“My opinions will have little importance if I do not receive a Command assignment,” I reminded him.
“Of that I have every confidence,” Zur answered. “Perhaps I did not make myself clear, Rahm. I offer assistance only to make your analysis easier, not because I feel you would not be assigned if I did not contribute. I am sure that in your case this exercise is merely a formality. The High Command would have to be foolish to pass you over for a Command assignment, and although I have not always agreed with their decisions, I have never known them to be foolish.”
He turned and left without further comment.
I pondered his last statement. Zur was seldom, if ever, wrong in his analysis. He had correctly anticipated my first appointment as flight leader even before he joined the Warriors’ caste. His thoughts were not to be taken lightly.
Grudgingly, I turned my attentions once more to my analysis. Even if Zur was correct, even if this analysis was merely a formality, it still had to be done.
The familiar noises issuing from the sound box aided my concentration as I readdressed myself to my proposed battle plans.
CHAPTER TWO
I studied my four strike team Commanders as they familiarized themselves with the data packs they had just been issued.
I assumed that Zur was engaged in the same study, though neither of us spoke. It was a natural enough reaction, as this was the first time we had met these Warriors.
This was not to imply, however, that they were unknown to us or that we had never discussed them. On the contrary, they had been carefully selected by Zur and myself after several long wake-spans of reviewing individual records of available Warriors.