Baston put his clothes in his locker and straightened his uniform. He hoped the night would go by quickly and that he would be able to get home in time for a nap. He was going to have the day off, and all he could think about was sleeping. He’d worked for ten straight nights, and the last few had been busier than usual. He walked outside and into the transport center. When the ships came in, he opened a door for them to load up on the dock. He always wondered what would happen if the door that kept the pressure maintained broke and he was sucked out into space. He didn’t want to be drawn out into space, but for some reason, he always thought about these things.

The cover on the transport hangar was glass, so it allowed him to look up and see the stars while he worked. It was one of the only perks of the job. They certainly didn’t provide that many benefits, and the commute alone took much time out of his day.

The sound of moon crickets was the only noise out in the middle of the night. Those who were lucky enough to work at that ungodly time were the only ones who got the pleasure of hearing them. Baston stood outside on the loading dock and looked up at the stars. One day, he hoped to find a job where all he would do was fly through the sky. As a youth, he’d enjoyed taking the controls of his dad’s ship when his mother wasn’t watching them closely, and imagining he was a great space captain. His father had always encouraged his dreams. His mother had always worried.

The two moons of Sarta were almost in line with one another. It made the one in front look three-dimensional. The small loading dock only gave him enough room to stand next to the ships when they came in. Only one man could fit for the initial unloading. Then, once the pods were dragged onto the main loading area, the rest could help. The unloading process of the cargo was often unpredictable, so it was procedure to have lots of men ready.

“Incoming, Baston.” His best friend and co-worker, Sca, ran up to him, pointing at the ship. Sca was the ladies’ man between the two of them. He had a large scar on his cheek from a bar fight, that women fell in love with. He was also half Lingonian, and his race had a reputation for knowing how to handle a woman’s pleasure. Any time they went somewhere, he accidently-on-purpose let his heritage slip. It was a convenient habit and had the women eating out of his hands.

The two of them worked for a loading company that dealt mostly with human cargo. Titon Universal brought girls in by the shiploads to work for them. Sometimes they came willingly, sometimes they were sold by their families. The willing ones were mostly gold diggers hoping to strike it rich by seducing their masters. From what he’d seen walking around downtown Menopoly, the town he lived in on Sarta, it worked for them more often than not.

All of the girls came from Earth because they had a trade embargo with Sarta. It was one of five. Earth had trade deals with their planet because their own had become overpopulated. In order to preserve their planet, they’d struck a deal. Sarta was rumored throughout the galaxy to be the planet you wanted to work for if you had to go into servitude, because they treated the servants the best. Other planets didn’t have these kind of trade deals. You wouldn’t catch a Lingonian woman, for example, working for anyone but herself.

“I see them,” Baston replied, tearing his eyes away from the moon to look at the small cargo ship pulling a very large transport pod. There would be about twenty women inside with whatever they were allowed to bring. He braided his long hair away from his face. In some cases, the women in transport fought during offloading. When they did, they weren’t above pulling hair. It hurt like hell and he wasn’t about to give them the upper hand. He tugged at it to make sure it was secure.

Baston directed the ship in as it backed the cargo pod up onto the loading dock. He went around to the driver to give him a ticket for the transport.

“Got a couple feisty ones in this load,” the driver said with a large grin. He was missing one of his front teeth, which made him look a bit silly.

“We’ll keep that in mind,” Baston replied with a curt nod.

The way the system worked, they inspected the cargo and the companies were paid later when they sent in their tickets. Occasionally, he had to argue with someone new to it all, but most of the time, the transporters were understanding. Baston tore off the ticket and took some information from the driver.

Once he was done, he unhitched the pod and let the driver take off before moving it. Titon Universal owned the pods the transporters used. It made it easy for the transporters to get a new pod from one of their locations to bring the next round of cargo. Pulling the pod back slowly on the conveyor belt meant to help him, he turned it around so the men could unload.

He heard Sca opening the heavy metal door of the pod to look inside. He saw another ship approaching in the distance and made a mental note to check the log once this one was complete. They shouldn’t have another cargo ship in for at least a few more hours. He wondered if they were early.

“Where are all the men?” Baston asked, looking for the rest of the workers.

“Lunch break?” Sca said.

“It’s 1 AM, Sca,” Baston answered.

“Dinner break, then. I’ll grab, you scan,” Sca said with an eyebrow wiggle. He was always willing to do the dirty work, meaning grab up the women so they could be checked in.

Baston nodded and the two headed into the pod. Thin metal walls separated the women. Sca walked into the first little room and pulled the woman from the ground. She was a small thing with blonde hair woven into braids. She shrieked and cowered away. She looked like a terrified puppy as he walked up to her and directed her face toward his.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” He grabbed her arm and took the scanner from his back pocket scanning her bracelet. She refused to meet his gaze, her body still trembling like a leaf.

Sca sat the girl back down and they moved on to the next one. Most of the women from Earth feared him because of his glowing skin. He glowed like a firefly at all times. It was because he was part Lingonian, his mother being from Lingo and years of interspecies breeding between the aliens from Lingo and people from Earth. Women from Earth had only seen people from their own planet, and they most certainly did not glow.

Sca reached for another woman. This one had short brunette hair and a small muscular build.

“I can get myself up just fine, thank you,” she snapped as she walked forward and held out her wrist. She lifted her chin defiantly as she watched, waiting—almost impatiently—for them to do their job.

Baston took notice, this little girl had spunk. Scanning her bracelet, he watched as she scowled and marched back over to her seat. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest and pulled her lips into a thin line. For a moment he watched her, noting that she had a nice body with curves despite her small stature. She was rounded out where it counted, and he inwardly admired her features.

They moved down the line, scanning bracelets. An alarm sounded that alerted them another ship was approaching. It wasn’t possible that another cargo ship had arrived, because the ship they’d seen was still quite a distance away. The only ships that could move that fast were combatant ships. They both put their hands on their guns, but it was too late.

The aliens that entered were a purplish color, like green grapes that had gone bad. They had bulbous heads with large red eyes. Baston thought he recognized them as Stillions, but he had only seen their species on the holopads and not up close. He watched a ton of documentaries and nature shows when he wasn’t working. He had always taken comfort in his belief that if he ever ran into something scary, he’d be able to deal with it.

The Stillions went through the bag on his back and took his knife and some nails he’d had from a previous project. One of the alien’s long talons ripped through the side pocket, rendering it useless. They let him keep the satchel on his side. They searched Sca as well, emptying his pockets, but they didn’t take anything except a pen he had had.

“Hey, my dad gave me that pen!” he yelled, but they didn’t seem to care.

Baston reached for his gun, but the aliens were faster. Before he could pull it out, one of them grabbed both his hands. Before he had time to blink, he found himself chained to Sca and the feisty woman. The aliens moved at a speed faster than they could see. All the women in the pod let out loud wails and sobs. Each was handcuffed to another, and some were handcuffed to their metal rooms. Others jerked on their restraints as a futile attempt to escape. Where they would go if they got free was anyone’s guess.

“Well, shit,” the small girl said, clearly annoyed. She looked at the wailing women and grunted something under her breath. With a huff, she sat back down, jerking Sca and Baston to the floor of the pod with her.

The pod jolted like something was lifting it. Baston heard tools being used. He realized the aliens were attaching the pod to their ship.

“They’re taking the girls!” He yelled to Sca.

“Forget the girls, Baston. They’re taking us!”

Jumping up and pulling the girl with them, they went to the metal door and pushed it open against the Stillion who held it from the bottom. They forced it open and used their chains to wrap around his neck. He dropped to his knees and Baston almost had his hands on the stun gun strapped to his waist when another Stillion came out of the ship and spotted him.

Quickly, it raced to its shipmate’s aid and struck the three prisoners away from him. They all flew back into the cargo pod with the power of the strike. The aliens hoisted their guns, pointing them directly at their heads. Only once before had Baston been shot by a stun gun, and it wasn’t something he wanted to experience again. With a nod of compliance, he held up his hands and scooted back.

Satisfied that they weren’t going to give them any more trouble, the aliens slammed the door shut again. Moments later, the pod began to shift and become unsteady. The jostling about sent the pod’s occupants sliding across the floor as the ship took off. Some of the women whimpered in the corners, curled into balls.

“Damn it, what’s going on?” Sca asked as he pulled himself back up and ran towards the door again. The pod had gone dark, and his illuminated skin stuck out to the women who’d not paid attention before. Some of them screamed as he ran by.

“Don’t open it, we’ve gone up into space already,” Baston said as he and the girl were dragged along with him.

“Why the hell would the aliens steal a servant pod?”

“I don’t know, but from what I know of Stillions, they aren’t a friendly race,” Baston answered, wondering why he’d never made a point to learn what the transport pods contained.

“What the hell are we supposed to do now?” the girl asked, breaking into their conversation. She planted her hands angrily on her hips.

Baston frowned. “What’s your name?”

“Why should I tell you?” she asked with a snort.

Baston rolled his eyes. “Because if you’re going to be chained to us, it’s probably a good idea to know,” he said as he tugged on the chains, searching for any weak points in the links.

“Cherie.”

“And what brings you to the pod, Cherie?” Sca asked with a wide smile and a wink.

Baston jabbed him in the ribs. “Not the time to flirt, Sca. We’re in real trouble.”

“Right. Everyone get things you can use as weapons. Go through your bags.”

“They took anything we had that could be used as a weapon, just like they searched you. They even took my hairbrush,” Cherie said. She narrowed her eyes at them. “In case some of us were here against our will.”

Baston realized she must be one of the girls who had been sold into being servanthood for Titon. If they didn’t have weapons, there would be no way to get away. They’d have to think of something else before they landed wherever the Stillions were taking them. Baston didn’t know how much time he had, he just knew he wouldn’t be able to save them all. It was a pity, as some of the girls were only teenagers.

He wasn’t sure how intelligent the race was. He suddenly wished he’d paid more attention in history class. He vaguely remembered the Stillions were good in war because of their size and speed. But did that mean they were smart, or did they rely on their other abilities?

Baston needed to figure something out about their kidnappers, and fast. He paced back and forth. Cherie pulled on the chain. “Stop it.”

“Sorry, I’m trying to think.” Baston gripped the side of one of the metal rooms. He tried to bring down the wall, thinking he might be able to use it as a weapon. The wall wouldn’t budge. Titon had made these pods sturdy to keep the girls from trying the same thing. He needed to try something else.

“Was anyone able to sneak anything we can use to fight in here? Keep it when they searched you?”

Not a single girl answered him, but one of the girls towards the front took off running towards the metal doors and slammed herself against them.

“Tesla, stop it.” The girl attached to her pulled on their chain. “What are you doing?”

“Ruby, they’re going to rape and kill us. Do you want to get raped by a giant purple monster?”

“Hold on.” Sca got up from where he’d sat on the floor and held his hands out. “We don’t know what they have planned. We need to stay calm.”

“I’m not getting taken by them either. What do we do?” Another girl had gotten up and joined the other two. They all began to slowly spiral out of control. Some were panicking, throwing themselves against the walls and doors while others banged their chains on the metal rails.

Baston saw a small window open up in front of the pod. It was the window they used for longer trips to pass food into the passengers. A slight curl of smoke came from the crack it made in the metal.

“Cover your faces and get down!” Baston shouted. He pushed Cherie and Sca to the floor of the pod. He covered his nose and mouth with his hands and looked at Cherie and Sca to make sure they were doing the same thing. Being that they were chained together, it was difficult and awkward, but they managed it by huddling close together.

No one else seemed to hear him. The banging and panic had gotten them some attention, and the girls started dropping around them as the pod filled with smoke. Holding their breaths would only help them if the smoke moved out quickly. It burned his eyes as he tried to see if any of the other women had ducked and covered. He squeezed his lids closed and blinked rapidly. His lungs burned with the need for air. His blood began to throb through his ears in a dull roar. He wasn’t going to be able to hold his breath for much longer, and judging from the slight discoloration on Sca’s and Cherie’s faces, they wouldn’t be able to either.

The smoke finally cleared. He exhaled and then took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the musty air in the cargo container. Slowly, the three of them pushed to their feet. His eyes scanned the pod slowly. They were the only ones that managed to remain conscious. Bodies lay in heaps, littered on the floor. He knelt beside one of the bodies and noted the steady rise and fall of her chest. Thankfully, they were still alive.

“Well, that was close,” Sca said. He moved over to one of the girls and pulled her arm up, shaking it. It fell right back down by her side.

“They’re out. We’re going to have to fight them on our own now,” Baston said, surveying the sleeping beauties all around them.

“Let’s be honest,” Cherie said with an exaggerated eye roll, “we were always going to be the ones fighting them.”

The three of them slid down the wall and stared around the room. They began to brainstorm for the rest of their flight to wherever they were being taken. Some of their plans required things they didn’t have. Cherie suggested throwing one of the unconscious girls at them when the doors opened, but Sca shot that down.

The little door opened again and more smoke flew in. This time it was too quick for them to cover their mouths, but Baston realized the smoke was to wake the girls up when one flew at him from a dead sleep.

“Where the hell am I?”

Following her awakening, there were more screaming and crying women who had been confused by the sleeping gas the aliens had used on them. The ship lurched to one side, sending a cluster falling against a wall. It righted again, and suddenly felt as though it were falling, telling Baston that it was beginning some sort of a descent. They were moving at such an alarming rate that everyone was tossed into the air, causing them to float freely for a few moments. It crossed his mind that they might actually be falling instead of landing, but then the descent stopped suddenly. Two thuds echoed loudly as the pod landed on the ground.

“All right. We have to be ready, they’re coming.”

“What do we do?” One of the women who’d been talking before asked.” Baston thought her name was Ruby.

The doors started to open and he told her the only thing he could think. “Run.”