so fast it made his salivary glands flare with exquisite agony. He looked around the table, embarrassed, but everyone else was eating just as fast, so he gave up on propriety and concentrated on food. When he'd finished off the last scraps from his plate, he leaned back with a sigh, hoping to make the contentment last as long as possible. Alex sipped coffee with his eyes closed. Amos ate the last bits of the hummus right out of the serving bowl with his spoon. Naomi gave Holden a sleepy look through half-lidded eyes that was suddenly sexy as hell. Holden quashed that thought and raised his mug.
"To Kelly's marines. Heroes to the last, may they rest in peace," he said.
"To the marines," everyone at the table echoed, then clinked mugs and drank.
Alex raised his mug and said, "To Shed."
"Yeah, to Shed, and to the assholes who killed him roasting in hell," Amos said in a quiet voice. "Right beside the fucker who killed the Cant."
The mood at the table got somber. Holden felt the peaceful moment slipping away as quietly as it had come.
"So," he said. "Tell me about our new ship. Alex?"
"She's a beaut, Cap. I ran her at twelve g for most of half an hour when we left the Donnie, and she purred like a kitten the whole time. The pilot's chair is comfy too."
Holden nodded.
"Amos? Get a chance to look at her engine room yet?" he asked.
"Yep. Clean as a whistle. This is going to be a boring gig for a grease monkey like me," the mechanic replied.
"Boring would be nice," Holden said. "Naomi? What do you think?"
She smiled. "I love it. It's got the nicest showers I've ever seen on a ship this size. Plus, there's a truly amazing medical bay with a computerized expert system that knows how to fix broken marines. We should have found it rather than fix Amos on our own."
Amos thumped his cast with one knuckle.
"You guys did a good job, Boss."
Holden looked around at his clean crew and ran a hand through his own hair, not pulling it away covered in grease for the first time in weeks.
"Yeah, a shower and not having to fix broken legs sounds good. Anything else?"
Naomi tilted her head back, her eyes moving as though she was running through a mental checklist.
"We've got a full tank of water, the injectors have enough fuel pellets to run the reactor for about thirty years, and the galley is fully stocked. You'll have to tie me up if you plan to give her back to the navy. I love her."
"She is a cunning little boat," Holden said with a smile. "Have a chance to look at the weapons?"
"Two tubes and twenty long-range torpedoes with high-yield plasma warheads," Naomi said. "Or at least that's what the manifest says. They load those from the outside, so I can't physically verify without climbing around on the hull."
"The weapons panel is sayin' the same thing, Cap," Alex said. "And full loads in all the point defense cannons. You know, except... "
Except the burst you fired into the men who killed Gomez.
"Oh, and, Captain, when we put Kelly in the cargo hold, I found a big crate with the letters map on the side. According to the manifest, it stands for 'Mobile Assault Package.' Apparently navy-speak for a big box of guns," Naomi said.
"Yeah," Alex said. "It's full kit for eight marines."
"Okay," Holden said. "So with the fleet-quality Epstein, we've got legs. And if you guys are right about the weapons load out, we've also got teeth. The next question is what do we do with it? I'm inclined to take Colonel Johnson's offer of refuge. Any thoughts?"
"I'm all for that, Captain," Amos said. "I always did think the Belters were getting the short end of the stick. I'll go be a revolutionary for a while, I guess."
"Earthman's burden, Amos?" Naomi asked with a grin.
"What the fuck does that even mean?"
"Nothing, just teasing," she said. "I know you like our side because you just want to steal our women."
Amos grinned back, suddenly in on the joke.
"Well, you ladies do have the legs that go all the way up," he said.
"Okay, enough," Holden said, raising his hand. "So, two votes for Fred. Anyone else?"
Naomi raised her hand.
"I vote for Fred," she said.
"Alex? What do you think?" Holden asked.
The Martian pilot leaned back in his chair and scratched his head.
"I got nowhere in particular to be, so I'll stick with you guys, I