“Him, I knew,” Dek said. “He’s one of the guys who ran the Grunnel interests in the Asteroid Belt. Enforcer. He broke up strikes, capped off malcontents, ensured that dissenters—or more effectively, their loved ones—inexplicably vanished. Kept the stations and workers in line. Squashed any unrest.” Dek glanced around the table. “Everyone here understands, don’t they? Mining out in the Belt, that’s about as brutal, nasty, and inhuman as it gets. It’s our modern gulag. Where you send people who are embarrassing or expendable. And the Grunnels aren’t known for their empathy or enlightened humanity.”

“And this Inspector General?” Talina asked.

Dek shrugged. “While technically, he has no authority in PA, given that he’s Board Appointed, he’s a real threat to Kalico if he decides she’s acted inappropriately. And, people, that’s something we need to be preparing for as a worst-case scenario.”

“So far, it appears that all the forces of dukkha are descending upon us.” Shig had a curiously amiable smile on his wide lips. “What of this Bartolome Radcek? Investment Management? That’s a rather innocuous title, don’t you think?”

Dek sighed. “In many ways, he might be the most dangerous of the lot. He’s been around for a while. Descended from the old Radceks. Think Calypso and his ilk. Remember, too, that once upon a time, back in Solar System, they called Donovan ‘Radcek’s World.’ Donovan is like a festering wound, something that grates deep down in the Radcek family psyche. Bartolome, or Bad Bart, as he’s known, works from the shadows. Doesn’t tip his hand. Isn’t as blunt as the others.”

“How so?” Allison asked as she shifted her long legs.

“Falise or Chad? And I suppose Cinque. They’ll smile disarmingly and pat you on the back with one hand at the same time they’re slipping a knife between your ribs with the other, or maybe slit your throat after beating you half unconscious. They want you to look them in the eyes while you’re dying. So that you know just who brought you down. Bad Bart? He’ll slip a drop of plutonium into your scotch, nod politely, and ease out the door, never to be seen again. He’s not into notching his gun; only results matter.”

“And they are coming here?” Shig mused. “With thirty marines under the command of a rather distasteful and fawning commander? I wonder how many are going to die before this is over?”

“Expect things to get bloody,” Dek agreed. “But given the arrival of this Suto Soukup, our biggest worry is Kalico and her people. We at least have the fiction of being independent. Kalico is still a Board Supervisor. Still technically ‘one of them’ and subject to Corporate law. And most of her people are still under contract.”