The Commander had all his former nonchalance. “Brave warriors,” he said in the voice which was that of every commander, “you have won a victory with the skill and courage which I learned to expect when you were under my command previously. My guild thanks you for your continued progress beneath its tutelage.”
The door in the other sidewall opened as if it were composed of rime ice melting in the sun. Motion drew the usual attention, half a dozen yellow-clad techs, one of them floating a cart before him. Then there was a surge of panic from that corner of the gallery — not at the remaining survivor of the bodyguard, but because the armored toad was leading one of the carnivores he and his fellows rode in battle.
The creature did not wear its blanket of iron scales, though there were patches in the bristling fur over its withers and shoulders where that armor must have rubbed. The slotted disk was on its chest, whining eagerly and so firmly implanted that no straps or chains were necessary to hold it in place. Instead of a saddle or other riding tack, the beast wore a broad metal collar with a shackle through which was rived the cable by which the guard led the creature along.
“Castor and Pollux,” muttered Clodius Afer. “That’s bigger’n the ones they ride, right?”
Vibulenus shrugged, but he suspected the pilus prior was wrong. The great brindled carnivore was rangier than it appeared when its armor bulked the smooth tuck of its belly; but seeing the beast in a structure of human scale, even one as large as the Main Gallery, gave it an impact that it did not have when surrounded by open sky.
“A hyena,” said Niger, searching back through memories of beast fights in the arena.
“Haunches’re too high,” the tribune objected; but for the rest, the centurion’s description was a good one.
The creature, as unaccustomed to the circumstances as the Romans were, jerked at the cable and clopped its long jaws shut in a spray of saliva. Despite the size of the bodyguard and his metal-cased grip on the lead line, the carnivore threw him off balance. Men scrambled even farther back in an effect like that of a pond rippling.
The Commander’s ears quivered in a gesture of irritation as he noted the beast’s restiveness. Then, as his eyes swept the assembly again before resuming the thread of his discourse, he saw Quartilla in the front row.
For a moment, the face of the guild officer contorted. He turned and shot an unheard order to the Pilot which brought that subordinate erect in a terrified brace, the ready laser slapping down alongside his thigh. Even after the Commander turned back in apparent calm to the waiting Romans, the Pilot held himself stiffly and continued to swallow hard.
“Because of matters which cannot properly be blamed on you,” the Commander said to the assembly, “there has been some temporary disorganization in the operations of this vessel. Let me reassure you that this will not affect you warriors in the least. Because of my experience and the success with which I moulded you into one of my guild’s most valued assets, I have been requested to take over again as an interim measure.”
His ears twitched. “Even though my rank would normally put me well beyond such duties.”
“We were supposed to be recalled to our own quarters as usual,” whispered Quartilla from the tribune’s left side. “Somebody forgot.”
Simultaneously, Clodius snickered on the other side, and said, “Bastard was handy and got stuck into the slot with no more ado than I’d make on latrine detail. And he ain’t half pissed, is ‘e?”
The squad of technicians from the trading vessel had stepped between the Commander and the door behind him. Two of them were lifting from the cart a U-shaped staple that seemed to be a fair weight for them. The bodyguard with the tethered carnivore waited nearby. The beast seemed willing to squat on its haunches, but it was making rumbling complaints in the back of its throat.
“I have called you to this extraordinary address,” the Commander said, “to assure you that nothing else about the circumstances is extraordinary. Your privileges and duties as assets of my guild remain the same, and the discipline which I will enforce will be as harsh as is required for your own long-term good.”