VKS/POI PSL

[dendarii]

He should have known. Goddammit, how could he have been so blind? The evidence was all there: Finch's uncanny knowledge of the Machine, the systems (and personnel) guarding it, and what should have been an alarming amount of helpfulness the whole way through. But Miles had made assumptions. That Simon had made contact already, that the man had his own reasons for wanting to screw over the Cetagandans ... And maybe those things are still true. But that doesn't change the fact that he's made a critical error here, and there sure are Cetagandans on the way to make his life difficult. It's a matter of minutes before everything goes completely to shit.

So it's time to change the battlefield to match what it should have been from the beginning. Miles may have been sent to get the Machine, but he can come back with something much, better. If he can only convince his target of the same. Which may be a task, given he's reasonably certain the man has already betrayed him.

"You did this," he says, his tone frankly a bit awed. He's impressed. Angry too, and on edge listening for the inevitable approach of the guards, but impressed. "The Machine itself - you made it. And now you're going to get me captured or worse."

A good tactic, really; he approves.