Page 26 of Only Hard Problems

He took better aim at me with his cannon, and I raised my hands a little higher.

“Forget the stolen tech. Let’s make a deal. Release Lady Asterin, and I’ll let you and your Scarab board that blitzer and fly away free and clear.”

I meant what I said. Whether they were friend or foe, people were always more important than things. I needed to save Asterin first. Then I could separate Silas from his hand cannon, and then his limbs from the rest of his body.

“In case you’ve forgotten,I’mthe one with the superior weapon.” He shook his head. “You really are as dumb, arrogant, and idiotic as everyone says.”

“Aw, do I have a fan club inside the Techwave? How marvelous. I’ll have to send you all some bottles of shampoo from my latest commercial. Galactic Suds for Studs. I think you’ll love it. Should add some extra shine to your hair.”

I gave him my most charming smile. Silas glowered back at me, his finger curling around the cannon’s trigger, but I kept right on smiling. I might be arrogant, but he was the real idiot. If there was one thing that I had learned from being an Arrow, it was that villains always—always—had to brag about how bloody strong, smart, and deadly they were. Silas should have already fired his weapon, as many times as it took to kill me, instead of dishing out insults and hinting at the Techwave’s nefarious plans. And people thought I was a show-off. Please.

“Fuck your shampoo, and fuck the Imperium,” Silas growled. “As for Lady Asterin, I’ll be taking her with me to make sure your Imperium friends don’t shoot me out of the sky. They wouldn’t dare kill an Erztonian lady. The Imperium needs the Erzton and all its raw resources too badly to risk damaging relations with the other group.”

Not a bad escape plan, as far as these things went, but he was severely underestimating Callus Holloway. Erzton relations be damned. The Imperium leader absolutely loathed General Orion Ocnus, and Holloway would shoot any ship with any passenger out of any sky if he thought it would benefit him and hurt Ocnus and the Techwave in the smallest way. Besides, Holloway could always lay the blame squarely on me and then execute me for my supposed incompetence to try to weasel his way back into the Erztonians’ good graces. He’d done such things before to other Arrows who had failed to complete their missions.

Silas was also severely underestimating Asterin. I still didn’t know what kind of psion she was or what abilities she might have, but she wouldn’t go down without a fight. The two of us were remarkably similar that way.

“How fascinating it is to listen to two men discuss my fate,” Asterin drawled in a sardonic voice. “Are you going to explain being a hostage to me next?”

I huffed, as though she had greatly insulted me. “I would neverdareto do such a thing, my lady.”

“Oh, shut up,” Silas snapped, his gaze flicking over to Asterin. “Erzton, Imperium, it doesn’t matter. You’re just a spoiled bitch like all the Regals, and soon, you’ll die screaming just like all the Regals will too.”

Anticipation rippled through his voice, along with a dark promise that made my gut clench. What was the Techwave planning? And why did they need Jorge Rojillo’s technology to achieve their goal?

Silas jerked his head at the Scarab. “Get her on the ship. Now. I’ll take care of our uninvited guest.”

The Scarab’s head bobbed up and down, and it moved backward, dragging Asterin along with it. Her eyes locked with mine, worry and determination flaring in her bright, steady gaze.

I stepped forward. “Take me instead. I’m a much more valuable hostage.”

I was speaking to Silas, but my gaze darted over to the Black Scarab. It was ten feet away from the base of the cargo-bay ramp and still lumbering backward, its oversize, unblinking green eyes fixed on me.

Nine feet . . . seven feet . . . five feet . . .

Three . . . two . . . one . . .

The Scarab stepped back, and its foot banged into the bottom of the cargo-bay ramp. The mechanized troop wobbled at the unexpected obstacle and slight change in elevation, and its hand slipped off the back of Asterin’s neck and dropped to her shoulder.

Move! Now!I sent the thought to Asterin.

I snapped my hand forward, used my telekinesis to grab Asterin’s blaster from the ground, and sent it spinning in her direction. She couldn’t break free of the Scarab’s grip on her left shoulder, but she lunged forward and stretched out her right arm.

A wave of psion power arced out to meet my own, almost as if I was physically passing the blaster to her, and the weapon zipped over into Asterin’s hand. As soon as her fingers closed around the small, compact blaster, she snapped it up, jerked her body to the side, and shot the Black Scarab three times in the head.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

The Scarab wobbled on its feet for a second, then pitched forward. Asterin leaped out of the way of the falling machine, then whirled around and aimed her blaster at Silas.

The Techwaver snarled and spun toward her, his finger curling back on the trigger to fire his cannon.

I snapped my hand forward again. This time, my stormsword flew up off the ground, zipped through the air, and sliced across Silas’s shoulder. He screamed, but he didn’t go down, and he didn’t drop his weapon. Instead, Silas swung back around to me, aimed his cannon at my chest, and started to pull the trigger—

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Asterin shot him three times with her blaster. Silas screamed again, but he crumpled to the ground, the cannon sliding out of his hands.

Asterin stepped forward, looming over Silas, her blaster aimed at his head.

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