“You are aren’t you, You’re going to hide like a fucking coward?” I asked again. My voice stinging through the low hum and vibration of the ship's engines. I pulled a wooden chair out from under a table laden with food and sat down. Leaning back I popped a piece of fruit in my mouth.

Most of me wanted to tear the curtains from the bed, wrap them around Carlton's slimy neck and wring the life from him, but the other part of me, the more vindictive part wanted him to stew in his fear, to know he was alone and at my mercy. Of which there would be none.

There was a whisper from the unseen woman and I could feel as she attempted to push him from the bed, towards me. Flesh hit flesh as he slapped her. I growled, the chair clattering to the floor as I stood up. Walking forward I reached through the curtain and grabbed Carlton's leg where it lay. He screamed as I yanked him from the bed and he tumbled across the floor. It wasn’t a masculine scream of anger or a shout of alarm, it was the squeal of a little man who had nothing to hide behind.

The woman scrambled in the sheets, and I pulled the curtain aside to look at her. She shook from head to toe as she looked up at me. Her long blond hair fell across her naked body, her violet eyes swelled with tears. “You can leave, go see if you can find some help, your master will need it,” I said quietly. She looked from me to Carlton as he lay on the floor, then to the door. She hesitated a moment longer before dashing from the room and down the hallway.

“Jack, have you got anything yet?” I asked into my scanner, looking at Carlton as he stared silently up at me in fear.

“We have a trace. You’re just outside orbit, we’ll be there in twenty.” Jack said, his voice was stone cold, he could only guess at what was going through my mind at this moment.

“Plenty of time,” I flashed Carton a grin before I shut off the call.

“Please, just kill me,” Carlton begged.

I tutted at him, waving the spiked broom handle in front of his nose. “Why would I do that? I know just as well as you do that you can afford to be reborn.” I said slowly.

“There are other men on board, they will be coming for you!” He said with a shallow display of the confidence that a slave lord should have.

“Let them come,” Carlton scrambled away from me as I walked past him, taking a seat at the table again. “Don’t worry, I’ll kill you alright, but I want you to know why you’re dying. Last time was too quick, far quicker than scum like you deserve. Then when they find your body, Floating on a dead ship with your own balls stuffed into your mouth. That’s the image everyone will see when they look at you,” I said. I didn’t mean it. I wanted him to suffer, but I knew I didn’t have it in me to go that far. He didn’t need to know that.

“Please, what do you want. Credits? Your freedom?” His voice broke as he pleaded.

“You can offer me nothing I don’t already have! And if you keep coming after me, it will always end the same way. How many times can you afford to be reborn. How many millions of credits? How much pain is it worth to you?” I contained my escaping anger and chewed on a small nut from a bowl. Every memory of the injustice I had received in this man's house brimmed under the surface, the hundreds of deaths and killings, the beatings and tortures. It was all his fault.

“I’m going to kill you, slowly,” I said, and in that second I lashed out with my makeshift spear, puncturing the muscle in his leg faster than he could follow. His cry of pain was delayed. “Then once you're dead, I’m going to leave the system. When I eventually return, I’m going to tear your house to pieces with my bare hands.” I stabbed him again, this time in the other leg. He scrambled further away from me, and I kicked the chair way and stepped forward. Just as he bent his leg to push off the carpet, I slammed my heel down on his knee. There was a crack and a scream.

“How many slaves do you own?” I asked. When he didn’t answer me I lashed him with the side of the spear. “How many!” I screamed, unable to control myself. My arms shook with emotion, with boiling hatred for the piece of organic filth that sobbed in front of me.

“Three hundred,” He rasped, clutching at his knee.

I stabbed him again, this time in the shoulder. “You’re house will be nothing. Your credits worthless and you name more than forgotten!”

“Please,” he sobbed. I didn’t know if it was for a reprieve from the torture or mercy on my threat. I wasn’t even sure if he was listening, but It didn’t matter to me.

I shot him then. Twice in the arm and again in his uninjured knee. His blood rained down and soaked into the carpet. He wailed in agony. I hissed and pulled a piece of silk from the bed, balling it and stuffing it into his open mouth. He gagged and blinked at me, tears streaming down his face. He wouldn’t live long with his wounds. Frankly, I was surprised he had lasted this long.

“You’re going to bleed out slowly,” I said, sucking in a breath to calm myself. “When they eventually bring you back, I want you to tell the other slave lords on your shit hole planet that anyone looking for me will receive the same fate you have. Then I want them to know that I will be coming for them, with the Grey Scarred Company behind me, I’m going to destroy your moon, your homes, and free your slaves.” I hissed.

I didn’t see myself as Spartacus, but I knew a man like this would live in fear of his world crumbling around him. The society on Scaratouse was primitive and simplistic, to men like Carlton, the other slave lords, their names and their tiny empires were everything. The sands deserved to be melted to glass.

I didn’t know if any of this was sure if any of this was even possible. It was a pipe dream I had held since the first days on Scaratous, to be able to burn the whole thing to the ground. Drive the slavery from the planet and the abuse and injustice that went with it. It may not have been real life, but it filled me with a real sense of ambition, which I would happily use to put the fear of god into Carlton.

I ripped the silk from Carlton's mouth, and watched him cough on his own spit then stammer “They council has more power than…”

He was cut short as I slapped him across the face with the pistol, “Your council has nothing! I have seen actual power, I have seen people who can cut aside armies like blades of grass and I intend to join their fold. Your council is fat from the blood of your betters, you will be less than blades of grass when I return.” I snarled at him and pressed sharp plastic into his chest. I sank to the floor and watched his eyes as it punctured his heart and the life left them.

I spat and pulled myself from the floor, If I was going to leave a message for the slave lords, it might as well be a good one. I walked from the room and turned left. Then I found a team of eight guards two more rooms down, weapons ready as they prepared themselves to attempt a rescue of their lord. I was shot three more times as I beat and stabbed, sliding through them. Then there were four more protecting a storeroom. In the low red glow of the emergency lighting, they died before they could even react.

I moved through the rooms, killing anyone armed and leaving those that weren’t bruised and unconscious. Through a full loop of the ringed ship, I left bodies scattered. the only room I couldn’t enter was the cockpit, where I left two guards in a pile against the thick metal doors. Walked through the now dead craft back to Carlton's bedroom, where I knelt beside his body.

I sat there with Carlton's body, ignoring my vibrating scanner. I felt drained. I had promised retribution and justice, I hated the dead man beside me more than I had hated anything else in my life. I didn’t look up when I felt the familiar presence of Jack coming down the hallway, his hands grabbed my by my arm and pulled me to my feet, I shook him off and reached down, pulling the rings from Carlton's fingers as I had the first time I killed him.

“Erick, we have to go.” Jack said softly, “They got out a distress beacon, there are ships on the way.” He grabbed my arm, pulling me from the room and to the living room. The sidewall had been torn open in a smooth circle, and on the other side stood Mia and Keg. Mia reached through the hole and pulled me inside. I looked at her for a moment, “I’m sorry,” I said.

She nodded before speaking, “It’s not your fault, and it's only a death.” Her face was serious, and her eyes constantly darted to the doorways of the room.

“It won't happen again,”

“Damn right it won't,” She hissed.

Jack pulled himself into the airlock and slammed his hand against a button on the wall. A pair of doors hissed and slid closed. “We’re in,” He said into his scanner.

The ship moved, my stomach momentarily churning as the ship's two gravity played on our bodies. The Flair pulled away from Carlton's ship and we watched through the layered glass as the atmosphere was vented from the room, bodies being sucked through the hole and out into space.

“We’re there any left alive?” Jack asked me.

“The pilots. I couldn’t get to them,” I said, “I probably didn’t need to kill them all, but I wasn’t going back there…” I mentally shook myself, trying to rid myself of the mental exhaustion.

Jack nodded, “Just breath man,” he said.

“Your fucking answer to everything,”I hissed. I could have hit him, but instead, a small laugh escaped me.

“Carlton. The dead man in the bedroom?” Jack asked me.

“Yup. He won’t stay dead for long.”

Jack was silent for a moment, “Think he will stop now?” he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders, “How did you get here so quick?” I asked him. They should have been days behind me.

“Petra and the others pulled up your records while we were awake. There is only one person in the system that would want you captured. At least that’s what the captain said. They took the chance, we were in orbit when you called.” Jack said.

Thank god for the Grey Scarred Company, I thought. If they hadn’t of gotten to me so quickly, It would have been ships from Scaratous that found me and I wasn’t sure how many more people I could have killed before I was captured again, maybe all of them.

“Did you get my weapons? I asked Mia,

She nodded, “They’re in the common room. You don’t need them right now.”

I stepped away from the window and past the others, “I need a shower,” I said, walking through the ship to the communal bathroom, but only after I stopped by the common room to grab my swords.

Mia didn’t join me in the shower this time, I suspected Jack had played the role of big brother and insisted I needed a little space, or maybe she knew that on her own. I dressed and strapped my weapons to my back before going in search of the others who were all standing around in the cockpit. I could hear their conversation as it drifted down the hallway towards me.

“..a good job too. It’s what any of you should do if you find yourself in that situation,” the captain said.

“But all of them?” Keg asked.

“You’re part of the Grey Scarred. We don’t take insults like that lying down,” Petra responded.

Their voices fell off as I stepped through the doorway and they looked at me.

“Keg would have just pissed himself,” I said, flashing him a forced smile. Sam laughed and slapped Keg on the arm.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Well, you missed your transport. I got comms to Alaria and she authorised us to dropped you ourselves.”

“So we’re still leaving the system?” I asked and Petra nodded. “Good.”

The trip took less time than I had thought, I looked up a map of the system to see that Scaratous half the distance from the way station than Earth was, and The Flair held true to its name as we plunged through space in FTL.

The ship finally jerked as we dropped out of F.T.L and Mia pulled herself to her feet from where she had sat silently beside me, her hand on my knee as she read from her scanner. “I’m going to go have a look, you want to come?” she asked. I nodded, grabbing her outstretched hand and getting pulled to my feet. I laughed. “What?” she asked accusatorily.

“Nothing,” I said through my smile, “It just always surprises me how strong you are.”

“That’s not even the half of it,” She said, flexing her bicep in a mock strong woman pose. Then she laughed with me, “Come on,”

She pulled me from the common room and along to the cockpit. When we popped in the doorway, Keg was tilted back in a chair with his feet up on a console, blocking our way and chatting to the crew. Mia grabbed his ankle and threatened to tip him over before dropping the leg. “Where are we?” I asked, grabbing Kegs shoulder to steady him.

“You’ll see in a couple of minutes,” Petra said, pointing out the display windows.

I looked outside to see the back end of another ship, then the Flair banked slightly and beyond the other ship, we saw the portal.

It was a series of four shining rings, I could see them rotating smoothly in opposing directions as they slid against each other. In the center was what looked like black liquid, it rippled as a ship slid through it. Emerging towards us. As the ship in front of us moved closer to the portal and we followed, The magnitude dawned on me. It was large enough to fit two Explorers side by side. Just how big did they make ships? I wondered. I couldn’t imagine anything larger than the Explorer.

“I hate waiting in line,” Petra complained, tapping on his console again. “We’re already behind schedule from dropping you lot, now we have to wait behind…” He hit a key on his console, “The bleeding Depths Dispair, I hate those guys,” He threw his hands up and huffed.

“What's so bad about them,?” Jack asked from his seat by the captain.”

“Oh just everything, their main planet is a fucking water hole, it hardly ever gets any sun. Makes for a depressing command, which makes for a depressed bunch of members. I swear every time I’ve ever been in a room with that lot, I get the chills.” He visibly shivered.

We had front row seats as the ship in front moved into the portal, the liquid rippled again as they pushed into it and disappeared. “No one coming through the other side, We’re next,” Petra said to the captain who nodded.

The ship started to move again when my scanner vibrated. By the reactions of Jack, Keg, and Mia, theirs must have vibrated too.

I looked down at my arm and the entire screen was illuminated with a large red message.

[Warning Notification: You are about to leave a protected system, please be advised that the system you currently reside is in a state of Induction. While you are free to leave the system, be aware that the protections currently afforded to you, both from other species and with regards to your Ranking, will be lost. Please make a conscious decision on your departure and do note that we advise remaining in the system until the induction period has expired to maximizes the comfortability with your situation.]

I read it twice before looking to Jack, “Protections? What kind of protection?” I asked.

Jack looked from me to Petra who hesitated before speaking.

“You know this is a protected system right? While we’re from outside the system we have certain obligations with regards to the locals. You saw it with the bandit ship? We have to give sufficient warnings and aren’t allowed to conduct actions of violence unless in extreme circumstances or under contractual agreement from a native government.” He said as if reading from a set of instructions he had memorized. When he spoke again it was normal, “This place is like a nursery for children, out there…It’s a completely different world. If you don’t want to leave tell us now, we can't force you.”

We all stayed silent, none of us gave any protest as the Flair shifted forward. When the nose of the ship touched the black liquid we knew that even if we wanted, there would be no going back. The liquid flowed around the side of the ship, the windows becoming engulfed until it was as though it was submerged. Then the surface broke, and clear space bloomed across the windows. We moved out into a new system, to a completely different world.