Page 7

Chapter Seven

Z ar

The next day, I’m sparring in the ludus when Captain Gren’s voice booms over the loudspeaker.

“We are being pursued by a Marauder pirate vessel,” his voice is tense and pressured. “They’ve come up on us fast and are ready for battle. Marauders are insane and bloodthirsty. They’ll fight to the death and take no prisoners.”

I’ve heard tales of the Marauders for many annums . Some of the badly scarred males who came to the ludus whispered of run-ins with these outlaws. Every time someone talks about them, the versions of their origins are different.

The story that makes the most sense is that somehow the inmates of Matrica II, the infamous prison planet, overthrew their guards and stole a docked freighter. The band of crazed sociopaths evidently grew, overthrew other prison planets, and now there are dozens, possibly hundreds of ships haphazardly roaming the galaxy in search of small vessels to attack. They board, kill and rape passengers and crew, then commandeer the ships.

From the tales I’ve heard, the lucky ones are killed, then raped and not the other way around. I wonder if the whispers about cannibalism are true. Anya and the other females have no way of knowing any of this. If we’re overpowered, they will be completely vulnerable—awaiting a terrible fate.

At that moment, the ship heaves, clearly taking evasive maneuvers at high speed. Before I can think of my own safety, my thoughts veer to Anya. How can I possibly protect her?

One of the three Urluts guarding us rushes out of the ludus , I presume toward the bridge. The remaining guards are clearly on high alert, watching all ten of us.

“Each of you face the wall. On your knees! Leave ten fiertos between you. Hands on the back of your heads,” Lurco orders. “We will kill anyone who makes a move.”

In this position, it’s hard not to fall every time the ship swerves sharply. I try to keep my center of gravity low. If I tip to the side, a trigger-happy guard will blast my head off.

I’m sure every other male here is worried about the Marauder attack and saving their own lives. I’m more worried about Anya than myself.

The ship veers sharply, then there’s the wrenching sound of metal tearing. As if there was any doubt, the captain’s clipped voice announces, “We’ve been hit. The hull’s been breached. I see dozens of Marauder heat signatures invading through the opening.”

“You’ve got to let us loose,” I shout over many voices exclaiming at once. “We’re trained fighters. Let us protect ourselves.” I quickly add, “And you.”

“Alright, assholes, you have one chance.” Lurco is trying to keep command, but sounds panicked. “Stand up if you’re willing to fight.”

All of us stand slowly, so they don’t get an itch to blast our collars.

“Don’t forget, all we have to do is press a button and you’re all dead. Your task is to fight against the crazies. If you so much as make a move against one of the ship’s staff, we will kill you dead without asking a question. Got it?”

We all nod our heads, still facing the wall, waiting for his orders.

“Lurco,” the captain announces overhead, “give each gladiator a laser weapon from the armory. You men still have activated collars around your necks. You’re fighting for your lives here today. If you turn those guns toward any of this ship’s crew, we will blow your head off your shoulders. I hope my orders are understood.”

“Humberg,” the captain adds, “as soon as the men are armed, bring six of them to the bridge on the double. Lurco, take Helix and the other four slaves to the cell block.”

The Marauders are crazy, but they’re said to be fighting machines. They’ve already boarded our vessel and are looking for fresh meat. We are in for a nasty battle. I have no idea how many of them there are. But with ten gladiators, all armed with real weapons, we’ll put up a hell of a fight!

As Lurco gives the order to line up and march to the armory, Shadow sidles up to me. “This is the time, Zar!” he whispers. “Now is the time to wage our insurrection.” His eye is bright. He looks more alive than I’ve ever seen him.

“Are you crazy, Shadow? Our collars are active. We’d be waging war against two enemy factions, not only the ship’s staff but the Marauders as well. And the females! They would all be killed within minimas if we fight our captors now.”

“You’re soft, Zar. Your female has made you soft. I give absolutely no fucks about the female I share a cell with. Now is the time.”

“You’ve lost yourself, Shadow. You have so much hate in you that you can’t think straight. Even if you don’t care about anyone on this ship but yourself, your plan will not work. The collars, Shadow. We have to deactivate the collars or we’ll all be dead. Today we fight against the Marauders. Soon, soon we will fight the males of this ship.”

Shadow’s jaw clenches as he seems to be weighing my words. He must see I’m right. He nods his head, almost imperceptibly, then gets in line.

Although I’ve been raised to fight since my first memory, I’ve only been trained in the gladiator weapons of old. There are many types of gladiators, each with its own weaponry and shields. My specialty is Murmillo. I fight in competition with an elongated shield and a three fierto double-edged sword. I’ve never even touched a weapon designed within the last two thousand annums .

Lurco’s lesson in using the laser blasters consists of no more than, “Point and shoot.” I don’t want to be overconfident, but there seems to be no art in this.

I have no idea how many bursts I can fire with one power pack, so I don’t know if my strategy should be to conserve energy or just blast anything that moves. I think of Anya and know she must be frantic as she waits helplessly in her cell. She’s trapped with nowhere to go. If the Marauders come upon her deck before we get to them, she’ll be raped or killed immediately.

“You six go with Humberg to the bridge,” Lurco orders. “You four, come with Helix and me to the cell block.”

My lucky day. I’m on my way to protect Anya.

Anya

Holy shit! Talk about being a sitting duck! Crap, here we are in our cells, open to the world with no protection. Even though the captain said these guys take no prisoners, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie like this where the attackers came on board and didn’t ravage the women.

Looking for something I can use as a weapon, I inspect my bed and discover the platform is not made of springs. Of course not. That might have afforded a modicum of comfort. Under the thin mattress is one piece of solid metal welded to four sturdy legs. This might provide some protection when the Marauders storm in. Only one problem, the damn thing is secured to the floor with inch-thick bolts. Can I not catch a break?

There is nothing in the cell but the bed, the thin blanket, the toilet, and a sink. The sink! I remember the sink stopper thingy is removable, then go over to grab it. The top flange looks to be the correct size to use as a makeshift screwdriver. I fly over to the nearest leg of the bed and try my improvised method. Lo and behold it really fits and is unscrewing the bolts.

I scream at the top of my lungs, competing with the blare of the klaxons, “Ladies, unscrew your bed from the floor. Use the sink stopper. You can use your bed as a shield!”

I keep unscrewing as I hear my instructions being repeated down the line. This may just be busywork so we don’t freak about being zapped into char by the Marauders’ lasers, but it’s better than sitting still and biting my nails.

Zar

It takes forever to arrive at the cellblock thanks to these dracking Urluts. They’re so slow and ungainly we could move faster if we picked them up and carried them over our shoulders. I’m relieved to see the door hasn’t been breached. We’ve heard weapon fire elsewhere in the ship, so we must be arriving here just in time. I step into the corridor only far enough to see my Anya on hands and knees frantically working at releasing the bolts holding the bed to the floor.

“Anya,” I call to her and my heart squeezes in my chest when she lifts her head and smiles apprehensively at me. “We’ll protect you and the others.” Now that I’ve reassured myself she’s safe, I stride back to the only door into the cell block. I hear the enemy approaching down the connecting corridor and can no longer pretend to defer to the Urluts. I simply take over.

“Guards, release the cell doors. Have all the women move to the last cell in the cell block.” They don’t resist my command, I think they’re relieved to be following orders rather than giving them.

“Females, hurry!” I roar over the cacophony of horns and weapon fire.

“Dax, Steele, Stryker! Carry the beds back to them. Make a protective barrier between them and us.” The men fall in, quickly grabbing beds and hustling them to form a makeshift wall with all the women crouching behind the shield. I hear a few grunts as my men pull some partially bolted beds out of the floor with sheer brute strength.

“They’re coming,” I shout. “Each male stay in a cell. Hide until the Marauders are all past the threshold.” I didn’t really have to order the Urluts to hide. They were already rushing to cower in the first cell. Great news, they can serve as a distraction to the enemy. While the Marauders are busy killing Lurco and Helix in the first cell, we can blast the bastards to hell.

An unknown number of Marauders rush through the doorway. I’m in the second cell with Dax, but I can see their reflections on the metal wall. They look crazy as shit. A few are naked. A few are wearing bizarre layers of clothes and blankets. Even though I’m seeing all of this so quickly and through a distorted reflection, the most striking thing I see is all the red. They all seem covered in red. I don’t know if it’s blood or paint or both, but they’re screaming and laughing and singing—their obvious insanity could terrify an untrained enemy.

They stop whooping and hollering all at once. They’ve discovered the guards in the first cell. There is a long eerie moment of silence and then the sound of intense laser fire. I stand ready with my weapon.

If I’m not mistaken, I hear laser fire being returned by the Urluts. By the sounds of things, they may have even slain a few of the enemy.

A moment of calm while the Marauders take a moment to reload. As soon as they step into our line of sight, Dax and I fire. “Now!” I yell to the others. I’m too focused on firing my weapon to look down the hallway, but I imagine Steele and Stryker coming out of hiding and firing into the bottleneck of aliens.

The fighting is intense. The noise of laser fire is thunderous and nonstop. There is a smell so putrid it literally steals my breath. I have no time to pay attention to anything other than firing my weapon. There are so many of the enemy that even though we’ve killed perhaps a dozen of them, the rest keep coming. They’re just stepping over their own dead, streaming down the hallway, intent upon killing whatever living beings they find.

They’re slipping on the blood of their comrades, still whooping and singing as if they’re at a party. I could never have imagined behavior like this. There is no organization, no plan, just forward motion and laser fire.

The way the cell block is set up, they don’t have a chance. They’re easy prey with nowhere to turn, just working their way forward into our line of fire.

Within a minima , laser fire stops. I take a moment longer to make sure there isn’t another phalanx of them on their way. But this wing of the ship is quiet.

“Ho,” Stryker shouts, “all seems clear.”

“Females! Stay down,” I holler. First, I count heads of my gladiators. All present and accounted for—good. Then a body count of the pileup near the first cell where all the action was. It looks like twenty-one dead. I see movement near the bottom of the pile and spray the entire mound with enough laser fire to kill a battalion.

When I look into the first cell, I see Lurco’s body has been all but obliterated by laser fire. Helix appears badly wounded, but still breathes.

“Anya? Are you okay?”

“Yes?” her voice is shaky, but after jogging to take a look for myself, I see no charred remnants of laser fire on the bedframes the females were hiding behind.

“Dax, come with me. We need to search for any who might be hiding.” Having seen the insanity of the Marauders’ behavior, it’s hard to imagine any of them could lurk quietly in the shadows. They would more likely be singing or screaming somewhere.

“This may not be over. The females need to stay where they are,” I say with authority.

We search the hallways, cargo holds and rooms thoroughly, but it looks like no Marauders survived. We run into three other gladiators when we’ve almost reached the bridge.

“We killed a dozen,” Shadow reports. “We’ve searched the starboard side for stragglers. The ship’s clean.”

I heave a sigh of relief and lead my men back to the cell block, my stomach clenched in worry about Anya with every step. When we arrive there, the captain booms over the loudspeaker, “We have subdued all intruders on the bridge. How are things in the cell block?”

Helix presses his com and weakly relates, “Lurco is gone. I’m wounded. All Marauders are good and dead.”

It’s only now that I grab Dax’s arm, pulling him to the back of the cell block so he can help me remove the bed frames and release the women.

It’s the work of a moment to heft the bed frames out of the makeshift wall. Although she assured me she was alive, I breathe a sigh of relief when I see Anya’s beautiful face. Her pale skin and enormous eyes reveal the toll the last few hoaras have taken on her. I quickly check and see that none of the other women have been injured, and then my entire concern is on Anya as she hurries to my side and nestles under my arm. She gets so close it’s as if she’s trying to melt into my body.

“Zar.” She puts her palms to my cheeks, then pulls back to inspect me from mane to toes. “You’re safe!” She squeezes next to me again, hugging me tight enough to almost steal my breath.

“Yes, Little One. We’re both safe.”