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Torin curled her fingers in toward her palms.
"You're looking for them." Big Bill picked up a plastic stylus, spun it at eye level, then put it back down. "You know they're still around. You know they're still fukking with us. And you ask why I want you to train these people? I should think it would be obvious. We're going to take what's rightfully ours. What the gray plastic aliens have taken from us when they involved us in this war."
Had she been here for any reason other than to get to Craig, she'd have asked him what the hell he thought had been taken from him. She could almost hear Presit demanding an answer from Big Bill's image on the monitor. As it was, she didn't give a flying fuk. All she wanted to do was move this conversation as quickly as possible toward Big Bill giving her an all points access pass. "Why me? You have muscle."
"Muscle. Exactly. Ignoring for the moment that their present job keeps them surprisingly busy, the Grr brothers have a reputation with the people who use this station that would ensure compliance but little actual learning. Your reputation, on the other hand…" He leaned toward her. "You brought the Silsviss into the Confederation. You fought the enemy to a standstill in the depths of the Big Yellow ship. You escaped from an inescapable prison. You're someone people listen to, aren't you? You can turn the free merchants into a force that a government who lies to us over and over and over will have to take notice of."
It was almost fu
Big Bill's chair creaked a protest as he leaned back and steepled his fingers. "I just happen to know where I can gain access to a Marine Corps armory. Still sealed. Contents intact."
Torin heard a nearly audible click as the last piece fell into place. Jan and Sirin had scooped an armory up out of their debris field, and everything else made perfect sense.
Still sealed.
"You haven't opened it?" Even to her own ear, she sounded like she couldn't quite catch her breath but figured there were valid reasons enough, given a sealed armory. Big Bill wouldn't question it.
He didn't. Asked only, "What difference does that make?"
They hadn't opened it. But it was on the station and the Heart was docked, so that could only mean they were working on getting it open. Working on getting past the seal the original CSOs had used to lock it down. Using the CSO they'd grabbed to break the code when Page had died before giving them what they needed. Using Craig. Who was alive. After a moment, Torin realized Big Bill was waiting for her to answer his question. Back in the day, it had been part of her job to remain calm regardless of the situation. Surrounded by a couple hundred juvenile sentient lizards. Trapped in the belly of an unidentified ship. Under fire by their own training equipment. In a prison that shouldn't exist. She could do this. She could sound like she didn't want to dive across the desk and grab Big Bill's ears and slam his head into the wall over and over and over until he agreed to take her to Craig.
Torin regained enough motor control to shrug. "It makes a difference because you don't know what's in the armory."
"We don't know exactly what the contents are…" Glancing down, he shuffled a few papers on his desk and looked up again. "… but I'm sure you could draw up a reasonably accurate inventory."
"I'd have to see it. There's more than one type of armory. Platoon support, armored support, hell, even air support."
Craig was at the armory.
"So you'll take the job?"
If she agreed too quickly, he'd get suspicious. If she agreed too slowly, there'd be yet another delay in getting to Craig.
"Depends. On what kind of an armory you've found," she expanded when his brows rose. "No point if it's carrying the wrong gear. And," she added before he could speak, "it depends on what's in it for me."
"You'd be at the forefront of the revolution."
"And?"
"And?" He laughed. "And do you have any idea how much fifteen percent of everything amounts to Gu
"After the revolution. I'm not taking a job that offers nothing more than the possibility of being well paid."
"You do your job right, and that possibility is a certainty."
"Chance is always a factor."
He stared at her for a long moment. Torin kept her expression absolutely neutral. And here she thought she'd never have anything to thank General Morris for.
"You and yours stay here free," Big Bill said at last. "Air, food, water-you work for me, I pick up the tab. Plus extra credit you can spend on the station."
Thus tying them to the station.
"No deal until I see the armory."
Big Bill smiled that smile he'd learned from the Krai. "Seems like you've already attempted to take a look at it. My station, Gu
"We did."
He waited and, when Torin didn't expand on her answer, finally snarled, "Let's hear it, then, and I'll decide how good it is."
"We heard rumors that the Heart of Stone had come in with a big haul and wasn't sharing. No one mentioned the word armory, but we thought we might convince the captain to share. For a small finder's fee."
"Ru
Torin had seen warmer expressions on corpses. "Perfectly, sir."
The "sir" pulled out a real smile. Torin had known it would; it was the most manipulative word in a NCO's arsenal. "Right, then. Let's go take a look at the armory, and you can tell me what we have." Pulling a pile of paper toward him, Big Bill added, "Wait for me in the outer office." An order given to establish the chain of command. "There's no need for your people to hang about; send them back to the ship. Do not mention the armory. You can fill them in when we have all the details worked out."
The vid Presit had shot on the prison planet filled all screens when Torin went back into the outer office. Each screen showed a different feed, a different point in the recording. She could see herself, Mashona, Presit, the plastic alien, and, given the HE suit, Craig's knees. Two screens had subtitles in languages Torin didn't recognize.
The Grr brothers sat staring at the screens, ignoring the other people in the room.
Appearing to ignore the other people in the room.
Keeping the two Krai in her peripheral vision, Torin beckoned Werst, Ressk, and Mashona in close, a hand signal moving Mashona far enough to the left to block the pertinent details of their interaction from Big Bill's muscle. "We've been offered a job. Training the free merchants to fight."
Werst recovered first. "With what?" he snorted.
"I'm about to find out." Hands on her hips, Torin stretched out her index finger and wrote armory on the screen of her slate. Ressk's eyes widened slightly and she stroked the word away. "Go back to the ship, I'll fill you in when I know what's going on." Wrote locked. "If you stop in the Hub for a drink, don't mention the job offer where you could be overheard. There's no guarantee we're taking it." Stroked the word away.
"Haven't had any better offers," Mashona muttered.