“That silence can only mean one thing,” Captain Murdock says. “It’s too late. Your siblings are dead, or they will be soon.”

“No.” The denial comes out weak. I sway on my feet. “They could still be—”

I cut off, and we both look upward at the sound of unintelligible words and heavy footfalls on the main deck above us. The sound of one pair of boots, then two, three, then… too many. I shut my eyes, fighting off a wave of pain. The captain was right. No weapons are being fired. The fight is over.

We lost.

“If you spare me, I’m sure we can arrange a deal,” the captain says, his words barely audible through the growing buzz in my head. “Now that your mother is gone, we don’t have to be enemies, you know. My crew will be here any minute, and—”

“And I don’t have a single stars-damned thing to lose.” I bend to press the blaster to his forehead. “Now tell me where the vials are.”

He lets out a gurgling wheeze of a laugh. My finger twitches toward the trigger. I’d like nothing more than to put a hole in this man’s head. But at the last moment, something stops me. Killing Captain Murdock will solve nothing, nor make me feel any better.

“Mercy from a Titan vet? Unlikely.”

“Fuck you,” I mutter, and smash the gun into his temple. He goes limp, out cold.

So that leaves me, bleeding out alone in the enemy cargo bay. I scour the room for the vials, limping through the mess of upturned furniture and empty crates. I find nothing, and only add more blood to the splatters all over the room. I lean heavily against the wall beside Captain Murdock to catch my breath and think, one hand pressed to my side. Then I hear footsteps descending toward me.

I whirl toward the stairs, raising my gun just as Orion Murdock steps into the room. The pilot freezes at the sight of me. His eyes glance around to take in the situation—my weapon, my wound, the sprawl of furniture and gore—before stopping on the unconscious body of his adoptive father.

“Is he—”

“Alive,” I say. “For now. Tell me where the vials are and maybe I’ll—”

“They’re in the quarantine section of the med bay,” Orion blurts out before I can finish. I stop, hesitating for a moment.

“If you’re lying to me, I’ll come back here and kill you both.”

“Yeah, yeah, I believe you.” Hands held up in surrender, he slowly moves toward his father and nods his head toward a door on the other side of the cargo bay. “It’s right through there. In the cabinet. Go see for yourself.”

I back toward the door, still expecting some kind of trick, but all Orion does is crouch at the side of his fallen father and check his pulse.