Page 4 of On a Rogue Planet
Then the Centaxian turned and headed in Mal’s direction.
She stayed crouched where she was, panic threatening. Why the hell did she feel more frightened now? The Centaxian had saved her.
But he’d just taken out a giant warrior without even breaking a sweat or showing a single emotion on his aristocratic face.
Whatever enhancements he had, it was more than just that deceptively simple silver disc at his temple.
Mal watched him come, barely realizing she’d pulled her multi-tool off her belt and flicked on the laser cutter. Her fingers clenched around it.
The man stopped nearby. “Come out.”
His voice was even, calm, not giving anything away. She watched him for a second and realized his eyes were back to normal, the eerie green glow was gone.
Mal ducked out of the wreck and stood. She saw the man’s gaze move to the laser cutter, then come back to her face.
She drew in a deep breath. “Thank you. Uh…I’m?—”
“Malin Phoenix.”
Oh. “You know who I am.”
“Yes.”
“Thank you. For saving me.”
He gave a curt nod.
Chatty guy. “You ever speak more than two words?”
“Yes.”
Mal waited, but he didn’t say anything else.Right. “I was here?—”
“You have a salvage license for Centax.”
She saw his eyes flicker, and realized he was accessing those records at that very moment. Amazing. “You have me at a disadvantage. I have no idea who you are.”
“Centax Security.”
A CenSec. A shiver snaked through her. She’d already guessed as much but had secretly hoped it wasn’t true.
No one wanted to run into the galaxy’s deadliest killers. “Do you have a name?”
A pause. “Yes.”
She waited, suppressed the frustration bubbling in her chest. “Are you going to tell me?”
“Xander Saros.”
Xander. Yep, it suited him. He looked like a Xander. “What the hell is going on?”
“A coup.”
“A coup?” Shock was a punch to her stomach. “Who the hell would try and take over Centax?” And take on this scary cyborg and the other CenSecs like him?
“No time for explanations. More like him—” a nod at the dead giant “—will be on their way.”
“Right.” She didn’t want to face any more giants.
