Then Thing Two called Thing One away from the pod, pointed at Craig, and said something in Krai. Craig knew the same Krai most non-Krai did-the profanity-and recognized none of what had just been said.
Or any part of the reply. Although he knew better than to generalize with other species, it sounded like Thing One disagreed.
Thing Two reiterated.
Thing One stared at Craig for a long moment, nose ridges opening and closing slowly, and said something that sounded very much like a solid maybe.
And then they both gave him a look that involved red sauce.
Fuk it.
"Can I help you, mate?"
"Big Bill sent us," smirked one.
"To keep an eye on things," sneered the other.
And apparently, that was all they felt had to be said.
Given the choke hold Big Bill had on the station, it probably was. Either the captain's paranoia was justified and Big Bill was up to something, or Big Bill suspected Cho was up to something. At first glance, the second option seemed more likely if only because Craig knew Cho was up to something. Upon reflection, the first was just as likely if less absolute.
Honor among thieves was a myth.
Apparently satisfied that Nadayki was doing what he was supposed to, they wandered off to examine the head and the storage lockers. They snapped the sink down out of the bulkhead then back up again. They opened every door, every drawer, stared at the HE suits, turned to stare at Craig.
Craig leaned back against the pod. He didn't have to explain. Captain Cho had ordered the suits out onto the dock. They could take it up with him if they didn't like it.
Then Thing One, looking right at him, lifted the sleeve of one of the suits and bared his teeth. Thing Two laughed. Wouldn't it be funny if I took a bite out of this?
"Be funny if you fukking choked on it," Craig muttered, then nearly jumped out of his skin as Nadayki closed a hand around his arm and leaned in close.
"Shut up, you ass. You don't know who they are."
Barely audible in spite of proximity, he sounded truly freaked, the ends of his hair tracing short, jerky arcs against Craig's cheek. Craig bit back his initial reaction and said at the same volume, "So tell me."
"The Grr brothers."
"The Grr brothers? You're shitting me, right?"
"I wish. If Big Bill wants somebody eaten, and not in a fun way, they're the ones who do it."
"Eaten?"
"Yeah." Craig felt as much as heard Nadayki swallow. "And I heard they like it better if the food's still screaming."
"That's… unpleasant." And over the top. And, frankly, trying way too hard. Maybe they were scary to a station full of losers who couldn't live within the broad parameters of the law, but Craig had seen Torin's face when she'd learned the polynumerous plastic aliens were using war as a social laboratory, and these two, they didn't know shit about being scary.
"Big Bill's sent them down here to keep an eye on things. He must know I'm going to be done early."
"How?"
"What?"
"How would he know?" Craig brushed an agitated lime-green veil away from his face. "Who's going to tell him?"
"He could be listening in."
Craig thought about the captain voicing his suspicions about Big Bill's plans. "He'd have a bigger reaction than just those two if he's been listening in. Besides, no signal in the pod."
"Hardwired."
"It's a storage pod for explosives, kid. It's a big box with reinforced walls."
"Okay, you're so fukking smart, why are they here?"
Still messing about the storage cabinets, the Grr brothers-and Craig had trouble even thinking that with a straight face-had found the abandoned tools. One of them was swinging the broken pipe wrench in lazy circles while the other sorted through the screwdrivers and ignored him. "Best guess, Big Bill's a paranoid s.o.b. That, and there's fuk all honor among thieves."
"Honor and a credit will buy you a bowl of seesu," Nadayki snarled. "We're coming out on top of this, not Big Bill."
"Hadn't you better get back to work, then?"
"Har vena ser shetinan!"
"Not after what happened the last time, kid." Any other di'Taykan standing that close would have grabbed his ass before heading back into the storage pod. It would have been instinctive, expected even given their positions. Watching Thing One toss the wrench aside while Thing Two bitched about wasting time in the ass end of the station, Craig wondered if maybe this time it wasn't the di'Taykan but the situation. These two really had the kid freaked. His mouth went dry as he remembered Huirre crunching down on his toe. On the other hand, maybe the kid had reason to be freaked.
He should give the captain a heads-up.
His hand was actually on his slate before he realized what he was doing.
He wasn't really crew. He didn't owe Captain Cho shit. "I have to admit, I was expecting something more complicated." Big Bill folded his arms and stared at the plans for the smelter up on the big screen. "This is… basic. Except for the range, it looks more like a classroom than a place to train warriors."
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…