Chasa folded his arm with a narrow look toward them both. "As they may not have known her lineage, General, do you know what's on her mind now? Trust that she wasn't sent here to kill more than our chances of joining the Union? That you didn't bring an assassin into our mist?"
Raising his hands, the Steward walked between them. "A sensible word of caution, General Chasa." Mikial's hopes sank as he regarded Dahin with a long look. "Wouldn't you agree?"
"It has its merits," Dahin easily returned. "It also has a rather pronounced flaw." He turned to her. "Mikial, how close would you have to be to kill this man in front of you?"
"You mean your Steward," she asked. A wonderful question to get herself shot answering. "He's already too close to save himself."
"Keep your weapons where they are!" the Steward snapped as several officers gripped their pistols. He walked over and gestured to her rifle on the table. "So tell me, Mikial. How does this thing fire?"
"We discharge into the metal grips," she explained, happy to have another avenue of discussion.
Nodding, the Steward flung the Minneran vest across the stone floor, the armor sliding up against a column near the entranceway. He tossed her rifle to her. "Show me."
The chamber erupted once more in near panic, but the challenge in Alad's eyes kept pistols holstered. The Steward gave a mild laugh as the room quieted in anticipation. "Thank you for the silence, Gentry. We wouldn't want her to get nervous and miss, would we?" Amid the nervous laughter he gestured her to step forward.
Mikial walked in front of her guards, expecting any moment to feel a hail of bullets. To make matters worse, Alad walked briskly out in front of her to stand near the vest. "I'm waiting, young Taqurl."
"Qurl," she corrected with a frown, raising the rifle. "I would stand a bit forward, Steward. Just in case the dart is deflected."
"This is madness," General Chasa spat.
"That runs in the Kior family," came Hiran's resigned observation from the table.
"Just so," the Steward agreed, stepping clear of her target. His eyes were filled with the excitement of a wild dare as he looked at her. She swore he was genuinely enjoying this. "Shoot."
The room echoed with the rifle's electric snap, her dart spinning the vest around. It seemed as if the entire room joined her in a deep breath as she quickly handed the weapon back to Dahin.
The Steward clapped his hands and rubbed them together as he regarded General Chasa's frown. "Well, it appears that we can put one theory to rest.”