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“Lieutenant Guillamet,” he said crisply

“Rear Ad command-to-command, Governor”

“Of course,” he said The ain and felt in of insecurity, even if he was the only one who knew about it

Rear Ad appeared Her wide ht delay was almost trivial Evidence that the Typhoon was on track to pass through the gate “Governor Singh,” she said “It’s good to see you”

“Likewise,” he replied

“We’re on approach to the ring gate,” Song said, then looked away “I’ that’s happened recently, I have to ask you this Can you assure me that this transit is safe?”

Singh settled more deeply into his couch Of course it is, floated at the back of his ate, and there won’t be any rogue ship zipping through soe the safety curve You and your creill survive the trip and take its place as the protector of the ring space

He sed the words It was like another fine cut on his soul to admit that he wasn’t certain

“I have had no new security alerts,” he said “We see no ships on approach through the other gates and have no reason to suspect any interference froe elements But if you would like, I will consult within our ability to minimize your risk”

“I would appreciate that,” Song said, and her tone meant, I’m sorry to ask it

“The safety of your ship and your crew are the h said “I understand your caution”

“I’llsaid “And thank you, Governor I do appreciate this”

He nodded and dropped the connection She didn’t trust him Of course she didn’t He didn’t trust himself

The Marines who accoroup—half of them in power arround ain—which Overstreet had assured Singh would be iuard ready to take point Singh hated that they’d had to change their protocol He hated reone, and he hated knowing that the fear would never coround had even known the antied to reverse engineer them Was someone—a Laconian—a turncoat? Had they been careless? He had no way of finding where the information had leaked out It was another little insult that burrowed into his skin

He h the docks on a small thruster of compressed air The empty berths stared back at him like an accusation The pocks in the decks and bulkheads where bullets had struck during the fighting hadn’t been buffed out or painted over yet, though they would be He felt the attention of the dockworkers They were, after all, the audience for this excursion Meant to see that the governor of the station wasn’t cowering in his office, afraid to peek out fro in a public restrooe, as did the fear in his gut But he would pretend and pretend and pretend in the hopes that it would somehow become true