Doworn.o.bb and Kateos hastened through the maze of pa.s.sageways linking the domes, joining Et Silmarn at the airlock. Indicator lights revealed the airlock to be in the final stages of pressurization.

"Any news?" asked Doworn.o.bb. "Have they brought supplies?"

"It is not a freighter," Et Silmarn snapped. "It is a warship-a heavy lift interceptor. I doubt they bring anything but trouble."

The airlock hissed open. The arrivals lumbered forward. All wore military uniforms, and many were armed. One individual grew disconcertingly familiar.

"Longo!" Doworn.o.bb blurted, much too loudly.

"Colonel Longo, if you please," the leader of the detachment said flatly. "Realize with whom you are dealing." Longo wore the dark burgundy of the security apparatus.

"You are a spy!" Kateos blurted.

Longo fixed her with a glance of steel, his diplomatic veneer all too transparent. He turned rudely away.

"I am aware of what has happened on Genellan," Longo said, addressing himself to Et Silmarn. "I am here to continue the investigation." He peered around as if looking for something in particular. "It has been reported that you are holding one of the...aliens. I wish to see it."

"They call themselves humans," Et Silmarn replied, "and one is here as our guest, most excellent Colonel." The n.o.blekone' s distaste was thinly suppressed. "The humans have demonstrated their peaceful intent."

Longo stared sternly and smiled. "Of course-Your Excellency. But as official representative of our government I must verify that...peaceful intent. A formality, of course. Where is this pacific creature? Why is it not here?"

"It only suffers our environment, most excellent Colonel," Et Silmarn responded. "Elevated pressures cause gases to be dissolved in its bloodstream, and it takes many hours and a slow decompression to relieve. Also, the human considers the temperature in our domes unbearably warm. It possesses a strange, er...a fragile physiology-except for its tolerance to cold."

"Are you telling me that I must go outside-in the winter-to meet with this creature?" replied the astounded Longo.

"No. It is cold outside, even for the human," Et Silmarn said. "The human-he is named Huhsawn-lives in our agricultural dome."

Doworn.o.bb detected a faint whiff of fear emanating from the colonel.

"Of course," the n.o.blekone continued impa.s.sively. "We have extensive video and photographs doc.u.menting the aliens. If you would avoid confrontation, you could review our research materials instead, most excellent Colonel."

Longo did not react to the insult. "Your suggestions have merit, Your Excellency."

In the final a.n.a.lysis General Gorruk's greatest military achievement was his retreat. It was masterfully executed, but then he had no alternative. His supply lines were severed. It was but a matter of time before his armies were isolated and destroyed.

His plan centered on demonstrating a ma.s.sive offensive, preparations for which enabled him to position thousands of airfreighters and rail cars. Retreat was not imagined as an option, and so the combatants prepared for the ultimate confrontation of the war-an apocalyptic battle. Millions of konish soldiers moved across the blackened battlefields, girding themselves for death. The northern soldiers had no choice; running or fighting had the same result-death. Resigned to the more merciful death of combat, the northern armies marched with desperate resolve.

Gorruk goaded his legions to frontally engage in another attack frenzy. While the southern defenders hunkered down and decimated the oncoming northerners, Gorruk began loading men and arms onto freighters and rail cars, using expendable infantry to defend terminals and landing strips-mostly against his own forces as they panicked and broke. Ultimately only a third of his expeditionary forces were killed or captured-less than two million kones. That he escaped at all, much less with his army intact, serves as great testimony and tribute to his military genius.

Testimony to his character was less flattering. Thwarted from victory against the southern armies, Gorruk turned to new targets- his own government. Twenty-six main attack missiles. .h.i.t the Imperial Palace and the ministry buildings within seconds of each other. The structures and their vicinities were vaporized, along with Emperor-General Jook the First and the Imperial Body Guard. Gorruk arrived in the sundered capital, at the head of a column of crack troops carefully held in reserve from the ravages of war.

Not a single member of the n.o.bility was caught in Gorruk' s blitz; all had conveniently departed the city. When informed of this, Gorruk became infuriated, ordering intelligence officers put to death. Yet despite obvious danger, n.o.blekones returned to their duties-the exception being the militia high command and the ministry functionaries. Gorruk did not understand this happenstance, nor did he endeavor to disrupt it, for he realized no government could function without the economic underpinnings that were largely managed by the n.o.bility. Reluctantly accepting their critical value to his short term success, Emperor-General Gorruk the First went about establishing a new government on the northern outskirts of the capital, safely behind the ramparts of his main military headquarters. Construction crews began work on a palace to rival all palaces, a bunker to rival all bunkers.

He would deal with the n.o.bility at a more convenient time. The government was his and now he would govern.

Hudson watched Longo and his soldiers leave the agricultural dome.

"Colonel Longo was polite," Hudson said, relieved to have the confrontation behind him. The meeting had been short, the temperature in the dome uncomfortably cool for the kones. And anticlimactic-Hudson had agonized through the long hours prior. Et Silmarn, Kateos, and Doworn.o.bb said nothing until Longo and his subalterns had departed the dome.

"Be not-ah deceived, Hudsawn," Kateos said in Legion. "Colonel Longo is a senior security officer, a trained liar. You must-ah be careful."

"But Mistress Kateos, my people must deal with your government some time," Hudson replied. "There are so few of us. Why would your government not let us settle on Genellan? We could not exist on Kon. What other option is there?"

"There is at-ah least-ah one other option, Huhsawn," Et Silmarn said, speaking the human's tongue. "It-ah is not-ah a good one."

Longo dismissed his soldiers. He cantered into the austere quarters reserved for visiting dignitaries and looked out the window. Blue shadows raced over snow-covered ground, the overcast shattered by the sun and wind. Longo shivered and turned his back. His distaste at being on the forsaken planet was deep.

"A miserable place," he said aloud, but he was not really in an ill mood. The meeting with the alien-the human-had gone well. Longo was impressed with the alien's ability to speak the konish tongue. The buzzer on his entry sounded.

"Enter," Longo said. A messenger stood at attention on all fours.

"Colonel Longo! We have received word General Gorruk has taken control of the government. Emperor Jook is dead."

Longo' s mouth dropped open, and then his gape turned into a opportunistic grin. General Gorruk was a formidable kone yet a known ent.i.ty. Longo's smile broadened-Emperor-General Gorruk would, of course, be interested in his mission. The security officer drafted a message reaffirming his loyalties and summarizing his activities.

"Send this through your most secure means. And retransmit the latest summaries of our interrogations-and the videos. Include the videos," Longo commanded.

Gorruk' s response arrived four hours later: TO: SECURITY COL. LONGO FM: EMPEROR-GENERAL.

CLa.s.s ONE SECURITY/COL. LONGO'S EYES ONLY.

AM AWARE OF YOUR ACTIVITIES. ALIENS REPRESENT THREAT. LOCATE AND ELIMINATE USING ALL MEANS AT YOUR DISPOSAL. REPORT STATUS DAILY. IF ADDITIONAL RESOURCES REQUIRED, SO STATE.

GORRUK.

Longo stared at the short message. An idea sifted into his consciousness. It was risky, but he would dare to send a counter suggestion. The intelligence officer sat down and drafted a reply: TO: EMPEROR-GENERAL GORRUK, SUPREME LEADER FM: SECURITY COL. LONGO.

CLa.s.s ONE SECURITY/GENERAL GORRUK'S EYES ONLY NO ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ARE REQUIRED.

UNLESS YOU DIRECT OTHERWISE, MY PLAN AS FOLLOWS. WILL PRESERVE LIFE OF THE ONE ALIEN IN MY CONTROL. WILL USE TO a.s.sIST IN GETTING CLOSE TO REMAINING ALIENS. IT IS WINTER AND TOO COLD FOR OPERATIONS WHERE ALIENS ARE LOCATED. IN LOCAL SPRING (KON DATE: 13M26) AN EXPEDITION TO THE ALIEN ENCAMPMENT WILL BE MOUNTED. ALIENS WILL BE LIQUIDATED OR CAPTURED AS YOU DIRECT.

LONGO COL. SECURITY.

Longo coded the message into the burst transmitters and, with burgeoning trepidation, punched the transmit b.u.t.ton. Gorruk's response arrived two hours later: TO: SECURITY COL. LONGO FM: EMPEROR-GENERAL.

CLa.s.s ONE SECURITY/COL. LONGO'S EYES ONLY.

KILL THE ALIENS. HOW YOU ACCOMPLISH THAT TASK IS UP TO YOU. DO NOT FAIL.

GORRUK.

"Is winter never going to end?" Buccari sniffed. She stood shivering in front of the lodge fireplace. Her feet were wet and her toes were near frostbitten-again.

"It's almost over," MacArthur whispered, teeth chattering. They had bravely attempted a patrol of the perimeter. The biting cold had turned them back before reaching the palisade wall. "I don't give it another month. It was balmy outside."

Buccari looked at his windburned features and laughed softly. As Buccari and MacArthur talked, Tookmanian made a rare appearance outside the labor room to add wood to the galley fire. To no one's surprise, the tall saturnine man had taken charge of the birthing. A tarpaulin hung across the entrance to the water room, isolating it and converting it into a labor room for Lee. The dried wood crackled and popped as it ignited. A gust of wind rattled across the roof. Tookmanian disappeared behind the curtain.

"How's Les doing, Nance?" Buccari inquired.

Dawson lay drowsing next to the fire. She and Goldberg had alternated waking hours through the night. The pregnant female's water had broken in the early morning hours, and Lee had been in painful labor ever since.

"Don't know, Lieutenant," Dawson yawned. "She's asleep, but I don't know if that's a good sign or not. At least it keeps Winnie quiet."

Fenstermacher lay bundled in a corner, sound asleep. Sleep had been hard to come by, and most of the men were upstairs in the loft trying to recover from the long night. Mendoza and Schmidt sat at the table helping Tatum and Shannon take care of the babies. Miraculously, both infants napped. During the previous night and day they had efficiently taken shifts whining and screaming. The confined s.p.a.ce of the lodge had never seemed smaller or more crowded.

The silence ended. Everyone's attention was collected by a gulping, gasping groan followed by loud grunts. Fenstermacher leapt awake and dove through the slitted opening. Dawson, moving more slowly, followed. Agonizing minutes crawled by.

"Okay! Okay!" came Tookmanian' s deep voice. Lee yelled and gagged.

"Don't hold back, Les," Dawson encouraged. "Go ahead and scream."

"Okay, momma. Push!" Tookmanian growled. "Okay! Okay! Okay! Okay!"

"Come on, Les," Goldberg gasped. "You can do it!"

Lee screamed-a deep, throaty roar never expected from the shy medic. Outside the curtain everyone stared with grieved wonder, unable to shut out reality by simply closing their eyes. It was a prison. Deathly cold beyond the stone walls of the lodge, it was too cold to leave; they were trapped! They shared! If not the pain, all hands shared the uncertainty and the stark terror of the suffering mother's plight. They were joined in tribulation, and they prayed-prayed with all their might to whatever greater power they could invoke.

"Oka-a-a-y-y-y!" Tookmanian announced, a statement of triumph.

Courage and hope welled. The inmates bravely made eye contact with their fellows. The newborn baby's l.u.s.ty cry was a clarion call for life, and collectively held breaths were expelled, forced out by joyous cheers. The older infants added to the bedlam with frightened cries.

Dawson appeared, finger to her lips. "Shhhh! It's a girl! Shhh!" she admonished, but she was smiling as she disappeared into the water room.

Buccari looked about. The realization that she was the only woman not involved in the birthing caused discomfiture, and she did not know why. She did not have time to ponder. Dawson, leather ap.r.o.n bloodied, burst from the curtain with two pots. "Fill up the water pot with snow and get it boiling. Quick! We need more hot water!" she brusquely ordered, to no one and to everyone. Mendoza and Schmidt hurried to obey.

"Is everything all right?" Tatum asked.

"She's hemorrhaging," Dawson muttered as she went behind the curtain.

In her hurry Dawson left the curtain partially open, exposing a forceful firelit tableau. Tookmanian, an expression of stoic resolve set firmly on his craggy features, bent over the exposed body of the mother, tense arms b.l.o.o.d.y to the elbow. A frightened Goldberg stood at the head of the bed, the raw newborn in her arms, displayed for the mother to see. Dawson, wild red hair tangled and bedraggled, stood erect, holding clean rags at the ready, bravely awaiting her next a.s.signment. Fenstermacher, his back to the opening, knelt on the wooden floor.

"Oh, Leslie. We have a baby, Leslie. We have a baby," Fenstermacher sobbed. The little man put his cheek next to Lee's and held her hands. "I love you, Leslie. Oh Les, I love you so much. Don't leave me."

Chapter 39.

Return of the Fleet Admiral Runacres deployed his motherships in staggered columns, line ahead, with Tasmania Tasmania in the van at two tactical spans, and in the van at two tactical spans, and Eire, Eire, carrying his flag, next in line. All active signal emissions, except for directional laser communicators, were suppressed. All pa.s.sive detection systems indicated that their hyperlight arrival was undetected. carrying his flag, next in line. All active signal emissions, except for directional laser communicators, were suppressed. All pa.s.sive detection systems indicated that their hyperlight arrival was undetected.

R-K Two, the home planet of the belligerent aliens, spun in its...o...b..t on the far side of the system, and Rex-Kaliph, the blazing yellow sun-star, masked the fleet's approach to R-K Three. Runacres ordered a flight of three corvettes to probe the system's defenses and to explore the suspected alpha-zed planet.

After a three-day transit Peregrine One Peregrine One descended into a survey orbit. Two more corvettes stood off from the planet, acting as pickets and communication links for directed laser transmissions. Crowded in the corvette's science laboratory, Ca.s.sy Quinn's survey team intently scanned the planet with every pa.s.sive means available. After ten orbits they had detected no radar or communication signals, alien or friendly. descended into a survey orbit. Two more corvettes stood off from the planet, acting as pickets and communication links for directed laser transmissions. Crowded in the corvette's science laboratory, Ca.s.sy Quinn's survey team intently scanned the planet with every pa.s.sive means available. After ten orbits they had detected no radar or communication signals, alien or friendly.

"It looks cold down there," Jake Carmichael, the corvette's pilot, said over the science circuit.

"It sure is, Commander," said Nestor G.o.donov, Quinn's geological a.s.sistant. "The planet has an eccentric orbit. Practically the entire planet is experiencing winter conditions right now. It's very cold. The good news is that spring should be breaking soon."

"Tell Commander Quinn to find something soon," Carmichael replied. "We're a sitting duck."

"You'll be the first to know, Jake," Quinn replied.

"I better be," Carmichael said. "Good luck, Ca.s.sy."

"Thanks," Quinn signed off and pushed over to the master console, rechecking the emission scans. She cursed softly. "Something wrong, sir?" G.o.donov asked.

"No, Nes. It's just I wish something-anything-would show up. There's nothing here!" Exasperation was manifest in Quinn's voice. Her frustration generated a contagious despair.

"Come on, sir," G.o.donov replied. "It's the most encouraging planet the Legion has ever seen-alpha-zed beyond doubt." Quinn said nothing.

"We'll find them, Commander," G.o.donov said. "We've only overflown thirty percent of the planet. The IR target backlog is still building."

"Nothing but volcanoes and lots of those," Quinn sighed.

An alarm sounded. The officers jerked, gyrating in null gravity.

"We're being lit up!" Carmichael's tense voice came over the command circuit. "I have solid radar tones and repeatable signals. We're being localized!"

Quinn moved to the master console and verified the emissions.

"Roger, contact," she said over the science circuit. "Our systems are picking up pulses. We're definitely being painted. It appears to be standard search radar and not target acquisition. Source position is coming out now."

"Huhsawn, we think-ah your ship-ahs come back-ah," Doworn.o.bb said.

Hudson had to concentrate on what Doworn.o.bb was saying before he allowed the meaning to sink in. He had reconciled himself to never being rescued.

"What are you saying, Master Doworn.o.bb?" Hudson replied, in konish.

"Your people are back, Master Huhsawn," Doworn.o.bb said, grateful to speak his own language. "We have detected an object in orbit. Not a konish ship."

"Not a konish ship?" Hudson gasped. "Does Colonel Longo know?"

"I know not, though it can only be a matter of time. He has soldiers stationed in the control areas. Mistress Kateos is checking."