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“Of course not But don’t talk yourself into underesti him because you want him to be the next Marco Inaros Duarte won’t hand you a win by being a dumbfuck He won’t spread himself too thin He won’t overreach He won’t make up half a dozen plans and then spin a bottle to pick one He’s a chess player And if you act on instinct, do the thing your feelings demand, he’ll beat us all”

“Give up Medina And the slow zone And all the colony worlds”

“Recognize that they’re occupied territory,” Avasarala said “Protect what you can protect Sol system Reach out where you can, if you can There are still people loyal to the union on Medina And Duarte’s intelligence on the last few decades is going to be thin, at least at first Find angles he doesn’t know But don’t take hiht”

Drummer felt a little click in her heart, the physical sensation of co Earth That hy she’d counships, were critical to keeping Earth and Mars safe The strategy she was arguing for was all about playing defense, and the thing Dru was, in the final analysis, the inner planets That’s what she and her people would be asked to die for: Earth and Mars and all the people who’d made their civilizations on the back of the Belters back in the days before the union It wasn’t just strategy It was naked self-interest

Also, it was right

Medina was behind ene to be able to take it back That didn’t mean she was powerless

“So,” she said, “what do we have to ith?”

“The coalition fleet,” Avasarala said “The union fleet And whatever agents we can coordinate with on Medina”

“We can’t reach anyone on Medina,” Drummer said “The communications channels are all under Duarte’s control”

Avasarala sighed and looked at her hands “Yours are,” she said It took a moment for Drummer to understand

Avasarala shrugged “Everyone spies on everyone, Ca wet”

“You have a way to get es to Medina?”

“I didn’t say that,” Avasarala said “But I know a lot of people”

Chapter Fourteen: Singh

There have been significant changes to the internal structure of the station,” Colonel Tanaka said “Not that surprising This was all supposed to be a generation ship that spun at a full g for a few centuries Now it’s a waystation at a third A lot of the infrastructure would want rethinking, and there’s never been a Belter ship that didn’t get ed their security and reat deal iven time”