my way. “Back, Lesh.” Wyck yanked on the chain.
“I’ve got to get out of this stench.” With an enormous hand, the first one grabbed me roughly by my arm, dragging me to the hole in the wall.
“Wait...” I tried to protest, but it was like attempting to stop a tugboat. I could either hurry and catch up or fall and be dragged behind.
“Vrateus will want to see this, Crux,” Wyck pointed out.
“We didn’t break any of his precious rules...yet,” Crux scoffed, shoving me through the opening into the bright light outside. “He’ll see it soon enough. But we got here first.”
The “outside” turned out to be a long corridor, lit by strings of light suspended from the ceiling. The panels on the walls and the ceiling here were cracked and bent out of shape, just like the interior of my ship.
Did our spacecraft collide in space, somehow? Was that the reason for their unjustified rude behaviour toward me? Were they angry with me for crashing into them?
“Let me see what was sent to us this time.” Painfully squeezing my arm, Crux yanked me closer.
His skin was the color of clay with a reddish tint to it. It darkened to charcoal gray on the three bumpy ridges that ran along his bald skull. Similar ridges stretched the entire length of his massive shoulders and down his arms.
A wide rugged scar crossed one side of his face, narrowly missing his eye. It must have been a nasty wound when it was fresh.
“Excuse me, but...” I started, hoping to reach some understanding here. Could it be that this male lacked the implant for some odd reason? He didn’t appear to understand me at all.
He touched his nose to my temple, making a loud sniffing noise.
“A female,” he growled low. “What a boon.”
A shiver of revulsion ran through me. I fought to free my arm from him, but he wouldn’t budge.
“I’m Svetlana Kostyk,” I said as loud and clear as I could manage, hoping that if he didn’t understand my words, he would at least catch from my tone of voice that I disapproved of his behaviour. “I’m on a peaceful research mission from Earth. Our station is orbiting the planet Omphi. I need your help in contacting my team, please.”
It remained unclear if Crux understood any of that. He stared at me with his yellow eyes, focusing on my mouth for a moment then sliding his gaze further down my body. His wide nostrils continued to flare as he sniffed the air around me.
Surely, this brute couldn’t be the leader of any spacecraft.
“I need to speak to whoever is in charge here.” I desperately looked around, hoping to find someone with a better grasp of the situation.
The wide corridor was quickly filling with all kinds of creatures. Some had humanoid body shapes. Most were bipedal. However, I didn’t recognize any of the species here. They all gaped at me, their mouths open, drool dripping off their fangs, and their tongues rolled out. It was impossible to tell if any of them were at all intelligent.
“If you just could...” I made another attempt to free my arm from Crux’s grip, wishing to put some distance between us, but he only held tighter. “By intergalactic laws, I am guaranteed personal freedom and respect,” I desperately reminded him.
Federation Forces strictly enforced the laws. Even space pirates obeyed them. If captured, the protocol stated to cite the law and demand contact be made with the authorities for a ransom from the special fund. From that moment on, it would be up to the Federation Forces to deal with the pirates.
Back in the academy, I attended a lecture by a guest speaker who had been captured and held as a hostage by space pirates. He said they treated him with respect and dignity until the Federation paid the ransom, and the pirates released him.
Was this a pirate ship?
I regarded this motley crew of individuals of all shapes, textures, and colors. None of them were dressed in anything that resembled a uniform of any known government.
Fear vibrated through me, but I inhaled deeply, forcing myself to act as calmly as possible. Pirates could still be negotiated with. Hopefully, even the one who kept holding me...
My hope for any intelligent communication with him had quickly evaporated the moment he licked my ear then bit on my neck.
“Hey! That hurt!” I yelled, trying to twist out of his grip once again.
He finally let go of my arm, but only to grab