Date point: 4y 11m 1w 1d AV
“Sir, we have a bit of a problem.”
Looking up from a report of a recent raid, Kingruta said, “Come in, Bilgrath.”
As his officer took the seat in front of his desk, Bilgrath said, “The human has challenged Ryxus for the title of Enforcer.”
Shocked, Kingruta said, “What? It’s much too soon for that! His grooming for that position was going to take [months]! How did this happen?!”
“It appears one of the Gaoians that he has made friends with was caught speaking about a rebellion. Ryxus was going to kill him, but the human intervened. The whole mine is in uproar. They think the human is going to be a savior.”
Placing his head in his hands, Captain Kingruta considered the implications of the human killing his pet.
There was nothing else for it; it was unfortunate, and a significant loss to kill such an exotic specimen, but the human could not be allowed to win and rally the mine around him. The resulting riot would require him to kill at least half of his work force.
“He can’t win, Bilgrath.”
“I know sir, but the slaves will rampage if the human doesn’t fight Ryxus. He has to at least fight him.”
“Then we will have to make sure that he doesn’t win.”
“Who is he?”
Tricko stopped walking and looked at the human.
“His name is Ryxus. He used to be a pirate in the Dying Light; a very high ranking pirate. I’ve heard people say that he was their leader’s brother. But, the Dying Light is finished; Kingruta crushed them when he came to the Far Reaches. Most of the Locayl here are from the Dying Light.”
“So, he was captured?”
They began to walk again, alone in this section of the mine, so that they could speak in private.
“Yes, he was captured. He was the prize of the Captain for a long time. They tortured Ryxus for weeks when he was brought here. Brainwashed him and turned him into an obedient monster; or at least more of a monster than he already was. The brainwashing wore off, though the monster part didn’t, so Kingruta made a deal with him in an attempt to keep him under control.”
They began passing tunnels that Robert had never seen. They were deeper in the mine than he ever had been, and the air was beginning to go foul.
“What kind of deal?”
“In exchange for a bed, good food and not having to mine the tunnels like the rest of us; he would get to carry a weapon and would root out any attempts at a rebellion, before they got the chance to get started. He gathered a gang around himself as he set to his task. It was horrible when he first started; so many died, for even the slightest hint of hope or defiance.”
“How long ago was this? When did he get here?”
“Ryxus was brought here just after the mine was captured. I watched them bring him in.”
“How long have you been here?” asked Robert. The little Gaoian must have been here a long time to remember that, and survived a lot to still be standing.
The Gaoian stopped walking.
Looking at Robert with, what his translator told him was misery, he said, “This was my clan’s mine. We built it, looking to find a better life and return home with riches. We didn’t get the mine sanctioned, so it wasn’t on any maps. We were trying to eliminate the chances of anyone else finding this moon and making a claim. When Kingruta found us, we had no way to call for help, and no one came looking for us.”
The little Gaoian seemed to be bending in on himself with regret.
“There were over three hundred of us. The four of us are all that’s left. Everyone else is dead.”
Appalled, Robert couldn’t find words to express his sympathy. Standing in silence he wondered at how much pain Tricko and the other three must have been through.
They began to walk again.
“Ryxus killed most of my clan, Robert. If he saw us gather together in groups he thought were too large, he’d kill half of us and call it even.”
His voice had cracked at this point. None of the friends he’d had when he’d first come here had survived. Ryst, Chanuck and Bierst had only been acquaintances before everything had gone wrong.
“He has a standing offer that anyone who challenges him would be allowed to fight him and take his place if they could kill him. He said, ‘It was only fair,’ and laughed whenever he mentioned it.”
“Did anyone try?”
“Plenty tried; mostly other Locayl, a few stupid Chehnasho and one Gaoian. My clan leader tried; trying to make our lot better.”
There were tears in his eyes again as he mumbled, “Ryxus drew that fight out. He even made some of us watch.”
“Tricko, I’m really sorry. Really.”
“You have no blame human. But, I only tell you all this so you understand what you have done. You have to fight him now. The guards will come for you soon and take you to the arena, where you will fight him for the amusement of the slavers.”
“I don’t want to fight though. It’s…I’m scared of fighting.”
Looking at him with curious eyes, Tricko asked, “You are a human, one of the most dangerous sentient beings in the galaxy, yet you are a coward?”
Stung by this, Robert replied, “I am not a coward, nor am I afraid of the fight itself. I’m scared of myself during a fight. A real fight is different than training to me. I…I don’t think…rationally. It scares me.”
“Be that as it may, the fight will still come to you.”
“And if I refuse to fight?”
Stopping yet again, in front of a cavern where the air was particularly foul, Tricko pointed into it.
“Then this will be your reward from Ryxus.”
Insides going cold at the sight, Robert stared and felt his stomach contract in disgust.
Hundreds of bodies were piled inside the room. They lay in varying states of decay, bloated and oozing, and were stacked on top of one another. A red glowing light was lit at the far end of the room, and several diseased looking Vzk’tk and Locayl were dragging some of the bodies towards it.
“This is the incinerator room, where the weak are brought to die and be burned.”
“Holy fuck.” Robert said, holding his shirt over his mouth.
“Let’s go, I just had to show you, to make you understand what this mine is, and who these Chehnasho are.” said Tricko, who was looking nauseated as well.
Hardly upset by this idea, Robert followed Tricko out of the cavern, back the way they came.
“Did you know that ever since you got here, people have been hoping you two will fight? Did you know that if you win, the entire mine will rally around you like a savior? Robert, I have to ask you something before you fight Ryxus. It’s about what will happen if you win.”
Looking over at the Gaoian, Robert asked, “No, I didn’t know that. What’s the question?”
“Will you kill Ryxus, and after, will you help us escape?”
The Gaoian asked this with pride still in his voice, but his eyes told Robert that he was the little man’s last hope to save what was left of his clan.
“I…how?”
“You are a Deathworlder, human. You stand a better chance at killing Ryxus than anyone has ever had, and becoming the new Enforcer in this mine. If you survive and decide to help us, you will have to kill the guards at the front gate and give us time to get through with our weapons. You would also be able to rally most or all of the other slaves to the cause, and this nightmare might finally end.”
Robert thought about taking more blows from those mounted pulse cannons above the platform. Wondering if he could handle the responsibility of others looking to him for their deliverance, he asked, “What kind of weapons do you have?”
Looking a bit sheepish, Tricko said, “Well, we’re going to use the spike driving cannons, but there’s a problem that we need a tech savvy person to fix.”
Stopping in his tracks, and smiling for the first time that he could remember, Robert looked at Tricko and replied, “Explain the problem to me. I can help.”
“This place is a colony?” wondered Frank.
They were starting down at a roiling mass of sulphuric clouds, with acid rain spilling out over the entire planet.
“That’s what the computer says. Ted, what are we looking at?”
Being asked to use his knowledge for the first time in a while, Ted said, in a serious tone, “It’s a violent class world. It has the same atmosphere that Venus does. Venus is the most dangerous planet in our solar system, and I assume it’s the same in this one.”
Staring down at the yellow world, Frank asked, “Is it just the acid rain that makes it bad?”
“Not by a long shot. Venus has an average temperature of 864 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s not even the worst of it though.”
“Are you joking? How could it be worse?” asked an incredulous Jason.
“The atmosphere is heavy on Venus. Standing on the surface of Venus in the open air would be like standing nine hundred meters under the ocean. Your body would be crushed.”
Silence filled the flight deck as they observed the murderous world.
After a few moments, Frank asked, “Why the fuck would anyone make a colony here? And how would they even do it? I thought us humans were the toughest things out here?”
“This is the industrial colony that Drixian told us about. The entire settlement is over five kilometers under the surface. The computer says that this world is one of the richest in mineral deposits in this entire sector of space. It’s probably the whole reason for the other colony in this system.”
“How in God’s name did they build it though?”
Jason spoke up this time, as he’d been reading about the settlement on the computer.
“They made gravity elevators based above the atmosphere of the planet. The entire settlement and mining system is completely sealed to the outside, and they send down people and supplies through a highly pressurized elevator system. It’s how they get food from the other colony and send out what they mine. There’s a space port there as well, and they have the only police force out here. That’s where we’re headed.”
“Oh thank God, we don’t have to go down there.” breathed Ted, relieved.
“Were you worried? Those numbers you rattled off were within the limits of our ship.” said Jason.
Chuckling to himself, Ted said, “Those numbers were for Venus. This planet is almost twice as bad.”
“This is what you’re looking for!”
Robert was grimacing as he held one of the spike cannons up, holding one of the maintenance hatches on it open. The pain killers were starting to wear off and he was feeling his injuries again.
Tricko was still marveling at how the human was holding up one of the cannons. These cannons took whole teams to move and operate. While marveling at incredible strength of the human that was only a head taller than he was, he almost forgot to actually look at what the human was pointing at.
“This little black circle thing here.” he said, pointing at a circuit board with a black disk attached to it.
“How do you know that that’s it?” asked the Gaoian.
Smiling, the human said, “It’s the only part of this thing that doesn’t belong. It’s a receiver that can stop the power from cycling through it. All you gotta do is tear it out, and they can’t turn it off.”
“Robert…you have no idea how huge this is! Will they know if it is removed?”
“Nope, it’s receive only. No way to tell anyone if it’s been taken out. Bit of a design oversight if you ask me.”
Robert was smiling again; he’d been doing that ever since they’d begun to talk about the mining equipment’s technology. Tricko was beginning to think that humans might be even more dangerous than he’d thought. This human had dealt with some of the harshest beatings he’d ever heard of, knocked down the strongest person in the mine like it was nothing, and now was telling Tricko about technology his kind hadn’t even created.
Breaking Tricko from his inner thoughts, the human said, “You know… If you could somehow apply gravity plates to this, you could make it light enough for any of you to carry around and operate. In fact, you could probably even add pulse generators to this to get a little extra ‘oomph’ out of it too.”
Smiling broadly, he continued, “Hey, do you think that we could hollow out the spikes and put explosives in them? They’d only be able to detonate on impact so no air-burst or anything, but it’d still be a good idea-”
The human had begun to babble about modifying the cannons, as if they weren’t deadly enough. Tricko stared as the Deathworlder began to describe horrible ways that they could be made deadlier. Robert didn’t even seem to know he was doing it. The ideas just kept pouring out of him. Ideas even began to come out about other things they could use in addition.
“I bet those carts could be used as mobile firing positions, just slap more gravity plates on them and-”
“Human! Enough!”
Tricko was appalled at the things the human was saying.
It was honestly helpful to have these ideas, but he couldn’t believe that the human had such a bloodthirsty imagination.
“I… I’m sorry.” mumbled the human, apparently slightly ashamed with himself. “I do that sometimes if I get excited. Talk about crazy modification to things that would never work.”
“It’s…alright. Just please, keep the crazy murder ideas to a minimum.”
“I’m sorry. Really, humans aren’t all so motivated to kill people in horrible ways… It’s just cool to think about all the ways you can combine the technology…”
Stopping in a large chamber with other slaves in it, they began to whisper.
“It’s alright, Robert. You’ve actually given me some good ideas. Right now you need to worry about other things though. Before they take you, I want you to know, we’ll be with you during the fight. Listen for us before it starts.”
Together they saw a crowd of Chehnasho carrying weapons walking towards them. It was the first time Robert had seen them on the ground floor of the mine.
“Human, come with me. Now.” demanded the slaver in front.
“Good luck, human. Remember what we talked about.”
“I will, Tricko. Thank you.”
The human and the guards began to depart, but, stopping to look around at the Gaoin again, he said, “Tricko? Call me Rob.”
“Rob?”
“Yeah… I always told myself that my friends would call me Rob.”
Then he departed without waiting for an answer.
Staring after the human, he whispered, “Good luck, Rob.”
The sound of running came up behind him, and he turned to see both Ryst and Charuck running up to him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, suddenly worried.
“They took him. They came and grabbed Bierst and took him away.” panted Ryst.
Closing his eyes, and apologizing to the young one, he replied, “We…we can’t think about that right now. I need to teach you how to get those cannons ready so that you can teach others, and also start spreading the word about cheering during fight. I want the human to know that he’s not alone in that arena.”
“We’re just going to let Bierst die?” demanded Ryst.
“Ryst, they took him. He’s already dead.” Tricko said miserably.
“Human! You are not welcome here!” screamed the Vzk’tk.
“Calm down, we’re not here to cause trouble.” said Ted, palms raised; trying to defuse the situation.
“You may not be here to cause it, but you still bring it with you! Are you trying to bring a Hunter raid down on our heads? My children live here!”
Things were not going well.
Since docking in the port, they’d been avoided, cursed at and been told, as they were now, point blank to leave.
“That’s enough!”
A Rrrrtktktkp’ch was walking towards them, wearing something that was equivalent to a gun belt, with a gun clipped to it for each hand.
The Vzk’tk seemed cowed, but still gave the humans a wide berth and what they assumed was a dirty look as he left.
“Who are you?” asked Frank.
“Don’t worry about my full name, humans have a hard time pronouncing it. Call me Rickstick. I work for the police and security forces on this station, as well as the colony below. Why are you here humans?”
Jason, realizing he was talking to a man of authority, took over, gripping onto his translator.
“Nice to meet you Rickstick, I’m Captain Nolan. We won’t be here long, so you can tell your people to relax. We just need some information.”
Looking down at the humans, and making a gesture that they hoped was a helpful one, Rickstick said, “If it will get you to leave quickly; what would you like to know?”
Jason got straight to the point.
“I want to know where to find the Rising Plague ships that attack your civilian transport lanes.”
Indicating surprise, the Rrrrtktktkp’ch said, “Why would anyone want to know that? We try to avoid them at all costs. What could possibly make you want to find them?”
“I…want to have a chat with some of them.”
“I see. Forgive me but, you are humans, are you going to harm them?”
Trusting that everyone on this station would hate the Plague, Jason made what he thought was a safe gamble and told the truth.
“Well…yeah. We’re going to take their ship. I assume some of them are going to get hurt in the process.”
Staring at Jason for a moment, Rickstick said, “Very well, human. On the condition of you leaving immediately, I will take you to the security office and show you their last known location. Also, should things go badly for you, you will not tell the pirates that this station helped you. Do you accept those conditions?”
“I’ll take that deal. Lead the way.”
“Your companions must wait here. There will be panic if so many humans are seen in my work area.”
Looking back at his crew, Jason said, “Sorry guys, guess you gotta wait here.”
As Jason followed the alien, Frank began looking around the port, ignoring the large crowds of aliens working rather hard to give them a wide berth.
“This is the first time I’ve seen any kind of alien civilization. That decrepit space station didn’t count. It’s…bigger than I thought.”
“I think it’s because other species are larger than us, by like, a lot.” said Ted.
“It’s strangely alien and normal at the same time. Look, there’s a damn gift shop. And that place looks like it serves fast food.” observed Frank, pointing towards the businesses nestled between busy hallways, full of xenos moving crates.
“Well, people gotta eat, I guess. Alien or not.”
“It’s just…weird y’know? There’s all this normal stuff at home, like McDonalds and Wal-Mart and gas stations and movie theaters, and all that stuff is still goin on just fine. But, we’re in space right now, on an alien planet, and everyone back home is just sitting on their couches watching Judge Judy. We’re some of the most dangerous creatures in the galaxy, and people are wasting it on stupid stuff. I just don’t get it. But then, on top of that, they’ve got the same stuff up here.”
Ted pondered Frank’s words before saying, “Some people just aren’t interested in the exciting life style of exploration. There’s nothing wrong with them, Frank. They just settle for the easy route. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”
A bitter laugh escaped Frank as he sat down on an overly large chair that he didn’t think was meant for humans, “People who settle in life never do anything truly extraordinary. Trust me, I’m an example.”
Sensing Frank had just inadvertently revealed something about himself, Ted asked, “What did you settle on?”
Frank grimaced, “Before I say it, I want you to know I’d do every bit of it over again. Jasmine wanted to have kids, and I didn’t. I wanted to travel all over the world with her, but you can’t do that with kids. It’s just not feasible. Anyways, she wanted them, and I loved her, so I made her happy. Turns out that those kids ended up being the best thing for me; well, one of them did at least. But, even with how happy they made me, I still wish I could’ve seen the world.”
“If it makes you feel any better; the people who sit around waiting for something extraordinary to happen wave happiness by as it passes them. People who settle may never be the next Neil Armstrong, but there are more happy people that settled, than people who waited for the extraordinary. Not everyone gets to be an action hero or a pro athlete.” said Ted, sagely.
Hesitating a bit, Ted whispered to himself, “I know I wish I’d settled…”
“Bah, I guess you’re right. Anyways, like I said, we’re in space right now. I’d say that counts as extraordinary.”
“Hey! We’re out of here, pack up.”
Jason walked, unaccompanied, over to them from a large black door with unreadable writing and said, “Time to go, they’re not happy we’re here still, and we’ve got what we came for. Let’s go find some pirates.”
Frank stood and replied, “Lead the way Cap’n.”
They had chained Robert to the floor of a very large square room. It looked bigger than even the largest alien would require to be comfortable, which made him think it might have been for large animals as well. There was an open hallway on one side that went into darkness, and the door that he’d been brought through on the other.
Nerves had him on edge. Robert really didn’t want to fight, but he’d now been asked directly to kill his opponent, so that he and the Gaoians could escape.
While contemplating what would happen if he tried to make a deal with Kingruta to avoid the fight, Bilgrath entered, preceded by his usual company of six guards.
“Human, are you comfortable?”
“You don’t give a shit if I’m comfortable.” he snorted.
Standing in front of the human, Bilgrath said, “I am here to tell you how this is going to work. After you are alone in this room, those manacles are going to open themselves. When you hear the drums outside, Ryxus will enter the arena. You will then go through that hallway and fight him to the death.”
Robert said nothing.
Staring for a second, Bilgrath said, “Captain Kingruta is going to give you a chance to get out of this situation you’ve put yourself in.”
Perking up at this, Robert asked, “How? What’s the catch?”
Not even bothering to honey coat it, the alien said, “You have to lose to Ryxus, on purpose. If you do that, he will be ordered to not kill you.”
Thinking about it, thoughts of the Gaoians came to his mind, unbidden. They’d all die here, and he might have been able to prevent it. Was he really thinking of risking his life for them, or was he going to avoid risking losing his mind again in a fight, and condemn them to die here?
“I…I don’t know. Do I have time to think about it?”
Evidently annoyed, Bilgrath grunted, “No, you don’t. Allow me to help you make your decision for you.”
Waving at one of his guards, the Chehnasho went outside the room momentarily. It worked once, figured Bilgrath. Why not again?
Two Chehnasho entered the room, dragging a furry body between their arms, covered in blood and whip marks. He was missing one of his ears, and a deep gash marred his nose. One of the Chehnasho was carrying a whip like the one that had been used on Robert, black with blue plasma shimmering in a small line along the length of it.
“Bierst!”
“This slave has been accused of inciting rebellion among the other slaves. The punishment for this is death. You can save him, however. Agree to lose the fight, and he will be spared. We’ll even patch him up for you.”
Eyes only for the little Gaoian, Robert looked into Bierst’s face as he struggled to look at the human across from him.
Both the human’s and Gaoian’s minds were spinning rapidly, trying to decide what to do.
Bierst had known that his life had been forfeit before, but now…
As he looked at the human through bloody eyes, he saw what Tricko had been talking about. The human refused to be broken through usual means. Others were more important than his own suffering.
Tricko’s plans for the human were known to him; and he knew that if the plan was going to work, they’d need the support of the other slaves. That support would only come if the human fought and won against Ryxus.
Bierst was young, barely past the years of his adolescence. No great deeds were attributed to his name, no one had ever told a story about something he’d done. No mating contract had been carried out by him, and he’d never sired cubs. Thinking about it, no female had ever even looked at him before.
But, the lives of his three remaining clan members were in his hands. Here and now, the decision of their fates was up to him. There were no illusions about whether or not the human would spare him, his translator told him that the human was suffering terrible guilt at the thought of causing his death.
That was why the human could not be allowed to do so. The human would owe his friends if Bierst died here; be honor bound to help them.
No cubs had been sired, no great deeds known, but he could earn his place in his clan forever, here and now.
As the human opened his mouth to speak, and Bierst’s fur began to stand on end from anger and fear, in a movement small enough as to go unnoticed, he wiggled his head to tell him no.
The human’s eyes went wide, and he knew he’d been understood. Closing his eyes, he began to say his goodbyes silently.
“I…I…I can’t. I will not lose to Ryxus.”
Tears began to spill from Robert. This little kid was willing to give his life to give his friends a chance, and Robert had just ensured his death.
Anger boiled over in Bilgrath.
“You would allow him to die, even though you can prevent it!?”
“Y-Yes. I would.”
“Very well! Be it on your head.” Nodding sharply at the guard with the whip, the whip suddenly began to glow a bright white and blue.
“NO!”
The whip cleaved straight through the flesh and bone of the little Gaoian and he fell to the floor in two halves.
Bierst’s final thought was that he’d not said goodbye to his mother before leaving for the mine.
“BASTARD!”
Robert began to strain against his restraints, trying to get at Bilgrath, causing the chains to creak under the stress.
Looking disdainfully at the struggling human, Bilgrath said, “It appears that we will have to pursue other means to make sure you do not kill Ryxus.”
Turning on the human who was tearing the flesh of his wrists on his restraints, Bilgrath said to one of his men, “Open fire on him after I leave. I want him hurt badly before the fight.”
“Yes, sir.”
As the Chehnasho left, the guards all pointed their weapons at Robert.
The first man shot him in the shoulder. There was just enough delay for him to register that it felt like he’d been punched, stiffly.
Then the rest of them opened fire. Restrained as he was, he could do nothing to defend himself except curl into a ball and try to protect his face, lying on the ground as the blood of the kid pooled around him.
His heart was beating hard. Too hard.
As the sound of pulse fire continued inside the room, Bilgrath said to one of his guards, “Bring the box we discussed earlier to Ryxus’s room.”
“Right away, sir.”
Walking down several hallways, making several turns along the way, he stopped in front of a massive door.
“Open it.” he said, speaking to one of the guards standing beside it.
As the door unlocked and opened he walked inside, the guard he had spoken to earlier ran up to him and followed him inside, carrying a large metal box.
“Hello Ryxus. How has your day been?”
Ryxus sat on a large chair which had been made especially for him. Looking down at the tiny Chehnasho he said, “It’s been a good day. I got to kill a few stupid Vzk’tk who got in my way, and now I get to face a human.” Ryxus leered in anticipation.
“You’ve been out of touch with the galaxy for a long time Ryxus. You haven’t heard what the humans are capable of. Not really. You may have heard about them before you came here, but you don’t really know how dangerous they are.” said Bilgrath, slowly so that Ryxus would know he was being serious.
“You think I can’t kill him? Watch me.”
“I don’t think you can’t kill him. I know you can’t. The human will tear you limb from limb. Captain Kingruta can’t allow this, so he’s giving you a present that will tip the odds in your favor.”
Ryxus stared malevolently at the little whelp. Nearly all of the Chenasho here were afraid of him, and had good reason to be; but the high ranking pirates of the Rising Plague had always been hard to intimidate. The Chehnasho merely looked at him; unfazed.
“What ‘present’ are you talking about?”
Striding over to the box that had been placed onto the floor, Bilgrath opened it to show the contents.
“I believe you will remember these?”
Standing quickly and stooping to pick them up, Ryxus held up his two long fusion blades, each long enough to be a full length sword for the Chehnasho, and engraved with the Dying Light’s crest.
“I thought these had been destroyed, or lost in the fight…”
He was staring at them, as though remembering a past life.
“Captain Kingruta had them mounted in his study.”
Pointing into the box, he said, “There are two more in there as well. They aren’t as long as yours, but he wants you to be fully armed. The human will not be easy to kill. He will be faster than you, and if he gets even one solid blow on you, the fight will be over.”
Waving away the slavers words, Ryxus said, “I’ll kill the little human for you. Don’t worry about it. On one condition. I get to keep my blades after the fight is over.”
Ryxus still hadn’t taken his eyes off the shining metal of his treasures.
Considering the decision, Bilgrath slowly said, “Very well. Kill the human, and you may have them back. I am sure the Captain will allow it, as long as the human dies.”
“Good. Now, get out. I have to get ready.”
Bilgrath exited.
Walking up a flight of stairs next to Ryxus’s room, he came out to look upon the arena. It was a large square, and had been made for the men to watch Ryxus tear would be Enforcers apart. The walls were made of thick steel, and had been welded together from the scrap of several ruined ships.
Bleachers extended up on all sides, making room for the men to watch from. Nearly every man could be seated in the arena, and most of them would be here to watch the fight. Only a few men would have to stay on guard duty at the front gates of the mines.
Captain Kingruta had his own balcony, higher than the rest of the bleachers, and directly above the arena, so as to have the best view.
Kingruta was there now, waiting for all the men to be seated, as they were now filing in a little at a time.
“Did the human do as I asked?” asked the Captain.
“No, I had to kill the slave. He’s being beaten now, and I gave Ryxus his fusion blades, like you said. The human will die.”
Sighing deeply, Kingruta said, “It’s truly a shame. He’s such an exotic catch, and I wanted him to eventually take Ryxus’s place. I’ll just have to make do with Ryxus for the foreseeable future. Once the men are all here, and we get word that the gates of the mine are secure, start the fight, Bilgrath.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I see them!” exclaimed Ted.
Pointing at one of the screens, he showed an energy signature that had just appeared from behind a moon of the most remote planet, in the system that had the farm and industrial worlds.
“How many are there?” asked Frank, walking up behind Jason’s pilot seat, trying to look through the glass.
“It looks like just one ship. But, Jesus, it’s massive. It looks like a captured cruiser. It’s military class. Computer says that ships that size are rated to carry two hundred men.”
“We’ll worry about that bit in a minute. We’re just lucky that the info is still good. I bet they never expected anyone to come looking for a fight with them. That thing is bigger than any ship I saw at that port.” said Jason, pensively.
“Can they see us?” asked Frank.
Jason studied the distant ship for a second and checked the monitor again.
“I don’t think so. They haven’t done anything yet, and I’ve got every bit of tech in this bird screaming at them. Hopefully they think their sensors are being fried by something.”
“So…what’s the plan?” Ted questioned, nervously.
“We’re gonna land on the bastards.”
Laughing, Frank said, “What? You really think that’ll work?”
“Hopefully. Once we’re latched on, we can lock ourselves down. From there we can force our way into the ship through an airlock with that crowbar and the suit. From there… we’re fucking Deathworlders. Kill everything that fucking moves.”
“Jason…I…I’ll do this, but I want you to know that I’ve never done anything like this.”
Ted was looking ashamed and nervous to be saying this.
“I’m a lab geek. Not a marine. I don’t have any combat training. I’ve only even held a gun a few times in my life.”
Jason turned to look at the tall man in glasses.
Standing, and putting a hand on his shoulder, he said, “You can do this. There’s no fucking way they’re expecting this, and even if they manage to take a couple shots at us, almost nothing they have could leave a dent in us. You’ll be fine.”
“If…if you say so. For the kid.”
“That’s the spirit!”
Sitting back down in his pilot chair, and assuming a hard expression on his face, Jason said, “Let’s go kill some fucking slavers.”
He was sitting on the ground. Blood covered his hands, but it wasn’t his.
The body had been taken away when the beating was over, and the manacles had fallen off when they’d left; but the blood remained.
Purple bruises were forming all over his body. His limbs felt stiff and painful, but they’d left no permanent damage on him.
The fear was gone now.
That’s how it started. That’s how it had always started.
The reason he’d run away to the stars at the first opportunity; to be away from people.
He knew what was about to happen; knew that it would deliver him. Moving to embrace it like a lover, he sank himself into it.
The world slowed.
Boom…boom…boom…boom…
The sound of drums started in the arena.
Boom…boom…boom…boom…
Robert watched himself from above. Slowly, like moving through water, he saw himself stand.
He removed his shirt, exposing muscles forged of woven steel cords. Years of fighting men stronger than himself in his classes had turned his small 140 pound frame into iron.
Boom…boom…boom…boom…
The shirt was being torn into strips. His hands tied the strips around his knuckles, using minds of their own.
Boom…boom…boom…boom…
The sound of cheering started, and a roar from his opponent rang in his ears.
Adrenaline flooded his body. The pain left his injuries like cool water.
BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…
The floor began to shake. His friends had been true to their word. They were with him. They must have gotten the whole population to pick up hammers and strike the walls for him; calling out to him.
BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…
His body began to walk. Each step lasting a lifetime.
BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…
It was his turn. He was the monster this time.
BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…
The fear would be theirs this time. The blood of one of the most powerful races in the galaxy flowed through his veins.
BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…
His heart was beating hard. Too hard.
BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…
The blood was rushing through his brain, beating a tattoo through his head. It was too much; his head was about to burst.
The vibrations were crashing over his skin and ringing in his ears.
His body walked into the light of the arena, and a cheer went up.
And Robert Frost ceased to be…
Two-hundred and fifty thousand years of primal rage and blood gave voice to its pleasure at being released again at last.
The drums stopped. All fell silent. Every movement ceased.
As it squared up to its opponent, no living creature could have mistaken its expression.
Cold murder was etched into every line of the human’s face.