“Seven new life signs are aboard the Varnish. We’re not certain if they are human, pirates, or Markus Models.”

Her surprise turned to terror and she got to her feet. “Skin droids? Do you have a spare weapon?”

He turned his head, peering at her. “I only have the one, and it wouldn’t do much good even if we fired upon them. They are difficult to damage. I don’t have the right kind of weapon.”

“What does that mean?”

“They can only be killed by high voltages of electricity. I don’t exactly keep that kind of weapon inside my quarters. Control has them though. I just have my laser.”

That didn’t sound good at all. “Can you track the signals? Do you have monitoring equipment?”

“No vid monitoring. We can track life signs. They have passed through cargo hold two and have entered the shuttle. They have broken into two teams of two, and one of three.” He paused. “They are splitting up, two going to engine room one, the three-man team is accessing the lift to reach Control…” His eyes widened. “Two life signs are heading this way, toward crew quarters.”

Nala tried not to panic. “Life signs. That means they aren’t skin droids. I mean, we didn’t pick up any extras on our ship when they attacked us.” She tensed, lifting one arm and holding out her hand. “We can handle pirates. Give me the weapon.”

He shook his head.

“Come on! You’re big and strong. You can totally kick pirate ass. You deck one, I’ll shoot the other. That’s a good plan.”

He released the panel and backed away from the door. “Find cover.”

She glanced around the small area. “There is none.” Her attention focused on the cleansing unit.

Maze followed her gaze. “I don’t want you to be where I am. They won’t fire on you if they are pirates. They’ll want to keep you alive. But they may accidently hit you in battle if you’re too close to me. Get on the other side of the bed and crouch down.”

“It’s a bunk. They are totally going to see me.”

He accessed the cleansing unit, stepped inside, and kept the door open. Part of the wall shielded his body. “I’m aware. You will distract them.”

“Great.” She did as she was told, going to the far side of the bunk and crouching. She could see over the top and kept her eyes trained on the door.

“Stag and the crew are on their way. We just need to hold on long enough for them to eliminate the threat.”

“The bad guys may not be able to breach that door.”

Maze dashed her hopes. “They’ve already breached two crew quarters.”

“How do you know?”

“I kept my link with the computer.” He suddenly gasped and the lights in the room went out.

“What was that?” She couldn’t see a thing.

“I believe they just sabotaged something in engine room one and knocked out power. My link is broken.”

Emergency lighting came on but it was faint and gave a weird, eerie red tinge to the room. A popping noise sounded by the door, and Nala gripped the edge of the bunk as metal groaned and the doors began to open. Whoever was out there had some kind of tool that slowly pried them open. She could see well enough to make out the weapon, gloved hand, and uniform of the person who attempted to enter the room.

The uniform colors were instantly identifiable.

Maze fired his weapon and hit his target. The soldier’s body flew backward, out of sight into the hallway with a loud thud.

A piercing whine sounded and Nala threw her hands over her ears, shoved her chin down against her chest, and closed her eyes.

The huge boom and bright flash that came a second later threw her painfully against the wall, knocking the air from her lungs on impact. Her bent legs gave out under her and she landed on her butt.

It took her precious seconds to remember how to breathe before she opened her eyes, lifted her head, and released her ears. The second soldier had entered the room and had his weapon shifting from her to the damaged cleansing unit.

“Don’t shoot!” She raised her hands, palms showing, and spread her fingers apart. “I’m unarmed.”

The soldier held her gaze and then stepped closer to the cleansing unit. A stream of light illuminated the inside when he flicked on that feature of his weapon.

“Shit!” Nala glanced at the damaged unit and couldn’t see how Maze would have survived. She’d thought a stun grenade had been launched, that whining sound normally a warning of one, but there was massive damage to the cleansing unit walls. They were bent inward, as if something had attached to them and blown.

“Who are you?” He kept his weapon and the beam of light on the cleansing unit.

“Captain Nala Vestria of the Pride.”

“This is the Varnish.” He pulled a second weapon, pointing it at her. “What in the hell is going on here? Why are you with cyborgs? That is a cyborg, isn’t it?”

“My freighter was attacked.” She decided to fudge the truth. The uniform he wore was the same one her father had sported for twenty years in the military.

They weren’t pirates. They worked for Earth Government.

“I woke up and found myself locked inside this room. That’s the first one I’ve seen. He showed up about a minute before you arrived. We didn’t exactly speak. I huddled down here, terrified, and then you breached the door.”

It worked. He lowered the weapon pointed at her, slid it into his holster, and focused solely on the cleansing unit. “It’s a fucking cyborg. I thought the rumors were bullshit. Gray skin and all…but it looks like they bleed red.”

She tried not to panic. Was Maze dead? Seriously injured? He wasn’t making any sounds or attacking the soldier. She slowly got to her feet. Her back and ass hurt from the impact with the wall and floor, assuring her she’d have bruises. “Did you come to rescue me?”

The soldier turned his head. “No. We were posted inside this core to monitor the system. Imagine our surprise when we saw a shuttle fly in. We identified it as a well-known slaver.”

Nala managed to keep her mouth from falling open. That couldn’t be. She didn’t believe Stag and his crew were into kidnapping people and selling them on the black market. “The Varnish is a slave-runner shuttle?”

He looked away from her and bent, running his light over the interior of the cleansing unit. “Yeah. It disappeared about ten years ago, according to the records we pulled up on it when the ID came in. Specifically, they stole women from colonies and sold them to brothels. It’s why we didn’t just blow it up and decided to board.”