He tried to hold her hand, but she was so tiny that she had to wrap her entire hand around his index finger. And as the ship shook, she buried her face against his arm and held tight. He rubbed her back, proud of the fact that she didn’t cry like most children would. But she did squeal a lot. Something that was piercing to his Andarion hearing.

They should have named you Baby Harpie.

Hauk cringed as he heard the sound of metal on metal as they scraped through the hangar doors. Visions of being crushed in a blast shield went through his head. That would be bad enough, but Jayne and Ryn appeared to be in the middle of an argument while they escaped.

“Get your hands off that, woman!” Ryn snapped.

“Where’d you learn to fucking fly? At a shoe store?”

“Don’t touch that!”

“You get your hands off!”

Gaping, Hauk met Nykyrian’s stunned expression. “Oh my God, who let the two-year-olds fly us?”

They all pointed to Darling.

With an innocent expression, he held his hands out. “Ryn’s a Tavali captain. He should know what he’s doing. And Jayne’s Jayne. She’s never failed us before.”

Suddenly, something hit the ship. Hard. The power drained instantly.

Ryn hissed over the intercom as Jayne went silent. “Oh… shit.”

CHAPTER 32

“Attention all passengers,” Ryn said over the intercom. “We seem to be experiencing some turbulence. Please, do not release your harnesses, and remember that if you kick the ass of the pilot right now, he won’t be able to fly you out of this lovely mess.”

“Passengers to pilot,” Darling said drily. “Please note, every one of us here, except our new junior member, is licensed to fly, so we don’t really need you and if you don’t get us back into motion, there will be lots of Ryn ass-kicking to go round. Your two little brothers are back here and we don’t like you much, anyway.”

“Yeah!” Drake weighed in. “And one of your brothers is not only a pilot, but a licensed assassin and you’re a Tavali. I get bonus pay if I deliver your head in a jar.”

“Our father weeps at your merciless ways. A pox to both your nether regions.” Ryn paused. “Oh hey, look! We got engines.”

“Say, thank you, Jayne,” Jayne said sarcastically.

“Thank you, Jayne,” Ryn mumbled over the intercom. Then louder, “Nyk, open the back panel and cross the dampner crystal with shields for me.”

Nykyrian’s eyes widened. “That’s a real bad idea, Ryn.”

Hauk put Kalea’s hand into Fain’s. “Daddy will be right back, sweetie.”

He unbuckled himself and went to the panel to access it. Curling his lip, he fought the urge to curse Ryn and Jayne for the damage that had been done during their escape.

“What are you doing, big guy?” Darling asked him.