The room was covered in blood, the smell of iron, and plasma, hung heavy in the air. Six of us were tied down to makeshift beds, meant more for keeping us still than for comfort. My wrists hurt because of the bindings laced through holes meant to keep my arms straight so that my shoulders couldnt move. My head had an old leather belt around it, forcing my face against the hard wooden surface that was once a dining table. The rich oak that I appreciated on my first day aboard, no longer held the same appeal as splinters from the broken edge dug into my arm where the pirates had broken the tables.

"Hello, my pr'ties." The sadistic grin on the pirate's face could be heard though his voice; I didn't need to try and look to know who was there. The fact that I could see it through the mirror placed on the floor made it all too clear. "The last six are now on ice, they didn't make it. I don't plan on you six making it either. I would say 'lets get along' but, well, it would have a different meaning for you." as he finished talking, the mirror showed the artificer beginning to carve into someone else's back. The screams of the man made me want to cover my ears, but tied in the way we were, none of us could move.

The odor of copper began to mix with that of the blood that had already been there as the artificer began his work. as it mixed with the plasma of the man, it began to turn an eerie green. After a few hours, the man was silent. Unmoving. He was dead.

"As expected, another failure." the Artificer said, as two silent pirates began to untie the man's body and remove him from the room. As they went about their work, the Artificer continued his grizzly work on the next individual in the row. I would be the last one of this batch.

Over the next seven hours I listened to the other people in the room scream until their hearts gave out.

"Any Luck?" a new voice asked. The mirror was angled so that I couldn't see who it was, however I didn't need to see her to know who she was. If I survived whatever the artificer had planned, I would do everything I could to make sure she died, even if it meant that I would have to take a life for the first time.

"None yet, Captain. The last two were close, their hearts giving out just before the hook could be established. The circuit has been verified, we just have to find someone with a strong enough heart to last the entire time it takes to carve it. it would be much easier if I could use an anesthetic...."

"No!" she shouted. "We are stuck at the moment, and we don't know for how long; until we figure it out, medical supplies are for absolute emergencies for our crew, nothing more. Your experements will just have to go without them."

"understood; however the likelyhood of finding someone compatable, and survive is...."

"Enough! you have my descision! If they aren't strong enough to survive without an anesthetic, then we don't have a use for them anyway." I heard the captain leave the room as soon as she was done talking.

"I will show you, woman. You will rue the day you upset this artificer." He walked back into the view of the mirror as he spoke while looking down into it, making sure I knew he was talking to me. "It's always hardest for the last. your flesh is so soft, it feels as though the hardest bit of work you ever did was being born. I expect you will disapoint as well." he sighed. "But just in case, do clench your teeth together; and make sure not to bite your tounge off. This is going to hurt, a lot."

He didn't lie. for two hours I felt his knife and needle burn into the flesh on my back. The corse feeling of the copper ink being injected, the mix of red and green blood hitting the floor. I didn't try to hide my screams. I felt something shift inside me. It felt like I was going to vomit, and then the temperature of the room plummeted. I thought of nothing other than the death of the person doing this to me. In the next instance of thought, it seemed as though his entire life, his every desicion, played through my mind, even memories he had forgotten, when it stopped, his head hit the floor next to me. I felt a swelling of power within myself, and the table I had been tied to for the past ten hours became splinters underneath me.

I walked over to the airlock, and chucked the, now decapitated, body into it; along with the thing that had fallen off of it. the door behind me flew open, and in walked the only two people who I had ever wanted to kill.

"Finally a success." the captain said; "and I see you have saved me the trouble of...." I didn't want her to finish, I felt the power well within myself, and an emerald green aura flaired around my body, enveloping the two in front of me, binding them. Almost as though I was willing it to happen, the two people in front of me floated across the room and into the airlock. I felt another surge of power; and the airlock cycled.

It was at that moment, I realized what had happened. I was now a mage, but, I had never heard of one being able to just think about what they wanted to do, and the magic work for them. I had always thought that it required years of study in order to acomplish even the smallest tasks. The inner door of the airlock opened again; not even a speck of blood remained in the small room.

I walked over to the intercom, and pushed the button. "I, Trillion Biggs, have killed the pirate captain. Either space your weapons, or space yourselves; if you meet me with a weapon in hand, you will die." after about an hour; the intercom tone rang again, but not from me.

"Trillion Biggs; we have surrendered our weapons. we want nothing more than to get out of here. The way things look, its doubtful many of us will survive. I propose all remaining persons on board meet in the main dinning room in one hour." the intercom tone rang, letting everyone know the intercom was free once again.

I walked toward the dining hall; not worried about the fact that my shirt back had been ripped open, or the feeling of blood dripping all over my back from whatever that idiot did. I walked into the dining room, and reached for the feeling that I had in the room with the artificer, the green aura filled the space around me. I imagined a shield, the wisps of emerald became a dome around me, as I passed through the double-door threshold.

"Shit; its a Wilder!" one of the men called out in the room, and threw the knife in his hand to the floor in front of him, putting his hands up. Three men didn't hear his warning, the kitchen knives they had held, flew toward me. The three knives seemed to touch the emerald shield surrounding me, then flew back to their owners twice as fast as they had approached.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up in a cold sweat, the vivid memory of the first time I had used magic; the first time I had ever heard the term 'Wilder' all came back to me, no one on the ship had every used the term, so I had completely forgotten about it. The pirate who had identified me that way, was killed by his comrades a week after that incedent, for being a traitor to their cause.

I got out of the bed, my sweat having ruined any modicum of comfort the blankets and sheets would have otherwise provided, and sat at the writing desk at the foot of the bed. I wrote the memory down, as best as I could. I knew Beth would read it; and it was part of the agreement I had made with her station; that I would write down things I could remember so there would be a recod of what had happened, and that they would know how they could better help me.

They were making a ton of money off of the things they released about me; so this was the least I could do in return: continue to give them things they could make money with.

I lost track of time, and the sun was already peeking though the closed curtains when I heard someone moving around in the living room. When I stepped out, Beth was setting down a tray with a tea kettle on it, in front of someone I didn't know.

"Trillion." she started in a warning tone. "I know you aren't used to people yet, but could you refrain from leaving your bedroom wearing only undergarments?"

I quickly looked from her, to the man in front of her, and then to my own attire. I felt my face flush as I ran back into my bedroom to get changed.