Conquerors' Heritage

"I appreciate the warning, Supreme Commander," Thrr-mezaz said. "I'll try not to let any of this interfere with the smooth operation of this beachhead."

"I'm sure you won't, Commander." Dkll-kumvit gestured at the village-area map on the wall. "So. Anything new on your search efforts north of the village?"

"Not yet," Thrr-mezaz said. "The Elders have completed their examination of the surface and are starting to look underground."

"Hard work, that, even for Elders," Dkll-kumvit commented. "There are always a

"Yes." Thrr-mezaz nodded. "Quite thoroughly."

"Um," Dkll-kumvit rumbled, gazing at the map again. "You really think that Human-Conqueror warrior team was trying to get to something out there?"

"I wouldn't have the Elders searching if I didn't," Thrr-mezaz said.

"And if they don't find anything?"

"I'll ask your permission to move the pyramid to a new area and continue the search," Thrr-mezaz told him. "Whatever's out there, the Human-Conquerors seem to consider it important. I wouldn't want to treat it any less so."

"Well, I hope you're right," Dkll-kumvit said. "A success here could prove highly important. In more than just matters of war."

Thrr-mezaz nodded. A significant warrior success that followed directly from his placement of the pyramids outside the perimeter would go a long way toward deflating the arguments of his political opponents. "I understand, Supreme Commander," he said. "If there's something out there the Human-Conquerors want, we'll get to it first."

"Good." Dkll-kumvit stood up. "Then I suppose I'd best get back to the Imperative and let you get on with your work. Never know when the Human-Conquerors will try their hand at another attack, and I'd hate to be stuck here on the ground while my warships fight it out up there."

He reached for the hummer; paused. "One other thing, Commander," he said. "I've heard back from Warrior Command on my request for reinforcements. It's been denied."

Thrr-mezaz looked at Kl

"The whole request," Dkll-kumvit confirmed. "No new warships for me; no new ground warriors for you. And no heavy air-assault craft for either of us."

Thrr-mezaz grimaced. So much for any attacks on the Human-Conquerors' mountain stronghold, then, at least for the foreseeable future. The expeditionary force had included just two of the heavy-weapon air-bombardment craft, a tenth of the number that should have been assigned for this sort of invasion. Dkll-kumvit had argued strongly against the decision, protests that had been ignored by the parsimonious strategists at Warrior Command. The result had been both inevitable and crippling: both air-assault craft had been destroyed within the first tentharc of the invasion. "Did they give you any reasons?" he asked Dkll-kumvit.

"All they would say was that they had nothing to spare right now," the supreme commander said.

"What about the veterans' reserves?" Kl

"I asked about that," Dkll-kumvit said. "I'm still waiting for an answer." He hesitated. "I have heard, though—strictly unofficially and not to be repeated—that Warrior Command has already launched expeditionary forces onto two more Human-Conqueror worlds. And that they're pla

Thrr-mezaz stared at him. Five more beachheads, before their first three target worlds had even been pacified? "Excuse me, Supreme Commander, but that strikes me as a bit... premature."

"Insane was the word I used, Commander," Dkll-kumvit said heavily. "I don't know what in the eighteen worlds they're thinking of back there. I can only assume they have some good reason for it."

Thrr-mezaz looked at Kl

"Perhaps," Dkll-kumvit said. Reaching to the desk, he picked up the hummer and shut it off. "I just hope they aren't getting overconfident," he added into the sudden silence. "This isn't going to be like taking on four planets' worth of Isintorxi, you know."

Thrr-mezaz looked at Kl

The latearc darkness had fallen, masking the village in a sort of watchful gloom. Shifting position on his couch, Thrr-mezaz stared out the window of his office, squeezing his hands against the sides of his head and the dull pain throbbing there. A headache, generated by Dkll-kumvit's hummer. And by Dkll-kumvit's words.

Behind him the door slid open. "Commander?" Kl

"Come on in, Second," Thrr-mezaz said, gesturing him over. "I'm just sitting here in the dark."

"Yes, I can see that," Kl

"Headache," Thrr-mezaz said. "Or trying to think, or basic fear of the light. Take your pick. Any report from our intrepid search party?"

"Well, the major news is that the Dorcas topground has metallic ore veins in it," Kl

"This is a war," Thrr-mezaz snapped, abruptly sick and tired of the Elders and their attitude. "In case they've forgotten, let me remind them that wars do not involve large shares of personal happiness. I get any more of this whining—about anything—and I'm going to send the whole batch of them back to their shrines. They can sit there and watch the clouds go by for the rest of eternity for all I care. You got that?"

"Yes, Commander," Kl

For a few beats the room was silent. Thrr-mezaz squeezed his hands against his headache, the sudden flare of anger burning down again into tiredness. "All right, then," he said more calmly. "Aside from complaints, did they have anything to report?"

"Not yet," Kl

"I know," Thrr-mezaz said, turning back to the window. What was the Human-Conqueror commander doing up there, he wondered, secure behind his explosive missiles and his Copperhead warriors? Was he staring out into the darkness, too, wondering and worrying about what his enemy was doing? Or was he instead poring over maps and timetables with his warriors, confidently pla

In any given arena, at any given time, one side or the other always had the initiative. Or so Thrr-mezaz had been taught. Which side, he wondered, had it here?

"Commander?" Kl

Thrr-mezaz gave his head one last squeeze and dropped his hands back to the desk. "Enough is enough, Kl

"You going to petition for more heavy air-assault craft?"

"I had in mind something with higher odds of success," Thrr-mezaz said. "What do we know about the approaches to the Human-Conquerors' stronghold?"

"Well, we know there aren't any easy ones," Kl