A truth of Valor

ELEVEN

The wave of sound hit the moment Torin cracked the hatch from the docking arm. Yelling. Screaming. The soft slam of flesh on flesh and the slightly louder, moister noise of flesh making contact with a harder surface. Given the numbers, a couple of the bars had to have emptied and it looked as though every warm body in the Hub had gotten involved. Those not actually fighting screamed encouragement and made bets. As Torin stepped out of docking arm and the door closed behind her, a di'Taykan with scarlet hair came flying out of the melee horizontally and took out three of the watchers. All four of them threw themselves back into the fight.

Big Bill stood untouched, chaos bending around him like he was a rock in a stream. He didn't look pleased. Torin caught a glimpse of Mashona over by the falafel cart but couldn't see Werst. Given his size, that wasn't surprising. She couldn't see the Grr brothers either but didn't doubt there'd be a few people using the mayhem to try and get their own back.

"About to charge in and rescue the boss, trin?"

"Doesn't look like he needs rescuing." She took another step into the Hub, making more room between her and the bulkhead.

"I need to talk to you," Alamber murmured, sliding into it, his hands on her hips.

"Turn up your masker."

"What?"

Torin would've sighed, but taking a deep breath with the young di'Taykan all but plastered against her back and attempting to influence the situation with unmasked pheromones would have been the definition of a bad idea. "If you want to talk, turn up your masker. And make it fast," she added. "I have things to…"

Twisting out of his grip, she grabbed the front of his tunic and yanked him down to the deck as a stool moved through the space they'd just been filling and slammed into the bulkhead.

"… do."

Getting a di'Taykan horizontal was never a problem. Torin took the opportunity to turn up Alamber's masker while they were lying face-to-face. Getting back up again required a jab in a sensitive place.

"Ow!" His hair flattened. "What's your hurry?"

"I told you. I have things to do." She held out a hand and, when he took it, heaved him up onto his feet. The di'Taykan were tall but not usually very heavy, and she still had the benefit of the station's lower gravity. "So talk."

He twitched his tunic back into place, adjusting the layers until it looked exactly like it had when he started as far as Torin was concerned. "It's about your implant," he said, leaning in-although, given the noise level, he could have been shouting and not significantly raised the odds of eavesdroppers.

The Corps installed implants in sergeants and above. As everyone knew who Torin was, the electronics built into her jaw were no secret. She raised a brow.

Alamber's gaze flicked out over the Hub, settled on Big Bill for a moment, then returned to Torin's face, his smile as self-satisfied as a cat's. "I found Nia after you left." He touched the side of his nose.

It seemed Nia's scent, even with her masker turned all the way up, had been stronger than her ambient scent in the room. "And?" Torin prodded, keeping most of her attention on the fight.

"What went on between you and Nia-if I'm not invited to join, well, that's none of my business. But it did make me wonder what you were up to, trin, so I checked things out. I could smell Krai by the boards. Not on the boards." Alamber wiggled his fingers triumphantly at her. "He wore gloves but not boots so I know where he stood, I know how he got in. He's good, but he doesn't know the system like I do. I haven't cracked the wave yet, but you're using your ship as an SP, blocking the station's rider. If you've got someone on the side who can crack Big Bill's code-and, hello, you do-I want in on whatever shit you're doing." He pursed his lips in a mockery of a kiss. "Or I tell Big Bill what's up."

"And you haven't already told him because…?"

His shoulders rose and fell, the movement all grace and faked nonchalance. "Big Bill's got this nasty habit of taking bad news out on the messenger. Just figured I might get a better deal from you."

She didn't have time for this.

"All right, fine. I have to…" Torin yanked him sideways as an unlaced boot slammed into the bulkhead. "… prove I'm invaluable right now, so go to the Star and wait for me there."

"Nice try, but I'm going to need the entry codes, trin."

"Nice try, but if you don't already have the entry codes, you're of no use to me." As his eyes darkened and he grinned, telling her everything she needed to know, Torin grabbed his shoulder and spun him around to face the hatch. "Go. Ressk's still at the ship. Tell him I sent you."

The moment the door closed behind him, she tongued her implant, direct to the Star. "Ressk, Alamber's incoming. Take him out, stuff him in the head. I'll deal with him later." *Take him out? How?*

"You're an ex-Marine, his balls have barely dropped. Try not to hurt him." Breaking the connection, she moved into the fight.

Torin could have taken the path of least resistance to Big Bill's side, read the movement of the brawl and put herself where it wasn't, but she'd wanted to hurt someone, had wanted to rip Mackenzie Cho into pieces for so long now that she ducked under a wild blow, drove her shoulder into a beer-stained stomach, straightened, and threw the woman onto a pair of di'Taykan, all three of them kicking and flailing as they hit the deck. Close, but not quite. She blocked a piece of broken kiosk being used as a club, then jabbed stiffened fingers into a solar plexus. Spun and smashed her heel into the side of a knee. Cracked a nose with her elbow. Narrowly missed having a piece bitten out of her forearm, drove it instead in under the chin and stepped over the Krai now gasping for breath to stand at Big Bill's side.

The Grr brothers ensured a relative circle of calm, but the brawl was a mindless beast reputation would not affect. If they fought their way to a hatch, and Torin had to assume they could or they were shit bodyguards, they'd leave Big Bill undefended. No one would go after him deliberately, but in the heat of the moment, accidents happened. The space around them suggested a couple of accidents had already tried to happen. Given the amount of blood on the deck, an orange-haired di'Taykan would not be getting up.

One of the brothers licked his fingers clean. The other swallowed and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Enjoying yourself, Gunnery Sergeant?"

Torin pulled her lips back over her teeth. "I was just heading out to find you. I've finished the designs for training facilities."

"So quickly?"

"Yes, well…" She swept a disdainful glance over the crowd, noted that Mashona had worked her way out of the fight and stood watching, drink in hand, with a group from one of the bars, Werst was happily dancing around a di'Taykan and two Humans directly in front of the decompression hatch leading toward the ore docks, and… Torin frowned as a vaguely familiar Human male caught her gaze. His expression lifted the hair off the back of her neck-it was recognition on a macro scale. Not of her personally, but of what he thought she was. What. Not who. When she turned toward him, he disappeared behind a clump of di'Taykan. Trained instincts said follow him, but the situation required her to remain where she was. "If this lot is any indication," she continued, the pause lost in the continuing chaos, "then the sooner they begin training the better."

"No argument," Big Bill sighed, arms folded. "Can you stop it?"

"It? This?" Good question. If they were Marines, or even Navy, then yes. She could stop the fight and temporarily stop a few hearts. No one made senior NCO without having learned to sound like a lifetime of authority figures all rolled into one-parents, teachers, jernil, bosses, sheshan. No problem being heard either as Torin would bet high that Big Bill could patch his slate into the Hub's screens. Unfortunately, this lot was not predominantly military.

However…

"Fights like this have a limited duration." Turning a gesture into a signal for Werst to break it off, Torin snorted. "With no actual goal…" She frowned. "I assume they're not fighting for something?"

One of the Grr brothers snorted.

The other one said, "Never are. Fighting for shits and giggles. Scoring points. An opportunity for cheap revenge. More assholes than usual, that's all."

Sounded like a definitive sitrep to Torin. "If that's the case, then it won't last much longer."

Areas of the Hub had already devolved to groaning and bleeding and, given the number of slates out among the spectators, payoffs had clearly begun. Without Werst's involvement, the Human and one of the di'Taykan had slumped down to the deck in front of the hatch, looking miserable. The second di'Taykan continued to yell something about family honor and, possibly, ducks, but no one paid any attention.

Torin could see two dead-besides the di'Taykan the Grr brothers had killed. There might be more among the sprawled bodies, but those three she was certain of. She'd given the order to start the fight they'd died in. Not the first time… but the first time she didn't give a H'san's ass.

"I think it's safe enough now for you to move on." She turned so that Big Bill got her full attention. In order to stop him from heading to the ore docks, she had to become his primary focus. "Do we go to your office or the smelter to discuss these plans?"

"I was on my way to the ore docks."

Past tense. She had him. "Success?"

He seemed amused by her oblique question. Not a problem. He could be amused by whatever the hell he wanted as long as he continued to focus on her. "No, not yet. But I thought it best, given the contents, to do what I could to remove foolish temptation."

"Because that kind of content changes things, and Cho might screw you over if you're not there when it opens?"

His brows rose. "I have every faith in Captain Cho to keep to our agreement."

Torin kept her tone matter-of-fact. "He's a thief and a murderer, and you assume he's not a liar?"

"Harsh words, Gunnery Sergeant, I begin to think you don't like Captain Cho."

"Thief and murderer," Torin repeated. "That's his business, but given his business, having you and the contents together in one isolated place might be more temptation than he could resist." Were she doing the job she signed on for, she'd be telling him exactly the same thing.

Big Bill indicated the two Krai, now looking speculatively at the closest body. "I won't be alone."

"You don't allow weapons on the station, but that's no guarantee Cho won't have weapons on his ship. If he takes out the three of you, who's left to go after him?"

"You?"

Torin shook her head. "I just got here. Cho won't assume I'm a sure thing."

"She's right, Boss."

Big Bill stared at the Grr brothers in surprise. "If you're taking her side because she owns your souls, remember who owns your asses."

"Not taking her side," said one.

"But she's right," said the other.

"All right, you two go down to the ore docks. The gunnery sergeant and I will go to my office and look over her designs. Happy?"

Torin wouldn't have called the expressions the Grr brothers exchanged happy. Craig got slowly to his feet as the hatch from the station into the ore dock opened. With only a maximum of two hours and seven minutes remaining, he was expecting Torin. He got Doc.

"And the level of bugfuk crazy rises to code red," he muttered, watching the other man cross toward the ship. No way he could have been heard, but Doc paused, glanced over at the storage pod, then changed direction.

When he got close enough, Craig realized he looked weirdly peaceful.

"How's your foot?"

"The one you cut the toe off?" Craig couldn't stop himself from glancing down. "It hurts like fuk, thanks for asking."

"If fukking hurts, you're doing it wrong," Nadayki called from inside the pod.

"He sounds chipper." Doc dropped into a squat and gently angled Craig's foot so that he could see the wound.

"Yeah." Craig fought the urge to pull his foot free and plant it in Doc's face. "Apparently, the Marine Corps can kiss the kid's lime-green ass; he owns their code."

"Good for him," Doc said absently as he examined the place Craig's toe had been. "I don't approve of you removing the dressing, but the seal's holding. Edges look good." Strong thumbs barely skimmed along Craig's instep. "There's a lot of bruising…"

"It's not bruising, mate. My foot's always been purple." He frowned. "And green."

"Well, I apologize for the inadvertent damage caused by my grip."

"You what? You cut off my fukking toe and you're apologizing for inadvertent damage?"

"I intended to cut off your toe-Captain's orders. I didn't intend to bruise the rest of your foot." Setting Craig's foot carefully back on the deck, Doc straightened, tucking a strand of hair back behind his ear. "If there's time, I'll replace the sealant."

"If there's time? You going somewhere?" It had to be Doc leaving; there was no point in replacing the sealant if they intended to dump him out an air lock. Craig had seen the condition Rogelio Page had been left in.

"I don't know. Hope so." His mouth twisted into something that didn't exactly resemble a smile, and as he turned, he said quietly, "It's funny."

Craig couldn't stop himself. "What is?"

For a moment, it seemed Doc wasn't going to answer, then he stopped and shrugged, the why the fuk not almost audible. "It's funny where you find the things you've lost. Always the last place you think to look."

"Well, yeah. Because then you stop looking."

Doc stiffened, pivoted on one heel, his pale blue eyes flashing a more familiar, crazy-ass expression in Craig's direction. But all he said was, "Good point."

Craig watched until the air lock door closed behind the other man and the telltales were red again, then he drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay," he muttered. "That was weird."

"That was Doc. He'll lovingly heal you so that you're in good enough shape for him to beat to death."

Leaning around the edge of the hatch, Craig found Nadayki kneeling in front of the seal to give his back a break. "You don't even know what I was talking about."

"Doesn't matter." The young di'Taykan twisted just far enough to sneer at Craig, his eyes light. "It's Doc, so weird only ever means one thing; it's the point where medic and maniac overlap. Either/or, that's one thing, but both…" His hair flicked out. "Both at one time is too fukking weird. Too weird for fukking," Nadayki added with a snort. "I don't think he's gotten laid since me and my thytrins joined the crew. That explains a lot."

It would to a di'Taykan, that was for sure. "Don't you have work to do?"

Nadayki flipped him a very Human gesture and bent back over the seal.

The sound of the hatch opening pulled Craig out of the storage pod. He didn't recognize the two Krai swaggering across the ore dock toward him, but he'd definitely got the impression this area wasn't open to all and sundry, so they had to be down here for a reason. Something about them pinged, but they were almost to the pod before he realized what it was.

Doc moved like danger, barely contained. Like he had nothing to prove.

These two moved like they were more than willing to prove how dangerous they were. Doc's movements blown large.

Craig grinned. Torin would say it was like the difference between an NCO and an officer.

When they stopped in front of him, he realized that not all the mottling on their faces was natural. He resisted the need to touch the purpling on his own face and waited. They looked at him. They looked around. One of them went around him and looked into the storage pod while the other seemed to be deciding how he'd taste with a nice red sauce.

Then Thing Two called Thing One away from the pod, pointed at Craig, and said something in Krai. Craig knew the same Krai most non-Krai did-the profanity-and recognized none of what had just been said.

Or any part of the reply. Although he knew better than to generalize with other species, it sounded like Thing One disagreed.

Thing Two reiterated.

Thing One stared at Craig for a long moment, nose ridges opening and closing slowly, and said something that sounded very much like a solid maybe.

And then they both gave him a look that involved red sauce.

Fuk it.

"Can I help you, mate?"

"Big Bill sent us," smirked one.

"To keep an eye on things," sneered the other.

And apparently, that was all they felt had to be said.

Given the choke hold Big Bill had on the station, it probably was. Either the captain's paranoia was justified and Big Bill was up to something, or Big Bill suspected Cho was up to something. At first glance, the second option seemed more likely if only because Craig knew Cho was up to something. Upon reflection, the first was just as likely if less absolute.

Honor among thieves was a myth.

Apparently satisfied that Nadayki was doing what he was supposed to, they wandered off to examine the head and the storage lockers. They snapped the sink down out of the bulkhead then back up again. They opened every door, every drawer, stared at the HE suits, turned to stare at Craig.

Craig leaned back against the pod. He didn't have to explain. Captain Cho had ordered the suits out onto the dock. They could take it up with him if they didn't like it.

Then Thing One, looking right at him, lifted the sleeve of one of the suits and bared his teeth. Thing Two laughed. Wouldn't it be funny if I took a bite out of this?

"Be funny if you fukking choked on it," Craig muttered, then nearly jumped out of his skin as Nadayki closed a hand around his arm and leaned in close.

"Shut up, you ass. You don't know who they are."

Barely audible in spite of proximity, he sounded truly freaked, the ends of his hair tracing short, jerky arcs against Craig's cheek. Craig bit back his initial reaction and said at the same volume, "So tell me."

"The Grr brothers."

"The Grr brothers? You're shitting me, right?"

"I wish. If Big Bill wants somebody eaten, and not in a fun way, they're the ones who do it."

"Eaten?"

"Yeah." Craig felt as much as heard Nadayki swallow. "And I heard they like it better if the food's still screaming."

"That's… unpleasant." And over the top. And, frankly, trying way too hard. Maybe they were scary to a station full of losers who couldn't live within the broad parameters of the law, but Craig had seen Torin's face when she'd learned the polynumerous plastic aliens were using war as a social laboratory, and these two, they didn't know shit about being scary.

"Big Bill's sent them down here to keep an eye on things. He must know I'm going to be done early."

"How?"

"What?"

"How would he know?" Craig brushed an agitated lime-green veil away from his face. "Who's going to tell him?"

"He could be listening in."

Craig thought about the captain voicing his suspicions about Big Bill's plans. "He'd have a bigger reaction than just those two if he's been listening in. Besides, no signal in the pod."

"Hardwired."

"It's a storage pod for explosives, kid. It's a big box with reinforced walls."

"Okay, you're so fukking smart, why are they here?"

Still messing about the storage cabinets, the Grr brothers-and Craig had trouble even thinking that with a straight face-had found the abandoned tools. One of them was swinging the broken pipe wrench in lazy circles while the other sorted through the screwdrivers and ignored him. "Best guess, Big Bill's a paranoid s.o.b. That, and there's fuk all honor among thieves."

"Honor and a credit will buy you a bowl of seesu," Nadayki snarled. "We're coming out on top of this, not Big Bill."

"Hadn't you better get back to work, then?"

"Har vena ser shetinan!"

"Not after what happened the last time, kid." Any other di'Taykan standing that close would have grabbed his ass before heading back into the storage pod. It would have been instinctive, expected even given their positions. Watching Thing One toss the wrench aside while Thing Two bitched about wasting time in the ass end of the station, Craig wondered if maybe this time it wasn't the di'Taykan but the situation. These two really had the kid freaked. His mouth went dry as he remembered Huirre crunching down on his toe. On the other hand, maybe the kid had reason to be freaked.

He should give the captain a heads-up.

His hand was actually on his slate before he realized what he was doing.

He wasn't really crew. He didn't owe Captain Cho shit. "I have to admit, I was expecting something more complicated." Big Bill folded his arms and stared at the plans for the smelter up on the big screen. "This is… basic. Except for the range, it looks more like a classroom than a place to train warriors."

Warriors? Torin took a moment to temper her response. And then another moment, just to be on the safe side. "They won't be learning how to charge in, guns blazing. Any idiot can do that and get themselves trapped between decompression hatches breathing vacuum."

"HE suits…"

"Because multiple crews emerging from docking arms all suited up won't look at all suspicious."

"I don't think I like your tone."

Torin tried to look like she cared. "If you want to take over a station, you have to realize that the weapons in the hands are incidental to the weapons between the ears."

He shook his head and blanked the screen. "We don't want them too well armed, Gunnery Sergeant. They'll point their weapons where they're told."

"You still don't understand. When I'm done with them, they'll be weapons-head and hand. You'll be pointing them. What they want won't matter."

He stared at her for a long moment. "You can do that?" he said at last.

"I can." She could. She wasn't going to, but she could.

"And they just let you wander around loose?" He started with a snicker, then his response evolved into a full-out laugh.

Torin fought down another urge to punch him in the throat. And then considered the implication. The Grr brothers were down in the ore docks about as far away from Big Bill as they could get and still be on the station. If she killed him, what would they do? Would they know? Could she show up and send them away, passing on Big Bill's orders because of a sudden glitch in his implant? No, the paranoid bastard would have put contingency plans in place if the Grr brothers couldn't reach him. Given the Grr brothers, that plan would likely be violent, and Craig was in the ore dock.

She couldn't risk making things more complicated than they already were.

"Gunnery Sergeant, I am very glad you found your way to my corner of known space." Big Bill wiped his eyes with one hand and activated his desk with the other. "But now, if you don't mind, I have work of my own to do. Why don't you wander around and get to know the place a little better."

"I'd like to go down to the ore dock and check the security."

"Why?"

"We have a perfectly good armory. During training, it can be used to secure the weapons."

"I think you forget, Gunnery Sergeant, these are not Marines. They'll have bought their weapons from Captain Cho."

Torin frowned as she worked through the variables. William Ponner was too smart to let his Free Merchants loose on his station, armed. He had to have come up with a way to control them because his fifteen percent of the armory's contents wouldn't be enough to…

"They'll own their weapons," she told him. "But you'll own the ammunition."

She thought he was going to deny it for a moment, then he bared his teeth in what wasn't a smile. "You're right. The ammunition won't be remaining in the ore docks, but here, where I can personally keep an eye on it."

"You think Cho will agree to that particular fifteen percent."

"Mackenzie Cho, Gunnery Sergeant, is ambitious. Too ambitious for the Navy. He wants to make the decisions. He wants to command and I can give him what he wants. He'll be at the forefront of big changes, or he'll be a sad remnant of a system that didn't work. I think he'll come to see things my way."

"What if he's too ambitious for you?"

"Then he can leave. The way he left the Navy. But if you're that set on not trusting him, go to the ore docks by all means. I'll tell the Grr brothers you're relieving them. They do have other work. Supporting social change is all very well, but accounts won't collect themselves."

For a change, there wasn't so much as an argument in the Hub as Torin crossed through on her way to the ore docks. The dead were gone. The injured from crews without their own medics were no doubt off paying through broken noses to use Big Bill's staff and facilities. A couple of the kiosk owners had their heads together, probably complaining about damages, and two of the smaller cleaners were working their way around the deck doing an inadequate job of dealing with blood splatter, but otherwise things were quiet.

As Torin moved into the first corridor past the decompression doors, she tongued her implant. "Report." *Werst and I are bruised but back on board, Gunny.* Mashona sounded tired. Given how little sleep she'd gotten, no surprise.*Ressk says he's nearly got control of the subroutines.*

"I'm on my way to the ore docks. I need a value for nearly." *Soon, Gunny.* Ressk's teeth snapped together, the closest he could get to telling her to leave him the hell alone.

"Hour and forty-one minutes and they'll have the fukker open," Torin growled. "Make it sooner."

Craig was sitting on something low by the open storage pod. One of the Grr brothers sat beside him, slate out, the other she couldn't see, so he was either in the head or the pod. It was unlikely he'd go any farther away from what Big Bill had sent them to keep an eye on.

She could feel Craig's gaze on her as she crossed toward him, but she split her attention between noting the exact location of the HE suits, the distance from the storage pod to the exterior hatch, the red lights on the air lock plate leading to the Heart of Stone, and the one Grr brother she could see.

The second emerged from the pod as she reached it. Craig stood, moving carefully-not so much in pain as in anticipation of pain. He'd been sitting on an overturned bucket.

"The great thing about low tech," she said, nodding toward the bucket. "Multiple uses."

"So I've discovered."

His eyes were still bloodshot, but they were bright and focused. With no chance for sleep, he had to have taken a stim. Good. His exhaustion was one less thing for her to deal with. Moving so she could see both Grr brothers put her well within Craig's personal space, but it was a minor thing and a minor comfort and fuk it.

"What?" she demanded as one of them stared up at her, nose ridges flared. "Big Bill told you I was coming down."

"Yeah." He blinked and turned to his brother, nose ridges closing. "You were right."

"Told you." The second Grr put his slate away. When he closed his nose ridges as well, Torin shifted her weight forward onto the balls of her feet. Things were not looking good.

"Apart, it's not so obvious."

"Together, though…"

"Yeah."

"He had hair then."

"True."

"What are the odds that Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr would show up on the station where the salvage operator who went outside of known space to find her has been taken?"

It was the longest statement Torin had heard from either of them. *That's a very good question, Gunnery Sergeant.* Big Bill's voice boomed in her head. One or both of the Grr brothers must have pinged him.*Care to answer it?*

"Big serley coincidence," one Grr brother smirked, lips pulled back off his teeth.

"Is your name Gunnery Sergeant Kerr?" Torin snapped.

They blinked in unison and stepped back, squaring their shoulders. They'd been Corps, for however short a time, conditioned to respond to that tone. *I'm waiting.* Big Bill had not.

"They're wrong." They were moving forward again, although looking more embarrassed by their response than particularly fierce. "I've never seen him before in my life." *Kill him.*

She must have reacted because Craig started to reach for her. When she shook her head, he let his arm fall back down by his side. "I don't kill on your command." *You might not.*

The Grr brothers jumped for Craig; one aiming high, one low. As they passed, Torin grabbed a handful of their tunics, shifted her weight to her left leg, and spun around it, throwing them across the ore dock. In spite of their previous interactions, they hadn't expected her to react so quickly, but with one in each hand, she couldn't get a lot of distance. They hit, rolled… *Get your souls back, boys.*

… and charged. *Gunny! I've got control!*

"Cut the gravity!" As the gravity cut out, she folded into a crouch, then snapped her legs down, pushing straight up from the deck as the Grr brothers' momentum kept them moving toward where she'd been. Big Bill's last order had made this personal, so she had no worries they'd go after Craig while she was still alive. "Ressk! Secure the Heart's air lock!" She didn't need any more players in the game, and the last thing she wanted right now was to have her speculation about the possibility of the Heart having weapons on board to prove prophetic.

Both Krai recovered quickly. Torin waited until they'd committed to a trajectory, then pushed off one of the overhead railings and shot past them.

Except there were two of them. Using his brother as a launch pad, the other one headed right for her…

The gravity came back on.

Torin heard Ressk swear just before impact. Big Bill had regained control. "Ryder! What the fuk is going on out there?"

Craig watched Torin get her hands under her and push herself up onto her knees. Breath knocked out of her then, not hurt. He wanted to go to her, but she wouldn't thank him for getting into the middle of the fight. He yanked his borrowed slate off his belt. As long as Nadayki was in the pod, Cho had a potential weapon on the dock. Not a great one, but even useless shits could turn the tide. "It's the Grr brothers, Captain!"

"I know it's the fukking Grr brothers! Nadayki told me." Yeah, big surprise; the little shit squealed at the drop of a hat. "What the hell are they doing!"

"Fighting! With the gunnery sergeant."

"She knows you!"

Fuk Nadayki's fukking ears! Had Torin admitted… He ran over everything he could remember of Torin's conversation with Big Bill. No, she hadn't. "The Grr brothers are causing trouble. They don't like that she's in tight with Big Bill."

"Then why is she supposed to kill you?"

"Not me, them!"

"Nadayki said.."

"He misheard! I was standing right beside her." Craig aimed for Cho's ego, not exactly a difficult target to hit even for a civilian. "You were right! Big Bill's up to something!"

"I fukking knew it!" "Captain, I can't get the air lock open." Nose ridges flared, Huirre ran through the sequence again. "Outer doors are under station control!"

"That son of a bitch!" Big Bill was going after the weapons. Cho had known it all along. Known from the start that anyone who stole an entire station from the government wouldn't settle for fifteen percent. Turned out they did want the same thing. "Dysun!" Cho slapped a hand down on the intercom by the hatch. "Dysun, haul ass out of your rack and get this hatch open."

"What? Captain, I don't…"

"You will! You want to see your share for those weapons, you'll get your ass to your board now! Get the tasiks," Cho snarled at Huirre, pivoted on one heel, and headed for the control room. "I want Doc out there with you the moment the door is open. If Big Bill wants a fight, he's got one!" "Ressk!" *Working on it, Gunny!*

The Grr brothers had been farther from the deck when the gravity kicked in, but they were Krai and Krai bones bounced. Torin rolled up onto her feet, aimed a kick at the closer brother, missed his head, hit his shoulder, and twisted out of the way at the last second. She couldn't let them grapple. Once they got a hand or foothold, teeth would be next. Pain and physical damage aside, no one reacted well to being eaten alive. She had to use her greater reach and hope like hell she could use one of them to disable the other. Again.

Her odds went up if Ressk regained control. As a species, the Krai might be naturals in zero G but in specific, she'd had a lot more training. When the gravity kicked out, Craig anchored himself on the edge of the storage pod. He could hear Nadayki flailing and cursing inside the pod, and he realized the kid would have no trouble knifing either him or Torin in the back should Cho command it. Nadayki had to be dealt with before Cho remembered he wasn't permanently attached to the armory.

Even injured, Craig could take the kid in a fight. He was bigger, stronger, and although he had little experience with the kind of up close and personal violence Torin excelled at, Nadayki had even less. Craig could take him down, tie him up with his own overalls, and when Ressk opened the outer doors, the kid would die. Sure, Nadayki was low on the list for di'Taykan of the year, his blood sure as fuk not worth bottling, but he had to give him a fair go.

When the gravity came back in, a moment later, he took his weight on his good foot then hopped over the lip into the pod, grabbing Nadayki's upper arm. "Come on, kid, move!"

Eyes dark, the young di'Taykan struggled but couldn't break Craig's grip. "Let go of me, you senak!"

"No, like it or not, I'm pulling your head out of your ass!" Craig shook him hard, lime-green hair flicking back and forth against the motion. "They've already fukked with the zero G; what happens if they vent the atmosphere next? I've seen a di'Taykan sucking vacuum and it's not pretty."

Nadayki shoved his slate into Craig's face. "Fuk you! I'm almost done!"

"Is getting this thing open worth dying for?" Craig demanded. "You think Cho would die for you? He's locked himself in the Heart-all safe and warm-and he's locked us-you and me-out here!"

"No way!" Twisting free, Nadayki pushed Craig aside, surged out the hatch, and stared toward the ship. Even with Human vision, the lockdown was obvious from the storage pod. "That ablin gon savit!"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you!" Craig grabbed his arm again. "Come on, if we can't get onto the ship, we go out into the station."

Nadayki's gaze flicked over to where Torin and the Grr brothers were fighting. "But they said you're with her!"

"Right now, in the interest of not dying, I'm with you! Move!" He tightened his grip and hauled Nadayki around until he faced in the right direction. "We need to get the hell out of here before the crazy bastards finish with her and start on us!" Ignoring the fight, trusting Torin to survive, he hustled Nadayki across the ore dock to the hatch, cutting him off every time he tried to speak, finally shoving him through and slamming the hatch behind him.

Entry from the station to the ore docks had to be cleared through the station sysop. Craig doubted Big Bill felt much like opening doors right now.

He glanced at the big doubles, hoped Big Bill wasn't willing to sacrifice the Grr brothers for the win, and headed at his top speed toward the storage lockers and the suits. One of the Grr brothers couldn't see out of his right eye, and the other…

Torin stomped down hard.

… had at least two broken toes.

He screamed.

She ducked under an attack and came up off the deck, driving her stiffened fingers into his throat. Not a move the Krai were familiar with as opponents tended to stay the hell away from their mouths. Clearly, they hadn't been paying enough attention as she'd fought her way across the Hub. As his eyes widened and blood gushed out his mouth, he grabbed a handful of her hair.

Torin twisted under his grip, turned a little too slowly to meet the other Grr's charge, raised her arm to block…

… and got sprayed with blood as Craig slammed him in the back of the head.

His teeth snapped shut

The impact took them both to the deck.

"Torin!"

"I'm okay." They heaved the limp body off her together, and then Craig held out a hand. Torin didn't need it, but she took it anyway and let him help her up to her feet.

"You're bleeding."

She was covered in blood. "This isn't mine."

"On your arm?" He gently bent her right arm up closer to her face, his fingers warm around her wrist.

Her sleeve flapped loose, about four square centimeters of cloth missing, a smaller piece bitten out of her forearm. Adrenaline still buzzing through her system, Torin could hardly feel the injury but, later, it was going to hurt. "Okay, this is mine. But it's minor." She could use the arm. Right now, that was all that mattered. "Your foot?"

"Old news." He looked worried, relieved. And there. Right there. Right in front of her. When the corners of his mouth curved up, slowly, as though he wasn't sure this was real, Torin felt as though one of the Grr brothers had chewed a piece out of her heart not her arm. She could feel each beat, and it hurt. Craig released her wrist and laid his palm lightly against her chest, as though he knew. "I'd kiss you, but you're covered in blood."

"Something to look forward to, then." Her smile felt too wide, awkward, but she couldn't dial it back. "What did you hit him with?"

"Pipe wrench." Brows up, he lifted his other hand. Blood dripped from the heavy curved end of the tool. "Wasn't sure you'd want me to get involved."

"No, it's good." She took a deep breath and all of a sudden it was. It was very good. "I'm all for you participating in your own rescue."

He grinned and let the wrench drop to the deck. "Fuk it, what's a little mess." *Gunny!*

Torin jerked back just before Craig's mouth touched hers. "It's Ressk."

Craig rolled his eyes. "Yeah, the little mood killer's patched me through." *I've got the Hatch, but Big Bill's unlocked the Heart!* "You need Nadayki for this, Captain." Dysun's eyes were nearly black as she worked both index fingers over the screen of her slate. "This is more his sort of shit."

"Well, I don't have Nadayki, do I?" Cho snarled. "Or his shit." He'd dragged Dysun down to the air lock controls when she'd been unable to free up the system from her board. Not that it had helped. Useless! They were all fukking useless! "Nadayki is out there on the other side of the…"

The telltales turned green.

"Finally!"

Dysun lifted both hands, eyes lightening. "It wasn't me."

"I don't care who it was. Doc! Huirre!" They each held a tasik, and the fingers of Doc's free hand kept folding into a fist and unfolding again. Cho doubted he knew he was doing it. Huirre had been less than enthusiastic about joining the fight until Cho'd reminded him his share of the weapons' sale was at stake. He watched them step into the air lock. Watched the door close.

"Outer door opening… Closing again!" Huirre sounded freaked. "Hey! What the fuk are you…

"Outer doors have closed and locked again, Captain." Dysun slapped her thumb repeatedly against the screen. "Looks like the signal's coming from the station sysop. No one can crack Big Bill's system."

"You can't," Cho sneered, tried of hearing excuses. "That doesn't mean no one can. Huirre, report!"

"Doc's out. Shoved me, threw away his tasik and squeezed through at the last second. He looked weird. Even for Doc."

"Captain," Dysun's eyes were dark again when she looked up, and her hair flicked back and forth in short jerky arcs. "A body in the path of the door, even a moving body, should have stopped the door from closing."

Vacuum being what it was, air locks had safeties built into their safeties; everyone knew that. Everyone also knew who'd programmed Vrijheid. William Fukking Ponner.

"What part of Big Bill's trying to screw us did you miss," Cho snarled, rubbing his hands together. "Get that air lock open!" *Hostiles incoming, Gunny! I don't have control of the inner hatches.*

Torin pivoted around toward the exit to the station. Interior decompression hatches had access panels on both sides. "We can jam it from here." *It's complicated, you'll have to…*

"Smash the panel." *Yeah, that'll work.*

"Good." Torin bent to pick up the wrench, but Craig's hand on her arm dragged her back upright, and turned her in time to see the Heart's air lock close behind a Human male. Not very tall, broad shoulders, long dark hair. Vaguely familiar.

"It's Doc," Craig said quietly. "He's crazy. And when I say crazy, I mean certifiable. He was a doctor, an actual Navy doctor. His ship got destroyed, and it broke him. Literally broke him in two. There's the medic side and the likes-to-see-you-bleed side. And the likes-to-see-you-bleed side, it doesn't lose."

"What ship?"

"What ship? I have no idea." Craig scooped up the wrench and held it two-handed, across his body. "Does it matter?"

Torin shrugged, then continued the movement, working the stiffness out of her shoulders. "It might have. Go jam the hatch. I've got this."

"Why? Because he was military, you think you have to face him alone?"

Maybe. He wasn't Corps, but still… he'd been broken by his service and that made him her responsibility. It was entirely possible Craig knew she believed that; not that it mattered.

"No." She met his gaze and held it. "Because if Big Bill sends more of his people in after us, we're fukked."

After a long moment, a moment she wouldn't have granted anyone else, Craig nodded. Acknowledged her point. "Torin, Doc is… he's good at violence."

"So am I." She managed half a smile. "Your tax dollars at work."

He wanted to say more, but he nodded again and started toward the hatch, half hopping, half hobbling, most of his weight on his right foot.

Torin had almost forgotten his injury-pushed it to the back of her mind while she did what she had to. Injuries weren't unusual in her old job; dealt with and the job went on. She didn't much like that she kept forgetting Craig was a noncombatant.

As Doc came closer, Torin realized where she'd seen him before. Most recently, watching the fight in the Hub, but before that, heading into the bar, into the game, where Nat Forester had set them up.

No mistaking the tension that pleated the soft skin around his eyes. Ex-military-the tells were obvious to anyone who'd spent as much time in uniform as Torin had-with the look of someone who'd seen too much and not been able to let any of it go. He was the first person she'd met since getting out that she wasn't entirely positive she could beat if it came to a fight.

As much as Torin wanted to destroy anyone who had a part in Crag's abuse, she forced reason past reaction. Not fighting this man would be the smart thing to do.

"We don't have to get into this," she began.

"Yes, we do." For all the teeth showing, there was nothing Krai-like about Doc's smile. It was a very Human smile. The last time Torin had seen that particular expression, she'd been looking in a mirror. "I've been waiting for you."

"For me?"

He shrugged and continued closing the distance between them. "For someone like you."

His eyes were a flat emotionless blue, not gleaming in anticipation. He wasn't going into this fight for the fun of it; he was the deadly serious kind of bugfuk crazy. The kind that would methodically torture Rogelio Page. The kind who would cut off a man's toe when ordered to so that the pain would teach him his place.

"Everyone figures the military broke him…

Torin shifted her weight. This would not be a long fight, and only one of them would survive it. She noted the minor damage she'd already suffered as potential weak points she'd have to guard. Her heart began to beat faster. In all honesty, she was just as glad he hadn't backed down.

Unfortunately, time was on his side. She couldn't wait for him to make the first move.

Doc blocked her kick, dropped, and slid under her leg. Torin twisted on the ball of her foot and the side of his fist slammed into the meaty part of her thigh instead of the joint. When she pushed off his shoulders in order to flip around and face him again, he dropped further. She used her weight to drive him into the deck, but he tucked his feet under his body and threw himself backward.

She kneed him in the kidneys. Rolled clear.

He rolled with her, crushing the fingers of her right hand against the deck.

Her kick knocked him back just far enough to free her hand, spraying the deck with blood from the split along a cracked cheekbone.

They scrambled back up onto their feet and Torin blocked a body blow. He lunged sideways and her stiffened left hand jabbed into his shoulder instead of his throat.

His arm spasmed. His other hand closed around her wrist.

Lubricated by the blood from the earlier bite, she twisted in his grip, negating most of the torque, and slammed her forehead into his nose.

His knee came up, hard. Torin felt a rib crack, but she moved with the blow and slammed the point of her other elbow into the thinner bone at his temple.

He staggered and released her but got an arm up in time to stop her from taking out his right eye-a blow actually intended to distract from the hard one, two, three jab to the solar plexus. His mouth opened, but no sound emerged and, fighting for breath, he fell to the deck.

Swiping at the blood dripping from her forehead, Torin gasped, "Stay down."

Doc didn't have breath enough to laugh, but he tried it anyway.

Teeth bloody, he surged forward, curve of his shoulders tucked under her knees, weight slamming her to the deck. Torin wrapped her legs around his neck, rolled up, and wrapped her right arm around, his chin nestled in the cup of her palm, her fingers curled uselessly against his cheek. She ignored the blow that broke the damaged rib and twisted.

The crack was loud.

Doc grunted. And exhaled.

And went limp. "Okay, the atmosphere's a match so I'm slaving the outside hatch to the inside and seeing if working them in unison will…"

Both hatches opened.

Ignoring Dysun's self-congratulatory babbling, Cho pushed past Huirre and charged out into the ore dock.

Doc would…

Doc wouldn't.

Doc dropped to the deck like a useless piece of crap, body collapsing into the boneless sprawl of the newly dead. Big Bill's gunnery sergeant stood.

Cho rocked to a stop. Wiping away the blood that continued dripping from her forehead, right arm pressed against her ribs, right hand cradled against her chest, Torin turned toward the sound of running footsteps.

Mackenzie Cho stood staring, eyes wide, mouth open, about five meters from his air lock.

Torin smiled and started toward him.

Doc had done the damage, but Cho had given the orders. Time to make Cho pay. The look the gunnery sergeant had been shooting him earlier in the storage pod had been Doc's crazy under control look. This look, this matched Doc's crazy out of control on every point-only Cho had never seen it directed at him. This look didn't say, I'm going to kill you. It said, You're a dead man.

No doubt. No question.

Absolute certainty.

He needed to run. Run now.

He couldn't move, held in place by the awareness of his approaching death.

Where the hell was Huirre? Huirre had the tasiks. Huirre should be here, beside him. He shouldn't be standing alone, that's why he had fukking crew!

"Torin!"

Ryder. Still closer to the hatch than the gunnery sergeant but quickly closing the distance between them. To Cho's surprise, the gunnery sergeant jerked to a reluctant stop. Craig hadn't expected Torin to stop. He'd hoped. If he'd had time, he'd have prayed, but he hadn't expected it.

When she turned, he wished he was closer. Wished he was far enough away he couldn't see the look on her face.

"Don't." No need for him to elaborate. They both knew what he meant.

Torin spat a mouthful of blood out onto the deck. "He deserves…"

"Not arguing." Almost to her now, Craig cut her off. "But what he deserves and what you should do about it… Torin, it's not who you are. It's not what you are."

Her expression was pure Doc. Her mouth twisted into something that in no way resembled a smile. "I've killed before."

"I know." Here and now, there were three bodies on the deck. Although he'd killed one of them and wasn't going to think too hard about that until they'd come out the other side of a Susumi fold and were safely away. "But there's a difference between killing and…" Fuk! He sketched meanings in the air. "… killing." Torin knew what Craig meant. Probably better than he did. The differences between killing officers and murdering officers had come with Humans into space. Had come with the Krai and with the di'Taykan. Professionals recognized the difference.

Cho was the latter.

He'd used Doc, used the broken pieces of the man as a weapon.

Cho had taken the chance Craig had offered, turned, ran for the Heart. Torin could order Ressk to secure the air lock. Hell, she could probably use the rage still sizzling under her skin and catch the son of a bitch before he reached the air lock. Make him pay for… for everything. For Sirin and Jan. For Sergeant Rogelio Page. For the destruction of the Promise.

For Craig. For taking him. For everything that had happened to him.

For Doc, when it came down to it. *Gunny!* Werst sounded like he'd been trying to get her attention for a while.*Ressk has control, but it won't last. What do you want him to do?*

That depended on what she was going to do, didn't it?

"… you give us…" Mashona looked at Ressk. Ressk looked at Werst. Werst half shrugged, making the usual Krai cock-up of the movement. "… grounding. Direction."

But Torin had heard, Something to believe in, in the pause.

All those years at war and she'd never hated the enemy. She'd done what she had to in order to complete the mission and get her people out alive. What she had to. Not what she wanted to. Not even what she thought she needed to.

This wasn't what she was. If she let rage make her into a weapon, however justified the rage, where would it stop? And, once over the line, how much easier the second time? And the time after that?

How many times could she cross the line and still be able to cross back?

How many times had Doc?

Craig had been freed, but the armory was still in enemy hands.

She had a mission to complete and people to get out alive.

When she let the rage go, her knees nearly buckled.

"Turn off the gravity." Another mouthful of blood spat away from the implant. "Open the doors." *Gunny, you're not suited up. Neither of you.*

Craig had reached her side. Torin sagged against him, breathing shallowly. "Give us three minutes…"

"Five," Craig corrected. And she remembered that Ressk had patched both implants into the ship's signal.

"Five," she agreed. "If we can't get suited up in five minutes, we deserve to blow out with the armory."

Cho reached the air lock.

Torin's good hand closed into a fist around a handful of Craig's overalls. On their way to the lockers, she paused, reached down, and closed Doc's eyes.

In her experience, the dead did not look at peace. They looked dead.