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"Riggs, I--"

"Save it for Saunders," he said "We all know you killed Lucin, and we kno you left Saunders behind You’re just lucky the COparty was full of the oldest marines, the people who don’t understand what you did; otherwise, you probably wouldn’t have made it to this cell alive" He leaned forward, the tears on his cheeks caught in the light overhead "I can’t promise you I wouldn’t have joined in," he added

With that, Riggs spun away fro to the bars, speechless

••••

They gave her another hour to steep Molly couldn’t help but ad on any of therillers: your friends are flipping, and he who flips last gets burned worst

She also knew the best course of action was to think about so else, but it was i she concentrated on avoiding And she knew Walter She had little doubt the traitorous bastard was spilling his guts It wouldn’t be the first ti soh the bars and pictured Riggs leaning on the far wall, his ar he’d looked He shouldn’t even be out of the Academy Neither should she nor Cole, for thataround a board that Lucin had set up and left unfinished

She tried tohe’d used and which gaic death at Cole’s hands haunted her The only person who could help her understand as going on had beenlist of sins

She sat on the edge of her bunk, gazing down at the long, straight shadows the bars cast across the floor It occurred to her once again that jail cells provided her with her only opportunities to cal

A wide shadow slid over the lines at her feet, interrupting her thoughts She didn’t need to look up to knoho it was

"Admiral, huh?"

She meant it as small talk, a coation room B," he barked to souards in Navy black had taken his place The bars of her cell descended into the floor, and the two men came at her with cruel smiles

Rumors of her exploits had likely thinned the herd of people who could be trusted to handle her They cinched the cuffs behind her back and wrenched theh as theyfroht sniffles of laughter--and the guy holding the cuffs responded by pulling theht, only these are larger and stronger boys

Interrogation room B consisted of a metal-plated box broken up by a door on one wall and aone A metal table in the center had been welded to the floor, as had the wide benches on both sides A precaution, Molly knew, in the event of gravity uards cuffed Molly to one of the benches, nodded to the mirror, then walked out

Saunders entered soon after with a reader and a glass of water He slid his bulk between the table and the bench, took a sip of the water, then set it doith a clack of glass onit aside

Molly watched the condensation on the surface of the glass drip down, for of wetness around the base The entire scene was so cliché, so much like every Navy drah Just thinking about hoful and crazy she would seele-fitcompany, Ms Fyde" Saunders leaned forward, both his forearers interlocked into one ht in the eyes "I’ you that day"

Saunders srabbed the reader for a reference "Are you sorry for Corporal Ti? Or how about Staff Sergeant Jim McCleary? Aren’t sorry about any of theuys from Palan?" Molly asked

"The men you killed, yeah"

"I am very sorry for them And I’m sorry for Lucin But they were all in self-defense You were the exception You were the only person I attacked in anger, and I’lad you attackedto spend the rest of my life at that Academy I would have been happy, sure, but I turned down dozens of promotions out of love for that place I needed a kick in the ass to getto point out that it wasn’t a kick in the ass that she’d given hih returned--she sed it down, afraid she uy on Palan?" she asked "Was he okay?"

Saunders looked at the reader again "Agent Si to save your butt We’ve got h to jettison you into space I’m just here to make sure we have it all"

That wasn’t the person Molly was thinking about, but she ignored the discrepancy

"I’ll answer everything honestly, Captain--I’ for answers for over a month, and you’re welcome to the few I’ve found"

He ser as your Palan friend Boy had so lish with that kid Turns out he is a fast typist, though We put hi a book on what you guys’ve been up to" Saunders set down the reader "Noant to hear it from you"

Been up to? Molly wondered how much Walter knew of the disaster on Gleet them in

As if they could airlock her twice

"What do you want to hear?" she asked Saunders She tensed up, afraid of his answer

But, as it turned out, not quite afraid enough

Saunders smiled at her and unclasped his hands

"Why don’t we start e’re talking to on your ship’s nav computer"

31

"I’lass of water, but her hands were locked behind her back and fastened to the bench She pictured a long straw extending fro fluid into her dryin your nav coht be an AI, or soic tree It claiuys are you Did you steal her off Dakura just now?"

"Yes," Molly lied

"I thought you were going to telltoto Dakura Security They assure us that such a theft is not possible and that nothing in a standard ship could host one of their AIs So Who is she?"

"My mom"