Zarina couldn't stay asleep. She had tried, but the cage was cramped and having her hands cuffed behind her was far from comfortable. She tried to count her blessings. It was chilly in here, but far warmer than the hold. She was cramped and uncomfortable in the cage, but it was far from the pain and stress of how she was bound earlier. Eating the cubes of tofu without the use of her hands and having to suck on the nozzle of the water bottle was humiliating, but at least it didn't taste awful, and no one was watching. Except, well, the security camera.
'Oh, god. That creep must be watching from his bunk.' she thought.
She pushed the food bowl to the side with her head and rolled off her stomach onto her side, back to the security camera. This was a little more comfortable. She gave the cuffs a tug. The heroines in the Californian and Tamil dramas she watched as a kid always managed to get out of these sort of situations. She'd fantasized about being a captured spy or resistance fighter, bravely defying interrogation, but this was far less glamorous. Nearly nude, cold, and eating out of a dog bowl in a cage, with no idea of where she was or how she got there, she shivered, and curled up into a ball, passing into a fitful, teary slumber.
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"Wake up Master, we're about to exit hyperspace." Tamerlan's computer stated, calmly as ever, but at several times its normal volume "Approaching Mazu gate"
"Ugh... fuck." Alexei rolled over and sat up. He had overslept. Not bothering to dress, he grabbed his thermos of mate and stumbled out to his cockpit. Sofiya was asleep herself, or doing her best to pretend to be. He had a couple minutes, might as well wake her up so she didn't get hurt on the return to normal space-time. He emptied her water bottle and poured some of the hot mate in, then reached into the cage to jostle her. Apparently she was fully passed out. He grabbed the cleaning hose and gave her a blast of the cold water.
The girl screamed, what Alexei assumed to be cursing in whatever language she was speaking.
"Wakey-wakey princess." She glared, indignantly, at him. Alexei chuckled and gave her another quick spray. "Be good and I'll turn the heat on. And hold on tight."
He leapt over to his cockpit. Less than twenty seconds left till return to normal spacetime... He felt the shudder and bucking of the ship begin. As soon as they left hyperspace, he was able to reign it in.
"I told you to hold on." he swiveled around, half expecting a bloody, crying mess. The defiant glower that awaited him took him aback a bit. "So you can listen."
He pulled up the draft of the listing he had made for Sofiya on his comm. His finger hung over the submit button for a moment. She would bring in a lot of money, enough to fix the warp drive for sure. And he didn't need an extra mouth to feed on the ship... but... Well, he couldn't sell her without getting her cleaned up and giving her a medical checkup. He closed the app without submitting the listing.
The ship was approaching Mazu, a water covered world infamous for its pirates' bazaar. The floating market was a place you could buy and sell anything from human flesh to military grade weapons and illegal nanotech. Unlike other such dens of iniquity, the Da Xing Pirates ran a tight ship, it wasn't a place you'd be robbed or assaulted. It also was one of the few places outside the more decadent parts of the core that you could lead a half naked girl around on a leash and not get weird looks. Alexei switched back to manual control, guiding Tamerlan down to the surface.
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Zarina watched the completely blue planet come into view. Where the hell was she? While the man was distracted by flying his ship, she reluctantly sucked on the water bottle nozzle. The hot beverage inside was soothing. The ship landed, and Iskakov approached the cage, opening it. She recoiled as best she could from his hand, but the man just laughed and dragged her out by the collar, forcing her to her feet. She tried not to meet his gaze, bowing her head, but Iskakov brushed her hair back and lifted her chin with a firm hand on her neck. He stared at her for a moment, and she did her best to keep a brave face. He was handsome, in a roguish kind of way, with long black hair and a bit of face scruff. She couldn't help but be a little aroused by the situation. Judging by the smile cracking on his lips, he noticed, and she could feel her face flush with embarrassment.
The man pulled a thick leather blindfold out of his jacket pocket. Zarina shook her head, trying to avoid it, only to feel the sting of his palm on her cheek again. Powerless, she tearfully let him secure the blindfold, and was plunged into darkness.
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One he blindfolded Sofiya, Alexei grabbed a bit-gag. It was his personal favorite, with a nice, thick bit and a full harness.
"C'mon, open up." he pressed it to Sofiya's mouth, but she stubbornly clamped it shut. "You just don't want to make this easy, do you?"
He grabbed her left nipple, and gave it a sharp twist. She cried out in pain, and he pushed the bit between her teeth. "Lucky for you..." he started latching the straps behind her head, "I like a good challenge."
He spun her around and reached down to unlock the cuffs, but held her hands behind her as he reached for the rope. Placing a loop of it behind her neck, he wound it around her shoulders and arms, tying it off at her wrists, then using the remaining rope to connect to the loop behind her, pulling her hands up her back. She groaned with the stress it put on her arms.
"It's not supposed to be comfortable, but if you're good while I take you to the doctor maybe I'll loosen you up a bit for the walk home." He clipped a sturdy leash to the collar, and opened the exit ramp. "Come on now, let's not make me late."
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Zarina struggled to keep up with the man dragging her along. He took large steps, and the shackles on her feet made it very difficult to walk quickly. She smelled sea air, and felt the sun on her skin for the first time in... How long even? It felt good, despite everything else happening to her. It took another voice to snap her out of her short revelry. Iskakov was talking to another man. She heard the hubbub of many more voices.
