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“Thank you for not atterateful at all The fact that she didn’t say, Fuck you, little man, you couldn’t have hurt et

“I want you to know that I recognize that inthe attack, Iyou from your command”

There was a pause A fraction of a fraction of a second, but it was there

“Really,” she said The large eyebrows moved up a millimeter

“Yes And if I could take that back without co now, to both my staff and to the citizens of Medina, is the appearance of cal you only to rescind it would make us … make me appear weak and indecisive So your transfer will be recorded as a move to put additional combat experience on Admiral Trejo’s staff, now that we’ve secured the station and he’sinto the attack on Sol It will not put a bleies and regrets will have to remain unofficial for now”

Tanaka frowned, though it looked er “I appreciate that, Governor”

“Good luck and godspeed in Sol, Colonel We will all be waiting for word of your h out”

He closed the connection and drank off the last of the terrible Belter whiskey He wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol, but he felt like a weight he’d been carrying ever since landing on Medina was lifting This was his station now His command, to fail or succeed at entirely on his own merits And now he felt that the worst mistake he was likely to make was behind him, and it hadn’t actually been all that bad

Things could only get better from here

Chapter Twenty-One: Holden

Rather than leave theee caave Holden and the crew access to a sler’s cabin: a six-rack berth his people had carved out of a service tunnel where the station records were out of date and ht fit, and Alex snored a little, but it was better than the alternatives

The room where they spent e Not the deep pockets of the generation ship traveling through the vast abyss between the stars Not the immediate, day-to-day pantry of the in and end in the journey without seeing either end Built-in yellow guides marked where crates of tools and i the deck and walls History hadn’t taken the room that way

Cushions of gel and fabric covered the floor around a half-disraphic display that acted as a low table The air recyclers were set to e footprint of the space as low as it could be, and a battery-driven fan ths of printed textile—Holden couldn’t tell if it was cloth or plastic or carbon mesh—draped the walls and rustled in the little breeze He didn’t know if those were functional somehow, or if the impulse to decorate interiors just outlived all political circumstances Mostly, it reo to on Iapetus, back when he’d been hauling ice for Pur ’n’ Kleen

Saba and four people Holden assumed were his lieutenants sat across from him and the crew and refilled their cups with a s captain of a supply ship called the Malaclypse that was stuck in dock just like the Roci, Saba was married to Drummer At first, Holden had been worried that what he’d done with Freehold was going to haunt hiht it up, Saba had waved it away It happened in a drea until Naomi told him it was an old-timey Belter idiom for Don’t worry about it

Even after a long life spent outside Earth’s gravity well, Holden was is he didn’t know