Pirates and Slaves

A ship holding precious cargo of the Alyuan Empire is attacked by a fleet of pirates. The leader of these pirates has an unknown payer that seeks the hostage Lycia for reasons unknown.

          Deep in the vast emptiness of space a large vessel drifts aimlessly in the empty abyss far from any colonized system. A ship with its sleek design was heavily armored carrying  with it multiple variants of weapons many of which were now disabled or destroyed. The missile silos remain open some now empty, others still stuffed with their warheads. Seven out of ten plasma cannons have been taken out of action, as well as three of the ships gauss guns were shattered. The lower bow of the vessel has been turned into a smoldering wreck with the only thing remaining being the wires that once powered the forward laser. Streaks of electricity shoot from the live wires lighting the destruction encasing it.

               Floating around the vessel are the remains of destroyed ships all of them significantly smaller than the one they were attacking. Mixed with the scrap of molten metal are the frozen bits of their crews some had their bodies intact others had their body parts drifting, their blood now shards of ice. Despite the fight that the massive ship put up its defenses were overwhelmed by small fleet that  leeched on it. The large ship’s white hull was now tattered with black specks. They had latched onto the ship magnetically cutting holes through the armor plating. The only part of the vessel that was untouched by the battle was the alien markings that spelled out its name, Restored Order.

               Inside the ship the exchange of the whizzing of flying plasma and the cries of the dying can be heard as the fighting goes on. Along with that there are moments where the sounds of battle are drowned out by loud roars and hisses. Towards the aft of the ship a small fire fight wages on where the invaders have cornered the last remaining crew and its precious cargo. The beings involved in this fight differ greatly from one another. The invaders were a small species of bipedal reptilians called Renuein whose entire species were forced to become nomads with no central government. At one point in their history, they did have a government ruled by a monarch chosen by and ancient order of elders to rule the planet. The last king however, wanted to enforce a hereditary monarchy once power had become his. Secretly he sent out assassins to dispatch of the order, all of which came back to him reporting their mission a success. This unfortunately led to a change of standard of living which led to was dividing their species. Without a singular leader to look up to the planet was reduced to a husk after overconsumption and overpopulation forcing them to leave and search for resources.  In the chaos and panic the governments that had once had controlled the Renuein people destroyed by themselves  leaving the species without a path or cause for existence. Because of the state of the galaxy most were caught in an ultimatum, either do the grunt work of other more advanced species or turned to a life of crime and piracy.

               Defending the ship from the Renueins were tall blue hulks, most of them standing nearly eight feet tall. Their species, known as Alyuans, are known as one of the most powerful species throughout the galaxy. Their empire’s reach engulfing twenty-nine systems and is continuously expanding. They thought very highly of themselves thinking that they were the highest form of being and that other species were meant to serve them. This kind of mindset put their species at odds with many others, more often than not leading to violent conflict. With their abundance of resources and superior technology, any species that stands in the way of the empire would often be left with two choices. They could either integrate into their culture and way of life, usually meaning that the species purpose is to serve only the needs of the Alyuans and their empire. Or they will face the fist of the empire and be crushed beneath its might with the end result being a bloodbath. Any survivors would be either forced into servitude or exiled somewhere far off in the galaxy. Their constant and greedy expansion is shown as such a threat that any remaining independent planets join a Coalition with one another in hope of stopping any further Alyuan expansion.

               Yet despite their advanced weapons, armor, and skill at combat the Alyuans were being slaughtered by an ambush of the inconceivably large force of Renuein. The Renuein’s numbers were so great, that instead of targeting the ship’s weaknesses and strategically beating them, they simply launched their ships wave after wave to board them. Once the ship’s fighting capabilities were disabled their boarding parties clawed their way on to the ship burning holes into the ship before pouring their forces aboard overwhelming any resistance.

               As the last Alyuan is killed by the walking lizards whom they consider to be beneath them, the pirates collectively unleash a loud roar. The  walls are decorated with blue and red blood splatter, spotted with scorch and claw marks. Small meaty dead lizards and giant blue bodies line the corridor’s floor, smoke still rising from their corpses. Trudging over the pile of dead bodies the Renuein move towards the goal of this pillage.

               Passing all the dead Alyuans, there is a heavily locked door. Sounds of shuffling and objects sliding and toppling over could be heard. A fairly large Renuein makes her way over the pile of bodies approaching  the door, her armor a blend of the common jet black armor the rest of her race wore. But also, her armor has a golden shoulder plates and edging to it with the addition of spikes on her helmet. More importantly she carries a dagger that has deeply imbedded history for her people. It was the dagger that the unified her people, it was the dagger used by the ancient order to mark the chosen monarch with a unique scars across their body.The other Renueins instinctively know to stay out of her way hugging the wall as she passes by avoiding her gaze. She stands in front of the door her toe claws tapping impatiently. With a hiss to her subordinates, a small Renuein comes carrying two small metal cone-like objects in his hands.

               She grunts and the two-small drones begin humming to life hovering to the door. A blue light heats up in the center of the drones face shooting out a bright blue laser into the door. The heat from the laser intensifies and the metal begins to melt. As this is going on  the shuffling on the other side of the door becomes more frantic. The two drones rise up cutting the door more and more, shifting from vertical line  to horizontal line once reaching the corner of the door frame. With a wave of her claw, the large Renuein signals over more of her kin who are carrying explosives. They waddle over and placing the bombs on the door, and with a press of a button they magnetically latch onto the door. A steady beep warns the Renueins the bombs are armed and everyone is ordered away.

               The beeps increase becoming faster and louder until there is a long single beep. The room for the briefest moment faded too white; any Renuein who hadn’t shielded their eyes were now blind. For the wiser, the heat feels good to their cold-blooded bodies it fills them with energy getting their blood pumping. The heavy doors blast inwards denting and scraping the floor as I tosses and tumbles, sparks and molten metal spray everywhere. They slow to a stop having left thick scratches on the floor.

               Coughs could be heard from the room and with a growl the female Renuein orders her people to storm the room.  The Renuein hunch over and bustle on all fours into the room, hissing and growling as they do so. The large female waits and listens  to the sound of a struggle going on in the room. Her minions come out dragging a small female Alyuan by her arms and long blue hair. The Alyuan screams and grunts as she is dragged against her will.

               The Renueins toss the Alyuan to the feet of their leader, the Alyuan’s dress was now stained blue and red tainted by the puddles blood. The Alyuan looks up, her eyes were large and were like a sea of blue. They start off a deep dark blue near the edges, but the shade fades as it neared the pupil which is completely white. Her eyes meet those of her captor, she shows her distain for the Renuein, the treatment they’ve shown her, and the slaughter of the ship’s crew.

All the while the large Renuein looks back down on her expressionless, her dominating red-golden eyes ownning the exchange. Within her eyes were dark slits that were abyss’ into the reptiles’ very being; they told the dark history of her people but mostly they tell all of the horrors that she has done.

 “Get up.” The Renuein speaks Alyuan in a deep garbled voice.

               The Alyuan remains silent and continued to lay on the ground. The Renuein opens her jaws beyond normal baring her sharp yellow jagged fangs to let out a loud  vicious roar.  Gobs of spit splatter all over the Alyuan, she starts to whimper but remains lying down.  Not getting the response She wanted, the Renuein lets out a deep hiss to her companions, instinctively waddle her and pulling the Alyuan to her knees. In this position the Alyuan is about as tall as most of them, only the Renuein leader having a great deal of height amongst them. They jab her sides with their weapons, their barrels still hot from the firefight she squeals as it burns her flesh. They continue al the while hissing and roaring at her displaying their teeth with nasty snarls. Resentfully the Alyuan rises to her feet, towering over the reptile despite the being a dwarf compared to the rest of the ship’s crew. Even the the Renuein leader height only reached her breast.

               The head Renuein questions her, “Do you know who I am?” The Alyuan took a moment scanning the lizard before giving an answer. “I can only guess you’re the one nagging our supply lines. To your credit, whatever it’s worth, you’re the one who has those idiots in the Galactic Union terrified. You’re Daemon, the so called “Pirate Queen”. If rumors are to be believed, you basically own the black market as well as an illegal slave trade. To these fool though, you’re the one who will reunite the Renuein people and regain all that you’re species has lost.” She glares at the aliens around her adding a bit of mockery on that last comment.

               Daemon, reaching as high as she can, wraps her scaly hand  around the Alyuans throat making sure the tip of her claws broke skin. Blue blood trickles down over her rough meaty hand dripping on a dead Alyuan guard. “Yes,” Dameon answers as she brings the Alyuan’s face closer to hers. “And you are Lycia of Alyu an Alyuan with rich blood coursing through your veins. It is because of you why we are her and why these fools would sacrifice themselves for a pathetic dwarf.” That comment clearly stung  Lycia deep, giving her captor a scowl.

               “You will come with me to the Control Deck, and you will open the bay doors to let our ships in. Then  you will reactivate the Slip-Space Drive.” Daemon instructed Lycia. Lycia took a few glances over her shoulder, “I’m guessing I don’t have much of a choice.” “At least you’re not a complete idiot.” The Large Renuein throws her back to the floor turning around and motioning Lycia to follow, and with some encouragement of the armed guards she does so. They wander through the corridors now stained with blood, bodies, and scorch marks of the firefights that took place. As they pass by the bodies Lycia is tortured with the stench that rises from the corpses of her escorts, gagging as she is marched through their numbers.

               With no nostrils, Alyuans could smell the gasses in the air through their moist skin which sent messages to the brain telling which was a good smell and what was a bad smell.  And despite being able to breathe through their mouths, whenever their skin is exposed to smells they are forced to smell everything around them.

               The armor the guards standard wore are designed to keep gases such as this from their bodies, but the ship’s crew was not equipped this way. With every moment she could smell the burnt bodies, her gag reflex goes into overdrive as she felt the urge to vomit become stronger and stronger. She stops for a moment vomiting all over the floor coughing violently afterwards.. With a few hisses, Daemon sends orders into a device she wore saying that all the bodies leading to the Control Deck are to be moved so they could press on. With that Daemon keeps them going onward, Lycia is once again jabbed with the rifle by the other Renuein. By the time they reach the control room there were blue blood trails leading away from the deck.

               The Control Deck was spacious, which made sense with the Alyuans needing as much as they could take, the ceiling reaches as high as a small building. The seats are like cushion bowls and the handles have  screens projecting holo-pads. The room is lit an odd light blue shade that gives it a foggy look. The room still stinks from the corpses which make the air so thick that it feels like walking through steam.  Patches of scorch marks can be spotted in various places leaving dark burn marks with glowing hot metal edges. There are  terminal stations throughout the room that ring around the captain’s station.

               Daemon clambers up the steps where the captain seat is situated, struggling to sit down in the deep chair. Sliding back in it, her stubby tail crunches under her weight; she lets out a deep his positioning her tail more comfortably.  Eventually after fumbling around in the chair, she settles for sitting on the edge of the seat and orders the others to position themselves in the terminal stations. She then motions the guards to bring Lycia to her, the guards grunt with each other before one leads Lycia to Daemon while the other keeps its weapon trained on her.

The steps are large, Lycia is forced to take large steps just to climb them. The Renuein following her have even more trouble, they scramble up each step throwing their short muscular legs over each slowly advancing. If the other Renuein didn’t still have its weapon aimed at her Lycia would have taken this opportunity to try and escape. While all this was transpiring, Daemon was taking in her new prize considering that attacks on Alyuan ships were so rare and almost all of them unsuccessful she clearly feels a great deal of pride in her victory.

“Activate the ship’s system.” Daemon orders Lycia without looking at her still cherishing her new ship. Lycia did nothing, she tries to express her discontent and resentment as much as possible.  If Daemon noticed she it didn’t appear to phase her, the Renuein behind Lycia proceeds to swing the butt of its weapon into her back. She gasps, not prepared for that assault, bitterly she steps to the captain’s terminal.  She places her hand on the terminal, and with that lights spit out from it forming a screen along with a blue sphere with a light blue line underneath it.

“It’s nice to see you again My Lady, how may I be of assistance?”  The sphere’s voice is deep and in the Alyuan language. With every word the sphere spoke the line underneath it would show the frequency of the voice.

“Computer I need you to reactivate all the ships primary systems.” Lycia orders the ship’s A.I.

“I am sorry My Lady but I am under strict orders to follow the orders of the captain only. If you wish for any accommodations I would ask you direct them to the captain.” The ship refuses upsetting a clearly distraught Lycia.

               “The captain is dead!” Lycia shouts at the machine which sparks a more cautious attitude from the Renuein. “If that is the case please report this to Lord Admiral Starlot and then go to the next in command for…” “Everyone is dead! The captain, my guards, everyone! I am the only one left, don’t you understand you stupid machine!” Lycia interrupts  the computer her voice cracks by how loud she is getting .  The suddenness of this outburst causes alarm to the Renuein many stop what they were doing and raise their arms at her. Lycia takes notice and tries to calm herself, all around her these walking lizards have plasma weapons raise at her, the last thing she wants is to set them off . She turns to look at Daemon and see her hand raised to halt a hail of scorching plasma.

“What did it tell you?” Daemon addresses Lycia finally looking at her.

“It won’t listen to me; it’s telling me that it will only take orders from the captain.” She sighs. Daemon lets out a soft but deep hiss more to herself than to Lycia. She then slides out of her seat, making  a loud thud that mixed with ticks from her claws and starts to walk toward Lycia. She waddles her way next to Lycia and stares at the blue orb hovering above them.

“Machine, I am your new captain. Now you’ll reactivate the ship’s system, allow my ships to enter, and then you will start up the Slip-Space Drive.” Daemon’s Alyuan was rough and raspy. It sounds as if the words were skidding against the walls of her throat as they spat out of her mouth.

“Negative, you are not the captain rouge variable.” The computer responds as the doors slam shut.

“Under Article 24104, of the Alyuan Fleet Command; you and the rest of the intruders aboard the Valiant Return, are to be locked up until the arrival of a Alyuan Fleet can arrive to cleanse the ship of your presence.” The computer recites the article.

               Hearing this Lycia could not contain the small smirk that grew on her face along with a muffled chuckle. The thought of being rescued and rid of these vermin is more than she could ever want. Daemon did not look unfazed by this though and merely hisses and groans into the communicator to someone else. After the voice returns with seemingly similar noises she lets out a deep hiss-like chuckle of her own. The sudden change in Daemon’s mood unnerves Lycia and she begins to lose the hope she had just gained.

“Machine, I have spoken to my compatriots and it seems that your ships 

communication systems have been disabled. So, tell me, how are you going to inform your fleet of our presence if you do not have the means to?” Lycia feels her gut sink as the giant lizard says that..

               The computer remains silent as it tries to analyze the situation as well as think of a solution to it. The blue orb rotates and faces Lycia but remains silent for a moment. Then it spoke, “Lady Lycia, you have the authorization to go out and retrieve the ship’s repair drones to bring communications back online.”  Daemon slightly turns her head toward Lycia and hisses flaring her teeth. Lycia does not move or make any sounds in response to either the computer or Daemon, there was no good response in this situation that she could think of.

“Machine are you malfunctioning from the damage you received? If you cannot tell, the ship is drifting in between star systems and we are lightyears away from any civilized system. And without the Slip-Space Drive or Communications functioning there will be no rescue. On top of that, we have a hostage.” Daemon jabs her blaster into Lycia hip.

“The Alyuan government does not negotiate with terrorist. Hence forth I am not 

intimidated by this show of force.” The computer responds.

“Wait…” Lycia hesitantly speaks. Daemon roars at her meek outburst, the Alyuan’s breaths are shaky but she still finds the courage to continue to speak. “C-computer, this voyage was Top Secret and only a handful of officers of the fleet knew about it. And the ship is not expected to arrive to any ports for at least a few weeks, so when they realize the ship I missing we’ll either be dead or gone by the time they get here. The best option in saving the remaining crew is to let these things move about freely.”

               Daemon growls after being referred to as a “thing”, the computer however remains silent reviewing Lycia’s logic. “Your logic makes sense My Lady,” The computer speaks slightly calming Lycia’s nerves. “But I still have my orders and cannot allow for the ship or its crew to be ransomed.” As it finished speaking her nerves go back into action peeving her relentlessly.

               Thinking quickly, an idea sparks into her mind that would help her situation entirely. Boldly she taps Daemon’s rough green-scaly arm, Daemon reaction is what one would expect from an agitated lizard. She presses her weapon further into Lycia’s hip growling and hissing angrily at her. As calmly as she could Lycia spoke, 

“Let me go activate the Slip-Space Drive.” Daemons hisses grow deeper which causes a domino effect of hisses and roars from the other Renuein in the room.

               “Do you think you are the one in control?” Daemon snarls in deep and rough Alyuan. She again flares her teeth but her mouth now is pouring out saliva onto the floor. The small Alyuan’s breath shivers, Lycia does her best to recompose herself to speak again. She motions Daemon away from the computer’s console and slowly the large Renuein humors her.

“If we restart the Slip-Space Drive it will restart all of the ship’s systems to prevent them from being disabled by the EMP it will admit. You could use that opportunity to purge the ships computer from the ship entirely.” Lycia whispers into her captor’s ear hole.

               Daemon pauses and withdraws her weapon from Lycia’s side. She contemplates the idea of being rid of this stupid machine and actually have control of this grand ship. On the other hand, she wonders why would her hostage want to help them kidnap her. She knew Lycia was planning something but couldn’t put her claw on it. “Why do wish to help us?” Daemon questions.

“The computer is broken, probably damaged by your assault on the ship. It would rather sit he and have the Alyuan fleet scan through open space to find us, and who knows how long that could take. And even if your crew leaves the ship behind I’m confident your ship does not have the ability to properly support my needs. I’d rather be a hostage on an Alyuan vessel rather that whatever ship you’d have me locked away on.” Lycia explains.

               Daemon takes this into consideration, the one who is funding the use of her and her crew did require that she bring this Alyuan in a fair state. And her ships were nothing more than a bunch of stolen and outlawed ships that were patched together and armed by whatever they could scavenge. And certainly, she nor her crew knew the needs of an Alyuan, nor were their ships prepared to support her needs either. 

“How will you get to the Drive if we are still locked in here” She finally asks.

“The Communication station is not too far from the Slip-Space Drive, I could simply take a detour on the way, once reactivated you can purge the computer, and then we could go wherever it is you’re planning to take me.” Lycia plans.

“Fine, but two of my crew will go with you. I know you are up to something Alyuan, I just don’t know what.” Daemon expresses her distrust.

“My dear queen, you have nothing to fear.” Lycia mocks walking back to the console as quickly as she could before Daemon could retaliate.

“Computer, I will take on the task of reestablishing communications with the rest of the fleet. I do ask however that two of the Renueins be allowed to come with me.” Lycia requests.

“Negative, all intruders must remain where they are until the fleet arrives to dispose of them. Already some of them have used explosive charges to force their way to other parts of the ship. I cannot allow the risk of more of them spreading.”  The computer spoke as if the Renuein were nothing more than vermin, which got a growl out of the ones in the room.

“But computer the drones are too large for me to carry myself and their aid would be greatly appreciated.” Lycia acts out.

               The computer is silent again, and analyzes the capabilities of the Renuein being able to carry the drone given their size. They are short but bulky, but if instructed properly they can handle the drones with minimal damage to them. “Alright My Lady, they may accompany you to retrieve the drones, but they must leave their weapons.” The computer concedes.

               Daemon points to a pair of Renuein who are about stomach level  to Lycia calling them over. The two trot on over to her and she takes their weapons from them, but also whispers the plan into their ears.  While she whispers, Daemon gives Lycia a foul look, scrunching up her lips on the side of her snout presenting her teeth once more. Lycia brushes the look off waiting for the small green reptiles to come to her. As they leave Daemon, they give a nasty looks to the computer’s projection, one even gives it a hiss.

               Once beside her, one of the little green beast tightly grasps her wrist cutting the circulation to her hand. Lycia winces groaning, the scales of the Renuein prod her skin and the long claws feel like they are going to tear into her flesh at any moment. “Release her at once!” the computer demands picking up on Lycia’s stress patterns. The Renuein give the blue orb a growl turning to Daemon for direction.  

               Daemon waves her hand and the Renuein unhinges its tight grip. Lycia yanks her wrist as soon as she could from the brute; she rubbing her wrist  trying to get the blood and feeling back in her hand. The heavy metal door slides open and the three venture off through the ship.

               As they travel Lycia is still able to smell the corpses of the ship’s crew, sometimes catching a glimpse of where the Renuein have stored some of the bodies. It made her sick to her stomach to look at, but she keeps an eye out for any escape pods in order for her plan to work. The group stops at one of the ship’s many maintenance closets and pull four small drones out for the repairs. Eventually she spots a group of escape pods all stationed near the officers’ cafeteria. It also is not too far from the Drive Room only a few turns and a long corridor separate them.

               “Now how can I get to the Drive room without the computer shutting us out?” She thought to herself.  They keep on walking toward the Communications Room she notices a few Renuein conversing, she takes this opportunity to purposely stomp on one’s foot. The alien lizard screeches in pain and yanks Lycia down to the floor. The Renueins that are escorting her step into action throwing the hostile Renuein against the wall hissing and roaring at them.

               The two Renuein are  jumped by the other Renueins that were talking to the one they just threw to the wall. An all-out brawl ensues with the lizards throwing each other around slicing as biting into one another with their claws and teeth. A puddle of spit and blood forms on the floor giving the air a musty stench. It is at that point when the new nasty smell reaches her is when Lycia decides that this’ a good opportunity to sneak away, especially with all the commotion happening.

               Taking the drones, she runs off without any notice from her handlers who are still too busy fending off their three assailants. Lycia dashes to the to the Drive Room making sure to seal the door behind her and takes this moment of freedom to catch her breath.  It wouldn’t be long until they notice she’d escaped and come after her. Setting down the drones she goes through each of the drones’ repair settings, placing them to repair the Slip-Space Drives.  The four machines rise from the floor and hover two of the drones float to the Drives that to her opinion look fine, but as the drones work it becomes more apparent of how severe the damage is. The pistons that allow for Slip-Space travel are bent, chipped, and broken to the point where the drones have to tear off a whole panel to replace them.

               Along with the pistons the reactor has been damaged and is secluded, surrounded by a containment field. Radioactive waste leaks from the reactor cutting off all the power to the Drives as well. Luckily the ships hazard system was still functioning because without the containment field, most if not all of them would be dead from radiation exposure.

               The other two drones simply faze through the containment field due to it being of non-organic matter and they began to fix the reactor along with containing any leaks radiation.  The one working on the reactor moves it small metallic mandibles so quickly it was hard for her look at it, it looked fuzzy with how fast it’s mandible moved.The other just floats around making a buzzing sound along with the sound from its Radiation counter. The ticking from the counter  diminishes and pretty soon after both of the drones have finished with the reactor. The containment field shrinks back into the small slots that it came from. Lycia turns back around and watches as the other two drones place the new pistons they had made from the 3-D printers within them into their slots and firmly secure them into place.

               As soon as they finished Lycia orders one of the drones to restart the Slip-Space Drive and tells the rest to enter into emergency mode. To her knowledge this should allow them to reboot after the EMP so they can repair any damage to the ship or any equipment. As she does that she hears pounding and scratching from the other side of the door, the lizards had finally noticed that she was gone, and they don’t seem too thrilled about it.  To make matters worse the door keeping them out  will open when the ship restarts in order to prevent anyone from being locked inside. “Just what I needed.” She mutters to herself sarcastically.

               The ship speakers then go off, “Attention all personal, the ship’s system will be temporarily offline due to manual reset of the Slip-Space Drives. All personal report to your stations and wait for further instructions from the captain.” Immediately after the lights black out and the drones all shut down giving a deep whine. As the ship goes silent the sounds of the Renueins hisses and growls are silenced by the sound of all the ship’s doors slamming open one at a time. The Renueins stop clawing at the door leaving her alone with the eerie silence. Lycia looks down and sees that the drones that she had put in emergency mode haven’t booted back up.

“Please, please, turn back on now!” she groans at the limp machines. The door slams open and cutting through the darkness she can see red lights glowing off the weapons these Renuein were carrying. This sight disturbs her, but it’s not glow from the weapons that frighten her but rather the glow from the Renuein’s eyes. It was a thicker red than the red emitting from the weapons with a dark split from their dark pupils. She can hear their breathes, they’re raspy and grabbled, each exhale giving off a different type of hiss than the one prior. Their weapons are raised and they take their time stomping over to her.  The closest one to her left suddenly fell however, landing on its stomach tripping over one of the drones.

               She takes this opportunity and jumps for its weapon. Yanking the blaster out of its claws she presses it against the Renuein’s head. The other two raise their weapons at her hissing and growling, probably telling her to drop the weapon, but there is no way that’s going tohappen. Meanwhile the Renuein on the floor remains silent even its breathing had softened. “Drop your weapons or I’ll kill him.” Lycia screams as assertive as she could be. The Renuein hiss and roar back at her probably understanding her as well as she understood them. She presses the barrel against the lizard’s head even harder continuing to demand that they drop their weapons.  

               “Reset of the Slip-Space Drive will commence in five, four, three, two, one.” The ship’s speakers count down.

               The standoff is interrupted when the Drive emits an electromagnetic pulse that disables all systems including their weapons. Once the EMP passes over them beeping is heard as the drones spark back to life. They do a quick visual scan of the dim room and their attention locks onto the disabled weapons. Immediately the drones hover over to the three in an attempt to fix the guns. The drone that hovers toward Lycia snatches the blaster from her observing it dismantling it trying to reactivate it. The Renueins however, are not so keen on giving up their weapons and tug against the drones fighting for control.

               As the lizards wrestle Lycia dashes out of the room, pushing pass the Renueins makes a break for the nearest escape pod. She’s not alone though, she peers over her shoulder and sees the Renuein she held at gunpoint bounding on all fours after her.  At this point it’s all or nothing, so with every ounce of her strength she sprints running as fast as she ever has before desperate to escape. She takes every turn as sharp as she could sliding a bit in her sandals. All the while she can hear the clicks and scratches of her pursuer’s claws skidding on the metal floors.

               As she takes the next turn she could see officers’ cafeteria along with the group of escape pods stationed nearby.  The Renuein chasing her slid into the corridor’s wall and is starting to catch up, Lycia can hear it heavy puffs from each of its breath.  Pushing herself she dashes to the closest pod ignoring the burning feeling in her legs. She can feel her hearts pumping maniacally, each one beating like a drum her chest now rumbling from the consistent beats.

               Halfway from the escape pod she trips feeling a terrible pain in her right leg, looking back she sees the Renuein has caught up with her planting a claw into her leg. It oozes blue blood that seeps into her dress, she screams as it sinks its claws further into her leg. It seems to chuckle at the sound of her agony and raises its other arm swiping it down upon her. The Renuein claws sliced her forearm clipping part of her abdomen in the process. Lycia lets out another wail, tears forming in her eyes and anger through the rest of her being.

               Her vision reddens and she can feel her second pair of teeth setting into place. She knows what was happening to herself and hates it, fighting her primal urges. But it is already a lost fight, her mind slips away from her.. The last thing she is able to visualize is the expression of confusion on the Renuein’s face before she is engulfed in  red.

               When Lycia comes to she finds herself lying on top of the blood-soaked corpse of the Renuein.  Standing up and felt heavier than usual, looking down she sees that her clothes were completely drenched in red blood the original golden-violet patterns no longer distinguishable. Along with that, every limb of her body is wet with the lizard’s blood. The overwhelming smell is too much and Lycia hunches over vomiting.  When she finishes, she feels disgusted with everything that has happened sobbing to herself, “I’m one of the most important person in the galaxy and this happened! Sent away without proper time to prepare, my ship get boarded by pirates, I’m taking prisoner, and now this! Vomiting all over the floor covered in blood all because this stupid lizard…”

               She stops her rant once she realizes the full extent of the carnage she inflicted on the Renuein. It’s body lays in a puddle of its own blood, its right leg bone poking out of its scaly exterior, two of the fingers on its left hand are laying against the wall separate from the rest of its body.  The tip of its tail is completely flattened and its right arm was bending in a way it isn’t suppose to. The feature that stands out the most though was its neck where a large chuck had been torn out and spat out against the wall. The wound is so deep that she can see some of the Renuein’s spine; she finds herself at a loss of words, none even come to mind. Slowly she paces backwards from the body before running to the escape pod.

               Ignoring the searing paining her arm, leg, and abdomen, Lycia stumbles into the pod manually detaches it from the ship. As the pod drifts away from the ship and Lycia takes a seat at the helm watching as its power slowly coming online. “Hello I am your life pods navigation system, please punch in the coordinates of your destination.” A female Alyuan voice instructs. Lycia was still trying to process what she had just done back there however, and completely ignores the system’s request. “Hello passenger, please respond and input the coordinate data into the panel before you.” The system tries again but there was still silence with in the pod. “Scanning… scanning… passenger do you require medical assistance? My scan has indicated that you have received lacerations on your forearm, leg, and abdomen. Shall I administer bio-gel to remedy your injuries?” “How could I do that I’m just a…” Lycia mumbles to herself ignoring the system’s offer.

               A small palm sized drone deploys from the ceiling of the pod behind Lycia and hovers over to her applying the bio-gel over her injuries. Lycia hearts jumps, she wasn’t prepared for the bio-gel or how much it stings. She backhands the drone across the pod swatting it so hard that it shatters against the pods interior. “Please refrain from damaging property of the Alyuan Empire.” The system warns. Lycia finally takes notice of the system and takes action, “Take me to the nearest Alyuan controlled system!”

“Apologies,” the system responds, “but all Alyuan controlled space is out of this pods reach.”

“WHAT!?” Lycia shouts dumbfounded on the loss limitations.

“This pod’s Slip-Space Drive is not powerful enough to reach any known Alyuan system. The best I can do is to make short jumps to get us to the closest system of Drexul.” “How long would that take?” “Approximately around one thousand five hundred twelve Alyu hours.” “Great, I manage to escape the ship but now I’m going to starve to death trying to get home.” “Not true this pods has food reserves that will last up to….” Their conversation is cut short when the pod shakes violently.

               “What just happened!” Lycia demands. “Hull integrity lowered to ninety percent. Cause… plasma bolt striking outer rear hull of the pod.”  The system replies bringing up a projection of the pod the rear of it blinking red. The pod is struck once more tossing Lycia onto the pod’s floor, “Hull’s integrity at seventy percent. Incoming message from the Restored Order.” The system blares.

“Very clever young Alyuan. I knew you were up to something when you agreed to help us take over the ship from machine, I just didn’t know what. Here we are though with us having almost everything we came here for, except you.” Lycia scowls at the sound of Daemon’s voice, working through the pain to get back up. “Come back to my ship now and I may be able to keep you safe from the rest of my crew. They’re not particularly happy with what you did to Renaiir. So, unless you want to end up like he did I’d suggest think carefully about your next move.”

               Lycia grunts, doing exactly what Daemon said, thinking about what she’s going to do now. If she goes back, then escape will be impossible with all the security and limitations enforced upon her. And if she runs there’s no guarantee that she’ll make it to Alyuan space with how damaged the pod is. So the only question is which choice was worse?

“*growl* I am losing my patience Alyuan, come peacefully or else we’ll drag you back ourselves! You have a minute to comply.” Daemon warns cutting off the transmission.

               

Lycia thoughts rush into overtime thinking what she can do. “Passenger I am detecting multiple small vessels of unknown classification approaching. Would you like to set up communications with these vessels?” the system ponders. “No! Um… how far is your transponder range?” She asks coming up with an idea. “This pod’s transponder range can only reach two point three six light years, but can release a beacon that reaches twenty light years” the system informs. “Okay how far is the nearest habitable system?” “Approximately 0.03 light years away but is unexplored do you wish to travel there?” At that moment, the pod is struck once more with plasma fire buckling the pod once more. “Yes, now!” Lycia orders trying to strap herself in. “Hull integrity now at fifty percent, there’s a seventy-eight percent chance that many of this pod’s systems will go offline if a jump is initiated. Do you wish to….” “For the love of Alyu, just do it!”

             

  The pod’s engines begin to pump creating a wormhole and the pod thrusts itself into Slip-Space plunging into the unknown. Meanwhile aboard the Restored Order Daemon watches as her prize slips away. “Someone get me the coordinates of her jump and bring all ship into the docking bay, someone inform the rest of the crew to prepare for the jump into Slip-Space!” Daemon commands with her subordinates watching as they waddling as fast as they could. “Shipmistress, we have captured an Alyuan ship, along with all the goods aboard it. What does it matter if the Alyuan got away?” A younger Renuein questions. Daemon glares at them slowly stumbling closer and closer. The room becomes still as she walks across it, all eyes focusing on her. She stops standing in front of the young pirate continuing her glare into the young pirates soul. In it she finds fear, uncertainty, and weakness from their lack of experience. For a moment she is reminded of her younger self and pities them.

Before any apologies can be made Daemon burrows her dagger into the Renuein’s eye gouging it out. The young pirate howls in pain falling to the floor, hands over her empty eye socket. “Our client has asked for the capture and delivery of that Alyuan in exchange of foods and goods you can’t even imagine. So, we will not give up our pursuit until that brat is captured,” Daemon speaks with a solid stern voice calmly walking back to the captain’s seat. “So, I’ll only say this one more time. Follow! That! Pod!”

Author's Note

I would love friendly reviews and critiques on my story, thank you.

Reviews

[Srchaud]

I think the beginning could use some cleanup. The idea is great dont change the set change how you get us into the chapter.
I would start with a POV, let us see the battle through someones eyes. Also show dont tell.
-One example was the dagger- you told us it was a unifying dagger and why, let it come up in dialogue. Maybe we see her use it in battle and almost lose it, maybe someone tries to take it from her.
Another example is the lizards noticing the Mc is gone and are happy about it. Dont tell us show us, how do know they are happy, are they dancing singing. its small details like these that go a lonog way.
The pacing works and the plot is fine so no worries on that, space adventures are always fun, and using aliens insted of humans is refreshing. But first few paragraphs are everything in story.

[Ricky]

Thank you i plan on bringing these characters back soon and i'll try to show this rather than tell it's a difficulty i have in my writing

[Srchaud]

Yeah its a hard skill to gain, so no worries. If you are mindful of it at all times you will find yourself doing it less. At least you are trying and honest about it. remember there is no shame in a rewrite.
Writing is a skill that takes a lifetime to master. If you really want write always be willing to try again. I cant tell you how many times I have rewritten a piece to find I still suck.
Do not get disheartend, this is the pain of the game. At least you are playing.

[SweetNutmeg]

This is a very long chapter in a long work and I don't have time right now to really go through this as thoroughly as I'd like. But I'll start with general comments. The basic bones you have here are good, the plot and characters, and you do some very vivid showing. The blood being frozen shards is quite vivid.

I noticed two problems in your writing. One is being overly wordy and telling instead of showing.

For example:

"Deep in the vast emptiness of space a large vessel drifts aimlessly in the empty abyss far from any colonized system."

I think you could pare this down a bit. You mention "empty" twice.

Another example:

"A ship with its sleek design was heavily armored carrying with it multiple variants of weapons many of which were now disabled or destroyed."

Most of this is unnecessary. You do a good job of showing us the damage by listing the specifics in the following sentences. Those are vivid and detailed.

The second problem is lack of commas and periods. I think this is more important, actually, than show vs tell. Your writing must be easy to read, without forcing the reader to go back and re-read to get the meaning you intend. You will immediately lose your audience if they can't understand upon first reading.

For example:

"The missile silos remain open some now empty, others still stuffed with their warheads."

You are missing a comma between "open" and "some". Without it, the sentence is hard to understand.

Another example:

"Floating around the vessel are the remains of destroyed ships all of them significantly smaller than the one they were attacking."

Missing comma, between "ships" and "all".

Another example:

"Mixed with the scrap of molten metal are the frozen bits of their crews some had their bodies intact others had their body parts drifting, their blood now shards of ice."

I think this could be split into two sentences, the second starting at "Some had their bodies intact".

Another example:

"Despite the fight that the massive ship put up its defenses were overwhelmed by small fleet that leeched on it."

Missing comma, between "up" and "its".

Unlike some, I have a very specific idea to present as a help. I put my writing through a text-to-voice program, to hear where things are confusing or run together. I also get a kick out of hearing my words read aloud, which is all vanity, but still very fun. I use this text-to-voice program:
https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/
But there are others if you don't like this one.

The problem of show vs tell and knowing when we get too wordy, that is far more difficult to work on. The absolute best method is to have another person go through your work with a fine-tooth comb and honestly point out problems. Unfortunately, finding someone to do that is hard, nigh impossible. The next best thing is to re-read carefully and ask yourself, "Is this necessary?" I find listening to my manuscript helps slow down my reading so i don't skip over things and therefore I can get a better view of what's really there on the page. You have a habit of telling us, then following up with really good showing. For you, I think it is a matter of cutting the unnecessary 'telling' so that your excellent 'showing' is not bogged down.

I hope this helps.

I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes: "Remember: when people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong." ~Neil Gaiman

[Quinn...]

classic
one
i was amazed

[Ricky]

Thank you very much i'm glad you liked it.