The moment she turns the corner, I plant one hand against the wall for support and drag myself to my feet.

“I’m sorry,” I murmur, and limp down the hall.

I hide out near the closest entrance to the cargo bay, trying to ignore the dull pain radiating from my leg and my growing concern for my sisters. Each of them is alone now. I hope they can handle their roles in this fight—but our chances were bleak from the start, and getting bleaker by the second. I need to make sure that if we fail here, Nibiru won’t suffer for it. No matter what it takes, I’ll ensure those vials are taken care of.

“C’mon, Drom,” I mutter, waiting for her distraction to come. But I have no reason to worry. For all her flaws, no one can ever say Drom doesn’t know how to pull off a good explosion.

The sound rumbles throughout the entire ship. Green lights flare in the hallways, and a siren wails. Panicked shouts come from the engine room. A few moments later, the smell of smoke hits us, and the majority of the pirates guarding the cargo bay take off down the hall. Not all of them, but it has to be enough.

The moment they’re out of sight, I turn the corner and open fire on the three remaining pirates. One hits the floor immediately, and another stumbles back from the force of the shots hitting her chest. I jump on the third, dropping my gun to rip my knife out of its sheath and sink it deep into his stomach. He lets out a choked gasp, and I pull the knife free and whirl, using his body as a shield when his companion opens fire. I shove him into her, and jam the knife into the side of her neck when she stumbles.

The emergency alarm shuts off, and silence falls in the corridor. I breathe heavily and spare one last glance for the fallen bodies before grabbing my gun and heading down the stairs to the cargo bay. The ache in my leg has deepened. Pushing onward could do permanent damage to it, but I need to finish this.

I find Captain Murdock alone in the cargo bay, speaking in a low voice into a comm. The sound of his voice freezes me in place for a moment. Despite how many times we’ve faced off against the Red Baron, I’ve only seen their infamous captain once before, during a brutal fight with the pirates when I was almost killed. He seems smaller than in my memory, but I remember his heavy-lidded eyes and thick, dark hair. I also vividly recall him dragging me half-dead back to Fortuna after Momma’s surrender, and the way he laughed when he threw me at her feet. “A gift for old times’ sake,” he’d said.