Kalico chuckled in delight before she said, “That means more than I can tell you. Seriously. But pay attention here: Don’t interfere with a Board Appointed Inspector General. Especially Soukup.” She met their eyes, shifting from man to man. “I mean it. And pass the word. It would end in a disaster for all of us if something happened to the man. Like, if IG Soukup was mysteriously shot, or disappeared without a trace. Or was found half-eaten outside the fence. And for God’s sake, don’t—under any circumstances—threaten the man. Any of those things occur, and it’ll be like sticking your hand into a ball of mating invertebrates. We’ll all end up bitten and stung.”

“What do you need from us?” Step winced when he tried to frown. Reached up to dab tenderly at his eye.

“I need you to trust me.” She gestured toward where the shuttle would appear. “I didn’t get to be a Board Appointed Supervisor just by my good looks. This is my game. I have to play it by Corporate rules. On my turf. It’s all strategy and tactics, sleight and feint, and the last thing I need is having to stop in the middle and try and apologize for, and explain why, some Donovanian tried to beat the shit out of the IG over a perceived ‘matter of honor.’” She arched her scarred eyebrow. “Does that make sense?”

Step’s grin was still crooked. “Yeah. We’d still rather feed him to a nightmare, but you’ve got our word. We trust you. We’ll back you however you want to play it.”

She reached out, slapped him on the back. “Now, what the hell happened to you?”

“Some of us had words with a fellow last night. Something about a lady’s perceived matter of honor.” Step touched his hat again, the grin widening.

Then the others laughed in some shared conspiracy, and they wandered off down the fence for a better view of the landing field.

“What was that all about?” Dek asked behind her shoulder, seeming to have just appeared from the crowd.

Kalico chuckled softly to herself, then turned to stare past Wejee at the eastern sky where the shuttle should be appearing at any moment. “Thinking about change, Dek. The first time I knew who Step Allenovich was, he was coming across the bar at Inga’s to kill me. And here we are, how many years down the road? And he’s telling me that he, Montoya, and the rest, will sandbag a Board Appointed IG and dispose of his body just, as they say, ‘to have my back.’”