Slave World by Johnny Stone

by the greasy, cigar smoking foreman to make sure you’re not already someone else’s property, and that’s it. Outside of Federation space, the laws that kept slave trade at least somewhat civil were all but extinct; it’s all about turning a profit, regardless of the consequences it has on someone else.
    Shortly thereafter, I was hustled into a backroom. Holloway Trading weren’t fools and before money exchanged hands, before anything was made official, they had to see if I was actually worth the exorbitant amount that Quin was asking for me. For my sake I hoped so; this was one of those situations where being sold to Holloway Trading was probably my safest route. What else did I have to look forward to? Being a plaything for Dobbs and Quin for awhile, before being sold off to a street peddler, or dumped off in a back alley with my throat cut? The sooner I was away from those two, the better.
    A tall, strikingly beautiful redhead dressed in a shimmering leather emerald suit-skirt flowed briskly into the room on clicking heels with an entourage of T’ivk brokers in her wake. I’d never met Alexi Holloway, let alone seen her before, but she simply oozed with the scent of distinguished power. Quin seemed to know her from somewhere; they shook hands lightly, looking in my direction. Her piercing gaze made me feel like a turd in the toilet bowl about to be flushed away forever.
    “Is this what you intend to sell me today, Miles?” I couldn’t place Alexi’s haughty accent. The old South African Confederated Kolony, maybe? “You must be joking? The only reason I agreed to meet with you in person-”
    “Alexi,” Quin cut her off. “You’ll like her, trust me. She’s well worth your time,” he cooed soothingly.
    Her sparkling, dagger-like eyes bore ruthlessly into Quin. “I hope so, Miles, for your sake. If this is some sort of pathetic attempt on your part to-” Quin took a step closer, his hand hesitantly reaching out to grasp the expensive material of her jacketed arm.
    “Alli…”
    She pulled away gently, and her expression took on the slightest trace of softening above a rose shadow that blossomed in her cheeks. Holy shit, Quin and Alexi Holloway have something going on between them? No freaking way! How in the hell had someone like Quin ever hooked up with her? She was the richest, most successful slave broker in the entire Outer Rim.
    “I told you not to call me that anymore,” she whispered with a hint of edgy remorse. “It’s over between us, you made that quite clear when you started fucking that little tramp behind my back.” Bad boy …I thought wistfully.
    “Look, I told you I was sorry. It was a stupid mistake. Let me make it up to you?” Alexi shook her head, face growing hard again.
    “I don’t have time for this right now, just…just show me what makes this piece of trash so special before I have the lot of you thrown out into the street along with her.”
    She wasn’t fooling anyone, at least not me at any rate. She still had the hots for him; it was written all over her face. Quin stepped back with downcast eyes though, and my performance started with nothing more than a nod and the touch of a control key.
    It was stronger than what I’d felt before. Every ounce of self-control and humility I had remaining was tossed aside just as readily as my clothes. I came at least twice from the sudden wash of sensation while I frantically stripped, begging to be fucked first by Dobbs and then everyone else in the room, to include the nasty T’ivk. Yuck! I wasn’t even sure that was possible. I think they laid eggs, but at the time, I could have cared less. Surprisingly, none of them seemed all that impressed by my sex-crazed display.
    “Any sentient could be made to do that, with some mind-altering drugs and reconditioning,” one of the brokers clicked dryly through his mandible-like mouth after Dobbs turned the pleasure stimulation off. Neither the brokers nor Alexi were even convinced