Harper
The whole gate held on a hair trigger. Up and down the wall, fingers sat light on releases, and into that silence Sable reached for the one tool she had left, which was the one that had just failed her. Her hand went back to the badge.
The single most dangerous thing available to her, and she went for it twice.
"Sable." I stepped past her before she could finish digging the hole, both hands open and out where every shooter on that wall could see them empty. No band, no badge, nothing but skin. "Let me."
I didn't reach for authority. Out here, authority was the thing they'd learned to put a bolt through on sight. So I gave them the opposite. Empty hands, and a number.
"We're not here to take anything from you," I said. "We're here to trade."
For a long second nothing moved. The
