Chapter 1:

People ran screaming in every direction, smoke billowed from the wall consoles and the entire ship was in disarray. The normal calm atmosphere of the Purple Nova was thrust into havoc by a planetoid-sized asteroid colliding with bow of the sleepy cargo ship. The small crew of thirty flew through the corridors attempting to save the precious cargo they were transporting to the next star system, each very aware of how much trouble they were in if it was lost.

The Galactic Sentient Nova Space Station was a widely renowned breeding colony. They were known to many other colonies throughout the universe and extremely famous for their particular services which were highly in demand. For just a tour of their prestigious facilities a punter would need to book possibly 10 to 15 years in advance, making it a highly secretive operation. The clientele were able to purchase laboratory-grown slaves to work and serve on their home estates, the slaves were not cheap so only the elite galactic families and businesses owned these creatures. They were made in humanoid form, particular features and personality were hand picked by the clients themselves, this included every feature from their eye colour to the size of their feet. Other extra's could also be added, for example, if a slave was required to assist a laboratory technician they could be grown with highly tuned IQ's and learning capabilities, these of course were restricted so the slave could not break its grown in restrictions. These restrictions were implanted at the birth stage so they would not question any command they would be given by their potential owners once sold, making them safe to own and highly obedient.

The purple nova were delivering the newest shipment coming to the end of a 3 year run to the galaxy of Crenor, the stock were placed into a stasis lock to maintain their nubile state and youth, the crew were in charge of navigating the cargo to the destination in as little time as possible. However, nobody anticipated the black hole opening on their path, the computer navigation was not sophisticated enough to pick up the anomaly on the radar and the asteroid hit without a seconds notice.

"Hayworth, hurry up and get those stasis chambers open, we need to evacuate now!"

Captain Leiwa clenched and unclenched his fists, how the hell was he supposed to avoid that asteroid. It didnt even show on the navi or the radar and the blackhole wasn't even charted en route. He knew it wasn't his fault but try explaining that to the Sentient Council, they wouldn't give a crap about his excuses, all they would worry about is the cargo and the punters coughing up. It was now his job to get the Seika's to the Crenor outposting with the smallest delay as possible, luckily they were only a few days away and they would be able to drop them off using the shuttle pods. As long as the god damn crew would hurry up and evacuate. The red light bulb spun blindly above his head alerting him of the danger, he wished the siren would shut the fuck up so he could concentrate on shifting the crew out of there.

"Sir we cant get the last one open and it's going down now, we have to leave it." The exasperated Lieutenant wheezed.

10......

Leiwa hissed through his teeth, "Which one is it?"

9........

"Sir the countdown, we have to go now!"

8.......

"I said which one is it Hayworth, answer me godammit!"

7.......

"It's.... i can't see, the smoke. I think its #7, yes it's Seika Seven Sir."

6.......

Leiwa gritted his teeth, number #7 was the most expensive order on board, he would be exitcuted for sure if she wasn't delivered safely. But goddamit the fucking ship was going to impact in a few seconds anyway, there wasn't time. "Leave it, lets go. We dont have time for this, fuck!"

5.......

"Confirmed, Sir we need to get in the pod NOW." Hayworth opened the seal and they both clambered inside, she pulled the door hard and spun the lock untill the seal compressed.

4.......

Leiwa pushed the launch mechanism and the pod shot from the side of the Purple Nova, sending it cascading into space to join the other escape pods in waiting. He rest his perspiring forehead againt the reinforced glassed and watched as the ruined ship impacted with an unknown moon, with it his career and a billion credit Seika.

"Fuck"

"Sir, are you alright?.... i mean we do still have the other 14 Seika. They cant hold us resp..." Hayworth caught the look of malice and kept her mouth closed. She knew aswell as the captain did their careers were over and possibly their lives aswell. The lost cargo would have paid for the entire ship thirty fold and there was no way the Seika would have survived the impact, small explosions were still racking the moons surface and parts of the ship were already leaving its small gravity field. She felt a lump of fear in her stomach and knew Leiwa felt it aswell, he looked like he was about to be sick.

She always held a large amount of respect for the captain, in the last 3 years he'd taken control of the navigation and the onboard testing facility. The company provided the crew with a Seika of their own, it was designed to be the ships engineer and odd job worker. It was a left over model previously used for advertising and lab testing but it had outgrown it's usefulness with age and was used onboard as a free paid lackey. Leiwa used the drone for testing of his own, pushing it to the height of it's usefulness through rigorous regimes and activities. Hayworth felt sorry for it, as much as the captain tried to convince her she was sure it had some sort of individual intelligence. She was positive one day at dinner it had sighed after Leiwa announced he was going to proceed with the scalpel and allergy testing, she didn't like leaving them alone. Still, it was a man made creation and it was only serving its only living purpose, they as a company gave it life and it was theirs to do with it as they wanted. She couldn't argue with that logic.

Captain Leiwa drummed his fingernails on the control panel, the sweat made his beard start to itch. Hell, everything was itching. He caught Hayworth looking at him out the corner of his eye, she quickly looked away. She was indeed a handsome woman with her long brown touselled hair falling lightly over her petite features, he had made use of her during the long trip a few times, she was generaly good at calming his temper. This time nothing was going to calm him, he couldnt take the wrap for this mess. He had a thirty year career with the Seika council and it wasn't going to end here and now, maybe Hayworth would make herself useful for a final time. He smoothed his palm across his stubbled head.

"Lieutenant."

Hayworth looked up to meet the Captains glare, "Yessir?"

She figited in her seat, he was giving her that look again. That look only ever led to one thing and she could not believe he was anticipating it at this very moment, her muscles tensed and twitched under her skin.

Leiwa stood up and strode toward where she sat, next to the central console in the corner of the cramped pod. He knelt next to her, lifting her chin with his index finger. Her eyes darted across his face, trying desperatly to predict his next move. She'd let this happen too many times before and she was scared about what he'd do to her this time. He raised his right hand and carressed her cheek, moving slowly down her chin.

He struck her hard accross the face without warning, Hayworth stared at the floor not daring to move.

"Turn around Sarah, i dont' want to look at your miserable face while i do this. You know how it turns me off, hmm?"

She turned to face the window of the pod, her breath catching in her throat. His reflection was visible in the window as he stood behind her, she closed her eyes and tried to think of home. Home was her happy place back on the third planet of Morar, not the Glactic Station or the Purple Nova. Unlike them it was a beautiful and fresh place full of life and colour. She missed the house she grew up in with her mother and younger sister, she missed the fresh air and the soft green grass beneath her toes. A small tear pricked the corner of her eyes, she looked up in time to see Leiwa wrap a cord around her neck.

She struggled but he was strong, he smiled as he watched her desperatly claw at the cable he was mercilessly squeezing around her neck. After a couple of minutes he loosened his grip and her body slumped lifelessly to the floor, landing in a loose fetal position. He kicked her onto her back for good measure and to be certain she was dead. Stepping over her body Leiwa punched in the speaker command and made his orders clear, everyone was to proceed to the outpost in hast and meet at the secondry gate. After receiving confirmation from each pod that the Seika's were safe, he gave the command to proceed. He looked down one last time before lifting the body of his former Lieutenant and lover. Her eyes were glassy and empty, her skin already cold. He bent and hissed her forehead before throwing her into the waste disposal chute.

She would indeed provide the perfect alibi, nobody within the Sentient Council tolerated Seika sympathisers. Specialy the kind that sabotaged delivery missions.