Bindi

Chapter 1

They entered through the cargo bay. Lights flashed and illuminated the dark space around Bindi from every direction as the ship's security detail rushed to neutralize the boarding party. The hekiru pinned his massive ears down and pressed his bat-like nose against the cold polymer floor of his terrarium. He covered his matte black eyes with both paws and hid from the violence that took place around him. On either side of his face, just behind his jaw, three antennae flared and tingled. They instinctively sought to taste the air around him for changes and impending danger.

A massive anup guard crouched and pressed his body against the terrarium. The tall canine alien used Bindi's home as cover from the incoming plasma bolts. Dark lenses and a bromine respirator concealed the guard's face. Through the flashes of light, Bindi could see the sweat around the anup's brow and jaw. Several shots discharged from his rifle before a flash of light caught him at the shoulder.

The anup howled piteously as his arm fell away. The rifle clamored to the deck as a smaller attacker rushed forward to the guard's position. Bindi scrambled backward, pressed against the opposite end of his self-contained sulfur environment. The attacker used the butt of his rifle to crack the anup's jaw. A single shot down his maw silenced the anup's cries for good.

Bindi gasped and huddled himself into a ball, his bobtail tucked against his furred body. An armored environmental suit concealed the attacker's body and face but the creature faced Bindi, features hidden by a single long dark visor in its helmet. Bindi froze in terror, able only to quiver as he stared back. The attacker looked away and returned to the fight. Bindi, left in darkness again, averted his eyes from the dead guard.

The sounds of conflict and fighting retreated into the recesses of the ship. Bindi didn't know how long the fighting would take place, or what would happen when it was over. In the darkness, he bristled his short brown fur for warmth. He did his best to sleep, but he couldn't get the soldier's pained howls out of his mind, especially with the body so close.

After a few hours, the soldiers passed back by. Bindi raised his head as one of them grabbed the body of the guard and drug it away to the center of the cargo bay. Bindi scrambled to the wall of his terrarium as they piled it up with the rest of the guards. Bindi recognized a few, though none of the anup ever paid him much mind. They treated him like cargo, though better than the slaves he shared the ship with. Bindi knew some slaves too, but due to the difference in atmospheric needs, his contact with them was limited.

A few weeks ago Bindi's future friend purchased him. The hekiru expected to be on Krakuntec V in another week or two. However, his hopes of a quiet life with a new friend long faded as the soldiers started opening cargo containers.

Bindi growled as they came near his container.

"What is that?" one said to another as they stopped in front of him.

"No clue," the other replied, thick body concealed beneath the armored suit.

The first shined a light through the polymer container. "Hey, speak up, you. Do you understand me?"

Bindi covered his eyes with a paw, sensitive to the direct contact. He didn't respond, but growled louder. His body tensed up as his anger rose. Bindi snarled and gnashed his teeth.

"It's not intelligent," the second one said. "Just cargo. Leave it. That little menace will be someone else's problem. Besides, look."

The soldier indicated a label on the side of the container. "Phwa. Sulfur. Yeah, alright. Someone else can deal with that."

The pair marched off and Bindi's adrenaline faded, replaced by the previous fear.

Silence reigned across the cargo bay. In the dim light, the hekiru pivoted his ears and listened. Most of the soldiers had returned to their own vessel, but some remained on board as the slave transport changed courses. Bindi lowered his ears and curled up beneath them, resigned to wait until the ship reached its new destination.