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Werst's nose ridges flared. "Good thing we dropped by."
"An intact armory in the hands of pirates would light a fuse under the Wardens," Ressk pointed out from the second chair. "They'd send in the Navy for that."
"And what would the Navy do?" Torin asked, stopping in front of him. Unable to remain still, she'd paced the cabin while she filled them in. "Send a warhead into the station to blow the armory? Kill citizens of the Confederation no matter how misguided? No. Confederation law states explicitly that the military will not be used against citizens of the Confederation."
"But the Wardens can send the Navy against pirates," Ressk protested.
"Specifically pirates," Torin reminded him. The damned cabin was too small. "Not everyone on this station is a pirate." She started pacing again. "Some live off theft and murder second or thirdhand. The Wardens can't legally send the Navy after them, and the Wardens are all about the bureaucracy. What's more, even if the Wardens get their slates out of their asses and send out the Navy, the Navy will argue for landing Marines to take the armory back."
"The Corps' armory, the Corps' problem," Mashona muttered.
"Exactly. Even if Presit allowed Merik to fold the moment they got the first image…" Presit's camera now rested on the edge of the control panel with no way for them to tell what Presit's reaction had been to the new information. "… what are the odds of the Corps getting out here in under fourteen hours when they're not going to be able to cut the orders without a Parliamentary decree?"
"Slim," Mashona offered.
"Slim," Torin agreed.
"So it's up to us." Ressk nodded at whatever plan he had unfolding inside his head. "We rescue Ryder. We get the armory far enough from the station to blow it without the explosion sending pieces back through the station."
Torin stared at Ressk for a long moment. "We figure out a way to blow the armory," she said at last. "We're not military, and I don't give a H'san's ass if the station goes with it."
The silence thickened until it dragged at her legs. Six paces across the cabin. Six back. That was weird. Seven paces across Promise's cabin and the Star was larger. One. Two. Three…
"Gu
Werst didn't look bad, all things considered, but his natural mottling couldn't hide the bruises, one eye was swollen almost closed, and Kyster had definitely been supporting him as they moved toward her. Torin could see abrasions on one wrist and knew there'd be a matching set on the other wrist and both ankles. He hadn't just laid there after he'd been staked out, he'd fought the bindings. A bloody scab weighed down one corner of his mouth, but his lips still rose off his teeth. "Harnett?"
"Dead."
"Edwards?"
"Also dead."
His grunt suggested he found the news of Edwards' death disappointing. Torin assumed that was only because he'd had plans to take care of it himself. "How many total?"
"Seven. Eight, including Harnett."
A sudden impact jerked Torin out of the memory. She blinked and stared at the blood smear marking the place where she'd slammed her right fist into the bulkhead.
The pain hit right after the visuals.
"Gu
Raising her left hand, palm out, she drew in two deep breaths and let them out slowly. Clear and bright, the pain sliced through all the shit in her head and left only three things behind. Craig. The armory. The certain knowledge that this couldn't happen right now. The shit couldn't win. She had to hold things together for just a little while longer. One more deep breath, then she let her left arm fall back by her side and nodded.
She'd barely finished the motion before Ressk, holding her right wrist in a gentle grip, pushed her back into the pilot's chair. Mashona knelt beside her and opened the first aid kit.
"That was stupid."
"Werst!"
Looking over their heads, she locked eyes with Werst. "No, he's right. Seeing Craig threw me, but I'm thinking clearly now."
"So you punched the wall to clear your head? Bullshit."
"And yet, my head is clear." Her tone told him to drop it. Trouble was, Werst hadn't listened back when she had actual rank to enforce the order. And now…
He folded his arms, his tone matter-of-fact. "If you're losing it, Gu
"Fuk you."
"He's right, Gu
Yes, they were.
Ressk flashed Werst a look that made Torin suspect Mashona might be right about something going on between them then, nose ridges flaring, asked, "What would you say, Gu
Good question. The pain blocker he'd shot into her hand dulled the edges of the clear and bright but not so much the shit could creep back in. It was all still there-Cho, Big Bill, Craig's injury, a station not entirely full of thieves and murderers-but she owned it now, not the other way around.
"I'd tell you to not let it get so bad again."
"Yeah," Mashona snorted. "But you'd be more emphatic."
She'd have been as emphatic as required for them to hear her. "True."
"So, consider yourself told." Werst's teeth flashed white. "What's the plan?"
"First…" This was the easy part. "… we need to be able to communicate with Craig. Not only to get him out, but because he's with the armory." She sucked air in through her teeth as Ressk's thumb pushed at cracked bone.
Ressk's grip tightened. "No point in bonding the knuckle when it's halfway down your fukking hand," he reminded her. "Stop twitching. If Big Bill's blocked his codes, then I can block yours and Ryder's. I just need to get into the sysop. Once in… Gu
"I'm not twitching."
He snorted noncommittally and maneuvered the bone into place. The pain flared bright and clear for an instant, then settled back to a constant reminder of why punching bulkheads was definitely dumbass.
"Once in," he began again, "I can lock our slates out, too."
Mashona handed him a tube of sealant and sat back on her heels. "Wouldn't it be easier to just lock out the Star? Since we use her as our SP?"
"If I lock out the Star, the docking clamps release because the station thinks we no longer exist."
"So you'll be locking out the codes." With the split skin over Torin's knuckle sealed shut, Mashona dropped the empty tube back into the kit. "Good thing you're an evil genius."
"Doesn't take a genius to lock out codes," Ressk snorted, frowned down at the repair, then set the hand gently on Torin's knee with a look that said it was the best he could do. "But it'll take time to get into the system u
"We now have less than thirteen hours for the entire mission." Torin reminded him.
"Then I need to get to one of the station's boards. Easy in from there."
"I have an all-access pass to the station-apparently the free merchants need to see I have Big Bill's trust," she explained as she handed Ressk her slate. "But whatever I do, wherever I go, Big Bill will be watching. That's a given."
"Then we need him to look away." Ressk dropped back into the second chair and worked both thumbs across the screen. "Or we need him to believe he's seeing something he isn't. This…" He tapped the lines of code. "… is almost too simple. Your slate will identify you to any locked hatch. The lock, in turn will record your presence."