Alien Cargo

"You broke the bounds of the atmosphere you were born in, to not be owned any more…"

It hadn't been a good run, but it had been a run, and now it was time for our heroine to escape. After witnessing the murder of her dubious benefactor in the gang-owned casino she worked for, it was time to get out. She manages to board a ship headed to Mars in a…less than legal or pleasurable way, but at least she has escaped the snake-oil henchmen waiting to entrap her before she can taste freedom for the first time in 20 years.

It's not until she's discovered by a member of the security on-board the ship– specifically by an alien of the cold, calculating warrior race Refaite– that she's taken into a new kind of imprisonment. But she's clever, and she's willing to play along.

"When I first saw you, you were covered in blood... I watched your hunter-eyes always open and watching. You and I are only different kinds of violence."

Over time, and almost unwillingly, they get to know each other. Stumblingly feeling out just what it means to Refaite... or human. A relationship forms, shifting from hatred and fear to something rather more complicated...and dangerous.

"No harm will come to you that does not bring the consequence of war…"

Even after admitting to each other that they are falling into something beyond just the guard and guarded, life remains complicated and treacherously unpredictable. She ran far, but not far enough from her grimy past. And a warrior remains a warrior, with or without war.