“There are a couple of potential reasons,” T’arq began slowly, his purple eyes behind the display screen of his headset eerily multi-hued. He had never looked more alien to her than he did right now.
“And they are?” She glanced at her hands gripping the armrest, moving her fingers to ease the stiffness. How long had she been gripping the armrest?
“They could be doing maintenance.”
“No. I know that maintenance schedule inside out. There’s no maintenance being conducted right now.”
T’arq nodded. “It could be a solar storm interfering with the signal.”
Krystal scanned the area between them and the Zataras’ last known position. “Nope. No solar storms.”
“Our comms could be down.”
“They’re not. I checked.”
T’arq stared out the window across the broad expanse of the asteroid field. “That leaves one option, and you will not like it.”
Krystal felt the blood rush from her face. “No.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You can’t be serious.”
T’arq didn’t respond. The silence spreading between them like some ominous cloud.
“See that?” T’arq tilted his screen toward her so she could see the object he had magnified. It looked like an electronic spider in a web. The dull black material was barely distinguishable on the backdrop of space, but T’arq had spotted it.
“What is it?”
Her heart was hammering so loudly she could hear rushing. The still silence of the cockpit took on an ominous edge as they stared at the strange construction.
T’arq turned to meet her eyes. “It’s a Xakul comm signal jammer.”
Krystal gaped at him.No. Oh no.
It was bad enough that they were in actual space, away from the safety of the large starship. She had focused on her work and pushed that thought aside, which was no minor achievement.
But this?
The Xakul were formidable opponents, taller even than a Taurean warrior when they stood on the rear two of their six legs. She had heard stories of how fast they could run, and it was terrifying. There were rumors about one Xakul soldier who had escaped confinement on a Space Force base on Earth… and if even half of what Krystal had heard was true, then she never wanted to see one in person.
“Are you telling me I am in a ship the size of a shoebox, in the middle of some unmapped asteroid field, with no way to contact the Zataras,” a hard edge entered her voice, “and there are goddamned Xakul nearby?”
