Page 55 of Star Defenders (My Alien Mates 2)

"But…coffee." I sighed. "What about some water at least? Or juice. Or something. I'm thirsty."

"I'll find something. Go and sit." Danec looked torn between taking care of me, and the limit of the nanobot's programming. I assume they were only programmed for a limited amount of tolerance. I could relate to that, so was I.

"Fine." I gave him a long look, then took my sandwiches and walked back to the mess, Slek right behind me with three sandwiches.

"Here." I sat beside Zarex and handed him a sandwich. I gave Slek a meaningful look before he bit into one of his.

"But—" He sighed and handed a sandwich each to Brinley and J'avet. "I would have eaten all of those."

"I'm sure you would, but we need them alive too," I said as soothingly as I could manage, in spite of my jangled nerves.

J'avet looked at me over his bread as if he thought I would make a snide comment about not needing him alive.

For once, I said nothing. I wasn't in the mood to be that petty, even as a joke. We had to rely on each other now, like it or not.

"Thank you," Zarex said.

I nodded and told him why Slek was still Freytauri.

"Good, that will buy us some time," Zarex said.

"I wish we knew how long," I said. "They must have studied nanobots for decades. They might find the answer in a matter of hours."

"Or not at all," Slek said. "You humans are pretty complicated."

"You think so?" I asked.

"Absolutely," he said firmly. "Right Zarex?"

"Definitely," Zarex agreed.

"We really are," Brinley said, "but you guys are, too."

"You'll make me blush." Slek patted his cheek.

I smiled. "Now we're full of brain food, we need a plan." Personally, even after eating, my mind was blank. No, that wasn't true, but the ideas I had were bad ones, that would result is someone's death, if not that of all of us.

"How long until the IF gets here?" J'avet asked softly.

I looked at him in surprise. His eyes were fixed firmly on Zarex.

"It's been an hour since I sent the message," Zarex said. "It depends what other ships are in the vicinity, but I'd estimate another hour. Maybe two."

I frowned. "When you were looking for the Iri signal…"

"I sent a message to the IF, outlining the situation," Zarex said. "And the solution."

I sat back. "So we have an hour or two to find a way out, before they come and blow us all up?"

"Precisely," J'avet said.

I swung my face around toward him and asked, "How did you know?"

He shrugged. "It's what I would have done. Sometimes leading means making the tough decisions."

I wanted to retort, to yell and shout at them both. In the end, I just sagged. They were right. There may be no other option.

"Then we better work fast," Brinley said. "What if I distract them somehow and you all run off and do what you need to do?"