by Emma Vance
Chapter Sixteen
Two years earlier, Nisha
My heart beat faster with every step. I hoped he would be there tonight. Sometimes he didn’t have control of his schedule and couldn’t get away to meet me. But more often than not he always seemed to know when I wasn’t chosen and waited at the guard pleasure house for me.
I smiled at the thought. His demeanor was always brisk, and he still smiled very rarely in the year that we’d been meeting. He still mostly communicated with me in grunts and growls. But he was still the only solace I’d found in this place.
And now I was going to tell him that it was finally time.
We were escaping.
We could finally be free to do what we wanted. To be with who we wanted.
Otun and I hadn’t talked about life outside of Stryxx—because there’d never been any hope before. But now, now there might be.
I walked into the guard pleasure house, ignoring the jeers of the other males. I climbed to the second floor and counted the rows of doors until I came to ours.
Ours.
We’d also never talked about what we were to each other. It seemed safer to merely exist in the moment. How could you have a relationship with someone when you didn’t know if you had a future?
I rapped twice on the door and it swung open, revealing Otun’s scowling, marvellous self.
“I was concerned. You took longer than usual.”
He pulled me inside. Arousal spiked inside me at the touch of his rough hands.
“I was talking to the other humans.”
He grunted, and I sat on the bed. He turned from me and began removing his belt and uniform. I’d never get tired of seeing his muscular body when he stripped down. My nipples hardened as he untied the hair secured at the base of his neck. He knew how much I adored it loose.
I sighed. He turned, a slight smile playing about his lips. “You are in need tonight?”
“Always.”
He reached for me, gripping the back of my head and tilting it up, claiming my mouth in a searing kiss. He put a knee on either side of me on the bed and I fell back as he pressed me into the mattress. My nails raked down his chest, towards his groin. He captured them with a groan and pinned them above my head.
“It’s only been a few days.”
“Too long,” he said, the words clipped. “It would be better if it were every night. If I didn’t have to share you.”
I stilled beneath him, and I felt him go motionless as well.
It was the closest he’d ever come to telling me his feelings. I’d begun to doubt he had any. I might have, if he didn’t grab me so urgently every time I came to him, and if his eyes didn’t track me whenever we were in the same room.
It’s just want.
I told myself that repeatedly whenever I imagined he truly cared about me.
Did lust last this long? I’d always wondered if he slept with me out of kindness, because of the poison in my system. But would he want to be with me every night out of kindness?
“Maybe you could,” I said so softly, I couldn’t be sure he heard me.
But his attuned hearing picked up my whispered words instantly. “What do you mean by this?” he demanded, looming over me.
My hands found his face. “The humans talk of escape.” I allowed hope to leach into my words and bloom in my chest. “They are planning it with a group of gladiators they met at the pleasure house.”
Otun was quiet. I stroked his jaw in an attempt to cajole some softness into it.
“Who are these gladiators?”
“I don’t know. Does it matter?”
“Some are more stupid than others. So yes, it does.”
“You don’t think they’ll succeed?”
He sighed heavily and lifted himself off me, raking a hand through his unbound hair.
“I know that Bardoa isn’t so easy to fool. I know I’ve been thinking of escape since I got here, and I haven’t found a feasible way to do it.”
“The gladiators think they’ve found a ship.”
“And they can fly it?”
“Apparently.”
“Rare, a gladiator with the skill to fly,” he commented.
“Almost as rare as a pleasure planet guard who can fly?”
A smile hovered on his lips. “What is that human saying again that means you’ve scored a verbal hit?”
I smiled back. “Touché.”
“Yes, that’s it.”
“If you are worried about them not being able to fly, there is an easy solution to that problem,” I said carefully, picking at the threadbare blanket underneath me.
His eyebrow raised in question.
“You could fly it yourself.” I lifted my eyes to his.
He watched me, his face like stone. Sometimes I wished I could read his expressions as well as he seemed to read mine, but it was impossible when he never gave anything away.
“You are asking me to come with you?” he asked, his words slow, as if he measured them as he spoke them.
“I am.”
It was the closest I’d ever come to admitting my feelings for him.
“Why?”
The question hung in the air, and I wanted to laugh. It seemed so obvious to me, but I suppose all we’d been to each other this past year was sex.
But that wasn’t all he’d been to me.
And perhaps not what I’d been for him either.
“Because I want you to come with me. Do I need a further reason?” I sat up, moving closer to him. “I want what you want. Every night.”
“That’s just the lansian root talking,” he said, looking away.
“You know that’s not true. I choose you. The drug doesn’t care who I fuck. But I do.”
His fists clenched tightly. I couldn’t tell if what I’d said had been a good thing or an absolutely terrible one.
Mottled green eyes met mine. “What is the plan?”
I guess it was a good thing.
Chapter Seventeen
Otun
I agreed to meet with the group of gladiators attempting to escape from Stryxx only to appease Nisha.
They were fools.
Gladiators escaping was one thing. But to steal eight of Bardoa’s human courtesans was very different. Bardoa didn’t give second chances. He’d kill them all if this went badly.
But Nisha was excited. She had hope. She wanted to go with them. But if it went badly, she’d be killed. I gritted my teeth. I couldn’t let that happen.
It was a large group, which was the first stupid thing I’d noticed. You couldn’t move this many slaves towards a stolen ship easily. Especially with no patrons to give them cover.
The second stupid thing were the gladiators themselves. They must have taken a few too many knocks to the head in the pits.
We met at the gladiator pleasure house and they sat clustered together. I tried to sit apart from them, in case any other guards saw us. That way, I could turn away and pretend I wasn’t with them.
“We have two new additions,” said a gladiator covered in wiry hair and whose breath stank wretchedly. There were some grumblings from the other males, and a few of them looked at me curiously.
“One is a guard,” the hairy male said, with a smug smile. “Otun.” He introduced me to the others, and I nodded. There was a collection of approving murmurs.
He gestured to the gladiator beside me. “This is Raitek.”
The male looked fierce, with black spikes growing out of his spine. He would be a force to be reckoned with in the fighting pits.
“No more additions,” said a gladiator with a large snout and two giant protruding tusks. “There are too many as it is, especially with the females. We shouldn’t be taking them anyway.”
“We’ll need something to keep us entertained in space,” snickered a pimply green male. He didn’t look like he’d last very long in the pits. Another male laughed alongside him.
I frowned. These males didn’t seem like they wanted
to give the females a life of freedom. It just seemed like they wanted to use them. The newly joined gladiator beside me frowned as well. He crossed his arms over his chest menacingly. It seemed we were aligned in this.
Nisha. I was here for Nisha. No one else.
“We need the females for our plan to work. The guards will believe we are there to deliver them to their patrons.”
I cleared my throat. “When does the escape take place?”
“Tomorrow,” announced the hairy male leader. “We’ve marked our ship. We just need to steal it.”
“How do you plan on getting to the docking station without arousing suspicions?” The spiked male unfolded his arms and asked the question bothering me as well.
“You leave that to us,” sneered the snouted male.
“We are going in two groups,” said the beast, continuing, ignoring his stupid friend. “Guard, you will lead the group with the females to the docking station and explain you are bringing the gladiators and females to patrons aboard the ship.”
I hadn’t even said I’d agreed with the plan yet and already I was being used for it. I arched a brow but said nothing.
“The smaller group will head towards the control room and break the ship free of the locks.” He nodded at the spiked gladiator beside me. “You’ll be in that group.”
“What’s the ship?” I asked, wondering if I could pilot it if things went sour.
“You’ll find out tomorrow, guard. We still don’t know if we can trust you yet.”
“I could have turned you in to Bardoa already, if I wanted,” I pointed out, angling my head.
One of them growled at my words, and a few looked uncomfortable.
Good. They should be aware of how easily their stupidity could get them discovered. They laid out the details of the plan, and despite how stupid they seemed, it wasn’t a bad plan.
I walked back to my quarters, the night a cool respite from the heat of the day. If we actually managed to pull this off, I would be free. Nisha would be free. Free to live a real life, instead of the life of a slave.
I got back to my quarters, and for the first time since meeting Nisha, I felt real hope.
I just hoped these gladiators knew what they were doing.
Otun
We met at midday and the air was thick with anticipation. I stood close to Nisha. She and the group of other human women were headed to the docking stations with a small group of gladiators. Nisha’s gaze kept scanning the horizon behind us, as if looking for someone.
“What’s wrong?” I watched her twisting hands and then followed the direction of her gaze.
“I thought my friend Kat would be here. We are also missing Mei.” She bit her bottom lip.
“We have to get going,” said the same snouted gladiator who I developed a distaste for the day prior. His voice was clipped, and I wanted to rip his head off for speaking to Nisha that way.
“Can’t we wait just a few more minutes?” Her voice cracked, and I glared at the fool gladiator.
“We can wait a moment for the other humans.” I folded my arms across my chest.
The gladiator stood his ground, his eyes narrowing. “No. The others are heading to the control room as we speak to remove the locks on the ship. Come now or don’t come at all.”
I sighed. “Perhaps your friends will catch up?”
She wrapped her arms around herself. “Perhaps,” she conceded.
Nisha and I followed behind the rest of them, and it gave me an opportunity to speak to her without anyone overhearing.
“Nisha, are you all right?” She seemed off all morning.
“Yes, I’m fine. I’m just worried about my friends. I don’t feel good about leaving them.”
“I don’t like it anymore than you do,” I agreed. I also didn’t like how things were going. The gladiators were rushed, stupid and unorganized. They also seemed overly confident. I wished Raitek, the spiked male was here, as he seemed as concerned as I was about the human females.
I shook my head, and marched forward. If I wanted this to be successful, I didn’t have time to worry about the others. I had to focus on Nisha and I. No one else.
We walked through the docking stations, following the snouted gladiator. We were stopped multiple times by guards. When they saw me and we explained where we were going, they generally just shrugged, and we continued on. At last we stopped at docking station seventy-five, and the snouted gladiator stopped.
In front of me was one of the most dilapidated ships I’d ever seen. It was covered in rust, and definitely looked to be missing a few integral parts needed to get out of here. I doubted this thing would even get us off Stryxx, let alone fly us across the galaxy fast enough to evade Bardoa’s trackers.
I gripped Nisha’s arm. “I don’t like this,” I muttered low, so the others couldn’t hear.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered back, her eyes darting around as if Bardoa were waiting to ambush us at any moment.
The gladiators didn’t pause. Instead they marched the other humans onto the ship, after talking briefly to a pair of guards.
A ship I didn’t think they could even fly.
I looked to the comm towers that locked the ship into place. Still red. The others hadn’t released the locks yet.
“I’m not sure they’ll be able to fly that thing out of here,” I said, truthfully.
“We need to take chances if we want to go anywhere.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I need to take chances. I cannot be here anymore.” Her voice threaded with finality.
“You mean, you cannot be here with me anymore.”
Her gaze softened. “No, Otun. I want to be with you still.” She put her hand on my elbow. “I want to escape with you. You have been the only thing that has gotten me through this past year.”
My hand covered hers. “If this is truly what you want, then we will do it. But know that I want to keep you safe. And I cannot do that if this escape is being led by a group of fool gladiators.”
“I know. But we have a chance now. Let’s take it.”
Before I could answer her, a group of gladiators burst through the gates of docking station seventy-five. They were the other gladiators from the group—the ones who were breaking into the control room to disable the locks. I still didn’t see the spiked one among them.
They rushed at the ship, shouting and cursing, and soon I saw why.
A dozen Stryxx guards were on their heels.
We were too late. Bardoa had found us out.
I hauled Nisha over my shoulder and sped towards the ship. I couldn’t indulge any second thoughts I had about this plan anymore. We needed to see it through. If I could pilot this rust bucket ship, then maybe we had a chance of escape.
If there was anything my father had taught me, it was how to evade enemy ships. I wasn’t the son of a smuggler for nothing.
I deposited Nisha on the floor of the ship and sprinted to the command centre, where the beast gladiator was desperately trying to figure out the controls.
“Why can’t this stupid thing turn on?” He cursed and slammed his fists down on the controls.
“Because you aren’t even at the correct panel,” I said and shoved him out of the way.
I was getting Nisha out of here any way I could, and I didn’t care about anything else. I hadn’t flown a ship like this before, but it was close to one my father had stolen and flown briefly before then selling for parts. I’d have to use my intuition to guide me through this.
I quickly got the ships engines powered up. I felt a hand gentle on my shoulder and looked up to see Nisha there.
“I want to help if I can,” she said, looking at the control panel.
“Do you know anything about a ship’s weapons system?” I asked her.
“No. But my brother and I played a lot of video games when we were younger. I might be able to figure it out.”
“I don’t know what video games are, but I know you are more intelligent than every on
e of these gladiators. If you can figure out weapons, then we can get out of here.”
I pointed to the correct panel. It looked like it could hardly be used for scrap metal.
“Hopefully the guns are still functioning. I’m hoping a vessel like this even has working weapons.”
She sat at the screen and I quickly showed her some rudimentary controls. Immediately a pair of rusty blaster guns shot out of two hidden panels at the front. A relieved sigh rushed through me. Let’s hope they worked.
I revved the ships engines and locked the doors. Guards now surrounded the ship, firing at the hull.
“Get a move on, already!” snarled a squat, green gladiator.
“I’m working on it,” I muttered. “This thing is so old, the engines need time to warm up.”
“I think I’ve got the hang of this!” called Nisha, and white blaster jets shot out of the guns, decimating guards below.
“You most certainly have!” I grinned at her and turned back to the main viewing screen.
The engines were finally ready, and I thrust out of the docking station. We met no resistance as we flew away, which meant that all locks on the ship were gone. It seemed the gladiators had done their job.
I blasted the ship out of the docks, steering the ship towards the large expanse of sand on the rest of the planet, away from Bardoa’s defenses.
There were no Stryxx patrol ships yet, but they would be coming.
I sped as fast as the lump of rust could go, my father’s voice whispering in my head about what controls to use, when to accelerate, and how to bob and weave through the obstacles in the Stryxx skyline.
We had one shot at this. If I had any skill at all, I would get us out of Stryxx airspace and jump this junk heap into hyperspace.
I was concentrating so hard on getting Nisha and I out of here, that I didn’t notice anyone on our tail until we jolted forward, and something hit our left wing. The ship spun violently.
The Stryxx patrols had found us.
My knuckles turned white trying to gain back control of the ship. I jerked my eyes to the viewing screens. Four ships surrounded us, two in the main viewing screen, and two on the sensor screens behind us. I veered to the right, past the tall buildings where the pleasure houses were and towards the rest of the planet that was uninhabited.