Haze (The Telorex Pact Book 2)

by Phoebe Fawkes

  The soldier glanced up, and he had the same black, beedy eyes, so common on this planet. “Hey, two-five,” he said with a smile. “What have you got for me? This the one causing all the hub-bub?”

  “Yes, Krayath. Lady Vardon would like you to run a records check on any of her markings. I’ll return in a few minutes with my findings.”

  The man glanced over at Vi. He had a slightly sad look on his face which Vi was surprised to see. Of course, why should all of them be the same level of horribleness. But if he really felt so bad, how could he work here?

  “Yup, I’ll be here,” Krayath said. He reached under his desk to press something and went back to typing. A door ahead opened to reveal the slave quarters beyond.

  Once the doors slid closed behind them, Twenty-Five looked over. “That one is all right, but be careful. No one can be trusted, no matter how kind they seem. There are eyes for her Ladyship, everywhere.”

  Vi nodded her head and looked around. It was a large room, broken into glass-walled, smaller rooms which lent no privacy, but at least gave the illusion of different areas. The one exception was a room directly in front of them. It seemed to have real walls and a door, giving it the appearance of privacy.

  Twenty-Five gestured to the door. “This is our medical/processing room. You are not allowed here without an escort.” He turned back to face the main door and waved at a small camera Vi hadn’t noticed before.

  Vi heard a click from the door ahead, and Twenty-Five reached over to open it. So, the guard outside monitored and controlled all comings and goings from this horrid place.

  “Don’t get excited by the walls that seem to give this room some privacy. Everything here is monitored by cameras, but they did not want this area as easily accessible or viewable to the other slaves.”

  The room was set up like a mini-doctor’s office. There was a long counter, a sink, medical supplies in several cabinets, and a large bench chair, complete with stirrups.

  Vi took a deep breath and shook her head.

  “Let me have a look at you. See what I have to work with.”

  He rooted around in some cabinets and pulled out a tablet.

  “Let’s get your weight, height, all of those basic items.”

  It was weird to watch him holding the tablet with two of his hands, but yet he could also direct her with his other two hands.

  After that was done, he said, “Sit right here. Let’s see your markings.”

  “I don’t have any of those. My Master didn’t want to brand me.”

  “But surely, the ones he bought you from did.”

  “His crew, they were the first to get me. He didn’t have them brand me. I have markings from my home world though, but they aren’t from being a slave.”

  “That would be very irregular, but okay, let’s see.”

  Self-consciously, she showed the leaf at her wrist and slid her dress to the side, to show the one on her collarbone and the other on her shoulder blade.

  “These appear artistic. What company do they represent?”

  “Only myself. I wasn’t born to this. Merely… stolen, I guess.”

  “Okay, take off the robe, so I can verify, then you can put on our more typical garments.” Noticing her pained look, he seemed to take pity on her. “Most of the slaves, here, have no reservations at this point. Let’s get this over with, and you can get dressed.”

  Vi did her best to strip. She covered her breasts with her arms.

  “Underwear, too.”

  Vi’s face colored as she removed the last of her clothes.

  He looked her over, almost as clinically as a doctor, even turning her head around to check her hairline and behind her ears. Next, he made her open her mouth, so he could inspect her mouth with a flashlight. “Close your eyes.” After a moment, he said, “Open.”

  “You can get dressed now. You seem to be telling the truth. Master will be very pleased that there is no paperwork to sort out. You are designated as Eighty-Three, here. You will answer to that name only. Let go of any other names, or declarations, that your previous owner called you.”

  He made a few notations on his tablet.

  “We’ve paired you with Seventeen. I will take you to see her. Study her behavior and make sure to emulate it as closely as you can. If you want to be comfortable here, you will both depend on each other’s compliance. I expect you will do your best to learn quickly and quietly, to save her from repercussions as much as possible.” He eyed her. “I will let the Boss know that you are untrained. Perhaps, she will decide to train you properly, once things are sorted with your old Master.

  “Now, tell me about the other slaves on board. Can you draw or describe their markings?”

  He handed her the tablet, but Vi shook her head.

  “My Master kept me apart from the slaves, almost from the moment I was brought on board. I slept and lived near his quarters.”

  Vi tried to keep her answers as brief and as close to the truth as possible. She knew at any moment that a conflicting lie was going to pop out of her mouth.

  Twenty-Five shook his head. “That should be enough. Here, let me fix your face. Close your eyes.” He sprayed a cooling mist on her face. “It will help with the bruising. In an hour, they won’t even be visible.”

  He led her out of the room and down the hallway to the glass-walled slave pens. It was the best way she could describe them, each filled with several slaves of all different alien species, males and females of various colors, shapes and sizes, and extra or missing appendages. Their outfits did little to hide their bodies.

  “This Master of yours, did you know his crew or ship name?”

  “I can’t remember ever seeing or hearing it.”

  “But yet he implanted you with a translator?”

  “He wanted me to be with him when he went land-side to show me off to potential customers. I guess he wanted me to be able to converse with them, but really, I think he didn’t like me to be far from him, in case he needed something.”

  “All that, and yet, he didn’t train you?”

  “I think they were just creating a route, so perhaps they hadn’t gotten that far yet.”

  “Seventeen, a moment, come here.”

  One of the slaves stood up and came forward. As the woman walked, Vi noticed an almost ethereal quality to the woman, almost as though she floated over the floor. She was a very pale yellow and almost unnaturally tall and thin with a long neck. She had two antennas that grew out of the top of her head, and wide, unblinking eyes.

  The woman knelt on the ground.

  “Eighty-Three, you will observe her posture and obey in all things. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Seventeen, you will provide Eighty-Three with remedial training. I’m not sure, at this time, how long she will be staying. Do you understand?”

  The woman nodded her head without looking up.

  “Good. Eighty-Three, take your place in Seventeen’s cell. Forty-Five and One-Hundred-One, you’ll be needed upstairs to assist by now.”

  Two women got up from the ground and left their cells.

  Seventeen pulled Vi into her new home and went to the floor with bowed head.

  Vi did her best to copy it. After a few minutes, she heard the sound of the door closing behind Twenty-five and the others.

  “You can get up now,” Seventeen said. “Let me help you with your outfit.” Her voice was light and musical, and it sounded as though she held back a laugh. “You need to tie it this way instead.” She adjusted it with gentle hands, so that it fit under Vi’s chest better.

  “How did you end up joining our number, little one?” Seventeen asked.

  Little one? Vi was so used to being the tall one in most groups that it seemed funny to hear anyone call her that. But yet, the young woman’s torso was so long and thin that Vi barely reached her shoulders.

  Vi groaned. “The Master, here, stole me from my Master. Were you also stolen from your Master?”

>   Seventeen shook her head. “My people, the Yuulestians, are prized amongst the slavers. My mother was a slave, and I’m sure her mother before that. When she turned twenty-eight, they mated her in quick succession, and she bore five daughters. Then they discarded her. I only know there were five of us because that was my designation with the First Master, and my mother was no more after that.

  “Her daughters… we were all sold to different companies by the time we were eight. Sometimes, companies like to keep sisters together for the kink factor, but in our case, no. My race is very expensive, too expensive to keep together.” She gave a pained look. “Maybe it’s better. Easier not to know your sister is the one screaming in the other room during the training. Easier to imagine one of them found a nice Master.”

  “I had a nice Master; I really liked him, in fact. He will come back for me, whatever the cost.”

  Seventeen smiled, a gentle smile that pierced Vi’s heart. It held no hope or expectation, only deep acceptance of whatever came.

  “That must be nice,” the woman said, a faraway look on her face. “Maybe when he comes to buy you back, he would wish to add me to his collection? It would be nice to go to someone who is as you describe.”

  Vi stared at the door of their little prison. She could picture Haze flying through the air, freeing them all. She would never be so happy to see anyone.

  She laid a hand on Seventeen’s arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Don’t worry. My Master will take one look at you and not be able to bear leaving you here.”

  28

  Haze

  Haze headed for a back alley toward the middle of town. It was a fairly straight shot to the merchant he was interested in.

  He did his best to stay under the eaves and in the shadows but look casual as he moved. Hopefully, he looked like the typical criminal, rather than the most wanted one on the planet.

  He entered the merchant’s shop through a back door and worked his way quietly down the back hallway of the store.

  As he entered the shop, his body spiked with adrenalin, and he unhanded the guard in a few strikes of his open hand, hitting fast with staccato moves. He kicked the guard to the ground, to be sure of things.

  Haze pulled his mask down and took a deep breath of unfiltered air. “See- what’d I say last time I was here?” Haze asked, nudging the furry guard with his foot. He looked up at the merchant, bringing his weapon to bear on him. “Troubles over, and now you realize you have some. Yes?”

  The merchant glanced at the guard, crumpled on the ground, and nodded his head.

  Haze gestured around the store.

  “Anyone shopping today?”

  “No, Mr. Gosa.” The man seemed unafraid and placed all four hands on the counter in plain view. “You are my honored guest, good sir. You will not need that weapon. I do not fight; I have others to do that for me.”

  “I’m sure you’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you. Now…” He waggled his gun in the merchant’s direction. “You’ll step away from that counter.”

  Haze scooched down, still holding his gun to the merchant. He grabbed some zipties out of his pack.

  He tossed a couple to the merchant. “Tie up your friend.” He waved the gun under the merchant’s nose. “Make me proud. Hands and ankles. Tight.”

  After that, Haze gestured toward the front. “Why don’t you lock up, so we can chat?”

  He followed the merchant at a good distance, as the man locked the door and put out a sign, saying he was at lunch.

  Haze smacked him a good crack with the butt of his gun.

  The man’s hand went to his nose as the blood began to flow. “What was that for?”

  “That was for my slave. Where’d she get put? You better answer me truthful, or I’ll do more than bloody you.”

  “Sir, your girl would be with The Boss now. She’s unreachable to anyone without The Boss’ sayso. I’m afraid Lady Vardon may have thought you were encroaching on her territory.”

  “Who told this Lady Vardon I had the slave?”

  “That slaver, Nethar. You saw him in here before. He was checking on my business and must have reported it to her.”

  “Right. I’m sure it wasn’t you trying to curry favor.” Haze let the sarcasm drip. “But let’s blame it on the slaver scum. He’s dead, so I doubt he’ll mind.”

  The merchant flushed.

  Haze pulled the merchant into the air, so he could give him a bonus, warning shake. “Let’s go.”

  The merchant struggled, his feet swinging slightly in the air, all four hands clung to Haze’s arms. “Where are we going?”

  “I need you to take me to this bitch’s hideout. I need to be there in thirty minutes. Do it right and I might let you keep your kneecaps.”

  “Sir, it doesn’t have to be like this. There are other ways to deal with Lady Vardon.”

  Haze dropped the merchant, letting him fall on his ass. “Don’t be playing your mind games. I know a stooge when I see one.”

  The man winced as he pulled himself up. “Listen, you’re just asking the Boss to wipe out your entire family. Does that not matter to you?”

  “I got no family, except what’s in the sky and what she took from me, and this Boss is looking to take a piece of both. I ain’t having it.”

  The merchant looked at him sideways and down at Ollie’s crumpled form. “You can’t buy another slave?”

  “Do you still believe Vi is my slave?”

  The man shook his head. “Not really, but a man can’t be too careful in my line of work. I looked up information about the Mahdfel. Your kind doesn’t seem like particularly good candidates to own slaves. …Unless you were matched.”

  “Yes, Vi is my match. She is mine …if she’ll have me.”

  Merchant Yarda heaved a big sigh. “I’ve been on this job for over three years, getting closer and closer. We’re like two steps away, and you’re about to blow the whole operation.”

  “What now? What operation? What’s that got to do with Vi?”

  “It has everything to do with Vi. You see, I work for a rather large, undercover organization that is working to rid the universe of some of the larger slaving operations. This Boss you’re planning to take on by yourself? She owns two quadrants in this sector. We’ve been putting a plan in place for five years to overthrow her and plant someone in her place. I’ve been slowly working my way into a position of trust within her organization.

  “If you want any hope of rescuing that girl, you’re going to need our help…” He glanced down at his man on the ground, who was starting to blink back to consciousness. “…And something tells me we could use yours.”

  Haze thought about it but shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  “Listen, you can keep your gun on us the whole time, and I take you to our secret base where I have a cache of weapons and a fairly complete layout of the place. If, after all that, you think you can trust us, I have ten other men we can bring on the job, not to mention the one or two I have on the inside. Would that work for you?”

  Haze considered it, wavering. Even without his gun, his reflexes were possibly ten times faster than these flat-foots.

  Haze switched his gun to stun and tapped it against his side, available but less threatening. “Fine. We see how this plays out.”

  “Good. Let me see about getting poor Ollie conscious. Although I must say…” He smiled. “…he’s probably not going to be too happy to work with you right now.”

  29

  Violet

  Several trays of food arrived soon after. It was a better quality than Vi expected. Obviously, they were not looking to starve their slaves.

  Vi ate for a bit in quiet, leaning against the wall behind her. She was trying to think it through. The place seemed like a fortress, but there had to be weaknesses.

  While she glanced around, frustrated, she caught sight of a green girl with a tail in her peripheral vision. No way. Not that there couldn’t be other alien species with green skin and a ta
il, but still, she had to speak to her.

  She sidled over to the girl, trying to look nonchalant. “Are you Mahdfel… uh… wait, no, that’s not right. Uhm. What the hell was his planet? V something?”

  The slave stared at her. “Do you mean Vargys?”

  “Yes, that’s the one. My, uh, Master, he looks like you. I think his people are from the Vargys planet.”

  “So, your Master was Mahdfel-Vargys?”

  “I think so. It’s all very confusing.”

  The woman tilted her head. “It just means he’s a hybrid: father was Mahdfel; mother was from Vargys. You mix them together and you get green Mahdfel with tails. But always boys. Mahdfel can’t have girls.”

  “Yes, that’s what it was.” Vi smiled. “So, you are from Vargys, too, then?”

  The girl nodded. “Yes, that’s me.” She held her tail in her hand, picking at her skin in a mindless way.

  Vi glanced closer and realized the girl had many scabbed places on her tail, as though the girl did it often to keep her hands busy.

  “Did he actually sell you to the Boss, or were you pilfered?” The woman shook her head, tossing her tail away. It knocked against the wall hard, in a strong staccato sound. “I gotta say, it’s so strange to think of a Vargys or Mahdfel taking slaves.” Her tail rapped against the wall again, loudly. Tap. Tap. “It makes no sense,” she grumbled. “The Mahdfel, well, they’re cursed, and the Vargys don’t think about sex that way. It’s—” Her tail tapped again, restless and angry.

  She gave Vi a hard look and shook her head.

  “Nope.” She shook her head, no, even harder. “That’s not right. No way. I don’t believe it.” Her head went back and forth, rapidly. “Nope, nope, nope.” She stood up. “You’re a liar. I know you are. Nope, nope, nope.”

  “Twelve!” called another slave, leaning back in exasperation and rolling her eyes. “Want to keep it down over there, or what?”