On a small planet deep into the galaxy.
*TAP* *TAP* *TAP*
Niko awoke to a repetitive tapping sound. His head pulsed aching from the repeated slams.
What had happened?
How long had it been?
Where was he?
Niko slowly tried to open his eyes. Even just moving felt like pure agony. Each and every bone cried out in pain. As if they wanted, no needed him to stop. To give up here and accept what happens next.
But he had to get up.
As Niko forced his eyes open the first thing he saw was a seemingly clean slab of concrete placed vertically above him by about a metre. As he veered his head to the left his nose met with a grey concrete wall. As he veered his head to the right his eyes met with a prison cell. He had been placed on a horizontal slab of concrete about 0.5 metres taller than the rest of the room. Basic metal bars protruded from the front with a simple metal jail door. Then a single concrete hole stuck out from the other corner.
Clearly they had forgot to hire an interior decorator.
Niko began to realize that what he had been lying on was not just a concrete slab, but in fact a concrete bed set out with a concrete pillow. Fancy.
Not only that but what was vertically above him wasn't actually the ceiling but another bed. It was a concrete bunk bed.
He had a roommate.
*TAP* *TAP* *TAP*
The repetitive tapping sound returned seemingly coming from whoever was above.
Niko could not possibly muster enough strength to leave his bed so he merely moved his mouth.
"Hello?"
*TAP* *TAP* *TAP*
No response.
Niko attempted to use some of his lingering strength to get off of the bed. With a shimmy Niko landed on his side as he rolled off the bed. It seemed his strength was slowly coming back to him. Obviously as all of this was happening his new roommate was still tapping.
*TAP* *TAP* *TAP*
Niko had rolled himself out to the point that he could see the back of his roommates head. Although as they were turned towards the wall so he was unable to see their face.
Still, he could make out long voluminous red hair and dirty unwashed rags that covered the roommate's body. Niko realized at this point that he was also wearing dirty unwashed rags.
Niko attempted to strike up a conversation once more.
"Do you... Want anything?"
Surprisingly the high-pitched voice of a girl responded.
"I'm fine."
*TAP* *TAP* *TAP*
She nonchalantly continued her assault on the walls.
"What are you trying to do?"
"Break out."
The girl didn't seem much for conversation, luckily it was Niko's specialty.
"Why are you doing that?"
"Because I want to leave."
Although her efforts were noble any normal person would be able to instantly surmise that her plan wouldn't work.
Niko felt his legs slowly coming back to work. As he began to stand up he noticed the plastic fork held in her right hand and the wooden arm that seemed to replace her left.
Perhaps she had an augmentation but it was removed? Nobody would willingly get a wooden rank augmentation. Different augmentations had different ranks as they progressed they would become more expensive and harder to maintain but also stronger.
Wooden rank augmentations were not only weaker than normal human bones, breaking with even the lightest amount of force but also costed next to nothing. As they could still perform basic human tasks, just with less strength this also made them ideal for slavers when replacing stronger human body parts. Of course these weren't perfect as human body parts were preferred if you wanted them to do manual labour jobs like pick up rocks, but it did the job.
Either way it was clear that the girl's plan would never work after all, she was mining herself into another cell.
"You know the bit your mining just leads you into another cell right?"
"No."
"What are you going to do about that?"
"If it does then I guess I'll just have to keep mining through that one."
It was abundantly clear that the girl did not have an aptitude for conversation. But now it also became clear that she was missing a few screws. Maybe even a lot of screws.
"I think it'd be faster if you just mined the wall to the right of you that one shouldn't lead into a cell."
The girl did not respond.
"Why don't you mine the wall to the right of you?"
"You're right I should do that."
The girl began to slowly climb down the concrete ladder connected to the top of the concrete bunk bed. As she turned around Niko finally had the opportunity to see her face.
To put it bluntly, she was cute.
The red-haired girl's face was soft and round her large eyes and slim lips fit her face with almost perfection, her cute apperance perfectly contrasted her unbothered, uncaring personality to a ridiculous level. Niko had never really had the opportunity for romance but he knew an attractive woman when he saw one, was it possible, could love bloom under this concrete hell?
"What's your name?"
"Talia Tarliet."
"I am called Niko."
No response.
"I am sleeping in the bunk bed underneath yours."
No response.
"I am going to kill you."
No response.
"Why do you only respond to my questions?"
"They're the only thing worth answering."
Harsh. It was clear a romance wouldn't work here. Niko's love had already fizzled out within seconds.
Talia began to move towards the wall opposite to the prison bars repeatedly smashing the concrete walls with a plastic fork.
*TAP* *TAP* *TAP*
It seemed that there was not a lot of thought going through her head as she acted. There was no way Talia could end up a useful ally.
Niko relented ignoring the situation behind him as he turned to look out to the prison bars. Through the bars ran a hallway which presumably lead to the rest of the prison and on his opposite lied a perfectly identical room also obscured by bars but this time occupied by two dark skinned Lizor.
The lizor were a peculiar quadrupedal rough-scaled race with long 3 feet tails and even longer lifespans.
One had brown hair, the other black.
Niko knew that if there were any shot at getting some allies he'd have to try now with these two.
"Hey! What's going on here?"
The brown-haired Lizor turned around to face Niko.
"Isn't it obvious?"
"You're being sold. The typical evils of slavery."