The Neko's Tail - 11. Slave Cat

Elias cowered in the corner of a cell, his hands clutching the tight collar around his neck. The leather was his only clothing, the outfit Artemis had bought was stripped away by his captors. It happened again. He was sold once more.

The neko held back tears. Crying didn’t help him when he had been torn away from his family all those years ago. They wouldn’t help him now.

“Unknown species. I picked him up a day ago,” a Xanar said to another alien as they walked past.

Elias kept his eyes down, listening while trying to appear disinterested. He needed to get this collar off and find Artemis. But to get the collar off, he needed to find the remote, and the person holding it.

It hadn’t been a day. At most, it had been four hours since he had been kidnapped off the ship. He hadn’t even been asleep that long before the Xanar had grabbed him. Surely Artemis was looking for him by now. But he was not going to wait for the tiger.

Elias was done being a victim.

The neko rose on shaky legs and grabbed the bars of his cage.

“Let me go!”

Pain surged through his neck, and Elias cried out, releasing the cage. Noise assaulted his ears as he recovered from the shock, and the neko realized a couple of aliens were laughing at him.

Glaring at the aliens, Elias spat. He tensed up as his saliva hit one of the aliens, and just as he thought, another, stronger, jolt knocked him over.

But he had seen what he needed to. An orange humanoid pressing a remote.

The neko had his target.

Someone approached from the other side of the cage, and he heard another laugh.

“Feisty cat, isn’t he?”

Turning his head, Elias frowned. The human he and Artemis had rescued was standing next to the cage, leering at him.

“I could use a slave,” Commander Hawke said to the orange alien. “And I do enjoy breaking them in…”

Nothing. There was no sign at all.

“DAMN IT!!!” Artemis roared, startling several beings nearby.

He had been searching for hours, scouring every slave pit in the station. Elias wasn’t in any of them.

“Captain, we can’t have you scaring our product,” an alien said behind him.

Artemis growled, turning on the being.

“People. They are living beings,” he hissed.

“While you are entitled to your opinion, if you continue to disturb the pens, you will be removed.”

Biting his tongue, Artemis stormed away. He was lost. The alien in charge of tagging new slaves hadn’t seen Elias. An alert had been put out with the neko’s description, but Artemis knew it was unlikely the neko would be found. If he wasn’t in the legal slave pits, he was in some back alley being sold off discreetly. Artemis would never see him again.

The tiger ducked into an alley and sat against a wall, holding his knees.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

“Twenty thousand and he’s yours.”

“Twenty and I get the collar too. I don’t want him running off on me.”

Elias stared at the alien that held his remote, listening to the human haggle over him. He could not go with the woman. She was a warrior; she could overpower him easily.

If the slavers knew what they were doing, the one holding his remote would stand back until Hawke had control over him before relinquishing the remote to his new owner. He would have only one shot at this.

“There is an alert out for him. I will not go a credit above twenty.”

The slaver growled.

“Fine.”

Hawke grinned at Elias, sliding a card through a block the alien handed her.

“Alright, let me in there.”

The slaver looked at Hawke, alarmed.

“Relax. You have your money. I just want to have a bit of fun with him. You can tell he’s planning something.”

Shrugging, the alien unlocked the cage and Hawke slipped inside. Elias backed up as she approached until he was stuck in the corner.

“There’s no escape. You’ll save yourself a lot of pain if you just come with me,” the human said.

“You’re wasting your time,” the orange alien laughed. “He can’t understand you.”

“Maybe he can’t understand my words, but I have no doubt he’s smart enough to understand my tone.”

Hawke grabbed the neko’s wrist, holding tightly. She dragged him toward the cage door, motioning for the alien to open it again. Back outside the cage, the human held out her hand for the remote.

As the device touched her hand, Elias made his move, knocking his head against Hawke’s chest.

The human yelped, her grasp loosening, and Elias lunged away, grabbing the remote as he ran. He was free.

The neko made it barely five steps before he was tackled. A jolt of electricity shot through him as Hawke’s finger stabbed the remote, and he howled in agony.

“That was a good try,” the human laughed, hoisting Elias back to his feet. “But you missed one thing. Your collar marks you as a slave. There’s no way to remove it without us.”

Dragging the neko back toward the cage, she nodded at the alien.

A finger pressed against Elias’ collar and Hawke placed her thumb beside it. The collar beeped, and the alien removed his finger.

“He’s all yours.”

“Have you seen this neko?”

“No.”

Artemis hurried down the road, showing the picture of Elias he had pulled from the ship to another alien.

“Have you seen this neko?”

The alien frowned.

“Captain, I don’t even know what a neko is. Are you going from person to person looking for it? I wasn’t aware the fleet gave away grants for that.”

Artemis growled, storming past the alien.

“Have you seen this neko? Have you seen this neko?”

An hour later he was sitting against a wall, Elias’ picture held loose in his hand. It was hopeless. The neko was gone, and Artemis would never see him again.

“Captain Artemis!”

The tiger flinched at the harsh tone. Looking up, he saw Commander Hawke storming toward him.

“We agreed to meet at the hotel room two hours ago.”

“I’ve been busy,” Artemis said tiredly.

“It doesn’t matter. Come with me.”

The tiger’s tail flicked angrily, but he followed the human. He had no choice; she was higher in rank than him.

They walked toward the hotel he had been supposed to meet her at, maintaining a stony silence. Walking down a long hall of doors, Commander Hawke paused.

“I know you’ve been looking for your neko friend, but you need to stop. We’re leaving the station in ten hours. Take the time to sleep.”

Artemis bit his tongue as the human opened the door to their room. This was going to be a long trip, and he didn’t need to antagonize the woman who could make his life hell.

Passing through the door behind Hawke, the tiger froze. A shape was curled up on the bed, naked and shivering.

The man looked up, his eyes brightening warily as he recognised Artemis. Letting out a strangled cry, Elias leapt off the bed and ran across the room, throwing himself into Artemis’ arms.

The tiger’s arms closed around Elias, wrapping the neko in a warm, safe cocoon. He felt a drop of liquid hit his shoulder, and Elias realised the tiger was crying.

“You’re collared…”

Artemis turned on Hawke.

“Why is he collared?!”

“Technically he belongs to me. I heard he went missing, and figured you wouldn’t know all the good spots to find a slave.”

Elias held back a flinch at the word.

“I’m not a slave.” he said.

Hawke looked at him strangely, and the neko realised that unlike Artemis, she couldn’t understand his tongue.

“No, you are not. How much did you pay for him?” Artemis asked.

“Fifteen thousand.”

Artemis glanced at Elias, who frowned.

“It was twenty thousand,” the neko said.

The tiger sighed, his hand running through Elias’ hair.

“I have barely thirty thousand to my name.”

Elias gripped Artemis’ arm, looking up into the tiger’s eyes. He didn’t have to do this.

“Ten thousand and I’ll call it even,” Hawke said. “I make more than you anyways, and the Fleet owes me some backpay I’ll use for a new ship.”

Artemis nodded, pulling out his money card. Hawke held out a block like the one Elias had seen the shop owners and the slaver use. Artemis slid the card through, adding his thumbprint, and he and Hawke reset the neko’s collar. The leather was removed a moment later.

Elias rubbed his neck, trying to get rid of the sensation of the collar.

“I’m sorry kitten,” Artemis said quietly, stroking the neko’s head.

Elias shivered, and Artemis grimaced.

“Will you be okay sleeping without clothes tonight? I don’t want to leave you.”

Elias nodded.

“I’m not sharing a bed with anyone who is nude,” Hawke interrupted them.

“You don’t have to. I can sleep on the floor.”

Elias shook his head, pulling Artemis toward one of the two beds in the room. The neko gently pushed the tiger onto the bed, crawling on beside him a moment later.

“Nine hours and we’re leaving,” Hawke said from the other bed.

Artemis removed his shirt and handed it to Elias.

“It’s better than nothing.”

Elias smiled gratefully, pulling the shirt over his head. Artemis leaned slightly, and pressed his lips against the neko’s forehead.

“Good night kitten. Do not fear, you are safe with me.”

Elias lay down and Artemis placed an arm around the neko. A few minutes later, they were both asleep. And for the first time in over a week, Elias slept through the night.