Page 10 of Marked for Vengeance
The conversation had continued while she’d been distracted by thoughts of her own. They’d tossed several questions around, but the first one she fully heard was from Vengeance. His deep rumble of a voice was hard to miss.
“What made the ship crash at all?” he asked.
Loris answered him, “We had engine trouble, fell out of hyperspace, and were immediately attacked. At least, that’s the impression I got when we reached the bridge.”
All three males nodded.
“We were right. The scrawnies have this place well-guarded,” Havoc said.
“Who are the scrawnies?” Maddison spoke for the first time.
“The verexi,” Havoc clarified. “We have our own name for the scrawny bastards.”
“They do that? Why?” Loris asked. She understood the verexi were territorial, but even considering their disdain forother species in general and humans in particular, they weren’t normally so hostile.
Havoc nodded. “I’m certain of it. They don’t want anyone coming here until they eradicate us.”
“Eradicate you?” Loris had to stop herself from instinctively reaching for the weapon resting on the ground at her feet. “Why?”
Vengeance curled his top lip back to expose his fangs and then snorted. “Because we’re a mistake they want to erase from existence. This is a prison planet, little warrior. We were sent here to die. We survived, and that’s a problem for the scrawnies—one they want to correct.”
Fuck. That was not what she wanted to hear. This would complicate any attempt to rescue them. While she considered the situation, the others kept talking.
“The verexi are still trying to kill you even though you can’t leave this place?” Joy asked with a quaver in her normally steady voice.
“They are,” Risk said grimly. “And if they find out you survived, they’ll kill you, too.”
Oh no. No. No. No. Loris was already rising from her seat by the time Joy called out to her, “We have to shut down the beacon and the radio. Right now!”
Loris made for the shuttle. It was standard practice to activate a distress beacon. Theirs had been running since shortly after they landed, along with a recorded message that went out every hour. Both were relatively short range, but anyone in the system should be able to detect it.
The three alien males stood up together, forming a wall of muscle. “You’ve had a beacon going all this time?” Risk asked.
Loris ignored the question. She was already running back to the shuttle.
Joy scrambled to her feet and leaned against the nearest wall so Loris could squeeze past her and reach the cockpit.
“Ship! Deactivate distress beacon and shut down all transmissions.”
“This is not a recommended course of action,” the ship replied.
“Fuck recommended action. Terminate the beacon. All crew are at risk so long as that signal is active.”
They’d known that sending any kind of distress call was a calculated risk, but they’d all agreed it was worth taking the chance. Both she and Joy believed they must have been taken out by an automated defense system. It was still the most likely possibility, but now they had more information.
It felt like an agonizing eternity before the ship’s computer announced deactivation was complete. Loris took another twenty seconds to confirm that no signals were being broadcast and then called out to the others, “Done!”
From somewhere outside, one of the males—she thought it was Risk—asked a question so loudly she heard it inside. “Can this ship fly?”
Joy said something in reply, probably explaining that the ship had locked them out of the flight controls immediately after landing. Loris had tried the codes the captain had shouted at her as they’d left, but either she’d misheard the sequence or the captain had gotten it wrong because they didn’t work.
“…will stay,” one of them said. “Shuttle… too valuable.” She strained to hear.
“Bring Strife and Bysshe, if he’s able. If I can’t access the flight systems, maybe one of them can.”
Havoc spoke next. “We’ll take the females to safety and be back as soon as we can.”
“Take the females? Don’t you dare try it. I’m not going anywhere,” she muttered and settled deeper into her seat.
