The fact that those were the first words out of his mouth, comments on his armsmen, sparked the inferno was Tucker’s rage. His eyes narrowed and finally, he was learning some Barrayaran Russian, even if it was from the wrong person.

“Yeah. They are.”

And that was the most restraint he could show, and that? That was only because of the respect he had for Wash and his warnings. But then Piotr kept needling him and – fuck that. Fuck all of it.

“Dude, seriously, I wasn’t close enough!” His voice rose, annoyed, pissed and Piotr, at the Ceta, and everything. “If I was close enough to see if she was fucking injured, don’t you think I would have dragged her fucking back with us no matter what!? We did what the hell we could!”