StarPyre

sudden change in the ship’s rumbling. Raising my hand, I silenced the others as I focused on the resonating sounds. We had been in confinement so long; it had been easy to get used to the spacecraft’s normal sounds of operation. Like most captains, I had my own ship’s unique song down to a science, aware whenever we hit a hard path in space or entered a gravitational pull without needing to consult the readings on the bridge.
“He’s right.” The floor jerked sharply, nearly knocking Luwyn over. “Something is definitely pulling the ship in, but I don’t know what. It could be a tractor beam.”
“What should we do if the ship docks?” Luwyn glanced between Celyze and me. His wings flared out in excitement. “Should we try to fight and hope to escape? Now may be the chance we’ve been waiting for!”
“Do you seriously believe we’re capable of fighting them?” I growled at my Weapons Master. He had always had a hot head when it came to battle, and if I didn’t cull his impulses in times like this, we probably wouldn’t be alive today. “We’ve been living on nothing but rations and poorly recycled water all this time. There is no way we are in our best form to attempt an escape.”
“Then what do you suggest?” Luwyn barked as he charged toward me with his spread wings fluttering in an aggressive display. His attempt to intimidate me failed. No matter how many times he tried to challenge me, I would always be the crew’s leader. “That we just sit here and pray to the Stars to lead us to safety? We all know that’s something you don’t believe in!” He growled, tossing his hands in the air in frustration. “So why are you willing to wait for nothing more than a chance that someone might rescue us?”
Snarling, I jumped to my feet as I fanned out my wings to match his. “Do you want to become a meal for the Vhalxt? I know I don’t.” I stepped closer. Our faces nearly touched as I met his challenge. His swirling lavender gaze locked onto mine. “Have you forgotten that they eat live prey? Who knows if or when they will come for us? But I know one thing for sure; I am not going to draw any attention to myself in case they want a snack.”
“And when they do come to eat us, what will you do?”
“Resist.” I shrugged. “If I’m going to die, I might as well go down fighting.”
“There will be no need,” Celyze murmured, jerking my attention to him. “We will be tested and saved. As long as we hold out, the Stars will rescue us.”
The seriousness in the tone of his voice made me want to believe him, to share his undying faith that somehow, somewhere out there, we will be saved. But I only believed in the science of the universe and my own will to bring success. Cosmic Souls could have their faith and trust in whatever made them feel better at night.
Then again, I couldn’t explain how Celyze could do the things he did.
“Tested, how?”
Celyze glanced aimlessly away, his face scrunched as he sought something in the distance.
“We aren’t landing.” He licked his lips nervously. “The ship is flying around in the planet’s atmosphere.”
“What?” Luwyn asked, confused.
Celyze shook his head as if trying to center himself before meeting our gazes. “It’s too hard to tell. It seems like they are observing the planet, maybe even searching for something.”
The ship jerked, knocking me off of my feet. My wings instinctively sprung to life, safely lifting me from a harmful fall. The three of us hovered together, staring intently at each other, checking for injuries, only to find none.
The chamber’s door opened, revealing two Vhalxt dragging a body wrapped up in their webbing behind them.
There wasn’t much in the universe that I was afraid of, but Vhalxt made the top of the list of things I feared. Their tall, black bodies towered over ours, but that wasn’t what scared me. It was the extra four arms attached to their backs, which spun their sticky threads from their abdomens’ spinnerets. This gave them full access to a set of arms and legs at all times to catch and capture their prey. Their smooth, black, helmet-like faces had eight beady eyes, four on each side, gradually shrinking in size the farther back they were placed. Their mouths were equipped with two pincers, allowing them to hold on tight as their fangs injected paralyzing venom before they devoured their prey.
The fact that they were willing to eat anything and everything alive made no intelligent species safe. Every solar we wondered why they hadn’t eaten us, knowing well that they had no morals when it came to murder.
What could be worse than being eaten? I didn’t know, and I wasn’t willing to find out.
“We brought you a gift,” one of the Vhalxt chuckled.
“Our freedom?” Luwyn mocked, his voice laced with anger.
The Vhalxt laughed, ugly screeching sounds escaping their deadly mouths.
“Something better,” the other Vhalxt replied. “We found a female for you.”
“A female?” I asked as dread filled me. There could be only one reason they were giving us a female, and that was to breed.
“Yes. We are going to play a game,” the Vhalxt replied. “The first one of you whose seed successfully bears us offspring will remain coupled with her.” He gazed at my two companions before his eyes returned to mine. “The other two will be auctioned off, and their fates will be in their new masters' hands. If you are lucky, some other Vhalxt will buy you both and put you out of your misery.”
“You want us to compete against each other to be the first to reproduce with her?” I licked my dry lips, wondering, nervously, if I should continue. My curiosity got the best of me. I would rather know all the details now than later. “What will happen to our spawn?”
“It will be