The Starlight Lancer

Chapter Thirty-Two: The Iron Angel

"Our mighty Alliance, fallen to rebels. Our ancestors weep."

—Prindaps Soresqan, the Last Adjudicar of the Alliance of Worlds

The woman's eyes fixed on Zaina. "This your new friend?"

"Yup. She saved my life a few nights ago, like I said. And she indicated she's ready to work."

Captain Danjai nodded. "Well, we've got plenty of that." She pointed toward a cache of guns nearby. "You know how to use any of those?"

"I can use a scrapshot," Zaina replied.

"Might want to grab one before they're all packed up," the captain said. "We're going mobile soon."

"I'll get her one!" Reida said. "You said scrapshot, right? You really should use a phase cycler, they're better in every way."

"I can try it out, but I'm pretty good with a scrapshot."

Reida shrugged. "All right, works for me. I'll find you a good one, and some ammo, too."

"Thanks," Zaina said. She turned to face Captain Danjai, who was looking her up and down.

"Reida spoke highly of you," the captain said—her voice was deep and sharp.

"She spoke highly of you, too."

"I would hope so. Loyalty matters with what we're doing here."

Zaina gulped. This woman gave off no-nonsense vibes.

"I'm taking quite the risk in bringing you on, I hope you realize that," Captain Danjai said.

Zaina's head tilted. "How so?"

"For one thing, you're awfully late to the party. We've been planning this for a while." Captain Danjai swept her arm, gesturing around the room. "For another, I've worked with everyone in here for a long time—I trust them. I can't say the same for you. But Reida sees something in you, and I've tried to teach that girl everything I know. If she's willing to take a chance on you, so am I—even if it jeopardizes months of work, it'll teach her something valuable. And if you're as reliable as she says, we can divert resources elsewhere."

Zaina nodded. "Well, thanks for the chance, anyway."

"Don't thank me yet. You know"—she glared—"I've met your type before. With the mark. It didn't end well for anyone."

"We're not all the same," Zaina said.

"I realize that. But before I send you in there with my lieutenant, I need to know—are you in control?"

Zaina frowned—it wasn't something she'd been particularly keen to dwell on. "I am."

Captain Danjai's stone gaze didn't waver. "I've dealt with worse, anyway."

Reida walked over with a single-barrel scrapshot. "Catch!"

She tossed it to Zaina, who barely caught it. "Gah! What the—is this thing loaded?"

"Yup! Ready to go. None of these have safeties, by the way. Manufacturer's defect. Funny story, that's actually how we got them."

Zaina held the weapon—it was lighter than her father's double-barreled scrapshot. Its paint was rusted, with a number on the side scratched out. The peletin of beads was only about two-thirds full. The mag-hammer was a little bit different—a lever on the back instead of a button—and there was no rangefinder.

Well, it's not what I trained with, but it'll do.

"Loaded those up with stun beads for you. Oh, and grab some armor and stuff before we head out," Reida said. "You'll definitely want some of that. Probably a mask, too—maybe some kind of blunt weapon since you're so strong. But we'll get there when we get there."