by Maia Starr
"Who are you?” I shouted at them.
"Lower your weapons, or all of you will die. You are greatly outnumbered," a Drackon warrior said. I knew who was in charge now. It was this Drackonian.
"How do I know that you are not going to kill us anyway? I'd rather kill some of you in the process,” I shouted back.
"A Drackon… you are a Drackon. I was not expecting a Drackon to be in charge of an Earth ship. That is something refreshing and new,” he said with a wicked laugh.
"I was not expected to be boarded by a Drackon with humans at his side. Tell me what you want. Tell me who sent you,” I said glaring at him as the villain gave me a mocking smile and laughed uproariously.
Pew! Their blaster gun went off, hitting copilot Simon in the leg. He crumbled to the ground. And I aimed directly at the leader.
"That is just a warning shot. I will kill all of you unless you put your gun down and slide it to me,” he said to me.
"I have you in my aim; why don't I just take you out now?” I said angrily.
"Do so if you will. My second will just take my place and they will continue to raid your ship," he said smiling.
"Drop your gun, Kuvo Bane!” I heard Andrene's voice say from behind me. I bit my lip in anger. Would she ever listen to me? I told her to stay hidden until I came for her. She was putting this all in jeopardy and making it harder for me to fight them. Now she was in harm’s way.
"Andrene, get back in your capsule,” I said to her. Then she stopped in front of my gun in the middle of the range of gunfire. My mouth fell open at her stupidity.
"Drop your gun, Kuvo Bane. Let them raid the ship. No one should die. Simon is already hurt. He needs medical attention now,” she said in a panic.
"You should do what your boss says,” the Drackon warrior said to me, laughing. The rest of his men laughed with him. I hated all of them and wanted to take them all out but I knew that I couldn't. I could not risk Andrene getting hurt in crossfire. I could not risk her getting hurt in a space battle, even though it was my responsibility to make sure she was not captured.
"Do you guarantee not to harm her? I need your word as a Drackon,” I said to the villain.
"Oh, she has my word,” he said with a smile. I lowered my gun onto the floor and kicked it over to him. Andrene went to Simon's side to help him.
"Chain them and take them on to our ship. Search the ship for any valuables,” the Drackon said as his men went into action. I sneered and let out a growl as my arms were put behind me in chains. Pilot Winfrey was brought to the front from the flight deck in chains. He nodded at me. He was letting me know that he had made the emergency signal and beacon call. I nodded to him in return. We were all put in chains, except for Andrene. Then we were taken on to their ship. I didn't like being separated from her. Who knew what these scoundrels would do to her.
"Rubla Von, where do we put the girl?" one of the Drackon said to the villain I had been talking to.
"Put her in my quarters,” he responded with a laugh. I struggled to get out of my chains, but they pulled them tighter. He laughed at my response. As I was escorted to the prison cells aboard the ship, I remembered the name, Rubla Von. I knew who he was. He was an outlaw that used to cause many problems on the outposts of Sala. Then he disappeared after an issue for his arrest. They had lost track of him, most likely on the outlaw planet of the Riolb. He had not been heard of since, at least not in my circles in the special squadrons. But by the looks of it, he was busy making a name for himself as a criminal mastermind. Rubla Von was very dangerous, and now we were his prisoners.
"Where are you taking us?” I sneered at the guard that threw me into a prison cell and locked it behind me.
"Wouldn't you like to know,” he said, laughing at me before leaving the prison hallway.
I filled with anger; not only had we been caught, but we had been caught by one of the worst criminals in the galaxy. But mostly I was angry with myself. I had failed. I had failed my duty and responsibility to not put Ambassador Representative Novan into harm’s way. It only happened because I had allowed myself to become distracted. She had seduced me and distracted me with her body. I don't even remember hearing sirens go off to let us know that a ship was near.
Even on auto pilot, the sound should have penetrated the ship. It was strange that it had not. It was something that would have to be manually shut off. I grew suspicious. The only one that could've done so was Pilot Winfrey. Now I wondered if he was on our side or on Rubla Von’s side. Had he even made the emergency call?
I glared at him as he was put into the cell next to me. Even if he had done so, I was still a failure. I was a failure to recognize sabotage on my own team; that was the worst. I had failed my responsibilities as a hired special security detail. I was a failure. Simon was not with us in the cells. I assumed it was because he had been shot. I could only hope that they were giving him the treatment he needed. But I was mostly worried about Andrene. She was in a ship full of human males and Drackon males; it was not a good place for someone that looks like her to be.
I could feel the ship moving; they had no doubt locked in the Cosmo and were taking it with them. It would get a good price on Riolb. Not to mention the weaponry that was inside of the artillery. I was lucky that they did not search me, because they would have found many gadgets, knives, and hidden weapons on me. It was essential to the escape plan that I was slowly forming in my mind.
"Did you have anything to do with this?” I asked Pilot Winfrey once the guards left us alone. He looked at me with his mouth wide-open.
"How could you say such a thing? I am a pilot. I am in trusted with the safety of my crew and passengers. Do you not think I feel like a failure right now?” he shouted.
"Then why did a siren not pierce the ship when these bandits came into radar range?” I asked him quietly.
"I asked myself the same question. When I made the emergency call, I checked. The radar warning system had been manually turned off.”
"Did you forget to set it?” I asked him.
He looked at me with great offense about his skills as a pilot. He shook his head from side to side, no.
"Simon then? Any reason to question his loyalty?” I asked.
"Simon has been my copilot for many years and on many missions; he would give his life for me and for his crew. It is impossible,” he said to me.
"Something is wrong,” I mumbled to myself.
"What about you, Drackon? You are an outsider. The leader of these pirate bandits is also Drackon. How do I know that you are not in league with him? It is very suspicious that you should suddenly come to the embassy only a day or two before this and now you are here, captured by a Drackon. With a very high valued prize that you happen to be personally guarding. It reeks to me,” he said in anger.
"I can assure you it is not me.”
"Then that would only leave one other on the ship: the ambassador. I hardly doubt that she would know how to do such a thing, or why,” he said.
"Perhaps it was meddled with in the flight control at the embassy,” I said to him.
"Or flight control disabled it remotely," Pilot Winfrey said.
"They can do that?” I asked him.
"Yes, if we were still in range. I think we were before we all went to bed,” he said.
"Who at the embassy would plan such a thing like this?” I asked him.
"You would know more than I. I am not allowed in meetings in political briefings the way you were to guard the ambassador. I am a mere pilot doing my duty,” he said.
We sat there over the next twenty-four hours trying to figure something out, but nothing was definite. I knew that we would be landing somewhere soon, but I wasn't sure where. Then, the hallway door opened and Rubla Von walked in.
"Take him first,” he said, pointing to the pilot.
"Where are you taking me? I demand answers!” Pilot Winfrey shouted.
"Where are you taking him! Where have we landed?” I shouted, banging on t
he bars. The guards took the pilot out of his cell and out of my sight. Rubla Von came over to me with a smirk on his face.
"You really have no idea what's really going on here, do you? If you only knew, you would know that you are being played for a fool, Kuvo Bane."
"How do you know my name?" I glared at him.
"I know everything about each and every one of you. It was no mistake that your ship was my target. We weren't just lucky to come across your ship while scouting in space; this was all planned. But I have plans of my own as well, plans that are going to make me very, very rich,” Rubla Von laughed.
"You better not touch a hair on her head!” I shouted at him as I grabbed the bars, trying to reach through, trying to reach his face.
"Oh, I won't. I won't get paid if she is hurt; that is part of the deal,” he laughed again.
"What do you speak of? Tell me what is going on here! Or are you worried that telling me will give me too much information and I will be able to spoil your plans?” I said to him.
"No, it will be impossible for you to spoil my plans when you are dead,” he said with a smile.
"Rubla Von, we are coming into port,” a Drackon warrior said to him as he entered the door.
"Good, keep this one locked up until I send for him,” he said to the guard. Then he walked out. I was very angry and my frustration was distracting, but I couldn't let it get the better of me. I needed to focus. I needed to pay attention to every single detail. It would come in handy. It always did in situations like these. I could hear the ship slowing. It meant that we had entered an atmosphere of a planet. I counted the seconds until the ship jolted, meaning that it was on a hard surface. Judging by the long minutes that it took, we were on solid ground and not on some towering spaceport. The engines came to a stop. Then they were shut off. The loud humming was no longer in my ears, allowing the sounds of our environment to come to me.
I could hear distant music. I could hear the loud talking of various people, most importantly the haggling of vendors selling their wares. It was the sounds of a marketplace. I knew that on Mooreah, the landing ports were nowhere near a market. The king had always said a port near a market was too dangerous; he did not want faulty ships to fall on a marketplace. Therefore they were on the other side, on the outskirts of cities. The landing ports on Sala were all military, and there were no market places on Sala that were big enough to cause this amount of noise.
That left one planet that Rubla Von would land at, and the one that would make most sense. We had to be on Riolb. We were either in Mzech or in Cix. Both of these cities on the outlaw planet of Riolb had ports that were practically inside the market. In fact, there were no rules to landing, just as there are no rules to the entire planet. If someone wanted to land their ship on top of their house or inside the courtyard, they could. But the guard that came in to speak to Rubla Von specifically said the word port. This meant they were using an official landing port and not landing inside of someone's private space. This was all useful information. Once I was able to get free of this cell and grab Andrene, being able to run into a marketplace where we would get lost amongst the thousands was going to be very helpful in my escape plan.
But knowing exactly which city we were in would also help, because then I would know exactly where to take her. I knew that I did not have much time. If Rubla Von was going to hold Andrene for ransom or sell her at a slavery market, she would not be on the ship for very long. I opened the inside pocket of my boot and took out a gadget knife. There were many tools on it and I flipped them open quietly and carefully and went to work opening the lock of my cell. But I stopped as soon as I heard the door open.
Chapter 5
ANDRENE NOVAN, AMBASSADOR REPRESENTATIVE
I had to admit that I was very disappointed when our ship was captured. Not because pirate bandits did capture us, but because I had hoped to sample Kuvo's massive cock and be satisfied before the real adventure began. It was a disappointment to be left in such a way, even though I had experienced an exhilarating orgasm from his unique skills. I still wanted him inside of me.
But it was a shock that they shot Simon. That was not part of the deal. I had been very specific that no one was to be injured. I had been very specific that the crew was to be returned to Earth, after my part of the deal went through. Those were the arrangements, and it was already veering far from what I had arranged. I was angry.
"Where are we? Are we near Cerista?" I asked Rubla Von.
"No, we are nowhere near it. In fact, we aren't even on a Mooreah,” Rubla Von said to me with a smirk as I sat at a table inside the common room, drinking water.
"What? Why? I don't have a lot of time here. There's not time for a detour. We must get to Cerista immediately; that was part of the plan. You have a quarter of the silver already in your possession. I am to pay you the rest when I am delivered safely to my contact on Cerista. That was the plan. That is our arrangement!" I shouted at Rubla Von.
"Yes, that was our arrangement before I found out who you were,” he said with a smile. I felt my stomach turn and I felt very ill.
"What are you talking about? I am no one. I am merely trying to get out of a marriage to a Drackon warrior that my father arranged without my consent. That is why I was going to Mooreah, to be married to a Drackon. My contact is going to create a new life for me.”
"Yes, yes, so you have told me. But it is all a lie. Did you not think I would look into it? Someone that is throwing around as much silver as you are must be trying to get out of something else instead of a marriage. So I had someone look into it. You are not the only one with contacts. I have a contact that provides Drackon weapons to Earth regimes,” he said.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You. It is you that is supplying Drackon weapons to the Partaba."
"Yes, and they are not the only ones. I supply many Drackon weapons to Earthlings as long as they pay the right price. It is going to change battles on your planet in favor of those who own Drackon weapons. I couldn’t care less about Earth or the humans, only about my own position,” he said.
"Fine, what more do you want? More silver?” I asked him, knowing that this is where the conversation was going. I should've known when dealing with a criminal that they would up the price.
"No, that is not going to work, Ambassador Representative Novan,” he said with a smile. I gasped at him calling me that.
"You see, after looking into it, I found out your real identity. You are Ambassador Representative Andrene Novan, daughter of the very powerful and very wealthy Executive Ambassador Cavell Novan. You are way more valuable than what you are paying me to help you run away from Earth.”
"If you mean to hold me for ransom and be paid off by my father, then your hopes will be crushed. He would not pay a ransom. He does not care. He would probably do all that he can to hide that this has happened. He would probably say that we crashed before he would engage in a ransom exchange for his daughter,” I said to him.
"Well, that is just sad for you, isn't it? Poor little rich girl with a father that does not love her enough to pay a ransom. It is a sad story. But one that I do not give a shit about. That is not my plan. You see, your value does not come from holding you for ransom. Your value comes from the fact that you are the daughter of a very powerful ambassador on Earth. Your value is then doubled by the fact that you yourself are an ambassador representative. Do you know what that is worth in the slave markets? Do you know what a turn on that is for Drackons and other males of various races? It is a very rare thing to have a captive slave with such a background. You are going to fetch a very high price, I am sure of it,” he said with a grin.
"You are going to auction me off?” I shouted at him in rage.
"No, I am not going to auction you off. I am going to sell you to Houston, who is paying me triple what you were paying me to capture your ship and take you to Mooreah. Houston will be the one to auction you off, that is, if he does not want to keep you for himself,” Rubla Von laughe
d.
"You cannot do this! How dare you do this to me! We had a deal! I have already paid you a quarter of the price we agreed on. You cannot back out of this deal and suddenly change it,” I said with tears in my eyes as the reality of my mistake set in.
"That is funny, Ambassador. You of all humans should know that you cannot have a clear and concise deal with a criminal. We live by no rules. I can make a deal and break a deal at my own pleasure. You are naïve to think that any criminal would stick to his word.”