Athena’s Ashes (Star Thief Chronicles #2)(68)
Author: Jamie Grey

Renna’s body unfroze, and she dashed toward the tablet, toward the two women. She had no idea what she was going to do, but she had a few tricks up her sleeve, along with a knife or two.

Four steps later, she knew she was too late. “No!” Renna screamed, stretching out a hand.

Samil had snatched up the tablet from where it lay on the ground. Her fingers tapped frantically at the screen.

The world slowed to a crawl. Renna slipped the throwing star from her sleeve and pulled her arm back. As she released it, Samil smiled down at Renna’s mother.

Ryla screamed again as the implant in her head exploded.

FORTY-TWO

“No!” Renna screamed again. Her knees gave out, and she dropped to the ground as the plate in her mother’s head disintegrated. Smoke poured from the wound, and Ryla went still.

Samil struggled to her feet. Dirt smudged her face as she studied Ryla’s crumpled form. “Don’t cry, dove. She wasn’t much of a loss. Besides, she was mostly machine. I’m sure she didn’t feel a thing.”

“Bitch.” Renna clawed upright on trembling legs. “I am going to kill you.”

Samil shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

In the distance, a volley of gunshots echoed through the alley, and Renna’s head snapped toward the noise. Finn.

“Looks like my army is tying up those loose ends. Time to finish this.”

A moment later, Renna’s whole body jerked forward as Samil controlled her again. It felt inevitable somehow. Like everything had been leading to this moment. She didn’t even try to fight it this time.

Renna glanced back at her mother’s lifeless form as she followed the doctor up the stairs to Samil’s ship. From here she could see only part of her mother’s face, eyes closed, lines softened. For the first time in Ryla’s life, she finally looked at peace. Renna had mourned the loss of her mother years ago, but today she’d seen another side of her. A side she wished she’d known.

Renna tore her gaze away as Samil ordered her through the hatch and down a narrow corridor lit with bright hololights. Her footsteps rang on the metal floors as they marched through the ship, and she tried to get a sense of where she was. Dimensional Striker models were short-distance transports and ran with minimal crew. Only a pilot and a helmsman, but she didn’t see either as she followed the doctor to a small med lab at the back of the ship.

Still under Samil’s control, Renna’s knees bent, forcing her to sit in one of the stiff metal chairs. Her right arm lifted on its own accord to rest on the small table in front of her.

“You haven’t tortured me enough by now?” Renna asked.

“I know how much you enjoy it. Just wanted to make you feel at home.” Samil’s smile was sweet as she slid an IV into Renna’s arm and slapped some kind of sensor to her forehead.

Renna’s skin stung and burned as the drug seeped into her veins, but she couldn’t move her arm. The panic started deep in her gut, growing stronger until she gasped for air. Squeezing her eyes shut, she forced herself to take a deep breath as the pounding in her head grew louder. She hadn’t felt like this since she was a kid, since she’d been unable to fight back when her mother had attacked her.

She’d trained in three different forms of self-defense to make sure she’d never feel that way again. Except here she was, back where it had all started.

“Not much longer now and you’ll be completely integrated. I’ll be able to use you to control my entire army. From anywhere in the galaxy. We’ll be able to do so much good together, dove.”

Samil sounded practically gleeful, but Renna didn’t break her concentration. Nothing mattered any more besides stopping this woman. Samil’s ship shuddered as they prepped for takeoff. It was now or never.

Renna reached out with her mind, searching for the Athena again. The virus running through her had damaged Renna’s connection with the ship, but she could still feel it there, at the edge of her consciousness. Tendrils of electromagnetic waves curled into her, weaving into the implant and the neural network that hummed through Renna. She might be part of Samil’s plan, but she still had enough control to use that to her advantage.

She found the cracks in Samil’s network, the places where she could feel the Athena even more strongly, and focused on widening them until she could feel the ship’s controls, the familiar sense of belonging.

But there was something else there now. Something dark and monstrous. The virus had already populated through the Athena’s systems. Guilt twisted through her. She knew now that she’d infected it earlier, when she’d tried to send the coordinates from Samil’s warehouse. The Athena was dying.

She couldn’t focus on that. She needed to control the Athena’s weapon systems before they took off. Renna slipped further into the ship, becoming part of the system. Fear clogged her throat and set her pulse racing. She didn’t want to die, but she was out of options.

With only an order to her implant, she rewired one of the ship’s missiles to fire.

She thought of Finn’s heart-twisting smile. Of Myka’s unconditional belief in her goodness. Of Viktis’s sexy laugh. She was doing this for them, but gods, she wasn’t ready to leave yet.

But a good thief always knew when a job was up, and with one last command, she entered the firing codes.

The sirens in Samil’s ship screamed as the proximity sensors felt the Athena’s targeting system locking on.

Samil jerked her head up from her tablet, eyes widening. “What did you do?”

Renna smiled. “I won.”

The explosion sent the ship careening across the landing pad. A whole section of the roof blew off, sending cargo and goods flying into the sky. Renna flew across the med bay, landing in a tangle on the far side of the room. Her leg cracked under her as she fell, and she screamed at the white-hot pain shooting through her.

The metal side of the ship shrieked, shearing off as it scraped against the cement. She gasped for air as smoke filled the med compartment, thick and heavy with the scent of star fuel and burnt plastic. Something warm trickled down her face, and she touched a finger to the blood on her cheek. Somehow she was still alive.

She forced her gaze to focus on the dark, smoky interior of the med bay. Across the room, Samil moaned, shifting from beneath a tray of tools. Even worse, she was alive.

Renna felt her muscles clench and unclench as Samil lost control of her and the neural network disconnected. Every cell ached like she’d been beaten to a bloody pulp by a Trezian, but she forced herself to sit up, inch by inch, using every last bit of her strength to keep from vomiting as pain rolled through her in waves.