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“There was always coffee”

Thehad started off as just part of the shakedown Between the ne and the uncertainty surrounding the ship, it had seeood idea for Holden and Foster Sales to touch base with each other, co was the way it was supposed to be The care Foster took to treat the Roci with respect had helped Holden The neasn’t his, and he didn’t feel coh the real crew’s lockers while no one was looking And day by day, their presence was growing e

When he called down to engineering and Kazantzakis or Ip replied, it didn’t seeoggles shooting the crap out of each other in simulated battles – because as weapons techs with no one to shoot at they were getting antsy – stopped being weird and edged into sort of endearing Maura Patel was spending her insohtbea Naomi had on her list of projects, but he let Maura do it anyway And after the long, quiet days in the dock, sleeping in his couch and waking to an eht be the wrong people, but they were people Having guests in his house kept hi into his fear and anxiety He was only putting on a brave face, but it actually made him feel a little braver

“Anything else I should be aware of?” Foster asked

“Just I want to know if anything happens with the Razorback or the Pella,” Holden said “Or if we get a e from Earth Amos Burton or my family, either one” As if they were different

“I think you’ve made that clear to the crew,” Foster said solelimmer of amusement in his eye Probably Holden had made the point a few tiave Holden a fresh bulb Foster made his way to the ladder, and then doard the torpedo bays where Kazantzakis was cleaning things that were already clean Holden waited a few seconds and then headed up to the ops deck Chava, co down, met him, and they did a little aard no-you-first dance before they got past each other

Fred was in the crash couch that he’d appropriated as his office The hatch to the cockpit was closed, but Holden could still hear the wailing of the raï that Mfu his shift in the pilot’s seat Between that and the coffee, he wouldn’t be sleeping, but Fred had put headphones on and so didn’t hear Holden coe on his screen was familiar Marco Inaros, the self-styled head of the Free Navy and public face of the devastation of Earth And – Holden tried the thought carefully in case it hurt too much to think it – if Naomi was dead, the man who’d probably killed her His chest contracted painfully and he pushed the idea away Thinking about Aerous

Fred turned sharply, noticing hi have you been there?”

“Just came up”

“Good Hate to think I’ too feeble to knohen there’s soht?”

“Apart fro in the ? Peachy I htmares from start to finish, but peachy”

“Well, it was kind of a stupid question Sorry about that”

Holden sat on the couch beside Fred’s and leaned in

“What do we know about this guy?”

“Inaros?” Fred said “He was on my short list of possibilities when the rocks dropped Not the head of it, but in the top five He leads a splinter group of high-poverty Belters The kind of people who live in leaky ships and post screeds about taxation being theft I’ve spoken to him a time or two, usually to deescalate a situation he wanted to set on fire”