Escape of the Glitter Princess

by Chad V. Holtkamp

  Just then, the Captain entered the hall and sat down next to Desire. She recoiled as he touched her leg and the princess went to spit at him again. Chief Rygel extended his long arm and held his hand over the princess’s mouth. “This will be your last civilized meal as a free princess. Behave or I will put you in chains, ha ha!”

  Dom spoke up. “Well, I’m surprised you’re still around. I figured you’d have collected your reward by now and slithered away into the cosmos.”

  “No, I want to stick around and see how you all fare in the auction. I want to know what creatures show up to purchase your precious goods. Oh and by the way, a little tip… The better you move, the higher prices you’ll fetch. You better get me my money’s worth.”

  Dom and Desire looked at each other, not understanding what he meant about moving.

  The princess removed Chief Rygel’s hand from her mouth. “I’ve heard the stories,” she said. “Before we are sold like animals, we will have to perform for their many guests.”

  “Ha ha! Princess, I see you are very knowing of our auction traditions,” Chief Rygel said. “That is good.” He smiled as the servants loaded their plates with Veibon delicacies, his gleaming white teeth mocking the three future slaves.

  “Oh great,” Dom said. “We get to act like trained monkeys while the prices on our heads go higher and higher.”

  “Just eat, flyboy,” the Captain snarled. “I don’t want you passing out onstage from hunger.”

  The three were forced to enjoy another amazing, yet awkward meal. They had no idea where all of this food came from. Everything within sight outside the tent was scrub and desert, so there wasn’t any way the food came from this moon. And they had fish, too. There were no oceans around that Dom could see on the way in. He figured maybe it was the same way he made delicious food on the TX out in the middle of nowhere, fancy pills and powders that made one believe it was the real thing. The mind didn’t care as long as it looked, smelled and tasted real.

  The princess merely picked at her food. The sudden gift from the Veibon knocked her for a loop, at least from what Desire could pick up from her thoughts.

  “Eat up, Princess. I have something very special planned for you tonight ha ha!” Chief Rygel said. “Eat princess or I will feed you myself.”

  She forced down her food and knew right away why the Chief wanted her to eat. She got the giggles again and nearly fell off her pillow. This time the drugs were much more powerful.

  “That a girl,” Chief Rygel said. “And how about my two other slaves? How are you feeling?”

  Desire laughed and said, “I feel like I want to dance!” She tried to get up, but fell over on the Captain. “Oopsie! Mind if I have a seat?” Desire asked as she climbed into the Captain’s lap.

  Dom looked at Chief Rygel viciously, “You Veibons are sick.” Apparently he was skipped on the drugs, too. He was completely sober when he rushed around the table to pull Desire away from the Captain. But by time he got to her, he felt a rush of something incredibly strong take over his body.

  Adjuster Peitz settled in for the rest of the flight to Veibos, thoroughly adept at some new interrogation techniques that GORDON had provided to him. He put the ship on autopilot and decided to pass the rest of the trip watching old Dane Cook comedy specials on the comm screen. There were only a few, so he had to watch them over and over. By the time he was making the last warp jump to the Boru System, he’d memorized all the bits. Even though he had a terrible sense of humor and ruined the punch line of any joke he ever told, the Adjuster was able to appreciate early 21st-century humor, no matter how bad.

  The search party returned to Aesneia a short time later and joined with the royal fleet. The ground crew quickly made sure all the ships were prepared for a long mission. And with the Glitter King’s consult, 25 fighters formulated their plan of attack against the Veibons.

  With Jock leading the way in the TX, the rescue force lifted off in formation and set the shortest course from Aesneia to Veibos. They’d need to make double time as the sun was getting low on the horizon. Time was short and they had to warp jump as quickly as possible.

  Jock had never been more terrified in his career. Even as a former GOON, he had never been on a mission to rescue someone he truly cared about. “I will have to put emotion aside and stay focused,” he thought. “With no sleep and little food, this mission could quickly go awry.”

  “JAXX, let me know when we’re all clear of the atmosphere so I can get some food and energy pods. I have to keep going, going, going,” Jock said to the AI.

  “Major, maybe you should try to sleep. I can man the ship for an hour while you rest,” JAXX offered. “I will wake you if there is any trouble.”

  “Good idea, JAXX. I’ll try.” Jock closed his eyes and passed out immediately.

  Once Chief Rygel was satisfied that his captives were sufficiently fed and drugged, he had Desire and the princess put on their tchotchkes. He then instructed his guards to carry the three of them over to the green room off the stage for hair and makeup. It was only an Earth hour until his guests would start to arrive and he was getting more excited by the minute.

  Dom couldn't get over that the tradition of the green room extended this far into space. “As I said, we accessed the Alien archives. Plus we picked up some things from Earth’s transmissions over the years ha ha!” the Chief said. “It is a fascinating planet with superb entertainment. The idea of the Green Room stuck, and we kept with it for our very special auctions.”

  Dom said, “You Veibons are weird. Why not just strip us now and get it over with?” Desire and the princess just kept giggling. “Stop giggling!” And then another fit of giggles came over him.

  “So glad you are having a good time, Human,” Chief Rygel said. “We also thought about visiting your Earth sometime to marvel at your Las Vegas, but the news reports said your planet was headed for an ice age. We like the heat, so we crossed Earth off our vacation planner ha ha!”

  Dom did a double-take, not believing that they got the same message as the Frorees. “That transmission was wrong; Earth is actually getting warmer. You might actually like it. I have a nice Froree I can introduce you to.”

  “Desire, if we make it out of here, remind me to send a strongly worded letter to the station editor about those damn false reports,” Dom said. “They’re ruining our tourism with everyone thinking we’re a big snowball.”

  JAXX let Jock sleep for six hours. When he finally woke up on his own, he was pissed.

  “JAXX, how could you let me sleep so long?” Jock yelled irrationally.

  “Sir, while you were sleeping, I used the body monitor in your chair to gauge your REM cycles and metabolic rate,” JAXX replied. “With all the warp jumps, your energy reserves were very low. You needed your rest or else you would be useless to this mission.”

  Jock lifted himself in his seat and looked around. “Wait, there’s a monitor in my chair? This ship rocks. And wow, I feel like a new man.”

  “I also engaged the massage function to relax you even further,” JAXX said. “Major, may I suggest you go get some food now? It will only be a matter of time before the Aesneians start contacting us over the comm stat. We are getting close to the Boru System.”

  Once Jock got back to the salon, he wolfed down some of Dom’s steak and potatoes, popped five energy pods and washed it down with some goat milk he’d stashed in the back of the fridge.

  He returned to the cockpit to monitor the fleet and suddenly realized the stress of the mission was daunting. All this time, Jock had secretly wanted nothing more than to prove to the king that he could have been a suitable husband for Amy. The bad thing was that he no longer felt the same way. His youthful infatuation with the princess was long gone, replaced by the GOON sensibility to simply complete the mission and rescue his friends.

  He surprised himself with that attitude. He, Dom and Desire had only been together for a month or so, but it had been a month of meeting with strange new creatures an
d life forms, while exploring parts of the galaxy he never knew existed. It was a lot to take in, but now the princess was the least of his worries. He could see the future, or at least the future that sort of existed with her. And to his dismay, it was blank. There was no route to eternal happiness with her.

  The Glitter King would never allow them to be together, no matter if he rescued her or not. It weighed on him, but maybe it was a sign that he had matured past his childish love for her. That he’d moved on and the youthful flights of fancy weren’t enough for him anymore. Deep in his mind, he was also a bit offended by her selfish act of escape that had put them all in grave danger. He had a mission, and he had a team, and that was the most important thing for him this moment forward.

  He also wanted to take down the Veibon slave trade ring. The thought of how his friends and any other future captives could end up after being sold was too much to bear. He didn’t want to think about that. “JAXXY, I really hope the king’s men can help me put an end to the disgusting Veibon slavery ring once and for all.”

  Chief Rygel was ecstatic and could barely contain his excitement. Never had the Veibons drawn such a wide variety of species from all reaches of the galaxy. He watched as ship upon ship landed on their moon.

  As the Snahetuns, Jaflosies, Cetars, Yubrors, Nuwhandas, Stonias, Xiytes, Bothians, Olyarians, Gwarts, Laswons, Ablaunides, Funtas, Pwichis, Smones, Wapsipaehiris, Bebliers, Traoz, and the Chaugnauts entered the tent, he hoped the slaves would put on a good show and that it would be the most spirited auction ever.

  He walked to the green room to check on his valued merchandise and was overwhelmed by the turn out.

  The room bubbled with electricity as the contingent of special guests streamed into the auditorium for the auction. The Veibons had never seen such excitement and couldn't believe their good fortune. Not only was the Princess a major draw, but also the added peculiarity of the Human and the quirky idea of the Centaurian mindreader had piqued their interests.

  The Green Room behind the stage was small but had separate changing stalls for each of the prisoners.

  The wardrobe was out, and the costumes were hanging by each stall. The stage manager prodded each of them to get changed. “Quickly now, 40 minutes to show time. And you still need hair and makeup.”

  “Makeup?” asked Dom. “I take it they do this all the time, huh? What happens if a person doesn’t go out and perform?”

  The guard walked Dom over to the stage curtain, opening it slightly for him to peer at the edge of the stage. Dom didn’t want to spoil the surprise, but his curiosity got the best of him. He doubled over from the latest bout of giggle fits and poked his head through the curtain. His eyes grew wide from the witches’ brew of species assembled to bid on his body. A rough-looking group drew his attention as they made their presence known to their tablemates.

  “See those ugly creatures with the swivel heads and the huge red beaks battling it out with the razor-teethed mutants that look like they could tear your flesh off?” the guard grunted.

  “How could I miss them?” Dom asked.

  “Well, if someone doesn’t perform, the Xiytes pay triple for the privilege of tearing a slave limb from limb as their own form of entertainment. And the Bebliers will pay even more than that just to eat your good parts.”

  Dom quickly walked back to the green room and suppressed another round of laughter. Turning to the chief, he said, “Cleanup on Aisle 5, Chief. Looks like some of your guests aren’t too happy with the numbers on their placecards.”

  Chief Rygel stepped over to look through the curtain, shielding his eyes from the spotlights as he scanned the crowd.

  In a tragic mix-up, the Xiytes and the Bebliers were accidentally seated near each other. His guards apparently forgot about their bloody, age-old rivalry, and it had rapidly reared its ugly head. The tiny Xiytes, barely a meter tall, had leapt on top of their tables to see over the creatures in front of them. As they realized it was the Bebliers, they fought for better sight lines and it quickly escalated into an all-out brawl.

  “Guards, with every moment these beasts combat each other, my riches are dwindling,” Chief Rygel yelled. “Do your jobs. Ha ha! Clean up this mess and reseat the Xiytes on the other side of the auditorium. Move the Funtas to their seats. The Funtas will be far less trouble. Despite their protruding fangs and propensity for draining their slaves of blood, they are truly sweet creatures.”

  “Well, alrighty then.” Dom quietly nodded and walked back to his dressing stall. He’d change in a jiffy.

  The princess walked out in a skin-tight white tunic with a black belt and black boots. Dom did a double take, now understanding why Jock was so fond of the princess all those years ago. She had curves that wouldn’t quit.

  Dom grabbed the suit the guard handed him. He glanced at the velvet cape and the shiny sequins and the giant platform loafers. He knew where this was headed, and suddenly giggled like even more of an idiot. “No wonder these guys were interested in visiting Vegas,” Dom muttered.

  He stepped out of the dressing stall, and the princess gave a whistle. “Impressive,” she said giving him a once-over.

  “Why, thank you, thank you very much!” he said in his best deep Southern drawl, sneering and curling his upper lip in the process.

  There was only one prisoner left to make her grand debut. Desire looked down at herself. Despite her predicament, she knew she looked hot. But she was nervous to see how Dom would react.

  She poked her head out of the changing stall and then stepped out confidently. She was scantily clad in black platform heels, thigh high fishnet stockings, a barely existent leather micro-mini skirt and a red corset with a giant bow on the back.

  Dom stopped giggling. He could barely keep his tongue off the floor.

  “You are all even more fetching than I envisioned when I specially chose your costumes,” Chief Rygel said proudly. “Now to hair and makeup. You will be grand.”

  16

  Time was ticking. Jock knew he was cutting it close and it wouldn’t be long before his friends were sold off to the highest bidder. They needed to make the next warp jump and get to Veibos in a hurry.

  “JAXX, open a comm channel to the lead of the Aesneian fleet,” Jock said.

  Captain Vaunias answered quickly. “Major Saunders, thank you for leading us safely into range of Veibos. My calculations show we need to make one more warp jump to enter the system. I believe we should there in what you call 70 Earth minutes.”

  “Affirmative,” Jock said. “We also need to further discuss our plan of attack. I’m a GOON, so I’m all for quick action. We can force our way in with blasters blazing, take out every being in our way, locate the princess and my team, and then shoot our way back out of there. Though, I’m not sure of the effect it will have against the Alien cloaking system.”

  He’d done this kind of op a thousand times before so he knew this was the best way to do it. He was trained to come in fast and hard and run with the element of surprise and superior firepower.

  “We must also capture Captain Andana and the Veibon Chief,” Captain Vaunias said. The Glitter King wants their heads for himself. So we can’t simply blow up the place.”

  Jock scowled to himself. He hadn’t been in a real fight in months and was itching to shoot someone or something up. “Also we have no idea what kind of weapons they have. They could have nothing but the stun blasters I saw. But I’m guessing they have sophisticated weapons, bought and sold from the profits of slave trading across the galaxy.”

  “Nothing compares to the royal fleets’ superior weaponry,” Captain Vaunias said. “We have the best weapons glitter can buy.”

  “That’s good, but we don’t even know what is real,” Jock replied. “The facade of the tent and the structure inside was enormous with lots hallways and caverns. The Veibons could be selling them anywhere in the complex. Let’s hope they’re charging admission and the huge line will give it away.” Dom’s snarky sense of humor was rubbing
off on him.

  “This is no joking matter, Major Saunders,” Captain Vaunias said. “I want to be brutal, but effective.”

  “Then I would suggest going all out SPOOK on them,” Jock said. “Let’s go into cloak mode and land the fighters some distance away. I’ll lead an advance team on foot. Then you can command your men to come in after us. If Chief Rygel has a welcoming committee for us, my team will be able to take them out quickly and slip in unseen. We don’t want to lose the element of surprise and that way we pave the way for your larger ground assault.”

  Captain Vaunias agreed. “That sounds like a much better idea. I’ll inform the rest of my fleet. See you after the warp.”

  “JAXX, prepare for the jump,” Jock said. “We might just pull this off.”

  Jock leaned back in his seat, happy that had reserved one weapon for himself. If he could get in range of Desire out ahead of the attack, maybe she would pick up on his thoughts and tell the others that help is on the way. It was a gamble, but a man could hope.

  Once they were done with hair and makeup, they were in holding pattern in the green room. They couldn’t help but imagine what the Veibon Chief had in mind for them. Dom was dressed like a skinny Vegas Elvis. It was a good thing his parents had raised him on a few retro songs from that era. Not that he could sing, but at least he could get out there and shake his butt and wiggle his hips.

  Aside from his brief glimpse of the vicious beings he saw earlier, he wasn’t quite sure what the rest of the audience was going to be like. “So you think this is like a slave trader convention with funny hats and noisemakers and stupid skits?” Dom said to no one in particular. “Like a cheesy Moose Lodge version of the Gong Show crossed with American Idol?”