Again I’m telling the truth, and again Ranger purely doesn’t want to hear it. But he can’t call me on it, and that makes him even madder. Sure, I could have toadied and kissed hoop, but where’s the percentage in that? Ranger hates me anyway—I’ve known that for a while—so brown-nosing wouldn’t buy me anything on that front, and it’d lose me respect from Paco. This way, I’ve edged Ranger a hair closer to doing something terminal to me, while making sure as frag Paco’s going to tell his chummers how Rick Larson stood up to the war boss and made him eat it. And that’s going to buy me bolshoi face among the troops. Looks like a bargain to me.