Nikoa blinked slowly. His head ached. His vision blurred, and he could barely make out what was in front of him. He groaned, trying to move, but his hands wouldn’t budge. He tried again, trying to move his hands out from behind his back. He tried to move his legs. Nothing. He was tied up again.
Why does this keep happening? he cursed to himself.
The ache in his head began to dissipate, and eventually his vision cleared.
Chains tied both his hands together and his legs to the chair. They wrapped around his chest and torso, keeping him firmly bound to the chair. He could barely move. He tried to move the chair, but found it was fixed to the floor.
He looked up. He was in the bridge of a ship.
A window stretched out in front of him. It wasn’t like the windows in Jin’s ship, the ones that rose far over their heads to the ceiling. This one was shaped like a trapezoid.
Stars shot past as the ship flew in warp space, or as Jin called it, ‘zip mode’. His chair was pushed back as far as it could, keeping him well away from the controls. The lights were on, bathing the bridge in a dim light, with red lights that glowed from highlights around the window, on the edges of the controls, and the two captains chairs, one of which he was bound to.
“Took you long enough. I was starting to hope you wouldn’t wake up at all.”
Nikoa shot a deadly glare at the bounty hunter in the other seat.
He had spun around to face him, surveying him with eyes the color of blood.
Nikoa noticed the bounty hunter’s ears were pierced. He wore two small, gleaming red stones. The bounty hunter drummed his fingers on the gun laid on his lap.
Nikoa held his head high. He didn’t fear him.
“Do you know who you’re working for?” Nikoa asked the bounty hunter, trying to sound disinterested.
“Do you?” The bounty hunter saw right through him. He tilted his head to the side, eyeing him.
The tightness of the chains made it hard to breathe. Nikoa didn’t like being held down. He needed to move. He couldn’t. He couldn’t.
Nikoa sighed and laid his head back. Either one will kill me, the humans or my mentor, so what does it matter? He took long, deep breaths, trying to calm himself.
The bounty hunter narrowed his eyes at him, then spun around in his chair, facing the controls.
The minutes ticked by in silence. Eventually Nikoa decided to break it. “What do you know about Humans?”
The bounty hunter shot him a glare. He looked like he was about to tell him to shut up, but his curiosity got the better of him. “What?”
Nikoa noted the tension in the bounty hunter’s jaw, but continued nonetheless. “What were you taught about them growing up? Did they tell you Humans were righteous Protectors? Or did they tell you they were beasts of war?”
“I’ve heard both.” The bounty hunter said after a moment, clipping the words.
“What do you believe?”
The bounty hunter’s eyes narrowed more. “What are you going on about?”
“What were you told about how they died?” Nikoa went on. “No one really knows, do they? How could they all have just disappeared?”
“Do you have something wrong with your head?” The bounty spun around, facing him again. His red eyes flashed with something akin to rage.
There it is.
YOU ARE READING
The Exterminated
Science Fiction"Follow the story of a team, thrown together by fate, who must use their powers to stop the inevitable. The underground human organization "The Revengeance" wants revenge (obviously), and will do anything to protect earth, even if that means destroy...
