Charter

Spaceport security was such a trivial matter when you were rich and connected, but it was still stressful, especially when Primath expected to see his brothers lumbering in at any moment. Despite their family name, the Claw had taken over all planetary ports of entry and they did not fuck around with people who caused ruckuses.

Starting a brawl would be a good way to get blackbagged and their father would not be there to help them.

Primath’s ear caught the snapping of latex gloves on the other side of the checkpoint, so it was much to Primath’s relief that he cleared security with only a basic patdown by the Sirian agent and not anything more serious.

A quick jog down the terminal and into an empty row of seats on the space elevator, Primath could finally sit back and relax.

Take that, you jumped-up Morale Corps Officer!

There was no elevator.

No spaceport.

There was a living room.

Backyard?

Grotto?

They were all there, the whole family. Even the slaves, at least everyone’s childhood friend slave: Uloth had Snow, even Quroth’s Ilayo…

Dad never gave me one…

“A good old soldier, just like your old man?”

Dad.

“If only your brothers had the same ambition.”

“There’s always the Morale Corps for them.

Uloth.

Laughter, cruel, piercing laughter. It shook through the void like sheer bursts of negative energy.

Parade Officer, Primath thought, the elevator returning into reality. Yes, Parade Officer.

Regulus Prime was glowing beneath him, the yellow plains bathed blue from the sun, along with the glittering of sprawling cities.

Primath could only enjoy the view for a brief moment before the elevator locked with a rumble and a voice announced that all passengers were to board the private Canis Charter craft immediately.

Picking himself up, Primath confidently strode out of the elevator and into the hallway leading to the airlock. It was a private flight, so naturally he expected no troublemakers.

He was wrong.

The moment he stepped into the small craft, nodded politely at the slim, white Lupiad slave; he saw trouble.

Him.

Uloth was waiting, sitting on the edge of one of four passenger berths, still wearing his tan uniform with his back up straight, waiting for inspection from an unseen superior.

The Colonel’s eyes peered over at Primath, a tinge of smug glory quaking through their topaz pools.

“What…are you doing here, brother?” Primath asked, clenching his fist behind his back and flicking his tail.

“Look, as far as I’m concerned,” Uloth stood up and saluted, pounding his heart. “We’re even. You nailed me against the wall, I nailed your limo. We’re both here now, all fine and-”

“Limo? What the…” Primath licked his lips, “...you hit a limo?”

“Was…” it was now Uloth’s turn to lick his lips nervously, “...that not yours?”

“No.”

“Must have been Quroth…”

“Did you even check to see if it was a company limo?”

“Yes,” Uloth held his tail stiff behind his back, “yes, that must have been Quroth’s. Well, I think we can agree it’s for the best if he’s not with us on this trip.”

For once, Primath concurred with his brother.

“What do you think he’s on?” Primath stepped past his brother and into a small lounge area, sitting down on a plastic, black swivel chair. A thick airlock was against the wall, announcing itself as leading to both an emergency shuttle and the landing craft. “He took a trip to Earth recently, you know all the shit humans have to take to bear living in the Empire? Meth, crack, heroin…fuck, if it were only catnip, that wouldn’t be so bad.”

Uloth was still standing, his arms now crossed behind his back.

“It’s not the Empire’s fault they abuse drugs.”

“Come on…” Primath smoothed out a wrinkle on his pink suit, “...we ruined their lives, set them up to fail, and then we sell them everything they need to escape from it. And then when they can’t afford it, we offer them to sell themselves? We’re the abusers here, plain and simple.”

“Slavery is an honest role in society. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“So go and be one then?”

A tiny voice called out.

“Good sirs, is there a problem?”

The Lupiad slave attendant was there, her blue suit clung to her slim body like latex.

“No, not at all, sorry,” Primath waved her away before adding. “But uh…I thought this was a private flight?”

“Canis Charters combines identical charters if received in short notice,” the slave bowed. “I apologize for any inconvenience.”

“Ah, it’s okay, don’t worry.”

The slave turned around, her bushy white tail swaying to the beat of her steps. Uloth leaned forward, sniffing at the air in her wake.

“You smell her? She’s happy where she is,” Uloth took another heavy sniff. “She might go into heat on the flight. A chance to show her Regulian strength and passion?”

“Sit down!” Primath hissed and his brother complied, sitting across from him. Leaning forward, Primath whispered. “After what Aunt Tilath did to that slave on Lupus, we do not need you raping a slave on a flight to our family planet!”

“I never said ra-”

“You don’t have to! There’s a power imbalance here, okay? She’s not going to be able to say no even if she wants to.”

“She could just say no.”

“You don’t-” Primath growled quietly. “You don’t get it, bro, you do that and it gets out, dads out for the count, we’re going to get thrown in a blender by the press. The Claws got its…claws…in the Emperor and they’re looking for any excuse to ruin our family. A rape scandal against a subject species? They’re going to run with that and we do not need that shit right now!”

“You think too much, brother. No one could ever fault a Regulian for mounting a subject.” Uloth waved his paw carelessly. “It’s that foolish claptrap you’re working on, it’s giving you brain fever.”

“It’s a vision,” Primath tapped his claws on the table impatiently. “It’s something different, something the galaxy needs. A breath of fresh air, a hope, a dream of a better world.”

“You say that, but the game is about every species in the galaxy at war?”

“War is just an option but there’s also diplomacy and culture victories.”

“But most players will pick war?”

“A…” Primath paused, “...portion of alpha testers picked war. The game makes it clear that it’s a bad thing.”

“But it’s still a victory option?”

“It’s still a game after all so by game logic, yes, it’s a victory, but it explains why it’s a hollow victory.”

“But still a victory.”

“Look,” Primath rolled his eyes, “I don’t expect you to understand, it’s art.”

“I like art,” Uloth shrugged and smoothed his uniform. “Pretty pictures. This is not art.”

“It’s more than that. Better than just a pretty picture. It’s a statement against prejudice.”

“Why not call the Lupiad back? Ask her what she thinks.”

“By the…no, brother, no,” Primath scratched nervously at his shoulder. “Might as well do what you wanted to do at that point.”

Uloth’s neck stiffened. The soldier was baffled, stunned into momentary silence.

“You think asking her about your game is the same as rape?”

Primath shook his head, “You wouldn’t understand. Coercion of those beneath you, you’re probably used to it in the military, normalized.”

Uloth’s mane bristled and behind his back, he flexed his fists, “You dishonor the military, you dishonor the Empire.”

“I’m not dishonoring anything but…” Primath rolled his eyes, “...we all know the military ain’t exactly egalitarian, right bro?”

“We’ve reformed a lot, more than your little game ever did.”

“What? You mean all Regulians can get a commissioned rank now? All humans and Vulpeculans?”

“Female Regulians…” Uloth frowned, “...I agree they should be allowed to achieve higher rank but…”

“You see? You-”

“Let’s have a look at your employment records.”

Primath leaned back in his chair and blinked slowly.

“What?”

“We have a long voyage, let’s have an audit of your employment records. See who’s really more diverse.”

“Ha, ha…brother we have so many aliens, maybe even ones you never even heard of!”

“And how many are managers?”

“We don’t really believe in ranks, you know? We’re kinda an artistic collective with profit sharing, we’re all equal you know?”

“Except for you who own the company.”

“Okay, you know what?” Primath stood up and puffed up his chest. “Fine! I’ll go talk to the slave and ask her about the game!”

“You’re embarrassing yourself.”

“No!” Primath walked up to his brother and snorted. Primath was half a head shorter than Uloth, not cutting the intimidating figure he fancied. “You told me to go ask her, so I’m gonna fucking do it, okay?”

“Why don’t you just load up the employee records?”

“Because my new assistant doesn’t have access yet!” Primath growled and took off down the narrow hallway towards a door that read Employees Only.

“The things I have to prove! No one ever just takes me at my word in this family!” Primath turned around and motioned for his brother to follow. “Come! Come! Come see what being nice to the under-subjects does to your rep, maybe you’ll learn a thing or two?”

Opening the door, Primath stepped through and entered a small lounge with two couches. Both the white Lupiad slave from before and a red-furred Vulpeculan were huddled around a datapad, cackling with uncontrollable mirth and sharing a pair of ear-buds.

“Hey, what’s happening?” Primath waved and the Lupiad immediately perked up, eyes wide with shock as the Vulpeculan continued laughing. “What’s uh…you watching a funny video or something?”

The moment the Vulpeculan looked up, her face went dead still and the datapad clattered from her paw onto a coffee table. The image on the screen flipped and the audio rang out as the headphone wire popped out.

“Do you even know how many dinners I had to arrange with private investors to get them to approve that? How many parties?”

Primath’s blood went cold as he heard his own voice.

“Can you believe the arrogance?” a human woman complained on the datapad. “Yeah, I spent my childhood in a uranium mine as a slave, but fuck, coulda been worse, coulda been eating sushi off the Emperor’s cock!”

“Ha…” Primath forced a laugh, stepping back to stop his brother from entering. It was too late, Uloth was already at his side, “...ha, that’s…that’s funny…”

“Man, kinda feel sorry for making fun of him. Gotta be the worst t’Osgar, you know? Hate em all but I give em some respect, but not little Primo!” the woman continued snarking. “Every time I hear him rant about his vaporware…you know, I’m kinda glad it’s never coming out, it’ll be the biggest hate-crime in the galaxy!”

“Whoa, uh…that’s funny but…” Primath’s lips were dry. The two slaves eyes and ears were flipping back and forth between him and the datapad, “...it’s actually a very…very anti-racist ga-”

“Did you know every species has traits and flaws?” a softer voice spoke on the datapad.

“Oh my Gooooood!” the woman cried out. “What’re those now? Vulpeculans are sneaky? Equuleians got big cocks? Mm, if he didn’t give us humans a charisma bonus, I’m gonna do a whole episode on him and his goddamn father.”

Father…father…father…

The word rang around Primath’s head, all other noise simply vanished. That is, until the slaves began laughing once more, Primath didn’t even hear the joke, but he could see in their eyes it was about him.

Uloth’s mouth moved. Primath couldn’t hear him. There was only laughter and the void.

Soon dad’s laugh began to echo through the hull, joining Primath as he slowly walked back to his berth alone. Then his siblings…and his aunts and uncles…and the slaves…

All of them were laughing.

Pulling the curtain across his berth didn’t stop them. They joined him in the dark, rattling around like ghosts.

“Liiiiiiiiittle Primoooooooo!”

The host, that awful woman on that datapad; she was there too now. Another voice for the chorus.

They were never going to leave.