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“Yeah, just outside Medina ops Did that thing hit the station? Not seeing any atmo-loss alerts here”

“It shot the—” Alex started, then said, “It’s easier to show you Take a look at this shit”

“Just a minute”

Holden slapped the wall panel, and the door slid open He pulled himself inside the ops center

The duty officer put up a hand “You can’t come in here, sir I mean, Captain Holden Sir”

“Who’s in charge right now?”

“Me?”

Holden had met her once before at a Transport Union function Daphne Kohl A co tour on Tycho Perfect for noncombat ops duty on a station like Medina Absolutely out of her depth now

“Holden?” Alex said “You still there?”

Holden turned his hand terminal so that the duty officer could see it too

“Go ahead, Alex”

On his hand-ter past the ring gate It had a thick lozenge shape, not quite circular in cross-section, and with a variety of asyanic than constructed

It caate The Tori Byron, the Transport Union’s cruiser tasked with defending Medina Station, ined the strea at the Laconian ship Then, happening so fast it was like a glitch in the graphic, the Byron turned into a rapidly expanding cloud of superheated gas and , Fire, fire, fire, and the rail guns on the hub station opened up

The iuns were ripped away fro into a cloud of ceramic shrapnel as they went

“That’s what you felt,” Alex said “The second time they fired that weapon, every ship in the zone shook, and half the electronics blew out”