Larna paced up and down in front of Princess Mia as she sat up to watch the large space craft slowly start to disappear below the hills. Mia was the picture perfect example of a fairy-tale princess. She had the stunning youthful innocent features of a porcelain doll, combined with the curvaceous body of a fashion model and the long flowing blonde locks. Her face was covered with a fine amount of make-up that just enhanced her features and made her totally irresistible to any man. At that moment, she only had a blanket for coverage. Larna quickly made sure that she gave Mia the clothes of one of the dead worshippers. Mia quickly started getting dressed. That made Larna feel slightly better. She knew that it would not do for Mia to be seen wandering around naked, especially now that there was a new and dark threat on this planet. Mia watched Larna closely. She had never seen a woman dressed like Larna. Mia’s recent memories, all of the ones involving her capture, torture, brainwashing and sexual enslavement by the wicked Warlock Darius, had been removed by the Silver Lady’s touch in the battle inside the temple. Those memories included all of Mia’s dealings with Larna. Mia had of course seen the guards and soldiers around the castle when she was growing up. But, she had never seen a woman dressed up like a warrior.
Larna’s outfit consisted of a mixture of leather and chain mail. She wore heavy-looking leather boots on her feet. While they looked heavy, they were in fact quite light. They did have a worn and battered look to them. Each boot had a dagger attached to the outside. Her legs were bare from middle of shin up to middle of thigh. A short leather mini-skirt went around her waist and was held up by a strong broad belt with little silver circles on. These silver circles were a form of explosive device. A leather corset went around her waist and was done up tightly to reduce her waist by several inches. The corset emphasised her bosom by pushing it up. The effect of this on Larna was extremely stunning. Chain mail went over the top. Her shoulders and upper torso were covered by chain mail that went from the top of the corset to the neck. Larna’s was attached to the slave collar that had been permanently locked around it. The slave collar was a clear identification mark of her slavery that Larna could not get away from. The cattle brand on her right buttock was another memento from her slavery. Apart from the leather bands up her forearms, her arms were bare. These bands were attached with tiny fasteners around the middle finger of each hand. Her weapons consisted of a Boomerang shaped weapon at her left side and a broad sword on her right. The sword was tied tightly to her thigh, so that it followed every move that she made. To finish the outfit off, Larna wore a long well worn and battered leather trench coat that almost touched the ground. This outfit just enhanced her stunning looks, resembling those of the actress Hudson Leick.
“Who are you?” Mia asked after tying the cord of the outfit she had been given tightly around her slender waist. “And what was that strange flying craft that went over us?” she pushed full of questions. “I have never seen anything like that before,” she expressed while she rose to her feet with her eyes fixed on the horizon the ship had disappeared below. “Was that thing created by what happened inside that temple?” she enquired nervously. “What is going on?” Mia finally asked in a fluster. She was confused, scared and felt completely isolated. She was in a strange place, surrounded by strange people, with dark and mysterious flying devices going right over her head. If she was dead, then she was in hell.
Larna stopped dead in her tracks. She stood with her back to the Princess. She placed her hands on her hips. Mia took a step up behind her. Larna just glared out at the horizon. Talane was out there. Her friends were out there. Her lover was out there. Larna glanced over her right shoulder at Mia standing behind her. Mia had a look of complete loss on her face.
Larna turned around to face her. “Mia you have got to find some place to hide. That thing you saw carried demons from a different planet. They are going to take everything from this planet,” she explained firmly.
“The best place for me to be right now is with you. I have no idea who you are or what you are. But, I can tell from the look of you that I will be safer staying with you than being anywhere else,” Mia expressed firmly straight away.
Larna glared at the Princess closely. She did not have the time to discuss this with the Princess. Larna did not know what she was going to do, but she could not stand around while the Loretis took everyone that she cared about. Escape from this planet was now hopeless. There was only one way that she was getting off this planet. And, that was in one of the Loretis transport ships. Larna would rather it not be as a prisoner though. She had had encounters with the Loretis slave and prison ships before. They were not the most pleasant of places to be for a young woman. Taking Mia along with her was a big risk. But, something inside of her could not just let this young woman be caught. Larna nodded her head just the once to agree with the Princess. The pair then quickly moved towards the horses tied up at the side of the temple building.
Larna did not want to take Princess Mia along with her. The Loretis would be hard enough to hide from without having to push and pull Mia around with her in all directions. Larna could however see Mia’s point of view. She did not want to be left alone in a strange place. Strange things had happened to her and she was completely lost. Larna would be the only person she would be able to latch on to. The Loretis were going to be all over the surrounding areas of Talane. In a standard search pattern they would have the city as the centre and expand out in a concentric circle pattern to cover the largest area possible. If they were true to form then they would slaughter all of the men that they found and take the best women as captives back to their central command position. Those that they did not want they would eliminate. Their standard farming process left no place alone. Unfortunately, for the people of Darcon, their lives were forever changed. Nothing and no one would be able to change the fact that the Loretis were there. Darcon was no longer free. They had been travelling for what had felt like days. In fact, it had only been a short time. The temple at Boseburg was not far away from the grand city of Talane. They had only just come within view of the city when they saw the large spacecraft looming on the horizon. It had taken over the whole city. Mia stopped her horse dead in its tracks. She could not believe the size of that ship. It amazed her that it was able to fly so effortlessly. Larna did not like it. The number of soldier that that thing would have carried was enormous. Getting on board was not going to be easy. But, she had to put those thoughts out of her mind. It was not a case of she might be able to get on board, it was a case of she had to get on board. Larna slipped down off the saddle swiftly. She quickly grabbed the reins of the horse and pulled her into the trees. Mia wondered what her comrade was doing. They were so far away from the city that they would never be seen, but her comrade was acting like a hunted animal.
Larna quickly tied the horse off then returned to the path. “I want you to stay here. You’ll be safe this far out of the city,” she lied sounding totally convincing as she always did when she lied her ass off. “I’m going to go and get a better look of the city,” she finished firmly.
“What am I supposed to do in the meantime?” Mia asked glancing around in all directions like a lost child.
“Stay out of sight. If you see anyone, hide,” Larna replied firmly.
“Can’t I come with you?” she asked in a soft and hopeless tone of voice.
“It’s better if I go alone,” Larna snapped sharply. “Trust me,” she said in her soft French accented voice.
Mia looked closely into her eyes. Larna held her light innocent expression very well. This innocent look just added a certain sexiness to her, which just enhanced her sexy figure. It was hard to believe that such a stunning sexy and innocent looking package of a twenty-one year old had been a brutal hired mercenary and assassin for three years and had seen and done so many horrible and terrible things that her place in Hell was assured. Mia smiled and just nodded her head simply once. Larna winked then started to jog off down the path leading towards the city.
Larna peered out through the gaps in the bushes. She had only just made it into the cover of the forest at the edge of the city when the Loretis patrol had come into view. Larna had taken cover in the nearest bushes to her. Now she lay flat on her stomach as quiet as she could. The patrol was going right by her. There must have been fifty men in it. It was a clear example of how the Loretis used numbers and the over-powering tactic to invade and conquer a planet. This patrol was looking for loose ends. These loose ends would only be a few in number. Fifty against one would be about the normal odds. Larna made her move when the rear-guard walked passed. She rustled the bushes in front of her. The man twirled around swiftly. Larna immediately grabbed hold of his gun and yanked him down to the ground. They were just the same as she remembered. The reason why the Loretis used numbers to beat their opponents was because, as individuals, they were pathetically weak and feeble. Larna was able to beat them easily without even making an effort. Larna pinned the man down to the ground. She forced his face down into the dirt firmly. At the start he kicked and struggled, but the fight was brief. Larna glanced over her left shoulder quickly. The others were not aware that they had lost a man. She quickly started to pull the black metallic uniform from the man’s prone body. The metal was light but very resistant. Larna quickly changed into the uniform. When she dropped the helmet over her head, it was hard to tell her apart from a Loretis Warrior. The helmet was like a bicycle helmet. The visor on the front was solid black. On the inside, there was a tiny computer screen that gave a virtual reality read-out of the surrounding area. It scanned for pre-programmed life forms. Larna guessed that her physiology was different to that of the inhabitants of this planet. Larna was unclear how this helmet worked so she accessed the Thala surgically attached to her left wrist.
The Time, History And Location Analyser was Larna’s main time transportation aide.
It accesses the Factual Historical Information (FHI) Implants that had been surgically attached to the inside of her skull. Those Implants gave Larna every single piece of data concerning people, places and events going right back to 1980. They also store STC (space-time co-ordinates) numbers in them. STC numbers were made up from the longitude and latitude numbers of the place she wanted to go to, along with the year, month, day, hour, minute and second she wished to arrive in. After the time transportation sequence is activated the Thala would surround Larna in an invisible light field and turn her body into a set of small molecules, which are held in the light. The light then pierced a hole through time and carried the molecules with it. When it arrived at the new destination, it turned the molecules back to a physical form. The time travelling procedure was useless in this dimension as she had found out when she first arrived. But, she could still use the computer to perform operations. Larna operated the Thala by thought processes. The responses were given to her in her subconscious thanks to a modified FHI Implant. The only sign that Larna was using her aid, was when it appeared on her wrist. It appeared when Larna activated the operations function. When it was activated, the Thala lost the power to keep the invisibility shield in operation, as it is at all other times, so no one can see the technology on her arm. With the Thala permanently attached to her wrist, Larna now existed in what was called ‘Out Of Time’. She was surrounded by a PPF (Paradox Protection Field) which enabled her to witness any changes without being changed herself at the same time. It also meant that she could slip from TRES to TRES without meeting any of alternate versions of her. Larna Fox’s life now existed across numerous different TRES’.
With a few quick thoughts, she got the Thala to re-programme the helmet to scan for Loretis life-signs. Once the job was done, she deactivated the Thala to hide it from view. She picked up the gun from the ground. For a large weapon, it was surprisingly light. Larna gave it the once over. She quickly twirled it around in her hand before she slipped it down the metal holster attached to the outside of her right leg. Despite being covered from head to toe in metal, Larna found it very easy to move. The metal almost hugged her curves. It felt very much like a second skin. Larna glanced over her right shoulder in the direction the patrol had gone. They were heading straight back towards Mia. Unfortunately, Larna could not worry about that at that moment. She needed to get into the city to see what was happening. Now she had the perfect disguise. She quickly headed off back towards the city.
The walls of the city had been blasted apart. Large holes were in the brickwork where the Loretis Blaster’s had left their marks. Buildings were laid in ruin. Debris was strewn all over the area. The large dominating shape of the spacecraft loomed over her head. It cast a shadow over nearly the entire city. The main entrance to the city was guarded by a patrol of ten men. Larna held her head up as she strolled through them. Some saluted her. Larna saluted back. She did not know whether she was supposed to, but it seemed the logical course of action. The city was now nothing like it had been. The main entrance street had been converted to act like a pathway up into the large ramp of the ship. Several soldiers were marching up and down in and out of the ship. Larna stopped just inside of the entrance. She moved to the side of the street and stood with her back against the nearest building to the ship. From this viewpoint, she could see the whole of the Loretis operation that was being undertaken. Despite the fierce desire to do something about the pain, suffering and humiliation that was being delivered on the street, Larna had to steel herself and force herself to remain standing right where she was. She hated to see what was being done, but she knew that it would be suicide to even attempt to stop it.
The street had been split up into five lines. At the far end of the street, close to the Market Square, a large laser force field has been set up. Larna could hear it buzzing and crackling from where she stood. The field went right around the market square and had turned it into the perfect holding cell area. The laser beams running between the tall heavy looking metal posts in each corner left it impossible for anyone to get in or out without having a guard open an authorised access port through the beams. All of the unprocessed prisoners where left secured inside this holding cell that was much like cattle holding pens at a market. The Farmed prisoners were collected one at a time from this main holding cell. They were roughly dragged down the street by two guards. They were taken straight into one of the five metal boxes that had been placed on the street. These boxes were half way between the laser force field and entrance to the spacecraft. They were very simple in design. They had one way in and one way out. The base was about six-foot square and they stood at least ten feet high. No one could see inside. When one of the victims was dragged in through the market square side entrance, both doors slammed shut to shield what happened on the inside. These boxes were the central processing areas. Once inside, the victims were fully processed. They were first stripped naked by the guards, so that the scans could be completed without interference. They were then placed inside a metal rectangle structure that was similar to a metal detector at an airport. Once they were inside the frame, a paralysing beam hit them so that they were held in place. A white light then worked slowly down from the top of the device to the floor then back up again to do a thorough scan of the person held inside the framework. The scanner would deliver the results to the co-ordinator immediately. These results would grade the person in one of four classes. Class A had been assessed and scanned to be perfect for breeding purposes. These would find themselves being taken to a Breeding Settlement on a different planet. Class B was classed as being a threat or ideal for experimental purposed. They would be sentenced to the underground prison on Loretis were they would be used and abused by the scientists in their attempts to further advance the Loretis science community. Those classified as being Class C were the unfortunate ones that would be turned into the mindless worker’s and slaves that would be sold at auctions on Loretis for work in the households on that planet. Those classed, as D would face liquidation. Not many were found to be D. The majority of those Farmed were in the B and C classes. After the scanners had gone through their process, the victim was pulled out of the holding beam. They were manhandled roughly over to the judging table. Once at this table, their left arm was placed inside a machine. The machine would then close around her forearm, just below her elbow. It was at this point that the screams came. A barcode was painfully tattooed into the skin, permanently marking them with their Farming number and classification encoding. Now that they were bar-coded, their fate was sealed and they could never change the class that they had been given. Their identity had been changed from a name to a number. They were merely cattle. This was the end of the process. When the machine freed their arm, the new ‘animal’ was dragged away towards the spacecraft-side entrance of the building. Naked as the day they were born, the victims were frog-marched up the street towards the main ramp to the ship. They were so shocked and stunned from the pain of both the medical scan, which left their muscles aching from the number of painful spasms that had been delivered during the scan, and the bar-coding, that had left a burning sensation that was working right up their left arm, none of the ‘animals’ even struggled. They were guided like docile pets up the street. Most could barely stay on their feet. Larna could see the look of humiliation on their faces as their bodies had been violated. The fact that they were being paraded up the street naked did not help. The pain and suffering that they were going through just added to the control aspect that the Loretis guards had over their new ‘animals’. All of the young women who came out of those metal boxes were held firmly under a grip of humiliation, pain and terror. The Loretis had now turned their lives into nightmares.
Larna watched as the latest few processed ‘animals’ were marched up into the spacecraft. Her emotions were running riot. She was being torn all ways. The main thing that she continued to tell herself was that it would be like committing suicide if she did make a move against the Loretis in this place. She just had to stand-by and watch as these poor innocent victims were treated like farm animals. Her hand rested lightly against the gun at her right side. She was desperate to start firing. Larna moved casually away from her position. A Commander figure had come down the ramp. She did not want to appear to be standing around idle. Immediately another man came rushing out from one of the silver boxes. Larna casually walked across to the ramp in the hope of getting a better location to hear what was being said.
The Captain saluted the commander like an eager recruit. “Yes sir,” he proclaimed firmly.
“I have come for a progress report Captain,” the commander growled fiercely.
“Well sir we have five processing stations running to maximum capacity. We are getting through the animals farmed quite quickly. We should have them done within the next Deyton,” the Captain replied positively.
“And the numbers?” the Commander asked sharply.
“At the moment the majority are in Class B and C. We have only found small percentages that are Class A. Sir, what do you want us to do with the troublemakers being held in the top security compound?” the Captain asked cautiously.
This brought Larna’s attention right back. For troublemakers she read resistance fighters. The Commander looked towards the dark alley that led to a different part of the city. He then turned his attention back on to the Captain.
“Have you scanned them? There could be some Class A beasts within the group,” the Commander expressed with concern.
“If you want us to process them we will,” the Captain replied in a kissing-ass tone.
“Get the best ones. Any that do not make Class A, disintegrate inside the scanner,” the Commander replied firmly before he turned away and walked back into the spacecraft.
The Captain immediately turned to Larna standing next to the ramp. “Solider, come with me,” he barked firmly.
Larna saluted and started after the Captain quickly. They collected another eleven men on their way up the street. When the group had been collected, they went through the dark alley towards another laser force field.
There were not many women behind this prison. Larna could only see ten at the most. This area was a lot smaller. It did not need to be big. The women were trussed up tightly in a hog-tied pose. Their wrists were locked tightly to their ankles to leave them arched like a bow. They were held firmly and tightly in place. The fight was gone from them. Larna immediately recognised Jezebel and Talee amongst the group. But, she could not do anything. The Captain ordered her to stand on guard duty at the entrance to the prison. Larna cringed as the guards rushed inside. The first person they collected was Jezebel.
After challenging the Loretis to come and get her on the planet of the Warlock, Larna finds herself in the hands of the evil race of people that have plagued this alternative dimension.