She didn’t believe for a moment that she could kill every Gathendien on the ship. But she could sure as hell take some out before they hurt or killed her.
She looked at the dagger in its sheath. What the hell could she do with a blade?
Ava drew the sleek weapon. Blades required hand-to-hand combat. They required getting up close and personal, in this instance with aliens who outweighed her by well over a hundred pounds and had been trained in warfare.
Eliana could do a hell of a lot with this dagger. She had preternatural speed and strength. She’d spent the past four hundred years killing vampires with swords and daggers like this one. Blades were her weapons of choice.
Ava, however, had only been training for four months.
She slid the blade back into the sheath. The chances of her managing to take down even one of the reptilian warriors were pretty much nil. If worse came to worst, though, she’d sure as hell try.
Bending down, she swiftly tied the sheath to her ankle and pulled her pant leg down over it. Another loud clunk made her jump.
Straightening, she watched the round door to the pod swing open. Bright light blinded her.
Throwing up a hand, she squinted against it.
Something clanked outside. Then a dark figure filled the entrance.
Lowering her hand, she swallowed hard.
While someone her size could easily fit through the pod’s entrance, the being she now faced would have to duck to enter.
He didn’t though. At least, she thought it was a he. He was only visible from the waist up. If Ava had only seen his silhouette, she could’ve easily mistaken him for a human, Lasaran, or Yona. He had one head, broad shoulders, two arms, and two hands that both aimed blasters at her.
But he wasn’t in silhouette. Instead, the light of the docking bay illuminated golden reptilian skin stretched across a heavily muscled chest and rippling abs. The peculiar skin darkened to forest green on his shoulders and thickened so much it resembled the hide of an alligator. Thick dark ridges continued down his bulky arms, fading on the undersides to match the smoother golden yellow of his stomach.
Most of his bald head matched the green ridges on his shoulders and arms. Instead of ears, Ava saw only small holes she assumed allowed him to hear. His skin again smoothed and thinned to a light golden color on his face, which was outfitted with two reddish eyes equipped with slitted pupils, a subtle nose, and thin lips.
“It’s female.” Unless their women had baritone voices, this Gathendien was definitely male.
A grunt sounded outside. “Lasaran or Earthling?”
Did they linger over the “s” sound or was that merely her imagination?
“Unknown.”
In terms of their physical appearance, Lasarans and humans looked the same. There were some pretty significant differences between the races, but simply ogling them couldn’t identify those. While not even one percent of those on Earth were born with special gifts, all Lasarans were strong telepaths. Each Lasaran also boasted at least one additional gift on top of that, and they had incredible regenerative capabilities… so great that they could grow back severed fingers and toes. Even Eliana couldn’t do that. And they lived very long lives, sometimes even reaching a thousand years old.
The Gathendien warrior’s snake-like eyes didn’t stray from her. “Are you Lasaran or Earthling?”
Ava didn’t know which answer would benefit her or screw her over more. As she understood it, the Gathendiens had abandoned their quest to exterminate all Lasarans when the Lasaran royal family had unleashed the might of their military upon them and—with the help of their Aldebarian Alliance allies—nearly wiped the Gathendiens off the map. So a Lasaran female would likely not be of much use to them and could result in her imminent death.
On the other hand, if she admitted she was from Earth, they would likely see this as an opportunity to learn why the virus they had infected select humans with thousands of years ago had failed to eradicate the human race.
Somehow she didn’t think being a Gathendien lab rat would be a pleasant experience.
“Speak,” he snarled.
Ava jumped. Then she straightened her shoulders, clamped her lips together, and tilted her chin up in a show of defiance.
“If she doesn’t understand you,” the second voice speculated, “she must be Earthling.”
“I understand you,” she said in Alliance Common.
The burly alien’s eyes narrowed. “Out,” he ordered.
“I’m fine in here, thank you,” she replied evenly, surprised she was able to keep the tremor from her voice. She was so terrified she shook like a leaf.
The alien dove inside.
Yelping, Ava attempted to evade him, but it was a small space and he was fast. She drew the dagger as he reached for her. Ducking under his arm, she drove the blade into his back. Or tried to. His skin was so damn thick the blade only sank about an inch and a half in and stuck there.
Roaring, he swung around and attacked. Ava employed some of the self-defense techniques Eliana had taught her and ended up scraping some of the skin from her knuckles on his rough hide.
He grabbed her by the throat and lifted her until she balanced precariously on her tiptoes. “Are you Earthling or Lasaran?” he snarled in her face.
Barely able to drag in breaths, she refused to answer.
Turning, he dropped her to her feet and pushed her toward the exit. It was high above her head on the sloping wall. Prince Taelon had told them the door was placed there to keep the pod from flooding in the event of a water landing.
Ava balked at climbing the ladder. She knew she was just putting off the inevitable but feared leaving the brief safety the little pod had afforded her.
The Gathendien grabbed her by the back of the neck and slammed her forehead into one of the rungs.
Agony ricocheted through her head. “Ah!”
“Out!” he growled.
With shaking hands, Ava scaled the ladder and pulled herself up into the opening. Outside, a staircase on wheels that reminded her of a cheap one you might see at an airport back on Earth rested against the pod’s exterior. It seemed so primitive and out of place inside the high-tech spaceship that it made her wonder just how down-on-their-luck these assholes were.
Her fear of heights intensified the terror coursing through her as she shakily stretched a foot out to the top step, wishing the damn thing had handrails.
Dozens of Gathendiens, loaded down with weapons, waited below. Every one of them had a long tail that looked strong enough to knock a bear on its ass. And most of those tails bore rings with metal spikes.
Yeah. Even with a tronium blaster, she wouldn’t have had a hope in hell of killing them all.
“Is she Lasaran or Earthling?”
Her gaze shot to the owner of the second voice—a tall, thin Gathendien garbed in something that resembled a white lab coat without pockets.
“Won’t say,” the burly bastard said as he clambered out behind her. “And her clothing could be either.”
Thank goodness she’d worn a long-sleeved shirt today.
“I need to know!” Lab Lizard snapped.
Ava carefully searched for the next step with her toes, wondering if there was any way she could preserve her dignity while sitting and safely scooting down the steep stairs on her butt.
A heavy hand slammed into her back, giving her a hard shove.
Down she tumbled, crying out as the hard edges of the steps slammed into her arms and back until she hit the floor and rolled to a stop. Pain shot through her arm. “Ah! Shit!” she hissed, gripping it with her free hand. When she looked up, she went still.