Chapter 29 · The Night He Pulled the Trigger

The video froze on Victor's face. Younger. Clean-shaven. Still had that same dead look in his eyes.

Senna's father was on his knees in the frame. Blood already running down his temple. Victor's sidearm was still raised.

I heard boots behind me. Fast.

"You watched it." Senna's voice came out flat.

I spun. She was ten feet away, plasma pistol in her hand. Not aimed at me. Not yet.

"Senna—"

"Did you know?"

"No. I swear I didn't—"

"He told me it was a tribunal. A firing squad. He said Dad went out clean." Her jaw was so tight I could see the muscle jump. "Victor put one round through his skull in a storage bay and called it justice."

I held up both hands. The chip was still warm in my palm. "I didn't know. I was in a tank. I was—"

"Starfire." She said it like a curse. "You were Starfire. He killed my father to cover up Starfire. And here you are."

The lights cut out.

Emergency reds kicked in half a second later, strobing the whole hangar in bloody intervals. The deck started to shake.

"Shit." I looked up. The overhead gantry was groaning.