by Leslie Chase
It was better this way. Centuries ago he'd fought against human knights on Earth, and while some dragons had been willing to simply obliterate them from the air, Rorax had preferred to test his skill against theirs. The warrior who faced him deserved the same courtesy.
Emerging from the rocks at full speed, he saw that the human had taken cover behind the grounded ship. A couple of humans scattered away from it, easy targets if he'd wanted them, but none of them offered any threat. He left them to Grorg, staying focused on the only one to put up a fight.
Another bolt snapped into his injured shoulder before he could reach the transport, staggering him. But then he was there, slamming into the vehicle and sending the gunner tumbling back across the rocky terrain. With a pounce, he landed on the shooter. The gun fired one last time, a shot going wide.
Looking down at his prisoner, he saw the scowl of concentration on her face and realized it was a female he had pinned. It was a surprise to see that the only member of this team of scavengers to fight back was female, and more so that she wasn't showing any sign of fear even now. He recognized the look on her face, the look of a warrior trying to find a way to keep fighting. To win an unwinnable battle. Rorax couldn't help respecting a warrior who wouldn't give in, even now.
He'd seen that look before on many a comrade's face. Especially in the last hours of Mars, as the Dragon Empire fell.
Shaking her, he sent the gun flying from her hand and turned back to the skyship, dropping her beside it. Shifting, he looked down at her as he assumed his humanoid form, feeling the familiar shiver as his dragon faded back. Her eyes went wide as she watched him transform, scales retreating and body shrinking until he was only a little bigger than a human. The nanotech crystals implanted in his scales reassembled his clothes around him as he reached down and lifted her.
In this form, he could only hold his breath for a little while. Far longer than the humans, who needed spacesuits to survive for any time at all, but still he was keen to get into a pressurized environment where he could breathe again. Pushing his prisoner through a door in the ship's hull, he pushed her into the arms of the humans cowering inside. The human scavengers stared at him, some holding tools as though they were weapons. None of them looked confident enough to pick a fight with him, though.
Good. I don't want to hurt anyone if I don't have to, he thought, trying to ignore the fact that they had been scavenging the body of one of his fellows. It wasn't easy to keep his anger under control.
Grorg swooped in behind him, carrying the two humans who had tried to flee. He dropped them to the sands and Rorax was relieved to see that they were both still alive. One of them helped the other up, supporting him as they entered the ship. Shifting, Grorg followed, his expression a mixture of contempt and anger at his prisoners. As soon as they were all inside, Rorax hit the button to seal the door. The pressure of the air around them was welcome as the vehicle re-pressurized, and the two dragons sucked down deep breaths of rich oxygen.
As soon as the air was thick enough to speak through, he turned to his prisoners. They huddled as far away from him as they could get in the small, tight space. It looked cramped even for the humans, and Rorax's wings scraped the ceiling as he glared at them.
"My name is Rorax, and I mean you no harm," he said in English. Hopefully they spoke that language, because he didn't know any other human tongue.
"Funny way to show it," the one who'd shot at him said, glaring at him through her faceplate. He tried to ignore her, though he couldn't help admiring the fact that she was willing to speak up against him.
"As long as you do as I say, all will be well," he continued, sticking to the speech he'd prepared. "Don't interfere in my business and you will be released unharmed. There is only one of you that interests me.
"Which of you is Adele St. George?"
The humans were silent, exchanging glances that Rorax couldn't read. Maybe he should have had them take off their helmets so he could see their expressions better, but they would be unlikely to cooperate with that. If they had their helmets off and he opened the door, the air would escape and they'd die.
Another way in which humans were weaker than his species.
None of them spoke up, and he didn't have the patience to wait. Their suits had no identifying markers he could read but up close like this he could tell the males from the females. Grabbing the nearest male, he slammed the human into the wall and raised his fist.
"If you do not cooperate, I will have to start taking more drastic measures," he said, hoping that it wouldn't come to that. He needed the heiress, but none of the others had to suffer.
The thought of the dragon's body outside brought up a surge of anger, and he shook the man again, looking through the helmet at the scared eyes of the man inside. He knew, rationally, that his anger wasn't fair. Of course the humans wanted a look at the body of a dragon — and whoever it was, the dragon had lain dead for a thousand years. But to Rorax and the other recently awakened dragons, the fall of the empire felt like mere months ago and the dead dragon might have been someone he knew.
"What do you want with her?" one of the other humans asked, a female by the sound of her voice. He turned to look at her, glaring.
"She's the only one of you that's worth anything to us," he said. "Her father will pay for her safe return. No harm will come to her as long as he is sensible and cooperates. So save everyone a lot of trouble and step forward, Ms. St. George."
The tension amongst the humans rose as he stared them down. They shuffled, exchanging looks. Rorax supposed it spoke well of his prey that she inspired this loyalty from her employees, but he didn't have time for it.
"Kill the male," Grorg said. Thankfully he spoke in Imperial rather than English. "Teach them a lesson in prompt obedience."
There was a challenge to his tone, and Rorax bristled at it. This wasn't the time for a leadership struggle.
"They will talk without need for killing," he said in the same language. "Remember, we want this to be as smooth as possible."
Grorg muttered something under his breath which Rorax chose to ignore. Instead, he turned back to the humans, looking into the eyes of the one who'd spoken.
"If you do not tell me which of you is my target, we shall simply take all the females here with us," he said, baring his teeth in his most frightening smile. "I cannot say how likely it is that your families will ransom you back alongside her."
The female paled, closing her eyes. There was a muttering from the rest of the crew of the transport, but before they could speak up, one human stepped forward. It was the warrior who had shot at Rorax, and he felt a strange twinge in his heart as he remembered the fierce look on her face. A feeling he couldn't place, and didn't have time to think about now.
"I'm St. George," she said. Her voice was steady and she looked Rorax in the eye without fear. "Let the rest of them go."
3
Laura
Looking up into the eyes of their captor, Laura tried to look as calm and confident as she could. No one would benefit if she lost her cool here. Did I really just claim to be Adele?
"What the hell, Laura?" Adele said, and thank God she was using their private channel. "What do you think you're doing?"
"My job," Laura replied, hoping that her whisper couldn't be heard outside the suit. "I'm here to keep you safe. Letting some pirates steal you away is not going to happen."
The aliens didn't give any sign of having heard either of them. One, the leader who'd called himself Rorax, beckoned her forward and she stepped away from the crowd of workers. The other humans were only too happy to let her pass — they, at least, seemed fine with giving her up if it meant they went home safely.
Laura couldn't blame them for that. She wasn't sure what had possessed her to try this lie, to put herself on the line, but now that she'd started, she wasn't about to give up on it.
The alien in front of her looked her slowly up and down, frowning. "You are the human heiress Adele St. George
?" he asked, eyes narrowing. Laura shrugged and nodded, switching back to the suit's external speakers to answer.
"That's me," she said. She didn't bother to try and impersonate Adele's voice. If the aliens knew what she sounded like, they'd know what she looked like and in that case, she had no hope of fooling them. Besides, she was awful at impressions.
Something sparked in the dragon's gaze as he nodded. Laura thought it might be respect. Narrowing his alien eyes, he carefully looked her up and down. She returned the favor. He was, Laura had to admit, well worth looking at. Taller than most humans, his broad shoulders carried muscles that would have looked oversized on most men. On him, they seemed just right. The only clothing he wore were tight pants that clung to his muscular legs and a belt studded with crystals. She wondered where he'd hidden those when in dragon form. They seemed to simply appear as he'd changed shape. However the aliens managed that trick, Laura was grateful he wasn't completely naked.
His skin was a deep, rich red, with scales on his shoulders and arms. Large leathery wings emerged from his back, scraping the roof of the ship's cabin as they flexed. But the most eye-catching thing about him was his eyes. They were just as alien as the rest of him, strange and lizard-like, but Laura could see the powerful determination in them.
Laura felt an almost irresistible urge to run her hand over his perfectly defined abs, and blushed at the thought.
He's a pirate and a kidnapper, she reminded herself firmly. Don't get distracted by the fact that he's also a hunk.
It helped to look at his wing. There was a hole burnt through it, and that put a small smile on her face. It hadn't been enough to stop him, but it was a sign that the aliens weren't invincible. Maybe she could get away if she kept her eyes open for a chance.
"You can't put yourself in danger like this," Adele hissed into the comms. "My father will pay the ransom for me and that'll be that, I'll be perfectly safe."
"These things go wrong," Laura said with a calm certainty. Aliens she might not have any experience with, but corporate kidnappings? That was the kind of thing that she had been hired to stop. "I've seen it happen. Maybe you'd be safe, maybe you wouldn't. The only way to be sure you're okay is for you not to go with them."
"That's crazy. What will they do when they find out you aren't me?"
"Could be a problem," Laura admitted. "It's my problem, though. If you can get your dad to pay up for me instead, that would be great. If not, I guess I'll have to escape."
The shocked silence on the radio almost made Laura laugh. It wasn't often that she got to shut up Adele.
She tried not to dwell on the fact that this could well be the last time. For all the confidence she was trying to show her client, Laura didn't know how the dragons would respond when they found out the truth. Better to put that moment off as long as possible, because it definitely wouldn't be pretty.
The dragons were discussing something in their own language, or maybe arguing. It sounded pretty heated, but without knowing a single word it was hard to tell. Whatever they were saying, Rorax ended the discussion with a sharp chopping gesture and turned back to her.
"We are leaving," he said in English. "The rest of you, wait for one of your hours before leaving the vehicle. Then you are free to go. Carry this message back to Michael St. George of LakeTech — his daughter will be returned safe and unharmed as long as he complies with my demands when I contact him again."
There were murmurs from the rest of the crew, and Laura hoped that they wouldn't say anything to spoil her ruse. She didn't dare look around to say goodbye. Aside from anything else, Laura didn't want to risk meeting Adele's eyes and seeing what she was thinking.
Looking straight ahead, she stepped over to the aliens. The second pirate looked at her with a hungry leer that made her shiver and want to punch him, but she resisted the urge. It'll be okay, Mr. St George is a good employer, she told herself. He'll pay or find a way to get me back safe if I can't escape on my own. He owes me that much for keeping his daughter out of the hands of the aliens.
That sounded good in her head, but she was far from confident that he'd be willing to pay up for a security contractor. Still, keeping Adele safe was her job whatever happened, and he'd want to encourage others to take risks to keep his family safe, surely?
The transport doors opened again, a miniature hurricane blowing through the cabin as the air escaped. Silence settled over her as she let the aliens lead her back outside. The third of them was still circling high above, watching for trouble. She approved — someone here was at least taking basic precautions. If I have to be in the hands of pirates, I'd rather have it be ones who know what they're doing, she thought with a wry smile. Professionals I can handle. Amateurs would be more likely to get me killed by doing something stupid.
"Don't get yourself into more trouble than you have to," Adele said over the communicator. A little of her usual confidence had crept back into her voice now that the dragons had left the transport. "Keep your head down and stay safe. I'll do everything I can to get you back safe and sound."
"You'd better," Laura replied. "I'm going to be charging overtime for this, so the sooner I'm home the cheaper I'll be."
Adele managed a laugh at that. "Don't forget hazard pay. You're going to cost the company a fortune."
"You've seen through my cunning plan to get rich from this," Laura said with a smile. It was better to laugh than to take the situation too seriously, after all.
In front of her, the aliens spread their wings and changed, driving all the banter out of Laura's mind. This was the first time she'd had the chance to watch one of the aliens transform outside of a fight, and she watched with fascination. It was over unbelievably quickly as he stretched out, growing and falling forward onto all fours. His wings spread wider and wider, his body lengthened and thickened, the red scales gleaming in the Martian sun. As he changed, his clothing vanished, the crystals of his belt becoming studs on the scales at his waist. Some kind of implanted technology, Laura guessed. They had to be able to carry their possessions somehow, after all.
But most of her mind was too amazed at what she was watching to think about that. In less than a heartbeat's time, he went from being a big man to being a huge dragon, and she took a step back away from his intimidating bulk.
I took a shot at this? She could hardly believe it. But the wounds were still there, the hole she'd punched in his wing, the scorched scales on his shoulder. His head came around to look at her, and he nodded to her. His meaning came across loud and clear: climb aboard.
Steeling herself, Laura walked back to him, looking at the giant sinuous creature. When they'd fought, it had happened too fast for her to take anything in — just an impression of speed and size and irresistible strength. Now she had the time to look at him and he was even more formidable than she'd thought. The dead dragon hadn't done much to prepare her for seeing a living one. His thick scales were armor enough to turn most weapons, his claws and teeth looked fit to tear through an armored spacesuit like tissue, and then there was the fact that he could breathe fire.
The bigger they are, the harder they fall, she reminded herself, looking again at the wounds she'd managed to inflict. Laura was determined not to be intimidated, though that was easier said than done. The massive creature was all too obviously designed for fighting and killing, and she wished that she could have brought her rifle with her. Without it, she couldn't imagine how she'd manage to fight something like this.
Grabbing hold of him, she pulled herself up onto his back and clung on tight. In the low Martian gravity, it was easy enough to get herself situated, and she tried to brace herself for the journey. Then they were off.
With a powerful beat of his wings, Rorax lifted off from the surface and circled once around the downed transport. The other dragon followed, and soon they were joined by the third, all three dragons flying back the way they'd come. Laura hung on for dear life as they soared high above the ground, trying not to think about what would hap
pen if she fell.
They won't let anything happen to me. I'm their payday. At least, they think I am. They have to keep me in one piece.
It was easy to tell herself that, and harder to believe it. The ground zoomed past, faster than she would have believed, and soon the skyship was out of sight below the horizon. Once they were unobserved, the dragons changed course sharply. Another good sign that they were professionals, Laura thought with a little relief. If the remaining humans were watching where they were going, they would have the wrong direction, making it harder to hunt the pirates down.
The more signs she had that the aliens had thought this plan through, the more confident she was that they knew what they were doing. And that was her best chance of getting out of this mess alive.
4
Rorax
Flying with an injured wing was painful, but it wasn't anything Rorax hadn't managed before. Doing it with a human on his back, though, that was tougher. He could have let Grorg or Tamak carry the captive instead, of course. Neither of them was hurt.
But he didn't want to be parted from his prize, and he didn't trust Grorg to be alone with her. The other dragon had wanted to kill the rest of the humans rather than let them return to their base with possible clues about who had attacked them. The fact that they needed the humans to treat them as reasonable people didn't seem to cross his mind until Rorax had pointed it out.
Even then, it didn't seem to sink in far.
The sooner I'm done with this, the better, Rorax thought. The whole thing was distasteful, it was beneath his dignity as a dragon warrior, and it was downright unpleasant. But it was the only way he had to get what he needed. He had a mission to complete, and would do whatever was necessary to get it done.
