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ChapterOne
NAVIK
The explosion off in the distance doesn't come as a surprise. I knew the male would be nothing but trouble. Alarms blare and the dim ceiling lights running the length of the corridor start to flash the bright red of a prison escape.
I smirk, pleased he is no longer my concern, and push my way through the double doors into the arena where Warden Hyt pairs up prisoners to fight to the death before a paying audience.
Stepping onto the field of battle, I wrinkle my nose against the cloying stench of old death and the acrid sweat that hangs heavy in the air. Intricate patterns of blood spilled from countless warriors of diverse species creates a gruesome patchwork on the sandy floor. Each drop tells a story of pain and bravery in pursuit of the warden's ultimate goal: entertainment for profit.
Death for profit is a savage business. Even if Warden Hyt hadn't delivered the death blows himself, the blood of every male who fought in the arena is on his hands. He’s a repulsive male that even I find ruthless, and that’s saying something coming from a notorious marauder like me.
I pat the bulge of tellic weighing heavily in my pocket. Warden Hyt might be more unscrupulous than me, but his currency was just as good as any. What do I care what happens inside this underground labyrinth? I'm not one to entertain guilt.
The sound of muted chaos permeates through the double doors that close in my wake. I head toward the exit out the back of the arena, knowing the cause of all the drama. It can be only the Nomadican named Ruze. The male from a nearly extinct species foolishly delivered into my hands by a Yulineon patroller.
That horned bliker had stolen one of my prized Moktian Galaxy Cruisers right out from under my nose. I'd thought I was alone on Neptus, well except for the Wetokian who slept soundly since I'd drugged him and stuffed his enormous, quilled carcass into a stasis pod. The remote world was only used by reavers and marauders like myself.
Outside of Universeval Rule, it was a lawless planet not worthy of habitation. The ground was barren, nothing grew there but a thin layer of dust. It made for the perfect spot to lay low, especially after single-handedly pulling off an epic commandeering of two Moktian spacecrafts.
After discovering the two Moktian vessels docked on Tyris 3, I snuck aboard each craft, disengaged the anti-theft locking pins, and floated both vessels away from the dock and right out from under the Moktian’s noses.
Those stiff-necked, do-gooder, rule followers had been too busy searching for one of their own who had fled the Moktian collective with a human female. It had been all too easy to rig the tow beam on my Bioti Nebula Slayer to haul the cruisers away from the dock. They might as well have handed them to me on a polatium platter. I left the solar system before they even realized their precious ships were gone.
Imagine my surprise when I woke to an alert that one of my Moktian treasures had left the planet. I raced to the bridge of my remaining Moktian vessel, heart pounding and furious over what I found. One of my Moktian ships was uncloaked and had indeed left the surface of Neptus. In my rush to give chase, I left my Bioti Nebula Slayer behind in favor of getting back what I had rightfully stolen.
With my unconscious captive tucked away in the cargo hold of my Moktian Galaxy Cruiser, I'd followed my stolen craft to the edge of the Unios Galaxy and right into Yulineon territory where it was picked up on radar as stolen. The thief deserved to be caught. Stupid of him to have traveled uncloaked.
The Yulineon patroller had boarded the ship and taken a Nomadican into custody. A dangerous male on the endangered species list, I saw an opportunity I couldn't resist.
I'd painted a tracker on the Yulineon patroller's ship, landed my cloaked Moktian vessel on the dark side of a random moon, and launched a shuttle to follow the Yulineon and my stolen Moktian ship, which he was towing. Enough tellic could sway even the best of law enforcers. Even the most supposedly incorruptible could be bribed for the right price.
Not only was tellic used as currency, but it was used in long-range spacecraft for hyper-jumps. A person could travel at speeds well beyond that of light, to cross even the farthest reaches of space in the blink of an eye.
Before the patroller could reach the first Yulineon outpost, I pinged the enforcer and offered to buy the Nomadican. He refused my offer of rillium, but I hinted that Warden Hyt, the overseer on the remote prison moon of Onis, was always willing to pay hard found tellic for treasures such as Moktian technology and new fighters for his arena. The promise of tellic got him to slow his craft.
I pandered to his greed and boasted anyone who possessed an entire Galaxy Cruiser and a rare Nomadican could be rich beyond his imagination. Rich enough to shed the strictures of Universeval Rule and live free as a male always dreams.
Without hesitation, the patroller had taken the bait and altered his course, with the Moktian craft in tow, for Onis, in the farthest reaches of the Ine Sector.
It had been nothing for me to return to my Moktian craft, remain cloaked, and follow the tellic-hungry Yulineon all the way to Onis.
At the exit door in the back of the arena, I pause to unscramble the code on the keypad. The thunder of many quill-backed, Weto guards racing through the stone hallways of the underground prison echoes through the cavernous space, but I don't rush. I'm not the one they're after.
I push through the exit and stroll down the corridor that leads to another door and the surface of Onis, where my Moktian ship is docked, and laugh aloud thinking back on the shocked face of the Yulineon when I took him by surprise. I was already waiting on Onis when he landed. The second his booted feet stepped onto the frozen tundra of Onis, I had knocked him unconscious and chained him to the landing gear of his patroller while I made my delivery of the Wetokian I had been commissioned by Admiral Lorken to deliver to Warden Hyt.
In a side deal with the warden, I sold one Moktian craft, the Yulineon, and the Nomadican he had arrested. I had enough tellic in my pocket to hyper-jump around the Universe a hundred times over.
I'd been so elated over my epic deal with the notorious warden that I stayed for the fight between the Wetokian and the one the warden had labeled the Berserker, a Valosian male that had proven to be unbeatable.
The battle had been brutal, but seeing the Berserker in action was a sight to behold. His movements were fluid, precise, and deadly. His fighting skills nothing short of impressive.
Wetokian's were nearly indestructible, and the warden bet on the quilled opponent I had delivered. He'd been furious when the Berserker had come out the victor. His anger was an amusement to be savored.
The keypad on the door I just passed through beeps. I glance over my shoulder, expecting to see helmet-clad guards brandishing electro-rods in the hunt for the escapee.
Instead, I step into the shadows as the Nomadican male, Ruze, is followed by a group of females, sex slaves used as prizes for the prisoners victorious in the arena. I raise a surprised brow at seeing the flash of silver scales of the Valosian bringing up the rear.
It appears the Nomadican has made a friend. How quaint.
