When the alarm continued to wail, Senona got to her feet. She looked back down the hall to where the captives were. She could hear the tearful crying and pleading. She debated going back to them and stunning the males but when the deck beneath her feet bucked, she changed her mind and headed for the bridge.
The Captain entered the bridge and noted the viewscreen. Three ships were appearing out of nowhere and advancing on the slave ship. "Dayumn, who the hell are they?" he asked no one.
The crew didn't respond right away. They were frantically trying to check weapons and shielding.
"Captain, they don't appear in our databases. The computer keeps giving an error!" cried the helmsman.
"Doesn't matter anyway. We are a slave ship and that can only mean we are in trouble," replied the Captain. "Fire lasers and incinerate the cargo."
A crewman who was about to obey the order froze his hand over the button. He really didn't want these deaths on his hands. "I won't do it Captain."
Senona arrived on the bridge just as the order for death was given. "No you sick bastard! I won't let you kill them." She leaped the twenty feet separating them, her claws out and ready for a taste of his blood.
The Captain dodged Senona, "If we are caught with them we will all die." He said.
Senona crashed into a console and let out a yowl of pain before regaining her feet. She glanced over at the crewman in surprise. None of the crew had defied the Captain before.
The Captain eyed the crewmember and moved toward the console, "Then I'll do it, because I won't get caught with them aboard."
Senona moved in front of the console and bared her fangs. "Over my dead body," she hissed.
Before the Captain could reply a lizard-like creature materialized on the bridge and began shooting.
Senona ducked and the blast hit the console. The crewman let out a yelp and hit the floor beside her.
"What the hell is that?" he screamed as he fumbled for his weapon.
"DAMN REPTILOID!" screamed the Captain as he drew and fired hitting the lizard in the chest. "FIGHT FOR YOUR LIVES THEY TAKE NO PRISONERS!"
Senona stayed frozen in place as more of the lizard creatures appeared. The man behind her jumped up and over her as he began firing. The rest of the crew joined in. She watched in horrified fascination as the lizard like creatures began killing the crew one by one. She flattened herself closer against the floor and began slinking toward an air duct. If she could just reach it, she could get to the lower levels and free the captive women and children.
The Captain was fighting for his life when two of the creatures grabbed him and then pulled his arms and legs off. He lay in his own blood writhing and screaming till a lizard shot him.
That sight galvanized Senona. She jerked the covering off the air duct and leaped inside.
One of the lizards had watched the feline-like creature make it to the air duct and disappear inside it. He quietly followed the creature inside and began tracking the scent through the air ducts. His movement was quick but quiet.
* * *
With impatient wiggling she made her way through the ducts. She would freeze every time she came to an opening where she could hear fighting. After a few minutes she made it to the women's cell and dropped down into it. They cried out in fear but hushed when they saw her. Quickly she entered the codes and the door opened. The collars and other bindings fell off. "Hurry! We are being attacked. Get to the life pods. You will be able to escape!"'
The stunned women didn't move for a moment but at a ferocious growl from Senona they scrambled to their feet and hurried out the cell. One of the older women carried Sinde in her arms. Senona waved at the little girl as she herded the women out and made sure to bring up the rear. She didn't have weapons like the crew but her claws were and could be dangerous.
The lizard slipped from the air duct and followed the screams and yells of the women down the hall toward the pods.
Senona rounded the corner and froze when her ears picked up the sound of someone behind the group. Hissing she whirled fell into a crouch and bared her fangs and claws. "Move it!" she yelled at the women in the back of the group who had stopped to see what she was doing.
The lizard soldier hearing Senona order the women to keep moving stopped and went silent. Barely breathing he knelt and waited.
She scented the air and then slowly walked backwards, her eyes on the corridor. She was not going to be taken by surprise. He heard her movement backwards and waited for her to move farther. He could follow her scent and he had time.
After a few minutes when she was sure no one was behind her, she turned around and hurried after the women. When she made it to the cargo hold, the women were milling about in confusion.
"What's the problem?" she demanded.
"We can't get the doors to open!" one woman wailed.
Senona let out a huff and then angrily punched in the captain's code. All the doors opened at once. "Get in. I'll program the pods to take you to the nearest planet."
The women hurried inside with Senona's urging spurring them on. They were eager to leave the ship and get freedom.
He looked around the corner and then ducked back. He tapped a code into his wristband then sat down on his haunches and waited.
Senona entered the destination coordinates but then the computer told her access denied. "What?" Glaring she reentered the coordinates but was met with the same result. "Of all the bloody times for ya ta be obstinate!" Angrily she put in a different code. The blinking "Access Denied" mocked her efforts.
"The codes have been changed," the soldier yelled down the hall but remaining out of sight.
Screams of terror filled the air and Senona slapped her paws against her ears. "SHUT UP!" she roared.
The soldier spoke again quietly, "We are here to stop the slave trade. We only wish to help you."
Silence descended. Senona gingerly took her paws away from her ears. She'd heard that lie before. "Let them go! You tell nothing but lies."
"No lies as you shall see," replied the soldier. "The slavers have given this sector of space a bad name. We are taking this ship and its passengers and going to the slave trading planet and breaking the trade's back."
Senona's whiskers quivered. She wanted to believe this unseen male but too many years being a slave and being traded about and tricked had made her mistrustful of such sweet sounding words. "No one tells the truth. You will promise many things then deceive." With a snarl she turned and slammed her claw into the keypad. She smiled when the doors to the pods closed. She was glad that her now deceased master had built in a failsafe that caused any explosion to close the doors. She heard the life pods releasing. Good, they would make it to the planet and be safe.
The soldier snarled and spoke into his communicator again.
Outside the slaver ship the Reptiloid ships began retrieving the life pods and returning them to the slaver.
Senona wasn't looking out the viewing window or she would have seen what was happening. Instead she silently made her way toward an air duct. If she could get to the cargo bay two floors down, she would be able to escape. The women were safe and now she had to take care of herself.
"Stay where you are," the soldier stated, as he looked behind him at a slight noise. The other members of his team were coming. He signaled for one to go into the air ducts and indicated that he was to use stun only.
She immediately flattened herself against the floor, for once grateful that her dull fur matched the color of the flooring. She began belly crawling toward the duct.
