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If maintenance reclamation worked, then the toilet should, so Craig used it. And took his time.
Finally, after increasingly sullen reminders that toes weren't necessary to break code, Craig skirted the wet area of the deck and returned to the storage pod. Holding his borrowed slate up to the seal, he linked in. He gave half a thought to cutting the safeties in and blowing the armory, but he knew Torin was on her way and she'd be pissed if he died. His code opened the first level and slid them through the second. Then he watched the lines of new code scroll by and frowned.
"See!" Nadayki waved his own slate in front of Craig's face. "It makes no sense!"
"Sure it does. You can hack a defense satellite and slaughter three people, but you can't hack this seal."
Nadayki's eyes darkened as his lip curled. "What's your point?"
"Given that the point of a seal is to keep people out, an unhackable seal makes perfect sense."
After a long moment, the di'Taykan nodded. "Yeah, okay."
"Yeah, okay?"
"Yeah, okay, you're right," he expanded reluctantly. "It does make perfect sense." His eyes had lightened but he still sounded sulky when he asked, "Can you get in?"
It came down to pulling out recognizable bits and building on them. Craig shrugged. "Won't be easy, but I know how CSOs think."
"They think? Really? I can get through the Marine seal, no problem," he muttered.
"Yeah, well…" Craig patted the dent in the armory. "… not to knock your code fu, kid, but in my experience, Marines are a lot less complex." "So we're disillusioned and pretending to be pirates." Werst took a long swallow of beer and shrugged. "Should work."
Stretched out on the bunk in the cabin, one arm tucked up under her head, the other holding a beer of her own, Mashona asked, "How many of these pirates are you pla
Torin thought about the way Page had died. "As many as I have to."
"I'm not sure I can kill other people. Not anymore," Mashona added as Ressk glanced up from his slate and shot her a look. "War is different."
"What if those people are trying to kill you?" Werst wondered, picking the label off the beer pouch.
"That's different, too," Mashona acknowledged.
Ressk nodded. "They try to kill me, all bets are off."
"You three shouldn't have to kill anyone," Torin told them flatly. Ceelin had found her the original schematics of Vrijheid Station. They'd use Susumi time to commit as much of them to memory as possible. "If there's any killing to be done, I'll be doing it."
The other three exchanged a glance that held a whole conversation.
Werst gave it a voice. "We've got your six, Gu
"Why?" She hadn't pla
"I wouldn't say we had lives." Mashona swung her legs off the bunk and sat up. "We were all kind of drifting. We're used to being a part of something bigger, you know, and not having that anymore was… Well, it wasn't. I guess what I'm trying to say is 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. "It's difficult to make plans until we know what's actually in the locker," Big Bill said thoughtfully, indicating that Cho should sit. "But in order to expedite the eventual arming of the free merchants, I've made a list." He slid a piece of paper across the desk.
"A list?" Visitors to Big Bill's office deep in the center sphere of the station sat in chairs that were both closer to the ground than Big Bill's own and deliberately uncomfortable. Already fuming at being summoned like an erring ensign called before the officer of the watch, this lack of subtlety pushed Cho's mood further into the black, and he fought to keep his expression neutral.
"A list of who'll be willing to pay top dollar and potentially for what; where what is based on the content of the armories my boys remember from while they were in."
The Grr brothers had been in the Corps. Cho couldn't say he was surprised. "I've seen your type before, boy. You wanted Recon or Ranger, but you were too crazy even for those crazy fukkers." Page's voice in memory. "No one tried to convince you too hard to stay, after your first contract ran out, did they, boy? No, it was: so long, Private, have a nice life. Hell, have a shitty life, just have it away from us."
He wondered if that was where they'd met, brought together by sanctioned violence. Their own brutal tendencies honed and refined.
Well, as refined as a fondness for eating people alive got.
Rather than think about the screaming, Cho picked up the list. Big Bill was a manipulative son of a bitch but vested self-interest would see to it that Cho got the best price for his weapons. He attempted to think of the list as helpful instead of as an attempt to wrest away control. A really fukking a
"You can't hack paper," Big Bill told him, misinterpreting the frown. "Some smartass will find a way into the tightest system but that right there, you need eyeballs for that and eyeballs can be controlled. You remember not to leave it lying around where any idiot can read it, and it's about as secure as it gets. Helps, of course, that no one expects anything of import to be on paper these days. How much longer to get through the seals?"
Cho recognized the sudden change of subject as an attempt to throw him off his game. Yeah, like he'd let his guard down that much around a power-crazy fuk like Big Bill. "Ryder, the salvage op, is back at work."
"Good."
"Doc says his brain got a bit fried by the tasik when we brought him in."
"Doc would know." Even Big Bill was… maybe not cautious but definitely aware around Doc.
"It's slowed him down some," Cho continued, "but he's functional, and Nadayki reports they're making progress." Nadayki had reported nothing of the sort, but Cho had no intention of showing weakness of any kind. Even secondhand.
"Again, good." Big Bill's smile didn't reach his eyes. Didn't even reach his cheeks. Or any other body part. "But I asked you, how long?"
"No way of knowing."
"I see. As we have no idea what's in the armory, we have no idea how much you'll be paying me for the use of that storage pod. We don't know the specifics of my fifteen percent," he expanded when Cho frowned. "Given that, I'd like to know how long you plan on taking advantage of my generosity."
Slouching back in the chair, Cho hoped he looked like he didn't give a H'san's ass about eye lines or the unfortunate fact that his own ass was going numb. "Allowing me to use that pod is you minimizing the risk of blowing a hole in your station while still maintaining a certain amount of control over the contents of an armory you have no responsibility for. Length of time spent is irrelevant."
Big Bill stared across the deck at him, like he was actually seeing him for the first time in this conversation. "That's a valid point."
He made it sound like it was first valid point Cho had ever made in his hearing.
"Keep me informed." Eyes narrowed, Big Bill nodded toward the piece of paper. "Take the list with you."
Only a suicidal idiot would mistake that for anything but a dismissal.
By the time Cho had heaved himself up onto his feet, Big Bill had a cha
In the outer office the Grr brothers lay tangled together on a leather sofa, drinking sah and watching news vids, the big screen split into the top four networks. They'd been watching news vids when Cho went in to talk to Big Bill. And sure, he hadn't been in there long, but they'd been watching news vids every time he'd been called to the i