Merila felt her white skin freeze over. The engines of the large slaver ship had shuddered to a stop. Over the months she had been kept in the large cargo hold had taught her that the only time the engines stopped when they were in port. Soon the slave masters would come in and draw out the slaves they thought would make the best sale on whatever planet they were on at that moment. Merila shrank back, trying to make herself look small amongst the other slaves. She hated being on the ship, but she didn't want to be sold. Not ever. At least on the ship there wasn't any masters with wandering hands or ladies with fast fists.

But this time no slave masters came into the hold. The other slaves around her began to mutter. Then the door to the cargo hold burst open, knocking the slaves nearest it over on the floor. A large bellied man who had to have been fresh caught nearly landed on Marila. She sprang to her feet without thinking. And looked up into a black, t-slit helmet.

She stepped back, tripping on whoever was behind her, but an armoured gloved snaked out faster than she could see and gripped her arm hard. It yanked her forward until she was nearly touching heads with the helmet. A hand traced slowly down her cheek, roughly caressing her lower forehead where she had a small blue tattoo. Marila flinched back but the hand on her arm gripped her tighter, keeping her in place.

A rough man's voice spoke from the helmet. "I'll keep this one. Take any promising ones with you." The hand forced her to turn around, pushing to her the door. Other helmeted figures were wandering around the cargo hold, grabbing the slaves roughly up to eye height, then dropping them back to the floor. A body pressed on her from behind, forcing her to walk. She could feel cold metal through the light shift she'd been given when she was sold to the traders. "Move it" the voice said in her ear.

Merila shuffled forward. The body pushed her again. Merila's legs, so unused to walking after the months in the hold gave way underneath the pressure. She tried to stand, using her hands to push off the metal floor, but she fell down again. The man behind her grabbed her with one arm around the waist and clenched her to his armoured chest. "Stupid slaves" she heard him mutter as he stepped over one of the slaves his companions had already shoved aside.

One of them, a man by the looks of it, dressed in blood red armour with a scull of some sort painted in black on his shoulder came over as they reached the door. "She's a pretty one you got there. Pity the rest aren't of the same stock."

"Nothing worth keeping then?" It was less of a question than a statement.

"Nothing worth the cost of feeding and moving them. Looks like we picked the wrong ship to hit this time Klin."

"Then kill them all." The other man waved a hand to the other armoured figures standing around the hold who drew guns and pointed them at the slaves huddled on the cold metal deck. Merila and whoever held her had barely reached the door before they began to fire. Slaves screamed out in agony as red hot blasts from the blasters torn through they're flesh.

Merila closed her eyes and sent a prayer to the gods of the underworld to keep the spirits of the dead safe. But no tears ran from her eyes. At least they wouldn't face the horrors she could only guess were waiting for her, as slave to these strange armoured men.

He shoved her to the floor once he had carried her through the door. Merila rolled onto her back, bracing herself from the worst when she realised he had drawn his baster and was aiming it down at her. She froze, her sweaty palms flat against the deck. The black red circle of the firing tube was pointed right at the center of her face. She couldn't breathe. Had he taken her out of that cesspit of a room just to shoot her here?

"Crawl." Merila hardly heard him. "I said crawl girly. I ain't carrying you." Merila slowly rolled back onto her stomach, not wanting to take her eyes of the gun in his hands, but knowing that her life depended on her doing as her ordered. Slowly she dragged her palms across the deck and pulled her lifeless legs along behind her. Merila thought she heard the man chuckle but she dared not to turn around to check.

Heavy boots echoed on the metal floor. "There any reason you keeping a cripple Kiln? It won't be much use." It was the same man who'd told him that there weren't any other slaves worth keeping back in the hold. "Might as well shoot it now, put it down."

The one who had grabbed her snarled at him. "I know that, but it can walk. It got up quick enough back there, it's just a regular weakling. Work at the farm will toughen it up fast enough." A hard metal object jarred her hard in her lower leg. Marila guessed it was an armoured boot. "Stop." Merila did as the voice ordered. "It listens to orders well enough."

"So it does Kiln. But the others won't like the dead weight."

Kiln, Merila guessed that's what his name was since the other man kept calling him that, laughed a little. "They'll deal with the dead weight. You've checked the rest of the ship?"

"Nothing but the crew Kiln. They're dead now."

Kiln gave what sounded like a sigh. "No other holds?"

"None but this one. Even the credits aren't much. This ship didn't do very well in the last port they visited I guess."

"Seems so. Tell the others to wrap it up and get back to their ships. We'll leave at the quarter hour." Metal boots walking away. "Now you. Can you walk or not?" Merila was frozen with fear. Kiln kicked her in her stomach. "Now girly. Can you even speak?"

Merila winced from the blow. She sucked in her breathe and tried to speak. "I haven't in..." Her dry voice failed her. She swallowed and tried again. "Haven't walked in months. They kept me chained down there."

He kicked her again, in the same spot. She rolled away a little instinctively, wincing from the pain in her side and legs. "Don't give me the pity stories. If you can't walk, crawl." Merila began to pull her arms forward again, trying to block out the pain. Behind her, metal boots walked along, slowly at her pace. Merila heard a strange sound as she struggled along the floor. He was laughing at her. Laughing at her as she struggled in pain. What kind of monsters were these people?