[Natasha could point out that Byerly was Barrayaran, that she had always been the smarter piece to sacrifice, but no, Wash is right. More or less. It gets her to stand up a little bit straighter, reminds her a little of one of those truly rare occasions when she'd actually managed to make Coulson angry.]

When things went to Hell, Byerly had me shoot him. We staged a neat little pretense that I'd happened to catch them escaping. [She's tight-lipped and it doesn't take much to read that she hates that, her voice a little thin as she says it, her shoulders tense.] Which might have been better than getting the both of us caught, but--

[She's still not okay with it. Maybe it was more logical, but that doesn't mean she has to like it. And like Hell is she going to leave him there.]

I'm not going to do the same reckless thing twice, but we have to get him out of there. Byerly and Sonia.