SAYEN’S HEART FELT like it was going to jump right out of her chest. She gripped the ladder rungs tightly as she fought to control her rising fear. At least she didn’t have to carry a gun. At least she wouldn’t be forced to kill one of her shipmates—maybe someone she’d eaten dinner with, or sat next to on the bridge, or laughed at holos with on entertainment nights. But the six defense units clinging to the ladder above her, the ones she was supposed to command...Harrington had told her to instruct them to use lethal force if necessary. She wouldn’t be killing anyone, but the units she was commanding might. She wasn’t sure if that was different.
When she’d helped to break the security officer out of the brig, and when they’d taken the units, they had been acting fast, thinking only a step
