The Adventures of Whirlwind

Warfare in the Thirtieth Century

Episode 2

The Mercenary

Chapter 6 The Ring

“OOOhhh!” What a headache! Aello felt like someone was inside her skull and pounding to get out.

“Relax honey,” said a voice from directly to one side of her. “The pain will pass in a few minutes.”

Aello turned her head slowly to the left to see who was talking. She saw a tall, heavily built, Caucasian. He was sitting on a stool a few feet from her. He was not alone. Directly behind him stood several more men. They all looked pretty tough. She tried to move her arms, but found that she could not. She suddenly realized that she was shackled; probably with the light but strong electronic cuffs widely used by police forces. She had a hint of that as she was tied to someone else. Her arms were stretched behind her back and secured around the waist of someone behind her. Each of her wrists was manacled and joined by a short length of chain. The person whose body was pressed against Aello in turn had her arms pulled behind her and shackled in the same manner as Aello’s. Since Aello could see the chain linking the person’s wrists just under her breasts, she guessed that she was probably manacled in the same way. From the light brown skin color that she could see that she was shackled to Kamna. Just to make doubly sure that neither woman went anywhere, another light strong chain passed over her breasts and under her armpits, pulling the torsos of the two women together. Aello looked the other way and saw Senia and Lina immobilized in exactly the same fashion. To her relief, Aello noticed that she was still clothed as were all of her companions. What their captors intended to do with them was unknown, but Aello found it somewhat reassuring that the helpless mech pilots had not been stripped naked immediately upon capture. Perhaps they would escape the humiliation of sexual assault this time.

She continued her sweep of the room. Carter and Jeff were nowhere in sight. That worried her. Why separate the men and the women? She got her answer sooner than expected.

“We’ve got your boyfriends upstairs,” said the man who had spoken previously. “They’re being questioned. If they cooperate you ladies will be free to go. If not…” The man licked his lips ominously, his eyes fixed on Aello’s breasts.

Aello felt a hollow feeling deep inside her. “Not again,” she thought. “Please, not again!”

The wait seemed interminable, although it probably was no more than a few hours. During that time Aello tested her bonds as did Kamna, but there was no give. She could not get any slack in the chains without pulling them more tightly about her partner and every time Kamna moved the same thing happened to Aello. It was a clever arrangement, making it almost impossible for either woman to slip out of the chains. And since the locks on the manacles were electronic there was no chance of picking them even if they had been able to get a hand free.

With nothing else to do, Aello studied the men who guarded them. For the most part they were an unpleasant-looking bunch. Piracy did not tend to bring out the best characteristics in the human race nor attract those who were inclined toward any of the gentler aspects of human nature. It was the way that the men were studying her and her companions, however that made Aello nervous. There was no doubt from the way each man’s eyes traveled over their bodies as to what they intended to do with them. Aello’s sense of dread increased as every moment passed.

Eventually the long wait ended. A tall, broad-shouldered man entered the room and gave the long waited message. “No dice Max, those two won’t talk. The red-haired one doesn’t know much in any case and the other resisted everything we threw at him, even mind controlling drugs. He’s one tough bastard, but if he’s anything like most mech commanders I have come across he’s got a soft spot for his pilots, especially if they are female, and we’ve got quite a bunch here.”

Max nodded with satisfaction. He was the heavyset man who had spoken earlier. “That’s good news in a way, Captain, I’ve been looking forward to having a go at these babes.”

“I’ll bet you have,” the pirate captain replied. His eyes settled on Aello’s breasts. “A nice looking bunch of tit. I think we ought to get started.”

During this conversation none of the woman had said a thing, but now Senia spoke up. “You sons of bitches. If I could get free I’d kick your sorry asses. Pretty brave bunch tying up a bunch of women. How many of you did that take? A dozen? One on one and you wouldn’t have a fucking chance against any of us.”

The captain grinned. “Well, Blondie. We’re gonna find out just how tough you are. You want one on one, well you’re gonna get it, as many times as you can handle it.”

Aello wasn’t sure what the pirate captain meant by that last remark, but it didn’t sound much as if the man was interested in fair play.

“Untie the Blonde and the Black,” the Captain ordered, “I’m interested in seeing how well they fight.”

A couple of men attended to releasing Senia and Lina. They made sure that neither the tall African nor the willowy blonde got up to any funny business by placing shackles on ankles before removing any of the chains holding their arms. As soon as the chains were removed each woman’s arms were forced behind her back and she was handcuffed with conventional electronic cuffs.

Kamna and Aello were hauled to their feet and then all four women were herded out of the room and down a short corridor to an open elevator. It was hard going for Aello and Kamna since they were bound back to back and had difficulty walking, but they made it. The four women were crowded into the elevator along with four pirates, including the Captain and Max. In the confined space and bound as they were, there was no chance of escape. The elevator opened into a large room that was full of athletic equipment. It seemed to be some sort of fitness center. Aello found the thought of pirates working out to be a strange one. She had always imagined them as drunken thugs, but it seemed that these pirates might be different, as there were about a half dozen men in the room when they arrived. Soon a couple of dozen more men arrived. It was clear that the four women were to be part of some important event. Aello shivered, she could guess what it would be.

She now noticed that in the center of the room was a large ring. She had seen something similar to this before. Although prizefighting was not a part of her culture she was familiar with the concept. She was looking at a boxing or wrestling ring. Since the four women were directed toward the ring, she began to get an inkling of what the Captain had meant when he said that he would see how well Senia could fight.

“This is a little rig I fixed up to entertain our prisoners,” said the Captain. “We get quite a few, both male and female. Let me show you how it works. Going over to the side of the ring he pulled a lever. There was a whirring sound and Aello noticed for the first time that a large transparent dome was suspended over the ring. It was large enough to cover the ring quite easily and anyone who was in it. The dome was slowly descending, suspended from several steel cables.

“What we do,” continued the Captain, “is place the contestants in the ring and then they fight. There is no way out unless we let them out. Sometimes we have those we have captured fight one another. We allow the winner to live. And sometimes one of us enters the ring to see what we can do against our captives. This time we play a tag team match. It will be the Blonde and the Black against two of us. The prize for the women will be their freedom. For the men….. Well, I think you can guess.”

Aello could indeed guess. She knew that the best any woman who lost could expect would be to be brutally raped.

They were surrounded now by grinning pirates. Without further ado Senia and Lina were pushed into the ring through a small opening in the dome. A few seconds later a half dozen men followed them. The rest took seats around the periphery. This included Aello and Kamna, who were forced into a sitting position at the side of the ring.

“What’s this, you assholes?” shouted Senia. “I thought you said it was to be a tag team match.”

“And so it is, Babe,” laughed the Captain. “It’s just that our tag team is a bit bigger than yours.”

“You sons of bitches! Have you no sense of honour?”

“Honour, mercenary? What a strange thing for you to be talking about. Of course we have no honour. We’re bloody pirates! Get ‘em ready. I want to see a fight.”

One of the pirates produced a set of keys and approached Senia and Lina. He unlocked the manacles that held their wrists and then tossed the keys at their feet. Senia bent and picked them up and unlocked the shackles on their ankles.

“OK,” shouted the Captain. “It’s one on one. Tag off whenever you like. Any cheating and the whole bunch will attack you together. The blonde starts.”

“Cheating,” Aello realized probably meant that the two women could not fight together. Each would have to fight alone against a single man. If they got into trouble or got tired they could tag off with one another. The main difference was that the pirates had six men on their team. If the women possessed any fighting skills the pirates would use their superior numbers to tag off more frequently and wear the two females down. It was not a fair fight, but as the pirate captain had said, they were pirates – they had no sense of honuor or fair play.

Senia moved to the center of the ring. One of the pirates moved out to meet her. The fight was about to begin.

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