The group of women worked mostly in silence the rest of the day until they were finally led back to their barracks. The door, they noted, was locked. Margussa said that usually meant just one thing. Newcomers.
The guard unlocked the door and ushered them all inside,shutting it securely behind them. It was then that they saw the new arrival.
She was a human woman, that much was clear. More than that, Shalia recognized her. This one had been a recent arrival on the Raxxian ship just before they went down. The workers began shedding their dirty clothes and washing up. The newcomer glanced at the diverse group before her eyes locked on Shalia.
“Hey!” she called out. “You were on the ship. Shalia, right? I’m Darla.”
“The new girl. Yeah, I remember you.”
Darla rose to her feet and crossed the room. “How did you get here? What happened?”
“What do you mean, what happened? We crashed on this God forsaken planet.That’swhat happened.”
“You made it down in one piece, obviously.”
“Obviously. We hit hard, though. The ship busted open and there was a small fire, but the important thing was we were free. At least, we were for about three hours before these assholes came and grabbed us.”
“Were there others?”
“Yeah, of course. Garalla, Fetza, and Nivonk over there. A couple of others too, but they took off the second we hit the ground.”
“Do you know where they are? We’ve been trying to find other survivors.”
“No idea. People took off running. We just wound up in the same compartment during the chaos on the Raxxian right before we crashed.” Shalia sized up Darla with a curious look. “Hey, you’re clean.”
“Relatively speaking.”
“Seriously. What happened to you?”
“A native tribe took me in. They’re good people. Provided me shelter and food. They live a pretty off-grid life, though with no tech to speak of.”
Shalia nodded, sizing up their group’s newest member for a second time since her abduction by the Raxxians.
“You also have ink now,” she noted. “Doesn’t even look like it’s peeling. Did these natives do this to you?”
“Actually, you remember the guy in our cell? The alien?”
“The big muscular one who didn’t talk much?”
“Yeah, Heydar. He applied the pigment. Apparently, his skills are far more than just inking translation runes for the Raxxians. I’ve got runes all over now. It’s really kind of amazing how this all works. I’m stronger now. Don’t get tired as easily. My sense of sight has actually gotten better. Who knows what else it’s enhancing?”
“Obviously not your hearing or you wouldn’t have been captured.”
“Touché. And damn, these Dohrags are serious assholes. But you’ve been with them a while, right? What’ve you learned about them?”
“They have us working fields for them. It’s not a big operation, but they have several groups of captives separated into different work details. We never interact with the others, especially not the males.”
“They don’t want intermingling?”
“No. They want us to themselves,” Shalia replied quietly.
A sour hush fell over the group and a woman with deep green hair and velvety brown skin sobbed quietly. Shalia didn’t need to say more.
“How many of them are there?” Darla finally asked.
“Can’t say for sure, but maybe twenty on the ground at any given time.”
“What do you mean?”
