Yaut came up and gave the thing to Aille. The Subcommandant immediately turned and extended it to Kralik.
“I give you the bau, Ed Kralik. Bring it back with honor.”
Chapter 26
Kralik stared down at the bau in his hand, unable to think what to say, while his fingers traced the unfamiliar carvings. There were few, and those simple, which indicated a fledgling commander. It fact, he thought the simple carvings were identical to those on the one Aille himself carried. Given Kralik’s experience, that was a bit ironic—he actually had more combat experience than most Jao officers on Terra. He certainly had more than Aille, for whom Terra was his first assignment.
A bau was not the same thing as a rank, or even a badge of office. It was more personal, more in the way of a record of individual achievement. The Jao equivalent, Kralik had sometimes thought, of the “I love me” wall many human officers used to display various military achievement records and awards. But he knew it was a far more formal thing, for the Jao. And it was connected to a kochan, somehow, in a way Kralik did not really comprehend. He’d ask Caitlin. Maybe she or Dr. Kinsey understood the subtleties involved.
But, whatever the fine points might be, the substance was clear enough. For the first time—ever, so far as Kralik knew—a jinau officer had been given a bau. With further accomplishments, the rod would have carvings added to it. What was more important—far more—was that the mere giving of the bau indicated a profound change in his status. Not “social equality,” exactly. With their complex hierarchical view of things, the Jao did not share that human concept.
Call it . . . acceptance. A barrier removed.
“Return it once you have your victory,” Aille said. “A carving for Salem will be added.”
“Yes, sir!” Kralik transferred the bau to his left hand and saluted, then motioned a waiting command vehicle forward. This was a human-designed vehicle, essentially a Humvee with Jao maglev drive and communication equipment. Like almost all jinau equipment, it had seen better days.
Once he was in the vehicle, sitting in the front, he saw the driver was staring at the bau in his hand. The young male driver then looked at him, freckle-faced and eager. A bit awed, too, Kralik thought. The driver also understood something of its significance.
“Well, hurry up!” Kralik snapped. “What are you waiting for, a damned engraved invitation?”
* * *
Aille monitored the progress of the Pacific Division’s brigade from within his command center. Between satellite observation, Jao scout cars in the air, and the various visual and audio links that had been hurriedly made to key elements in the brigade itself, he had a good sense of what was happening.
With Kralik in command and using human tanks and other kinetic weapons, it soon became obvious that the rebels’ tactics were not as effective as they had been against the Jao. The jinau troops wasted little time and effort simply destroying buildings, but concentrated their attacks on the pockets of resistance they encountered. By midday, especially with the experienced Wrot by his side commenting on the situation, Aille had come to grasp the key tactic Kralik was following. The jinau general used his infantry like delicate fingers, probing for resistance. Then, when resistance was found, drew the fingers aside slightly and brought in the tanks and artillery to deliver the actual blows. And the blows, when they came, were brutally powerful. If Kralik did not waste effort destroying buildings for the sake of destruction, he was instantly prepared to level them in order to kill the insurgents within. His tactics were subtle, but ruthless.
Wrot supplied snippets of commentary and observations throughout. The principal one being that Kralik’s tactics would be even more effective if Jao combat aircraft were coordinating their actions with him.
“Better still,” the gruff old veteran pronounced, “if you let the jinau have their own aircraft. Before we swept them from the skies, their aircraft gave us grief during the conquest. Not against our own aircraft, of course, with our much superior electronic countermeasures, but our ground troops. But make sure you don’t let any of that lunatic human rivalry infect the thing. If you decide to let them have their own aircraft, make sure you keep an eye on the pilots. Before you know it, the maniacs will be pestering you for their own uniforms, insignia—even a separate command structure. Humans are charming creatures, all in all, but they can find a way to dissociate anything.”