The Course of Empire(14)

"I see." Aille locked his hands behind his back. "Are you practicing some sort of skill set?"



The third male, rising last, stooped to pick up the cubes and long rectangles of green paper. The latter he stowed in a pocket. His face, a pale tan, went paler beneath its thatch of yellow hair.



From their uneasy stance, Yaut suddenly deduced the situation. "I believe, Subcommandant Aille, this must be one of the activities forbidden by Commandant Kaul." He glanced at the humans for affirmation. "Is that not so?"



The red-haired one started to look away, then squared his shoulders. "Yes, sir."



Aille stepped closer, his ears raised. "Is this 'art,' then?"



The first, broad-shouldered for a human, and with a much darker skin than the other two, made a curious sound. Almost as if he were choking. The third man, the one who'd picked up the green papers, gave him a sharp glance which Yaut suspected was one of reproof.



"Meaning no disrespect, sir," he said. "This is called 'gambling.' "



Aille held out his hand and the human surrendered the tiny cubes. "Really?" he said, turning them over so Yaut could see enigmatic black circles pressed into their surface. "If it is proscribed in the military, as I have been told, then you would expect to be punished for it. Yes?"



The three dipped their heads in what Yaut had learned from indoctrination tapes was a crude, but universally understood, affirmative posture.



Aille rolled the cubes in his hand so they clicked. "Interesting. Yet still insist you on violating the rules. Since they are—contraband, I think the word is—I shall keeping them for further study. In the meantime—" He fixed them with his aristocratic gaze. "You will putting yourselves on report for this infraction. Fraghta Yaut will receive your names and ranks, and we shall speaking further of this when I am better informed."



Yaut pulled out his personal board, thumbed the record function on, and looked inquiringly at the humans.



The red-haired one made a noise deep in his throat. "PFC Curtis Ray Berry, sir."



"Allen Rogers, Spec Four," the dark-eyed human with the dark skin said.



The third was only of middle height but had more presence than the other two. Thin, but very fit-looking, he met Yaut's gaze as squarely as a Jao. Indeed, there was a hint of almost Jao fierceness in his stance, which was accentuated by his bright green eyes. "Gabe Tully, PFC."



Yaut deactivated his board. "Done."



Aille turned and strolled off, the matter finished. Yaut ducked his head and followed. Just as they rounded the corner, he heard one of the humans say, "Who in the hell was that?"



"I dunno," one of the others said, "but did you see his face? I never saw a Jao marked like that before. He looked like the Lone Ranger, with that black mask across his eyes."



"Idiots!" the third said, his voice growing fainter as the two Jao walked. "Didn't you hear what the other one called him? Subcommandant. We've just met our new CO, old Pinb's replacement. Of all the luck. He . . . not . . ."



And then Yaut couldn't make out anything but a faint murmur. Lost in thought, Aille retraced their path, his nose to the briny sea wind, the blinding sun in his eyes. Yaut, as was becoming all too usual on this world, was obliged to follow.

* * *



Since they had eaten already that day, Aille did not partake of the meal delivered to their quarters that evening, preferring instead to sit outside on a bench and study the stars. He tried to pick out known systems from this unfamiliar vantage point. This world was much closer to Ekhat-held territory than his home system of Nir and there were no other Jao outposts in the intervening reaches. If the Ekhat did sweep this way, he mused, Terra would be ill-equipped to put up any meaningful resistance. Once the conquest was finished, the great Jao fleets had gone elsewhere. What was left behind was simply a small flotilla, and enough ground troops to maintain order.



Windward, the lights of the converted shipyard gleamed in the darkness and he could see sparks flying as work went on through the night. On the other side of the base, vehicles hummed up and down the access roads and several companies of jinau soldiers were training down on the sand with night-sight equipment. The base seemed much busier than it had under the full light of day and he was tempted to get a closer look.



He'd left his quarters' doorfield off and could see Yaut seated before the datacom, researching a number of questions in the base archives.



Flow eased by until the fraghta came outside and stood behind him, companionably silent.



"Well?" Aille said finally.