AN: Currently 11 Advanced Chapters on my Patreon.
https://www.patreon.com/cw/Crimson_Reapr
---
Marie Anne Scharffeld had always known that she was different from everyone else. Her natural Platinum blonde hair and her piercing blue eyes, almost the color of turquoise, made her stand out anywhere she went.
She had always been around the machines of the farm, and her father had noticed how she was deeply intrigued by them from a young age. She had brought up the idea of going to boarding school in one of the inner planets to her father, and he resisted at first. But eventually he gave in to the pleas of his only child, who obviously didn't fit in with the rest of the kids her age.
However, the fact that she was from one of the many crop colonies made her even less favorable in the eyes of most on the inner planets. As she grew older, she started to notice that despite her deep intellect, people didn't think much of her other than as a pretty face. Her theories, questions, and inquiries would always be tossed aside, something that eventually led to her finding comfort away from people.
She became entranced with engineering, eventually convincing her father to allow her to join the NEA, Naval Engineering Academy, at the age of 15, when an opportunity made its way to her. A chance to finally prove to others that, despite her amazing grades, she could do much more on the field. She didn't expect to be tossed aside in the Navy as well. Her small inventions were deemed a waste of time, too costly, not beneficial enough, or simply stupid. She was just another cog in the machine, just another engineer in the IUC Navy's vast array.
But she learned to love it. She learned to love the quiet engineering shifts with no one around but her and the machines. The low hum of the reactor core, the rhythmic pulsing of coolant pumps, and the occasional hiss of plasma conduits adjusting pressure were comforting in a way that she couldn't explain to anyone who had grown up with friends rather than being ostracized by machinery.
It had been years of being pushed aside by everyone before she was finally assigned somewhere her work would be appreciated. Her assignment to the IUC research vessel, the Vanguard Horizon, after engineering school, where, on the edge of an asteroid belt, the quiet that filled the vessel was otherworldly and felt like home. The asteroid field outside sprawled like a shattered world, where rocks tumbled slowly through the void, a sight that was simply beautiful and deceptively calm.
She had just woken up and was looking at the screen by her bed that allowed a connection to exterior cameras for a viewing port. She looked at the serene view for a few seconds, only to have her calm ripped away by a violent tremor that shook the ship, tossing her off her bed.
At first, she thought that it had just been an asteroid grazing against the hull of the ship. But that thought was quickly broken by the red lights that flashed across the ceiling, and the klaxon screaming, "Multiple hull breaches! All hands to stations!"
She put on her boots and tossed her jacket over her tank top before sprinting her way to engineering while gripping her tablet, which was constantly filling with more and more red alerts and errors. All she could think about while running was that they were either under fire or they got hit by a big asteroid, neither of which was a good thing.
The ship lurched forward as something else slammed onto it, sending Marie crashing against one of the corridor walls. By the time she had made it to engineering, sparks were erupting overhead and her earpiece was crackling with frantic voices. She witnessed a scientist scream as they got tossed over one of the railings, landing on his head right before her. The crunch of man's neck snapping sent shivers down her spine before another violent tremor sent her sprawling to her knees, her tablet sliding away from her and over the edge of the level she was on. She could see below her as somewhere deep down a reactor relay went critical, and a flare of blue-white fire pulsed through the lower deck.
"All hands, brace! Repeat, brace! We're under hostile fire!" The captain's frantic voice came through the shipwide comms, unlike the usual calm she maintained. "Security to all decks, repel the boarders!"
Marie staggered back to her feet, grabbing the railing as the Horizon shook again. Her eyes darted toward the one console within reach, diagnostics scrolling across as the engines shut down, the maneuvering thrusters went offline, and power started to fail as lights flickered.
She realized that the situation was beyond saving. So she turned around and started running back towards where the EVA suits were located, barely making it into the corridor as a railgun round pierced through engineering. The entire room started to vent through the hole, and she felt herself being lifted up by the feet and dragged backwards, slamming into the closing door that sealed the corridor. Through the door's windows, she watched in horror as her crewmates were gone in an instant, all sucked out through the huge hole the round had caused.
'I have to find a way to shut the reactor down before it kills all of us,' was all she could think, her legs already carrying her before her mind had caught up, propelling her through the corridor. The deck trembled underfoot as a barrage of autocannon fire peppered the ship, something that could only mean that whoever was attacking was too close to waste ammunition with railguns.
She ran through her corridor, ducking as chunks of red-hot plating crashed through the ceiling ahead of her, covering her head, hoping that the shrapnel whizzing by wouldn't find its way to her head. She continued running, adrenaline pumping through her veins so hard that she didn't feel the blood running down her cheek and chin until it started to cover her left eye.
She paused momentarily, running her hand across the left side of her face and noticing that the shrapnel had left her with two cuts, one on her cheek and another just above her eyebrow. Her hand trembled as she looked at the blood, but the sound of gunfire drew her back to the present. It wasn't the sound of IUC rifles, no, they used energy weapons, and these were the sounds of good ol' gunpowder guns.
She finally got moving again; she couldn't keep on wasting time. She rounded a corner just as a squad of Marines opened fire on a group of armored figures who were cutting through a bulkhead as a few of them worked to assemble a 30mm Gatling Railgun. Marie froze as she noticed a female Marine push one of her squadmates aside and open fire with the Gatling Railgun.
The sound was deafening, and the breaching pirates were torn to shreds behind the bulkhead. It would've been great, had the other Marines finished setting up the Gatling Railgun. One of its legs gave way, sending 30mm railgun rounds ripping through friend and foe alike. A moment later, the familiar clinking of metal hitting metal sounded as a grenade landed in the middle of the group of Marines.
"GRENA-"
A deafening boom tore through the Marines, killing most, if not all, instantly. Marie had the wind knocked out of her, and the shockwave sent her flying across the corridor for about 15 feet. Her vision blurred, and she saw one of the pirates move through the line of dead Marines, double-tapping them all. A male and a female ensign were unfortunate enough to come running right in front of them, prompting the pirate to grab the man by the front of his neck and yank forward, ripping his throat out. The poor male ensign flailed on the floor, sending blood spraying across the walls as he died. The woman who accompanied him had her eyes go wide, and she went into shock, locking herself up where she stood.
"Grab the cargo and store it, I'll go hunting for more," the pirate called out to his partners, who dragged away the shock-ridden ensign.
Marie's stomach lurched at the sight, stumbling to her feet and walking in the other direction, her head buzzing and ears still ringing. Blood dripped down her right ear, smearing the corridor walls she was leaning on as she walked. After a few minutes of walking, she finally found the entrance for emergency shutdowns.
She slowly walked toward it, and just as she was a few feet from it, the ship shook violently once again, and suddenly, the floor beneath her feet was gone. The artificial gravity had been cut out mid-stride, leaving her drifting upward into the corridor's ceiling. She gasped at the sudden weightlessness and spun helplessly as sparks danced around her. Lights flickered once again, and before she knew it, gravity was back on, and she dropped like a sack of stones. Her head struck the deck, and pain landed through her skull as bright white stars exploded behind her eyes, and the colors dimmed while her world dissolved into darkness. All she could think about was her father. She was his only anchor, and she just knew that word of her death would break him.
---
She didn't expect to wake up after blacking out, but when she came to, the silence that drowned her ears was louder than any of the alarms. She thought that she was still floating after the artificial gravity had been turned off - the dizziness was that strong - but then she realized that she was lying on something hard, and that her arms couldn't move freely. Neither could her legs.
Her eyes opened slowly, the lights burning her eyes, and her head buzzing. She blinked slowly and periodically, taking her time to get used to the brightness. Once she did, she forced her eyes to focus on her surroundings, and though her vision was blurry, she could tell she wasn't aboard the Horizon anymore. Instead, she was in the cargo hold of a ship, its walls lined up with crates and sealed containers. The air was also stale, almost metallic, carrying a stink of sweat, and the soft vibration of the floor beneath her indicated the steady thrum of engines.
Her wrists burned as she tried to move, and the thick restraints holding her in place dug into her skin, the metal bands biting into her flesh. Her eyes then managed to focus enough to make out the other figures in the room, and she felt her heart drop as panic rose within her.
All around her were other women, twenty, maybe even more, and they all wore the same Bracing-blue uniforms of the IUC Navy, in different states. Some were missing boots, others had torn clothing and bloodstained uniforms, but they all wore the same wide-eyed, fear-filled, pale faces. A few tried to talk to each other in hush voices, those who were better-kept informing the rest that they had been captured by pirates.
Marie counted quickly, her eyes darting from person to person, to a total count of twenty-three women, and not a single man. Her stomach turned cold, and her mind replayed all the vivid memories of the attack. All the way from the beginning to now. The pirates had butchered all of the men, capturing only the women and dragging them here as if they were livestock.
Her breath hitched as the reality of her situation set in. It was the worst possible outcome for women in space, to be used as sex slaves by pirates, to bear their children, to be nothing more than cattle for savages.
One of the women beside her tried to talk to Marie. She was older, maybe in her mid to late thirties, with short dark brown hair, and her lips trembled as she spoke, "They blew it... I heard them talking about it. They detached from the Horizon and blew her to bits.
The words pierced Marie, and she tried to swallow the grief, but she could feel her throat knotting up. If they blew the Horizon up, and they were the women here, who were the only ones left of the crew, then that meant that Melissa, her best friend and one of the few people who actually saw her potential, was amongst the dead.
Marie lifted her head, scanning all of the women in the cargo hold once again. There were cadets, scientists, and a handful of female engineers who'd kept the Horizon up and running day after day. But no matter how many times she tried to look for her, Melissa wasn't amongst the captured. Maybe it was for the best. Marie wouldn't have wanted her best friend to face the same fate she would now have to face.
Her jaw clenched as the sound of one of the doors to enter the cargo hold sliding open cut through the air. Most of the women flinched at the sound of the heavy footsteps and laughter from the men armored in Exo-skeletons.
The men came up to them and grabbed every single one of the women by the chin, examining each one of them. Some of the girls tried to move away, only to be held in place by the pirates. One of the men approached Marie; this one wasn't wearing any armor or an Exo-skeleton like the others.
He was tall and skinny, not handsome by any standards, but neither was he ugly. The man cupped her chin, an action that pulled at the cuts on Marie's cheek. She pulled her head back and, in a swift motion, bit onto his hand.
"Ahhhh," the man let out a blood-curdling scream as Marie bit down on his hand. "Get this bitch off me!"
The other men laughed at the skinny man Marie was biting, blood starting to make its way into her mouth from the man's hand. She finally let him go and gave him a defiant smile. The man hopped around, holding his hand between his thighs before turning to Marie and sending a bunch to her face that struck her cheekbones.
"Charles!" A commanding voice cut through the commotion as a man wearing a faded IUC captain's uniform made his way inside the cargo hold. "What do you think you're doing putting hands on the merchandise?"
"But the bitch-"
"Next time I see you lay a hand on the merchandise, I'll cut it off myself." The man approached Marie, took out a handkerchief, and bent down to wipe the blood that was starting to leak from the cut.
But Marie spat at his feet. "I don't want help from a traitorous bastard."
The man tilted his hand and let out a sigh. "Suit yourself, kid, I left the IUC years before you became an itch in your daddy's ballsack." The comment drew snorts from the other men. "I'm just trying to make sure that the merchandise is in good enough shape. Especially one of your caliber."
The Captain stood up and looked at all of the girls, taking his time to quickly inspect each and every single one of them before leading his men out of the cargo hold, almost dragging the skinny man whose name was Charles.
Once they had all left, the girls started speaking amongst themselves. The woman beside Marie let out an audible sigh that was quickly followed by a chuckle. "You're quite the feisty one, aren't you?"
Marie's face slowly shifted from the scowl she'd held to a soft smile as she looked over at the woman beside her. "Yeah, I didn't want that disgusting bastard laying a hand on me. Plus, that captain was a traitor. Still wearing the IUC colors while being a pirate."
The woman chuckled again. "Yeah, guess you're right on that one. Good, at least we won't be used as fuck toys by the pirates. Bad news is that we'll still be fuck toys, but for someone with deep enough pockets. The names Esther, by the way. What's yours?"
"Marie Anne, but I just go by Marie, with an I E," Marie responded.
The woman nodded before speaking. "I'll keep that in mind, Marie with an I and an e," Esther stopped before the two started to chuckle. "Well, it's rather nice to meet you, young lady, though I wish it had been while we were still aboard the Horizon."
Marie smiled at Esther as she spoke, "Yeah, that would've been nice."
---
Only a handful of hours had passed since she had been kidnapped when suddenly the thrum and slight vibration of the engines intensified, meaning that they were travelling at full burn. The women all exchanged stares of understanding, knowing that there was nothing that could be done about their situation now. That they were likely headed towards the pirates' base to then be sold off as sexual slaves to the highest bidders.
Marie had managed to fall asleep when their situation took an unexpected turn. She was shaken awake by a massive jolt in the ship that caused it to drop in speed before a more violent jolt shook the hell out of the ship, its speed further decreasing and continuing to decrease as it started to drift.
The girls all gave each other confused looks, wondering what the hell could be going on outside.
"It's probably one of the IUC fleets. Maybe they picked up our distress calls from the Horizon and came to our aid, finding the pirates and shooting out their engines. That's why we're drifting." One of the women piped up, raising the hopes of the others.
But Marie knew better than to believe that the IUC was coming to help, after all, one of the first things to be taken out was the Horizon's long-range comms. Even if the IUC had somehow gotten their signal, she doubted a fleet would have made it this far this quick and rescued them.
About an hour went by as the women talked to each other, all wondering what was going on outside. They then felt their ship shake as if another ship was latching itself to it. After about five minutes, Marie spotted a drone model cutting through the door that separated the cargo hold from the rest of the ship. The drones looked around at the cargo for a bit before finally turning to spot them.
Marie's heart started to beat faster as she felt the drone focus on her, of all people. After a while of staring at her, the drones, or should it be said, drones, were buzzing all around them, scanning the cargo and marking a few of them.
After about twenty minutes, the soft sound of boots clinking on the floor grew louder and closer before a tall figure who held a long rifle and wore some sort of mixture of black armor with cloth, a red cape to his right, a hood, and what appeared to be red...
"Is that red fur?" Asked Marie as she looked at the figure's arms and neck.