Chapter 7

“Well that was easy,” announced Rosie, two hours after Colin had left the bridge for a shower.

“What was?” asked Colin as he emerged, freshly showered and wearing a clean jumpsuit.

“It appears that the slave ship AI has been through this before and has happily accepted you as the new owner,” said Rosie, her voice tinged with disgust at the other ship’s willingness to roll over.

“So what have I just acquired?” asked Colin.

“It was an Artist -class replenishment ship for the House Rutger’s Navy,” said Rosie, “before it fell into the hands of the LiveBody Consortium.”

“The what?” asked Yana.

“The LiveBody Consortium is a Tor based company that specialises in providing ‘to order’ slaves and servitude’s,” said Rosie.

“It kidnaps people,” said Yana, shocked.

“No, not according to its Galacticweb page,” said Rosie. “It provides the person in question, if they are available, or a very close facsimile if they are not.”

Adele gave a grim smile, “So you can have Cousin Bridget if you want, or if the heat would be too much call her Britney, who just happens to be a look-alike.”

“It doesn’t say that anywhere on their site,” said Rosie, “but that does appear to be the way they work. According to the AI this is the fourth ship that they’ve approached in this manner, though the others were a lot smaller. More like private yachts than commercial vessels.”

“Does the AI know who the victims were intended for?” asked Colin.

“No,” responded Rosie, “It doesn’t even know who the victims are, just that they’ve approached other ships and removed people from them.” Rosie frowned, “In two of the previous cases the vessels were destroyed after the victims were removed.”

“Download and record all of the details,” ordered Colin, “We’ll hand that over to Captain Hallis along with our two prisoners when he arrives.”

“What about the victims?” asked Yana.

“They’re slaves,” said Zara in answer to Yana’s question.

“They are?” asked Colin in surprise.

“The cruise ship’s AI has been most forthcoming,” said Zara. “It wasn’t so happy about divulging the location of its passengers but it appears that of the original four hundred and twenty-seven passengers on the Viking Star there are now only four hundred and eighteen aboard, the nine that are missing are all slaves.”

“Is there anyway of getting the original passenger list?” asked Colin. “That would show us what the status of the ‘slaves’ was when they arrived on the ship.”

“I’ve already done that,” said Zara. “All nine of them were free people but were found guilty of capital crimes whilst on board and have been condemned to slavery. According to their new records the LiveBody Consortium has accepted all of them for disposal and has arranged for them to be collected.”

“And the ship’s AI has accepted this?” asked Colin.

“The details were dictated by the aggrieved party with confirmation from a ship’s officer,” said Rosie. “As far as the public record is concerned this was all above board.”

“So this is a simple collection?” said Colin nodding towards the slave ship.

“It would have been if we hadn’t turned up,” said Zara.

Colin rocked back in his chair; “I wonder how much longer Tor is going to be able to continue in this vein before one of the houses decides that enough is enough?”

“As long as they don’t overdo it I figure it’ll continue for years,” said Zara.

“Why?” asked Colin.

“Think about it,” she replied. “Where else can the houses exchange prisoners without it becoming public knowledge. The Tortora and Tagliana are ideal for meetings and above board trade but for anything covert they are just too public. Tor satisfies the need for a covert meeting point and as long as the great houses don’t start kidnapping each other’s heirs they’ll turn a blind eye to what is happening.”

Zara waved in the vague direction of the Viking Star; “This could cause a few problems if any of the remaining passengers dies but if they all survive it will be hushed up.” She gave Colin a wicked grin, “It’ll add to the mystique of cruising, ‘I Survived a Slaver Attack,’ or something like that. Any family that lost someone will go out of their way to recover that person and keep the whole thing quiet.” She shrugged, “Nobody would win if it became public knowledge.”

Colin frowned again, “You know, there’s not much chance of these ‘pirates’ reaching a court is there?”

Zara and Rosie shook their heads negatively.

“Then we’d better find out who we need to contact to keep things running smoothly,” said Colin.

“That’s easy enough,” said Zara, “I’ve got the list of ‘missing’ slaves here.”

“Let’s have a look then,” said Colin.

Zara glanced at her screen, “Six of them are members of House Rutgers, the others belong to House Vogel.”

“House Vogel?” asked Colin.

“A minor house under House Rutgers,” said Zara, “Slightly older than House Hadden but of a similar size.”

She then continued, “From Rutgers we’ve got Ame De Jong, Sandra De Vries, Penelope Van de Berg, Petrina Bakker, Tedi Van Dijk and Galo Jansen. The House Vogel people are Leslie Visser, Harriette Goossens and Harrick Goossens.”

“I suppose I’d better go and meet them, then,” said Colin getting to his feet. “Zara, you stay here and keep Rosie company. Yana and I will go and meet our new friends.”

Adele met Colin at the hatch connecting the two ships and grimaced, “They’re getting a little irritable,” she said waving an arm down the corridor.

Colin could hear various voices raised in discontent. He turned to Adele and asked, “Don’t they realise that they’re slaves?”

“I haven’t told them,” she replied, “In fact I’ve done my best to ignore them.”

“Who’s been the quietest?” asked Colin.

“Cells nine and ten have been quiet but they’ve only got a single person in them,” said Adele. “Of those with more than one person in them I’d say eight and eleven have been the quietest. Twelve has definitely been the noisiest.”

“Then I’ll start at the far end of the corridor and work my way back to here,” said Colin.

As he moved down the corridor he asked, “What about the slavers, have you had any trouble from them?”

“Not a peep,” replied Adele.

“OK,” said Colin coming to a halt outside cell eight, “Yana can come in with me and we’ll have a chat with our guests. If I yell, come running.”

Adele nodded her head and stepped to one side before opening the door. Colin stepped inside and moved to one side to allow Yana to join him. As soon as she cleared the doorway Adele closed the cell door.

Sat on one of the bunks were a young couple, very similar in appearance with dark hair and a slim build. Around their necks were plain black collars with a slight bulge under the chin. Other than that they were dressed in smart but casual clothes.

The young man looked at Colin in turn, whilst the girl kept her eyes on the floor.

“Hello,” began Colin, “I’m Colin Hadden.”

The young man nodded, “I’m Harrick Goossens of House Vogel, this is my sister Harriette.”

It was Colin’s turn to nod, “How much do you remember?”

Harrick closed his eyes and began talking softly, “The Captain informed all the passengers that a small ship was in distress and he was manoeuvring to assist. He told us that there was no danger to anyone on the Viking Star.”

Harrick opened his eyes and gazed at Colin, “He was very good about keeping us informed as the ‘rescue’ progressed.” He shrugged, “We all cheered when he announced that we’d made contact with the stricken vessel.”

Beside Harrick his sister let out a soft sob and Harrick slipped his arm around the girl. “There was a shrieking noise just after that announcement and the next thing I remember was being dragged to my feet by this,” he ran his free hand over the collar.

“I could smell the stinking breath of the man who dragged me to my feet,” continued Harrick, “He grinned as he informed me that I was now a slave.” The young man hugged his sister to his side, “Tell me, is that true?”

“It looks like it,” said Colin. “How long you remain so is down to your families.”

“Our families?” asked Harrick.

“I’m planning on taking all of you to Tor and contacting your families,” explained Colin. “I’d give you back to them but apparently that isn’t good enough.” He shrugged, “You’re officially property and I have to sell you to them but I can do that as cheaply as I like.”

“And if they don’t offer to buy us back?” asked the young man.

“They’d do that?” asked Colin before he added, “I don’t know. I suppose I’d have to sell you on the open market but I really don’t want to do that if I can possibly avoid it.”

The young woman raised her eyes from the deck; “I really don’t care what you do as long as I can stay with Harrick.”

“We’ll see what happens after we get to Tor,” said Colin, “In the meantime you are free to wander around this ship but please remember your status. As long as you don’t cause us any trouble you’ll remain free, if there are any problems you’ll be confined to this cell.”

“Thank you,” said Harrick.

Colin nodded, “Can you stay in here until I’ve spoken with the rest of the people?”

The couple nodded and Colin turned away with Yana hot on his heels. As they moved down the corridor Yana surprised him.

“You know they’re in love, don’t you?” she asked.

Colin ground to a halt and turned to Yana, “In love?”

She nodded.

“You’re sure?”

“Pretty much,” replied the slave, “It’ll be interesting to see what they do.”

“If you say so,” said Colin as he began moving again. Behind him Yana exchanged grins with Adele.

Still shaking his head Colin faced the door to cell nine and waited patiently as it opened to Adele’s command.

He smiled when the opening door revealed a young woman. He and Yana entered the cell and the woman rose to her feet.

“Hello,” began Colin, “I’m Colin Hadden.”

“Leslie Visser,” replied the young woman with a dip of the head. “Are you going to be my master?”

“So you accept that you’re a slave?” asked Colin in his turn.

“I don’t accept it but I know enough of the ways of the galaxy to know that I’ve been caught and the only way out would be if my family would buy me back.” She shrugged, her small firm breasts barely moving under her translucent blouse, “They’re not going to do it,” she declared.

Colin gave a start of surprise; “They’re not?”

“No,” replied Leslie. “My father has always said that he would have no truck with slavers, pirates or hostage takers. Anyone who ended up as a prisoner had better hope that he could rescue them because he wouldn’t pay a centi-credit for their release.”

The young woman hung her head and said very softly, “And he wouldn’t want to rescue me anyway.”

“Well I’m not a hostage taker,” said Colin, “and I intend to offer you back to your family for the minimum amount I can get away with that still makes the transaction legally binding.”

Leslie raised her eyes and stared at Colin thoughtfully. “You did try to rescue us then, it wasn’t just a squabble amongst slavers?”

“No!” declared Colin loudly, behind him Yana shook her head as well.

“What do you intend to do with the other ... slaves?”

“Return them to their families as best that I can,” said Colin.

Leslie nodded slowly and then glanced towards Yana, that glance took in the tattoo on her forehead and her collar. It also noticed that she was armed and stood behind her owner.

“You belong to him?” she asked.

Yana nodded.

Leslie returned her gaze to Colin and took a deep breath, “Please just watch,” she said, “I’ll answer any questions later.”

Colin blinked but didn’t move as Leslie opened the front of her blouse and revealed a small pair of pert breasts. Without pausing she popped the fastener on her trousers open and slipped them over her hips, wiggling to drop them at her ankles. Stepping to one side she hooked her fingers into the elastic of her briefs and took another deep breath. With one smooth motion she lowered the dark briefs to her knees and stood up, her hands dangling by her side.

Colin looked her up and down and was on the way back up when he realised what he was looking at.

A prick!

His mouth opened, and then closed again as he struggled with his thoughts. Leslie raised one leg and flicked her briefs over the knee; the release of tension in the elastic allowed the small piece of black material to drop to her ankle. Opening her legs she dropped back onto the bunk behind her and lifted her legs into the air.

Colin sucked air in noisily; behind him Yana gasped as well as a delicate pink pussy came into view.

Stunned, Colin closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. Opening his eyes he looked into the tear filled eyes of the young woman and tried to smile.

“I take it that this is natural?” he asked softly.

Leslie nodded from between her legs.

“And that’s why your family won’t want you back?”

Another nod in reply.

“What do you want to happen?” asked Colin.

“I’d like to stay with you,” said the girl lowering her legs. “I’d be your slave.”

Colin shook his head, not in rejection but in surprise, he’d been in two cells and in both he’d been faced by well-to-do kids who didn’t want to go home.

“I’ll think about it,” said Colin, “but in the meantime get dressed. You’ve got the freedom of this ship, at least until we reach Tor.”

Turning to Yana he added, “And we tell no one about this.”

Yana, her mouth still hanging open, just nodded.

Colin returned to the corridor and slumped against the wall, rubbing his hands across his face he sighed heavily. ‘How could things get so complicated so quickly?’ he thought before giving himself a mental shake and standing up straight.

Glancing each way he saw Adele looking at him questioningly.

He shook his head negatively and waved in the direction of cell number ten, “Let’s see who’s in here,” he said.