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Morgon stammered, “What would you suggest, Lord Frieza?” The changeling grinned. “I could use someone like her. She’s a feisty little thing, isn’t she? But what is the strange collar on her neck?” “Oh, that!” Egron began. “Well, Lord Frieza, she has the power to move objects with her mind—telekinesis, I think it’s called. Anyway, she has used this ability to kill some of her previous masters in the past, and she actually killed some of our soldiers with it before our best scientist put the collar on her neck. She cannot feel pain half the time, it seems; when she is beaten or whipped, she does not cry out or scream. She is strange and very troublesome, I can assure you. This match was supposed to be her death sentence; now we’ll have to find some other way to destroy her, I’m afraid. Gegron, send our best soldiers out after her; we’ll kill her one way or the other.” “No, you won’t,” Frieza told him coldly. The Triumvirate members gasped, “Lord Frieza! You are not serious!” “I am serious, fools! I want that girl! I could use her; she has guts and attitude, and I like that! I want her to be one of my minions and clear planets and fight for me. Her rebelliousness is something that I can easily control. I am even willing to buy her from you, as a rare favor for your services in the Planet Trade. How about that tiny planet, Ritan, which you sometimes use for a vacation spot? That should be a fair trade, don’t you think?” Frieza purred, as he rubbed his white, perfectly shaped hands together. He turned to his two closest henchmen, Zarbon and Dodoria, who had accompanied him to Egimari. “Zarbon, Dodoria, I want you two to go down to the arena and inform the girl that she now has a new master.” “Yes, Lord Frieza,” both henchmen chorused. Before they left, however, Dodoria leaned over and whispered in Frieza’s ear: “Lord Frieza, I thought that you were planning to have this planet cleared, and that you happened to want Ritan for yourself.” Frieza whispered back, “Quiet, fool! I know what I said, but we will clear this planet some other time! I may even send that slave girl to do it for me, if she works out like I hope; she’ll probably want a chance for revenge on these pathetic idiots.” “What were you saying, Lord Frieza?” Gegron foolishly asked. “None of your business!” Frieza snapped. “How dare you attempt to listen in on my private conversations?” “I apologize, Lord Frieza,” Gegron stammered. Zarbon and Dodoria left the Triumvirate’s reserved seating booth, and they flew down to the arena where Chestra was still standing proudly in front of the still thrilled, yet stunned crowd. Chestra looked up into Egimari’s red sky and noticed the strange visitors approaching her. She instinctively put up her guard and turned off her nerves once again. She took brief note of her burns and tried not to think of them. Zarbon and Dodoria landed in the arena next to her, and Chestra watched them warily. “Do I have new challengers now?” she asked edgily. She wasn’t sure she was up for another battle so soon, but she would do what she had to. Zarbon and Dodoria gave rare good-natured laughs. “Hardly,” Dodoria chuckled. “You’ll get your chance to spar with us soon enough, but it won’t be today! You have a new master now; his name is Lord Frieza.” “Since when?” Chestra asked. “I thought that my masters in the Triumvirate wanted me dead.” “Not any more,” Zarbon told her. “Lord Frieza wants you to work for him. He is buying you from your masters now. Your death match impressed him.” “What does Lord Frieza want with me?” Chestra asked stiffly. She trusted no one, especially a new master. The great Lord Frieza probably wanted her for his mistress, and even though he was the most powerful creature that she knew of, she had no intention of letting him touch her. She would rather die first. “He wants to recruit you,” Dodoria told her. “He thinks that you’d make a great fighter for him.” “Is that all he wants me for?” Chestra asked him stonily. “Or does he really want me for another purpose—say personal or sexual?” Zarbon laughed softly. “No, young lady, Frieza does not want you for that purpose. If he did, he would have already said so. He already has a few little playmates in the universe, and he has his hands full with them! He likes to be selective. He just wants you to fight and work for him, and that is all.” Chestra touched the collar around her neck. “Am I going to have to continue to wear this horrid thing?” Zarbon thought for a moment. “Hmm…that will be up to Lord Frieza. I am sure, however, that he would want to see your telekinetic abilities, so it will likely be coming off. If you will become loyal to him, I’m sure something could be worked out where you would not have to wear that.” Chestra watched them suspiciously, trying to determine if everything that they were telling her was the truth. She had heard of Lord Frieza and his minions, particularly Zarbon and Dodoria. She knew that they had emptied some of the planets that she had been a slave on. However, Chestra had never seen any of them in person before. “How do I know that I can trust any of you?” she asked guardedly. “You don’t have a choice,” Dodoria told her, a bit sharply. “Frieza is making the trade now, as we speak. You belong to him now, whether you like or not!” “Enough, Dodoria!” Zarbon’s normally calm composure disappeared for a moment. “She is right to question us, although you are correct in saying that she doesn’t have a choice.” He turned to Chestra. “Yes, my dear, you are right to be suspicious. But look at it this way: you were sentenced to die today anyway, and this is a way out for you. You will still be under someone else’s control, but life under him will surely be better than the slave life you had been forced to lead until now. You won’t be chained and forced to do degrading things, unless you find clearing planets of life degrading. That is the main thing that you would be doing. You like to fight; we have seen that, and this a good way to do so. If you please Lord Frieza enough, you might even make it into his Elite Forces, such as Dodoria and myself did. Not many slaves could say that they hold an important position with the great Lord Frieza.” Chestra looked at Zarbon thoughtfully. She was quiet for a few moments. Finally, much to Zarbon’s relief and Dodoria’s surprise, she grinned. “Well, I’m likely to die sooner or later anyway!” she said cheerfully. “I may as well die doing something useful! What do I have to lose? Anything has to be better than what I have been going through!” Dodoria’s rare good humor returned. “That’s the spirit! Lord Frieza will be pleased to have a willing recruit! Half of the people that we recruit, we have to twist their arms to get them to obey!” He looked Chestra over appreciatively, with no romantic interest, for he was interested mainly in Lord Frieza (Dodoria was a closet bisexual). Zarbon, who was heterosexual, had not had a mate in ten years, and he regarded her with high interest. Chestra smirked at both of them; they didn’t seem to be so bad, and they didn’t have any whips on hand. Zarbon and Dodoria escorted her into the sky and right in front of Lord Frieza in the Triumvirate’s seating booth. Chestra could feel the power radiating from the wicked warlord, as he grinned slyly at her. Frieza gave the slave girl an once-over that made her shiver for only a moment. “Well, well, so you are my new recruit. A beautiful and young one at that,” he told her huskily. Chestra automatically put up her guard once more. “You needn’t worry, my dear, I want you only as a fighter, nothing more. I was very impressed with your performance today in the arena; maybe your actions will silence the mouths of these Egimarian fools who like to brag of their so-called powerful beasts.” Chestra said daringly, “I certainly hope so. It’s rare to hear Egron and Gegron silent on anything.” She grinned widely then, and to her surprise, Frieza, Zarbon, and even Dodoria grinned back. Gegron glared at her darkly, and Egron leapt at her to shut her up, but Chestra kicked him hard in his crotch. She could do that now, for he was no longer her master. Frieza laughed. “Such spirit! I like that!” Egron was about to blast Chestra with his eye lasers, but Zarbon quickly cuffed him before he had a chance to try it. Zarbon held the Egimarian tightly by his throat, and then he flung him onto the ground. “You nor your friends will not bother her again!” he told Egron smoothly. “She is ours now, not yours.” Egron cursed, but he dared do no more than that. Frieza moved his small floating pod that he always rode in closer to Chestra. “Now, my dear, I don’t believe that we know your name.” |