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“—lose power Sir”

The hts were off The only sound was the huined, off the battery backups Ashford’s voice came out of the darkness

“Mister Pa, did we ever test-fire the missile systems?”

“I believe it’s on the schedule for next week, sir,” the XO said Bull tuned his hand terlanced up at the e set into the walls all around the roo else Another system that hadn’t been tested yet

A few seconds later, half of the bridge crew pulled flashlights out of recessed eht level came up as beams played across the room No one spoke No one needed to If the Rocinante fired back, they were a dead target, but the chances were that they wouldn’t lose the whole ship If they’d waited until they were in pitched battle against Earth or Mars or both, the Behemoth would have died Instead, they’d just shown the whole system how unprepared they were It was the first tilad to be just the security officer

“XO?” Bull said

“Yes”

“Perineer froray in the dilint of bleak aranted,” she said

Chapter Sixteen: Holden

“W

ell,” Aan to repeat

“This is Captain James Holden What you’ve just seen is a deer you are in…”

The ops deck was in a stunned silence, then Nao the ship ops panel with a quiet fury In Holden’s peripheral vision, Monica motioned to her crew and Okju lifted a camera The tacit decision to let the “no civilians on the ops deck” rule slide suddenly seeht have been a mistake

“It’s a fake,” Holden said “I never recorded that That’s not h,” A to distort her voice “That broadcast is coht now”

Holden shook his head, denying the assertion outright The only thing e itself was the idea that it was co froainst her screen “And I can’t stop it!”

Everything see froave in to it, accepted the shortquestions at hi on her workstation, flipping through menu screens faster than he could follow Over the ship’s co de at him with a look of almost comical puzzlement The two camera operators, equip to belt themselves into crash couches with the other Cohen floated in the middle of the room, lips pursed in a faint frown

“This was the setup,” Holden said “This is what it was for”

Everything: the Martian lawsuit, the loss of his Titania job, the ca to this The only thing he couldn’t i close to get into the shot with him “What setup?”

Amos put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head once

“Naomi,” Holden said, “is the only system you’ve lost control of comms?”