The First Course

The sounds of laughter couldn't be ignored as Lucas and Dante ran around the pool on board the OSC-Titalian, it was an older model Oasis class liner that had just been retrofit and reentered service. "Boys please be careful around the pool." their mother Alannah shouted out almost sounding more frustrated at their behaviour than worried over their safety. The boys stopped for a moment and gave their mother a look like she was speaking another language, "Relax we aren't babies" Lucas shouted back at her before pushing Dante into the water. Tony their father turned to his wife saying "Darling there is no need to worry, no other passengers appear bothered by the boys antics and even if they do hurt themselves we have plenty of trained staff to deal with it.". Tony was a larger Bretonian man who had worked for the BAF for a good portion of his life until around three years ago when he left and joined Orbital spa and cruise as a security team leader. "I just don't want them and their behaviour painting you in a poor light my love" Alannah replied a high amount of concern in her voice. Alannah was a beautiful woman with silky auburn hair and the wonderful trait of young looking skin, She had a questionable past even flying Molly colors on more than one occasion but after meeting her husband Tony and having two boys she had settled into a quiet life of a housewife. "Please darling this is a vacation for you as well them so try to relax, Also just look at them." he said while pointing towards the boys playing in the pool " They are having a good time and I really don't think the captain would use anything a nine and ten year old boy did as a complaint against." Tony chuckled before his face turned into a more serious expression "I do have to go to a security meeting now though, its never anything important but we have to make plans for when we jump from Cambridge to Omega 3." Tony said while kissing Alannah on her cheek and walking away towards the bridge. Alannah just smiled and waved goodbye to her husband before turning her gaze back towards the boys. Maybe I should get a drink and relax by the pool like Tony said she thought to herself while wandering over to the bar.

Several relaxing hours passed before Alannah was pulled from her daydreams by a voice over the Intercom system "Attention all passengers this is your captain speaking we will be jumping into Omega 3 any moment now, Any passengers that suffer from Jump sickness this is a chance to get into a comfortable position for the jump. After successfully making the jump we will continue on our plotted course. Again please note all passengers we will be jumping into Omega 3 any moment now thank you." Dante and Lucas had walked over to Alannah before the captain had finished speaking and both of them have grabbed one of her hands for comfort as the vessel jumped. In the blink of an eye the ship had jumped into Omega 3. Without a second thought the two young boys had run across to the window and were staring out at the escort fighter commenting on how cool it was.

Letting out a sigh of relief Alannah rose from her seat and started walking to the bar, she never was comfortable with jumping to other systems and figured she needed a drink or seven to calm herself. "Hey lets go eat the food" Lucas shouted while running to the dinning hall with Dante following up behind him. The boys crashed through the doors of the dining hall and had to stop for a minute to take in just how much food was out on display. "Look there is some other kids" Dante muttered while walking towards the other children. Lucas approached the two other children and introduced Dante and himself before pulling out a chair for Dante and sitting at the table. "It's lovely to meet the two of you, My name is Mary and this is my younger brother Dennis." the young girl said in the most polite little tone, Her brother looked up at the two boys for amount before turning back to his over filled plate and continued eating like a farm animal. The four children ate and swapped stories for the next hour or so before Dante asked "Hey have you guys seen that super cool ship outside? it looks like bird." The young brother and sister looked at each and the shook their heads. "Come on then quick this way I'll show you." Dante explained while running for the door if the other three following him out. "Wow that is super cool looking." Dennis managed to say while still cramming food into his mouth. "My dad says it is gonna keep us safe all the way to Baden B..." Lucas stopped his sentence short as the four kids watched the escort eagle become a ball of fire as it exploded. "Why did that just happen?" Mary asked with tears swelling in her eyes but before anyone could answer the outline of two other ships zipped passed the window scaring Dennis who ran back into the dinning hall out of fear.

A few moments passed as the three kids stood there unsure what to do before the deck underneath them started shaking, "We have to find Dennis." Mary cried as she grabbed the hands of Lucas and Dante and started running to the dinning hall. Alarms began to sound by the time the entered the dinning hall which seemed to snap Lucas back into reality "Okay dad said if anything bad happens to just stay in one place and he will save us" he said while looking around the hall. "um I think I found him" Dante claimed while pointing at a little hand coming up from under a table cloth grabbing at whatever it could. The three kids walked over and lifted the table cloth to find Dennis sitting there surrounded by a pile of food. "Well I guess we can wait here til someone finds us" Mary said calmly while grabbing more food off the table and then sitting under it. Lucas and Dante nodded in agreement and also grabbed additional food before moving to under the table.

Between the violent rocking of the deck and the loud alarm bells Alannah lifted her head off the bar "Huh what is this? a BAF raid" she muttered to herself while trying to remember where she was. Stumbling and falling to the floor a few times and took a couple minutes before she actually realised where she was. Where the heck is everyone she thought to herself as she looked around the forth floor rec room. The sound of boots stomping down the hall was unmistakable but in her tipsy state Alannah wasn't able to think fast enough to hide before the doors swung open. "Looky here we got a live one!" a voice shouted as three men entered the room all of them wearing ripped clothing and carrying weapons. "Just grab her and take her to the upper level with the rest of em" One of the men shouted as the other two grabbed her by the arms and started dragging her away. Alannah tried struggling but the men didn't seem bothered by her attempts at all. It wasn't long before Alannah found herself outside the dinning hall with what appeared to be all the other guests and crew. "My babies!" Alannah screamed as she suddenly realised her boys were no where to be seen, As she went to move to look for them though she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head and she fell to the ground. "You will stay right here and not move until told to do so lady or it will get worse for you" a burly voice said as another man in torn clothing and paint across his face walked over her.

Suddenly the alarms stopped and a slender man wearing a suit and mask with a huge smiley face walked onto the deck "Hello hello happy people, I am Israc I am the head chef of the Cadiz crew." The man said in a chirpy tone as he started walking passed everyone before continuing " I just want you all to know it is your lucky day, I mean you could have been found by evil space pirates and all murdered but thankfully we found you first. Thanks to the smart thinking of the captain of this ugly vessel you all get to live cause the security team surrendered not long after we boarded. So I guess you are all wondering what we are doing and its only fair to let you know, we are saving you from yourselves and letting you all come with us. To this end I shall introduce you to my Sous chef Lars, lets give him a big hand." As Israc finished his sentence as a very short but muscular man approached the hostages. "I am Lars you all in a line no kids!" the short man barked. The hostages all looked at each other with puzzled looks on their faces and then the captain spoke up "So if we get in a line you promise no one will be harmed?" he asked in a trembling tone Israc nodded and waved his hand towards the wall. The captain then started to direct people up against the wall in a line keeping his crew all in one part and the passengers at the end. After they were all lined up Lars proceeded to walk past and smell everyone before walking back over to Israc and whispering in his ear. "My my now this is the fun part. First Lars will point out the delicacies and those people are to move there." gesturing to over by the pool "Then Lars will pick out the choice cuts who will go to there." Pointing this time over to where he had entered from "While the rest of you shall stay against the wall with the children. Lars begin!" Lars wasted no time in racing back over to the line and picking out the delicacies, he appeared to be selecting some of the more attractive members of the hostages. As he got up to Alannah he had to stop and stare for a minute, while everyone else was standing against the wall she was sitting and slumped over quietly crying. Scratching his head twice he moved on without touching her and resumed picking people. Once he had reached the end of the line though he ran back up to Alannah and sniffed her twice, Tony was over with the rest of his team clenching his fist but knowing if he did anything reckless people would suffer. "This one too" Lars grunted while grabbing Alannah by the hair and tossing her in the direction of the other 'delicacies'. "Good now that is out of the way Lars grab me the choice cuts." Israc laughed as Lars started his walk again. This time Lars appeared to be picking more muscular people and had selected almost the entire security team. "Excellent well now that is settled we..." Israc was cut short by the sound of glass smashing in the dinning hall.

While hiding under the table the kids had managed to eat the majority of the food they grabbed "I want something to drink" Dennis moaned as he was gnawing at a bone. "You should be quiet I think I hear people outside" Lucas whispered. Unfortunately it seemed Dennis was very thirsty and stuck his hand out grabbing at the tables contents once again "Yes I found water" Dennis cheered as his hand grasped the opening of what he believed was a glass, without a second thought he tried pulling it down but it was very heavy and slipped out of his hands. Smashing into the ground the vase he had grabbed made quite alot of noise. Before any of the kids could get a word out though the door swung open and footsteps was all they could hear. It must be dad Dante thought so he burst forth out from under the table straight into the leg of one of the Cadiz crew. "You little runt!" the crew member shouted as he kicked over the table out of frustration revealing the other kids. "Well this should keep Israc happy" another crew member said as he grabbed the children and walked them out the door. "Look what he have here boss" the crew member yelled pointing at the kids. "Good work" Israc said while raising his gun and pointing it at Dante "Can't have rats hiding away without punishing them can we" he smirked prepared to fire. "No!!!" Shouted Tony as he rushed forward tackling Israc. The two struggled on the floor for a moment before Lars shot Tony in the back. "Well there goes some of the choice cuts better put rest away" Israc laughed. Alannah lifted her head to see her husband dying on the floor but as she went to stand one of the Cadiz crew put his hand on her shoulder and whispered "If you move there is a chance he will kill more people." Alannah scanned the crowd again quickly and saw both Lucas and Dante as a feeling of relief from seeing them rushed over her she realised that if she tried to help Tony her sons would probably be killed. Israc wandered over to kids and said in a grim tone "Well he paid the price for you but next time it will cost more." Turning back to his crew Israc proclaimed "That's it lads move your groups to their transports and off we go." Without any sign of hesitation the Cadiz crew split into three and walked the hostages away and onto transports that had forcibly docked with the liner.

The transports were cramped and very uncomfortable obviously they were meant for shipping cargo not people. There was a lot of crying and sobbing to be heard from the hostages but very little talking. It was impossible to work out how much time had passed or which direction the were heading and any inquires to members of the Cadiz crew ended in violence so the trip felt like it took forever until the transports started docking. Walking off the transport the path was dimly lit and creaking sounds echoed down the cramped halls. eventually the main group of hostages entered into this huge room like a hanger that had been refit there was a lot of conveyor belts and what looked like a shanty town towards the corner. Looking up to the top of the scaffolding Dante could make out what looked like the two other groups of hostages being lead in different directions. Flames started shooting out near the roof and it was clear someone was standing on the scaffolding looking down at them. After the hostages got to the middle of the room the person on the scaffolding began clearing his throat "Welcome one and all to your new lives, My name is Pablo I am the boss of this level and you all work for me. We sort the goods that get raided here whether they be loot or mining goods. You all live in that town over there. You will eat when you are told to and you will train we you aren't working or sleeping. Those who wish to leave have two choices you can try and escape or every three months you may compete in the Feats of Strength. Remember failure to comply with orders will not be tolerated. Oh and again welcome to the PIT!"