Alien Tormentor's Plaything

Chapter 1

Luci

“Open the goddamn door.” I bang my fists against the door as hard as I can, but the only reply I get is the echo of my own screams. Frustrated, I kick the door hard enough to send a bolt of pain up my leg. Again, the damn thing doesn’t move or acknowledge my frustration, nor does anyone standing on the other side of it. It wasn’t a smart move, granted, but nobody’s brilliant when they’re angry. “Freaking assholes.” 

Sighing, I sit down on the small bunk bed and massage my foot. A perfectly folded blanket remains over the fitted sheets, as does a still unused cushion. There’s a pitcher of untouched water on the bedside table, as is a small tray with food—or, rather, some kind of odd smelling paste—that has already gone cold. I’ve refused to touch anything those silver-skinned bastards have brought me, but it’s getting harder to do with each passing hour. 

Surrendering part of my dignity, I grab the pitcher and pour myself some water. My parched lips thank me for it, and I can’t stop myself from sighing as the cool water goes down my throat. As if knowing that I’ve finally started to cave, my stomach roils. Suddenly, the beige paste sitting on the tray doesn’t smell that odd anymore. 

“No,” I mutter under my breath, determined to resist. These stupid aliens might have stripped me of my freedom, but they won’t strip me of my dignity. If these brutes think that I’ll behave nicely just because they have given me a warm bed, water and food, then they’re in for a rude awakening. 

Things were so much simpler before the Kraaj came to Luvon. I had loving parents, a sister I considered my best friend, and a perfectly normal childhood. But now...my parents are dead, my sister has become a slave to one of these evil bastards, and I’ve made the leap from rosy childhood into grim adulthood. And all because of the Kraaj. It still hurts to know that Luvon used to be nothing but a nice little planet on the IHC border. 

Sure, everyone knew that being neighbors with the Ataxian Coalition would sooner or later mean trouble, but no one really expected that trouble to materialize as a Kraaj invasion. Apparently, the monsters saw our planet as a nice tactical site they could use to establish a forward base to mess with the Coalition. In the process, they beat down the natives until we became weak and submissive—for the Kraaj, the humans of Luvon are nothing but collateral damage in their war...and that’s if you’re lucky. 

If you’re not, you’re bound to end in one of their Auctions. 

Yeah, the assholes promised they hadn’t come to Luvon to enslave the population, but women are being dragged out of their houses and sold as slaves on a daily basis. Of course, the Kraaj don’t like calling them slaves, probably because it’s bad press...but that’s exactly what these women are.

“Finally,” I grumble as I hear the door sliding into its hidden partition. On the doorway stands a mean looking Kraaj in uniform, a black cloak draped over his shoulders. Hanging from his tactical belt is a curved blade, one that’s probably been sharpened on human flesh. “I demand to speak to—”

“Shut the fuck up,” he growls, and I immediately straighten my back and tense up. As much as I hate the bastards, I’m not suicidal. Every single one of them is more than seven feet tall, and they’re all built like brick houses. One slap from this guard and my head would fly off my neck. 

Frowning, I watch in silence as the guard replaces my food tray with a new one. This time he has brought me a bowl that contains something that looks like a stew, bits of brown flesh floating on steaming water. Not exactly a good looking dish, but the smell isn’t that bad. 

“You haven’t eaten anything” the guard says, knitting his thin eyebrows together as he stares at the first tray he has brought me. 

“I’m not hungry.”

“You should eat,” he continues, “or else I’ll have to make you eat.”

“Why do you care if I eat?” I throw back at him, the sassiness in my voice reaching its peak. Not exactly an efficient survival strategy, but I can’t help myself. I’m not going to show them that I’m afraid. “Don’t you want me to be skinny for when you put me up on the auction block? Or do you think that’ll hurt the price tag, huh?”

“What in the galaxy are you talking about?” He asks, narrowing his eyes in confusion. “No one’s putting you on the auction block.”

“Then why am I here?” 

“You don’t know?” Cocking one eyebrow up, he shakes his head. Then, a small amused smile spreads across his lips. Bastard. “If you don’t know why you’re here, then why are you throwing such a massive tantrum?” 

“Maybe you should offer me an explanation.” I jump to my feet, my fingernails digging into the palm of my hands. Why the hell is this asshole mocking me? I’m grabbed off the street, thrown into the back of a shuttle, and locked in some cramped room aboard a spaceship in orbit...and all that without being told what’s happening.  I have every reason to be pissed. “Do you think I’m a fucking telepath or something? You guys have barely talked to me after you’ve kidnapped me.” 

“We didn’t kidnap you.” Scoffing, he shakes his head once more. He snorts, heads toward the door, and then glances at me one final time. All without even bothering to answer my questions. 

Fantastic. 

I keep on staring at the closed door for a long time, almost as if I could shoot lasers out of my eyes and pierce that asshole through the metal, but it seems like my anger hasn’t given me any superpowers. Furious and disappointed, I pace the length of the room like a caged animal. 

I have absolutely no idea what’s going on, and it’s driving me batshit crazy. I was on my way to work—assistant to a radar technician, courtesy of my sister’s connections—when a couple of Kraaj goons jumped me out of nowhere and dragged me all the way into orbit. It’s kinda obvious what my thought process was going to be in such a situation, right? Any sane woman would immediately think she was going to be sold on the auction block. I mean, why else would they kidnap me? 

 “Alright, you gotta keep your cool, Luci,” I whisper to myself, closing my eyes and trying to relax my body. I try to remember the soothing song my mother used to sing me when I was just a child, but the memories I have of her only manage to make me even angrier. Hadn’t it been for the Kraaj, I would still have a family. 

“Open this freaking door and let me out,” I shout, banging my fists against the cold metal as hard as I can. I’m about to kick the damn thing again when a loud sound makes me jump in place. The dim yellow light in the room turns into a flashing red, and only then do I realize that the maddening sound I’m hearing is the braying of klaxons. “What the—?”

“All hands required on deck,” an angry voice says over the klaxons, the sound of it coming from a pair of speakers embedded in the room’s smooth wall. “Man your battle posts and prepare for active engagement. This isn’t an exercise. I repeat, this isn’t an exercise.”

I’m still processing what’s happening when I feel the gravity in the room shift, my body suddenly feeling heavier as the ship starts to accelerate. A wave of nausea hits me hard, and I stagger back to the bed and sit on the edge of the mattress. Swallowing down my anxiety, my heart already kicking up a storm, I take a series of deep breaths in a futile attempt to calm myself down. 

“Holy shit.” Holding one of the bars at the end of the bed, I stop myself from being launched against the wall as the ship rocks hard. Disoriented, I try to get up to my feet, but quickly give up on it. Right now, the only thing I can do is sway like a drunkard on a rocking boat, and that’s not going to help me much. 

“Think, Luci, think,” I say out loud, repeating those words over and over again until I manage to drown out the sound of the klaxons. I close my eyes for a moment, just to clear my head, and retreat into my own inner world. For a moment, there’s stillness. When I finally open them back up, my eyes are immediately drawn to a corner of the room. 

There, I see an air vent. 

“That’s it,” I whisper, “time to get out of here.”