“No, I want time to build my case against him,” said Botchup. “Besides, there’s nothing he can do from a distance, and by the time he gets back, I’ll have gone a long way toward establishing my own authority.”
Snipe leaned forward and spoke in a quiet voice. “Should we take any steps to prevent the other officers from warning him, sir?”
“No,” said Botchup with a nasty smile. “Let them yell their heads off, Snipe. If Jester realizes just what’s in store for him, he may just cut and run. That’s the usual way with his kind, and it’d suit me fine. Then I could get down to the business of turning this company around without any interference from him-or his cronies.”
“Very good, sir,” said Snipe. “I can see you’re not going to be satisfied with half measures.”
“Not at all,” said Botchup. “Now, why don’t you get started on your report. I want to know every single rotten spot in this particular apple, Snipe. You name the names, and I’ll kick the asses.”
“Yes, sir!” said Snipe with a salute that could have been molded in plastic and used as a model in the Legion Academy. He turned and strode out of the command center, grinning like a madman. It didn’t matter at all to Snipe that he was planning to take the best company in the Legion and return it to the mediocrity from which it had arisen. His orders said to do it, and the last thing Snipe would ever do was question an order…Unless, of course, it was to his personal advantage to do so.
The Zenobian desert baked under its glowing primary, a hot, yellow G star. Until recently, humans had looked at the system and seen only worthless real estate: all the planets were in orbits either too close to or too far away from the primary for the system to be of interest. Except for one very useful space station, there was no Alliance presence here. Only when a Zenobian scout ship had made an emergency landing on Haskin’s Planet, halfway across the galaxy, did the Alliance learn the real story of this unappealing world-unappealing to human beings, but not to the lizardlike race that called it home.