by Zara Zenia
They stayed hidden on the ship, doing little that might create noise or draw attention to the Vada Shadow. They had to sleep anyway, and he hoped that Chera would understand why he wasn't able to radio his men at the mushroom house with an update. There was a good chance the Teruds were listening for radio messages from the docked ships, and they might overhear them.
Morning came, and Thras decided they had waited long enough for the Teruds to move on. They had continued to send out search parties throughout the night and seemed to be intent on relentlessly looking until they found what they were after.
"Vini, find the head maintenance worker and tell him that we will pay double if they are willing to prep our ship for takeoff today," Thras told his right hand man. He would not have trusted any other man with such an important task.
"Yes, Sire. I do not think they will accept the offer, though. We already made it clear that money was no object."
"I know, but this time I give you permission to use any means necessary within the law."
"Well, that might be a different story. I will do what needs to be done," said Vini. He would not do anything too drastic, but the man was willing to throw the weight of the Jatra royal family around if he needed to.
Thras went back to the forest and found only one of his crew member present. With no one else in the mushroom house. "Please accept my greatest apologies," started the Hjott man immediately. "Your companion escaped through the window and took the land scouter. We chased her on foot, but it was no good. Larros is out searching for her now. I would have set out on foot to notify you, but I feared allowing her to return to an empty building."
With a great sigh of frustration and anxiety, Thras thought about reprimanding the crew member. It was a stupid move to forget that a window provided such an easy escape route. However, they had not anticipated that the Terran woman would want to sneak away like that.
Thras left the mushroom house and immediately dropped his facade of keeping himself together. He began to panic. He and the guard began to search for any sign of Chera or the scouter she had taken. They made their way along the road that led back to the space station. Only they went slower this time, driving out into any clearings or side paths they came across. Once they were near the space station, they almost crashed into a hover vehicle with a Terud driving it.
The alien looked at them suspiciously as they careened around him. He didn't make any effort to reverse or steer to the side of the road so they could pass. He just stopped and glared at them intently. Does he realize who we are? Their disguises covered their golden skin, with gloves as well to hide the color of their hands. But their faces were only covered with goggles and some engine grease that one might have from working in a storage area.
Aulius and Terud faces were much different than those of Hjotts, even with all those measures taken to hide what they looked like. It was still mid-morning, and the sun was at an angle that made it difficult for the Terud to look in their direction without needing to squint. That might have been the only saving grace that let them continue without being recognized.
Thras continued to search with the guard riding as his passenger. When they got back to the Vada Shadow, he instructed the guard to hire a small vehicle and go search for Chera himself. Then, he asked Vini to accompany him in his own search. He was so close to falling apart with worry that he needed the comfort of his trusted friend.
They move through the space station on foot, listening to people talk to see if anyone had spotted a Terran woman. That would be something to excite people, particularly with so many willing to make good money by selling one as a slave.
The owner of the space station saw them and came over. He was looking over his shoulder like he expected someone to be watching him. "My king, I assure you I did not tell them anything," he said with a slight bow of his head.
"Please, do not do that," Thras told him. "I am not the king while in this disguise." They stood in an alcove and spoke in hushed tones so that no one in the area would see or hear them.
"I must tell you, there is a Terud general here looking for you. He has been alerted that you are disguised as an Aulius cargo captain. Did you see anyone acting suspicious when they saw you?"
"The Terud who nearly ran us off the road. He must have wanted to tell his boss before making a move," said Vini.
"Sneaky bastard," exclaimed Thras. The other two men grunted in agreement. They were none too fond of Teruds. "Thank you," he said, giving the space station owner some money for his loyalty. It was a great deal, and the man was happy as he went about his business.
"We need to leave Pelktir immediately," said Thras. "What is the status on the ship?" As they were walking over to their ship, around the corner of the main space station building was a Terud wearing a general's uniform. He grinned maliciously when he saw Thras.
"Ah, I see you have donned attire more fitting to who your truly are," said the Terud general.
Thras and Vini each had their hands inside their long sleeve shirts.
"Do not be so hasty," said the ugly general. He was older than the two Hjotts, but they could have easily bested him in a brawl or firefight. He was alone as well, which did not work in his favor in the least. "I am not here to start a fight in the middle of this space station. Are you really so reckless?."
"What do you want?" asked Thras.
"I plan to recover what you took from me. It is my legal right," said the general.
"You kidnapped a princess of Jatra, as well three Terrans who were under my charge," replied Thras with venom on his tongue. "I simply recovered my own."
"We should gun him down here and now as fair retaliation for the attack on the palace," said Vini.
"Do you have evidence that my men were involved in this so-called attack? I purchased those slaves from a passing trader, and the transition was perfectly legal. Unless you would like to start a larger confrontation here and now over the Terran slaves."
Thras saw it happening before he moved. He imagined himself pulling the blaster from its holster and putting a smoking hole in the ugly Terud's forehead. He would have already done so, if he were still the same man. Recent events had changed him. Becoming close to Chera had made him into a less impulsive and violent person. A better man and a better king.
The Terud general just laughed and walked away.
"Vini return to the Vada Shadow and tell the crew about what had happened. I am going to continue the search. Join me once you have informed them." Thras continued to frantically search for Chera. He was almost sure she had been taken captive by the Teruds, but where they were holding her was the question. The general must have been unable to resist toying with him, even though he could have simply left with the Terran woman.
He and Vini went out into the thickest part of the forest to a small village they found on their map of the planet. It was the only other occupied part in the area, so they went there in the hopes that she had been taken in by the aliens there. They were said to be a friendly and noble race. On their way, they came across the land scouter Chera had taken. It was abandoned and had an empty fuel cell.
"Why were there no spare cells in the storage compartment?" asked Vini.
"I ... was distracted and forgot to double check. This is all my fault," replied Thras.
Chapter 22
Chera
Chera returned to the small alien village carrying the battery cell from the scouter. She went looking for the helpful little alien who had spoken to her. It must have been around lunchtime, and there wasn't really anyone around in the streets. That didn't seem unusual, since the population of the village must have been only in the hundreds.
As she walked down one of the dusty little streets, someone grabbed her from an alley between two of the primitive little houses. They put their hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming and dragged her inside a building. She tried to elbow her assailant and kick them, but they were too large to fight off.
After being dragged t
hrough an empty building that looked like a store, she was taken through the back door and led to a hovercraft. A Terud in a military outfit was waiting on the vehicle. He had insignia on his uniform that made him appear high ranking. His face was grotesque, even more so than every member of his species. And he grinned at her like she was his next meal or something.
She was taken to another village, which was more like a small gathering of buildings than a place where people lived. It might have even just been a storage area. After being led into a seemingly empty metal building, she was pushed down some stairs into a dark, dank room that smelled like no one had been down there for a long time.
After picking herself up off the floor, she wheeled around to get a look at her assailant. It was a Terud, just like the one who'd been on the hovercraft. She recognized this alien as the one who had taken the princess captive and injected her with what she knew now was just some kind of sedative to make her sleep. Her blood ran cold and she couldn't bring herself to react.
There were two other aliens, Aulius, down there waiting too. She hadn't noticed them at first with all the violent shoving, and the fear rushing through her. These two were also males. It was always males doing these horrible things, and women like her who seemed to be caught up in their selfish, destructive acts.
"Why are you disguised as one of us?" asked one of the Aulius men.
Chera didn't answer. She was too afraid to say anything. It would be better to just play dumb, and hopefully they would assume she couldn't understand them. If she could avoid speaking, they might not be able to learn that the others were on this planet. Except there was one problem with that ill-conceived plan...
"I can see you have a translator over your ear. Do you expect me to believe it cannot understand our language? One of the most widely spoken in the galaxy."
The Terud began to speak quickly to the Aulius men. In fact, he spoke so fast that Chera's translator began to have a difficult time keeping up with him. If she weren't out in the middle of nowhere, it could have used a local wireless network to bolster its capabilities. But they weren't near enough to the space station for that.
She could make out bits and pieces and heard enough words to know that they were going to take her to an auction. Memories of her teenage years when she'd been training to enter the Qetesh flashed before her eyes. When she had first lost her freedom and been taken away by force and a captive. Only, this time she could tell the intentions were far more sinister. This was not simply business as it had been then. These aliens were up to something horrible.
Chera stood there trying to stop herself from shivering with fear. The men ignored her like she was just some random livestock that didn't have conscious thoughts of its own. She picked up Thras' name, and something about a bounty for her. Then, they said they were going to kill him. They must have been planning to offer a bounty for her, only then they would kill Thras and keep the money as well as Chera.
She had to speak up. "Please. Don't follow through with this plan. I will go with you willingly. Do with me whatever you want, I will not resist. Just leave Thras out of this." The problem was, none of the men had translators of their own, and they clearly didn't understand what she was trying to tell them.
They outnumbered her and, since they obviously meant her harm, she was unsure about trying to attack one of them and get to safety. They made their way up the stairs and she started to move toward the one in the rear. When he turned around and pulled his blaster out, Chera lost her courage and sank away into the darkness of the room. Her emotions were too strained to keep trying to fight.
They left her in the dark room, returning what seemed like hours later. She was almost glad to see them after sitting on the cold floor in the dark all alone, in a state of panic. Two tall female Aulius walked down and painted her face. They dressed her in provocative clothes made of practically see through silk.
At the end of a blaster, Chera was taken from the room put in handcuffs and leg braces. They put her in the back of the hovercraft, lying down under a dirty blanket to hide her from prying eyes. Their destination was most likely an auction house.
Chera could hear a bustling of other vehicles, as well as the voices of various aliens going about their business. She still had her translator and it was thankfully switched on, as she could not reach it with her hands bound behind her back. They had to be near the space station now. The auction house would have been there, since the rest of the planet was empty or only occupied by the natives.
Chera heard a familiar sound, a voice. It was Thras, it had to be! Maybe she was just imagining things, but she was willing to risk looking. She sat up and shook the dirty blanket from her head.
No, it wasn't even a Hjott. Her hope had gotten the better of her. You need get used to living without hope again. It's the only way you'll get through this.
Finally, the hovercraft stopped, and she was marched into a building and put in a cage with several other aliens in chains. This had to be the slave auction house.
Chapter 23
Thras
Thras drove in the direction the abandoned scouter was facing. "She must have been going this way," he said again as though repeating it would make it true.
"It is the only clue we have right now," confirmed Vini. "She will be fine," he added. He was starting to warm up to the idea that Thras had really found his fated mate in a Terran.
They came upon a small village, which was more like an assortment of mostly empty buildings that were rented out to conduct all manner of illegal practices. "We must be careful here," said Vini. "I researched the different villages in the area, and this is a hive of scum." They were still disguised as Aulius cargo workers. Although, that disguise was not going to help them much if they came across the Teruds who had already recognized them.
They went about finding out where the local auction house was. If the Teruds kidnapped a Terran, it was almost assured that they intended to sell her as a slave. The price that their species fetched was just too high for them to pass up. Hopefully...
"What if they did not take her to the auction house?" asked Thras. He was trying not to think about the other possibilities, let alone speak them out loud.
Vini stopped and, in a display of brotherhood that was entirely out of character for Hjotts males, placed his hand on his king and friend's shoulder. "We are going to get her back. I promise you that."
Thras was touched by the sentiment, but he couldn't bring himself to respond. There was a line that he needed to maintain, despite his new found emotional side. Instead, he nodded and managed a stoic smile.
"Let us go find her," said Vini.
"Alright, I will go to the auction house. You can look around the rest of this place for any sign of a trail." He went to the auction house and asked if there would be any exotic slaves. He told the auctioneer that he was heading into deep space soon, outside of the Vada system. They always wanted unique slaves out there.
"Oh yes, actually, we have a Terran female coming up for sale. Today, in fact. Your timing is excellent, but I am afraid your pockets might not be deep enough." He looked at Thras' dirty clothing. "The price is a record high. I do not know she will even sell today, unfortunately. I fear you may be forced to choose a slave more with your price range."
"I am sorry to hear that," Thras said with a shrug as he walked away. This Terud general is more cunning than I thought. Thras figured they were putting Chera on auction for such a high price for a specific purpose. Only the king of Jatra would be able to afford a record-breaking bid. He found Vini and they went to a private place to talk behind a derelict storage shed.
"Perhaps we can cause a diversion again and rescue her before the auction even takes place. Are you certain it is your woman they have?"
"Not one hundred percent certain, but who else could it possibly be out here, and right after she has gone missing?" There was no way Thras could be completely sure, but in his heart, he knew it had to be Chera. It has to be her.
/> They contacted the ship by radio. There was no point trying to maintain radio silence now that the Teruds knew they were on the planet. It was unlikely they would be scanning for radio communications, now that they had other plans. The crew would come up with a diversion. Thras organized for them to put the plan into action just before Chera was scheduled to go on auction.
It has to be her. I know it is.
Several of the Jatra crew members disguised themselves as Pelktirian auction house workers. They went and planted an explosive device that would be set off once the slaves were being moved from the holding area. Of course, they were given strict instructions that no harm come to her.
Waiting was destroying Thras' nerves, and he tried to keep his mind busy by going over the plan in his head. He had thought of every possibly contingency, he was certain.
Hiding in the shadows, he and Vini waited and watched. Finally, they saw the Terud and Aulius men marching someone who was about the same height as Chera. They were heading toward the auction house from a building that appeared to be empty.
The two Hjotts moved in closer.
Chera looked up as they approached, instantly recognizing Thras despite his disguise.
Thras whispered into his comm device, "Now."
An explosion rocked the tiny village, with the entire back wall of the auction house being destroyed. Female screams sounded, and Thras wondered if there had been other slaves present. The auctioneer had made it seem like Chera was the only one.
With the commotion caused by the destruction, Thras charged toward the back of the auction house. He found slaves, women of different alien races, running for their freedom. Guards chased them but there was one slave still being held by two Teruds. There was an Aulius with them too. They moved for their blasters.
Thras did not reach for his own weapon. He covered his face and ran for Chera.