Warriors? Torin took a moment to temper her response. And then another moment, just to be on the safe side. "They won't be learning how to charge in, guns blazing. Any idiot can do that and get themselves trapped between decompression hatches breathing vacuum."

  "HE suits…"

  "Because multiple crews emerging from docking arms all suited up won't look at all suspicious."

  "I don't think I like your tone."

  Torin tried to look like she cared. "If you want to take over a station, you have to realize that the weapons in the hands are incidental to the weapons between the ears."

  He shook his head and blanked the screen. "We don't want them too well armed, Gunnery Sergeant. They'll point their weapons where they're told."

  "You still don't understand. When I'm done with them, they'll be weapons-head and hand. You'll be pointing them. What they want won't matter."

  He stared at her for a long moment. "You can do that?" he said at last.

  "I can." She could. She wasn't going to, but she could.

  "And they just let you wander around loose?" He started with a snicker, then his response evolved into a full-out laugh.

  Torin fought down another urge to punch him in the throat. And then considered the implication. The Grr brothers were down in the ore docks about as far away from Big Bill as they could get and still be on the station. If she killed him, what would they do? Would they know? Could she show up and send them away, passing on Big Bill's orders because of a sudden glitch in his implant? No, the paranoid bastard would have put contingency plans in place if the Grr brothers couldn't reach him. Given the Grr brothers, that plan would likely be violent, and Craig was in the ore dock.

  She couldn't risk making things more complicated than they already were.

  "Gunnery Sergeant, I am very glad you found your way to my corner of known space." Big Bill wiped his eyes with one hand and activated his desk with the other. "But now, if you don't mind, I have work of my own to do. Why don't you wander around and get to know the place a little better."

  "I'd like to go down to the ore dock and check the security."

  "Why?"

  "We have a perfectly good armory. During training, it can be used to secure the weapons."

  "I think you forget, Gunnery Sergeant, these are not Marines. They'll have bought their weapons from Captain Cho."

  Torin frowned as she worked through the variables. William Ponner was too smart to let his Free Merchants loose on his station, armed. He had to have come up with a way to control them because his fifteen percent of the armory's contents wouldn't be enough to…

  "They'll own their weapons," she told him. "But you'll own the ammunition."

  She thought he was going to deny it for a moment, then he bared his teeth in what wasn't a smile. "You're right. The ammunition won't be remaining in the ore docks, but here, where I can personally keep an eye on it."

  "You think Cho will agree to that particular fifteen percent."

  "Mackenzie Cho, Gunnery Sergeant, is ambitious. Too ambitious for the Navy. He wants to make the decisions. He wants to command and I can give him what he wants. He'll be at the forefront of big changes, or he'll be a sad remnant of a system that didn't work. I think he'll come to see things my way."

  "What if he's too ambitious for you?"

  "Then he can leave. The way he left the Navy. But if you're that set on not trusting him, go to the ore docks by all means. I'll tell the Grr brothers you're relieving them. They do have other work. Supporting social change is all very well, but accounts won't collect themselves."

  For a change, there wasn't so much as an argument in the Hub as Torin crossed through on her way to the ore docks. The dead were gone. The injured from crews without their own medics were no doubt off paying through broken noses to use Big Bill's staff and facilities. A couple of the kiosk owners had their heads together, probably complaining about damages, and two of the smaller cleaners were working their way around the deck doing an inadequate job of dealing with blood splatter, but otherwise things were quiet.

  As Torin moved into the first corridor past the decompression doors, she tongued her implant. "Report." *Werst and I are bruised but back on board, Gunny.* Mashona sounded tired. Given how little sleep she'd gotten, no surprise.*Ressk says he's nearly got control of the subroutines.*

  "I'm on my way to the ore docks. I need a value for nearly." *Soon, Gunny.* Ressk's teeth snapped together, the closest he could get to telling her to leave him the hell alone.

  "Hour and forty-one minutes and they'll have the fukker open," Torin growled. "Make it sooner."

  Craig was sitting on something low by the open storage pod. One of the Grr brothers sat beside him, slate out, the other she couldn't see, so he was either in the head or the pod. It was unlikely he'd go any farther away from what Big Bill had sent them to keep an eye on.

  She could feel Craig's gaze on her as she crossed toward him, but she split her attention between noting the exact location of the HE suits, the distance from the storage pod to the exterior hatch, the red lights on the air lock plate leading to the Heart of Stone, and the one Grr brother she could see.

  The second emerged from the pod as she reached it. Craig stood, moving carefully-not so much in pain as in anticipation of pain. He'd been sitting on an overturned bucket.

  "The great thing about low tech," she said, nodding toward the bucket. "Multiple uses."

  "So I've discovered."

  His eyes were still bloodshot, but they were bright and focused. With no chance for sleep, he had to have taken a stim. Good. His exhaustion was one less thing for her to deal with. Moving so she could see both Grr brothers put her well within Craig's personal space, but it was a minor thing and a minor comfort and fuk it.

  "What?" she demanded as one of them stared up at her, nose ridges flared. "Big Bill told you I was coming down."

  "Yeah." He blinked and turned to his brother, nose ridges closing. "You were right."

  "Told you." The second Grr put his slate away. When he closed his nose ridges as well, Torin shifted her weight forward onto the balls of her feet. Things were not looking good.

  "Apart, it's not so obvious."

  "Together, though…"

  "Yeah."

  "He had hair then."

  "True."

  "What are the odds that Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr would show up on the station where the salvage operator who went outside of known space to find her has been taken?"

  It was the longest statement Torin had heard from either of them. *That's a very good question, Gunnery Sergeant.* Big Bill's voice boomed in her head. One or both of the Grr brothers must have pinged him.*Care to answer it?*

  "Big serley coincidence," one Grr brother smirked, lips pulled back off his teeth.

  "Is your name Gunnery Sergeant Kerr?" Torin snapped.

  They blinked in unison and stepped back, squaring their shoulders. They'd been Corps, for however short a time, conditioned to respond to that tone. *I'm waiting.* Big Bill had not.

  "They're wrong." They were moving forward again, although looking more embarrassed by their response than particularly fierce. "I've never seen him before in my life." *Kill him.*

  She must have reacted because Craig started to reach for her. When she shook her head, he let his arm fall back down by his side. "I don't kill on your command." *You might not.*

  The Grr brothers jumped for Craig; one aiming high, one low. As they passed, Torin grabbed a handful of their tunics, shifted her weight to her left leg, and spun around it, throwing them across the ore dock. In spite of their previous interactions, they hadn't expected her to react so quickly, but with one in each hand, she couldn't get a lot of distance. They hit, rolled… *Get your souls back, boys.*

  … and charged. *Gunny! I've got control!*

  "Cut the gravity!" As the gravity cut out, she folded into a crouch, then snapped her legs down, pushing straight up from the deck as the Grr brothers' momentum kept them moving toward where she'd been. Big Bill's last order had made this personal, so she had no worries they'd go after Craig while she was still alive. "Ressk! Secure the Heart's air lock!" She didn't need any more players in the game, and the last thing she wanted right now was to have her speculation about the possibility of the Heart having weapons on board to prove prophetic.

  Both Krai recovered quickly. Torin waited until they'd committed to a trajectory, then pushed off one of the overhead railings and shot past them.

  Except there were two of them. Using his brother as a launch pad, the other one headed right for her…

  The gravity came back on.

  Torin heard Ressk swear just before impact. Big Bill had regained control. "Ryder! What the fuk is going on out there?"

  Craig watched Torin get her hands under her and push herself up onto her knees. Breath knocked out of her then, not hurt. He wanted to go to her, but she wouldn't thank him for getting into the middle of the fight. He yanked his borrowed slate off his belt. As long as Nadayki was in the pod, Cho had a potential weapon on the dock. Not a great one, but even useless shits could turn the tide. "It's the Grr brothers, Captain!"

  "I know it's the fukking Grr brothers! Nadayki told me." Yeah, big surprise; the little shit squealed at the drop of a hat. "What the hell are they doing!"

  "Fighting! With the gunnery sergeant."

  "She knows you!"

  Fuk Nadayki's fukking ears! Had Torin admitted… He ran over everything he could remember of Torin's conversation with Big Bill. No, she hadn't. "The Grr brothers are causing trouble. They don't like that she's in tight with Big Bill."

  "Then why is she supposed to kill you?"

  "Not me, them!"

  "Nadayki said.."

  "He misheard! I was standing right beside her." Craig aimed for Cho's ego, not exactly a difficult target to hit even for a civilian. "You were right! Big Bill's up to something!"

  "I fukking knew it!" "Captain, I can't get the air lock open." Nose ridges flared, Huirre ran through the sequence again. "Outer doors are under station control!"

  "That son of a bitch!" Big Bill was going after the weapons. Cho had known it all along. Known from the start that anyone who stole an entire station from the government wouldn't settle for fifteen percent. Turned out they did want the same thing. "Dysun!" Cho slapped a hand down on the intercom by the hatch. "Dysun, haul ass out of your rack and get this hatch open."

  "What? Captain, I don't…"

  "You will! You want to see your share for those weapons, you'll get your ass to your board now! Get the tasiks," Cho snarled at Huirre, pivoted on one heel, and headed for the control room. "I want Doc out there with you the moment the door is open. If Big Bill wants a fight, he's got one!" "Ressk!" *Working on it, Gunny!*

  The Grr brothers had been farther from the deck when the gravity kicked in, but they were Krai and Krai bones bounced. Torin rolled up onto her feet, aimed a kick at the closer brother, missed his head, hit his shoulder, and twisted out of the way at the last second. She couldn't let them grapple. Once they got a hand or foothold, teeth would be next. Pain and physical damage aside, no one reacted well to being eaten alive. She had to use her greater reach and hope like hell she could use one of them to disable the other. Again.

  Her odds went up if Ressk regained control. As a species, the Krai might be naturals in zero G but in specific, she'd had a lot more training. When the gravity kicked out, Craig anchored himself on the edge of the storage pod. He could hear Nadayki flailing and cursing inside the pod, and he realized the kid would have no trouble knifing either him or Torin in the back should Cho command it. Nadayki had to be dealt with before Cho remembered he wasn't permanently attached to the armory.

  Even injured, Craig could take the kid in a fight. He was bigger, stronger, and although he had little experience with the kind of up close and personal violence Torin excelled at, Nadayki had even less. Craig could take him down, tie him up with his own overalls, and when Ressk opened the outer doors, the kid would die. Sure, Nadayki was low on the list for di'Taykan of the year, his blood sure as fuk not worth bottling, but he had to give him a fair go.

  When the gravity came back in, a moment later, he took his weight on his good foot then hopped over the lip into the pod, grabbing Nadayki's upper arm. "Come on, kid, move!"

  Eyes dark, the young di'Taykan struggled but couldn't break Craig's grip. "Let go of me, you senak!"

  "No, like it or not, I'm pulling your head out of your ass!" Craig shook him hard, lime-green hair flicking back and forth against the motion. "They've already fukked with the zero G; what happens if they vent the atmosphere next? I've seen a di'Taykan sucking vacuum and it's not pretty."

  Nadayki shoved his slate into Craig's face. "Fuk you! I'm almost done!"

  "Is getting this thing open worth dying for?" Craig demanded. "You think Cho would die for you? He's locked himself in the Heart-all safe and warm-and he's locked us-you and me-out here!"

  "No way!" Twisting free, Nadayki pushed Craig aside, surged out the hatch, and stared toward the ship. Even with Human vision, the lockdown was obvious from the storage pod. "That ablin gon savit!"

  "That's what I'm trying to tell you!" Craig grabbed his arm again. "Come on, if we can't get onto the ship, we go out into the station."

  Nadayki's gaze flicked over to where Torin and the Grr brothers were fighting. "But they said you're with her!"

  "Right now, in the interest of not dying, I'm with you! Move!" He tightened his grip and hauled Nadayki around until he faced in the right direction. "We need to get the hell out of here before the crazy bastards finish with her and start on us!" Ignoring the fight, trusting Torin to survive, he hustled Nadayki across the ore dock to the hatch, cutting him off every time he tried to speak, finally shoving him through and slamming the hatch behind him.

  Entry from the station to the ore docks had to be cleared through the station sysop. Craig doubted Big Bill felt much like opening doors right now.

  He glanced at the big doubles, hoped Big Bill wasn't willing to sacrifice the Grr brothers for the win, and headed at his top speed toward the storage lockers and the suits. One of the Grr brothers couldn't see out of his right eye, and the other…

  Torin stomped down hard.

  … had at least two broken toes.

  He screamed.

  She ducked under an attack and came up off the deck, driving her stiffened fingers into his throat. Not a move the Krai were familiar with as opponents tended to stay the hell away from their mouths. Clearly, they hadn't been paying enough attention as she'd fought her way across the Hub. As his eyes widened and blood gushed out his mouth, he grabbed a handful of her hair.

  Torin twisted under his grip, turned a little too slowly to meet the other Grr's charge, raised her arm to block…

  … and got sprayed with blood as Craig slammed him in the back of the head.

  His teeth snapped shut

  The impact took them both to the deck.

  "Torin!"

  "I'm okay." They heaved the limp body off her together, and then Craig held out a hand. Torin didn't need it, but she took it anyway and let him help her up to her feet.

  "You're bleeding."

  She was covered in blood. "This isn't mine."

  "On your arm?" He gently bent her right arm up closer to her face, his fingers warm around her wrist.

  Her sleeve flapped loose, about four square centimeters of cloth missing, a smaller piece bitten out of her forearm. Adrenaline still buzzing through her system, Torin could hardly feel the injury but, later, it was going to hurt. "Okay, this is mine. But it's minor." She could use the arm. Right now, that was all that mattered. "Your foot?"

  "Old news." He looked worried, relieved. And there. Right there. Right in front of her. When the corners of his mouth curved up, slowly, as though he wasn't sure this was real, Torin felt as though one of the Grr brothers had chewed a piece out of her heart not her arm. She could feel each beat, and it hurt. Craig released her wrist and laid his palm lightly against her chest, as though he knew. "I'd kiss you, but you're covered in blood."

  "Something to look forward to, then." Her smile felt too wide, awkward, but she couldn't dial it back. "What did you hit him with?"

  "Pipe wrench." Brows up, he lifted his other hand. Blood dripped from the heavy curved end of the tool. "Wasn't sure you'd want me to get involved."

  "No, it's good." She took a deep breath and all of a sudden it was. It was very good. "I'm all for you participating in your own rescue."

  He grinned and let the wrench drop to the deck. "Fuk it, what's a little mess." *Gunny!*

  Torin jerked back just before Craig's mouth touched hers. "It's Ressk."

  Craig rolled his eyes. "Yeah, the little mood killer's patched me through." *I've got the Hatch, but Big Bill's unlocked the Heart!* "You need Nadayki for this, Captain." Dysun's eyes were nearly black as she worked both index fingers over the screen of her slate. "This is more his sort of shit."

  "Well, I don't have Nadayki, do I?" Cho snarled. "Or his shit." He'd dragged Dysun down to the air lock controls when she'd been unable to free up the system from her board. Not that it had helped. Useless! They were all fukking useless! "Nadayki is out there on the other side of the…"

  The telltales turned green.

  "Finally!"

  Dysun lifted both hands, eyes lightening. "It wasn't me."

  "I don't care who it was. Doc! Huirre!" They each held a tasik, and the fingers of Doc's free hand kept folding into a fist and unfolding again. Cho doubted he knew he was doing it. Huirre had been less than enthusiastic about joining the fight until Cho'd reminded him his share of the weapons' sale was at stake. He watched them step into the air lock. Watched the door close.

  "Outer door opening… Closing again!" Huirre sounded freaked. "Hey! What the fuk are you…

  "Outer doors have closed and locked again, Captain." Dysun slapped her thumb repeatedly against the screen. "Looks like the signal's coming from the station sysop. No one can crack Big Bill's system."