I wish I could wipe it off with a slap – but I know he’d catch my wrist before I could land the blow, and even if I did – it would be like slapping concrete.
Besides, if a disrespectful tone of voice can earn a prisoner a spanking, I don’t even want to know what trying to slap Aelon would result in. Gods. I can’t imagine how it would feel to be spanked by this huge, hulking warrior.
It’s bad enough just sitting in front of his cocky, too handsome face. The shame of being over his lap would be overwhelming. Any attempt to struggle against his effortless strength and masculinity would surely only earn a harsher punishment – and who knows what form that might take.
I shift in my seat, suddenly feeling strangely uncomfortable and anxious in the presence of this Aurelian commander. The tension in the room is growing and growing – and I shudder as Aeon continues to look down at me, completely at ease, while I try to shrink away from his sheer, overwhelming presence.
Suddenly, his watch beeps red.
Aelon breaks eye-contact with me and slaps his watch. A tiny hologram appears, projected from the watch face. It’s an Aurelian, dressed in battered battle armor next to another warrior with a ragged gash across his chest. The wounded Aurelian is wearing only the lightest combat clothes – which suggests that whatever caused that injury wasn’t encountered in battle against the Scorp.
Whatever happened to that soldier – it happened inside this ship.
“Captain Aelon – they attacked us.”
My heart sinks. I don’t need to be told who ‘they’ are. My crew.
“When we brought down food and water,” the soldier reports, “four of the prisoners jumped us. One of them had a hidden knife.”
The wounded Aurelian coughs painfully.
“It’s my fault, Captain. I didn’t search him well enough.”
Him.
The Aurelian can only be referring to Chris.
Fucking Chris!
I thought he’d left all the weapons behind – but, instead, he disobeyed my direct order; and now he’s endangered everyone.
My mind races. The Aurelian reported that four prisoners attacked them. I already know that Theme was the one member of my crew who wouldn’t have joined in the attack – he’s too much of a coward…
…but cowardice won’t save him on an Aurelian ship. It’s probably despised more than Chris’ treachery
“I’ll be down shortly to deal with them,” Aelon responds.
His voice is suddenly flat – emotionless. It’s even more terrifying than before.
Captain Aelon lowers the watch and then meets my eyes, blinking slowly.
“Did you order this? Don’t lie to me, Tasha – I can always sniff out a lie.”
I shake my head – but suspicion doesn’t leave his face as Aelon tries to interpret my motives.
“I swear, I didn’t order them to attack,” I promise. “It’s a foolish attempt.”
Aelon snorts – but this time there’s no humor to it, and he doesn’t pair the snort with his typically cocky smirk. His face is a mask.
“You might be a skilled pilot, Tasha – but you’re a piss poor commander. You need complete obedience from your crew. They need to be trained.”
My pride is wounded, but I’m too nervous to care. Whatever punishment he’s going to inflict on Chris and the rest of my crew, I can only hope he goes easy on Theme.
I asked anxiously: “What are you going to do to them?”
Captain Aelon’s lips curl back in a snarl. That’s when I see the true danger within this man. His triad might have been the ones covered in blood and dirt, but there’s an equally sinister violence lurking in the captain – just below the suave, sophisticated surface.
“I’ll do to them whatever I must.”
My blood runs cold. The punishment for mutiny on an Aurelian ship…
…is death.
4
Tasha
The five men of my crew are handcuffed. There are fresh bruises on their face from their struggle with the Aurelians, and Chris is sporting what I can only assume is a very well-deserved black eye.
I hope it fucking hurts!
“Let me go! I’ll gut you, you fucking Aurelian scum!”
Despite the black eye, Chris is unrepentant. He’s yelling – spewing his words with pure hatred towards the Aurelian soldiers guarding him.
One of the soldiers calmly turns to Chris, and meets the furious miner’s fiery glare – before giving him a hard backhand.
Chris flies back against the bulkhead, and one of his teeth pings out of his mouth and bounces across the metal deck. That instantly shuts him up.
It gives me some small satisfaction to see Chris disciplined – but it also fills me with rage. He’s still part of my crew.
“Don’t touch them!” I yell out – but I’m completely ignored. Instead, the guard looks up at Captain Aelon for orders.
Captain Aelon steps forward, in front of Chris and the other members of my crew. Only Sawoot is absent – presumably kept in a part of the brig designated for women.
Out of the five of them, Theme is the only one who looks contrite. In fact, he looks like he’s about to cry. Only four of my crew tried to rebel, but Theme will be painted by the same brush; and punished accordingly.
Captain Aeon’s voice is a chilling drawl.
“You assaulted my crew as they brought you fresh supplies.”
There’s a sudden hiss as Theme releases his bladder on the floor. I wrinkle my nose at the sharp, ammonia stench of piss. Poor Theme looks down, staring at the puddle spreading between his feet, both scared and humiliated.
Despite my annoyance with him, I feel an instinctive sense of protectiveness towards Theme. It was the four men of my mining crew who’d orchestrated this attempted break-out – and I know Chris was their ringleader. Poor Theme just got dragged into it.
Thankfully, Sawoot was absent from all this – because that little spitfire would have been the only one of my crew to present a real threat to the Aurelians. We’re just lucky Aelon’s crew are chauvinistic enough to keep male and female prisoners segregated.
My mining crew
