Present 

   Two opponents circled each other, watching how they moved, as a crowd of sleek, black aliens looked on. Each gauged the other, looking for weakness, habit, or what ever gave them an advantage over the other. Neither struck, determined to let the other hit first. Eventually, one of the audience called "Striko!", the Salanese phrase for hurry up. That was precisely what Kajin did.
   His opponent never saw him coming.
   Kajin led with a kick that flattened the Salan, then punched him in the face when he tried to get back up. While they had been circling, Kajin had been going over techniques in his head. Being the only human there, he was unable to use Salanese methods. Those required a long thin tail that all Salan had, but humans didn't. So, he made do with the human techniques he had learned.
   That was more than enough.
   Within one minute, the fight was over.
   He stayed around to watch the older students spar, then went on his way.
   The streets of Salan's capital, Yalo, were always crowded as citizens hurried to this place or the other. While chaotic, everything was done in an orderly fashion. Everything done on Salan had a specific order. While many species thought of the government as control freaks, Kajin knew that it was a remnant of when the Salan's ancestors had been under the influence of a hive mind. Just one of the many things learned throughout his life on Salan.
   Kajin's father had been a liaison between Earth and Salan until Earth capsized. His mother had worked as a starship engineer. Between the two of them, Kajin's family had grown immensely rich. When their home had been destroyed on Earth, they had fled to Salan, using his father's connections to gain a place in Salanese society. He had been three when they left, just learning to talk, and in the sixteen years spent away,    Salanese language had become his primary. His family spoke in common at the house, but hardly anyone was there to speak with. Being the only humans on Salan, life wasn't easy, and his parents were usually working.
   As Kajin walked through the streets, there were mutterings among the Salan, along with several hostile looks, or what passed for looks among them. They only showed emotion with their ears. He was used to this, but after sixteen years it never ceased to anger him. But he had long ago mastered the art of concealing his feelings.
   Passing by an alley, he was surprised by claws clamping his mouth shut before he could shout and dragging him off the street. He managed to see a dark head outlined by an overhead light before something hard hit the back of his head and darkness claimed him.

  Kajin woke with a pounding headache. When he tried to open his eyes, a glaring light forced him to close them again. Straining, he tried to move his arms and found that they were bound to the chair he was sitting in. Similar tests revealed the same of his legs. Gradually, his eyes adjusted to the light and he saw four tall Salan guarding a door, two on each side. He was sitting in a steel chair in the middle of a dingy cell with a light shining down on top of him. The chair legs had been bolted to the floor.
  He sat there wondering what was going on for what must have been five hours. Mom is going to kill me if I ever get home, he thought bitterly. She'll know by now I'm not really studying. His parents had always been disapproving about his need for adventure and action. They had forbidden him from going to matches, so he would tell them he was in his room and jump out the window.
   The door opened with a creak that would have made him jump if he had not been restrained. In walked an elaborately dressed Salan, not dignified enough to be a government official. From the way he carried himself, Kajin guessed  he was a crime lord.
   The cat-like alien studied Kajin a moment, watching him as Kajin stared defiantly back.
   Abruptly, the Salan turned away and addressed the shabbier alien who had slipped in behind him. "He is a prize.", the tall one said, as if agreeing to something discussed earlier. "The Luriks will pay a high price for him."
   Kajin stiffened at the mention of Luriks. One of the most successful and feared races in the known universe, Luriks were notorious for slaving and reducing colonies and small worlds to breeding stock. Recent reports suggested that they were on the hunt for the diminished human race, racing other slavers to get to the 'rare specimens' before they vanished altogether. Nobody wanted to get caught by the Luriks. In over five thousand years, there was no record of escape, and lots of attempts. Rumor had it that they only used stun weapons in war, taking the enemy to become enslaved. They never wasted a soul if it was useful.
   And these morons wanted to sell him to them.
   Of all the shriking luck in the galaxy...
   This was what he got for sneaking out.
   "Have them inspect him."
   Kajin thought about resisting, but one of the guards swung the butt of his rifle against the back of his head, and everything was darkness yet again.

   A lone figure watched as the Luriks put a collar on the boy and cage him, then load him with several other captives onto a ship. She wondered at the aura he was pouring out that was sure to draw any celestial being in to investigate, and yet he was not an Azkiar, not yet trained. And even more intriguing, she could sense four others of the same property.
   She would have to watch all of them.