Chapter Text
Prologue/Chapter 1
Prologue
Anyone with eyes at Ludus Bar & Sleep could have seen what was going to happen long before it did. Things like passion and lust were understandable here, hell everyone in Ludus probably dreamed about a thing like that happening to them. Still though, there were some people who thought they could see below the surface, and just knew there had to be more to it than met they eye.
In the more affluent section of Capua Station, named ArenaSec, curiosity was most likely not the death sentence it was certain to be in Pit. If you wanted to survive in PitSec, you had to learn fairly quickly to mind your own damned business. People stayed here because they weren't wanted anywhere else, and they thought themselves too intelligent to ask questions that might get them noticed, or cause them trouble. Most were alcoholics, washed up pilots, or even ore pirates, likely involved in illegal activities, though none would ever admit so. And as far as they were concerned the story was an uncomplicated one, and it started when Nasir MornHyl came into Ludus on the arm of one Ashur Thermopyle.
Ashur was a shady character, dark and dangerous, and quite possibly the most contemptible man with the right to dock on Capua Station. He had broad, thick, features, and his hair was always greasy looking; in short, a toad, who surely had seen better days, though no one could say when those days had been. Those that got too close to Ashur had a tendency to end up in jail or dead, be they crew, companion or enemy. With his reputation, it wasn't hard to imagine that one day he'd share the same fate. Nasir MornHyl however, was gorgeous, all tanned, taut skin, and long dark locks that fell past his shoulders, wide eyes the color of honey, and full, ripe, lips that could make anyone moan out of lust and yearning. Two people so different from one another had no reason to be together, and it's no wonder they drew the attention of everyone in the joint when they walked in. The repugnance was clear on Nasir's face, as Ashur ordered him around like a slave. Men so inclined were sure to fall asleep that night dreaming - If only he were mine-.
No one gave it a second thought then when Nasir MornHyl and Agron Niklaus locked eyes with one another through the crowd, and the electricity was felt by everyone in the room. Agron was probably one of the most covetable men in PitSec. He owned his own ship, the Captain's Fancy, and had a reputation that painted him as a bold swashbuckler, the kind of hero often portrayed in those old romance novels they used to write back on Earth. He was ridiculously handsome, with the kind of looks that could make any woman do as he asked, and any man offer him whatever he wanted. If he could be said to have any physical flaw, it would be the tiny scars under his green eyes that grew dark on his fair face whenever he saw something he was intent on acquiring. The cuts had been given to him by a woman from his past, the only time he had ever been bested. She had considered him beneath her, not even worthy enough for death at her hands, so she marked him forever, as a reminder of her contempt and his arrogance.
Agron had taken a lesson away from all that though. He would never allow himself to be beaten again. Going off half cocked wasn't something he ever allowed himself to do. Control was essential, and he never went into a situation in which he didn't have the upper hand.
Later, people who were at Ludus that night would swear they had never seen Agron Niklaus' scars look as dark as they did the moment he saw Nasir MornHyl. Beauty like that was a siren call to Agron, Nasir's eyes flashing brightly at him, where a moment before they had looked lifeless and dull beside Ashur. Surprisingly though, nothing happened that night. Everyone had expected something, maybe even the two of them tearing off their clothes and going at it on top of one of the tables. But it didn't happen that night.
Two and a half weeks later though, Capua Station Security charged into Ludus, and arrested Ashur Thermopyle on the spot, charging him with theft and who knew what else, and Nasir MornHyl was instantly gone with Agron Niklaus. It would seem Nasir managed to escape Ashur at just the right time, and the dark, beautiful boy and the dashing ship captain were gone, and Ashur was left to rot, having been handed down a life sentence. It became the kind of tale whispered about in the early hours of the morning in PitSec by sad dreamers and broken-down drunks.
So that was the simple story, just not the real one.
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Chapter 1
There were some men and women though who saw things through a different lens. People who listened more and drank less noticed the way Nasir MornHyl seemed to pull away from Ashur, even as he sat close to him. They heard the way the boy's voice was dull and flat, almost as if it weren't his own. Certainly they took note of Ashur's hand kept in a fist in the pocket of his greasy, threadbare, shipsuit.
Nasir had come out from Earth on an expensive oreliner, an independent ship and family operation. The MornHyls were so wealthy that they did everything first class. The only other time Nasir had been on Capua Station, he and his family had stayed in ArenaSec. Money like theirs could only have one source, ore. Asteroids rich in ore were not as common as they had once been, thanks in part to families like the MornHyls, who had financed some of the first mining expeditions, and had then reaped the rewards of their initial investment a hundredfold. For this family to be heading out on their own, they must have somehow acquired a chart, a good one. One that held the location of an asteroid belt so laden with ore that the MornHyls were not willing to risk divulging the location to any of their employees, lest they talk too much to the wrong person, and find their treasure in the hands of someone else.
Greed was commonplace on Capua Station, and mine jumpers and ore pirates had long plagued the reputable prospectors and miners that docked there. The station had been forced to adopt a policy of firing on any ship that tried to follow another out of dock. So it would appear that when the MornHyl ship, Starmaster, left Capua Station, she got out safely. Obviously though, station security had been outdone. It was said that Ashur Thermopyle had become rich as the stars without ever seeming to do any real work, and without having to share his profit with any crew. Whatever the case, Starmaster never came back. Nasir did though, with Ashur, and a lifeless tone of voice and an obvious revulsion to Ashur. And Ashur kept that one hand in his pocket, closed into a tight fist.
There was only one explanation for a thing like that. Lacking any real evidence, a portion of the people in PitSec decided that Ashur must have given Nasir a zone implant, and the control was in his pocket. That little device, the implant, was an electrode that could be placed inside the brain, and had been invented by a doctor looking to cure epilepsy. The name "zone" was chosen because by tuning the implant's emissions, one could effectively control many different areas, or zones of the brain. Violent tendencies could be curbed, OCD tempered, even free will could be suppressed, all without impairing coordination or consciousness. A human being could be easily turned into a slave, and an implant in the hands of a ruthless and immoral handler could be the worst form of cruelty ever. For that reaason unauthorized use of a zone implant was so illegal that it resulted in immediate capital punishment, no possibility for appeals.
Medically necessary zone implants were an entirely different thing, though. Once makind had invented the gap drive, a disease called gap sickness had been discovered. Affecting about one percent of the population, crossing the dimensional gap caused the afflicted to have a complete break from reality, turning them into a raving lunatic, or a psychotic killer, or a pill-dependent junkie. Gap sickness had no known cure. The zone implant however, could help control it. Authorized zone implant use occurred when an entire ship's crew attested to the fact that either they or the person given the implant would be dead or grievously injured without the use of one. The United Mining Companies Police, or UMCP, the only real authority this far out in space, would pardon all individuals involved in a case like this. So essentially every ship was allowed to have the technology to perform such an operation on board.
Naturally, the assumption was that Ashur Thermopyle had found a way to bypass Capua Station security and follow the MornHyl ship out of dock. Somehow he found them, and managed to wreck their ship, doing away with the family and keeping Nasir alive. The boy was beautiful, the kind of beauty most men could only dream about, and with a zone implant in his brain, and a sick fuck like Ashur in control of it, the possibilities were endless.
Whether this were true or not, Agron Niklaus cared little. It could be that his desire for Nasir was so overwhelming that he just couldn't be bothered by it. What he did do was bide his time, waiting until he was certain of success. Most people surmised that Agron hoped for Ashur to be arrested while in possession of Nasir's implant. That would result in his execution, and Nasir would have the implant removed, and then... then Nasir would be all Agron's.
Opportunity arose for just that scenario two weeks later, when the incoming supply ship from Earth sent out a distress call. The ship was several weeks ahead of schedule, and it was in trouble. It carried an entire year's haul of food, pharmaceutical supplies, and other equipment, and it was just drifting out there, waiting for any pirate worth his reputation to come along and plunder it. Capua Station immediately locked down after receiving the distress signal, and was prepared to fire on any ship that attempted to depart in that moment.
Only Ashur's ship, Bright Beauty, and Captain's Fancy managed to get away. Agron's ship did so by doing a "blink crossing", which entailed using his gap drive, and then disengaging it a matter of seconds later, coming out maybe a hundred thousand kilometers from the most advanced radars capabilities. Ashur's ship, though, was a pile of junk compared to Captain's Fancy, and so when ordered by security to return to dock or be fired upon, he sent out a distress signal of his own. Essentially he claimed mechanical failures, and in those few seconds the poor sap in charge of giving the order to fire took to think, Ashur engaged his thrust boosters, and he too managed to put distance between Bright Beauty and Capua Station.
Two days later both ships came back. Bright Beauty's hull was riddled with matter cannon fire, and barely passed inspection. After facing an official inquiry Ashur and Nasir were released and they limped into Ludus to sleep. Captain's Fancy also had obviously sustained damage, but with his usual cavalier attitude, he laughed his way out of an inquiry and was free and clear to head to Ludus, his usual spot to celebrate upon returning to station. The supply ship had vanished without a trace, and nothing had been found to link either of the pirates to it.
In the middle of the night, Cap Station security stormed Ludus and took Ashur into custody. It would seem they had some type of evidence, and they boarded Bright Beauty, and accessed the ship's main computer. This revealed to them all the hidden holds, in which they found all the supplies from the supposedly missing ship. Just before being put in cuffs, Ashur grabbed Nasir, a frightened and wild look in his eyes. Nasir though, managed to pull away, aided by Agron's crew members, and then the two of them were gone. The dashing hero made off with the boy in need of rescue, and it was all anyone could talk about for days. What those two ere doing together far from Capua Station was the topic of discussion. Those with romantic notions spoke of the tale with tears in their eyes, while others with baser tendencies did so with hardening of their cocks.
What everyone seemed to discount was that there were flaws in this story. The first being that the supply ship from Earth arrived a few weeks later, on schedule, completely intact and totally ignorant of any distress signal. The second was that Ashur did not have a zone implant control on him when he was arrested, presumably why he had been given a life sentence instead of the death penalty.
Of course, the first thing could be explained away. Obviously Agron had found a way to frame Ashur, faking the distress call, and planting supplies stolen from Station itself in Ashur's hidden cargo holds. The lack of a zone implant however, was something that not one person in Ludus could explain. If the implant had never existed, why then did Nasir stay with Ashur, even when he was so clearly disgusted by the man? It held no sense, and when a detail like that didn't fit, it was sometimes better just to ignore it, forget about it, and as far as anyone cared, they had their story already. For the company at Ludus however, the real story would have been much harder to stomach.