Page 37 of Star Defenders (My Alien Mates 2)

"That's good. What do you mean by heroic?" I asked.

"She did the shoving while I held the door open," Zarex said.

"Pfft," Brinley replied. "We both shoved."

"Yes, but only one of us got hit by a chair leg," Zarex said.

"I should have ducked faster," Brinley said.

"You distracted him long enough for a last shove into the pod," Zarex said.

"It sounds like you both deserve a medal," I told them.

Brinley beamed.

Zarex simply shrugged. "All in a day's work. Now here we all are."

"Except Slek."

The moment I said his name, the comms buzzed.

"Engineer Slek here. A single nanobot can be destroyed by explosion. A cluster, however, is harder."

"Define harder," J'avet snapped into the comm panel.

"The ones on the outside protect the ones on the inside," Slek said calmly. "If I had to guess, I'd say they cannibalise and re-assimilate the metal, if they can reach it. A laser will destroy a cluster."

We knew that already, but lasers weren't recommended to be taken internally.

"So we can't destroy the ship," I said. "Unless we laser the whole thing."

"That would take a shit load of laser power," Slek said.

"Or a laser cannon hooked up to the weapons array," J'avet said.

"Which will only work if it's on another ship," Slek said.

"Wonderful," I muttered. "We can't self destruct, but someone can do it for us."

"Only as a last resort," Zarex said. He put an arm around me and drew me close.

"What do we do with Danec?" I asked. "We can't laser him." I glared at J'avet, in case he planned to suggest such a thing.

"They were dormant inside you," Zarex said slowly. "Was that you, or a coincidence?"

"If anyone can put someone to sleep, it's me," I said, trying to joke but falling flat.

"Has anyone tested your blood to see if it has some impact on them?" Zarex asked.

"Not yet," I said. "But I'm not sure how that will help Danec."

"Let's figure that out when we get to it," Zarex said firmly. "We need a vial of your blood and a vial of Freytauri. And some nanobots."

"That can be arranged." I nodded. I went to step away.

"Wait," Zarex said. "And a vial of Brinley's blood. To see if it's a human thing."

"It might be a programming thing," I warned him.

---