Her whole body was stiff, especially her neck, but she was alive. And so was Commander Chaos.
Her first look outside confirmed more trouble. The pod had settled into a bog… or maybe a swamp, she couldn’t remember the difference. Either way, the pod was sinking, the muck rising fast enough that it was threatening to spill in already.
Commander Chaos wriggled in her arms.
“You really don’t want to do that, buddy.”
But as always, the rambunctious dragus pup didn’t listen. It leaped down, much too confident in his choice of landing spot. His front paws sank in immediately. He yelped, panicked, and launched himself right back into her embrace, smearing her with mud. Alien muck coated her sleeves and her chest.
“Perfect,” she muttered. “Just what I needed.”
There better not be any brain-eating parasites in this water.
With Commander Chaos once more secured in her arms, she scanned the area to look for solid ground. Staying with the pod was out of the question unless she wanted to know just how deep this bog was.
Evening was closing in on the planet, or moon, or whatever this place was, and the sun was already setting, but there was just enough light for her to see. Maya tightened her grip on Commander Chaos and stared out from the sinking pod.
There was a line of trees in the distance. Or at least, she hoped they were trees. Trees needed solid ground, right? These better not be the type that could survive being submerged. If she got to them and found out that they were indeed just the tops of giant underwater trees, she was going to burn them down with nothing but her rage alone.
A sudden shriek had her heart dropping to her stomach as she stared up into the sky. Giant winged forms were heading toward them. And they seemed to grow infinitely larger with every millisecond that passed. Commander Chaos, his tiny body full of inexperience and hubris, snarled at the sky, his eyes tracking the creatures.
“Shh,” Maya hushed. “No barking.”
Technically, dragus didn’t bark like dogs; instead, they made yipping sounds, as well as strange, high-pitched hissing sounds to communicate. They also growled and snarled. But for the lack of a better word, they’d decided to call it barking to make it easier. The yipping was usually reserved for small dragus, and older ones tended to abandon that form of communication.
But it was too late, the loud yipping had already caught the baleful attention of those bird-things. Maya had no idea whether they were predators or friendly giants, but she wasn’t planning on waiting around to find out.
The pod suddenly moved, sinking down on one side, just enough for the water to rush in.
“Shit!”
She scrambled to grab the supplies under the seat, which were conveniently stored in a portable pouch. She strapped it on, then picked a wet and miserable Commander Chaos back up.
“Time to go.”
Then, without giving herself too long to actually think, she plunged into the cold, mucky water. She sank in almost to her thighs immediately and swore at how freaking cold it was. There was a wet suctioning sound, and the pod next to her suddenly sank a good deal more, and water started pouring into the interior.
She struggled against the swamp water, which was thick with mud. Tough strands of gods-knew-what stuck to her legs, pulling her back. Slowly but surely, she was making progress. Not that there was an option to go back.
Except the flying creatures were almost here now, and… what in theJurassic Parkwas this? Pterodactyls?
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”
She didn’t need to wait around to find out if they were predators. They had to be, especially with the way they were circling them now.
One of the anachronistic amusement parkescapees bombed them, claws extended, and Maya screamed.
So this was the end. She was going to die on some unknown planet, and these anachronistic dinosaurs were going to tear her apart. But there was a sudden loud zing of a blaster, and the claw in front of her face got shot right off. It landed in the muck several feet away, still sizzling from its singed edges.
She was looking around wide-eyed, trying to figure out what had just happened when a loud sound had her ducking and covering her ears, causing her to drop Commander Chaos into the mud. The pup squealed and whined, paddling to stay afloat. Luckily, dragus were born with the natural ability to swim.
The sound didn’t abate though, but it clearly hurt the flying creatures a hell of a lot more than it did her, because they shrieked and turned, flying in circles like they were confused.
One of them dove toward the trees, and it was only then that she saw him.
The Tallean male stood with a large machete-like weapon in his hand, waving it as the pterodactyl lookalike swooped downon him. The creature was big enough to pick him up, even though most Talleans were almost seven feet tall and muscular to boot. This one was no different.
They met in a clash of claws and blade. But the fight only lasted a few seconds as the sharp sound intensified.
