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overlords that enslaved and killed their respective queen. Their will was entirely their own and today they would pay the price for such ownership.
    Vai-Zik entering the arena always had their wings smashed and broken: eliminating the risk of their escape but done in such a way that they could still flutter--a tactical necessity.
    The crowd, of roughly sixty-five thousand Vai-Zik, erupted into cheers as the four rebels entered the arena. It was not so much that anyone really wanted outlaws to win but rather it was a custom to honor their distant brothers and sisters, especially when facing their imminent death.
    “Who doesn’t love an underdog in a battle to the death?” Lai-Kai laughed.
    All four were hunters and despite their broken wings, all but one appeared pretty healthy and strong. Certainly any other than the single, sickly looking runt could serve as a formidable matchup against Kio-Kai.
    The sickly looking hunter was thinner and stood behind the other three. He was hunched over as he walked out at a slower pace than the others. Even facing their demise, the four radiated a sense of integrity and conviviality. Today the overlords were going to break that honor and spit in the face of the camaraderie the four held for one another.
    “We gather in the great coliseum to watch a sacred blood tribute of four insurgents for their crimes against the hive. Because our lord beith so graceful and merciful, these four radicals will be given the opportunity to earn a life of servitude if they can be victorious in three matches in the arena!” A cold voice echoed through a sea of Vai-Zik. Only this voice was not one of a drone, nor one of a hunter, and certainly not the voice of a queen. This was a voice of an overlord. It spoke the language of the Vai-Zik fluently but he was not born of the hive nor did he belong to any clan.
    “If anyone could manage to defeat Brutalius in combat, they should be granted freedom and awarded eternal prominence,” Lai-Kai snickered. “But no, if they manage to beat the champion, they still would then have to win twice more against other opponents.”
    She was amused and why shouldn’t she be? This was after all a spectacle of amusement for Vai-Zik. Tear the clans apart and run down and belittle the ones that oppose the overlords.
    Kio-Kai squinted, trying to find the speaker in the crowd across the arena.
    “Who is that?” he asked Lai-Kai as he searched for the announcer.
    “It’s an overlord. I do not remember his name but he is in charge of overseeing the colosseum,” she answered.
    Kio-Kai had heard stories as a child of the overlords. They were rumored to be a plague that had hold of the queens of the empire. For far too long, the overlords leached from the Vai-Zik. This was the driving factors to many clans rebelling, and being executed, when Kio-Kai was just a larva.
    Kio Kai found him in the crowd and quickly became uneasy. He couldn’t believe it. He thought this was his first time ever laying eyes on an overlord but it was not. There was another time he had witnessed one of these soft sacks of meat and flesh. It was only a few hours ago, when he had found one in the wreckage of the silver craft that fell from the sky. Not only had he captured, and killed it, but he also fed it to a grinder for processing.
     
     
     
     

Chapter 4
Dance Bitches
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    The alarms of New Horizon sounded off a high pitch squeal and Ness jumped up smashing his face on the bunk above. Blue lights flashed, filling the corridors.
    “Blue lights. Red means fire, white means lockdown, green is a breach in the haul, and blue is buckle your damn seat belts we are about to enter accelerated warp,” a much younger voice from below recited.
    Ness lay back in his bunk clutching his face in pain as blood dripped from his nose. He reached for his seat belt and strapped himself in.
    The pioneers were expected to make landfall this week. If they had reached a hospitable planet,