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“Unless you see a reason not to.”
“Right now, close seems smart.”
He nodded once. Then we moved.
The corridor opened into a larger transfer hub.
And everything went wrong.
Lights exploded on overhead.
Not normal lighting.
White. Brutal.
Too bright.
Veyr turned before I finished blinking.
“Down.”
I obeyed without argument.
Something cracked through the air where my head had been.
Energy weapon.
The shot struck the wall behind me and burned a black line into the metal.
Veyr moved.
Fast.
He crossed the space before I fully understood how many people were there.
Three from the upper platform.
Two near the freight lanes.
Another behind a containment barrier.
They held their positions instead of closing in, each covering an angle no one else covered, weapons already up and steady, not reacting to Veyr’s movement until he was already inside their perimeter.
One of them fired at Veyr.
He twisted.
The blast grazed his shoulder.
Silver-white ŭre flared along the wound’s edge like light through cracked glass.
He brought his weapon up and fired at the nearest attacker.
The shot never reached him.
A faint distortion shimmered across the corridor and the energy discharge broke apart against it, scattering in a brief spray of light before dying against the deck plating.
Veyr shifted aim immediately and fired again, lower this time.
