I’m jolted awake. I sit right up, and my hands glide down my body.

Arms. Legs. Boobs. They’re all still there.

Thank god.

Thankfully, I’m no longer naked. A white surgical gown now covers my frame. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.

“Good morning,” a guttural voice says.

Eyes wide, I whirl around. A Nezdek guard is grinning at me from behind bars. His eyes are as white as milk, with no iris in sight. It’s incredibly unsettling.

The room I’m in is so dark I can barely see a thing, except for the Nezdek’s face. I blink a few times and slowly but surely I can start to make out shapes in the darkness. I’m in a cell of some kind. Alone.

“Aren’t you going to say something back?”

“Fuck off,” I croak. My voice is hoarse and my throat hurts, as if I just spent hours screaming.

The alien laughs. “Erran said you were feisty. I can see he wasn’t wrong.” He licks his thin lips, and I pull my knees up to my chest, trying to make myself as small as possible. “You’re lucky the Czar himself wants you, you know. Unspoiled. Because I wouldn’t mind sampling the wares… I’ve been looking forward to tasting human.”

His eyes travel over my body, and I feel violated from his creepy glare alone.

“How are you feeling, human? A bit groggy, yes? The drugs will do that to you. Matif gave you a megadose. You’ve been out for nearly a day, you know. Only way they could keep you under.”

He smirks, baring his fangs at me.

“What a fine prize you’ll make… the Czar will be pleased.”

I close my eyes and keep them shut, trying to block everything out. My captor’s grating voice, the soft hum of the ship’s engine, my rumbling stomach. If I concentrate hard enough, I might just wake up back home…

No. Focus, Ava. Wishing is not going to make this better. I’m in deep, deep shit, but there’s always a way out. There’s always a plan.

All I need to do is focus.

However, it’s hard to concentrate with your bladder desperately asking for attention. And I don’t see a nice, comfortable restroom anywhere nearby in this cramped cell…

“I need to use the restroom,” I say.

“Ah, so you can talk?” my captor says.

Now that my eyes have adjusted to the darkness, I can see a rifle strapped to his back. A plan starts to form in my mind.

“You’re out of luck, though,” he snarls.

“What do you mean? I need to use the restroom. Emphasis on need. I don’t know how your species’ plumbing works, but humans have certain needs. I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say it might get messy if I don’t go. The Czar wants me ‘unspoiled’, right?”

The guard frowns at me, his bushy eyebrows all puckered up. My cocky scheme just might work.

“If I don’t use the restroom, I’ll be spoiled all right. Like you wouldn’t believe. Spoiled out the wazoo.”

“What’s the wazoo?”

“You don’t want to know. Trust me. It’s bad. Or do you want Lord Erran to find out you messed up?”

The alien glowers at me.

“I do not trust you,” he says, “but if you are telling the truth, Erran will have my head. Bah!”

He grabs a pair of keys and unlocks my cell door. Yes! I’ve achieved the first step: Get the alien jailor to open my cell. Now for the crucial second part of my masterplan: Disarm him.

How am I going to do that?

Shit. I have no clue.

I didn’t think I’d get this far.

While I’m furiously debating with myself, the Nezdek opens the door and glares at me.

Oh crap, I don’t have time. I have only one shot. I need to make this count. Breathe, Ava. You’ve got this. One step at a time.

“Thank you,” I say as I get up and walk towards my alien jailor. The moment I’m next to him, I do the only thing I can think of: I knee him right between the legs.

Clunk!

My knee bounces off his armor. The Nezdek doesn’t even flinch, but my knee is hurting like mad. I stumble backwards, having to grab the bars of the cell for support.

“Trickster,” the alien snarls. “I will teach you a lesson!”

His long, thin fingers wrap round my throat, choking the life out of me. He lifts me right up, my feet kicking nothing but air. I can see his expression change from hatred to lust as his fingers touch my naked skin. He hugs me tightly, smelling my hair, pressing his bony figure against mine.

“By the Nao,” he breathes into my ear. “So soft! So delicious! The Czar must forgive me! I must have you!”

Oh no. No no no. Hell no.

I reach behind my alien assaulter and gently pull the laser-rifle from the strap on his back. He’s so busy sniffing me he doesn’t even notice. I do my best to point the weapon in his direction, shut my eyes tight and pull the trigger.

Zap!

A burst of white light, so bright I can see it with my eyes shut, lights up the room. The jailor drops me and stumbles backwards, and a burning smell fills the room.

He looks at me, surprised and disgusted. I can still feel his touch on my skin, and pure anger flows through me. I point the rifle at him and fire. Again. And again. And again.

When I open my eyes, the only thing left in his place is a pile of ash.

I did it.

I rest my back against the cold, metal bars, breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth. Holy crap. I did it. I killed an alien.

Only an entire ship more of them to go.

Once I’ve regained some of my composure, I peek my head out the door. The hallway is empty. Clutching the rifle tightly I make my way down the hall, trying to be as sneaky as humanly possible.

There’s a doorway to my left. I peek in, but I don’t see any Nezdek. No, what I see is way worse.

Rows upon rows of cryogenic sleep pods are lined up on either side of this massive cargo bay. I drop the rifle to my side and rush into the room. Through the small glass pane I can see the sleeping faces of countless human women.

My own words come to my mind. To them we are nothing but cattle. Breeding stock.

How right I was. They’re transporting them like livestock. I recognize a few faces from the classroom. The girl with the red sweater is among them.

Oh god.

I’m not just trying to save myself anymore. The fates of all these women depend on me.

I grab the rifle with a renewed sense of purpose. This is bigger than just me now. I have to push aside my fear — for them.

Low, guttural voices coming down the hall rouse me from my thoughts. They’re coming! I have to make a split-second decision. Do I wait for them, guns drawn? Or do I hide?

My flight response wins out, and I duck behind one of the pods, cursing myself for being such a coward. Several Nezdek guards come striding into the room, chatting amongst themselves.

“Wow,” I hear one of them say. “Just look.”

“Nice.”

“Fuck, I can’t wait to have my hands on one of them.”

“Yeah, like a scrub like you will get his own personal slave. These are going straight to the Lords.”

“Ah, come on. Not like they’ll miss one.”

“You sure about that?”

“No, but I’m willing to risk it if you two are.”

His voice sounds smug and full of self-satisfaction. It’s making my blood boil.

“You’re out of your mind. I’m not risking my head for no human, no matter how juicy they might be.”

“Your loss. I heard they’ve got a live one just next door. Saves us the trouble having to wake them.”

“That one is specifically for the Czar,” his mate responds.

My heart skips a beat when he realize he’s talking about me.

“You’re crazier than I thought if you want to taste that one. The Czar will have you drawn and quartered.”

“Oh come on, just a peek won’t hurt.”

The voices fade away as the Nezdek head down the hall. My heart is beating so fast I’m afraid the sound alone will give me away, and my palms are sweaty and sticky. I have to fight the urge to run down the hall and gun the Nezdek down — I have no idea with how many they were. I was too afraid to look, but I counted at least three different voices.

I can’t believe they talked about us like we’re animals. Less than animals, even. And any second now, they’ll discover I’m no longer in my cell, and my cover will be blown.

What would Sarah do right now?

Oh, who am I kidding. I’m no Sarah. I can’t take out a whole ship of aliens. I can barely punch my way through a pack of butter. It’s hopeless.

I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths. Come on, Ava. Think. All of their lives depend on you now. This is no time to have a breakdown.

I need to send out a distress call of some kind. Alert the Federation of our location. That’s the only hope I have left — that they can intercept the ship before it reaches the Nezdek planet of Archon.

Assuming there is a Federation left to come save us…

I have to assume there is, or else our situation is hopeless. And hope is all I have left right now. If the Nezdek are anything like us, I will need to reach the bridge, and that will be on the top floor.

I take one last deep breath.

Showtime.

I rush down the hall, and I instantly hear screaming coming from behind. So much for a stealth mission. I fire backwards without looking, not stopping for a second to slow down. Luckily, I come across an elevator, and it’s already at my floor.

I hop in and press the button for the top floor. A tense thirty seconds later, the doors fly open, and I find myself smack dab in the middle of the bridge, surrounded by unarmed pilots and engineers.

“Everybody down!” I scream as I raise my gun.

The Nezdek back away, startled. I run towards a control panel… and all the hope I have flows away.

Just because they implanted some translating device into me and I can understand their spoken language doesn’t mean I can read their strange script. The panel in front of me is filled with flashing alien symbols, none of which make any sense to me.

Crap.

In a last ditch effort, I randomly start striking keys, hoping that by some stroke of luck, I might just send out a distress call.

“You won’t stay still, will you?”

A grating voice makes my blood run cold. I turn around and see Lord Erran facing me. The Nezdek leader is wearing an eyepatch now, and his smile is cold and lifeless.

“I can fix that. I’m going to make you pay for what you did to me.”

His eyes travel across my body.

“You won’t need those legs of yours to breed. The Czar would prefer a perfect specimen, but an exception can be made for one as dangerous as you.”

Fuck.

Suddenly, the ship lurches to the left. The alarm starts blaring, and the room is coated in a harsh, red light. The engineers surrounding me are scrambling, screaming amongst themselves.

Did I do it? Did I manage to send out a distress call with my fumbling? But how would they have gotten here so fast?

“The Asir! We’re under attack!” one of the pilots yells.

“Damn it!” Lord Erran curses. “Evasive maneuvers! Now!”

Oh, it’s another alien species that’s coming to my rescue. Ah well, beggars can’t be choosers, right? They can’t be much worse than the Nezdek.

An explosion rocks the ship, and I’m thrown up into the air. I hit the cold, metal floor with a hard smack. If these Asir don’t watch out, they’ll kill us all. What kind of rescue would that be?

“We can’t shake them, my lord!” one of the pilots says. “They’re too fast!”

“Throw her in the hold,” Erran bites at one of his soldiers while pointing at me. “The cargo is slowing us down. Dump it on the nearest habitable planet. We’ll come back for them later!”

Two soldiers grab my arms and lift me right up, yanking my rifle away from me. I fight them as hard as I can, but it’s of no use. They easily carry me away and throw me back into my cell, slamming the door shut behind me.

I’m in for a rough landing.