Aikens rose from his chair and strode wordlessly across the small compartment. Then he turned and pointed a finger at Vorgens.
“Listen, youngster, I’m just as anxious as you are to talk the Komani out of a bloodletting. Those are my men out ther°, and I’m responsible for their lives—every last one of them. But if we try to parley from our present position—surrounded, cut off, and outnumbered—the Komani will simply take it as a sign of weakness. We’ll be encouraging mem to attack. We’ll be convincing them that they’ve got us licked.”
“It may be entirely unnecessary to fight at all,” Vorgens insisted-
The brigadier nodded curtly. “Maybe. We’ll see.”
Aikens returned to his desk and sat down. Leaning over die stereomap, he said to Vorgens:
‘This is what we’re going to do. Tomorrow morning’, I’ll send out more patrols—stronger patrols than today’s—with armor. They’ll probe the Komani lines and keep the barbarians off balance. Meanwhile, you will take an armored cruiser and a picked detachment of men and break through the Komani lines.”
Vorgens’ mouth dropped open, but the brigadier waved him down before he could say anything. “You will break through the Komani lines and outrun their communications jammers. Then you will call for reinforcements from the garrisons of the cities we now hold.”
“These are your orders?”
“That’s right. Watchman. I’ll give you two days and two nights to get the reinforcements here. I doubt if the Komani will attack before men. They’ve got men scattered halfway across the planet, and they’ll want to group them together before they tackle us in earnest.