Page 29 of Protected By the Alien Commander

"I don't know. I don't know how many there are. We never know." He looked weak, pleading with his eyes for me to treat him well.

I nearly rolled my eyes, but I did not want to give either of them a chance to attack. "Right now, where you crashed, how many of them were in your ship? And how many ships were there?"

He glanced at the other pirate. "I don't know."

It was obvious I would get nothing until they were separated. The pirate on the ground must have a higher ranking or whatever passed for status among scum. I stepped back, my blaster still trained on the pair as I crouched down and pushed my man onto his back.

It was Ned, short for some unpronounceable name. He was of the species Tlaloc, with green scaled skin, fangs and vertically pupiled eyes. But he was still knocked out cold. I checked that he was breathing and had no serious injuries.

I stood and approached the pirate I had shot.

“Hey! I told you all I know!”

I would not take any chances. These men would not lead other pirates to our ship, where Ohliveah was. I circled behind him and untied his hands. “Strip. I want all of your clothes on the ground.”

“Hey, you can’t—”

I circled him and stood in front. “Do you want to try me? I saw what you did to one of my men. Now strip."

The injured pirate struggled to remove his shirt. "How am I supposed to get out of these clothes with one working arm? And why are you making me strip naked anyway? Got some weird sexual fetish?"

I pulled out the ceremonial knife, amused at the pirate’s yell, and cut his shirt in half. "Now take it off."

The scum quickly complied.

"Now your pants, boots, any jewelry. All of it off."

"You've got rules to follow on treating prisoners. This is cruel—"

Growling, “I said strip."

The pirate quickly shed his clothes and pushed his pants down to his ankles. Motioning for him to roll over, I retied his hands. Then I pulled his clothes off and retied his ankles.

I did the same to the other pirate but made it easy on myself by cutting the clothes off him. With how he fought to keep his clothes, I was positive he had a tracking beacon. But he was no match for me.

With both pirates naked, even stripped of jewelry, I told them to stand. While they struggled and the air was filled with swearing from the injured one, I picked up Ned and threw him over my shoulder.

"Now walk."

It would take some time for this scum to hop back to the ship. But hopefully any more pirates were far enough away that we would not be found. Or followed. But I did not have to worry about pirates finding their tracking beacon and then following our tracks to the ship. The orange ground was so packed that we left no tracks at all.

I marched the prisoners as fast as they could hop. Since they were Gamilons, the UV light would damage their skin, but I did not care. They had attacked one of my men who was still unconscious.

I wish I had some way to communicate with Ohliveah to let her know I was bringing back prisoners. And I really hoped the females had stayed inside the ship like I had told them.