“I—I think so. Oh, he was so furious! He was raging. I’ve never seen him like this before.”
“It’s all right. He has a temper and he uses itIt saves strain on his nervous system.”
“But what are we going to do?” she pleaded. “What can we do?”
Vorgens grinned at her. “First, we can calm down and try to think straight. Second, can that flying machine carry the two of us?”
“Um … yes, I imagine so. It’s built to cany Komani warriors, and neither of us is much more than half their weight.”
“Good. Let’s go back to my headquarters. We’ve got work to do.”
“And that’s the way I see it, brigadier,” Vorgens said.
Aikens was sitting across the table from the Watchman, in the dreadnaught’s officers’ wardroom. A pair of majors and the exec were also at the table. Steaming coffee mugs stood before each man.
Aikens had listened in dour silence to Vorgens’ analysis of the situation. Now, he hunched forward in his chair and leaned his elbows on the green tabletop.
“Let me understand you clearly. You want to dispatch troops to Katan to beat off the Komani attack, and you expect me to devise a tactical plan of battle.” As usual, he placed a slight, sullen accent on the word tactical.
“First of all,” Vorgens answered, “I want your opinion on whether we can beat off the Komani attack. I don’t want to waste troops on a meaningless gesture.”
Aikens nodded. “That’s sensible. Based on what the observation planes from Capital City have reported, the Komani column should be at Katan by mid-moming tomorrow. The earliest we could get there would be midaftemoon. So’we can’t stop their attack.”