Looking up into the eyes of their captor, Laura tried to look as calm and confident as she could. No one would benefit if she lost her cool here. Did I really just claim to be Adele?

"What the hell, Laura?" Adele said, and thank God she was using their private channel. "What do you think you're doing?"

"My job," Laura replied, hoping that her whisper couldn't be heard outside the suit. "I'm here to keep you safe. Letting some pirates steal you away is not going to happen."

The aliens didn't give any sign of having heard either of them. One, the leader who'd called himself Rorax, beckoned her forward and she stepped away from the crowd of workers. The other humans were only too happy to let her pass — they, at least, seemed fine with giving her up if it meant they went home safely.

Laura couldn't blame them for that. She wasn't sure what had possessed her to try this lie, to put herself on the line, but now that she'd started, she wasn't about to give up on it.

The alien in front of her looked her slowly up and down, frowning. "You are the human heiress Adele St. George?" he asked, eyes narrowing. Laura shrugged and nodded, switching back to the suit's external speakers to answer.

"That's me," she said. She didn't bother to try and impersonate Adele's voice. If the aliens knew what she sounded like, they'd know what she looked like and in that case, she had no hope of fooling them. Besides, she was awful at impressions.

Something sparked in the dragon's gaze as he nodded. Laura thought it might be respect. Narrowing his alien eyes, he carefully looked her up and down. She returned the favor. He was, Laura had to admit, well worth looking at. Taller than most humans, his broad shoulders carried muscles that would have looked oversized on most men. On him, they seemed just right. The only clothing he wore were tight pants that clung to his muscular legs and a belt studded with crystals. She wondered where he'd hidden those when in dragon form. They seemed to simply appear as he'd changed shape. However the aliens managed that trick, Laura was grateful he wasn't completely naked.

His skin was a deep, rich red, with scales on his shoulders and arms. Large leathery wings emerged from his back, scraping the roof of the ship's cabin as they flexed. But the most eye-catching thing about him was his eyes. They were just as alien as the rest of him, strange and lizard-like, but Laura could see the powerful determination in them.

Laura felt an almost irresistible urge to run her hand over his perfectly defined abs, and blushed at the thought.

He's a pirate and a kidnapper, she reminded herself firmly. Don't get distracted by the fact that he's also a hunk.

It helped to look at his wing. There was a hole burnt through it, and that put a small smile on her face. It hadn't been enough to stop him, but it was a sign that the aliens weren't invincible. Maybe she could get away if she kept her eyes open for a chance.

"You can't put yourself in danger like this," Adele hissed into the comms. "My father will pay the ransom for me and that'll be that, I'll be perfectly safe."

"These things go wrong," Laura said with a calm certainty. Aliens she might not have any experience with, but corporate kidnappings? That was the kind of thing that she had been hired to stop. "I've seen it happen. Maybe you'd be safe, maybe you wouldn't. The only way to be sure you're okay is for you not to go with them."

"That's crazy. What will they do when they find out you aren't me?"

"Could be a problem," Laura admitted. "It's my problem, though. If you can get your dad to pay up for me instead, that would be great. If not, I guess I'll have to escape."

The shocked silence on the radio almost made Laura laugh. It wasn't often that she got to shut up Adele.

She tried not to dwell on the fact that this could well be the last time. For all the confidence she was trying to show her client, Laura didn't know how the dragons would respond when they found out the truth. Better to put that moment off as long as possible, because it definitely wouldn't be pretty.

The dragons were discussing something in their own language, or maybe arguing. It sounded pretty heated, but without knowing a single word it was hard to tell. Whatever they were saying, Rorax ended the discussion with a sharp chopping gesture and turned back to her.

"We are leaving," he said in English. "The rest of you, wait for one of your hours before leaving the vehicle. Then you are free to go. Carry this message back to Michael St. George of LakeTech — his daughter will be returned safe and unharmed as long as he complies with my demands when I contact him again."

There were murmurs from the rest of the crew, and Laura hoped that they wouldn't say anything to spoil her ruse. She didn't dare look around to say goodbye. Aside from anything else, Laura didn't want to risk meeting Adele's eyes and seeing what she was thinking.

Looking straight ahead, she stepped over to the aliens. The second pirate looked at her with a hungry leer that made her shiver and want to punch him, but she resisted the urge. It'll be okay, Mr. St George is a good employer, she told herself. He'll pay or find a way to get me back safe if I can't escape on my own. He owes me that much for keeping his daughter out of the hands of the aliens.

That sounded good in her head, but she was far from confident that he'd be willing to pay up for a security contractor. Still, keeping Adele safe was her job whatever happened, and he'd want to encourage others to take risks to keep his family safe, surely?

The transport doors opened again, a miniature hurricane blowing through the cabin as the air escaped. Silence settled over her as she let the aliens lead her back outside. The third of them was still circling high above, watching for trouble. She approved — someone here was at least taking basic precautions. If I have to be in the hands of pirates, I'd rather have it be ones who know what they're doing, she thought with a wry smile. Professionals I can handle. Amateurs would be more likely to get me killed by doing something stupid.

"Don't get yourself into more trouble than you have to," Adele said over the communicator. A little of her usual confidence had crept back into her voice now that the dragons had left the transport. "Keep your head down and stay safe. I'll do everything I can to get you back safe and sound."

"You'd better," Laura replied. "I'm going to be charging overtime for this, so the sooner I'm home the cheaper I'll be."

Adele managed a laugh at that. "Don't forget hazard pay. You're going to cost the company a fortune."

"You've seen through my cunning plan to get rich from this," Laura said with a smile. It was better to laugh than to take the situation too seriously, after all.

In front of her, the aliens spread their wings and changed, driving all the banter out of Laura's mind. This was the first time she'd had the chance to watch one of the aliens transform outside of a fight, and she watched with fascination. It was over unbelievably quickly as he stretched out, growing and falling forward onto all fours. His wings spread wider and wider, his body lengthened and thickened, the red scales gleaming in the Martian sun. As he changed, his clothing vanished, the crystals of his belt becoming studs on the scales at his waist. Some kind of implanted technology, Laura guessed. They had to be able to carry their possessions somehow, after all.

But most of her mind was too amazed at what she was watching to think about that. In less than a heartbeat's time, he went from being a big man to being a huge dragon, and she took a step back away from his intimidating bulk.

I took a shot at this? She could hardly believe it. But the wounds were still there, the hole she'd punched in his wing, the scorched scales on his shoulder. His head came around to look at her, and he nodded to her. His meaning came across loud and clear: climb aboard.

Steeling herself, Laura walked back to him, looking at the giant sinuous creature. When they'd fought, it had happened too fast for her to take anything in — just an impression of speed and size and irresistible strength. Now she had the time to look at him and he was even more formidable than she'd thought. The dead dragon hadn't done much to prepare her for seeing a living one. His thick scales were armor enough to turn most weapons, his claws and teeth looked fit to tear through an armored spacesuit like tissue, and then there was the fact that he could breathe fire.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall, she reminded herself, looking again at the wounds she'd managed to inflict. Laura was determined not to be intimidated, though that was easier said than done. The massive creature was all too obviously designed for fighting and killing, and she wished that she could have brought her rifle with her. Without it, she couldn't imagine how she'd manage to fight something like this.

Grabbing hold of him, she pulled herself up onto his back and clung on tight. In the low Martian gravity, it was easy enough to get herself situated, and she tried to brace herself for the journey. Then they were off.

With a powerful beat of his wings, Rorax lifted off from the surface and circled once around the downed transport. The other dragon followed, and soon they were joined by the third, all three dragons flying back the way they'd come. Laura hung on for dear life as they soared high above the ground, trying not to think about what would happen if she fell.

They won't let anything happen to me. I'm their payday. At least, they think I am. They have to keep me in one piece.

It was easy to tell herself that, and harder to believe it. The ground zoomed past, faster than she would have believed, and soon the skyship was out of sight below the horizon. Once they were unobserved, the dragons changed course sharply. Another good sign that they were professionals, Laura thought with a little relief. If the remaining humans were watching where they were going, they would have the wrong direction, making it harder to hunt the pirates down.

The more signs she had that the aliens had thought this plan through, the more confident she was that they knew what they were doing. And that was her best chance of getting out of this mess alive.