Talia woke up with a jolt as the transport truck went over a bumpy road. She must've fallen asleep without realizing out. Who could blame her? She and the rest of her comrades have been stuck in this damned vehicle for what must've been hours.
It had been almost a month since their defeat at Eculon-8. They had been abandoned by the UNH and left to die defending some mining colony that nobody lived on. The entire division wanted to leave the colony to its fate and defend earth or one of the more populated colonies, but the navy left them behind no leaving so much as a single transport off world. Talia didn't blame her commander for ordering the unit to surrender. At the time, it seemed like the obvious choice. However during the trip, after hearing of what would become of them, some in the division questioned whether death on the battlefield would've been a preferable fate to bondage under some zehm aristocrat.
"Hey Dirthead," a male voice says.
"Hm?" Talia turned her head.
"You alright? You're staring off into space," the large man said.
"Yeah yeah. Just thinking," she replies.
"Yeah. We all are, I'm guessing."
"Hm." The man's name was Arthur Kruah, an infantryman from Liberia. He was assigned to Talia's platoon during the defense of Eculon when the army was reorganizing after several lost battles. He said everyone called him Cottonballs. He never told anyone why. He addressed her as 'Dirthead', a nickname her original squad had given her. She never told him or her new squad why.
The vehicle stopped, putting everyone inside on edge. Then the door in the back opened, revealing sunlight that blinded the humans in the dark. As their eyes readjusted, a zehm warrior stepped up, the gold on his armor reflecting the sunlight.
"I! Eka to rie!" he shouted, pointing outside. Not everyone inside knew the zehm language, but everyone got the message.
Everyone got out. After being processed and transported, the zehm separated the army into multiple groups to be shipped out to their new masters. Talia's group consisted of around twenty or thirty troops. They were all lined up in two lines as they were told. Talia was in the front row, next to Cottonballs. From where she stood, she could see what she assumed would be her new workplace. It was a massive farming complex, with perfectly divided fields of crops that she didnt recognize, each of which being a different color, making the view from the horizon look like a massive grid of colors.
The zehm guards lined up on either side of the new slaves, and made way for who Talia guessed would be their new master. He rode on top of a weird horned, beaked creature with four spindly legs. He probably thought he was hot stuff riding on top of such a pathetic looking creature, Talia thought. Unlike the guards, the rider didnt have a mask covering his face, although it wasn't the first time Talia saw the face of a zehm. They looked similar to humans, like if you took a human corpse, mummified it for twenty years, took it out and painted it yellow as her comrades would describe it. This one fit the description perfectly. Although there were rumors that the females looked much more attractive, which prompted many of the men (and Talia herself) to make bets on the matter. The zehm in front of her was clearly of noble descent, as indicated by the long white robe and headpiece covered in gold and gems.
The noble rode directly infront of Talia in the middle before stopping. "Humans!" he yelled in surprisingly good English. "I am Lord Rasemes of House Dola. This is my estate. The great Pharaoh, in her divine mercy, has place you under my care. You may think of this as bondage. But you're wrong. This is your liberation from the decadence and degeneracy of your old primitive ways. Under my care, I have many aliens, all of whom are seen as equals under the eyes of the gods. You shall be just as equal as them. And under my care, all of you will learn of the greatness of the Zehm people. And in return, you shall work on my estate and serve the great Pharaoh, and by extension, the Greater Zehm Empire as a whole. Be grateful for this great new life in store for you." Rasemes turned to the guards. He yelled out a command in the zehm language and then rode off with his entourage.
"Damn asshat gives us a speech like that and doesn't even stay to make sure we even listened," Talia whispers to Arthur.
"Heh, I guess he thinks-"
He was interrupted by a shouting guard. They point down the road, and the former soldiers do as they're told. At the end of the path they...
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