Vorgens turned to the exec. “We’re going to break out of this vauey. Inform all the officers that we will regroup immediately in Standard Formation 014. The breakout ill be made in sectors W5 and W6. I want all units ready to move as soon as the sun clears the hills.”
The exec gasped. “That’s only ten or fifteen minutes from now.”
“Then you’ll have to hurry.”
“Yes sirl”
The exec scampered out of the compartment, past Mclntyre, headed for the communications center.
Vorgens turned back to the brigadier. “I’m sorry it had to happen this way, sir. But I reaUy have no other choice. I was sent to Shinar to try to arrange a truce. Now it is apparent that my first job is to prevent the Komani from destroying this Force, because if they are successful against us, a new galactic war will be triggered. That must be avoided at all costs. Surely you can see that.”
“I can see that you’re trying to ruin me,” Aikens said dully. “You’re trying to destroy a record of fifty-five years -of service with your own half-cocked dreams of glory.”
“That’s not true at all,” Vorgens countered”Ever since I came to Shinar, I’ve been shunted around from place to place by you, by the Komani, by some of the Shinarians. I’ve been pushed into killing some of the people with whom I came to negotiate. I’ve been turned into a messenger boy. I’ve been taken prisoner, and had a death sentence read over me. I’ve been rescued from a firing squad by an old man and a girl, because they saw in me what I had almost forgotten was there—a chance to bring peace to Shinar, to prevent this war from starting.