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Chapter 1

They entered through the cargo bay. Lights flashed and illuminated the dark space around Bindi from every direction as the ship's security detail rushed to neutralize the boarding party. The hekiru pinned his massive ears down and pressed his bat-like nose against the cold polymer floor of his terrarium. He covered his matte black eyes with both paws and hid from the violence that took place around him. On either side of his face, just behind his jaw, three antennae flared and tingled. They instinctively sought to taste the air around him for changes and impending danger.

A massive anup guard crouched and pressed his body against the terrarium. The tall canine alien used Bindi's home as cover from the incoming plasma bolts. Dark lenses and a bromine respirator concealed the guard's face. Through the flashes of light, Bindi could see the sweat around the anup's brow and jaw. Several shots discharged from his rifle before a flash of light caught him at the shoulder.

The anup howled piteously as his arm fell away. The rifle clamored to the deck as a smaller attacker rushed forward to the guard's position. Bindi scrambled backward, pressed against the opposite end of his self-contained sulfur environment. The attacker used the butt of his rifle to crack the anup's jaw. A single shot down his maw silenced the anup's cries for good.

Bindi gasped and huddled himself into a ball, his bobtail tucked against his furred body. An armored environmental suit concealed the attacker's body and face but the creature faced Bindi, features hidden by a single long dark visor in its helmet. Bindi froze in terror, able only to quiver as he stared back. The attacker looked away and returned to the fight. Bindi, left in darkness again, averted his eyes from the dead guard.

The sounds of conflict and fighting retreated into the recesses of the ship. Bindi didn't know how long the fighting would take place, or what would happen when it was over. In the darkness, he bristled his short brown fur for warmth. He did his best to sleep, but he couldn't get the soldier's pained howls out of his mind, especially with the body so close.

After a few hours, the soldiers passed back by. Bindi raised his head as one of them grabbed the body of the guard and drug it away to the center of the cargo bay. Bindi scrambled to the wall of his terrarium as they piled it up with the rest of the guards. Bindi recognized a few, though none of the anup ever paid him much mind. They treated him like cargo, though better than the slaves he shared the ship with. Bindi knew some slaves too, but due to the difference in atmospheric needs, his contact with them was limited.

A few weeks ago Bindi's future friend purchased him. The hekiru expected to be on Krakuntec V in another week or two. However, his hopes of a quiet life with a new friend long faded as the soldiers started opening cargo containers.

Bindi growled as they came near his container.

"What is that?" one said to another as they stopped in front of him.

"No clue," the other replied, thick body concealed beneath the armored suit.

The first shined a light through the polymer container. "Hey, speak up, you. Do you understand me?"

Bindi covered his eyes with a paw, sensitive to the direct contact. He didn't respond, but growled louder. His body tensed up as his anger rose. Bindi snarled and gnashed his teeth.

"It's not intelligent," the second one said. "Just cargo. Leave it. That little menace will be someone else's problem. Besides, look."

The soldier indicated a label on the side of the container. "Phwa. Sulfur. Yeah, alright. Someone else can deal with that."

The pair marched off and Bindi's adrenaline faded, replaced by the previous fear.

Silence reigned across the cargo bay. In the dim light, the hekiru pivoted his ears and listened. Most of the soldiers had returned to their own vessel, but some remained on board as the slave transport changed courses. Bindi lowered his ears and curled up beneath them, resigned to wait until the ship reached its new destination.

Chapter 2

A jolt jerked Bindi awake. The floor felt different, as though gravity shifted somehow. He felt heavier. The tiny mammal stood upright and moved to the clear polymer walls of his terrarium to gaze out. His ear twitched and pivoted.

Movement. Bustle. Marching, he thought. We're here. Wherever here is.

From above, an alarm blared to life. It screeched its warning as the cargo bay door to his left lowered, slow and steady. His attention went back to the right, the sounds boots and paws drew closer. Bind placed his paws against the polymer as the soldiers marched the slaves past him and out through the bay doors.

Soon, new aliens flooded into the cargo hold and loaded up everything they could find. Bindi growled and threatened as several soldiers hoisted his terrarium on to a cart. The hekiru lost his balance and tumbled to the floor with a dull thud. The impact set off his temper again. Bindi scratched and beat against the polymer keeping him contained. He imagined what it would feel like to get his claws on his tormentors.

"Hey, calm down! What the hell are you, anyway?" one of the soldiers asked and angled it's face away.

"I'm gonna rip your face off!" Bindi rapidly signed before launching another fruitless attack.

As he emerged down the cargo ramp and into a hangar bay, he continued scrabbling and growling. He dashed from one side of his terrarium to the other, despite the cramped space.

"What is that?" a voice called from across the hangar.

"We don't know, but it's angry. It won't tell us," a soldier called back.

A moment passed, "Take that little beast to the individual processing unit."

The soldiers pushed him along again. Out from the hangar bay, through a passageway, and on to a lift. Bindi maintained his display, calling on whatever energy reserves he had. The soldiers largely ignored him, but that didn't stop him from pressing his purple tongue and gums against the polymer near their faces to show off his teeth.

They pushed him into a room and stood back as an old geroo approached the terrarium. Bindi lowered the intensity of his antics, panting. This geroo represented the first creature he could recognize since the anup guards had been killed.

"Well, look at that," the old geroo said.

"We have been. What are we looking at?" A soldier replied as he removed his helmet.

Ringel, Bindi recognized.

"This is a hekiru. Must have come from the farms on Krakuntec III," the old geroo mused.

"Is it intelligent?" the ringel asked.

"Oh, yes. They can be very intelligent," the old geroo said, making notes on his strand. "Especially if it can talk. Can you talk, hekiru?"

Bindi noticed the matching markings on their eyes. What did that mean? Something about the pair didn't feel right. He growled, but nodded.

"Okay then. Talk."

Bindi shook his head, ears pinned back.

"I see. Well Franky, there's nothing I can do with this one yet. It's a sulfur breather and well," the old geroo wiggles his fingers, "I'd rather not lose my fingers, by teeth or by gas. He needs sobering. Too much anger in his head. Did you jostle this beast around on the way here?"

"Yeah, a little. Vicious thing deserved it," Franky responded.

"Take him to the commodore. If the boss thinks he's worth keeping, we will give him his implants after. His eyes, see? Matte black. We have to use special dye for that," the old geroo explained.

"Whatever you say." The ringel slipped his helmet back on.

The cart rumbled along again, weighed down by the terrarium. Bindi caught one more glance of the old geroo as he peered around the ringel soldier before the door to the office space slid shut. He didn't seem so mean. Not like the soldiers.

Bindi's temper ran out of fuel. By the time the soldiers finished carting his terrarium to its destination, he felt exhausted. He sat on the floor of the sealed tank and angrily breathed his sulfuric environment. They opened an airlock and pushed his terrarium through. Bindi got up and growled at them as they retreated from the chamber.

"They say you breathe sulfur," a low, guttural voice grumbled.

Bindi turned his glare away from the airlock for the first time. His eyes fell on meter long teeth as a billow of smoke washed around his enclosure.

The hekiru sprung to his paws and staggered backwards. Commodore Qursak held his chin close to the deck, eyes focused on Bindi.

"Do you?" the commodore inquired.

Bindi signed at the monstrous alien, his panic rising. "Yes yes yes."

The commodore frowned, a cigar hanging from a massive maw. He reached a claw forward and used his talons to pry the aperture to the terrarium away. Bindi dropped to his rear and covered his head with his arms, eyes closed. The massive krakun used a talon to unceremoniously push the terrarium on its side and sent the hekiru sliding into the wall of his tank. Bindi stayed frozen in place.

"Out," the krakun said and jerked his large head to one side.

Bindi scrambled out of the terrarium and up on to his hind legs. He avoided eye contact as he clutched his paws together across his midsection uneasily.

"You understand me. Can you speak?" Qursak asked, voice less patient by the minute.

Bindi sensed the danger and quickly nodded.

"Well?" the krakun muttered, his head leaned forward, eyes squared on the tiny figure.

Bindi opened his mouth and his voice struggled forth. A rasp and a faint squeak escaped through his lips.

The commodore stared at his attempts. "It doesn't matter. You can understand me and you don't need a suit. What was that, some kind of signed language?"

Bindi nodded. His paws and armed waved a few gestures. Qursak breathed a krakun's lungs worth of cigar smoke down around the hekiru. "Since you can't tell me your name, I'm just going to call you 'Squall'."

Bindi coughed and sputtered. He now waved his paws around in hopes of spreading the smoke away from him.

The commodore chuckled in his deep voice. "I've not learned a new language in so long. Show me some signs, Squall."

Bindi took a deep breath. The little creature's shoulders drooped slightly as he relaxed and adjusted to the fact he didn't have to live inside a terrarium anymore. The hekiru nodded and began going over basic signs. The learning took time, as each sign had to be overemphasized and its meaning conveyed through pictures or text.

Chapter 3

A week later, Bindi explored his new hammock. The commodore ordered a few posts installed to protrude from the bulkhead, nine meters from the deck so "I don't have to lean down every time I want to address you." the commodore said. Also, "So you can't lay around or sleep without my allowing it." The hammock's spacious length provided more than enough room for Bindi to stretch out in. The edges rose with his weight and blocked some visibility from the rest of the space.

"I don't share my quarters lightly, Squall. You will be on your best behavior at all times," the commodore told him.

Bindi nodded and signed, "Yes."

"You're probably the luckiest pirate in The Hive. As the only other sulfur breather on this station, I can't afford to create another space specifically for you. I don't think I can properly convey how much I considered sending you to the kitchens to be butchered."

An uneasy grip tightened in Bindi's chest and stomach. Was that a possibility? Was it commonplace to eat each other in pirate space? If supplies were low, surely, but casually as Qursak suggested? His ears pinned down as he listened to the commodore continue.

Qursak grinned at the hekiru's discomfort. "Every member of the crew must be worth their weight. Whether that is in meat or in income is always to be decided." The commodore chuckled and his scales rippled along his monstrous face. "Anyway, time to come down, Squall. I am expecting company."

The commodore received few visitors. Bad news usually prompted any interaction with the other crew members of The Hive. Aggravation dominated the krakun's spirits more than any other emotion during these encounters.

Qursak raised a claw to the side of Bindi's hammock and the hekiru scrambled into it. The krakun brought him to the deck and let him clamber off before sinking to his haunches and sitting up at his full height. Bindi looked over his shoulder at the krakun's grinning expression before he bounded off toward the airlock.

A speaker nestled in the bulkhead squawked, "Captain Skididdi, reporting as directed, sir."

Bindi glanced back to Qursak, who nodded. He pressed a button and a buzz signaled the locking mechanism disengaged. As the airlock cycled, Bindi took a few steps back. A creature emerged, wearing an environmental suit and clasping his paws close to his body. As he made his way towards the center of the room, Qursak grinned wide.

"Skididdi, I feel like we haven't spoken in a while," he said.

"Uh... No, sir...W-we haven't." Bindi could see the creature quiver as it spoke.

"You must be very busy."

"Very b-busy, sir. About to go on a run in a few hours actually," Skididdi replied.

"Oh? You are hard at work reducing your debt, aren't you?" Qursak lowered himself down to his elbows to bring his face in close.

"Yes, sir. My mate and I both. It's uh...almost paid off, really."

"Really?"

"Yes?"

"Show me your transaction history, Skididdi."

The creature shook more now. He reached for the communicator tucked into a holster on the arm of the suit. Skididdi fumbled with the device as he initiated the debt tracking application.

"Take your time, Skididdi. I have lifetimes to wait for you."

The pirate held the device up for Qursak to see. The krakun squinted his eyes at the tiny screen. "Oh, that's no good. Here, I think we should display this on a proper screen." The krakun fetched his own device from his large black cloak and fiddled with it. "Alright that should do it. Now share your screen. Quickly now. Yes, that button there. You really should see medical about those tremors, Skididdi. It's a wonder you can pilot a ship at all. Alright, the pin is 894652. Annnd... there we are!"

The screen mounted into Qursak's bulkhead flicked on and mirrored the image on Skididdi's communicator.

"Now, we are just going to do some routine financial counseling. Did I ever tell you I used to be an accountant? It's true. I haven't always been a fearsome pirate overlord. No, at one point I just sat around and crunched numbers. I had to make sure every gold was exactly where it should be." The Krakun winked at the pirate. "I was very good at my job."

"Sir, I-"

"No! Say no more, dear Skididdi," Qursak said, his voice shifted to a growl. "Let me just bill you for this service so we can get started."

Qursak manipulated his communicator with a talon, eyes on the screen. His device beeped and Qursak looked down at it and then up at the Skididdi's transaction history. He tried to charge the pirate again. The large screen didn't change.

"That's strange, isn't it Skididdi?"

"Commodore, I-I swear-"

"I wonder. Now that I look at it, you were charged for last month's berthing, but this month... No charge. And yesterday's dinner is there, but where is breakfast? Did you only eat once yesterday?"

Bindi's fur stood on end as the krakun's body stiffened with rising anger.

"Answer me!" Qursak roared.

Skididdi fell to his knees and clasped his paws together in front of him. He kept his eyes on the deck. "There must be a mistake! Some kind of error in the network!"

"Everyone pays their fair share, Skididdi. That's how we keep this base operational. You're a cheat and a thief!"

"I swear it, sir. I don't know what's going on! Please!" Skididdi begged.

"Captain, does your mate know about this?"

"No! I swear, she's innocent! She doesn't know anything."

"Now that is an interesting lie. Far more interesting than your previous lies. How do you think I found out, Skididdi?" Qursak said, a hint of a purr in his teasing.

Skididdi looked up from the deck as his paws fell into his lap. "Saheerza..."

"Saheerza. Well, Captain Saheerza now. Turns out she just earned herself a ship and a position just opened up."

"Commodore, you can charge me double! You can charge me whatever you want. Let me make it up to you. I bring in plenty of golds. I'll make extra runs, whatever I have to do. I'm sorry!" Skididdi begged.

"I'm feeling generous." Qursak said. He leaned forward. Skididdi tried to run, but the krakun scooped him up in a claw and casually tossed him twenty meters into the air and against the bulkhead.

The pirate bounced off the wall and then plummeted. Bindi turned his face away as the creature met the deck with a sick thud. His paws covered his ears as an instinctual panic rose within him.

"Squall, drag this mess out into the passageway. You are to wait half an hour before you call medical. If he survives, his medical bill is double," Qursak called to him. "Ensure that Quartermaster knows Skididdi is never to leave The Hive again."

Bindi uncovered his ears. His eyes fell on the twisted pile of environmental suit. Bindi grabbed his respirator from the bulkhead. It served as his sulfur supply, fed by tanks of air on each of his thighs. Reluctantly, he approached the fallen pirate.

As he stood over the creature, the shocked and pained face of a ringel stared up at him through a shattered visor as it struggled to breathe.

"Quickly now, Squall. Ringel can't breathe sulfur," Qursak warned, now distracted as he toyed with his communicator. "You're dismissed for the evening."

Bindi lowered his ears. His wide black eyes stared into the ringel's, brows arched in apology. He grabbed the sleeve of the ringel's suit and began jerking and dragging Skididdi. Each effort drew a cry or sob from the broken creature.

Bindi worked as hard as he could. It took all of his strength to get Skididdi through the airlock and out into the passageway. He dropped the sleeve and stumbled away from the injured crew member. The hekiru leaned against the bulkhead and panted in his respirator.

"Please..." Skididdi began, but a fit of coughs cut him off. Each cough caused him to squeak in pain. Speckles of blood littered his visor.

Bindi looked at the radio in the bulkhead. He couldn't speak to use it. How was he supposed to contact medical? Where even was medical? Sympathy brought tears to his eyes. Even if he did know how to get help, he dared not disobey the commodore. Bindi sunk to his knees next to the downed pirate.

Fifteen minutes passed before Skididdi's sobbing grew quiet. Bindi stayed by his side as his breathing grew more ragged. The ringel quivered and twitched as his instincts fought to keep him conscious. His teeth chattered and his eyes fixated to the rafters above them. Then Skididdi gave a final sigh and didn't move again.