“That’s your problem?” Tennal said incredulously. His voice sped up, an edge of panic underneath. “Listen, before she went into politics, my aunt was so high up in Cavalry, she nearly ran it. My gen-parent was a Cavalry dependent, she’s dead, are we going to have a family tragedy face-off? Your mother wouldn’t care! Let it go!”

There was a horrible silence as Tennal finished.

Surit didn’t look up. His chest felt hollow.

Tennal dropped onto the bed opposite Surit and put his face on his knees. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry. That was inexcusable. In my—well, my complete lack of defense—I’m incredibly stressed. Can we forget I said that?”

Surit breathed out. “It’s all right.” Tennal was right, maybe, though it felt like he’d dug his nails into an unhealed wound.

“Forget the transfer,” Tennal said. “You don’t have to leave Cavalry. I’ll—look, maybe I can find you an adviser role.” He straightened and rubbed a hand over his face. “Look. I’m a fuckup, promoted for political reasons, in a deeply shady situation. I don’t have the tools for this. I need your help. I need you.”

Surit, on a night of no sleep and a career in tatters, felt something under his feet stabilize. “You can command cross-division.”

“What?”

“I can stay in Cavalry and work for you,” Surit said. “It’s not done much, but it’s possible. We’re all one army.”

“You’ll do it,” Tennal said, sounding almost blank. “You will do it, then.”

“I’ll do it,” Surit said. “If Governor Oma goes back on her word, how will you get through the link?”

“I have no bloody idea,” Tennal said. “I’m an officer on this station, though—shouldn’t that count for something? Maybe I can find out who runs the docks and bribe them.”

“Who runs the docks,” Surit said thoughtfully. A germ of an idea stirred in his brain. A germ of a purpose. “The best way into any area is to have an officially issued pass. The best way to get a pass is to be authorized on the system that issues them. Didn’t you say Oma made you responsible for the comms network?”

“Not the useful bits of it,” Tennal said. “Oma has about twenty aides running this place since they took over from the civilians. I’m just the newest. I only have a city district. Nothing to do with the docks.”

“Then you need to expand operations,” Surit said, thinking it through as he spoke. “Take on more work. Offer to help with other districts. Once you prove you can do the work, believe me, people give you more. We’ll just be … very good at what we do.”