Even if I didn't know who you used to be, you'd scare the shit out of me, so don't feel the need to prove it. But no matter how scared I am, I'm not backing down on this."
Fred's hoped-for laughter didn't come. Holden tried to swallow without gulping.
"I bet every captain you ever flew under thought you were a gigantic pain in the ass," Fred said finally.
"I believe my record reflects that," Holden said, trying to hide his relief.
"I need to fly to Eros and find a man named Lionel Polanski, and then bring him back to Tycho."
"That's only a week out if we push," Holden said, doing the math in his head.
"The fact that Lionel doesn't actually exist complicates the mission."
"Yeah, okay. Now I'm confused," Holden agreed.
"You wanted in?" Fred said, the words taking on a quiet ferocity. "Now you're in. Lionel Polanski exists only on paper, and owns things that Mr. Tycho doesn't want to own. Including a courier ship called the Scopuli."
Holden leaned forward in his chair, his face intense.
"You now have my undivided attention," he said.
"The nonexistent owner of the Scopuli checked into a flophouse on one of the shit levels of Eros. We only just got the message. We have to work on the assumption that whoever got the room knows our operations intimately, needs help, and can't ask for it openly."
"We can leave in an hour," Holden said breathlessly.
Fred held up his hands in a gesture that was surprisingly Belter for an Earth man.
"When," Fred asked, "did this turn into you leaving?"
"I won't loan my ship, but I'll definitely rent it out. My crew and I were talking about getting jobs, actually. Hire us. Deduct whatever's fair for services you've already rendered."
"No," Fred said. "I need you."
"You don't," Holden replied. "You need our depositions. And we're not going to sit here waiting a year or two for sanity to reign. We'll all do video depositions, sign whatever affidavits you want us to as to their authenticity, but we're leaving to find work one way or the other. You might as well make use of it."
"No," Fred said. "You're too valuable to take risks with your lives."
"What if I throw in the data cube the captain of the Donnager was trying to liberate?"
The silence was back, but it had a different feel to it.
"Look," Holden said, pressing on. "You need a ship like the Roci. I've got one. You need a crew for her. I've got that too. And you're as hungry to know what's on that cube as I am."
"I don't like the risk."
"Your other option is to throw us in the brig and commandeer the ship. There's some risks in that too."
Fred laughed. Holden felt himself relax.
"You'll still have the same problem that brought you here," Fred said. "Your ship looks like a gunship, no matter what its transponder is saying."
Holden jumped up and grabbed a piece of paper from Fred's desk. He started writing on it with a pen snatched from a decorative pen set.
"I've been thinking about that. You've got full manufacturing facilities here. And we're supposed to be a light gas freighter. So," he said as he sketched a rough outline of the ship, "we weld on a bunch of empty compressed-gas storage tanks in two bands around the hull. Use them to hide the tubes. Repaint the whole thing. Weld on a few projections to break up the hull profile and hide us from ship-recognition software. It'll look like shit and screw up the aerodynamics, but we won't be near atmo anytime soon. It'll look exactly like what it is: something a bunch of Belters slapped together in a hurry."
He handed the paper to Fred. Fred began laughing in earnest, either at the terrible drawing or at the absurdity of the whole thing.
"You could give a pirate a hell of a surprise," he said. "If I do this, you and your crew will record my depositions and hire on as an independent contractor for errands like the Eros run and appear on my behalf when the peace negotiations start."
"Yes."
"I want the right to outbid anyone else who tries to hire you. No contracts without my counteroffer."
Holden held out his hand, and Fred shook it.
"Nice doing business with you, Fred."
As Holden left the office, Fred was already on the comm with his machine-shop people. Holden pulled out his portable terminal and called up Naomi.
"Yeah," she said.
"Pack up the kids, we're going to Eros."
Chapter Twenty-Two: Miller
The people-mover to Eros was small,