McCammon did not move. His sharp blade pressed hard against her neck, and his cold blue eyes did not waver.

He couldn’t bear to lose her.

“Lay down your weapons,” Jora’h shouted. “Stop!”

His surviving guard kithmen shuddered. Then, in unison, they ceased. Absolutely obedient to their Mage-Imperator, they could not refuse his order, no matter how filled with bloodlust they might be. The surviving Ildiran fighters cast their stolen weapons to the ground, as if in disgust.

Jora’h desperately searched for some other way out, but he knew he could not fight his way through an entire base of human soldiers. The plan had been hopeless from the beginning. “We surrender.”

McCammon’s shoulders slumped. He seemed entirely relieved as he withdrew his dagger from Nira’s throat and let her go.

Commandant Tilton looked like a scarecrow, wrung out and shaken. His voice was shrill. “Seize them! Put them in separate cells.” He heaved deep breaths as if about to retch.

More than half of Jora’h’s loyal guard kithmen had been slaughtered, though they had dealt far more damage to their human captors. He folded his arms around Nira, and she began to sob.

McCammon looked at the Mage-Imperator. “It was the swiftest and most efficient means to end the crisis,” he said, as if in apology.

62

General Kurt Lanyan

After being trounced at the Osquivel shipyards, Lanyan wasn’t in a hurry to get back to Earth. In spite of his good news about locating one of the Confederation’s major industrial operations and seizing enough Roamer ekti to supply the EDF for months, he knew the Chairman could read between the lines.

He would consider Lanyan a failure. Again.

He ordered his battle group to stop at two other potential targets on the way, stalling by more than a week, but both turned out to be abandoned. Finally, and without much fanfare, his raiding group returned to Earth.

He went directly to the Hansa HQ to make his report. The Chairman remained silent at his desk for a long moment while Lanyan’s uneasiness grew. He stood at attention, feeling like a cadet about to receive a dressing-down, and his practiced smile of pride began to falter. When he swallowed, his throat had become unexpectedly dry. He thought at least the Golgen report would have satisfied the man.

Finally the Chairman sighed. “Now I’m going to have to see about sending someone to administer the Roamer skymines or we’ll lose all that potential, too. At least you got the ekti.”

Lanyan was glad he had not mentioned finding Patrick Fitzpatrick; no doubt the Chairman would complain that the young man should have been brought back to Earth in chains. Probably so, Lanyan thought, but given a few moments of media spotlight, Fitzpatrick could have caused a lot of damage.

“Yes, sir. Those facilities are vital.” He didn’t know what else to say. “During the raid, I was careful to keep the manufacturing capabilities intact — ”

The Chairman’s voice dripped with scorn. “While you and your ships have been on a boisterous raiding expedition, and getting chased off by a few ragtag Roamers and deserters from the EDF, I’ve made difficult decisions about the very future of the Hansa.” He didn’t even bother to look at Lanyan as he spoke, but when he finally glanced up, his gray eyes were as cold as liquid nitrogen. “Come with me, General. I have to inspect the new robot facilities. It’s time you see what has been happening in your absence.”

Flustered, Lanyan followed him out of the Hansa HQ. He had left Conrad Brindle in command of his ships in orbit, where the battered robot-controlled vessels were being surrendered to human control again. The sight of all those stolen EDF craft had made him furious. No wonder protests and complaints were popping up all over the newsnets. How could anyone forget what the black robots had done? What the hell was Chairman Wenceslas thinking to agree to an alliance?

The two men barely spoke a word during their trip to one of the retooled factories. Lanyan shuddered as he remembered the murderously programmed Soldier compies — and now the Hansa was placing its head into the same noose again? He was certain Basil Wenceslas must have some plan, but he hadn’t been able to determine what it was. No one had.

The whole manufacturing facility, with its cavernous warehouse bay, thermal stacks, and thrumming assembly lines, produced a deafening background roar. Dozens of monstrous black robots paraded about the assembly floor, inspecting ebony components, circuit plates, programming modules intricately etched in supercooled baths. For every black robot, thankfully, Lanyan observed at least ten human soldiers and inspectors.

Basil dismissed his obvious anxiety. “Nothing to worry about. Our inspectors maintain round-the-clock surveillance on every aspect of the production line.”

“Even so, I don’t trust thesethings.”

The Chairman gave him a paternal smile. “We also have this whole factory rigged with explosives, and I can destroy it with the snap of a finger. It is to the robots’ benefit to cooperate with us. I understand how Sirix thinks. His hatred for the Klikiss supersedes any disagreements he had with us in the past.”

“Sir, our last ‘disagreement’ cost us two-thirds of the EDF fleet and close to a million human soldiers!”

Deputy Cain walked out of a floor-level office, followed by the Hansa’s new lead scientists, Jane Kulu and Tito Andropolis. Lanyan had met the two before, and thought their enthusiasm extended beyond their technical abilities. Cain, on the other hand, kept his true feelings hidden. “The robots finished retooling this facility, and Sirix pronounced the production line to be satisfactory.”

Kulu interjected. “The robots have helped us modify and improve the efficiency of our own process lines.”

“Didn’t we say that last time?” Lanyan said, looking around in alarm. “When we copied the robot programming modules?”

“This is completely different,” Andropolis insisted. “This facility should be fully operational within days.”

“And the robots will begin reassembling our own warships,” the Chairman said. “I have promised them one hundred new robots for every EDF ship that is placed back into service. Over just the past few days, Sirix has finished reconditioning fifteen Mantas and one Juggernaut — much faster than we could do it ourselves. So you see, if we cooperate, then everyone is happy.”

Lanyan had no real alternative but to agree. “If the robots deliver on their promises and they restore our fleet, then I will withdraw my objections.”

“I’m sick of people voicing objections.” Basil walked smartly away from the process line.

Lanyan followed him, first swallowing his angry retorts, then searching for a politic way to raise the questions still plaguing him. Finally he stepped in front of the Chairman and blocked his way. The cold inside him went as deep as his bones, but he swallowed his pride and said, “Sir, I know that some parts of my recent performance have not met your expectations. Please tell me how I can earn back your trust and confidence. Give me a mission to prove myself.”