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The next night at work, with the clink of glasses and the murmur of patrons surrounding me as I wiped down the bar, Jenu sidled up next to me.
“Thinking about leaving this place?” she asked.
“Every day,” I said. “I just need to save enough money, then I’m out of here.”
Jenu sighed wistfully. “You’ve actually been places, though. I haven’t. I want to explore the galaxy, see new planets, meet new species… You know, not be stuck on a space station for the rest of my life.”
“Life’s too short to stay in one place.” My fingers traced the outline of a starship tattooed on my forearm.
“Where would you go next?”
“Maybe the Vysari Nebula,” I said. “I heard it’s breathtaking.”
Before Jenu could respond, a group of Alcari warriors marched in through the tavern entrance, their rainbow scales shimmering under the lights.
I recognized their leader—the same Alcari warrior who’d come in the two nights before. His deep emerald eyes scanned the room, his scales and plates and other inhuman features somehow both terrifying and mesmerizing.
“Why aren’t they sitting down?” I whispered to Jenu with a frown.
She shook her head, her eyes wide. “Let’s just keep working and see what happens.”
As the Alcaris moved through the crowd, it was clear they were not here for a casual drink. The leader’s gaze locked onto me, his expression unreadable. As he approached the bar, I tried to steady my shaking hands.
“Good evening, Lilah,” he said, his deep voice sending heat rolling through me. I had no idea he knew my name.
“Nice to see you again,” I replied, trying to sound confident but failing miserably. “What brings you in tonight?”
“Business,” he answered cryptically, his gaze flicking toward Jenu and then back to me. “I hope you don’t mind if we stay awhile.”
I gestured at the bar. “We’re open.”
“Excellent,” he said, his lips curling into a smile that seemed somehow sinister. “We’ll try not to cause too much trouble.”
As he turned away, a sense of dread settled in my stomach, twisting and turning. What kind of business would he have here?
“Stay close,” I murmured to Jenu, who nodded nervously.
As I poured another drink for a customer, I watched the Alcari out of the corner of my eye. His men spread out through the space. I was trying to figure out why they weren’t staying together when the words in formation fluttered through my mind.
Oh, shit. They weren’t here for drinks, I realized.
Before I could do more than open my mouth to try to warn someone, the tavern door slammed shut, sealing us off from the rest of the space station.
“Hey!” I shouted. “What’s going on?” But my voice was lost in the general shouting as patrons begin to notice what was going on.
It took only a few moments for the Alcari to subdue us all.
“Shut up,” the Alcari warrior nearest me growled, grabbing my upper arm and squeezing. “No more yelling.”
I tugged my arm away. “Okay, fine.”
He let me go, and I glanced worriedly at Jenu, then back to the Alcari leader, who was now consulting a small tablet. He glanced around the room, and without warning, he began pointing at various patrons.
“Separate them,” he commanded. His warriors sprang into action, grabbing the individuals he had singled out and roughly herding them to one side of the bar.
I frowned, that sick feeling roiling in my gut. The Alcari were known for their ruthlessness, but I couldn’t fathom what they wanted with these people. As I tried to make sense of it all, I noticed a pattern emerging in those being separated.
“Jenu,” I whispered, leaning in close so that only she could hear me. “Have you noticed that everyone being singled out is female?”
Her eyes widened. “Holy fuck. You’re right. What do you think they want with them?”
“I don’t know.”
As the last of the women were pulled from the crowd, I couldn’t help but wonder if we would be next. I’d always longed for adventure, but this was not the kind of excitement I had in mind.
The leader paused, his emerald gaze sweeping through the room one last time before landing on us. My breath caught in my throat as he pointed directly at Jenu and me.
“Them,” he said. “Bring them to me.”
“Over my dead body,” I snarled, grabbing a nearby bottle and shattering it against the edge of the bar. Jenu followed suit, brandishing her makeshift weapon with surprising ferocity.
“Come any closer, and you’ll regret it,” she warned, her voice trembling only slightly.
For all our bravado, though, we were no match for the sheer strength and size of the Alcari warriors.
They closed in on us, their scales gleaming menacingly under the dim tavern lights. We swung our weapons wildly, desperate to fend them off, but they easily dodged our clumsy attacks—and the one time I actually made contact, the Alcari’s scales weren’t damaged at all.
“Get off me,” I shouted as the same warrior as earlier seized me by the arm, his grip like iron. Jenu struggled valiantly beside me even as the fight turned against us.
“Let go of us, you monsters,” she cried, lashing out at the warrior who held me. He simply laughed, a deep, rumbling sound.
“Feisty little creatures, aren’t you?” he taunted, yanking Jenu’s arm behind her back and forcing her to drop the broken bottle. “But utterly powerless.”
I kicked out at the warrior, my foot connecting with his shin with a satisfying thud. He grunted but didn’t release his grip on Jenu.
“Enough!” the leader roared, silencing the room with a single word. “You will submit, or you will suffer the consequences.”
“Go to hell,” I spat out, glaring daggers at him. But even as I resisted, the Alcari who held me forced me to my knees.
“Jenu...” I murmured as she was pushed down to kneel beside me. “I’m so sorry.”
“Never apologize,” she whispered back, her eyes still blazing with defiance.
“Take them to the ship,” the leader commanded.
I bit back a curse and glanced at Jenu, who seemed to be thinking the same thing. Maybe we could use this as an opportunity to escape. With the right distraction and a little luck, we might stand a chance.
But any hope of escape was quickly dashed as I saw what awaited us. Several of the Alcari warriors had moved to the far side of the tavern and were cutting a hole in the bulkhead.
I realized with a sickening lurch that their ship was against the space station’s outer hull just outside the tavern.
“Damn it,” I muttered under my breath, watching the sparks fly from the cutting tools. The sheer efficiency of the Alcari operation only served to remind me of how powerless we truly were.
A wave of horror washed over me as I realized the patrons left behind would be doomed. Once the spaceship departed, they’d be sucked out into the cold vacuum of space. Desperation clawed at my chest, and I knew I couldn’t let that happen.
“Wait!” I shouted, catching the leader’s attention. “The people still in the bar... when your ship leaves, they’ll be exposed to the vacuum. You can’t just leave them to die like that.”
My voice trembled, but I held my ground, staring back at the Alcari leader.
For a moment, he remained silent, his expression unreadable. Then, finally, he spoke. “What do you propose?”
“There’s a safe room behind the bar,” I explained. “It’s designed to protect against decompression events. If you allow the remaining patrons to move there, they might have a chance.”
He narrowed his eyes, considering my words. “Fine,” he growled at last, apparently reluctant. “I will allow the remaining patrons to take refuge in the safe room. But there will be a price.”
I swallowed hard. “What kind of price?”
One corner of his mouth quirked up. “One that you’ll be paying.”
I nodded, unable to speak.
With any luck, I’d manage to escape before that payment came due.
The remaining patrons filed behind the bar. I heard it as safe room door sealed shut with a hiss, and I couldn’t help but feel a small sense of accomplishment. At least they’d live.
Probably.
As the Alcari finished cutting a hole into the hull, the sound of tortured metal giving way grated on my nerves. I glanced at Jenu, trying to offer her a reassuring smile, but my lips trembled, betraying my fear.
The Alcari pulled away the bulkhead section they’d cut, exposing a space-tube leading to an airlock.
“Get moving,” an Alcari warrior barked, shoving me forward toward the makeshift entrance. My legs felt like they were made of lead, each step taking monumental effort as I approached it.
“Ozias,” one of the other warriors said to the leader, “we must hurry.” His brightly colored scales shimmered in the light, the osteoderm scales on his back casting eerie shadows on the wall. “Our time is limited, and we still have much to do.”
The leader—Ozias?— regarded the group of captives through narrowed eyes. “Yes. The sooner we get them to the breeding program, the better.”
A breeding program? I’d heard whispers of things like that before, tales of abductions and forced couplings, but I’d never fully believed any of the rumors. The realization that this one was real sent ice scuttling down my spine, and I struggled to keep the terror from showing on my face.
“Breeding program?” Jenu muttered, her eyes wide with horror. “What are they going to do to us?”
“Quiet!” one of the warriors hissed, jabbing Jenu in the side with the butt of his weapon. She winced, biting her lip to stifle a cry of pain.
“Keep moving,” another warrior commanded, shoving us towards the gaping hole in the wall. The airlock loomed before us, cold and metallic, like the maw of some great beast waiting to swallow us whole.
“Guess we’re getting our wish to see the stars up close,” I whispered to Jenu, injecting a touch of humor into my shaky voice. “Just not quite how we imagined it.”
“Next time,” she replied, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, “let’s be more specific about our dreams.”
“Good plan,” I said, my throat tight as we stepped through the airlock.
But first, we’d have to get out of this dilemma.
I took one last look back at the station as we were herded onto the Alcari ship, my throat closing with the effort to hold back my tears.
As I was thrown inside the Alcari ship’s holding cell, my body collided with the unforgiving surface. My gaze darted around the dimly lit space, taking in the huddled forms of several other females from various species. Some were weeping quietly while others stared blankly at the walls, their expressions betraying a sense of despair.
Jenu was tossed in right after me, her fall softened by my outstretched arms. We clung to each other as if our lives depended on it and shuffled over to an unoccupied corner of the cell, sinking down to the floor.
“Are you okay?” I asked, searching her face for any signs of injury.
“Nothing a good night’s sleep wouldn’t fix,” she replied with a weak smile, trying to mask her fear. “Not that we’re likely to get that here. How about you?”
“Same,” I said, though I knew that neither of us truly believed it. Our bodies might heal, but our minds—what would become of them?
“Maybe next time we should specify ‘no alien abduction’ when we make our plans,” Jenu said, her voice thick.
I nodded, forcing myself to chuckle at her dark humor. “And definitely no breeding programs.”
As the words tumbled from my mouth, a chill settled in the pit of my stomach. The reality of our situation began to sink in, crushing down on me like the oppressive gravity of a massive star. I glanced around at our fellow prisoners, their faces lined with fear and misery. We were all pawns in a twisted game, our fates determined by the whims of an alien race that saw us as little more than breeding stock.
The hum of the ship’s engines vibrated through the metal floor, and my stomach dropped as we began our ascent. Our jokes had lost their humor, replaced by a shared sense of dread that settled like a cold mist in the cell.
“Gods above,” Jenu muttered, her voice barely audible over the roar of the engines. “This is really happening.”
“Maybe it won’t be so bad,” I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. But as I stared around at the frightened faces of our fellow captives, I knew I was fooling no one, least of all myself.
An Alcari breeding program—even the thought made my skin crawl.
As the ship continued its climb into the vast darkness of space, my thoughts turned inward, and I found myself reflecting on the cruel irony of our situation. I’d survived my life through dreams of exploring the galaxy—and now it felt like those dreams were being used against me.
I couldn’t help but wonder if the universe itself was mocking us, laughing at our hubris as it dangled our dreams before us like a tantalizing prize always just beyond our reach.
“Hey.” Jenu reached out a hand to catch mine. “We’ll fight, and we’ll survive, and we’ll find a way to get out of this—even if it means burning the whole damn Alcari empire to the ground.”
“Well, when you put it like that…”
“Exactly.” She grinned, and for a moment, our circumstances seemed a little less crushing. “So let’s focus on getting through this, and then we’ll worry about how to stick it to those scaly bastards.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I agreed, trying to draw strength from her determination.
As the ship continued its journey into the cold void of space, I held onto Jenu’s hand and prayed to any gods who might be listening that, somehow, we’d find a way to turn the tables on our captors.