Again we dodged as the ship chasing us tried to hit us with a full barrage. And yet again we lost shield charge, unable to avoid all of them and the debris all around.We'd been forced further and further up into the field of parts and were suffering the effects."Go right," I called, seeing them trying to push us the other way, several shots only just going past us.As Icaan turned, I fired. The plasma caught them before they could do anything else, but they kept coming as we'd lost speed while I'd shot and not been helping reroute power around the ship."We can't do this," Icaan said, only eighteen percent left in the shields.""Go down and get me whatever shots you can," I replied. Our current tactics weren't working. There was only one alternative. to shoot at

 I'd wanted to avoid Icaan for the rest of the day, but alarm bells started blaring within minutes of me finishing my breakfast and I soon found myself rushing to the cockpit regardless. If there was trouble then I wanted to help even if I didn't like Icaan right now.Icaan was already there, a blanket to one side of the small room showing that he'd slept in there overnight. I felt a pang of guilt that he'd felt like he couldn't return to his bedroom, but it was fleeting."What's happening?" I asked when Icaan appeared to be calm but the radar continued to show that there were nearby ships."We've found a Frentin patrol around the inner section of occupied space," he replied. "That's all.""So why all the alarms?" I asked, not sure I believed the calm I was seeing when every other beep or noise the s

 "We should hurry," Icaan said as he climbed up the nearest set of steps and pulled me along with him. "We need to get all of the trades done before the end of the day ideally."I considered demanding to know who he was going to sell everything to and where we were going as well as sentimental thoughts about if it would be prepared, but he'd promised me that he'd see it into safe hands as well as he could, even trying to get whoever bought me to buy my ship as well. Neither of us mentioned how unlikely we thought that would be.As we neared the end of our set of docking bays I noticed there was an area where cargo could be placed and then fed into a sort of machine. Icaan placed his crates there and scanned something in his hand. A moment later it assigned the contents of an unmarked metal box to him and it was held on the end of something a bit like a conveyor belt.

 I tried not to fidget as I sat down on the chair beside Icaan and watched as the two Frentin entered my details into some sort of slave database. I was interviewed briefly about my capabilities and I did my best to provide them with useful information as if I was eager to find a buyer who appreciated me.Mostly I focused on every detail Icaan had told me about what people might be looking for, but I also made a point about being a good mechanic and pilot. If nothing else it meant there was a chance someone would come along who wanted me for what I could do rather than how good I was to screw."I must admit," the guy said as he sat back, "this one is a lot calmer than they normally are. And not as unraveled by being close to us.""No, Jet has a better understanding of her situation and she seems to be able to resist the more subtle eff

 Simbir looked me over suddenly not looking so bored and came closer. I held still, knowing this was going to impact how much I was trusted. He'd told me that some hormones had little to no effect, so I just had to pretend that was happening with him, even if it wasn't.Slowly, the Frentin male came closer, reaching to put his hands around my waist. I didn't hide all of my nervousness, but I kept cooperative. Somehow I simply had to resist but appear willing to try.Before he could do more than pull me close and try to encourage me to lean into him and inhale, there was the sound of something clattering in one of the rooms. Immediately the woman in there let out a frustrated yell and more bangs and shouts followed."It seems we'll need to come back to this," he said as he pulled away."What's wrong?"