by Maia Starr
Then I heard the guards behind us say something that sent chills down my spine.
“Commander Yun used to make us kill the males and only keep the females as slaves. Sergeant Hafah does things differently here on the Tyla Wen moon base.”
“Yes, you are new here but you will see. He has put the males to better use.”
That is when we were separated. The male crew was taken down one hall and I was taken into another. I was scared to be separated like this, but what could I do?
“In here, human female,” the guard said as he pushed me roughly.
“I’ve never seen one so dirty before,” the guard told the other as they laughed at me.
I felt angry and embarrassed. I really didn’t think I was all that dirty. Dirt was a part of life on Merton Loy because it was a mining outpost. There was no way around it, but they made me feel like I was some sort of outsider, even in comparison to the humans they had already seen. It was embarrassing. I sighed and looked around my prison. Was this really better than being on Merton Loy? I had only escaped because I thought I was going to Earth. Now I was stuck on this moon base where I couldn’t even go outside.
I sat and cried. Had I made a mistake? This moon was just as barren as Merton Loy. Though there was something here that I did not have back on the mining planet, and that was an unpredictable future. On Merton Loy, I was going to have to marry a miner and have children—and that would be my life. Here I had no idea what was going to happen. I knew that I would have no freedom as a female slave, but at least I would see different things and that gave me a sense of hope.
Hours later, the door opened and a tray of foods and drinks I had never seen before in my life were brought into me. The guard didn’t even look at me. He brought it in and left. I picked up the strange fruits and smelled and tasted them. I guessed that since they had humans here, they knew what to feed them, so I ate and drank greedily. Then I fell asleep. I hoped that when I woke up, things would somehow be better, but they weren’t. They got worse.
“Wake up, slave,” a voice echoed in my head. I sat up quickly to see Sergeant Hafah standing over my bed. I was terrified at how he towered over me with a menacing look.
“I am Sergeant Korin Hafah, and you will tell me what you are called and why you were on that ship. Tell me everything about the ship and where it was going,” he said as he stood there.
I realized that I could not tell him the truth because it would not match up with what I told the crew. It would make the crew look like liars, and I did not want them harmed. So I said, “I am from Merton Loy. My name is Silver Brooks. When the ship was loading up the silver to take back to Earth, I snuck on the ship to take a look at it. I was curious. I sat down and fell asleep. When I woke up, the ship was far from Merton Loy. So the crew decided to take me with them to Earth as they did not have a choice. Then the ship was pulled into this base against our will. That is all,” I said.
He looked me up and down again, and once again showed that look of disgust. “Why are you so filthy? We have caught the ships full of human females before and they do not look as you do.”
I swallowed hard. So he did think that I was dirty and it repulsed him. Who was he to be so repulsed by a little dirt? He sure was a snobby jerk.
“Those human females that you have captured are from Earth and on their way to the mining planet of Merton Loy. They have yet to live with the miners and be on the dusty planet. If you were to capture them on their way back to Earth, they would look as I do. Though that will never happen, because once you are on Merton Loy, you never leave. It is still a growing colony and they would like it to be bigger.”
“What is the business of the ship that you came here on?” he asked, looking at me with cold, blue eyes.
“It was a bride ship, taking brides from Earth to Merton Loy. It was on its return trip from Merton Loy to Earth with a shipment of silver, as that is what is mined most on Merton Loy.”
“That is what the male humans said as well,” he said as he walked toward the door.
“The male humans, are you going to kill them?” I asked timidly.
“No. I have better uses for them alive,” he said.
“And what about me?”
“Enough! I did not permit you to ask me questions, human female slave. I am done with you and you will speak no more!” he shouted at me.
I recoiled back toward the wall on my bed. I was terrified. This warrior was menacing and mean. He gave me one last, angry look before opening the door and walking out. As soon as he was gone, I cried—hard.
The next day, or what I assumed was twenty-four hours later since I could not see if it was daytime or nighttime in my prison cell, I was once again brought nourishment. I was glad that it was not Sergeant Korin Hafah, as I never wanted to see that jerk again.
Then after the second meal, something happened that I was not expecting. Two female Kalazaron walked into my prison cell. They looked like the male Kalazaron, with the seven-foot height and blue skin, but they were female, with ample breasts, small waists, and very long legs. One of them had black hair and black eyes, while the other had brown hair and brown eyes. They wore thin, muslin dresses that you could almost see through, but not quite.
“Come, human slave. You are to be prepared for your visitor,” the female said.
“Visitor? What visitor?” I asked.
“We do not know, only that we are to clean you up as you are to have one. Follow me,” the black haired beauty said.
I quietly followed them and felt very small next to them. Moments later, they disrobed me and sprayed me down with harsh showers and rubbed my body with oils. They were rough with the scrubbing all over my face and body, and talked very little except to each other about the work they were doing.
After they dried me down, they cut the knots out of my hair and brushed out the rest. I was dressed in a white, muslin gown, just like theirs, and I felt very naked in it. It tied around my neck and was backless. Even though it was long, it hugged my body, making me feel like I was on display. I had never worn anything like it on Merton Loy, and although it was pretty it felt very uncomfortable.
The female Kalazaron pulled my hair back away from my face with ornamental clips and let the rest fall over my shoulders and down my back. They applied scented oils in fragrances that I had never smelled before. They slid soft sandals on my feet and then they were done.
I was led back to my prison room and left alone. Now, I was shaking in fear. I did not know who this visitor was, but the fact that they made me bathe and get into this dress made me feel like it was either someone of great importance, or it was a male that meant to use me in the way that a husband lays with a wife. That thought terrified me.
I looked around the room for something that I could use as a weapon, but found nothing. The furniture was bolted to the ground and there was only a bed and a table and chair. I went to the toilet room and looked at the shiny mirror and gasped at what I saw.
Was that reflection really me? In the mirror I saw a beautiful woman with fiery, shiny hair and pale skin dusted with soft freckles across the nose and cheeks. Vibrant green eyes stared out, and they were lined with dark make up. Full lips were lush with a pink sheen of gloss that matched a pink pendant on my neck. The gorgeous, muslin, white gown looked soft and feminine on me.
I touched my face and my hair. It really was me. I could not believe it. I didn’t look anything like myself, or what I was used to seeing when I looked at myself in the mirror. I smiled at myself, and for a moment forgot that I was a captive. I just enjoyed this new me as I stared at my reflection. Then the spell was broken when I heard the door open.
“Human slave,” an unfamiliar voice said. I walked back into the room to see a sinister-looking Kalazaron warrior standing there. My whole body froze as he looked at me. His eyes were ominous as he looked at me up and down with a sideways sneer on his awful face. He was not the least bit attractive like the Kalazaron that I had seen so far. I couldn’t r
eally describe it, but there was something evil to him and I was completely frightened.
“I am Commander Yun; what are you called, slave?” he asked as he stepped forward.
“I am called Silver Brooks,” I said shakily.
“Silver; that names fits you well, because you do shine, slave. Do you know why I am here?” he asked, moving closer to me.
“No.”
“I think you can guess,” he said as he put his hand on my shoulder. I gasped in fear as he moved his head lower to my neck.
“No! Leave me alone!” I shouted.
“Quiet! You will do what I say, slave!” he shouted.
“No; don’t touch me!” I shouted as I struggled in his strong arms. I looked around for a way to escape, but there was none.
The commander picked me up and threw me onto the bed.
“No! No!” I shouted with tears streaming down my face.
“Get off of her!” a voice shouted as the commander was grabbed and thrown across the room.
Chapter 2
SERGEANT KORIN HAFAH
I was going to do whatever necessary to get what I had wanted ever since my training as a warrior began: I wanted to be a general. So far I had made it to the position of sergeant, but I was not done rising in the ranks. I had only just begun, and I was committed with a heart of steel to doing whatever it took to get the power of a general. For now, being stationed on the moon base of Tyla Wen was sufficient, but I planned to make it back to our planet of Kaethon where I would become a general.
The moon base was just an entry-level point where I could prove myself. I had done that and rose through the ranks on the base, and last year was made a sergeant. The rise in the ranks was not happening fast enough for me, so I took matters into my own hands.
I was going to play the game, and fortunately the female Kalazaron found me irresistible, as they should. I took that noted appeal of mine and used it for my advantage and to help me rise in the ranks. I set my eyes on Lukah Bresh, the eldest daughter of Master Bresh. The master was the highest in command of the political hierarchy of the Kalazaron. If I married his daughter, then I would become a Bresh and therefore have more pull in my quest to become general. It was true that Lukah did not interest me in outside of the fact that she was the master’s daughter. I found her to be very spoiled, boring, and somewhat annoying, but she was pleasant to look at and that was good enough for me. Besides, male Kalazaron were allowed to take on lovers; it was the Kalazaron way.
So, I became betrothed to Lukah a few months before when I was last on Kaethon, after months of courting her. Now, she had managed to tell her father that she wanted me closer, on Kaethon with her. Therefore, I was being transferred from the moon base of Tyla Wen to the training base in the capital city of Konthos. I smiled a greedy grin when I received the order. I had done it. It was already going my way.
I put the order down on my desk and set out to make the preparations for my departure. It was the perfect timing too, as I was already scheduled to leave to Kaethon for a short visit in order to attend the Vycon, the political gathering regalia. This was a combination of social mingling and politics, and I was to escort my betrothed, Lukah Bresh. I was ready to depart from the moon base and head back to Kaethon in a single pod when I heard, “Sergeant, we’ve captured a ship in our pull beam. It looks to be an Earth ship,” the guard said.
“Is it armed?” I said, furious that I was scheduled to leave to Kaethon soon and now I would have to deal with this mess.
“No, Sergeant, it is not armed. It is being searched right now on the inside as it seems to be a cargo ship of sorts,” the guard said.
“Let’s go,” I said as I followed him out toward the bay port where ships were brought it. Why this ship had wandered into our air space would need to be found out. It would be a full investigation, and if it were an Earth ship with humans aboard, they would be taken as slaves. It would be a lot of work, and now my trip to Kaethon would be delayed.
I walked into the bay with that anger on my face. I did not care for humans, but as a sergeant, it was my duty to deal with this.
“Sergeant Hafah, these are the humans that were on the ship,” my guard said as he pointed out the mostly male human crew and one, very filthy female. They did not look dangerous to me, however as a warrior society we took all matters as acts of war. It could be possible that they looked this way in order to deceive us. They could have an entire ship full of explosives for all we knew, and these humans could be willing to sacrifice their lives in order to deliver them to this moon base.
“What were you humans doing in our airspace? It is forbidden,” I said, feeling the anger boil within me that I had to deal with this now, and that it would be hard to know if whatever they said would be truth.
“I am the captain of the ship,” a skinny, male human said. He was older than any human I had seen before. As I had an exchange with the captain on why he was in our airspace and what the ship was carrying, I had my warriors inspect the ship for explosives. The ship was scanned with a projection tool that would quickly give us a blueprint of the ship. The complete skeleton of it and its cargo would be displayed before me in minutes. It was the only way to know, as I did not trust the humans. They were full of lies and deceit and were not as intelligent as we were. I saw no use for them other than the manual labor program I had designed just for them on Tyla Wen moon base.
“Good. For now, put the males in the cages. I will question them later and then they will be transferred to the slave work systems. Put the female in a room quarter.”
“Yes, Sergeant,” the guard said as I took a good look at the female for the first time.
She was very filthy, and I had never seen one that looked as dirty as she did before. How any self-respecting, male Kalazaron could want to touch a female human was beyond my thought. They were nowhere near as beautiful as the females of our own kind. Our own kind was elegant and clean, or at least they were in the circles I ran in.
I looked at her red, knotted hair that was almost sticky. Her pale skin was nothing compared to the blue tint of ours, and it was smeared with black dirt. Her rags were big on her, like rough sacks of cloth, and they too had dirt on them. No, she was nothing compared to the human females I had seen before and I would not know what to do with her, as who would want such a filthy, unkempt slave in their home? I thought I might have to put her into the manual labor camp with the human males. I walked away with a grunt of disgust as I pulled my eyes from her.
I went about my duties, making sure all the preparations were still underway for my departure the following day. The Vycon was in three days and I wanted to be there before it started. This would give me sufficient time to deal with the Earth ship. I quickly went to the first step of protocol in these situations: I communicated with Master Bresh.
“Master Bresh, we have pulled in an Earth ship that was in our air space. It was carrying a cargo of silver from the mining planet of Merton Loy. There were four human males and one human female aboard the ship. Their captain stated they are simply a cargo ship transferring the silver back to Earth. All signs of their unarmed ship point to that notion, but I have locked them up for furthering questioning, upon your approval.”
“Good. Good work, Sergeant Korin Hafah. Have the silver delivered here to Konthos as soon as is possible. What is your plans for the human slaves?”
“Master, with your permission I would like to put the human males to work in the slave work system here on Tyla Wen. We need more hands in the sanitation systems, and they work out well for this. As for the human female, I do not know what to do with her. This one is unsightly, and in my opinion, not of good enough appearance and strength to be in any respectful home of a Kalazaron.”
“That is intriguing. I leave her in your care. You are her owner until further notice, when I have a moment to deal with it myself. With the Vycon just days away, I do not have time for it. She is yours for now, Sergeant Korin Hafah.”
My teeth ground
together at his words. Why the hell was he giving her to me? I did not want her or the responsibility. I already had enough on my plate with this Earth ship business, the duties as sergeant on the moon base, and leaving my second in command in charge while I went to Konthos.
“Yes, Master; as you wish.”
“Report back to me after the questioning sessions, though I suspect there will be no new knowledge as the silver cargo seems to make the notion of it being only a cargo ship true. However, continue on with protocol.”
The communication ended. I was furious! This was not my responsibility as a sergeant. Why could I not just leave this human female in the prison and be done with it until Master Bresh made up his mind? If it were up to me, I would put her in the work camp and be done with it. I grabbed a chair and threw it across the communication room. Everyone stopped and looked at me, though it did not shock them. I had a temper, and right now I knew who to take that out on.
