by Leslie Chase
Her words were calm, clear, and all the more impressive for that. The pirates exchanged looks, turning to Korgan for guidance. Korgan, in turn, stared at Laura, his eyes wide with shock.
"Are you taking yourself hostage?" he asked with a splutter of outrage. Rorax shared his surprise, watching Laura from the far side of the cage.
"Yes," she answered, and Rorax could hear her grin in her voice. "If you want the ransom, you're going to have to let him live."
"If we rush you, there's no way you can be sure we won't take you alive," Korgan said. He didn't sound confident about it, though, and the other pirates looked at him dubiously. Rorax bared his teeth and stepped forward.
"You'll be fighting both of us," he said. "How sure are you that you can take us both?"
"We're not going to let you go," Korgan hissed as he stepped forward. "You can't hold us off like this forever."
"I know," Laura said. "But you're not going to kill Rorax while I'm alive to stop you. Leave him and I'll come with you, you can get your ransom and everyone is happy."
That offer seemed to split the pirates, setting those who wanted to get paid against those who were angry enough to forgo their profit for the pleasure of killing Rorax.
Putting his hand on Laura's shoulder, Rorax stared at Korgan, meeting his gaze and seeing the desperation there. His brother's hold on the pirates was tenuous in this chaos, and he could see that Korgan knew that.
"Fine," Korgan said before the pirates' argument could turn into a brawl. "You come with us and we'll spare Rorax, I swear by my name and by the Thousand Stars. But he'll stay here in the cage until you're safe with your family and my people have their payment — I'm not having him try another heroic rescue. And if you offer us any resistance at all on the way to the ransom, he dies in agony!"
He broke eye contact with Rorax and beckoned for Laura to step out of the cage. Around him, the other pirates settled down. Now that the decision had been taken they were willing to let it stand.
"Don't," Rorax hissed to Laura. He couldn't tell her why, couldn't call her by her name, couldn't do anything that would risk Korgan figuring out her secret. The look Laura gave him told him that she knew.
"It's the only way," she said, sadness filling her voice. "What choice do we have?"
For a moment, they stood still as statues, looking at each other. Rorax wished he could see a way out of this, but there was nothing he could offer. The only options they had were to fight now and die together, or to be separated.
I'd rather try to take a few of them with me, or at least go down swinging, he thought, but Laura's gaze begged him not to. She could see the odds as well as he could, and at least he could spare her the pain of watching him die.
Neither of them were under any illusion that Korgan would keep his word. As soon as he returned from 'ransoming' Laura, Rorax was a dead man. Even if he intended to keep his oath now — and Rorax doubted that — once her deception was revealed, he'd no longer feel bound by it.
I'll just have to find some way to avoid it coming to that, then. Rorax was determined not to let Laura's gambit come to nothing. She's buying me time to work out a better plan, for both of us.
Trying to hide the pain he felt, Rorax swept Laura into his arms and held her in a tight hug. She gasped, the air forced out of her lungs, and then she hugged him back fiercely. Her lips came to his ear.
"I'll be waiting," she whispered. "Don't take too long."
With that she pulled out of his grip and stepped out of the cage towards their waiting captors. Rorax watched her go, admiring her strength. She showed no fear as she walked beside their captor towards his ship.
19
Laura
Walking away from Rorax took all the courage Laura had left, and she didn't dare turn to look at him. That would have been too much pain, and she knew she'd have broken down at the sight of his pain.
This is the only way to buy him any time at all, she told herself again as she approached Korgan. If we fight now, we definitely die. I can give him a few hours to come up with a better plan.
God knows I don't have one.
Korgan reached for her arm but she shrugged him off and kept walking, heading for his ship. "Come on, then. Let's get this over with."
He laughed, whistling to his men and walking beside her. His crew fell in around them, and her course was set. There was no going back now.
"I can see why my brother likes you so much," Korgan said as he followed her up the gangplank onto the Emperor Turian's Revenge. "You are a formidable woman, Miss St. George."
"Save your admiration," Laura said, turning to glare at him. "You're planning to kill the man I love."
"I gave you my word, he's safe as long as I get my payment," Korgan said with a smile. The cold calculation in his eyes was more honest, and Laura knew that she hadn't bought Rorax more than a few hours of life. Even if there had been a ransom waiting for them, it wouldn't have saved Rorax. I hope he can find a good use for that time.
Unless he could come to the rescue, her own fate was sealed. They would go to wherever the pirates were expecting to find their treasure, and then they'd realize that no ransom was coming. Laura didn't want to think about what would happen after that. If Captain Yates was ready with his missiles, then perhaps the Revenge would be destroyed, but Laura knew that the odds of her getting out of that attack alive were slim at best. And Korgan was a dangerous enough opponent that she didn't want to bet on Yates's attack succeeding.
But there was nothing to gain by letting Korgan know things weren't going his way, or to give him cause to doubt her compliance with his demands. So Laura gave him her coldest smile, trying to imitate the look she'd seen on Adele's face when she had stared down someone she really didn't like.
"You'd better be as good as your word, Captain," she said icily, before turning back and marching her way to the bridge of the modified ship.
The Revenge was an impressive flagship for a pirate fleet, she had to give it that. Unlike the Bradbury, whatever name it had carried before its capture had been completely removed and the new name was painted on neatly. Korgan had made an effort to make it his own.
It wasn't just the name that marked it out as special — on the bridge, human technology had been melded with the dragons' crystals, giving it a hybrid look. Laura took it all in carefully, trying to get a feel for what had been altered. It was probably pointless, she knew, but long experience had taught her never to pass up a possible advantage.
"Much better than that piece of shit you stole from us, isn't it?" Korgan said as he stepped onto the bridge behind her. "A far cry from the beautiful ships we could build at the height of the Empire's power, of course, but my men have made considerable improvements."
Laura shot him another look. "It is impressive what our species can do together, yes," she said. "So remind me why you're against that happening?"
Korgan's laugh filled the bridge as his crew powered up the engines and prepared to leave. For all the ship's impressive size, it only seemed to need a half-dozen aliens to operate it. Of course, that was quite enough to overpower even a fully-crewed human skyship. Laura wouldn't stand a chance against them, and she knew it.
"It's one thing for us to take what you primitives have built and improve on it," Korgan continued airily. "Quite another for us to surrender our heritage to you like that idiot Verikan is doing. I expect I'll build up quite a base of human workers out here, as I build my kingdom."
Human slaves, Laura thought, remembering the captives in the pirate base with a suppressed shudder. It didn't look like a life anyone would choose for themselves.
"With real cooperation, you might even be able to build a spaceship," she said, trying to reason with him and knowing it was futile. If he'd been willing to listen to reason, he wouldn't have become a pirate chief. "You could find out what happened to the rest of the Dragon Empire."
"The Empire is dead," he said. The smile on his lips made it clear that he wasn't unhappy about
that. "We're just making do the best we can, scavenging from its corpse."
With that, he turned and walked to the captain's chair, shouting orders in the alien's tongue. One of the crew spoke into their radio, and Laura heard the St. George name spoken a couple of times. Must be arranging the ransom location, she thought with a sick feeling of finality. That meant that her deception was coming to an end, one way or another.
Quietly, Laura prayed that she would be left alone during the flight, but that hope was quickly crushed. One of Korgan's men stepped up to her and pushed her roughly into a chair, looming over her. She looked up at him, recognizing Dakar, the alien who’d attacked her before. He looked like he still held a grudge for how that fight had turned out.
"Careful, Princess," he growled. "The captain might have forgiven you, but the rest of us haven't. Your last escape attempt cost us plenty; you even breathe funny and I'll rip your legs off, see if your father buys you back then."
Laura sat very still. There was no hint of humor in this alien's face, and the scars he bore showed that he was no stranger to a fight. She saw absolutely nothing to be gained from provoking him.
With a lurch, the Emperor Turian's Revenge lifted off the ground and drifted out towards the cave mouth. The pilots handled the ship much more smoothly than Laura had managed, despite its unwieldy size, and soon they were leaving the pirate base behind.
It felt as though there was an invisible rope between her heart and Rorax, pulling painfully as she was dragged away from him. Laura swallowed the pain, composing herself as best she could and conserving her strength.
Rorax, I hope you can figure out something to do, she thought. Because otherwise in a couple of hours we're both going to die.
20
Rorax
Watching the Emperor Turian's Revenge leave the base was the hardest thing Rorax had ever done. Even the fall of the Imperial Palace had been less traumatic, he realized. He'd been helpless then, too, but at least he'd been amongst his comrades and there had been a plan. It might not have worked, but they'd all been able to cling to it while they prepared for the end.
This time there was nothing. His beloved mate was being taken away to her death, and his own would soon follow — unless he could find a way to stop it. There was only one thing left to try, and it was a desperate measure.
He had to wait until no one was watching, he knew that. Korgan would be furious with anyone who killed Rorax before he returned, but from the looks he was getting from the pirates outside his cage, he could see that wouldn't hold them back if they saw an excuse.
So don't give them one, he told himself. Sit quiet, be boring, and they'll go on to other things. They're pirates — no one with a sense of discipline joined them.
It didn't take long for them to get bored. Once it was clear that he was just going to sit there, quietly ignoring the taunts they spat at him, the pirates drifted away in their ones and twos to get on with other things. Those who had some work ethic left were fixing their equipment or working on their ships. The majority found their way to the booze and the food beside the fire in the center of the camp and started to enjoy themselves again. No one seemed interested in watching their prisoner dangling in a cage overhead.
Rorax made himself wait until he was certain he was unobserved. Then he made himself wait again, counting slowly to one hundred under his breath. It was torture, every second he waited he could feel his mate getting further away. But if he tried to act too soon, everything was lost.
Finally, he was ready.
Slipping the quantum communicator Laura had passed him from his belt, he glanced down at the unfamiliar device. It was a lot more advanced than most human technologies, but it looked simple enough to use. There was a power button, a speaker, and a microphone. That was it.
There had better be someone waiting for Laura to call, he thought, flicking the switch and holding the device close. He had to hope that it wasn't loud enough to attract attention — but many of the pirates were back to celebrating the fortune they were expecting Korgan to return with. Their shouts and singing should, he thought, cover the sound of a quiet conversation.
"Laura? What's happening?" an unfamiliar human voice demanded from the device. That must be Adele, Rorax thought. He was grateful that she was whispering, and he curled his wings around himself as he huddled in the corner of the cage.
"Laura isn't here," he said quickly and quietly. "My name is Rorax, I am her ally, and I hope that you are too. We need your help."
There was a moment's silence on the far end of the call, stretching long enough that Rorax feared the human had left. Then she spoke again.
"What are you playing at?" she demanded coldly. "If you are one of the pirates, then—"
"I'm trying to save her from the pirates," Rorax interrupted. "We have no time, Adele, none at all. Laura told me that your corporation's warriors were readying missiles for an attack on the pirates. That you plan to attack the ship when it comes for the ransom. I need you to change that plan and shoot into their base, right now."
"What? You can't be serious," Adele said, surprised and suspicious. "I won't shoot a missile at Laura."
"You won't, she's not here," Rorax hissed, struggling to keep his voice low. "They've taken her to collect the ransom. I know the plan was for her to escape at the ransom exchange, but she doesn't have a helmet for her suit. If that ship gets blown up, she will die. And I don't think either of us want that."
Another silence, and then Adele's voice returned, stronger. "I don't know what you're playing at but the only way I can target the pirates is to target the communicator you're holding. The missiles will home in on that, find a path to it."
"I guessed as much," Rorax said. "I'll take my chances. Will they be able to find their way underground?"
"Maybe." Adele didn't sound too confident, and Rorax tensed. The cave was deep enough that missiles striking the surface were unlikely to do anything. It had survived an orbital bombardment during the fall of the empire — nothing the humans had on Mars was going to do worse than that. After a moment she continued. "The missiles are smart, they'll track the terrain and look for a way into a cave, but they aren't magic."
"That will have to do," Rorax said. "Just tell me how long it'll take to reach here."
Adele muttered something that he couldn't hear and then answered. "Ten minutes. Are you sure about this?"
"As certain as I've been about anything," Rorax said. "I will not let anything happen to Laura."
"You'd better not," she said, and he could hear the protectiveness in her voice. He smiled — anyone who would fight for Laura's safety was someone he'd call a friend. I just hope that I live to meet her, he thought.
Ten minutes. Rorax wasn't sure exactly how long that was, human time units were strange to him, but he had a rough idea. Taking deep, calming breaths he prepared himself for the battle to come. Though he felt anger at the pirates, rage at what they were doing and what they would do to him and his mate, he couldn't afford to let that rule him. Fighting like a berserker wouldn't help him now.
Ancestors help me, he prayed as he forced his muscles to relax, conserving his energy for the fight to come. Guide my hand and my heart, and let me have this.
The time was fast approaching, and with it whatever missiles Adele St. George could send. He had to hope that the human 'smart' missiles lived up to their name.
Hefting the communicator in his hand, he judged its weight and took aim. The bars of the cage were too narrow for him to fit between, but the communicator was a different matter. Unwinding, he flung it hard and true, sending it flying into the bonfire in the camp below.
Cinders flew as the small device struck the burning wood, and a couple of the dragons looked up. One grabbed an empty bottle and threw it up to shatter against the bars of the cage showering Rorax with broken glass.
"What the hell do you think you're playing at, traitor?" the pirate demanded, groping around for something else to throw. "We'll get arou
nd to you soon enough."
Rorax ignored him, grabbing hold of the bars and bracing himself. It was hard to keep his breath steady as he counted silently, focusing on his heartbeat. That just seemed to annoy the pirates below more.
"Hey, I'm talking to you," one said, throwing another bottle that sailed through the space beneath his cage to clatter on the floor far behind him. "Don't you fucking ignore us or I'll—"
Rorax never found out what outlandish threat the pirate was about to make. The first human missile arrived in a streak of light and a deafening roar. Slamming into the fire, it exploded with a blinding flash that scattered the dragons around it.
The blastwave struck Rorax's cage, sending him and it spinning through the air. The chains holding it tore, and for a dreadful moment he was flying without the use of his wings, tumbling over and over before the cage struck one of the crystal towers. Rorax slammed into the wall and everything went black.
When he forced his eyes open again, everything looked wrong. The bars in front of him were waving to and fro like angry snakes. Groaning, he forced himself to his feet and staggered to the wall of the cage. Everything looked blurred, and it took him three tries to get a grip on the bars.
But when he pushed, the whole cage came apart.
Around him, chaos reigned. The pirate camp was burning, tents catching from the fire that had been scattered through it, and some of the dragons were fighting that. Others ran for their ships, desperate to protect their hard-won vessels. A few had descended into brawls, no doubt thinking the explosion was some treachery on the part of their rivals.
No one was paying him any attention at all. We'll see how long that lasts, Rorax thought with a grin as another explosion rocked the cavern. No reason not to spread some more chaos on my way out.