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“Let me take a look.” Sloane hurried away and returned a moment later, her eyes wide. “The Siblet are cutting a hole through the side of the ship.”
Anger bubbled inside Dallin. “They’re trying to get in, or damage the ship so we can’t leave. We have to get out of here.”
Her gaze ran over the controls. “This ship has no weapons, but we can’t let them get away. Captain Ghal will only try something shady if he’s still on the loose.”
“As much as I hate to say this, I can’t fight them,” Dallin said.
Sloane bit her bottom lip. “We could always blow up the ship. It would take them out.”
“And kill you.” He shook his head. “That’s not happening.”
“I don’t want to die. But I also don’t want the Siblet to have any chance of carrying on with their sick plans. They’ve already destroyed so many lives and made thousands of aliens ill. We have no clue how far they’ve progressed with their plans. This is our chance to finally stop them. You destroyed the mine, but the knowledge is still with them.”
“What’s to say that knowledge isn’t stored somewhere? We kill this lot, and another group will simply take their place.” Dallin caught her by the shoulders and pulled her close. “I’m not losing you. Sloane, I love you. I can’t imagine my life without you. You’ve put up with so much from me. All the weird fainting episodes, the bad attitude, and my obsession with work. You stuck by me through it all. It’s taken me a long time to realize how important you are to me.”
A slow smile spread across her face. “So you finally admit you faint?”
He arched an eyebrow. “That’s what you focused on?”
She pressed a hand against his chest. “No. And you just gave me a huge reason to stay alive. I’ve been waiting so long for you to say you loved me and realize what an awesome woman you have by your side.”
“Everyone reckons I’m so smart, but I’ve been an idiot when it comes to you. I can’t lose this.”
Sloane pressed a soft, warm kiss to his lips.
Dallin gently caught hold of her chin. “I hope that wasn’t a goodbye kiss.”
“Hell, no. You love me, and I love you right back. And I plan to love you forever. A few Siblet goons won’t stop that happening.”
His heart stuttered in his chest as he admired Sloane’s beauty and determination. She was breathtaking.
Sloane dashed out of the cockpit and returned a moment later with her arms full of supplies.
“You have a plan?” he said.
“Of course I have a plan. It’s time we give the Siblet a taste of their own poison.” Sloane knelt on the floor and laid out everything she’d brought in.
“What are you thinking of doing?”
“We have samples of the Siblet poison and the salnite right here. The ore must be dangerous to them too, since they had those breathing masks on in the mine. Let’s see how they like being blasted with their own toxic invention.” Sloane flashed him a brief smile as she mixed ingredients. “We can diffuse the poison into the environment outside the ship, so they breathe it in.”
Dallin sat in the chair in front of her, his brain flicking through the possibilities. “This could work.”
“It will work. We need to reverse the air filtration system so we can blast out the poison.”
“If we reverse the air filtration, we won’t have any air in the ship.”
“Only for a short time. And even if we cut off the filtration so no new air is coming in, we still have the oxygen already circulating in the ship. We’ll be fine for ten minutes. I’ll spray poison all over the Siblet, tell them what I’ve done, and they’ll retreat.”
Dallin glanced over his shoulder, where the grinding noise could still be heard. “And if they don’t?”
“I don’t want to fall back on Option B, but blowing up the ship would take them out.”
“It won’t come to that,” he said. “What do you need me to do to make this happen?”
“Are you sure you’re up to helping?” Worry flickered in Sloane’s eyes. “You’re kind of green looking.”
“And you look kind of sweaty, but you’re still beautiful. You just tell me what to do.”
