Abaddon's Gate

“They’re making a new broadcast, sir,” the security man said. Clarissa watched Ashford turn and stare at him, watched the man shrivel under the weight of his gaze.

“Exclusive to Radio Free Slow Zone,” Monica said, “we have reason to believe that if we in the united human fleet can reduce our energy output low enough to no longer appear threatening—”

“Shut her down,” Ashford said. “Call everyone that’s still in the drum and shut that feed off. Get me Ruiz. I want power cut to that whole section if we have to.”

“Is this something we need to concern ourselves with?” Cortez asked. His voice had an overtone of whining. “What they do or say can’t matter now, can it?”

“This is my ship!” Ashford shouted. “I’m in control.”

“Once we’ve destroyed the Ring, though—”

Clarissa put a hand on Cortez’s shoulder and shook her head once.

“He’s the father,” she said. “The ship is his house.”

“Thank you,” Ashford said to her, but with his eyes still on Cortez. “I’m glad that someone here understands how this works.”

“Suppression team is dispatched,” Jojo said. “You want me to pull from the guard units too?”

“Whatever it takes,” Ashford said. “I want you to get it done.”

On the screen, the view shifted, and A

“The idea,” A

The camera cut back to Monica Stuart, nodding and looking sober. All the physical cues that would indicate A

“And what is your plan, exactly?” Monica asked.

A

“And so by giving some indication that we aren’t escalating the attackc ?”

“We give whatever we’re dealing with here the opportunity to not escalate against us,” A

The screen went dark. Ashford scowled at his control boards, calling up and dismissing information with hard, percussive taps. Cortez floated beside Clarissa, frowning. Humiliated. He had engineered Ashford’s escape and reconquest of the Behemoth, and she could see in the older man’s eyes that it wasn’t what he’d expected it to be. She wondered if her own father had that same expression in his cell back on Earth, or wherever it was they’d put him.

“Ruiz,” Ashford snapped. “Report. What’s our status?”

“I still have half an hour, sir,” the woman said through the co

“I didn’t ask how much time you had left,” the captain said. “I asked for a report.”

“The conductant is in place and curing,” the woman said. “It looks like it’ll be done on time. I’ve found a place in the breaker system that Samc that Sam put in a power cutout.”

“You’ve replaced that?”

“I did, but I don’t know if there are others. She could have sabotaged the whole circuit.”

“Well,” Ashford said. “You have half an hour to check it.”

“That’s what I’m doing. Sir.”

Ashford tapped the control panel again. Clarissa found herself wishing he’d put the newsfeed back on. She wanted to know what A

“Have we shut those bitches up yet?” Ashford snapped.

“The suppression teams are arriving at the colonial administrative offices, sir,” Jojo said. And then, a moment later, “They’re encountering some resistance.”

Ashford smiled.

“Do we have targeting?” he asked.

“Sir?” one of the other guards said.

“Are the comm laser’s targeting systems online?”

“Um. Yes. They’re responsive.”

“Well, while they mop up downstairs, let’s line up our shot, shall we?”

“Yes, sir.”

Clarissa kept hold of a handle on the wall absently, watching the captain and his men coordinating. It was hard for her to remember how small the Ring was, and how vast the distances they’d traveled to be here. She had to admire the precision and care that they would need to destroy it. The beauty of it was almost surgical. Behind her, the security station popped and clicked. Among the alerts, she heard the murmur of a familiar voice, lifted in fear. She looked around. No one was paying any attention to her, so she pushed herself gently back.

The security station monitor was still on the newsfeed. Monica Stuart looked ashen under her makeup, her jaw set and her lips thin. A

“—anything we can to cooperate,” the earnest man was saying into the camera.

“Thank you, Lieutenant Williams,” Monica Stuart said. “I hate to add a complicating note to all this, but I’ve just been informed that armed men have arrive outside the studio and we are apparently under attack at the moment.” She laughed nervously, which Clarissa thought was probably newsfeed anchor code for, Oh my God, I’m going to die on the air. A

“This is an extreme situation,” A

In the background, the unmistakable popping of slug throwers interrupted A

“And violence is a response to that fear. I hope very much that we can come together, though, and—”

“She’ll go down talking,” Cortez said. Clarissa hadn’t heard him come in behind her, hadn’t sensed him approaching. “I have a tremendous respect for that woman.”

“But you think she’s wrong.”

“I think her optimism is misplaced,” Cortez said.

“—if we do escalate our attacks on the station and the Ring,” A