The roar of the dragons fighting on the Revenge's deck brought Laura's head around, and she almost smiled. Rorax was here! Her heart pounded in her chest and she fought down the urge to run out and help him. She would only get in the way and distract him. Out there, the fight was between dragons and a human wouldn't be able to do anything.

Tearing open the emergency supplies cabinet, she sighed with relief. There weren't just spare suits, there were emergency survival tents, designed to let the crew survive for days on the Martian surface. Grabbing one, she slung it on her back and picked up a helmet as well. Now, at last, she'd have a chance of surviving if she fled the ship.

But I can't leave Rorax behind, she thought, hesitating. She knew there wasn't anything that she could do to help against the dragons he fought, but she also couldn't just abandon him.

Before she could decide what to do, the choice was taken out of her hands. The doorway of the bridge darkened and she looked up to see Korgan filling it. His eyes were bright with a crazed fury, and he advanced on her with a murderous look on his face.

Laura backed away, putting the central controls between her and the advancing pirate.

"When I kill my brother, he's going to know that I've already torn you limb from limb," he spat, hands flexing in anticipation of getting to grips with her. His wings spread wide, beating angrily, and he darted around the ship's wheel faster than she'd have imagined such a big man could move.

"He's killing your men while you're trying to trap me," she said, trying to distract him. If he caught up with her, she knew that she was in trouble. This time she wouldn't have the element of surprise, and Korgan was uninjured.

"If they lose to him, they deserve it," he hissed, lunging forward. Laura barely managed to dart out of his way. "I'll deal with whatever's left of him after I'm done with you."

"What about the ransom," she tried, playing for time. "Don't you want to get paid?"

"I'd give up far more wealth than that to punish Rorax," Korgan said. He walked steadily toward her, and Laura scrambled backward until she bumped into the ship's wheel. Korgan grabbed for her again, nearly catching her before she could dodge aside.

If there's one thing I don't want, it's for Rorax to reach me a second too late, she thought, ducking around a control console and looking for a way out.

"You can't dodge me forever," Korgan growled, trying to grab her again. Laura barely managed to slip out of his range and his hand closed inches from her face. She snapped a quick punch into his arm, aiming for a nerve cluster and praying.

Korgan winced in pain, shaking his arm as he withdrew. Laura grinned, glad to know that the pressure points on an alien were the same as on a human. That gave her something like a fighting chance.

But watching her enemy shake off the numbness in his arm, she knew it wasn't going to be much help. Tricks like that could hold him for a bit, but they wouldn't stop him. Warily, she tried to circle towards the door, but he wasn't about to fall for so obvious a trick. All he had to do was stay between her and the exit and eventually he'd trap her in a corner.

Where are you, Rorax? Laura glanced outside, but the dragons were nowhere to be seen. The sound of tearing metal told her someone had fallen into the belly of the ship, and the shuddering of the deck under her feet suggested that they were still fighting down there. She couldn't count on him reaching her before this fight was over.

Her heart pounded and she could feel herself weakening — the impact of the crash hadn't been good for her either. Her left leg felt like it was one gigantic bruise, and she could feel herself slowing down.

I'm not going to last much longer, she thought. Okay then, I'd better make the most of the time I've got left.

Gathering herself, she ducked to the right, then the left, her alien opponent moving to keep her trapped. Then she sprang straight at him, the one direction he hadn't expected her to go in. The look on the alien's face was priceless, and his reflexes weren't quite fast enough as she dodged around his grasping hands. Her fist slammed into his face with all her weight and strength behind the blow, and she felt the satisfying crunch of his nose breaking. Her other hand struck at his throat, but he was already twisting aside and she only hit him in the side of the neck.

His counter punch would have taken her head off if she hadn't already been moving away. Even the glancing impact of it sent her sprawling, lights flashing in her vision as she tumbled across the bridge. For a moment, her body wouldn't respond, but at the sound of his footsteps coming closer, Laura found the strength to roll back to her feet.

She moved just in time, his foot coming down in a heavy stamp where her head had been a moment before. The impact dented the metal deck, and Laura didn't want to think about what it would have done to her if she hadn't dodged.

Panting, she scrambled back, another kick from Korgan denting the housing of the flight controls as she ducked behind them.

"You and Rorax have ruined everything," he said, his voice full of rage and hate. "It will take years to rebuild from this, decades! But I can at least repay you before I move on."

Grabbing hold of the ship's wheel, he wrenched it loose from its moorings and swung it like a giant bludgeon. Laura only barely managed to get out of the way, and the second swing came close enough that she could feel it pass her face.

"You've still lost," she said, looking for a way past the weapon. She was faster than he was, that was her only advantage, but she didn't think that she was fast enough. "It doesn't matter if you kill me, that won't get you anything."

"This isn't about winning," Korgan growled. "Not anymore. Now it's about showing my brother what happens when he messes with me. I may have lost but so has he, and so have you."

On the last word, he threw the wheel, catching Laura by surprise. The impact sent her tumbling back against the wall, and the wheel was too heavy to get out from under quickly. Before she could move, Korgan was on her, grabbing hold of her through the spokes of the wheel and squeezing. The pressure of his fingers crushed her shoulder and she couldn't help crying out in pain.

Twisting the wheel between them, she managed to keep him away from her throat, but she knew that he had the strength to tear the obstacle away from her. That he wasn't bothering because he was enjoying hurting her instead. The sadistic light that flashed in his eyes as he looked at her suffering was clear — Korgan wasn't going to make this quick.

That's your mistake, Laura thought. The pain was almost too much to bear, would have been too much if she'd had any choice. But she didn't, she had no option but to work through it. With a heave, she threw her weight into the wheel between them, twisting it against Korgan's forearm and using it as a lever to push him away. Surprised, he let go and stepped back, pulling the wheel from her hands and tossing it aside before stepping back towards her.

That gave her the moment she'd wanted, the second to take a deep breath and gather her strength. Before he could grab her again she threw herself across the torn floor in a roll, the impact on her shoulder making her scream. The cracked floor sagged under her, and she scrambled along the gap.

Korgan followed, pouncing fast as a cat, and there was no way she could avoid his grip this time. His fingers dug into her neck as the deck buckled under their combined weight. With a horrible tearing sound, it gave way beneath them sending the two of them tumbling into the darkness below.

The impact separated them, and Laura scrambled backward to get some room. Her head spun from the fall and her whole body ached, but nothing was broken. Laura was glad of Mars's light gravity — on Earth that would have been much worse, she thought as she struggled to her feet. But she wasn't fast enough to avoid Korgan. Wrenching her around to face him, he slammed her into the wall.

Lifting her by her injured arm until her face was level with his, Korgan glared into her face. She could barely see him in the darkened hold, and she was just as glad. What she could make out of his expression was cruel and furious. "Did you expect to get away?" he asked, panting with rage. "Did you think you could outrun me?"

"No," Laura gasped. "That wasn't an escape. I'm not running, I'm fighting."

She felt her smile match his, and he froze, unsure of what she meant. In that moment, Laura saw movement over his shoulder. She kept her eyes on his, not wanting to give anything away, as Rorax loomed out of the darkness in dragon form.

Some sixth sense of Korgan's gave him warning. Or maybe Laura hadn't covered her reaction to Rorax's presence perfectly. At the last moment, Korgan's eyes went wide and he spun to face his brother.

Rorax didn't give him a chance to surrender, and Laura didn't blame him. Korgan had too many already, and had turned them all down. Now it was time for this to end.

Laura could see that they both knew there was no way out of this. In the belly of the ship, there was no way for either of them to retreat or escape. Not without the other tearing them apart as they went.

Korgan didn't waste any time on speaking. He shifted, throwing himself at Rorax as he went, and the two of them met with a crash that shook the whole ship. Fire sprayed from Korgan's mouth, and Laura scooted back away from them as the fire caught the cargo netting at the side of the hold.

The light of the flame gave her a better look at the dragons and her heart pounded as she saw the injuries on Rorax's body. He's been through so much, she thought, counting the wounds. Now I've pushed him into more. She couldn't bear the thought that she might have led Rorax to his death.

But Korgan wasn't at his best either. And Rorax had clearly had enough. He ignored the talons that slashed at his wounded flank, ignored the fire that scorched across his body. With a single-minded focus, he wrapped his limbs around Korgan and squeezed. The creak of bones buckling under pressure filled the room and Korgan arched his back, trying to pull away.

That was the opening Rorax had been looking for. Korgan's long neck arched away from him, and Rorax snapped his teeth shut on it, clamping hard and biting down. Korgan thrashed helplessly, trying to pull away and taking Rorax with him as they rolled over each other.

Laura scrambled back, away from the two dragons, looking on as Korgan weakened. She was close enough to look into his eyes and see the panic setting in as the realization that he was in trouble. Reaching out with a massive clawed hand, he grabbed hold of the decking and pulled the two struggling dragons in her direction. The hate in his eyes was frightening.

His claws dug into the steel and he hauled with furious might. Laura backed away into the darkness. But there wasn't far to go, and soon she felt the hull of the ship at her back. A spark of hateful joy flared in Korgan's eyes as he saw that she was trapped, and she knew that he'd given up on winning the fight. Now all he cared about was hurting Rorax by killing her. Lashing out with his claws he struck towards her.

Rorax bit down harder, digging into the ground with his claws and jerked Korgan away from her, and his claws missed by inches. Laura shuddered, seeing her death flash past, and then pushed off the wall.

"You've lost," she shouted, desperate and angry. She could see the flames building in Korgan's giant maw, and ducked around towards the back of the ship. The engines roared, still trying to power the broken ship, and she ran towards them. A desperate plan formed in her mind as she went.

Behind her, she felt the white-hot blaze of Korgan's flame following her as he spat his hatred. The flames licked at her heels.

Laura grinned to herself, fear and exhilaration mixing in her as she charged past the fuel store. Korgan's fire played across the tanks and she felt the fuel start to catch.

Turning back towards the two dragons, she ran up Rorax's back and flung her arms around his neck. Her mate didn't need any more of a hint, letting go of Korgan and leaping for the torn-open roof above them. Korgan roared, grabbing at Rorax as he kicked off, and for a moment all three of them hung suspended over the inferno as the blazing fuel spilled out of rupturing tanks. Looking back, Laura could see Korgan's hateful determination to pull them down into the fires, to drag them with him into Hell.

Then Rorax kicked backward, his foot catching Korgan square on the jaw. With a scream of hate and pain the pirate king tumbled down into the white-hot flames and vanished. Finally, they were free of him.