Twinks in Space: Fantastic Voyage - Part Two - 22. Chapter 22 - Chains

Fonith was locked in wrist cuffs with her hands behind her back. She had been taken prisoner on the Deathian.

“Move it!” a guard ordered, shoving her ahead of him down one of the destroyer’s hallways. “The admiral is waiting for you.”

Fonith’s mind raced with possibilities of escape, but everything she could come up with would have proven futile. She was captured, and there was nothing she could do about it. The soldiers aboard the Deathian had locked Captain Suoki and Golvinte in separate cells, and Finnow was sealed in a third with her daughter, but the crewmembers of the Deathian and the Scorched Atmosphere had other plans for the bounty hunter.

They brought Fonith into a judgment chamber. Her bound hands were pulled up above her head, and the metal wrist cuffs were chained high on one of the walls, forcing Fonith to keep her arms stretched overhead.

“Dammit,” she growled as the metal bit into her thumbs.

Two decorated officers entered, and although Fonith may have been startled by their appearances, she guessed who they were before they spoke. The two men looked identical.

“Bounty hunter Yxolium Bhanshu Fonith, I am Admiral Gniack, and this is Captain Disigorth.”

“Which one of you is the original, and which one’s the clone?” Her eyes moved from one of them to the other, but they both ignored her inquiry.

“You are a prisoner on the destroyer Deathian,” the admiral continued.

“Not a very clever name,” Fonith interrupted.

Admiral Gniack’s eyes narrowed. “Think of me as the god of death, and you can think of my ship, the Deathian, as the most devoted worshiper of the god of death, me. The Deathian is my acolyte in killing, my harbinger of woe. The Deathian praises me with the slaughter of the masses.” He paused, a slight smirk curling up the corner of his mouth. “And do you know what you are, bounty hunter? You are no one. You are less than a person. You are fodder for the flames of my worship. You are the…”

Fonith cut the admiral off again, gaping her mouth wide and issuing an exaggerated fake yawn. Her noisy sound groaned and hummed, and it ended in an irritated sigh.

Captain Disigorth reared his arm to backhand her, but Admiral Gniack stopped him. “No, captain, that’s unnecessary with what comes next.”

The captain lowered his hand but remained very close to Fonith, glaring at the chained woman.

“Madam Fonith,” the admiral continued, “our records indicate you are quite proficient at what you do. After your upcoming compliance therapy, we would like to offer you a position within the Intergalactic Covenant of Unification for the Ages. The I.C.U.A. will bring purpose to your life, spent wandering and wasted. Under the yoke of our good authority, you’ll finally fulfill all the potential that you have thus far been unable to achieve.”

Fonith did not like the implication in his words.

“We will make you one among the many, a part of the whole. Your individuality matters little, and you will become what you were always meant to be. You will be of service to our great expansion. The compliance therapy will help us strip your will, and it’ll make you more pliable, agreeable, and obedient.” Admiral Gniack stepped up beside Captain Disigorth, who was still leering over Fonith. “You’re ours now, little bounty hunter. Take her away.”