Chapter 14

Casina strained against the chains overhead, furious at being in such a predicament. She glared at the people across the room, sitting at a small round table in the alcove, playing some sort of card game. They were ignoring her, sipping contentedly from their flagons.

"Are you deaf?" she shouted at them. "I said I don't belong here. You've got the wrong person!" But they still ignored her, occasionally glancing her way, chortling. "Jerks!" She rattled and tugged at the wrist chains securing her to the ceiling and growled in frustration. Fortunately, she was able to sit down, albeit the floor was cold and bare, made of some sort of cement. After ten minutes of yelling herself hoarse, she soon resigned herself to whatever lay in store for her.

Resting her face against her upraised arm, since her shackles kept her arms over her head, she did her best to keep her fear at bay, knowing the commander was probably already looking for her. Damn. Was she always to be somebody's prisoner?

But the outrage at being kidnapped faded quickly. Bored again, she was just about to doze off when the sound of a female voice snapped her awake. Opening her eyes, she peered up at the woman who had apparently ordered her kidnapping and chaining. She eyed her with distrust, as the woman sneered and came closer.

"I'm sorry we had to meet under such dire circumstances," she told her in English, "but the Altair should have known better."

Casina blinked in confusion. "I don't know what you're talking about. Why not just let me go?"

The woman laughed. "It doesn't matter what you know. It all has to do with who you are."

"What?" Casina was fully alert now. "What do you mean by that? I'm nobody."

But the alien snorted again. "Yeah, sure. Keep telling yourself that." "Who...are you?" Casina said.

"That's none of your concern."

"Please," Casina groaned. "Can't you just let me go. I haven't done anything to you."

The woman laughed aloud. "Perhaps not. But he has. And he will pay."

"Please," Casina said. "I don't belong here. I don't know anything about anything here. I've only just arrived in Jupitar. And I've been trying to escape and go home ever since I was taken." The woman crouched down to peer coldly into Casina's face.

"Seriously?" she said, disbelief in her tone. "You want to return to Zarak?" "Yes."

The woman chuckled.

"If that's true, then we can certainly arrange that."

Casina perked up at this. "Really? You...You would be willing to take me back to Earth?"

"It won't matter how you disappear, just so long as you do."

"What?" Casina was shocked by this. "What do you mean? Disappear?"

"It doesn't matter, so I won't waste my time telling you."

One man interrupted, drawing her attention. The woman straightened, giving Casina a once over, before walking back to her men. Their conversation reverted to alien, so Casina could discern nothing from it. Moaning again, she yanked at her chains, disgruntled by her confusion and lack of freedom. Why ever had the commander brought her to such a place? she wondered, hoping that when the woman said disappear, she didn't mean as in killing her. Biting her lip, Casina swallowed her growing fear. With renewed energy, she began tugging on the chains, hoping, by some miracle, that they would give way soon.

When the commander and his men arrived, it didn't take long for them to blast their way into the fortress and into the chamber where Casina was being held. They made short work of the men guarding her. But they knew the conflict was only just beginning. Once the marketeers discovered Casina missing, they knew they would soon come after them.

The pulsar blasts reverberated throughout the damp chamber, startling Casina awake. She felt weak and tired and had dozed briefly. She hadn't realized how afraid she was at this most recent abduction. So many bad memories of being arrested, abused, and incarcerated at St. Christi's had come flooding back to her as she sat there in chains. A renewed sense of panic and terror at thought of never being free again was overwhelming. So it was a wonderful sense of relief she felt when she saw the commander and his men breaking through into the chamber to rescue her.

When the commander came to free her from her bonds, unaware he had broken them with his bare hands, she gave a grateful sob and collapsed against him, throwing her arms about him. To her, it seemed as if she had been there for ages.

"Please, take me back to TrCasinaar," she murmured, surprising him by her words.

He slowly drew her to her feet and made sure she wasn't hurt.

But his men shouted something alien as they made their way from the building, stepping over the rubble and debris caused by their weapons. Once outside, it was apparent they had been expected.

"Come," the commander said, leading Casina from the fortress, using his body to shield her from the laser blasts aimed at them by the marketeers. He handed her into the care of another of his men, once distanced from the attackers, intent on redirecting their attention away from Casina, to him.

But as the man tried hurrying her away to safety, another blast caught him, killing him instantly. With a squeal of dismay, Casina hurried to get away. But the commander was quick to reappear, to guard her back.

"They won't hurt you," he told her. "Just stay down. It's me they want dead."

Directing her under cover of a large Dandorian flatbed, parked beneath a long wooden roof, held up by four metal supports, they crouched there awhile. The commander returned fire openly, keeping Casina safely behind him as he did.

"We must get to the module," he said. "It's several koron from here. Are you strong enough to make it?"

Casina had no idea what a koron was, but she nodded anyways. "Y-Yes."

"Then follow me." The alien grabbed her arm and steered her clear of the flatbed.

It was a cat-and-mouse game all through the streets of Dandor. The populace, fortunately, had no desire to involve themselves in the battle and kept themselves inside. But Casina could sense them watching, peering from behind closed shutters at the goings-on in the streets.

"There! Go that way!" The commander shoved Casina forward, directing her to the side of a large brick wall. Obedient, Casina stumbled forward, wishing now she had never left her cozy palace suite. Her heart was pounding in her ears, and she felt panicked again. Never had she realized how safe she had been at the Kaanig's palace.

Another ear-piercing blast of laser fire shocked her when it shot past her, and she gasped. But the commander continued shielding her as he crouched beside her at the wall.

He thrust her into a corner, pushing her as far behind him as possible, to escape the laser blasts.

"What's going on?" she asked, her face a mask of anxiety. "Why are they shooting at us like this?"

"They. Want. You."

Casina was aghast. "But why? What ever for?"

But he ignored her questions, intent on targeting the enemy still firing at them.