Riku Ogawa had never been in a graver situation in her lifetime. Far from home on the planet Navina, she looked up at the two moons floating above her and prayed to whatever deity that may exist that she would get out of here safe. Unfortunately for Riku, the deities were probably not listening. She knelt on the hard ground, in a fine silk dress that was now dirtied, along with long white leather gloves and white leather knee high boots. The merchant knew her outfit was getting dirtied up and it outraged her, but her rage could not really be directed at anyone and she knew that she had larger problems at hand.

Her arms were currently pulled behind her and secured at the wrists and elbows with thin rope, wrenching her arms back and creating a painful ache in her arms and shoulders. The pirates or bandits that had attacked their convoy as they moved through the night were currently going down the line of a half dozen women and binding their arms behind them. Riku looked mournfully at her assistants and trading partners as they were secured, unable to use their arms and discouraged from rising by the energy rifles carried by the men that stood guard in front of them.

Gags were next. Using a box of fine silk scarves that had been found in the cargo, a bandit walked down the line, stuffing each girl’s mouth with one scarf and pulling a second one between her teeth and tying it off behind her head. Riku stared straight ahead as she was gagged, trying to not give her captors the pleasure of any whimpers or pleading as the silk bundle was secured in her mouth. Beside her, one of her assistants began to sob behind her gag, earning a slap across the face for making noise.

Riku stewed silently. Someone had sold out their convoy. Under the cover of darkness, they had been making a covert goods run across the continent with a quartet of speeders and ships. It should’ve been a quick delivery job that Riku was personally overseeing so that the goods would be available to a critical vendor by the morning. Instead, not even a third of the way to their destination, they had been attacked by a bandit group and quickly surrounded. The two escorts that were sent with them were quickly destroyed and the rest of the convoy surrendered soon after.

With all ships on the ground, everyone had been led outside. The six women had been led to a spot beside one of the bandit’s ugly speeders, painted all kinds of bright colours and with threatening images. The eight men had been taken away over the hill at gunpoint, and the girls had no idea what had happened to them until they heard a flurry of energy blasts followed by dull thuds. Riku’s facade broke at that moment. As the bandits returned over the hill with their energy rifles still smoking, she realized that the men had been taken to a shallow grave and executed. Which meant these were far more ruthless bandits than she had thought, and the fact that they had been kept alive meant their fate was most likely to be sold on the black market as slaves.

Most of the other girls, also putting the clues together, began to sob behind their gags but it did not invite mercy from any of the men. Instead, cargo straps torn off their ships were brought over and wrapped around their waist to pin their arms against their backs before being ratched tight enough that Riku felt like she was wearing a corset. Her breath came out in a huff as it was pulled tight, causing her to struggle to regain the lost air through her nose. Distracted, she didn’t see the men bringing over metal collars to lock around their newly captured slaves’ necks until one stopped right in front of Riku with the two halves. She looked up, her eyes finally showing fear to the dirty man who grinned at her before snapping the two halves shut around her neck.

The six girls were then leashed into a line, whimpers and moans arising from them as they were led around to the back of the speeder, where the ramp was lowered to reveal a large cage. One girl panicked and yanked on the coffle, dragging some of the girls with her as she tried to run but was swiftly shocked into unconsciousness. “Careful, don’t damage the goods.” One of the bandits grunted as Yuri was detached from the coffle and carried into the cage. Once inside, more rope bound her booted ankles before a short piece of rope brought her feet to her hands and she was secured in a hogtie.

The process was repeated with each of the girls until Riku was the last one remaining. “In you go slave.” One of the men grunted.

Slave. She was anything but. Daughter of a merchant. Proud owner of her own trading company now. Riku was anything but a slave, but the ropes and collar now deemed otherwise. When she didn’t move, she was shoved forward until she fell to her knees inside of the cage. Her booted ankles were quickly crossed and rope together, before she was forced onto her stomach and hogtied like her companions. The door to the cage was then slammed shut and padlocked, securing the six women inside. The only sounds now were the quiet moans of fear and squeaking of leather boots as they tested their new bonds and found the situation hopeless.

Looking up through the bars of the top of the cage, Riku could see the two moons above her, unblinking, and seemingly unforgiving of the grave situation that she now found herself in. She cursed at them through her gag as the speeder lurched into motion and the girls were thrown around as they were carried off to the market.