AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Before he could act, the displays went dark as every light on the bridge failed. The steady hum of the engine, a background comfort easily ignored, became deafening silence as it faded away.
We were dead in space.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Vivian
“Kirel!” Wrin pulled a flashlight from one of his spacesuit pockets and flicked it to life. A sharp beam of white cut across the pure blackness of the bridge.
“I’m trying, Captain!” The computer expert’s hands flew over the displays, which remained dark and dormant. He slid from his chair and yanked the panel off the bottom of the control console, exposing a bunch of computer circuitry. “I can’t do anything. It’s completely dead.”
“Captain,” Gravin’s gravely voice came over comms. “We’ve lost power, and the backup lights haven’t come on.”
“What does that mean?” I hated that I didn’t know theDaredevil’s emergency protocols by heart like I knewARK 1’s.
“Nothing good,” Wrin said. “Tark, I need you and Ell-Laa on this!”
“Already moving, Captain.”
“This is why the Grug haven’t sent any ships to stop us,” I said. “This is why they let us get so close to their planet. They knew they could do this to us. It must be something built into the ships. You said the Grug control all the technology and manufacturing, right? So they put a… what do you call it? A backdoor!” I snapped my fingers—or I tried. It was kind of hard to do in spacesuit gloves. “They put a backdoor into the controls of every ship.”
“Bippity hell!” Hazel cried out, her hands clamping onto the sides of her helmet as if trying to get to her head. She gasped for a few moments, doubled over, while Kirel rubbed little circles on her back. His love for her was so sweet tears prickled my eyes.
God, Viv, you’re turning on the waterworks way too often these days.I shoved the thought aside. That was old Viv. New Viv got to feel emotions.
Finally, Hazel straightened. “Captain Lee’s right.”
When had it gotten so odd to hear someone use my rank? In the mess hall, I’d insisted all the women use my first name.
Hazel continued, “It’s a kill switch the Grug have built into every ship and shuttle.”
“Yet another thing they hid from all of us until forced to expose it,” Wrin said. “Is it software or hardware?”
“Software that affects hardware, I think,” Hazel said. “There’s a lot of technical language involved.”
“Tark, you, Ell-Laa, and Kirel talk it through with Hay-Zul and figure out what to fix,” Wrin said. “That’s the priority. We need life support.”
“On it,” Tark said, and the four of them flipped over to a dedicated comms channel.
Shit! Life support!My head snapped toward Wrin as ice trickled down my spine. “How long have we got?”
“We’re running a skeleton crew, so we’ve got hours before things reach a critical stage.”
Relief rushed through me. Hours was good. We had a solid group of people—they’d find a solution.
“Friend okay?”Max asked.
“I’m fine,”I sent.“How are you?”
“Evenmoreboring now.”Irritation flowed through me.“Want fight bad aliens!”
“Trust me. Right now, boring is good.”
But he had a point.
I put my hand on Wrin’s arm and said, “If we’ve got hours, let’s put the time to good use.”
“What did you have in mind?”
