Athena’s Ashes (Star Thief Chronicles #2)(69)
Author: Jamie Grey

As she tried to drag herself across the floor, the ship suddenly tilted as it settled against one of the tenement buildings. Renna slid across the slick tiles, landing with a thud against the wall. She panted shallowly, trying to avoid sucking in any of the smoke rolling into the cabin.

Evidently, she should have used two missiles. Who would have thought MYTH would cheap out on their ballistics? She giggled hysterically.

Pull it together, Renna.

Ignoring the pain shooting through her, she continued forward. As she scrabbled through the debris, she spotted a shiny scalpel from Samil’s tray. Her hand curled around the handle, the cool metal lending her strength.

The doctor lay near the door. Less than eight feet away. She could do this.

Inch by inch, Renna crawled closer to the doctor, dragging her injured leg behind her.

Six feet.

Four feet.

Each inch was a victory in itself.

Samil bolted upright, eyes wild as she squinted through the smoke. She met Renna’s gaze, a flicker of pain shooting across her face as she scrambled to her feet.

Renna tensed, gripping the scalpel tightly, ready for the doctor’s next move. But instead of attacking, Samil stumbled from the bay, away from Renna.

Dammit. She was going to escape.

Renna tried to climb to her feet, but agonizing pain shot through her leg as soon as she tried to put pressure on it. She gasped and collapsed back to the floor with a hiss. Broken.

She had to finish this. Dragging herself across the floor, she made it to the med bay door as another smaller explosion shook the ship. One of the small fuel cells must have caught fire.

Heat seared the side of Renna’s face as a fireball shot through the space. Her cheek throbbed angrily, but she forced herself to move again toward the gaping hole in the side of the ship. The metal had been torn away like tinfoil, the edges ragged, but outside, sunlight streamed through the smoke billowing from the ship.

Hand over hand, she clawed her way out. With a great push, she tumbled through the hole to land in the dirt beneath the ship. Renna screamed as her leg twisted beneath her. Bone ripped through skin as her broken shin shifted.

Pain. So much pain. If she didn’t do something, she was going to pass out. A command to her implant turned off her neural receptors, and the agony stopped like someone had cut power to her brain. She knew it hurt, could see how bad it looked, but luckily she couldn’t feel a blessed thing.

Across the park, Samil limped toward the Athena, clutching her side. Her white coat was streaked with blood, her hair hanging in lank strands around her pale face. The bitch was going to get away.

Even worse, Samil still had her tablet. With a quick tap, she locked onto the Athena’s controls, brought down the hatch, and climbed in. A few seconds later, six hybrids ran toward the ship at full speed, thundering up the gangplank as they boarded. Enough crew to get the Athena off the ground.

The door slid shut behind them, and the ship’s engines roared to life.

Fuck.

Renna watched helplessly as the Athena started to rise. On the bottom of the ship, the missile bay doors opened. The ship cleared the top of the tallest building, and Renna realized what Samil was planning. Dear gods, she was going to attack the tenements.

An arc of fire shot from the bottom of the ship as one of the bombs burst from the bay. She watched in horror as it hit a nearby building, erupting in a surge of flame and heat. The explosion thundered through the neighborhood.

As smoke rose from the destroyed upper level, Renna watched another missile descend from the belly of the ship.

What was left for Samil to target?

Renna stilled. The missile was for her. If Samil couldn’t use Renna for her evil plans, she didn’t want anyone else to either. And with Renna out of the way, she’d be able to escape and regroup with her new data.

Then no one would be able to stop her.

The Athena picked up speed, shooting toward the Earth’s atmosphere as the missile locked into position.

“I’m so sorry,” Renna whispered as she closed her eyes. She slipped back into her connection with the Athena, saying her goodbyes to the ship before she found the switch in the command systems. Every MYTH ship had one.

Self-destruct.

As if it could feel Renna’s intent, the Athena bucked and shuddered against her mind. It might have only been the ship clearing the atmosphere, but it felt like panic beating against Renna’s implant.

Samil’s neural network felt like cold tendrils in her mind as it reached out to capture her again. It had already infiltrated the ship, using the comm field to broadcast its signal to Samil’s army. The doctor could still control them. Which meant Finn and the others were still in danger.

Using the ship’s electromagnetic field, she found Samil standing beside the pilot’s chair. The woman’s blood-streaked face was gleeful.

“Fire at will, then head for Centa IV,” she ordered the hybrid pilot. “We’ll regroup there and figure out our next strategy.”

The hybrid pilot started typing Samil’s command into the console.

If only there was another option. But somehow it felt like this was meant to be the end. The Athena had saved all of their lives more than once. If she was already dying from Samil’s virus, perhaps her last sacrifice wouldn’t be in vain.

Renna’s heart broke as she slipped the last piece of code into place.

Sirens screamed throughout the ship. “Warning. Warning. Self-destruct in twenty seconds.”

Samil’s eyes went wide as the blinking timer counted down on the console. “What the hell is going on? Shut it off!”

The hybrid pounded at the controls, but nothing worked. The Athena shot closer to space.

Thirteen.

Twelve.

Eleven.

“Do something!” Samil screamed. She slammed her fist down on the control panel, but the numbers ticked closer to zero.

“Goodbye, Doctor,” Renna said, leaning back against the ground and closing her eyes. She caressed the ship one last time and shut off the connection. “Goodbye, my friend.”

Above her, the Athena burst into a searing fireball, the boom echoing through the air a moment later.

The gunfire in the distance ceased as every hybrid went offline.

The Athena had sacrificed itself to save them all.

She glanced upward, at the remains of the Athena drifting in ashes through the afternoon sky. It was so pretty. Like snow in spring.

And then the pain flooded back through Renna in a blinding wave.

Everything went dark.

FORTY-THREE

When Renna woke, the first thing she noticed was the silence. For the first time in weeks, the strange electric humming in her head was gone. She blinked at the warm, afternoon sunlight streaming through the windows, a soft breeze ruffling the gauzy curtains.