Page 27 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Tarkans were from a matriarchal society.

Sunder would never harm my Abigail, so I knew I could count on him when it came down to it.

I’d heard his discontent, heard his growls when he thought I was harming the female.

Kitan was of like mind, though he was a reckless wild card in a fight, always doing the least expected.

The male was solid, though, and neither of them had been born slaves; they were something before being forced to be gladiators.

They might have skills that were useful outside of the initial fight.

For one, after we killed all the Krektar, we’d need someone to pilot this ship.

I had some practice piloting Lacerten vessels, but very little else.

I didn’t doubt I could learn to fly this ship, but that would take some time—time we might very well not have.

Not if the Krektar got off a distress call, for example.

I didn’t know the exact number of Krektar I was up against either.

Still, as I contemplated my fellow gladiators and the problem, a plan was forming.

Everything would hinge on getting my hands on a remote in the next few days; otherwise, I was going to risk grabbing one from the Krektar in the gym and hope I could get to his before he could.

***

Abigail

I hated it when four Krektar showed up, waving around their pain controllers as they escorted the males from the cell block.

Ziame had warned me that he’d be gone during the day; they took all the males to the gym to practice for the upcoming fights.

He didn’t fight this time, though they ordered all the other males to kneel at the front of their cell—except for him.

Seemed to me like he’d won that particular fight previously.

As they led the males away, I saw the Krektar in the back leer at me, and I hurried to flinch back into the dark and cover myself with the blanket.

I needed it to stay warm anyway, but it wouldn’t do for them to see I was still fully dressed and unharmed.

They needed to think that Ziame had done a number on me.

I had noticed something odd, though; there were only eight males leaving the cellblock. One cell near the middle hadn’t been opened at all. Had I miscounted previously? Was that cell empty?

Curiosity had me get up, the blanket clutched tightly around me, and the scalpel in my pocket and in my hand underneath.

I went to the front of the cell, stood in the light, and tried to look into the cell that hadn’t been opened.

There was nothing to see, though; if there was someone in there, they were all the way in the back where the light didn’t reach.

“Hello? Is there someone still here?” I asked tentatively.

Nothing stirred. Maybe that cell was empty after all.

I couldn’t remember if I’d seen someone in there last night.

That walk through the cell block was a blur of monster-like creatures.

Although, as I’d seen them leave earlier, I realized that some had looked quite humanoid after all.

Maybe my fear last night had distorted things.

I shivered, trying to shake off my disquiet at being alone in the creepy cell block. Without Ziame here, I felt distinctly vulnerable. He didn’t think they’d come for me or that they’d harm me, but I still felt like a Krektar could show up at any point and drag me out of there.

Just as I was ready to turn back to the cot and curl up on it, I saw something move. That cell—there was something in there after all. I nearly shrieked with fright when a monstrous face moved into the light, only just managing to stifle the sound with my hand.

A beast, a real beast, was in there. Not some creature like the gargoyle or the fox-like man, not anything like Ziame.

This creature was on four legs, with sleek black fur and a face with a maw full of razor-sharp teeth.

Eyes like red coals glowed at me for a moment, and then the creature turned and padded back into the darkness.

Shit! Holy crap! That creature was freaky, it moved far too fluidly; it was just uncanny.

It looked like it could eat me up in a single bite!

No wonder they’d left that one in there.

It wasn’t sentient, or at least, that seemed extremely unlikely.

But the collar around its neck indicated that it, too, was probably here for the same reason those other males were.

Couldn’t let that one loose in a gym, though; it was probably far less capable of understanding commands. They probably barely controlled it at all with that collar. That was just a wild animal, plain and simple.

I was still contemplating the freaky beast a long time later when a Krektar showed up, carrying a large haunch of thawing meat. It tossed the meat through the bars into the beast’s cell without comment, then wiped its bloody hands on its pants as it came my way.

From the cell, I could hear the sound of the creature eating, bones crunching sickeningly. However, I was more concerned with the lewd look the Krektar gave me. He was getting closer, and I had the feeling I wasn’t going to like what was about to happen next.

“You’re up, sweetheart,” he said, and he tapped at the small screen strapped to his wrist. The bars to Ziame’s cell slid down into the floor at the command, and the Krektar gestured for me to get out.

“What are you going to do with me?” I asked. I didn’t feel like getting out and into the range of those sandpaper-skinned, grabby hands. The pain remote he was holding told me I probably wouldn’t have much choice, but still, I delayed the inevitable.

He smiled evilly at me, displaying a row of greenish-black teeth that probably would have benefited from a good mouth scrubbing.

They stole me from Earth and thrust me into some sci-fi nightmare with spaceships and translator tech, and yet the bad guys still didn’t understand dental hygiene?

This guy was truly disgusting, far more so than any of the males I’d seen leaving the cell block earlier.

Since I hadn’t moved from my spot on the cot, frozen in place, he moved his hand to his belt, where the pain controller to my collar dangled.

“Hurry up! Or don’t...” he smirked, and I slid to my feet, not in the least interested in getting to feel the effects of that pain collar for myself.

Maybe that was cowardly, but on the other hand, I reasoned, just sitting in this cell wasn’t going to provide me with very many chances for escape.

I left the blanket on the cot, the scalpel folded inside it. I was worried that if I took it with me, it would be discovered, and I had no chance of fighting off the muscled Krektar without help. Maybe when Ziame came back to the cell tonight, I could use the scalpel to get off his collar.

So, unarmed, I stepped out of the cell, straightening my wrinkled power suit as I did so, and held my chin up high. With my high heels and my height, I was just as tall as the Krektar escorting me, and I could tell from the way he eyed me up and down as we walked that this intrigued him.

The halls we traversed were as dirty and creepy as before, and now that I knew this was previously a pirate ship, it made more sense. Probably, it wasn’t just dirty and neglected-looking, those smears on the walls might very well be the remains of this ship’s previous owners.

Luckily, the Krektar took me to the medical room where I’d woken up, without another word and without touching me. Inside was the anthracite male who’d given me my translator tech, but otherwise, the room was empty.

He nodded once at me and then focused his creepy, completely black eyes on my Krektar escort.

“Thank you for bringing her, Thonklad. Wait outside, this is going to make you squeamish.” The guard, Thonklad, wasn’t one from the bunch the night before.

He appraised me for a second and then looked at the doctor before he nodded.

“I’m right outside. If I hear anything I don’t like, I’m pressing the control for both your collars!

” he said threateningly, pointing at the remote on his belt again.

Then he turned and strode out of the medical room.

The door slid shut behind him and took with it a nasty smell; it wasn’t the dirty smell of the cell block lingering on me—that odor was all him. Yuck.

The doctor gave a long sigh and then gestured around at the immaculate place, which was a far cry from what I’d seen of the rest of the ship. “Welcome to the medbay aboard the Caratoa 2.0. I am Doctor-Surgeon Lukalyn Nerizana, sadly, currently owned by the crimelord Drameil.”

Oh, introductions… Huh. Here he had me freaking out about what kind of procedure he was going to put me through that would make the Krektar squeamish.

I actually darted my eyes to the door for a moment to make sure the guard was really gone before I raised a questioning eyebrow at the Doc.

“Really? Introductions? After you threaten me with scary procedures?”

He had just been gesturing for me to sit down on the medical cot but immediately dropped his hand, his shoulders slumping beneath the immaculate white coat. “Right, I see now how that came across. My apologies.”

Then his creepy eyes darted to the door as well. “Thing is, Thonklad is on the young side for a Krektar to be serving Drameil, only thirteen year cycles. I’m told his previous commission was on a merchant’s vessel that saw very little action. He’s still very squeamish about a lot of things.”

“Thirteen! He’s just a kid?” I demanded, shocked since he’d appeared fully grown like all the others. I had to try to adjust my view of the guard who had just left. Were they all so young, or were their lifespans just shorter?

Now, the doctor shook his head. “No, fully grown, I assure you. Krektar life cycles are fairly short—thirty cycles, thereabouts. Just a little less experienced than the others aboard the vessel.” He picked up a hand device of some kind; it looked a little like one of those price tag scanners in a supermarket.

“Now, please sit on the cot so I can make sure you’re in good health.

I promise—no injections and no scary procedures. ”

I looked at him for a while longer, making sure he was sincere, then shrugged and sat down where he indicated.

It was silent for a while as he ran the scanner over me and checked his readings.

Eventually, it occurred to me that the doctor might well know far more about the ship than Ziame and I could find out from our damn cell or the gym.

“So… can you say your name again? I think I missed it… I’m Abigail, by the way.

” Okay, as far as olive branches went, this one sucked, but that didn’t seem to matter to the Doc.

His face broke out in a smile. He was so pretty when he did that, it took my breath away, just for a moment.

Only the scary eyes marred that picture.

Geez, whoever gave him those killer cheekbones sure knew what they were doing.

“Abigail, thank you. My name is Doctor-Surgeon Lukalyn Nerizana.” He beamed some more, and I actually found the straight white teeth and the superhuman features—covered in that oddly glittering anthracite skin—a little disconcerting.

Maybe Ziame had already grown on me, because somehow his fanged grin was more reassuring than the good doctor’s smile.

“That’s a mouthful…” I heard myself say. Rude!

But the doctor just nodded. “Oh, I heard humans like to shorten names. It’s a sign of friendship! Would you like to shorten my name?” My God, this guy was upbeat and cheerful. It really was a little strange, and he clearly thought that if I shortened his name, that meant we were friends.

“How about Luka?” I offered, and he nodded, his black, silky hair swinging forward over his shoulder. “And call me Abby, alright?” There was no harm in letting him think we were friends, and I hardly minded if anyone called me Abby, most people did.

“Abby! I’m most grateful. I truly hope you can forgive me for yesterday’s barbaric surgery.

” I wasn’t certain if I could do that, but he’d brought it up several times, once right after the surgery, even.

Thinking about it some more, I remembered how he’d given me the scalpel and warned me, hadn’t he?

I eyed the collar on his neck. He was a slave too.

They’d even demonstrated the use of the collar on him without a single warning. He wasn’t holding that against me.

“Forget about it,” I said with a wave of my hand. “You had no choice, did you?” Nobody had much choice about anything aboard this ship; it was hard to wrap my head around it. About the cruelty these Krektar and the slave owner so carelessly showed.

His eyes closed at my words, and he sighed.

“Correct. I have been conscripted into service as of sixty-seven months ago.” He tapped the collar around his neck.

“I will do all I can to make you comfortable, to keep you healthy, Abby. Please, did the Beast harm you? The scans are good, but that doesn’t say everything.

..” His eyes darted to my belly, or was that my crotch?

“He’s not so bad as the Krektar make him out to be… I’m sure he’s not…”

He sounded so worried that I shrugged. “It was alright, Luka. I’m okay.” It had gone far better than expected, but I was pretty sure I shouldn’t mention how Ziame had spoken with me—how he’d been so gentle and respectful of my boundaries, minus one wayward tail.

His expression immediately brightened. “Okay, that’s good.” He sat down on a rolling chair then said, “I’ll keep you here as long as possible. It’s warmer here than in the cells, and I worried you’d get too cold without the Beast keeping you warm.”

Oh… He really just wanted to make sure I was okay. He’d been worried, and he’d clearly had enough power to get me out of the cell for some time. I was definitely grateful to be in a warm room instead of that freezing cell.

“Can you tell me how many Krektar are onboard? How many guards?” I asked. It was time to start this information-fishing expedition; it would make me feel useful, and it would help pass the time.

I could immediately tell I’d surprised him, but then he tilted his head a little sideways and nodded. “You are thinking of escaping?” he asked with a hesitant expression. He either thought I was very stupid or very brave.

I shrugged. “I gotta try, Luka.” He held his breath a long moment, those freaky eyes fastened to my face. “All right, I’ll tell you what I can.”