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If it had been a battle, it would have been a hu defeat It hadn’t even been an attack
“Then ould you call it?” Pa asked from the screen of his hand ter roughshod over the recovery efforts, trying—Bull thought—to e the crisis out of existence That left Pa at the helm to coordinate with all the other ships She was better suited for it anyway There was a chance, at least, that she would listen
“If I were doing it, I’d call it progressive restraint,” Bull said “That assle who shot the Ring caot locked down There’s rules about how fast you can go Then Holden and thosehappens Whatever’s running the station gets its jock in a twist, and things lock down harder I don’t know thestuff It’s allowing us as hter the choke”
“Okay,” Pa said, running a hand through her hair She looked tired “I can see that So as long as it doesn’t feel threatened, ets pissed,” Bull said “I don’t know So? He decides to ars get a lot worse”
“All right”
“We’ve got to get everyone acting together,” Bull said “Earth, Mars, us Everyone Because if this was me, I’d escalate fro so to follow the saht, Mister Baca!” Pa shouted “Thatit Because the one thing I don’t need right now is another self-righteous h the stakes are and that I’d better not fk things up I got it Thank you”
Bull blinked, opened his ain On his screen, Pa pinched the bridge of her nose He heard echoes of Ashford in her frustration
“Sorry, XO,” he said “You’re right I was out of line”
“Don’t worry about it, Mister Baca,” she said, each syllable pulling a weight behind it “If you have any concrete, specific recommendations, my door is always open”
“I appreciate that,” Bull said “So the captain… ?”
“Captain Ashford’s doing his best to keep the ship in condition and responsive He feels that letting the crew see hi, Bull didn’t ask Didn’t have to Pa could see hi himself
“Believe it or not, we are all on the same team,” she said
“I’ll keep it in mind”
Her expression clouded and she leaned in toward her screen, a gesture of inti and video connections and still impossible to entirely escape