That was another small mistake, again driven by the Governor’s inability to control his temper. Yaut was pleased. Oppuk would have been wiser to accept his defeat—which was still but a small one, after all—and return to his palace in Oklahoma City to begin repairing the damage.
Banle, Caitlin’s guard, had appeared at the docks, sometime after the trawler had transported the rest of them back, having apparently abandoned the fight early on to swim to safety on her own. She’d been skulking about ever since, sullen and silent.
Kralik had disappeared briefly, after they docked, but was also back now. Aille suspected he had personally transported Caitlin Stockwell to a human medical facility, a gross misuse of his time under current circumstances.
He suspected he knew the reason, though. Humans did not mate as Jao did, through marriage-groups and careful consideration by their kochan of where the best possibilities for association lay. Instead, they paired off, sometimes serially, often failing to form lasting relationships since their liaisons were motivated by sudden fancy. Most likely, Kralik had taken one of these inexplicable human fancies to the Stockwell female. Under other circumstances, such would have been interesting and Aille would have liked to study their behavior. Coming in the midst of this particular flow, however, it was an unwarranted distraction.
“Do not leave again without informing me,” Aille said, studying a refitted green-and-brown-splotched human tank drifting past on its new maglevs. His posture was grim-displeasure.
“Yes, sir,” Kralik still bore long clotted cuts on both forehead and cheek. Evidently he had not sought medical attention for himself, whatever else he had been up to. “It won’t happen again.”
The rain finally desisted into a mere spattering of isolated drops, but the air was still delightfully damp. Aille tapped the bau against his leg. “Is the Pacific Division standing by?”
“The First Brigade is, sir,” Kralik said. “I won’t be able to get the rest of the division here for another two days, at least. More likely three.”
Yaut reappeared, preceded by Tully and Aguilera. The two human members of Aille’s service seemed to be mastering the technique of leading without knowing where they were going, using subtle hints of the fraghta’s position to guide them.
A Jao ground combat vehicle drifted to a stop before him. The pleniary of the Portland unit, Hinn krinnu Vatu vau Waf, a seasoned veteran of the conquest, climbed out and sat on the edge of the hatch. He was a solidly built Jao with a well-shaped vai camiti that covered eyes and muzzle as well as cheeks so that most of his face was shrouded in black. “The unit is ready to attack,” he said, and allowed annoyed-boredom to creep into his lines.
Aille’s snout wrinkled in irritation, but he quickly submerged it in the most neutral of postures. With that vai camiti, Hinn was bound to appear forceful, whatever else his body might indicate. Perhaps that had gotten him a bit further in his career than he deserved and he had become careless of proper movement.
“Yes,” Aille said. “Proceed.”
Without another word, Hinn slid back into his vehicle and closed the hatch. The vehicle rotated noiselessly and headed toward the town, quickly followed by the rest of the unit. As with most Jao ground force regiments, this one consisted of thirty fighting vehicles and enough others, more lightly armed, to carry the infantry. Some six hundred soldiers, in all.
Aille donned a headset so he could monitor communications as the regiment advanced. On the screens in his command center, he could also observe the town itself from satellite imagery. Most of the city was dark, probably an indication of how many inhabitants had already fled.
Tamt stood before Aille’s shoulder, ready, but not obtrusive. Her training at Yaut’s hands was continuing to go well.
Rafe Aguilera was pacing back and forth in the rear of the command center with what Aille interpreted as suppressed nerves. “That’s the same type of tanks we met at the Battle of Chicago,” he muttered.
Kralik narrowed his eyes as he watched the Jao combat vehicles gliding toward the city on the screen, pale blue in the deepening darkness. “They haven’t changed a bit since then, have they?” He turned to Yaut. “Does it just take a long time for upgrades to reach us because we’re so far from your homeworlds?”