened to send me into a screaming mess again.Suddenly light flooded the compartment making me blink and suddenly shy away. After being in the dark it only made things worse."Right, you've got one chance to head to the toilet and use it. Try and do anything stupid and I won't bother in future, got it?"I tried to nod, but I wasn't su
At some point I must have fallen asleep because I woke up to an alarming amount of banging reverberating through the hull of the ship. Now and then it was punctuated by a yell or the clatter of something. It was clear the room I was in wasn't particularly sound proof.I felt a little calmer than I had been inside the box before I'd gone to sleep, but I wouldn't say I felt at ease. It was still a dark box on a Frnetin's ship.Not long after I was awake enough getting back to sleep wouldn't be easy the noises stopped. A moment later the ship powered up again and I could only assume we were on our way somewhere.My stomach rumbled as I tried to work out how long it must have been since I'd eaten. I had the beginning of a headache as well and I suspected I was a little dehydrated. For a moment I sat in silence, trying to work out what my
As I sat there and finished my food I listened for sounds of whatever had triggered the alarm. There could have been a lot of reasons and I wasn't sure if this was an opportunity to escape or not. One thing was sure, I wasn't going to waste good food or an opportunity to drink while I had it.I ate faster, wolfing down what was left and then quickly got myself another drink and chugged that down too. It wasn't the most ladylike behavior but I had no audience so I wasn't going to worry.The moment I'd finished drinking I hurried out into the hallway and looked for the cockpit. Padding as quietly as I could I made my way closer. Alarms weren't blaring any more but I could hear him pushing buttons and swearing as he clearly tried to sort out some kind of problem.I couldn't see exactly what was wrong but it was clearly something importan
"Hand me that tool on the left," the Frentin said, reaching his hand out. "And don't even think about doing anything else with it."I frowned as I picked it up but placed it in his hand without complaint or hesitation. How had he known I'd been considering hitting him with it?Within a few more seconds he had the gralap matrix out and my ship was no longer functional. Before I could get up to head to his ship again, he started disconnecting another part."What are you doing?" I demanded."If I'm going to take one of the parts from your ship I may as well take a few more spare parts. They'll knock a good few k credits off the price I'll get for this with the matrix gone and these extra parts I'm now taking won't make any difference once I haggle.