Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Ronan sprinted after Tyrell, making it to the door of the Greenroom at the same time as he and his men. Tyrell grabbed the handle of the door and pulled, only to stagger backwards, cursing when the door didn’t open.

“It’s locked.” Tyrell rumbled in anger.

“No, it can’t be. I sent the unlock codes to both sets of doors when I saw there was trouble on the monitor,” Zach said, shaking his head as he tugged ineffectually at the closed door.

“Get out of my way,” Ronan growled, stepping forward to grab the door handle with both hands. He gave it a quick tug and when nothing happened, he lifted his left foot to brace against the door frame and, with a guttural roar, pulled with all his might. The metal door held for a second, and then with a loud twang, it gave, the door ripping off the hinges. Ronan staggered at the unexpected movement and then heaved the door aside as if it weighed nothing. It crashed against the corridor wall with a loud bang, and then he and Tyrell were through the door together, followed by Zach and the other guards.

Ronan felt his hearts still for a moment as he took in the scene before him. Cahir was covered in blood, lying with his back against the left wall, cursing and defiantly swinging his fists at three blue-skinned males who were beating him with what looked like pieces of chairs. Lars was lying face down, half on and half off the stage, while Overseer Cheng also bloody, and obviously beaten, was bound with what appeared to be his whip to the rail of the stage stairs while a blue skinned male was punching him. Then he saw Lilly she was half naked and thrown over the right shoulder of a muscular blue male, dressed in a black uniform.

Lilly was struggling against her captor, she smashed an elbow against the side of his neck, making him roar in pain and then throw her to the floor.

Ronan saw Lilly, fall and his vision went red with a roar; he launched himself at the male, hitting him mid-chest with his right shoulder with enough force to send them both reeling backwards. The male landed hard with Ronan on top of him, Ronan, straddling the male’s chest, began to smash his fists repeatedly into the male’s face.

The male cursing and hissing smashed Ronan in the face, then tried to grab him about the neck, only to be thwarted by the shock collar. Ronan was oblivious to everything but the overwhelming desire to kill the male beneath him who had been hurting Lilly; he didn’t feel the punches the male was raining on his sides and face, didn’t care that he’d now beaten the male’s face bloody, nothing mattered but making him suffer.

Ronan was dimly aware of someone calling his name over and over, and hands on him trying to pull him off the male. He shrugged them off with a growl, and then he felt a jolt of pain as his collar discharged. Ronan fell backwards onto the floor, his fingers about the collar, and looked up at Tyrell.

“Easy, Ronan, easy. I’m sorry I had to shock you, but you were out of control. I could not let you kill him even if he deserved it.” Tyrell looked up and fired the neutralizer he was holding. Two charged metal needles flew from the gun, hitting a blue-skinned male nearby who had punched Zach in the face and was kicking him. The male froze in his tracks as he was hit with a jolt of electricity, and then he dropped to the floor face-first. “Lilly needs you. She has been injured, I have already called for Arnal.”

Ronan rolled onto his stomach and crawled to Lilly’s side as he fought off the last effects of the shock, feeling only then pain in his ribs and face. Lilly was face down, her hair covering her like a bright blanket, her arms above her. Ronan scanned her quickly, seeing dark bruises on her pale arms, and with the utmost gentleness rolled her onto her back.

Ronan felt his stomach clench at the sight of her small face, it was covered in bruises that were darkening as he watched, as well as several long, thick red welts. Her left cheek bore a bleeding cut, and her lower lip was split and bleeding. There were other bruises on her neck, chest, and ribs, evidence of how badly she had been beaten.

“Lilly, Lilly, can you hear me?” Ronan shook Lilly, becoming anxious when Lilly didn’t rouse at his question. He was reaching for her neck to check her pulse when Arnal appeared beside him.

“Don’t touch her till I check her over.” Arnal ran his hand scanner over Lilly, making low grunts as he did. He sat back on his heels when he was done and shook his head.

“It’s bad, she has several broken ribs, her right wrist is broken, as is her jaw. We shall need a stretcher to move her.” Arnal shook his head as he activated his wrist unit and demanded someone bring him a stretcher. “Keep her warm and don’t move her while I check the others.”

Ronan’s rage flared as did his feeling of helplessness; his tiny mate had been harmed, and there was nothing he could do. He was a prince, the commander of an armada, but till he left this dust ball, he was powerless. Ronan quickly pulled off his shirt, using it to cover Lilly, only then sparing a glance around him, taking in the extent of the damage and the carnage.

Seats were broken, many apparently ripped from their moorings and used as weapons. Even the front of the stage was damaged bearing, a foot-wide hole that looked like someone’s head had gone through it. It would take several days and many credits to repair the damage done to the small theatre. Roland watched as Arnal finished running his scanner over Cahir; he rose to give Roland a nod. “He will live; he has a few broken ribs, a bruised lung, and a broken nose.”

Tyrell moved from limp body to limp body, frowning and giving orders, when he stopped beside the muscular alien who had been carrying Lilly, he mumbled a curse as he bent to pull something from the male’s belt before pulling a length of wire restraints from his pocket.

“This one is the leader; he somehow got a shocker in here.” Tyrell rolled the Captain onto his stomach, then yanked his hands behind him and bound them behind his back with the restraints. “Master Perrion will not be pleased when he learns of this.”

Tyrell stepped over the unconscious alien to kneel beside Ronan. “My men shall be here in a moment with stretchers, Arnal shall have Lilly and Cahir fixed up in no time, and I will be sure that one pays for what he did.”

“Thank you, but your words bring me little comfort. Lilly was harmed when she should have been safe.” Ronan snarled. He wanted to break something, anything to burn off the rage he felt.

“I share your rage, don’t worry, they shall pay,” Tyrell replied, standing as eight guards appeared in the room carrying three stretchers with them.

Arnal stepped up to the guards. “Take her first, but be careful, she has many broken bones. Then take Cahir, Lars, and lastly Overseer Cheng. His injuries are not as extensive as the others.”

Arnal stepped around Roland and Lilly as two of the guards laid a stretcher beside Lilly. Arnal eased his hands under Lilly’s shoulders. “Roland, slip your hands under her waist. Victor, take her feet on three, move her to the stretcher. One, two, three.” As one, they eased Lilly onto the stretcher.

“Go with her, Roland. I shall Master Perrion what happened, be prepared to be summoned to his chamber. He will need to speak to you about what happened.” Tyrell said as his men moved past him to lift Cahir onto another stretcher.

“What of him, of all of them?” Roland waved his right hand about the room, taking in the unconscious blue men and their leader.

“They shall all be placed in the detention cells downstairs. I haven’t had a need for them in some time, it will be a pleasure to have them used again. And as for him.” Tyrell used his right foot to push at the limp blue leader. “Well, neither he nor his men will be going anywhere till he settles his debts. Now go see Lilly.”

* * * *

Roland hadn’t wanted to leave Lilly’s side in the med center when he’d been summoned to Master Perrion’s office, but she had regained consciousness, and Arnal had promised she would be fine. Roland, also wanted the blue male to pay for what he’d done and to hear why he’d thought he could simply take Lilly from the dome like a piece of furniture he’d desired.

It had taken all the self-control Roland could master to not attack the blue male when he’d seen him standing before Perrion’s desk with his hands bound behind him. Roland, his teeth clenched approached Perrion’s desk and stood to the left of Tyrell, putting Tyrell between him and the male lest he give in to his baser urges and rip off the male’s head.

“Ah, Roland, I understand from Arnal that Lilly will recover, but it will take several days. How badly was she hurt?” Perrion demanded his dark beady eyes boring into Ronan.

Roland frowned, wondering why Perrion was asking him. He shifted his gaze from Perrion to a very nervous-looking Laoni and back again. “She sustained six broken ribs, her right wrist was broken in two places, and her jaw was fractured. The bio-bed has done what it can to heal her, but she will need several days of rest before she is allowed up and at least seven days before she is allowed to perform even light duty.”

“Yes, Arnal said as much, I understand that both Cahir and Lars also sustained extensive injuries, as did Overseer Cheng,” Perrion said, fixing the blue male before him with a withering look.

“They did, Cahir will be out for at least a day, and Lars will be out for at least five days. The bio bed is not properly calibrated for Hyperions, and it did what it could to help him. Arnal said that with enough credits, he could buy an upgrade from one of the traders at the spaceport, but without the upgrade, Lars will take many days to heal.” Roland grated out.

“Is all this necessary? My men and I simply got carried away; if your men hadn’t interfered, none of them would have been harmed.” The blue male said. “And take off these restraints; you have no right to detain me. I am Captain Zardo; I command an Alken Star cruiser. I could blast you all from orbit.”

“I don’t care who you are, you came into my dome and damaged my people, damaged my property. And before you threaten me, you might want to remember that your ship is currently awaiting refueling and resupplying even as we speak.” Perrion snarled, smashing his fists atop his desk with enough force that the desk shook. “You dare threaten me, and you will earn the wrath of every other dome and pleasure center on this planet, as well as the owner of the spaceport. Your men have already been detained at three other domes for assaulting females and attempting to forcibly remove them without consent. In addition, the owner of the spaceport has told me that the containers of gold you left against your debts are empty, he inspected the containers, and only one holds gold; the rest simply contain petty colored rocks. Now, if you ever want to leave this planet, you will watch your tongue and answer me. Once your debts with me have been settled, the Captain of my guards shall take you to the spaceport, where you shall have to settle your other debts. Only then will you be taken to the other domes where your men are being held.”

“You have no right, you scaly freak. I will blast you all to cinders.” Zardo barked.

“Scaly freak am I?” Perrion hissed. “It might interest you to know my cousin Deshi owns the spaceport and his men have taken custody of your shuttle, and my cousin Haru owns and operates the orbiting platform where your ship is docked and has the power to cripple it if you don’t pay your debts. Did you think you could simply come to our world and do as you like?”

Roland had never seen Perrion so angry; he also filed away the information Perrion had revealed for future use. Captain Zardo mumbled something Roland’s translators couldn’t translate and spat on the floor before the desk.

“Fine what shall it take for my freedom and that of my men?” Zardo snarled.

“You must settle all your debts. Laoni what is his tab?” Perrion turned to the nervous-looking Laoni, who held up the tablet he was holding.

“It is rather high; it is six hundred thousand credits just from our dome alone. I have the figures from the others and the spaceport in total. He owes four million for damages, food, water, fuel, as well as fines for assault on slaves.” Laoni replied.

“That is outrageous, I won’t pay.” Zardo bellowed, lunging towards Laoni, only to be jerked backwards by Tyrell.

“If you want to leave with your men, you shall; we can always use new slaves in the mines or the fighting pits. Laoni, why don’t you begin listing the fees, and perhaps Captain Zardo shall see reason.” Perrion hissed.

“Of course, six hundred credits for food and drink, one thousand credits for a private dance performance for he and his men, seven hundred for female companionship by his men, two thousand for damages to the performance hall, three thousand for damages to Cahir, three thousand for future loss of income from Cahir, three thousand for injuries to overseer Cheng, four thousand for damages to lars, two thousand for loss of income from Lars, five thousand for injuries to Lilly, twelve thousand for loss of her income, then there is an additional five thousand credits to be rewarded to Prime Roland for damage to his property, then there are the following damages for medical expenses to the guards his men injured.” Laoni paused to look up from his tablet.

“Enough, enough, what will you take in compensation?” Zardo snapped.

“Haru has informed me that there is a second shuttle on board your ship, as well as twenty containers of blue gems. I shall take the shuttle and all the containers of gems. Once they are in my possession, I shall settle your debts with the other owners, and your men will be set free. Once they are onboard your shuttle, only then will I free you.” Perrion replied, sitting back in his chair.

“You’re mad, I won’t do it.” Zardo snapped.

“Then you and your men shall enjoy the hospitality of the mines,” Perrion replied. “I hope you don’t mind the heat, the suns can be very brutal there in the open pits.”

“No, fine, but I want the female Lilly as well,” Zardo said jerking free of Tyrrell’s grip.

“No.” Roland bellowed. There was no way he would let anyone have his mate.

“Quiet, Roland.” Perrion held up his hand, stilling Roland, then fixed Zardo with a glare.

“The female is not for sale, and you damaged her badly, in fact, I have asked Haru to strip your med bays of anything that might be useful in mending her and my workers,” Perrion replied.

“I want the female; I am willing to pay extra for her,” Zardo said.

“She does not belong to me but to Roland, and he will not part with her.” Perrion looked at Roland, who nodded. “He is rather fond of her, and she makes Roland and I many credits. Now, if we have an agreement, I will have Tyrell take you to a communications station so you can instruct your men still on your ship to cooperate fully with the removal of the shuttle.”

“Fine, I agree for now, but I will be back for the female.” Zardo gave Perrion a scathing look. “Take me to your communicator.”

“With pleasure.” Tyrell grabbed Zardo by the wire restraints and pulled him none too gently from Perrion’s office.

“Normally, I would advise an owner to sell a slave when he is made a substantial offer, but in the case of Lilly, I agree that Captain Zardo should never come near her again.” Perrion gave Roland a dismissive wave. “Go back to the med bay. When the supplies from his ship arrive, I will see that they are delivered directly to Arnal.”

“Thank you, master.” Roland forced out a polite reply. Perhaps when his fleet came to rescue him, he’d let Perrion live after all.

“Yes, yes, and Roland, I don’t think this is the last we shall see of Captain Zardo. I scanned the security footage before you arrived. He seems unusually taken with Lilly. When she performs again, I will be sure you are present,” Perrion said.

“It was my understanding that she was never to perform unless I was present,” Roland replied evenly, and saw Laoni take a nervous step back from the desk.

“Yes, that was my understanding too; I will discuss with Laoni why you were not present this last time. Now go,” Perrion said.

Roland glanced at Laoni again and saw something in the lizard man’s eyes that chilled him; the man hated Roland, it was there in his gaze, but why? What had he done to Laoni? Roland gave a nod to Perrion and hurried from his office. He would worry about that later, for now, all that mattered was Lilly.