If I had thought that having Ronan in the stateroom made it crowded, I obviously hadn't imagined what adding six more men of his build would be like.

In the end, they took all the furniture out of the third room down the hall, and brought in chairs for Loree and myself. The rest stood against the walls, looking to Ronan for a summary of their situation.

Loree was pale and shaky, but didn't seem noticeably worse for her adventure. Xander stayed close to her. That was all right by me. If the seven of them were going to be out fighting, and getting into Void knew what trouble, I was going to have my hands full.

"So that's the situation as we know it," Ronan concluded.

One of the new ones, Quinn, Quill, something, I’d get it straight soon, spoke up.

“How many hunters are left?"

"No way of telling," Ronan answered.

Loree tapped her tablet, looked up hesitantly. "Actually, I've been trying to see if we can track them through the systems."

"Track what?” Aeden asked. "They’re droids, they don't have life signs."

Xander glared at Aeden.

"But they throw a lot of heat," Loree murmured, struggling to stay awake. "The Star’s systems are compromised, but if I can get cameras, or even just heat sensors up, we’ll have a better sense of what we’re fighting."

“It’s true,” Ronan added. “They’ve got that burning, bitter smell.” The rest nodded in agreement.

"As long as you promise to look at it after you've had some rest," I said pointedly. "And that goes for all of you.” I looked around the room.

Groans and general muttering broke out and I didn't care.

"You may think you've been sleeping for weeks, but we don't know what-all was done to you. Half of you woke up and ran into a battle."

Ronan grinned at me and I shoved my hands through my hair.

"Okay, I sent you there. And I appreciate it. But you're still getting a checkup."

"Lorcan, Quinn." Ronan pointed as he tagged them. "When we’re done, I'll tell you where to find the lab. Bring back anything that's not nailed down. I get the feeling she's going to want a clinic back here."

"Damn straight, I am."

Geir spoke up. "I don't mind hunkering down for a siege. But do we have a long-term plan? We can just outlast them, pick them off. But, then what?"

Those were the most words I'd heard from him since he woke. And he had good questions.

"We have two options," Ronan started. "First, try to take control of the ship. There may be a few problems with that one. I don't trust anything they've had their hands on. It’ll take a lot of checking to make sure systems are secure.”

"I can keep running searches through the software," Loree said. "I'm starting to get a sense of their signature, how they've changed things."

Ronan looked at me and I shook my head a fraction. "That’d be great. Would you mind showing Quinn what you're doing? He's not bad with comms and with the two of you, it'll go faster."

Loree nodded, then finally drifted off a bit.

I'd rather she was resting in bed, but she was in as much danger as any of us, had as much right to fight for her safety.

At least having someone else who understood comms systems would take some of the pressure off her.

Ronan cleared his throat, looked over everyone’s heads. “Also, it's possible I may have destroyed part of the jump drive."

The room went quiet as they stared at him.

"I guess I know what my assignment will be," Hakon finally said.

"Yeah. You may want to look for some tools."

To fill the awkward silence, I brought up the final point. "We do have another option. We sent out a distress call as soon as the jump drives were taken off-line, but no telling if anyone will come for us.”

Loree giggled, half-awake. "I tried to make it enticing." And then she faded back asleep.

I shook my head at Ronan’s stare. That could mean anything.

"You might have guessed, we’re not so great at waiting."

I'd been busy watching Loree sleep, wondering about her words, so I didn't see which of the brothers had spoken.

It didn't really matter; any of them could have, and meant it.

"Then learn to multitask.” I snapped. “Do both, take over the ship while we’re waiting. If the rescue shows up before we get control of the ship, we’re saved. If it doesn't show up, we’re covered if we get control of the Star."

I stood up. “I've got a patient that needs me.”

Ronan laughed. "And you can see why I can refuse her nothing."

I went to get Loree, but Xander had already lifted her carefully.

Her room had been restored, at least as close as we were going to get.

Xander waited while I tucked her into bed and gave her another dose of painkillers.

"Was she hurt in the attack?"

"No. But none of this is helping. Go on back. I'll stay with her for a bit.”

He left the room, with an obvious bit of reluctance.

I brushed her hair back from her for head and stayed, waiting for the drugs to ease the worst of her pain. "Well, that's an unexpected complication." I whispered to her. "I guess we'll deal with it when it's time."