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The sound of people, or terrestrials, right outside the door was driving Lacey crazy. Every time the noise of someone passed by, she thought it would be Clek coming back to check on her, and with some information. But the passing of the noises was just that...passing.
With every voice she heard, the speakers in the room echoed whatever it could pick up in the same volume it picked up the voice. The constant ramblings and complaints of the Ubosian guards on patrol were boring and uneventful. They didn’t leak any information to her whatsoever.
Hours had gone by since Clek last left the room. Although her concept of time was slightly askew without her phone, the growling of her stomach let her know it had been a while. Whispers came close to the door again, distracting her from the impending hunger pangs liable to strike any moment.
“So, are you sure that Kryz’uhr isn’t going to simply blow your ship out of the sky?” the voice questioned. It was a familiar one, the same one that escorted her from the suite in Varcadia.
Briegrot’s voice was one that Lacey didn’t recognize, but she gathered it had to be him from how he spoke. “I am certain. The Imperial Lord has issued a direct invitation for me to sit with him in the palace to discuss my role in the regime! He practically disowned Korun!”
Lacey’s heart both pounded and sank at the sound of her lover’s name. She moved closer to the door as quietly as possible to hear the rest of the conversation.
Briegrot continued, “It’s going to be brilliant, simply brilliant! With Korun out of the picture, Kryz’uhr won’t have any sense of a moral compass and I’m sure that I can talk him into letting me do as I please amongst the galaxy. As long as my triumphs are claimed in his name, everything should work out just fine, Arganock.”
“And while you’re buddying up to his majesty, what do you expect me to do here on Terra 5?” the guard asked him.
“Do as you have been! Keep everyone in their place and annihilate those who dare question my leadership!” the cretin instructed.
“This meeting you’re going to wouldn’t even be possible without me,” Arganock argued. “I think you should bring me along! I can have Etheros or Gorcha take over while we are away.”
“I think you should stay here and take lead over your men. They respect you more than any other guard. You need to maintain control so that when I am in the highest position across the galaxies, you will maintain that position as commander of all the Corps. Imagine it, you, an intergalactic oligarch. People will bow before you. You will never kneel to another Lord again!”
“I guess that makes sense, and what about this one?”
Briegrot sighed, “Make sure she’s safe and healthy. We need her to keep Korun at bay. Since you were the last one seen with her, I imagine he’ll be contacting you for an update soon. Do not allow him to believe she is anywhere else but Radiance Magnus. We need Korun worried about her for as long as it takes for me to overthrow his father. Now I’m going to head to this meeting. Do not let anything happen here without consulting me first!”
“Very well,” Arganock sighed. Lacey could hear the bitterness in his voice. He didn’t like taking orders and she was almost certain that Briegrot wouldn’t be in charge long if he got his way.
The steady thud of his footsteps approaching the door made Lacey back up several feet. When Arganock stepped into the room, she remembered his face explicitly. The hostility in his voice when he referred to Korun as her Prince...it was what made him stand out.
“Have you eaten?” he asked bluntly.
“Not for several hours,” Lacey admitted, but she was adamant about keeping her distance.
Arganock groaned, rolling his eyes. His matte black hair was cut short, close to his scalp. His blue skin was a different shade than Korun’s and Blaen’s, and every scar he’d received in battle was chiseled across his body in harsh, jagged, white lines. The one slicing around his neck was the most telling. He was a warrior, through and through, but somewhere along the way his allegiance changed.
“Why haven’t I been taken to Radiance Magnus? You told me that I was being transported there and that no one gets in or out without royal decree,” Lacey stared at him but her voice still shook.
“You have no need to feign strength with me Earthling. You are here because that is the way it’s to be. Someone will be back shortly to move you to a different room. I’d rather not have to look after you separate from the others,” he turned and closed the door behind him.
Lacey wilted against the wall, resigned to the silence of the room once again. There weren’t any more people walking by. The noise of conversations wasn’t to be heard. She simply had to wait for what was to happen next. It wasn’t long before a team of Ubosians stormed the room.
Her heart thumped against her chest as she wondered what they were doing. A sack was tossed over her face and her body hoisted off the ground.
“Wait a minute!” she yelled frantically.
No one spoke to her which catapulted her frantic state into full blown panic. Kicking and screaming, the guards dropped her. She heard them speak Ubosian, but there wasn’t time to decipher what they were saying. It took all of her might to shake the sack off her head. The only thing that came into view was the floor of the long hallway along with the legs and feet of the armed guards carrying her.
Just as one was about to pelt her with his fist, Arganock screamed out, “I told you she’s to go unharmed! You see how they both reacted to her first injury. If you want to deal with the wrath of Blaen and Korun, then by all means, do as you wish but I warn you...we shall face them in the near future.”
“Please just let me go! I can get you whatever you want if you just let me speak with the Prince!”
“Oh, but I’m already going to get what I want and all I need to do is keep you alive long enough to do so. But don’t worry, you will see your Prince before this is over with,” Arganock told her. Lacey didn't like the tone of his voice. His word wasn’t something she’d bet her life on and unfortunately, that’s what appeared to be at stake.
Lifting her off the ground, the angered Ubosian guards hauled Lacey down the hall to another room. When they opened the door, there was a slight commotion amongst the prisoners already inside.
“Back up!” one of the guards shouted. “Food will be brought in shortly!”
After setting her down, the guards left the room. Lacey immediately slid her back against the wall, shielding her face from the assortment of creatures staring at her. “Please don’t hurt me!”
“Relax,” the speaker boomed around the room, “No one here is going to hurt you. We all want to go home, just like you.”
She lowered her arms slowly. Scanning the room, Lacey saw three creatures and a human who looked extremely familiar.
“Em! Is that really you?!” she shot off the ground and scrambled over to her friend.
Emily’s sharp green eyes lit up with joy as her friend darted across the room toward her. “How long have you been here? What’s been going on? Are you okay? What were they doing to you?”
“Me? What about you? What happened? How did you end up here? I thought,” Lacey felt herself tearing up. “I’m just happy you survived the attack.”
The two friends sat down amongst the other beings. The fight that led them to being separated in the first place was a moment they weren’t ready to relive. They simply wanted to enjoy the presence of one another. But that was short lived as one of the creatures moved closer toward them. It was fuchsia in color with features similar to the Ubosians, but it’s height was very much shorter.
“Who are you and where did you come from?” it asked Lacey.
Emily became defensive immediately, “Back off, Rembrat! She is going to be the Queen of Ubos! You just wait!”
The beings in the room fell silent as Lacey tried her best to hide her confusion over Emily’s blatant acceptance and even support of her relationship with Korun. Her assumption was off in her mind, but it was nice to hear her say it. The two retreated to a corner where they could speak amongst themselves.
“So, what the hell happened, Em?” Lacey asked her once they were secluded.
Emily ran her fingers through her black hair, pulling it into a ponytail, staring at Lacey’s bright blue eyes. She took a deep breath before taking her hands into her own, “So I was mad. I was rude. I was being a bigot, jealous, and outright disgusting as a human being.”
“Wow,” Lacey was almost rendered speechless, “that’s very mature of you. How long have you been here?”
Emily laughed, “I have to tell you that when everything imploded, not a single human looked after me. They didn’t try to band together. They didn’t attempt to get off this station. It was literally every man for themselves. Every man aboard this place has been killed or taken prisoner. Most of them have been shipped off, sold to other planets planning to side with Briegrot in this upcoming battle.”
“Wait a minute, I thought Clek said there were more humans in here?” Lacey looked around for another Earthling face, but Em’s was the only one she saw.
“The big orange guy with all the teeth and slithers like a snake?”
“Yeah,” Lacey nodded.
“Well he was an opportunist and as soon as he got his chance, he struck a deal with Briegrot and was sent home. Whether he made it or not is another question completely. And he was right about there being other humans here. There were two girls, French I believe. I couldn’t tell, honestly. But they were a part of the deal Clek did with Briegrot. He got to take them with him to his home planet. He said something about humans being an impossible commodity to get a hold of that his leaders would appreciate it.”
“How did you get to stay?”
“I showed them this,” Emily pulled out her phone. She pulled up the pictures she and Lacey had taken all over the Celestial Jade resort along with the one picture of them together with Prince Korun and Blaen at the dinner before she stormed off.
“I know it’s a crappy thing to do, using our friendship to spare my life, but I just couldn’t go with him. I knew that if I was taken, then it would be catastrophic. I can’t be a slave of any kind, let alone a sex slave. I’ve heard what they said about all of our um... pleasure holes.”
“Yeah, Clek mentioned that to me too. I just never expected for you to have such a change of heart in such a short amount of time.”
“Well I’m not completely sold on the idea of you and the Prince together, but that’s only because I think you’re doing it as a revenge tactic for Brady. Just because he did it, doesn’t mean you have to.”
“I don’t want to have this fight with you again,” Lacey stopped her, “There’s something legitimately bonding us. I don’t need you to watch over me. I need you to be appreciative for the friend I am and stop judging the decisions I’m making as that of some bitter and desperate divorcee. As a matter of fact, the only reason I’m here was because I was standing up for you!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Imperial Lord Kryz’uhr, Korun’s father, had intended to blow this space station out of the galaxy and be done with this situation, but I spoke up to him. Korun and Blaen made a promise to me, and I was certain that I had a lot more weight with them. That was a huge assumption,” she shook her head, “but I told him that he couldn’t just destroy this place and I was arrested. Fortunately, I was brought here and not to Radiance Magnus.”
“You were going to be brought to Radiance?” one of the creatures interjected curiously.
“Yeah, but Arganock isn’t the loyal guard Lord Kryz’uhr believes him to be. I was brought here as some sort of pawn in whatever they have going on,” she huffed. Looking around at the others in the room, she wondered what their stories were.
Emily broke into her thoughts, “At least you’re here and we’re together. We can figure out a way to get out of this together and then when we get back to Earth, you can take the time you need to properly mourn your marriage.”
“I’m done mourning, Emily,” Lacey answered with finality in her voice. “Just because I’m not taking the amount of time you deem necessary doesn’t mean I haven’t taken enough time. I’ve been living on your couch for over a year. I’m ready to move on. But more importantly, I want to get the hell out of here. So stop psychoanalyzing me and help me get to a phone or some type of communicator.”
“Maybe I can help with that.”