Page 48 of Star Defenders (My Alien Mates 2)

I ducked down and crouched, hands on the console a bare centimetre from its last operator. I sent them a silent apology for the disrespect of hiding near their dead body. I'm sure they wouldn't want us to end up the same way.

I squashed myself down as small as I could, while Zarex and J'avet hid behind their own consoles.

The footsteps drew closer.

I peeked around the side of the console and caught sight of a blaster. I wasn't sure if it belonged to the bridge crew or the Iri, but neither needed it now.

Without thinking, I darted out from my hiding place, grabbed the blaster and darted back before J'avet could do more than growl in annoyance.

Fuck him. Did he even care anyway?

I'd seen enough blasters to know which way to hold it, and where to press to fire it. At least I wouldn't shoot myself in the foot. Maybe.

The footsteps entered the room and stopped. They moved slowly toward the console, then moved away.

A voice swore.

"This is some fucked up shit."

I blinked.

Slek?

I was sure it was him, but I still moved slowly, peering out, blaster in hand, aimed at him. I caught sight of his hand. He too, held a blaster, ready to use.

"Who's there?" he called out.

I crab walked a step or two, looking carefully at the skin on his hand.

Finally, I sucked in a breath and rose.

The purple of his skin was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

"Hey," I said.

He turned suddenly and aimed at me. He lowered the blaster when he realised who he was aiming at.

"Edie, you're all right." He sagged with relief. "Um…"

"Oh." I lowered the blaster and hurried to embrace him. "Sorry. What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." He raised an eyebrow as Zarex and J'avet stepped out from behind their hiding spot. "Just a wild guess, you weren't having a quickie back there?"

J'avet snorted.

Zarex managed a faint smile. "Not today, no. Can you unlock the controls? Hack the computer or something?"

"I can try," Slek said. "I have a reasonably high level of clearance, but not like the Captain or chief engineer, and they're both dead." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"This is starting to look like a coordinated effort," J'avet said. "There must be someone on board controlling all of this."

"Or close by," Zarex agreed. "Slek, have you got any idea of the range the nanobots can go and still receive orders or changes in their programming?"

Slek shook his head. "I would suggest a few thousand kilometres, but I'm guessing. Signals can extend a lot further, but whatever reaches them would be more complex than a simple hello, or cat video."

He gently moved a Garvi woman aside and knelt in front of her controls.

"Could we cut them off from whoever is sending the signal?" I asked. Okay, I'd probably watched too many episodes ofStar Trek.