One morning, we received word that a small fleet of Hielsrane ships would be joining us, commanded by someone named Lehar. When we reached the command deck to watch the vessels approach, it was hard not to notice that they weren't in very good shape – their hulls were scorched with laser burns, and many of them were either limping along at half power or being towed due to missing engine nacelles.
“Splendid,” Stal groaned, picking up his medical kit and heading for the door. “From the condition of those ships, it appears as though I'll have my work cut out for me patching up what's left of their crew. As if I didn't have sufficient matters to attend to. Have their wounded sent to the sickbay, and please tell them to keep their moans and screams to a minimum, if possible. I have a headache.”
“Hung over again, are you, you cranky old quack?” Ranel chuckled.
Stal left, mumbling something unsavory under his breath about Ranel's mother and a pox-riddled Nk'athen with dysentery.
When we met Lehar at the airlock, I was immediately impressed with the coloring of his scales – they were a deep burgundy, shimmering beneath the dim lights of the ship. His arm was in a sling. To my surprise, he was accompanied by a human woman with curly black hair and beautiful skin the color of cocoa. There was something oddly familiar about her, though I couldn't quite place her.
“Good to see you, Lehar...or rather, what's left of you,” Ranel said, clasping Lehar's uninjured hand. “So, you finally got your own fleet, eh?”
“I only wish it had been a bigger one,” Lehar growled wryly. “The Pax Alliance weren't inclined to fall for any cute sensor tricks when we tried to get around their territory to join you. A third of my vessels were blasted to flaming meteorites and are probably raining down on the surface of Coovoo even as we speak. Hopefully, they'll hit a few of those blasted centaurs in the head and kill them on the way down.”
“Vengeance even in death, at least.” Dashel gestured to me. “Lehar, this is Natalie. Formerly my captive, now my mate.”
Lehar raised an eyebrow. “Between you, me, and Tarion, there's a lot of that going around these days, it seems. This is Lara.”
“Pardon me,” I said, “I realize what a weird question this is, given our current circumstances, but...do I know you from somewhere?” I couldn't quite keep the hard edge and suspicion out of my voice. Maybe I was being harsh, but I'd been working in the mines too long to trust new people easily, even if they were humans. The thought reminded me of the altercation I'd had with Gordon before the Hielsrane invasion, and I pushed the memory away.
Lara shrugged. “It depends on when you got taken from Earth. Before my—well, 'abduction' is the word, I guess, even if makes me sound like a supermarket tabloid—I was an actor. Did some commercial work, a few guest spots on shows. I was supposed to star in a sci-fi flick, until I ended up living in one.” She laughed. “The really freaky thing, though, is that you seem kind of familiar to me, too. Could it be we knew each other back on Earth?”
“It's certainly possible, I suppose.” I relaxed a bit – or tried to, at least. For someone who'd found herself in such bizarre circumstances, she seemed to have a good sense of humor and an easygoing attitude.
“That's a cool collar,” Lara went on, pointing at it.
“Thank you. I'm...” I stopped. What had I been about to say? That I was proud of it, and the status it represented? Maybe I had been before, but now it was just a symbol of my former oppression – and my own foolishness. “I'm glad you think so,” I finished awkwardly.
“Come, Lehar,” Ranel said briskly, “let's find a bottle and celebrate the coming of your reinforcements, hm? Even if they're in bad shape, they're most welcome, given our limited resources and our foe's superior numbers. Besides, from the look of your travel companion, it seems we'll have a lot of catching up to do!”
“We'll meet up with you guys in a bit,” Lara told them. “Girl talk. You understand.”
As they headed off toward Dashel's cabin, she turned to me with a wink. I thought she was going to ask me some more questions about where I'd lived on Earth so we could compare notes and find out where we knew each other from. Instead, she said, “You play it pretty hard, don't you?”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, it's just that as an actor, I tend to notice stuff like body language and vocal tones, you know? I can tell you like to project a tough image for new people, so they'll know you're not particularly trusting or some kind of pushover. Am I right?”
“Yes, I suppose that's true,” I admitted. “I used to work in the mines here. It was a rough life. Everyone for themselves, fighting over food, blankets, favors from the overseers. Relaxing around new people – or even people I'd known for a long time – was a good way to get myself hurt or killed.”
“That sounds terrible. I'm so sorry.” She put a hand on my shoulder – I flinched, and she took it away again. “For what it's worth, you can relax around me. Seems like we're pretty much in the same boat. But you'll definitely want to save that spiky exterior for Carissa.”
“Who's that?”
“Tarion's girl.” Lara gave me a lopsided smile. “She can be, um...difficult to
