Page 67 of Synnr's Ride

She gestured towards it, then towards herself, and used a wing to shield her side. She'd breach, Jori would cover, and then this mess would be done.

Jori jerked his head from side to side and moved to stand in front of her. She glared and shouldered her way in front of him more forcefully.

Now was not the time for manly heroics.

The look Jori gave her spoke volumes, but after a moment, he relented and stepped back. The whole exchange took only a handful of seconds, but Hanna worried it was too long.

She charged up the ladder and blasted the door open, keeping herself shielded and bracing for hits that never came.

Once she scrambled up, she saw why.

An older Apsyn man had his arm around Zilly's throat, a small blaster pointed right at her temple. Blasters weren't meant to be lethal, but aimed at the head at that range, anything might kill a person.

Jori was up the ladder right behind her and froze when he took in the scene.

"The two Synnr agents." Zilly's father smiled. "I'm so glad you could join us. My dear daughter has told me all about you. My name is Varin." He didn't offer a family name.

Zilly struggled against him, and he squeezed tighter.

"The life support system is fried and your men are dead, Varin." Hanna kept her eyes on him, refusing to offer Zilly so much as a sympathetic glance. "Surrender now and you'll survive."

The smile didn't slip from Varin's face. "The ship is repairing itself. Give it a few more minutes, and I can limp out of here."

Zilly made a sound of protest that Varin ignored.

Hanna looked for an opening, some way to incapacitate Varin without taking Zilly out. But she was a very effective shield and Hanna couldn't risk it.

Zilly had betrayed her. She was an Apsyn interloper. But Hanna had left enough bodies in her wake. She didn't need to add one more.

"This doesn't have to be a fight." Jori was obscured half a step behind her and Hanna didn't look his way.

"It doesn't," Varin agreed. "Walk away. Tell your superiors I got away while you were fighting my men. No one else has to die. No one gets locked in a cage. This idiotic war lasts another day."

A few months ago, Hanna might have taken the out. She didn't owe the Synnrs anything, and the Apsyns could rot.

But Varin was hurting people. "What's the play?" she asked. "You provide weapons and Kark provided people?"

"Ah, ah." His blaster shifted, and Zilly's eyes got impossibly wider. "You don't get information. That's not the deal. We all walk away with our lives."

Not happening.

Hanna lashed out, her spark aiming for the pilot's console rather than Varin. Flickers of electricity went up in acrid smoke and devastating pops as her power flooded the system and took out the controls.

Zilly screamed, and then her voice cut off in sudden silence. Her body went limp and she clattered to the ground. Dead.

Varin stared at the blaster in his hand for a long second, the look of grief on his face so profound that Hanna hurt for him, despite all the terror and pain he’d caused.

Despite the fact he'd just murdered his own daughter.

His wings flared wide and he swung the blaster their way. "She bumped me. Made me hit the trigger. It was—" he cut himself off, face firming into resolve.

"It's over, Varin." Hanna needed this to end. "Put the blaster down and vanish your wings."

Varin's gaze turned to her, but he wasn't seeing her. There was a manic glint to him, and Hanna braced for the attack. "Computer, this is Captain Varin Osdet. Initiate self destruct sequence theta."

"Negative!" Jori tried to belay the command.

The computer ignored him. "Command acknowledged. Alert, Captain. Three life forms are aboard the ship."

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