Page 56 of Star Defenders (My Alien Mates 2)

"They would notice four of us running off," J'avet pointed out. "And we don't need us all for this, just Slek."

Slek drew himself up and puffed out his chest. "It's nice to be appreciated," he said.

I smiled and patted his insanely big biceps. "You're very appreciated. You're also very noticeable, being a big purple dude and all."

He exhaled as though deflated slightly. "I used to like being noticeable," he said sadly.

"It's a good thing," I assured him. "Just not when sneaking."

"Could we try to talk Danec into helping us?" Brinley asked.

"If I thought it would work, we could try," I said, "but I don't think it will. There's some of him left, but the bots are in control most of the time."

"Could we trick them?" Brinley asked.

Slek looked thoughtful. "I have an idea." He stood and waved his hands over his head. "Hey, I need to pee."

Several Iri looked his way and cocked their heads.

"I don't want to pee on the floor." Slek grabbed his groin. "Come on, guys."

Finally, one of the Iri nodded and waved his blaster toward the toilets off to one side of the mess.

"Do your business," he said. "Take no more than three minutes."

"Lucky I don't need to shit," Slek said. He stepped around me and hurried to the toilet.

"I guess he does his best thinking while he pees," I said with a shrug. Fair enough. I do mine in the shower, or while half asleep. Exactly the wrong times to write anything down, but that was my brain for you.

I jumped a moment later when the ship's alarm sounded through the mess hall.

A voice came over the speaker.

"Halcyon. This is Commander Calderr of the IF vesselRetribution. All Iritauri will stand down and surrender all remaining crew, or you will be destroyed. You have five minutes to release escape pods. All Iritauri lives are henceforth forfeit."

My eyes widened. That was harsh. Was the IF not even going to attempt to save the Freytauri from the nanobots? I suppose not. Total destruction would be…well, easier. Awful, but simple and final.

The Iri gathered together in a cluster of confusion.

"Come on," Zarex pulled me to my feet and tugged me toward the door.

"Can we get to the pods in time?" I asked.

He shot me a smile over his shoulder. "We're not going to the pods."

I stared at him for a moment before I asked, "How—"

"Comm panel in the toilet and hacking skills." He shrugged.

The ship-wide alarm was deafening, but we made it to the door and into the corridor while the Iritauri milled about in confusion. It wouldn't take them long to figure out no other ship was out there.

We ran.

"Where are we going?" I panted.

"Comms," Zarex said. "We can shut ourselves in there."

Comms was just outside the command area. It felt as though it took us days to reach it, but it was only a handful of minutes. The corridor was empty except for the sound of the alarm and some Iritauri responding to the message.

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