Chapter Seventeen: Bull

Thirty hours after the Behemoth went dark, Bull and his weary security team stabilize the ship, quell minor riots, and free trapped crew. Sam summons Bull to engineering, where a young Belter, Gareth, refuses conduit work as beneath him. Bull diffuses the standoff by offering to do the job himself, shaming Gareth into compliance, then quietly reasserts Sam’s authority with a firm warning.

Captain Ashford broadcasts shipwide that the OPA disavows Holden and authorizes Behemoth to follow the Rocinante through the Ring to seize him. He frames the pursuit as restoring OPA honor and sets a six-hour timeline to burn. Bull and Sam recognize the speech as face-saving after earlier failures.

Bull seeks out XO Pa and argues the plan is suicidal, noting Earth and Mars won’t allow the OPA to lead. Pa reveals Mars has already threatened to open fire if Behemoth approaches within 100,000 kilometers of the Ring, yet orders stand to prepare for burn.

Seeing no rational retreat, Bull suggests that only a change of command could avert disaster. Pa, weary but resolute, rejects any mutiny and explicitly orders Bull to respect the chain of command and follow Ashford’s plan. Bull leaves with a grim conclusion: either they all die, or they go through the Ring.