The desert surrounding the main city on Vanejin VII was, as always, silent as the grave. The only sound was of the sand being blown around by the rather weak wind, and that wasn't enough to break the monotony. If it wasn't for the city itself, it's size making it visible for almost the entire desert, there would be no navigationary aids for anyone inside it. It gave those that tried to run away from the city a direction, away from the slave pens and the life of endless fucking they promised. But the desert was huge, constantly shifting as sand was blown across tracks, and finding a single individual in all that was nearly impossible. Most who fled into the desert were never found again, and generally those few who were found were only done so much later.

But this particular slave who had fled had caught the eyes of the Midrozi while she had still been caged. They had been working out just what they would do to her when they purchased her. But with her escape that presented them an oppurtunity. One the Midrozi would not pass up. A single squad of eight hunters had started to follow her, and quite unusually for a hunt like this were being led by a member of the Elite Diplomat caste. He was the one leading the group, giving them a general direction. The human female had no idea how to mask her thoughts, and although she had distance on the Midrozi, Kaolin, the Elire Diplomat in question, had a general idea where she was. The closer they got the more accurate his idea was. The Midrozi were silent as they practically glided across the desert. This continued for a week as they drew closer and closer. She had a day's head start before the Midrozi could set out, but they were steadily drawing closer.

Unfortunatly finding her woudln't be as simple as they hoped. By the time they got close enough for Kaolin to be able to 'hear' surface thoughts they had reached the end of the desert, what was nearly a week of walking. Obviously she had grabbed some supplies before fleeing. Now the hunters would be able to track her as the terrain had changed into a series of interconnected valleys filled with sand. The valleys were lower than the rest of the desert, and were a maze of passages and caves. Finding anyone in this would be difficult, but at least the wind had stopped blowing any trail away.

What have I done? I-I killed him. The cruel bastard who kept me enslaved, his blood splashes the soft toes of mine. What will happen if I am found out? No, they must not catch me. I have to go. I will run, away from here. I am free...

Ziadera dashed from the cage in which the dead man once called his home. To Zia, it was a prison. She used one arm to cover her large breast and keep them still as her feet pitter pattered against the ground. The night was dark and the wind blew her hair into her face. Brushing it behind her ear was not a worry at this moment, Escaping was. The sand looked ominous, as it disappeared into the darkness in the distance. Fear ruled her life, but who knew what the unknown contained? She didnt, but she did know what the Known contained. Sexual abuse, assault, things that boiled her blood. Things that sent this normally pacifist female into a rage.

So she ran toward the dusty dessert, where her hope would be found, or lost. Either or. The former militia woman took over. She needed supplies before heading out. The wind whipped across her flesh. Her master never gave her clothes to wear, she wasnt worthy. The dagger that was used to spill his blood heavily across the ground was grasped tightly within her hand. A light. That meant there was most likely a creature awake at this hour. Her sin was already committed, she was judged so another would not matter. Ziadera slipped into the 'house' to see a slave, of a proper master fixing a drink for them. Swiftly she made her move. SNAP. the girl fell with a soft thump and a broken neck. Her clothes were a little big for Zia, but suitable. The bow simply added a nice touch. With a few supplies, she left the home, and began her descent into the dessert.

Her legs ached and her mouth thirsted. But she persevered. She kept going with the fact that the unknown was better than the known. The little water she had brought had lasted her this long, but soon she would need more. Her hair now was cut short in the front, making it easier for her to not dwell on useless things, though she did not discard the hair. It would make it easy to find her and she knew someone was on her tail. Maybe it was paranoia or maybe it was the fact that she had murdered her master, and a slave. So she kept going. The dagger came in handy for food. the few animals that she could find, she satisfied her stomach with. Not a proper meal but, it would keep her going. Soon she reached the end of the desert. A gap appeared in front of her. How was she supposed to keep going forward? She wasn't. She began her descent down. The shade presented a cool and refreshing breeze. Zia watched and found a suitable cave to dwell in. With 3 different levels, and a maze to extend further, it would make it hard to find her. Sleep never came over her as fast as it did. Little did she know, she in fact, was being tracked, and sleeping now, would be foolish.

The Midrozi continued to press on, however their progress was slowed when Kaolin threw up his hands in annoyance. The run away had gone asleep, and he wasn't close enough to hear her dreaming. He had lost her location completly, now their speed would be determined by the skill of the hunters at tracking through this enviroment. It was slower, but not slow enough. The slave was not moving, and the Midrozi had a rough idea how far ahead of them she was. They would be on her soon, far sooner than she would think possible.

The Midrozi's pace slowed down without Kaolin being able to guide them almost directly to the slave. But it still continued. This maze may be difficult to navigate, but the trail was still there. The hunters followed it in silence, their net guns held ready. They had been informed of the two other animals who had died during this one's escape. And while the Midrozi were quite comforatle of their ability to take down a single human in hand to hand, even if she had a knife, they saw no reason to take chances, no reason to offer her such an oppurtunity.

Eventually they reached the entrace to a cave, and Kaolin smiled and pointed to it. The other Midrozi nodded, they understood the gesture. Kaolin could hear her mind inside that cave. The Midrozi hunters slowly advanced, net guns held ready. The moment they saw her they would fire. Each hunter had a flat screen covering their right eye, and that screen had several powerful scanners that would allow them to see no matter what the lighting conditions. Their formation was well spaced out as they drew towards the cave, and ensured that no hunter blocked the line of fire or the movement of another hunter.

They are coming..They want me...I need to go. now..

Her skin tingled as she slept. The long blond hair covered her like blond strands of silk. Sleep was heavily upon her as the Midrozi were fast approaching on her. Her body was in the process of recuperation as they neared. Unfortunately, the were nearer than she thought they were.

Zia's eyes popped open. Was it her imagination or had someone actually entered the cave? Her hand grasped the handle of the dagger tightly. Who was to say what they had with them? Many a slaves had been brought back in nets, or unconscience over their captors shoulder. Neither of these made her any less paranoid. With no shoes on, she would have to creep on the balls of her feet to stay quiet.

She got up and began to slowly advance backwards. That was probably the only entrance, and the maze behind her, would get her lost, along with whoever was trying to catch her. If someone was trying to catch her. As she got close to the maze, she quietly dashed into a random one, moving through twist and turns that she would not remember. Up. She grabbed the rock and hoisted herself to another level. Back. Left. Where was she? She couldnt tell. All of it looked the same. She could very well be traveling in a circle. She stopped to listen. Dagger at the ready. Her long blond hair conceiled by the darkness. How close were they? Hopefully not very...

The Midrozi hunters silent advance through the darkness had given them a glimpse of the runaway slave as it had fled deeper into the tunnels. Obviously something had alerted it, but whether that was a slip up on the Midrozi's part or simple animal instinctual paranoia was unknown. Not that it really mattered, the hunters were easily able to follow it's trail, their eye pieces giving them perfect vision in the dark, or at least giving it to one eye.

By the time the human stopped the Midrozi were just behind her, although they were still out of knife reach. They hadn't made a noise, the skilled hunters knowing better than to put a foot out of step and alert their prey that they were being stalked. The moment it paused to listen to the darkness one of the hunters raised his net gun and fired.

The net gun in question was a rail gun tuned for a very specific speed. It fired the rather large projectile at much lower than the speed of sound at targets. When it hit something the nanites that made up the net wrapped around it and the 'cords' fused to create a single net completely surrounding the victim. Next it would constrict as tight as it could and lock in place, preventing them from moving. The 'cords' making up the net were strong and self repairing. A knife would struggle to make a mark, and any mark it did make would be repaired within moments.

One of these nets shot through the darkness silently at Ziadera Pilche'. Aimed just right so as to make it as hard as possible for her to avoid it. If even one part of it clipped her the entire net would wrap around her, ending her brief freedom.

The sound of air rushed into her ears. Silence. She took this moment to inhale deeply but slowly. Breathing normally would be a risk right now. With her lungs full of air, she slowly exhaled the drawn in breath. How long before she was caught? Moments? Hours? This thought did little to slow her breathing or heart beat down. But the thought that she was all imagining this, did somehow soothe her a bit.

Her ears twitched. Was that a click? She could swear a slight click was just let off. As if, a trigger was pulled. Her weight shifted to the balls of her feet, in case she needed to move as she also gripped the jagged knife in her hand. Her paranoia calmed, as she realized that she had not been hit, yet. A tranquilizer would have hit her, but how someone could see her was beyond her. Time to move.

As her muscles tensed up to move, she felt the slightest movement of something against a strand of her hair. Instinctively, she shoved the knife in the air toward the unknown object, only to feel the rest of the net begin to form around her. She had been followed. In a scared frenzy, she began to swipe at the net, to no avail. Her movements became harder to do as it began to tighten around her. The net began to easily repair itself of its cut, quicker than she could rip open.

Ack! Lemme go! Zia cried out. As her movements became restrained, she tightened her hand on the knife. They would have to take her out of the net some time, and then she would strike. But for now, there was nothing else for it, she was caught.

The Midrozi hunters confidently advanced the moment the net clipped one part of the runaway. They knew that the moment that happened their prey was captured, and nothing the prey could do would change that. The knife proved useless and was soon held tightly against it's body, the self repairing net proving too highly advanced for the primitive simple blade.

Four of the hunters each grabbed a corner of the net when it had completly tightened around Ziadera and locked, making movement impossible as the net became like a metal cage and lost its flexability. Between the four Midrozi they could lift it without risk of damaging themselves, and it was a simple matter for the Midrozi to backtrack their way out of the cave. Ziadera's run into it might have been wild and thoughtless, but the Midrozi's pursuit hadn't.

Soon enough they walked out of the cave and into the light and Ziadera was dumped at Kaolin's feet. He had a syringe in his hand and he knelt down and injected it into the side of the human slave's neck. Soon afterwards the sedative got to work and Ziadera would be unable to prevent herself drifting off to sleep. When she was asleep the net was released and replaced in the gun that had fired it, the knife pulled away from suddenly loose hands and put away in a hunter's pack. The human's hands were tied at the wrist behind her, and a collar was locked in place around her neck. A thin chain was attached to the collar that led back to Kaolin, being about eight feet in length. It also had a shock generator attached for if she proved stubborn.

With that all done the Midrozi settled down to wait just inside the cave. They saw no reason to carry the human any more than they had to, waiting for her to wake up and walk of her own accord was much easier. The sedative would last a couple of hours, and the sleep it created would be deep enough so that Ziadera's body would probably be fully recovered from her earlier paniced sprint through the desert.

Ziadera looked around. Her eyes widened. A team of hunters. How did she not hear them? Her struggling eventually stopped as the net became too hard to struggle against.The flat of her blade was held tight against her side. They had to let her out of this net sometime and that was when she would escape. Words were wasted on them. She was a hurt deer and they were the lioness staring down on her.

Soon the lifted her up and navigated their way throughout the cave. Were they familiar with this cave? How stupid could she have been, of course it had been a trap. She looked toward the ground, not daring to look into their eyes. To see them snicker or smirk at her would confirm her fears.

The light hurt Zia's eyes as it streamed from outside of the cave. She squinted to see if there was any type of vehicle to transport her back, but saw none. She gasped as she was dropped in front of a set of legs. She couldnt see anything, but her eyes widened, despite the sun, as the needle pierced her neck and ejected liquid into it.

The world began to spin as the drug took effect. She tried to focus but only could let her eyelids close upon themselves. How long did she sleep? She couldnt tell. Hours maybe. But however long, she was no longer tired. She tried to stretch but found that her hands were tied behind her back. She struggled, and opened her eyes, now remembering the situation she was in. Get away...She had to get away. She tried to scramble to her feet to try to escape. Little did she notice the chain around her neck...

Kaolin watched with amusement as Ziadera woke up and tried to get to her feet. He, and the rest of the hunters, watched with idle amusement as you tried to flee. None of them moved to stop her, even as she started running. It was only when Ziadera was about to run out of chain did Kaolin press the button that turned the shock generator in the collar on. Ziadera suffered shock after shock, and although each individual shock was very weak so it didn't cause damage it was still painful, and it constantly came and vanished. If she didn't stop before she ran out of chain Kaolin would probably just let the chain go, and she would suffer those shocks until he turned it off. And with the collar positioned where it was those shocks traveled into the human's spine, and caused the nerves contained inside it to overload and spasm.

When Ziadera collapsed to the ground, her muscles spasming from the shock collar, the Midrozi simply laughed at her. Kaolin would walk to recover the chain if it had been released from his hand and once it was in his hand he flicked it off. Come here, slave. He ordered, his voice authoritive. The sort of voice used by military officers, one that brooked no dispute and implied that you would obey the order given.

A tiny slither of hope inched into her mind. They werent chasing her. With her energy back, she could run. How far? she didnt know. The handcuffs restrained her movement partially and slowed her down, but not by alot. Only when she realized there was a collar on her neck did she see why they werent chasing her.

The collar activated, and sent shocks throughout her body. Her legs gave in as the weak jolts did enough to stop them. She curled into a ball as she felt the electricity run through her body. She wanted to plead for them to make it stop but between the pain and the cruel laughing, she couldnt form the words in her mouth.She tried to stay strong and stand, but the shocks came and went. Never in a pattern, and always seeming to be at a different part of her limbs or body.

Finally the shock stopped, and her muscles relaxed. Her breath came out in small pants. She had to get the collar off. But that was almost impossible with the cuffs on. She jumped a little, as she heard the command. There was no alternative in his voice. Ticking him off now would not be benificial. Slowly she began to get up. M-my name...is Ziadera.. she said rasply. It had been a while since she had never formed a sentence. Even to herself. Finally she stood shakily to her feet and slowly moved closer to him.

Kaolin watched Ziadera as she slowly got to her feet and stated her name before slowly walking towards him. He waited until she reached him before reactivating the shock collar, causing her to collapse yet again writhing on the ground. If I cared about your opinion slave I would have asked for it. As for your name, it will be whatever I decide it to be, if I ever give you one. The voice is cold and harsh, offering no mercy, no respite, and no hope. Kaolin doesn't mention that he won't be holding her for long, he is just in charge of the team sent to recover her. But he can still teach her the basic tenants as he understood them.

Kaolin flicked the collar off and snapped Get back on your feet slave. We have a long trip to make and dragging you is a waste of energy. When you finally managed to stand again Kaolin instantly started walking, the rest of the Midrozi hunters starting to move as well. The pace is designed to be a fast walk for a human, and if you ever get more than three feet away from Kaolin he shocks you for a moment as the entire formation stops and waits for you to reach him again.

This was a bad situation, and she knew it. As soon as she reached him, another shock ran through her body, sending her to the ground hissing in pain. Slowly, her freedoms continued to dwindle. Her freedom to speech was first. She had been chastised for her mouth before, but the collar was even more painful, and humiliating. Like she was some type of animal.

A breath of relief came as the collar was turned off. With no quick comments, she got to her feet, easier this time, since her body was becoming slightly more tolerant to the shocks. A long trip? and they expected her to walk the whole way? She decided that they would probably end up dragging her, before the time was up, or carrying her. She walked at her own pace, their pace to fast to keep up with. Another shock, was sent through her, though this time she only fell to her knees. She quickly got up and caught up, the message registering in her mind.

She was given no mercy. Sweat beaded her face and her legs weakened. but she still had to stay close to them. Asking to stop would have been good if she wasnt in this situation. The mere suggestion would get her shocked probably. When she fell back, the shocks wiped her body of its energy, but it gave her a moment to catch her breath. How long could this continue? Hopefully they were close to the stopping point.

The Midrozi seemed to be tireless. They moved on and on through the desert, always towards the city and easily holding the pace that was making Ziadera struggle. Whenever one of them grew thirsty, or tired even, they simply drew out a bottle and squirted a brief stream of a clear liquid into their mouth. The drugged water invigorated them, kept them going and ensured their bodies did not wear out from constant use. Their longer legs made each step easier as well, as did their physical conditioning. This was how the Midrozi had caught up with Ziadera in the first place.

Of course eventually they stopped for a break, more for Ziadera then themselves. This was only after the human's legs would have been in pain, and her entire nervous system in agony from shock after shock delivered via the collar from her falling behind. Night was falling, and just like most desert's this one would become freezing when it did. Kaolin pulled out a smooth metal sphere and the chain in his hand was fed into a slot. He pressed a button and let it go and instantly the chain was pulled into it with surprising strength. It only stopped pulling when a little over three inches of chain was left. If she touched it a shock flowed out, both down the chain and into whatever she used to touch it, and it remained in place on the sand, suddenly far to heavy to lift.

With her secured the Midrozi set up their own camp, each one pulling out extra bottles of clean undrugged water as well as their own ration packs. Surprisingly enough for field rations these ones smelled good, very good. Far higher quality than most aliens on Vanejin VII ate normally. The Midrozi were rich, and they could afford luxuries for their hunters. The packs also served as very good bait, so were doubly useful. While the hunters ate (excluding two who were on guard duty) Kaolin walked over to Ziadera, a open pack in one hand with a bottle of water in the other.

If I let the chain loose so you can eat are you going to be good? Kaolin scanned Ziadera's mind as he asked the question. No doubt her voice would answer yes, but Kaolin was only interested in her minds answer. If she was going to behave than he would give her the slight luxurary of having some freedom of movement. Of being able to move her neck more than three inches off a point in the ground. If she wasn't ... than he would simply have to feed her, and that being treated more like an animal would wear away at her.

Her body wanted to give out. Her energy was spent between trying to keep up with them and the shocks running through her body. They continued forward for, what seemed like an eternity to Zia. Her legs could squeeze out little more. She didnt risk staying on the ground.The pain of taking another step was still less than what they could probably cause.

Her demeanor had changed. Her face showed her desperation to just have a place to rest. They eventually had stopped. Zia's legs almost buckled and fell as they stopped. She thanked the gods that they had some sort of mercy. Even if just a little. The night air had finally began to move against her skin revealing how cold she was. The lack of a shock made her look at her captor. She watched him put the chain into a metalic like ball. The sudden jerk pulled a gasp from her and dragged her quickly within the chains reach. She whimpered as the ball sunk to the ground dragging her neck with it. Zia closed her eyes. She was almost too tired to fight it. The smell of the ratons caused her to open her eyes. A man was slowly approaching with food and water in hand. It was him, the one who controlled the collar around her neck.

Her eyes stayed blank as he asked her a question. Her body was weak from the constant shocks, and the long walk. She slowly nodded, afraid to verbally answer. After she ate and drank, she would have to escape. How long would they chase her? was she that important? no..probably not. She waited, hoping for him to unloose the chain.

Kaolin could see the desperation in Ziadera, the exhaustion. Tomorrow would be no better, before the Midrozi settled down to sleep she would be injected with the same sedative as before, and when she woke up she would be at her peak of energy, ready for yet another brutal day trekking through the desert back towards the city. Physically she would be fine, but mentally ... that was far more questionable. Keeping such a pace would grind down any desire she had to resist, to fight back. She had already proven she was prepared to do so, and as a result any such reaction had to be stripped from her. The Midrozi would completly break her, not the obviously pathetic job done by her previous owner. He had proven himelf pathetic when he had been killed by her, in fact the simple fact she had actually killed a alien like that had earned her 'points' in the Midrozi's eyes. It decreased the value to have a slave with that sort of histroy, but such a being couldn't be simply let go.

And now it seemed her reistance had offered Kaolin another chance to grind it away. Pity, I was thinking of giving you some extra lee-way tomorrow, letting you fall a little bit further behind before the shock, and reducing the intensity of it. Maybe even droping the pace to something easier. But you have no intention of co-operating, all you are interested in is running away. Since your going to act like some common animal I will treat you like one.

Kaolin sat down on the sand next to Ziadera's head. A hand manipulated her head so that it was facing him and Kaolin first lifted the bottle of water to her lips. He was careful to control the flow of the fresh clean undrugged water to ensure she didn't choke or drink too much. After a brief drink Kaolin started feeding Ziadera the food. Of course the moment she resisted, or tried to struggle, Kaolin would simply stop and walk away. He had no intention of visiting her again this night, except to administer the sedative to put her asleep long enough to ensure she would be fresh for the day's march.