"You saw her kill Tom, so you know how injured she was." An agitated look passed over his face briefly. "We could've subdued the crew by threatening to fire the Dracon beams if Erek hadn't drained them. Moron." He never did get over his disdain for that move. He'd always respected Cassie's more pacifistic leanings because she had the intelligence to see when sometimes you had to fight, but Erek he just couldn't bring himself to respect, not after that. Clearing his throat, he continued, "She demorphed. The polar bear didn't. It was no contest."
He hesitated before continuing. "Even if we'd had a firing solution, chances were pretty high that she wasn't going to make it out of that alive. I'm pretty sure she knew that." At last, he said, "It was a warrior's death. She'd have wanted it that way, if it had to happen."