Then she banged her head painfully on the bunk wall when the ship abruptly shook violently, throwing her to the side.

“What the fuck?” she blurted, rubbing the sore spot as she lurched to her feet.

The ship bucked again, making her grab the bunk edge for balance while it knocked several people not fortunate enough to be near something to hold on to straight to the deck with its intensity.

Darla felt her stomach churn from the motion, but it was a weird sensation. It seemed almost as if there was something else going on in her belly besides the ship moving in directions it really shouldn’t be. A disruption the likes of which she’d never felt before. One that moved to her very core. Not even after the most ridiculous bender for her friend Allison’s bachelorette party had she felt like this.

This was different, and the feeling of unease in her gut was growing as fast as her worried curiosity. This wasn’t normal. Something was going on. Something big. The question was, what?

The initial event had upended Victor, but he quickly scrambled back to his feet, racing to the far door in a flash. He took up a position against the wall to one side, a murderous look in his eye.

“Maureen, what’s he doing?” Darla asked, pointing at the thick-necked man lying in wait.

Maureen steadied herself and turned to look. “Oh, shit. This won’t be good.”

She looked as though she was about to do something to keep Victor from making their situation worse and possibly getting them all killed, though she didn’t exactly know what, when an alien-shaped blur flew across the compartment. Heydar had crossed the space in an impossibly short time, stopping face to face with the normally imposing human.

Next to the much larger alien, Victor suddenly seemed a lot less frightening than before.

“What do you think you are doing?” Heydar snarled.

“What’s it look like I’m doing? I’m waiting for those bastards to come check on us. And when they do, Pow! I’m gonna take them down and get the hell out of this place.”

“You realize you are aboard a Raxxian ship, do you not?”

“Obviously.”

“And you would overpower a pair of guards and do what, exactly?”

“Make a run for it. There’s got to be an escape pod or something. And if not that, I don’t know. I’ll make a go at the command center.”

Heydar shook his head as if scolding a child.

“Do you even know how to fly a vessel such as this?”

“Well—”

“In fact, do you know how to pilot any spacecraft? Or even an airborne vehicle, for that matter?”

“I mean, no. But how hard can it be? Computers run everything these days, right?”

Maureen let out an exasperated sigh. “Typical man. He probably wouldn’t be willing to admit he was lost in space and ask for directions either.”

Heydar glanced her way. “Are all males on your planet this way?” he asked, shaking his head.

“The stubborn ones are.”

Victor cast an angry look at her.

“Don’t stink eye me, Victor. You know I’m right.”

Darla stifled a chuckle and kept her eyes on Heydar, still fixated on the tall alien suddenly taking command of the situation with such ease. It was quite a shift from his earlier demeanor. For a moment there, he seemed like a natural leader.

The ship rocked and bucked, shaking hard. A wave of nauseating power flooded the compartment, making even Heydar look a little queasy. Darla and Maureen managed to keep their meals in their stomachs, but at least half of the humans were not so lucky, including Victor.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stood up tall by sheer force of will, locking eyes with Heydar once more.

“I’m getting us out of here with or without you. Are you going to join me, or do you like being a Raxxian pet?”

Heydar shook his head but was clearly processing the options. “Do you even know what that was?” he asked.

“Felt like something blew up on the ship.”

“That was a Grommix attack pulse, and at relatively close range. And this craft? It is a transport ship.”

“So?”

“So, that means it is decently shielded, but lacks both the speed and firepower needed to combat so formidable an adversary.”

“What’s your point?”

“My point is, we are in a holding cell. Raxxians keep livestock in central, windowless compartments as a rule. They are designed to be able to be interchanged with other units from other ships if needed.”

“Great, we’re in the middle of the ship. That doesn’t change anything.”

“But it does. This is a safe place. At least, as safe as one could hope for in such an encounter.”

Victor puffed up his chest in a display of bravado. “You may be worried, but I’m not about to give up this chance to play it safe. I’m not worried about my safety.”

“Clearly not.”

“And I’m not afraid of these Raxxians. And I’m sure as hell not going to sit here cowering when we could be using this diversion to escape.”

“All you will do if you engage them is get people killed.”

“It’s worth the risk.”

“To you, perhaps, but the others should decide their own fates.”

“Why do you care? I thought we were nothing more than livestock.”

“To the Raxxians, yes. But my people have been at war with them since before I was born, and I am no supporter of their brutal ways.”

“So you’ll help me then?”

“I did not say that I would—”

The door abruptly slid open, cutting their argument short just as another blast hit the ship. The two Raxxians fell through the doorway, knocked off their feet from the violent impact. Victor did not hesitate.

He jumped on top of the nearest guard, latching himself onto his back where the Raxxian’s long claws and sharp teeth couldn’t reach him. His hands fumbled for what he believed was a weapon on the alien’s waist, but he was unable to pull it free. Victor looked to Heydar with panicked eyes. The Raxxians were getting back to their feet, and he had failed in his attack miserably.

The aliens were far, far tougher than he’d bargained for, and his frantic blows failed to so much as faze them. The other guard grabbed Victor and pulled him from his comrade’s back, flinging him to the center of the room. Both were fixated on the human who dared attack them. It was clear who would be their next meal.

Heydar’s shoulders sagged for just a split second as he weighed the options. Weighed them and came to a decision.

His meaty fist reached the first guard’s neck even as his boot-clad foot was swinging into the abdomen of the other guard, sending the first to his knees, gasping for air as the second doubled over from the brutal impact.

Unlike Victor, it seemed that Heydar had more than enough strength for this engagement.

In a flash he moved between the two Raxxians, his deft hands having no trouble drawing their weapons from their belts and using them against them to great effect. The wicked blade taken from the smaller of the pair opened up a trio of wounds, any of which would have been debilitating, before lodging firmly in the alien’s neck. The Raxxian dropped in a heap. Darla saw it was clear he couldn’t have called for help if he wanted to.

The other managed to block the first of Heydar’s follow up attacks, but an elbow caught him in what must have been a vulnerable nerve plexus of some sort. Heydar didn’t hesitate, shoving the guard’s pistol-like weapon flush with his torso and squeezing the grip, discharging its energy right into the Raxxian’s body. Heydar squeezed again, the weapon smoking as it cooked his target’s insides.

Heydar let go, the smoldering corpse dropping to the deck. He looked at the weapon in his hand in disgust and threw it aside.

“Why are you tossing that away?” Victor asked in disgust, rushing to retrieve the gun.

“It is not meant to be used in such close proximity. The power cell overcharged. It is useless now.”