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Dallin linked in with the Apexian headquarters, but met the same level of persistently polite resistance.

“Let’s see if I can find his personal link details,” Dallin said. “We can bypass the gatekeepers and get straight to him if we hack the system.”

“If you tried that with Commissioner Viewick, he’d probably fire you.”

“Jagger knows the rules need to be bent at times.” Dallin grunted as he worked on bypassing the security.

“How you doing?” Sloane wasn’t pushing the ship as they headed out of orbit in case the hull damage caused problems, but everything seemed to be holding.

“I think I got it. I’m connected.”

“Who is this?” Jagger’s sharp voice said.

“This is Dallin Conack and Sloane Harper from the Apocalypse. We have important information about the Siblet poison. We found the source they’ve been mining to make it deadly to all Apexians.”

There was a short pause. “Go ahead.”

Sloane grinned and winked at Dallin. “They’re mining a salnite-based ore. We recognized the signature when analyzing the components of the poison.”

“Understood. What’s the situation with this ore? Do we need to send in a team to deal with it?”

“We blew up the mine and destroyed the salnite source. And we poisoned the Siblet,” Sloane said. “They won’t be a problem.”

A bark of laughter shot along the comm line. “That sounds like my kind of mission. Good work, you two. Send me details of the planet, and I’ll arrange for a squadron to head there to make sure we have no stragglers.”

“The mine collapse took out most of the Siblet, but there could still be a few down there.”

“You shouldn’t meet much resistance,” Dallin said.

“Excellent job,” Jagger said. “I heard from the rest of your crew only ten minutes ago. The antidote is ready to go. Details are being sent out on all communication channels, so everyone has access to it should they need it.”

Sloane grinned as relief cascaded over her. They’d done it. The Siblet were defeated, and they’d soon be rid of this poison. “That’s what we were hoping was going on.”

“I’ll keep Cleo informed about the mine. Your dedication to this mission is appreciated.” Jagger disconnected the call.

Sloane sat back in her seat and sighed. Her gaze flashed to the short range scanner, and she frowned. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“What is it?” Dallin muttered.

“I think we’re being followed. I bet it’s the Siblet. We didn’t get them all.”

“If it is, we need to outrun them,” Dallin said. “We can’t fight them.”

She thumped a hand on her knee. “Why can’t they leave us alone? All I want to do is get back home, so I can have sex with my hot alien. I’m done fighting.”

Dallin grunted a laugh.

Sloane glanced at him, and her heart thudded with worry. He looked terrible. He was deathly pale and his breathing was labored. “Hang on in there. I’ll get rid of them.”

She pushed the engines to outrun the ship, but they still gained on them, and she couldn’t go too fast because they were dragging another ship and had hull damage.

Sloane looked at Dallin again. His eyes were glazed as he stared out the window. She reached over and strapped him into his seat.

“Don’t worry about me,” he mumbled.

“Don’t start that again. You’re my alien. I must worry about you.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek, then returned to monitoring the approaching ship. They were moving fast, faster than she could push their shuttle.

A blast of laser fire shot close to the ship, and Sloane grimaced. “If I had any doubts who was flying that thing, I don’t now. That has to be the Siblet, and they don’t want us to get away.”