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She doubted there was much difference between the courts and the fights.
There was no visible plastic. That was less comforting than she'd expected it would be.
"The seats can come out if you don't need them, or they can be rearranged into more useful configurations." Big Bill slapped a meaty palm against the bulkhead. "Industrial reinforcing-it's the best place on Vrijheid to put a range even with targets designed to absorb the impact."
Not everyone would hit the target. On military stations, they built a barrier designed to neutralize the rounds from a KC-7 and set the targets in that. As Torin enjoyed the thought of pirates shooting holes in their own station, she didn't bother correcting the flaw in Big Bill's design.
"For the larger weapons, we may need to set up something on the planet. Although it's not like the big stuff needs precision shooting, right?"
He was waiting for a response. "Just needs to be pointed in the right direction," she agreed. Pirates blowing themselves to hell with heavy ordinance would also be celebrated. She scuffed her sole against one of the welds, frowned at the big double hatch, and laid out the station schematics in her head. "The smelter machinery; how did you get it out?"
"Why?"
Torin gave him her best that question is too stupid to require a facial expression. "We'll need to move some large equipment back in."
"Of course." Big Bill moved out into the center space. "The double hatch leads to the ore dock. We cut the gravity in both sections, opened the hatches, ran leads in from the ru
Or repeat the process to get the armory off the station.
Torin nodded. "It's a plan." She needed to get the hell back to the Star, but Big Bill wasn't finished.
"It's more than a plan, Gu
Torin stared at him. There were holes in his plan a battle cruiser could slide through, but the son of a bitch thought big, she'd give him that. "And all you get from this…"
"Is fifteen percent."
When Torin raised a brow, he smiled. She glanced over at the Grr brothers who looked more bored than impressed by the rhetoric. If she had to guess, she'd say they'd heard it before.
"Problem." She made it sound like a single problem, not a problem with the crazy-ass concept in general. "Even with the armory on the station, doesn't Cho control most of the weapons?"
"Captain Cho will, of course, be one of the leaders of the Alliance, and he'll sell the weapons he and his crew don't personally need."
"To people you've chosen."
"To the people who will give him the best price." Smiling, Big Bill beckoned her closer. When she was an arm's length away, he said, "I'd like you to have the training facility ready to use the moment the Free Merchants have weapons in their hands, but the ore dock is off-limits until the armory is open, so that'll limit any large-scale changes." With his volume dialed back to conversational levels, he might have been discussing sweeping out the Hub instead of the first steps toward violently commandeering stations and holding their inhabitants hostage. "It's eight fifty-three now…"
Four hours and thirty-three minutes until Craig said Nadayki would have the armory open.
"… I'd like to see a design by 1130," Big Bill continued, unaware of the change Cho had made in his schedule. "Include a list of everything you'll need to make it happen-material, tools, workers-and once I've approved it, you can begin."
"Then I'd better get started." She pivoted on one heel and headed for the hatch, roughing out a plan that would not end with the Free Merchant Alliance gaining representation in Parliament or Big Bill using the weapons in the armory to gain fifteen percent of anything. As Torin stepped onto the Star, Werst handed her a mug of coffee. "We cut the gravity, open the exterior decompression doors, use the overhead ru
Torin nodded. "Bare bones."
"What about Ryder?" Mashona asked, breaking the seal on a packet of eggs.
Torin gripped the mug tighter, pulling at the bonded knuckle. "I said, bare bones." With no time to waste, she'd filled them in while returning to the ship. Assuming Big Bill was watching, or would be watching at least fifteen percent of the time, she'd tried to look like she'd already begun to design a training facility for thieves and murderers. Ressk's tracking program kept her face turned away from surveillance cameras.
"Okay, one and zeros." Ressk cracked his toes and took a long swallow of sah. "Moving training equipment would be a great cover. Any chance of Big Bill changing his mind about waiting until the armory's open?"
"No." When it looked like he was going to pursue it further, Torin raised a hand and cut him off. "You've cracked the station sysop, can't you shut down the gravity and open the exterior hatch from your slate?"
"I'm in Communications, Gu
"Not what I asked you."
He straightened, responding to her tone. "Yes, I can shut down the gravity and open the big hatch from the slate. But it'll take time to find the right subroutines and more time to subvert them."
"How much time?"
His nose ridges opened and closed. "Probably more than we have."
Torin narrowed her eyes. "You hacked through ship security every time Sh'quo Company was deployed."
"Yeah. But, Gu
"Are you telling me Big Bill Po
"Gu
"Better than the Navy doesn't make him better than you."
"Well, no, but…
"No buts. Get to work; we need the gravity off and the hatch open." Torin dropped into the pilot's chair and set her mug on the edge of the board. "All right, before we can open the ore docks to vacuum, we have to get Nadayki and Craig away from the pod. I'll talk to Craig." She frowned. "There's no blast wave in vacuum. Does that change the result if we blow the armory in the pod?"
"Not enough. Atmosphere or no atmosphere, the pod's not designed to contain large chunks of shrapnel. Pieces of the armory will go through the pod and then the station like cheese through a H'san. We have to get it, on an absolute minimum, thirty kilometers away and even then the station will take damage."
Every mission came with collateral damage. The brass tried to pretend it didn't, but the people on the front lines knew better.