laugh was echoed by others. Looking around, now that she knew what to look for, Berry could see Mfecane genetic traces in the faces—not to mention the size and musculature—of several of the slaves.
"How soon can we expect this Lieutenant Palane of yours?" asked Kathryn, bringing things back to the business at hand.
"Oh. Well . . . knowing Thandi, I'd say sooner than you think," she said, then paused, considering exactly how to broach the next little point it had suddenly occurred to her needed explaining in light of Mesa's personnel hiring practices.
"What is it, Princess?" Kathryn asked, gazing at her shrewdly, and Berry sighed.
"It's just . . . well, Thandi's assault team's members aren't Marines like she is."
"They're not?" Kathryn and Georg both frowned.
"No," Berry said, then shrugged. Best to take the hurdle in a rush, she told herself firmly. "She's got her own people—sort of her own, private little unit. Very much undercover and off the books, I think. But the point is that all of her other team members are, well, Scrags."
"Scrags?!" Kathryn hissed, and Berry saw her sudden fury mirrored