Drayzl woke with a slow start, his head still throbbing from where he had been bashed by the butt of a plasma rifle only hours ago while he struggled to blink away the stars which insisted on clouding his view.
Looking around, he spotted fellow members of his crew in similar states of damage and duress in this cramped cell.
The seconds tick by as he slowly blinks some more, the fugue caused by his headache finally fading and allowing him to become more aware of his surroundings as he recalled the events that led up to his current predicament.
It was just a routine delivery run, transporting minerals from some mining system over to an industrial system for refinement into something or another. Easy work, and often low risk.
Drayzl wasn't even anyone particularly important on this crew; well, he was important in a sense as head of the custodial division, but it's not like he did much to put his life on the line or took any real risks.
As far as he knew, the ship he served on was crossing through a remote and quiet system while they were navigating to the nearest jump point to the next system in their route.
He recalled how he was on a call with his elder sister, just talking about nothing in particular as they gave each other updates on their daily lives when the klaxon alarms suddenly wailed, signaling that they were under attack. In the next moment, impacts crashed against the ship and they had lost their communications array before soon losing the engines, leaving them dead in the void.
It wasn't much longer until the maglocks of a pirate ship latched onto his vessel and then they were on the move again, while Drayzl was forced to wait and see what these void raiders had planned for him and his fellow crewmates.
It has been a couple of weeks since then, and the damn pirates had sabotaged the ships' life support before coming through and grabbing everyone while they were barely alive before locking them up in the brig of their damned vessel.
Since then, he's had to watch his fellow crewmates fight for the entertainment of the damnable voidscum, often with food being used as the reward for their efforts. If one member won the fight, then half of the crew got food, and if the other one won, then the other half of the crew would get to eat.
The fights were never pretty, and the loser wasn't allowed to surrender until they were beaten within an inch of their lives. That's not even considering those who refused to fight at the start of it all; those who dared to defy the pirates and take a stand ended up getting beaten to death anyway and nobody got to eat that day.
It was all just senseless cruelty for the sake of being cruel.
Suddenly the sound of faulty pneumatics caught his ear as the screech of metal on metal cried out with the opening of the brig doors. "Damnable junk heap, I can't wait for the Captain to finally replace this scrapper." One of the pirates muttered irritably, kicking at the side of the doorway with a reinforced boot as a small group of the bastards walked in, carrying sacks of what appeared to be the emergency rations from his crew's ship along with a couple of gallons of water.
They were a small menagerie of various beings from different races, though Drayzl wasn't nearly worldly enough to name them on sight; not that he cared to, voidscum was a good enough name for them to him.
"Alrighty you lot, you know the deal." One of the pirates called out with a sneer on their chitin-plated face. "Two fighters today, whoever wins, their half of the brig gets to eat today." They mused as the group started to form a wide half-circle around the brig.
Four of the pirates broke off from the rest of the pack, two of them using their omni-bracelets to unlock the cells while the other two waded in amongst the prisoners. One of them grabbed Tiluz, an officer from the ship's security force while the other pirate turned their gaze on Drayzl himself.
As they were dragged from their cells at gunpoint, the ringleader of this whole twisted affair sneered as he looked between Drayzl and Tiluz. "Two fine-looking specimens, make this a good fight, and don't dream of holding back." He commanded before procuring a stun baton and tossing it into the middle of the room.
Before Drayzl could even think of going for the stun baton, Tiluz used his prehensile clawed feet to scoop up the stun baton and toss it into his own hands. With a grimace on his scaled face, he regarded Drayzl while activating the stun baton. "I'm sorry, but I have no other choice."
Drayzl just sighed as he put up his claws to try and defend himself. "I know... Just... Don't hold back." Drayzl pleaded as he lunged forward, slashing out at the security officer who deftly dodged and swiped away Drayzl's attempts to attack.
As the fight got into full swing, the pirates began to cheer and jeer, quickly placing bets as they started to have their fun.
Tiluz slammed their elbow into Drayzl's chest, displaying their martial prowess as they quickly overwhelmed the custodian. Soon bringing the stun baton down into Drayzl's shoulder, forcing him to tense and convulse as a closed fist then met his jaw, sending him sprawling to the ground.
As Drayzl fell to the ground, Tiluz was quick to follow after, mounting his limp body before bringing the baton down on Drayzl over and over again after deactivating it.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
With each passing blow, Drayzl felt his consciousness start to slip, though he did his best to hold out so he didn't go down too quickly, bringing his arms up to at least defend his face while fending off the better-trained security officer.
Suddenly, there was a heavy gong sound that resounded through the ship's hull as something seemingly impacted the vessel they were in. The sound was distinct enough to cause the pirates to go quiet and for Tiluz to stop fighting; though Drayzl could hardly be bothered, breathing deeply and heavily as he took the precious few seconds of inactivity to try and collect himself.
As the pirates murmured, the ringleader for this whole ordeal spoke up, pointing out a trio from the half-circle that filled the brig. "I don't like the sound of that, go check it out." He commanded, though the pirates in question just grumbled before reluctantly making their way out of the brig and down the hall.
The ringleader then focused back on the fight, sneering as he jutted out a clawed finger at Tiluz. "Who said you could stop!? Get back to it, we were just getting to the good part." He mused cruelly as the other pirates cheered.
Tiluz hesitated though, the desperate battle fugue already fading as he met Drayzl's disorientated gaze while panting heavily.
The ringleader just sighed, drawing a laser pistol before casually leveling it at Tiluz's head. "Come on now, you were performing wonderfully only moments ago." He mused with an almost playful smile on his face.
Drayzl watched as Tiluz slowly raised the baton again before slowly exhaling and closing his eyes.
That was when screams and laser fire sounded out down the hall the other pirates had gone, soon followed by heavy thuds and crunching when everything went silent again. Steps were soon heard approaching as the sound of something heavy made its way to the doorway.
As Drayzl opened his eyes, he saw a person in an armored full-body environmental suit with a tinted face plate. Their head slowly swiveled as he looked among the crowd of pirates and prisoners before a modulated, masculine voice sounded out. "Is there a Drayzl here?" He asked simply.
The pirates weren't sure what to make of the armored intruder, backing away from the doorway as they started arming and charging their weapons while watching his every move.
It took him a couple of moments, but Drayzl was soon able to muster a response as he shakily raised a hand from where he lay on the ground. "I-I'm Drayzl..." He croaked out painfully before coughing as he took a deep, shuddering breath.
The armored figure just nodded his head before planting an armored boot in Tizul's chest, sending the security officer sprawling across the brig's floors. "Great, I'm here to pick up a package from you for one 'Lazuli Ferense Hroz.' Could you please sign here?" The man asked as he took a knee and held out his arm, a holographic panel emitting from it as what looked like a delivery invoice floated in front of Drayzl's face.
Drayzl couldn't help but just blink in the face of everything that just happened, staring up at the reflective, tinted face plate of this person before him and then looking at the invoice as it hovered in front of him. "For my sister? A... A package? What package?" He asked between shaky gasps before wincing as he started to really feel the pain that riddled his face and chest.
"Uh... You." The man replied, having taken a second to review the invoice before holding it back out to him.
It was then the ringleader seemingly mustered up their spine, physically non-existent though it may be, as they stepped closer and pressed their laser pistol against the armored man's head. "I don't know who you think you are but you're not goi-hhk!" The ringleader suddenly cried out before convulsing on the ground as a shoulder-mounted turret sprung up from the man's shoulder, firing off some kind of electrically charged ball of gel.
In the next moment, some kind of projection emitted from the helmet of the man as a small, green woman in some strange garb with a crown of thorny roses appeared and stood on the shoulder turret. "Don't you dare touch my Rosie, you bug-eyed creep." She admonished with a wagging finger as the turret began aiming at the other pirates but not firing.
The armored man just sighed as he stood, pulling away from Drayzl before glancing at the holographic woman standing on his shoulder. "Now look what you did Perci, so much for a peaceful extraction." He said while shaking his head.
The holographic woman, Perci, just harrumphed as she sat down on the turret while crossing her arms. "Peaceful my foot, you already pummeled those guys in the hall."
"Yeah, well, what was I supposed to do? They had guns trained on me already." The man asked, seemingly ignoring the room around him as he carried on having his own private conversation.
The pirates weren't too sure what to do now, glancing between the ringleader of the fights and the armored man, some of them began creeping towards the door while others started aiming their rifles and pistols at the man.
Before they could get too brave, a second shoulder turret sprouted from his armor, and the two turrets aimed at the pirates as they began slowly swiveling back and forth. "Listen you lot, I'm only here for this one on the ground. If you don't wanna end up like that guy over there or your buddies down the hall, then you're better off leaving and pretending you never saw me." The armored man said as he turned to face the remaining pirates, his tinted faceplate reflecting their own uncertain expressions back at them.
After a silent standoff which was punctuated by the whirring of the shoulder turrets, the pirates quickly fled down the hall.
As the footsteps receded to the distance, the shoulder turrets receded as the holographic woman sat on the man's shoulders. The man in question looked back to Drayzl with his expressionless faceplate before holding out his arm again as the invoice projected from it all over again. "Go on, sign it."
Drayzl wheezed out a strained breath before slowly inhaling again. "B-but what about my crew?"
The man just sighed as he used his free arm to rub the back of his head. "Of course, how did I know you were gonna ask about them." He said before looking up at the other cells that filled the brig. "There's no way, I don't have the space for them all on my ship."
With that, Drayzl started pushing himself upright despite the protest of his very bruised limbs. Though as Tiluz moved to help him, one of the man's shoulder turrets suddenly aimed again, a menacing red laser lining up on the officer's chest. "If that's the case, then I'm not leaving." He said resolutely before grunting some more as he stared down his own reflection in the man's face plate.
The man shook his head slowly as he stood while crossing his arms, the holographic invoice disappearing all over again. "The 'Guardian Angel' package your sister paid for does not cover the liberation of your crew. My orders are to get you out of here and safely home." He explained with an authoritative finger wag.
At the mention of a price and packages, Drayzl looked up at the man again with a determined look in his eyes. "I have around 50,000 credits saved up from these last few cycles, I was planning on a nice trip during my next leave, but would that be enough for you to upgrade this package of yours?"
But it didn't stop there as the rest of the crew started calling out their savings and offers as well, their voices desperate and frantic as the man just looked around at the room and groaned with frustration. "Dammit all... Perci, does this pirate crew have a bounty?" He asked, looking to the holo-woman who sat on his shoulder turret even now.
Perci looked up at the man and flashed a rather pleased, if not smug little smile. "Why yes Rosie, they do. Quite a substantial one at that."
The man let out a low groan again as his shoulders sagged. "Fine, fine... I get it." He said, looking at the crew before approaching the various cells as he started breaking locks. "I'll just take this crew's bounty to upgrade this commission." The man said before walking over to Drayzl and holding his hand out to him.
Drayzl couldn't help but smile despite how much it hurt his face as he took the armored man's hand, slowly getting to his feet as his fellow crewmates worked on gathering themselves. "I... I can't thank you enough... W-what do I call you? Rosie?" He asked curiously as he stared at his own image in the taller man's faceplate.
The man just scoffed as he shook his head. "Only Perci calls me that." He mused almost cheerfully. "My ID is Rose-13, but you can just refer to me as R13." He said as he pulled away before starting for the door. "Perci, how are my systems looking?" He asked as he glanced at the holo-woman on his shoulder.
Perci just smiled as she held a thumbs-up while standing on the shoulder turret. "You are combat-ready, Rosie!"
R13 just nodded as he crossed the threshold of the brig and started down the hall. "Understood."