"Exactly," Lathe agreed, and Judas could hear the tight smile in his voice. "Here we go, Caine. And watch very closely."
The quiet intensity in the monitor room had dissolved into barely controlled chaos. Taakh strode back and forth behind the techs, barking orders and commands and demands as warning lights and displays began flashing all across the boards. "What the hell is happening out there?" Haberdae gritted.
"I don't know," Galway said, studying the flashing orange lights on the status displays. "It almost looks like there are fires in some of the guard bunkers."
"The 'lackcollars are shooting intae the 'unkers," Taakh said, his voice tight. "They seek tae silence the gunners there."
He had barely finished when a new pair of orange lights, much larger than the other indicators, began flashing on either side of the western door. Taakh barked a taut question; was barked an equally taut answer. "They ha' set 'ires 'eneath the guard 'unkers at the restern entrance," he bit out. "They had no 'uel or extra ex'losi'es. How did they dae this?"
"I don't know," Galway said. "We'll have to ask Judas when it's all over."
"Rhy did he not already tell us?" the khassq demanded.
"I don't know that, either." Galway studied Taakh's face, a sudden revelation striking him. "You never really believed they could get in here, did you, Your Eminence?"
"Rhat I 'elie'e is not in'ortant," Taakh ground out. "And they rill not 'enetrate this tactical center."
Despite the danger, Galway had to smile. The goal of the mission had abruptly run squarely into Taakh's personal pride, and the khassq wasn't at all happy about it. "If they don't, then it'll all have been for nothing," he again reminded the Ryq. "And not just into the building—they have to penetrate all the way to the core. Otherwise when your warriors get into Daeliak-naa they may find themselves stopped by the Chryselli's interior defenses with no idea how to get through."
"And if those guards in the western bunkers get burned out, the blackcollars will have a clear shot at that door," Haberdae put in, an edge of nervous impatience in his voice.
"So it rould seen," Taakh said, his dark eyes flicking to the status boards and then back to Galway. "Yaer s'y has said nothing a'out this, either."
"No, he hasn't," Galway said, forcing his voice to remain steady. "My guess is that at the last minute Shaw took over planning and froze Judas out."
"Shouldn't we be getting warriors into position in the western entrance foyer?" Haberdae put in, his impatience taking on an edge of urgency. "They could be stacking explosives against the door right now for all we know."
"I dae not 'elie'e it is that sin'le," Taakh said, gazing hard at the displays, most of which still showed little more than fuzzy images. "There is sone trick."
"I think you're right, Your Eminence," Galway said, moving beside him and studying the displays.
"Setting big, ostentations fires outside the western bunkers is exactly the sort of thing they'd do to try and draw our attention that direction."
"'Or rhat 'ur'ose?" Taakh demanded.
"Something clever, no doubt," Galway said slowly, turning to the tactical schematic with its multitude of flashing orange lights. "I also noticed that when they were throwing their dummies across the fence, all but one of them was sent straight over. Only this one—" he pointed to a spot just east of the southern road "—was thrown in at an angle."
"And it was thrown farther in than the others," Haberdae murmured.
"Yes," Galway said. "And unless I'm remembering the schematics incorrectly, it landed right over the tunnel that leads out to the southern guard bunkers."
"And its explosion has now torn up the ground there," Haberdae said, his uneasiness vanishing into cautious excitement as he caught Galway's line of reasoning. "You think they're going to try to blast their way in through the tunnels?"
"I don't think we'd better give them the chance to find out," Galway said. "Your Eminence, I expect you want to keep the warriors inside where it's safe—"
"Ryqril rarriors dae not stay rhere it is sa'," Taakh cut him off sharply. "Re rill take the 'attle tae they."
"Do you think that's wise, Your Eminence?" Haberdae asked. "Couldn't you just set up something right at the tunnel entrance?"
"Prefect Haberdae is right, Your Eminence," Galway seconded. "In all that smoke the blackcollars are going to have the advantage, certainly over ordinary Ryqril warriors."
"No run has the ad'antage o'er Ryqril rarriors," Taakh snapped.
"I understand that," Galway hastened to assure him. "But I've seen blackcollars in action. It would take a battalion of khassq-class warriors to stop them."
Taakh drew himself up to his full height. "It rill not take a 'attalion o' khassq," he said, his voice all but ringing with pride. "It rill take only run. I rill lead they."
"You're going to go out there and leave us?" Galway asked, his eyes flicking to Haberdae. "But what happens if some of them get inside?"
"They rill not," Taakh said firmly.
"No, of course they won't," Galway said. "But if they do, we'll have no way to protect ourselves. If you could leave us a couple of warriors, maybe ones you don't think can handle blackcollars anyway—"
"Enou'!" Taakh barked. Snatching out his laser, he thrust it into Galway's hands. "There. Yae rill now dekhend." Barking a final order at the techs, he strode from the room.
"Feel safer now?" Haberdae asked sarcastically.
Galway hefted the laser in his hands. "A little, yes," he said. "He couldn't have used it out there anyway.
Not in all that smoke."
"No, of course not," Haberdae said, heading for the door. "You just go ahead and play soldier. I'll be right back."
"Where are you going?" Galway asked, frowning.
Haberdae sent a tight smile over his shoulder. "To help you feel even safer."
Ten Ryqril advancing from east door; turning south toward Point One, the terse report came from one of the comsquares on the eastern side of the Khorstron grounds.
Eight Ryqril advancing from south door, another comsquare added. Second group, silent: six Ryqril.
Acknowledged, Shaw's reply came. All blackcollars defend. Lathe—go.
"And here we go," Lathe muttered, getting a grip on Judas's arm and pulling him toward the blazing fires. "Shields ready."
"We're heading to the bunkers?" Judas asked as he fumbled his shield into position on his arm. "Shaw said the Ryqril were heading south."
"Because that's where they think the main attack is coming," Lathe said. "Shaw's made it look like—
hsss!"
He yanked Judas down into a crouch, the other blackcollars dropping down beside them. There they all squatted, motionless, while around them the shadowy figures of a Ryqril warrior squad hurried past through the smoke. The sound of their footsteps faded away, and Lathe pulled Judas back to his feet.
The fires were still blazing when they reached the nearer of the bunkers. Even as the structures themselves began to appear through the smoke Judas heard the twang and muffled cracks as Spadafora began to lob primer caps through the firing slits. "Breaking into the bunker won't do us any good, you know," he warned as they continued forward. "The door leading from it into the tac center is just as strong as the main ones."
"True," Lathe said. "But only if—watch it."
He snapped his shield up as a laser poked through the slit and a green bolt shot through the writhing flames. The shot hit the shield dead center, and Judas heard the crackle of heat stress as some of the metal and ablative material burned away.