The Course of Empire(141)

Aille's mind whirled. The Narvo was just abandoning this world to an inevitable destruction, not even trying to make the available defenses work? "I will consider both options," he said, attempting to make sense of the situation.



"Sir?" Aguilera held out a folder stuffed with papers. "We've been studying the intel you sent back and have some ideas to discuss with you, a few things that have never been tried before."



"Oppuk will only do what has been done in the past," Yaut said quietly. "It is his strength, to follow procedure as closely as possible. Then no one can say he turned away from vithrik. He will be protected in a fortress of custom, from which you can only pry him by widening outward yet again. It is always so, with advance-by-oscillation."



Never, since leaving Pluthrak's comfortable, mist-swathed kochan-house on Marit An, had Aille felt so young, so utterly out of his depth. It was as though unsuspected deep water had closed over his head and he no longer knew in which direction the surface lay.



Wrot flattened his battered ears. His stance was enigmatic, not wholly one thing or the other, though Aille thought he glimpsed an element of exasperation.



"What has been done in the past has never worked!" The old combat veteran's whiskers quivered. "I have had enough of Narvo's famous strength. Here, at least, that strength is false. Rigidity masquerading as rigor. Look elsewhere, Pluthrak. Humans excel at ollnat, thinking up things-that-might-be. They see beyond the limitations of what-has-always-worked to what-could-work. It is their genius—often also their weakness—but their ability to innovate is the single biggest cause of our long struggle to control this world. Which will never end until we associate with it. Properly!"



There must be a course of action here that satisfied the vithrik of all, human and Jao alike. "Does the Governor have orders for me?"



"Not specific ones," Tamt said. Her posture faded into abashed-regret. "He has not mentioned you by name, since your report arrived. However, he has ordered the fleet prepared and Jao ground forces sequestered in prepared shelters on the surface. As one of his officers, you are included in that command."



"I must speak with him, after I study Aguilera and Nath's proposals."



"You cannot," Wrot said. His tattered ear gave him a comical aspect Aille had not noticed before. "Oppuk krinnu ava Narvo has already boarded his personal transport and left to join his flotilla, which he's apparently positioning behind this planet's moon."



"Then I will speak to his service," Aille said, though the news left him even more off balance. "They can set up a vid conference."



"I will arrange it," Tamt said. "As soon as possible."



Caitlin shook her head and walked toward the groundcars suddenly. Aille was surprised, as he had given her none of the subtle body clues indicating his readiness for such an action. Ah, well, perhaps Yaut had. Or perhaps she simply misread the situation. She was human, after all, and young. Though she was the most accomplished of her species when it came to bodyspeech, she could hardly be expected to be as proficient as a Jao.



He had Aguilera and Nath ride in the back with him while Yaut took the front, and the others squeezed into the second vehicle. It was undignified, true, but time was short. "Now," he said to Aguilera as the car began to move, "explain your new ideas on how to fight the Ekhat."



Aguilera shuffled through his folder, then held up a picture of the Ekhat vessel, generated during the previous encounter. "Nath and I have studied the specs on this ship in the Jao records. It's surprisingly flimsy, for all its fire power."



Aille leaned his head back against the cushioned seat and closed his eyes, trying to picture all he had learned back in the Pluthrak kochanata. "Yes." Weariness pulled at him like an outgoing tide. It had been overlong since his last dormancy period.



"What about ramming them?"



Aille's eyes opened. "Ramming? With what?"



"Another ship, sir." Aguilera was sitting bolt-upright, his body rigid with clearly recognizable anticipation.



Yaut turned around from the front seat. "Narvo would never waste one of his ships on such an unproven action."



"Not Narvo's ships, sir." Aguilera straightened the edges of the papers in the file. "Ours."



"Are you speaking of Pluthrak?" Aille waggled an ear in desultory consideration. "I brought only one ship with me, upon my assignment to this world, and it is hardly suitable for ramming."



Aguilera's eyes were strangely bright for a human. Aille could almost see the thought patterns dancing across them. "No, the ships in Pascagoula, the ones we've been refitting!"