Bel craned her neck to survey the shuttle docks. The docks on Carissi Station were a vertical grid of enormous glass tubes, ranging from a few meters across to large enough to hold a freighter. A honeycomb of elevators and stairs ran up and down the space in front of them, filled with people flowing on and off ships from the Transit Module.

A row of docks had been cordoned off for the military behind a semitransparent screen of red light that hid the left-hand row of the grid. There were a couple of obvious routes in, but both went through access gates controlled by troopers.

“You’ll need to get us past the guard,” Bel said. “I can break the protections on any of the small people-carriers, but I need close access.”

“Right,” Kiem said. He would bet this was a control gate like the one outside his mother’s office, which meant it would need the army’s daily passphrase.

“Gairad, you’ve been temporarily promoted to aide. Try to look like you’re a huge fan of Iskat.” He led the way toward the nearest access gate, firing up his wristband as he went.

“The Imperial Military is a fine institution,” Gairad said unconvincingly, trailing behind Kiem and Bel. “I love the Empire.”

Kiem’s call on his wristband took some time to connect. “Hey,” he said brightly when it did. “Sergeant Vignar! It’s been a while. Did you catch the race yesterday?” Gairad gave him a sideways incredulous look as they climbed a flight of stairs. Bel was busy watching their surroundings. “No, I was traveling, I’m out in Thean space. You’ll laugh at this—General Tegnar finally set me up with a commission. Strategic comms on Operation Kingfisher. Yeah, Major Saffer hasn’t filled it since he got his promotion … it’s nearly a sure thing, with General Tegnar breathing down his neck, but I still have to do the assessment interview. Only thing, this is really embarrassing, I’ve forgotten the passphrase.

My mother’s going to space me—”

He wandered toward the access gate while he listened. After a couple more

minutes, he wound it up with, “Thanks, Sergeant,” loud enough to be heard by the trooper on duty. He put both his hands on the table and gave her his best smile. “Hi. Kiem Tegnar and aides. Passphrase Tetra Green One. We have a shuttle booked.”

The electricity under his skin peaked as the trooper looked up. Everything seemed to hang in the balance. Kiem was very aware of the weight of the capper hidden at his waist, and even more of Bel’s artificial stillness beside him.

It broke as the trooper waved them through. For the first time in several years, Kiem found himself wishing his mother was around so he could say thanks. It was an odd feeling.

“Hey, dozy, pay attention,” Gairad muttered. “We’re the smoke screen.”