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This is exactly the kind of recklessness that has been underlying the Transport Union since its inception,” Carrie Fisk said Her face was flushed, her gestures sharp, and her voice had the buzz of rage behind every word Her blouse was tan with black, and she wore the green armband that had co those loyal to Laconia and High Consul Duarte “The union claimed that stability and safety were their pri it ad space! But the minute—the minute—sos Theft Murder The hypocrisy isIt’s unreal”

The intervieas a young h watched thea deep mystical truth His seriousness made Fisk look even more formidable

“And would you say the situation is stabilized now?” he asked

“We can hope it is,” Fisk said as she shook her head no “When I look at the patience that the present administration has shown to us and the violence hich it was answered, it leaves ry, even Eery is all we have to offer I can only hope that the people ere fooled into thinking any of this could be justified are embarrassed too”

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It was a sentence Singh had written himself and delivered to Fisk She repeated it now as if it were an off-the-cuff thought, and she

Of all the things he had done since he’d coress of Worlds was by far theup the ti out the underground,Medina Station—was tainted

The catastrophe had lasted five and three-quarter hours from the launch of James Holden’s ship to the restoration of full function to Medina Station In that time, his best inforhtered, the station’s external sensors had been compromised, the Laconian Marine forces neutralized, the detention centers broken open and fifty-two prisoners lost and not yet recovered, twenty union ships had transited through no one knehich gate or gates, and the Gathering Storm had been boarded and hijacked

It ithout exception, the greatest failure of security Singh had ever heard of, and as governor of Medina Station, he had spent al in a public toilet Humiliation sat in his belly like a stone, and he had the distinct sense that it would remain there forever

Every decision he had ht of his failure, and he considered each of them like a wound in his skin If he had treated the local population with greater caution from the first, would Kasik have lived? If he had chosen to respond to the assassination atteained fewer followers and allies? If he had avoided the confusion of restructuring his security forces by retaining Tanaka, would they have exposed the underground in time to prevent this?

The list see the Stor hi Ja hi Trejo and the Tempest to move the timetable forward for the transit into Sol system—had led hi No ivable and subtle his failures of judgment had been, the final evidence was unh he were their leader instead of their warden Instead of their zookeeper And they had paid hiiven now

There was no standing apart from the failure It had happened on his watch, and so it was his problem to fix And it didn’t apply only to Medina He saw that now His mandate was to coordinate the e the underground wherever it had fled Wherever it e heap of the union’s deistical heart to sustain a glorious future for humanity

He’d been mistaken

His system chirped a connection request He checked hihtened his tunic He was done looking less than knife sharp These were, after all, the first days of his career’s rehabilitation

He accepted the request A wo above her to say who and what she was to him