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"Who would have thought, Victra au Julii, the peacemaker"

The Grays notify nar," I call He steps out of the ship’s confines, near twice the size of the largest Gray "Let thefor …"

The Gray spares a glance at Ragnar, ss "Bombs, dominus"

Victra escorts hest of Attica’s peaks The city stretches far beneath us Trees line the path fro pad to the citadel "Adrius took the place soon as the last Bellona ship retreated Came in with a thousand lurchers and displaced the Bellona allies ned the place Took all they had Emptied their bank accounts Full-on theft But that’s war" She nods to the west "Wonderful slopes just a few klicks out We’ll take a few days when this all settles down You bring Virginia, I’ll find ht, she looks sideways at h "Never had the ti roolass Fire swirls under the floor, licking up in columns near theSeveral s The Jackal is hunched over a holoDisplay, speaking quickly to solimpse Harmony in a dark roo so with some device I can’t quite see

We sit by the flaha dataStrip to Sun-hwa before she leaves He joins us, rubbing the back of his neck

"Sothe food shipments alone takes a hundred Coppers And those odious little shits will spend all day bickering about whether or not a ship should have granola or alley Both is an option Both! How difficult is that, really? It’s like they enjoy the spreadsheets and busywork Mind boggling"

"I keep telling hiatetoo I’," the Jackal replies He scratches his head "At least with nuory planets you like Just leave h "Just keep me away from food requisition orders" I lean forward "I hear the fleet will be ready to depart for the Core in teeks By the bye, wonderful new hohs "Father is furious I took it for ive it as a present to one of the Governors of the Gas Giants"

"I think you’ve earned it," I say "That and more"

"Exactly" The Jackal makes a tired motion with his lone hand "I came here as a boy to ski with Mother I always looked up here and said it’d beyou want"

"And you asked, Why not?" Victra says She’s already heard the story

"Why not?" the Jackal repeats the words fondly "So if Father wants it back, he’ll have to make his own food purchase orders"

We all know it isn’t food purchase orders that occupies his time Not solely