They started to shake and tremble, and he could feel the ship's integrity beginning to weaken.
"What's... whhhaattt'sss happpening?"
"Capptttured," he said.
"How?"
He released the engine pressures of breaking free. He was going to rip the ship apart if he kept trying to fight this. The engines off, the shaking stopped.
"The same way I captured your ship and brought it down. Tractor beam."
"Can't you break it?"
"If I could, we would be gone."
He read the telemetry. The ship that was capturing them was not Terran at all. Larger and heavier. Not the same design shape or polymers.
"Who has us?" she asked.
"If I am reading this right, we're being captured by a Charro ship."
6
Shall I just die now?Eleanor thought to herself as the Charro mercs stared at her. Their orange skin and tails bobbed behind them like snakes bouncing around. Their freighter smelled like sweat and urine, and she wondered if any of them had ever cleaned anything.
Likely, it seemed worse since she knelt on the floor in the middle of their dirty hold.
The floor had a grit to it. She could feel it through the dress on her knees. She convinced herself it was from ship engines and the ever-found space dust that could get anywhere on a ship when it was in space for a long time.
Long haul freighters were dusty due to the space dust they encountered during sub-light travel.
One of the privileges of being a princess, she never had to travel on sub-par vessels. Everything she was ever in was the best possible version of that kind of transport.
Some would call her spoiled, but she never had a choice in the matter, either. It was expected, as being a princess came with certain duties and standards.
This ship was not one of those standards.
Even the engine noises had a sort of hiccup in it like it wasn't sure how to do its job. She was more afraid this ship would fall out of the sky than her escape pod when it had a hole in the side. She'd seen the spot when she'd boarded Jedriek's ship. She could not thank the universe enough, knowing how lucky she was that she didn't get sucked out of that hole. Why would her own people shoot her down?
Or why the Charro? Why were they a part of this? They were mercenaries. They were hired by the bounty. Granted, the Terran Empire could pay well if they did hire mercs to do a job, but this was above the usual "go get this law breaker and bring him in" type of deal.
She looked over her captors. They did not look like the type who cared much about what kind of job they got. Or the filth of their ship.
She grimaced as a smell radiated toward her from one of the Charro who had passed gas. Loudly.
"What's the matter, girly? Don't like the smell?" He burst out laughing.
She bit her lip to keep from speaking. She just didn't know what they were going to do. Or worse, whatelsethey might do. They'd already pulled her and Jedriek out of the sky. What was next on their agenda?
Gassy Charro had his thick tail on the floor, supporting his bodyweight as he aimed his weapon at them both.
"Well, isn't this fun," came another Charro from one of the blast doors. He carried a large blast rifle on his shoulder. Not ready to be fired, but there, so they didn't miss it. It was the kind that blew holes in walls. Or humanoids. "We thought this was going to be just some Rhimodian target practice, and look what we found, instead!"
Obviously, the leader. He had the biggest mouth of the mercs, so he must be. There was something about him that said he was the one in charge. The others looked to him regarding what they had planned for them. Were they transporting them or just killing them on the spot?
The waiting was the worst for her.
She would rather, if they're going to kill them, that they'd just get it over and done with.
