“I know.” Keale told her, and for the first time in his life, he saw Esmo utterly stunned.
When she could move again, she lowered her head into her hands. “What are they doing? What in the Lawgiver's name are they doing?”
“I intend to ask them.” Keale's voice was brittle. “But first, we've got your people to look out for. Esmo, what can you do?”
“Not a whole lot, Kaye. We're not set up for a siege, or a prison.” She pulled a patch cord out of the station and hooked it up to her glasses. Keale watched her lips move silently for a moment.
She focused on him again. “Okay, I've sealed the maintenance hatches, and the pass-throughs to the other city.” Her eyes flickered, glancing at something in the corner of her spectacles. “It's almost morning here. I'll send a directive to all personnel to get into the secondary domes during shift change. That'll cause the least confusion. Everybody's on the move then anyway. Then, we'll close off the corridors.” Her expression turned rueful. “Hole up and wait. That's about what we're capable of.”
“Okay.” Keale nodded. “Do it. When your people are secure, we'll send mine into the main dome for a search and seizure.”
“Kaye, you've got two hundred security guards armed with stunners and blinders. If Jasper's right, we've got three thousand trained killers up here.”
“I know,” said Keale quietly. “That's why I'll be going in first.”
The captain said nothing, just nodded.
“See you in a few hours, Esmo.” Keale cut the thread and sat there, alone and silent for a long time.
Then, he got up to go get dressed, and tried to mink of what he was going to say to the veeps. Right now, it was all he could do.
“Dayisen Lareet! Dayisen Umat!”
Lareet sat bolt upright on the mattress. Her motion startled Umat, who lay beside her.
The two Ovrth Gert burst out of the stairwell, both panting like they had swum ten miles upstream. They hit the light controls, and the other dayisen who hadn't woken up at the shouts, lifted ears and heads.
Lareet and Umat had been up all night with the dayisen squad leaders at a planning session in the (hopefully) unmonitored living room downstairs. When it was decided everyone needed at least some sleep, they'd all retreated to the second floor.
“What is it?” Lareet climbed out from under the blankets. They hadn't gotten the wiring for the speakers laid yet, so sensitive information was being carried by runners rather than through the Human computer system, where they had no way to tell who was listening in.
“The Humans,” wheezed Ovrth Brend. “They've sealed the pass-throughs.”
The skin on Lareet's shoulders stiffened. “Did they give any explanation?”
“None that we know of.” Ovrth Hral straightened up and tried to get her breathing under control.
Umat breezed past them and down the spiral stairs without a word. Lareet followed on her heels, along with the other dayisen. Umat laid her hands on the comm station and lit the screen up.
“No waiting messages, no general announcements,” she reported.
“What do you think?” asked Lareet, half-afraid of the answer.
“I think we're out of time.” Umat took her sister's hand and faced the dayisen.
“Send out the word to your groups. We go in one hour. Keep to written orders. Do not under any circumstances use the computer lines.
“We need the first-strike force at the launch point with the second-strike force assembled and ready to go. Dayisen Yntre, your sisters must make sure all the emergency lockers are covered. As soon as we start, we must have a flow of supplies. Dayisen Huln, your people cover the hatches. The third force must be ready to go down them as soon as they're clear.”
“Remember,” said Lareet, “if you kid them, it will be that much harder on your sisters and your daughters. We must make them concentrate their immediate efforts on rescuing their own. We must not make them believe it is safer to kill us all, or that we have killed so many of theirs that they act in anger. They are not impervious to emotion, no matter what rumors we hear. They are just slow to burn.” She glanced at all the dayisen and saw them dip their ears in agreement.
Umat stood even straighter. Lareet would not have thought it possible. “We have one advantage they cannot overcome. They cannot destroy this ship without seriously crippling their mission. This will buy us time.”
Lareet tried to pull her spine up as straight as her sister's, but her muscles resisted. “As long as they believe they can regain what they have lost, they will stay here. They will protect our sisters below from attack by the t'Therians. We must not drive them away too quickly.”