“No,” she replies, but her voice trembles. “No, I’m fine.”
Good. I start corralling the room, dragging, shoving people into a corner, and tying people up with whatever I can find: belts, sleeves, cables. The two guards are down. The third man who took a full voltage hit is out, but alive. I bind him and drag him over to join the rest of the crew.
The alarm’s still blaring with the internal lockdown engaged.
Now I just need to reroute this ship before Uncorrupted command figures out what’s happening and scrambles support.
“You can stop now, Esme,” I call out. “I need to talk to them.”
The ones still conscious come down fast from whatever mind-trip she hits them with. Terror blooms across their facesas they take in the scene… There’s a fair bit of blood on the floor and me... And the guards are gruesome in their death.
I home in on the captain—a smug, hard-jawed bastard with a non-dynamic chip on his shoulder and a sneer on his lips.
“What is the meaning of this, Jord? The omega? Again? You won’t make it off the ship with her. They’ll hunt you down and—uff!”
I fist his throat, slam him back against the wall, then drag him over to the control panel.
“Not trying to escape, genius. I’m heading straight into hell and I’m taking you with me. I just need your palm print. Now, you decide whether I use your hand while it’s still attached to the rest of you.”
He stiffens. The sneer is gone. “What do you want?”
“Palm to the plate,” I growl. “I’ll do the rest. And don’t start thinking, asshole. Ripping your arm from its socket and leaving you to bleed out is still an option.”
His trembling hand slaps onto the plate. The console pings to life.
I shove him in the direction of his buddies and enter a course straight into the heart of the Empire.
“That’s… that’s a course for the center of the Empire,” he mutters, face turning pale. “Jord, we’re all going to die! You’ve just plugged in the coordinates for Chimera!”
“So I have,” I say, initiating hyperdrive. “And you’re all coming with me.”
As we hit light speed, reality bends and then snaps back into focus.
“They will blast us out of space! They will kill us all! They will…” He’s building up to full hysterics. His bound buddies in the corner are all screaming with renewed terror.
I shut that shit down with one solid punch to his face. He crumples.
At least the screaming has stopped. The alarm is still blaring but I don’t dare to try shutting it off. If I fuck up and accidentally reverse the lockdown it’s going to get real busy real quick in here.
“Zeb?” Esme’s voice is tentative behind me.
I turn, close my fingers around the back of her neck, and drag her against me.
“The ship’s in lockdown. No one moves. No one escapes. I’ve plotted the course for home,” I say, keeping my voice low and for her ears only. “They won’t fire on us, baby. Not when they scan my signature. This vessel—and everyone on it—is about to become property of the Empire.”
Chapter Eighteen
Esme
He’s bleeding and battered. I’m badly shaken but whole.
The alarm is still whooping, and I feel like my body is vibrating with every cycle. “Let me heal you,” I say.
“Not a fucking chance,” he mutters, taking me by the arm. The gentleness I felt is gone in a flash as he marches me to the furthest corner of the command room away from where he corralled the Uncorrupted prisoners.
I’m not sure if I can technically call them prisoners yet… damn this makes my head hurt.
“Why not?” I demand over the drone. “What if one of them attacks you again?”
