“What happened, Dek?” She thrust a finger under his chin.

“Why, when Step told the good colonel that he’d best damned well apologize, the colonel launched into what a . . . Well, better if I don’t repeat the words. The takeaway was that you were not a very nice person. That there was some mucky muck inspector general coming, and the good colonel was going to personally see you fucked over and . . .” Dek frowned. “We never got to find out what he was going to see happen. That’s when Step hit him.”

“Step hit a marine colonel?” she asked coldly. “That’s assault on a Corporate military office that could lead to—”

“Whoa!” Dek cried. “The colonel got in his licks. You know, he was trained in close quarters combat, hand-to-hand and all that. But he made the mistake of saying that anyone who’d lick the shit off your shoes was just as much a cunt.” Dek winced as if he’d said too much. “Well, the whole place piled in.” A smile. “Even Kalen Tompzen, can you believe it? He threw the final punch.”

Kalico closed her eyes. “What part did you play?”

“Do you think I’m as dumb as I look? I got out of the way.” Dek inspected his fingernails. “Wasn’t like any of our people needed help. And despite my first inclinations, I figured you wouldn’t want the good colonel’s body to be discovered outside the fence and at the edge of the bush all covered with invertebrates.”

“Where is he?” Kalico asked woodenly.

“My place. As badly as he was hurting, I gave him a healthy dose of the blue nasty. I mixed it with some of Dya’s anesthetic paste. He’ll be out for hours.”

“Shit!” Kalico knotted a fist. She could hear the shuttle in the distance. “That’s IG Soukup now.”

Dek had pinched his lips, which pulled at the scar on his cheek. “My suggestion is that you turn your attention to the IG. Let me deal with Creamer.”

“Dek, he’s a Corporate marine colonel. That’s playing with fire and—”

“Why, Kalico.” He gave her his winning smile, the one that formed dimples in his quetzal-modified face. “Yes, he’s a colonel. One who’s been relieved of command, gambled away his armor, and gotten the shit kicked out of him in a brothel brawl. And me? I’m a Taglioni. And a really rich one.”

She could see the shuttle now, glinting silver in the sunlight. “You be damned careful. This isn’t just an IG. The Board sent him here. In a lot of ways, he’s now the most powerful person on the planet. He can take you down just as easily as he can destroy me.”

“Nothing comes without a little risk,” Dek said evenly, his eyes on the shuttle.