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“Tribute,” Vaughn said “A pledge of financial and resource support if called on, but with very little suggestion that there will be occasion for it”

“Plus the pro?”

Vaughn’s smile was flinty “Fisk didn’t make that explicit, but I think the implication’s there, yes”

Drummer pressed her hand to her chin, stood up Part of her wanted to send Vaughn to theto keep her awake Aer than another bulb of tea

“It’s been a long day,” she said “When the EMC’s h, tell the to address this”

“And for the board hn asked

“Tell ’em the same,” Drummer said as she walked out “Tell ’em it’s all under control”

Back in her quarters, she stripped, leaving her clothes in a pathway fro water, letting it run down her back and over her face It felt wonderful Heat conduction as raw, physical comfort Eventually, she killed the water, took a towel to sluice off most of theover her eyes Exhaustion pulled down into the gel more powerfully than the spin of the drum She waited for the despair to come

It didn’t The union was facing an existential threat The fragile fabric of hu before her eyes, and she was relieved From her first memories to the death of the Free Navy, she’d been a Belter and a member of one faction or another of the OPA Her brain and soul and identity had all matured with the inners’ boot at her throat At the throat of everyone she loved

The respectability of Tycho Station and then of the union and now of the presidency had been her drea power equal to the inners had guided her on, if not for her, then at least a Belter like her And like all dreams, the closer she’d come to it, the better she understood what it really was For years, she’d worn power and authority like it was someone else’s ju she’d built was falling away And part of her was happy about it She’d been raised to fight against great powers To ars she couldn’t win, but also couldn’t lose Returning to that noas a staggering loss, but it also felt like co home

Herinto drea that had happened before, all the way back through the generations, would happen again Sometimes the wheel turned quickly, soear, all teeth and bearings with her on the rietfulness took her and she fell deeply into slued so much as repeated itself, over and over, with all new people, forever

Which, in light of the next , was more than a little ironic

“We’ve never seen anything like this before” She’d known Cameron Tur professionally since she’d first taken a job with the union, and he’d never registered as

Now he sat across the table fro an orchestra with it His eyes ide and bright, his voice higher and faster than usual, and she couldn’t

“Hot places in space,” she repeated, looking at the sche there are stealth ships waiting outside the ring gate?”