can find the Heart of Stone, or I’ll kill your captain and have your eyes gouged out slowly.”
At Torin’s nod, the Silsviss tightened his grip slightly.
Nose ridges flapping so quickly they sounded like crumpling paper, he gasped. “Vrijheid!”
“Coordinates?”
“I don’t know where it is exactly! I’m not helm! The government thinks it was destroyed during the war, but it wasn’t!”
“Was the name changed?”
“Why the fuk would they change the name? I told you, the government thinks it did a crash and burn!”
That was enough information to find it.
“Big Bill Ponner runs it now! He’ll fukking kill you!”
“You can drop him.”
As he hit the floor, Torin took her foot from Firrg’s throat and pulled her slate off her belt. “Presit, I’ve got it. Head back.”
“There are still being more to the story here. Those accidents . . .
“Can wait. Craig can’t.”
“On our way.”
“What do you want us to do?” Given positioning, this was the dominant male of the three. They were all a little twitchy. The instinct to fight her for control had only barely been overlaid with more adult socialization.
“Wait with this lot until security arrives.” Firrg groaned as Torin rolled her out into the camera’s line of sight. “Tell them to check the load of ore that just came in with the Dargonar. The numbers on the sled will match the numbers on a drone that recently went missing during a fold. Someone in the station is accepting stolen goods.”
“When they ask how we know this?”
“Tell them you heard it from Presit a Tur durValintrisy’s pilot. If you convince them, you’ll all gain status for bringing it to their attention.”
“Then why do you leave this opportunity with us?” the dominant male hissed.
Torin smiled as she passed them. “I have a bigger enemy to take down.”
Three tails tapped against the floor in unison. To the Silsviss mind-set, that made perfect sense. And they were another species who recognized the baring of teeth for what it was.
The exposure of someone on the station dealing in stolen goods, not to mention the capture of the thief, her crew, and her ship, would bring in the Wardens, and when Torin’s involvement came to light—if not through the Silsviss then through the payment she’d made in the bar—it might actually light a fire under the ass of the law, given the finding of Page’s body and the attack on the Promise that the Wardens already had on record. The problem was Torin no longer wanted the Wardens suddenly going all gung ho—enthusiasm from that quarter could easily provoke the pirates into killing Craig. Involving the Silsviss—who were not yet members of the Confederation—would slow things back down to diplomatic speeds.
“Strategy and tactics,” she muttered, stepping into the Star’s air lock. “Your tax dollars at work.”
“There are being a lot of shouting happening down the docking arm,” Presit said, leading Ceelin back into the ship. “I are being hustled past it at full speed. Apparently this station are not wanting what could be a diplomatic incident on the news. You are being responsible?”
“I am.” Torin sealed the air lock doors behind the Katrien.
“I are suspecting as much. The Silsviss are seeming to be very involved, and I are seeing how they are watching you in the bar. Rumors are saying that with your platoon being pinned down and outnumbered, you are challenging the lizard leader to mortal combat and are having been ripped off his head.”
“Not quite what happened,” Torin told her, sending a request to disengage from the docking arm. But, given that she had a Silsviss skull in her quarters, she could at least see how that rumor had gotten started.
“I are really wanting to hear that story someday.” Presit pulled herself up onto the other chair and added her codes to the request. “They are not locking down the press, no matter how many unconscious pirates they are having at the feet of large lizards. Not if they are not wanting a world of trouble.”
Torin had hoped they’d get clear before any lockdown happened. Maybe they had, she acknowledged as the clamps released, but it was equally possible Presit had just kept them moving. “Thank you.”
Feet tucked up under her, Presit lowered the light levels in the cabin and took off her glasses. “Thank me by telling me what the story of the Torin Kerr and the Silsviss are being. But later,” she added, raising a hand to wave off Torin’s protest. “Right now, you are first telling me that we are having