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Holden climbed back onto the lift and rode it up to the operations deck, the thermos clutched in both hands like a life preserver

Nao their progress in pursuit of the fleeing pirates Holden could see at a glance that they were much closer than the last estimate he’d received He strapped himself into the couessing theyor in free fall in the near future, pulled out a drinking bulb for his coffee

As he filled it fro awful fast What’s up?”

“Pirate ship has slowed down quite a bit fro for a couple o The computer tracked some fluctuations in drive output just before they slowed, so I think we chased them too hard”

“They broke their ship?”

“They broke their ship”

Holden took a long drink out of the bulb, scalding his tongue in the process and not caring

“How long to intercept now?”

“Fiveto do the final decel burn until you were up here and belted in”

Holden tapped the comm panel’s 1MC button and said, “Auys” Then he switched to the cockpit channel and said, “Alex, what’s the word?”

“I do believe they broke their ship,” Alex replied in his Martian Mariner Valley drawl

“That seems to be the consensus,” Holden said

“Makes runnin’ away a bit harder”

The Mariner Valley had originally been settled by Chinese, East Indians, and Texans Alex had the dark co as he did fro when an exaggerated Texas drawl ca with Punjabi accents

“And itup the co us to relative stop at ten thousand klicks I’ laser and turn on the point defense cannons Open the outer doors to the tubes, too No reason not to look as threatening as possible”

“Roger that, boss,” Alex replied