The Mrachani blinked. "We must form an alliance, of course," he said, as if that were obvious. "Only together can we hope to defeat the Conquerors Without Reason."
"I see," Thrr-gilag said. "What would the Mrachanis bring to such an alliance?"
The second Mrachani, who up to now had been silent, took a step away from the wall where he'd been inconspicuously standing. "We can provide information," he said. "You fight valiantly against the Conquerors Without Reason; but you seem as yet unaware of an equally great danger lurking in the darkness. The Conquerors Without Reason have allies. Vicious, dangerous aliens called the Yycromae."
Thrr-gilag frowned. The Yycromae had been listed on the maps of Human space that Warrior Command had created. They held four main star systems, if he remembered correctly, grouped together at one edge of Human space. But the impression he'd gotten from the captured recorder's information- "I thought they were merely another conquered race," he said.
"That is what they wish you to believe," the second Mrachani said bitterly. "I urge you not to make the fatal mistake of believing that lie."
The acrid taste of dread flowed over Thrr-gilag's tongue. A new threat, as dangerous as the Humans? "Yet they have only four worlds," he reminded Lahettilas, struggling to keep his growing fear from poisoning his reasoning. "How dangerous can they be?"
"How dangerous would four worlds of the Zhirrzh be?" Lahettilas retorted. "You refuse to believe us at the risk of your people, Searcher Thrr-gilag."
"I'm not refusing to believe you," Thrr-gilag protested, feeling himself floundering a little. "I simply need some proof that-"
"Proof?" Lahettilas cut him off, his voice oozing with scorn. "What proof would you choose, Searcher Thrr-gilag? An attack by Yycroman warships at the flanks of your forces? The sudden destruction of all the warships orbiting over Dorcas? Or would you prefer a devastating attack on the Zhirrzh homeworld?"
"No, of course not," Thrr-gilag said, his tongue flicking nervously. "Could the Yycromae really do that?"
"Not yet," the second Mrachani said darkly. "They have been taken off guard by the strength of the Zhirrzh, as have the Conquerors Without Reason. But that will change." He jabbed a finger toward Thrr-gilag. "If you allow them time."
"Yes," Thrr-gilag said, taking an involuntary step backward. The Mrachani's bearing was suddenly very intimidating. Or perhaps it was the underlying menace in his words. "I will pass your words on to our leaders."
"Do so quickly." Lahettilas cocked his head to the side, studying Thrr-gilag's face. "If, that is, you intend to do so at all," he added, the edge of scorn back in his voice.
"Of course," Thrr-gilag said, fighting back the taste of irritation as it edged through his dark fears. He'd said he would speak to the Overclan Prime-how dare this alien doubt his word? "I'll be back again soon."
"We will await your return," Lahettilas said softly. "If you value the lives of your people, do not make the delay long."
Thrr-mezaz was waiting outside when Thrr-gilag emerged from the Mrachanis' house. "How did it go?" he asked as they headed off across the landing field toward the beachhead command center.
"Not particularly pleasantly," Thrr-gilag said. The sunshine flooding down through the cloudless Dorcas sky seemed somehow darker now than it had been when he'd gone inside. "Rather frightening, if you want the truth."
"Are they still insisting we take them to Oaccanv to meet with Warrior Command?"
"They weren't insisting on that with me," Thrr-gilag said, wondering how much of the conversation he should share with his brother. The Overclan Prime had given him permission to tell Thrr-mezaz about CIRCE, but only if absolutely necessary. "Mostly they were warning me that the Humans have taken on allies."
Thrr-mezaz flicked his tongue. "The Yycromae?"
"Yes," Thrr-gilag said, frowning at him. "How did you hear about that?"
"The word came down from Warrior Command this premidarc," Thrr-mezaz told him. "Apparently the Mrachanis on Mra have been warning Nzz-oonaz about them, too."
"Really," Thrr-gilag said. "Interesting."
"How so?"
"I don't know," Thrr-gilag said slowly. "It just feels odd, somehow. If these Yycromae are so warlike and dangerous, why haven't we seen them in combat yet? For that matter, why didn't that captured Human recorder identify them as Human allies?"
"Maybe a deliberate lie on the Human-Conquerors' part," Thrr-mezaz suggested.
"Or else it's the Mrachanis who are lying," Thrr-gilag countered. "I still don't trust them."
"Frankly, I don't either," Thrr-mezaz said. "But Warrior Command seems to feel differently."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning they've apparently decided on an attack against the Yycromae," Thrr-mezaz said. "Supreme Ship Commander Dkll-kumvit has been ordered to head immediately to a rendezvous point in Mrachani space." His tongue flicked. "Taking our encirclement warships with him."
Thrr-gilag felt his tail twitch. "All of them?"
"All except theRequisite," Thrr-mezaz said, flicking his tongue again. "Which hardly counts as a ship, considering it no longer has a functioning drive. Unless the Human-Conquerors are considerate enough to fly into combat range, it's effectively useless."
Thrr-gilag glanced up at the sky. "I don't like the sound of that."
"Join the group," Thrr-mezaz said sourly. "If they're going to abandon Dorcas, I wish they'd do a clean job of it. Leaving us down here to get raised to Eldership at the Human-Conquerors' leisure is nothing but a waste of good warriors." Thrr-gilag flicked his tongue in a grimace. "Except that they can't afford to abandon Dorcas. Not with-"
He stopped. "Something having to do with that underground room?" Thrr-mezaz asked.
Thrr-gilag sighed. "I think so, yes," he said. "I think there may be something in there the Humans want. Something we can't afford to let them have."
"Interesting," Thrr-mezaz said thoughtfully. "How big would this something be?"
"No idea. Why?"
"Because they had full access to the room for nearly four tentharcs before pulling back to their mountain stronghold," Thrr-mezaz said. "As far as we could tell, they didn't take anything at all out of it."
Thrr-gilag frowned at him. "Are you sure?"
"I've had the Elders monitoring the entrance since the beat we located the place," Thrr-mezaz said. "Two separate Human-Conqueror warrior teams went inside during those four tentharcs. Neither group brought anything out."
"Interesting indeed," Thrr-gilag agreed. From everything he'd heard about the underground chamber and the Human warriors' attempts to get to it, he would have bet his ownfsss that one of the CIRCE components was hidden there. But if so, why hadn't they taken it back to their stronghold? Too big to move? "And now they've just abandoned the area?"
"They've pulled back," Thrr-mezaz corrected. "That doesn't mean they wouldn't come down on us again if I tried sending in more Zhirrzh warriors. As long as any of those Copperhead aircraft are flying, I'm not trying it."
"They're that dangerous?"
"More than you'd believe," Thrr-mezaz said grimly. "They destroyed a complete ground defense laser and raised eight of my warriors to Eldership. Still, it could have been worse. They let the search team leave unharmed, Klnn-dawan-a among them."
Thrr-gilag stopped short, staring at his brother. "You sent Klnn-dawan-a into a combat zone?" he demanded. "What in the eighteen worlds-?"
"She's an expert in alien cultures," Thrr-mezaz snapped back, "and she insisted on going. And I've already had my fill of criticism about it, thank you, from every Dhaa'rr who has access to my Elders. From Speaker Cvv-panav on down."
Thrr-gilag grimaced. "I'm sorry. You're right, of course-Klnn-dawan-awould insist on going to take a look at such a place."
"Just as she insisted on taking the tissue samples you wanted while you talked to the Mrachanis," Thrr-mezaz said. "Come on, let's see if she's finished."
The Human prisoner was lying stretched out on the examination table in the medical room, his arms and legs securely fastened down, his face set in expressionless lines as he gazed straight up at the ceiling. Beside him, Klnn-dawan-a was just withdrawing a sampling needle from the skin of his lower torso. Standing on either side of his head, two armed warriors stood ready for trouble, both looking just slightly queasy as they watched Klnn-dawan-a work. At floor level, out of the Human's line of sight, three Elders were also keeping watch. "Finished?" Thrr-gilag asked.
"Almost," Klnn-dawan-a said, returning the sampler to its case. "I just need a couple more."
"How's he behaving?" Thrr-mezaz asked.
"Remarkably well," Klnn-dawan-a told him. "I can tell the sampling procedure is uncomfortable, but he hasn't struggled or even shouted at me."
"Just as Pheylan Cavanagh was," Thrr-gilag murmured. "Aggressive in groups, submissive as individuals."
"Let's not talk as if that were already an established fact," Klnn-dawan-a cautioned him. "That's what we're here to find out."
"Besides, most intelligent species get pretty submissive when they've got two laser rifles pointed at them," Thrr-mezaz added, clicking on the darklight relay and slipping a translator link into his ear slits. "You need the speaker set up?"
"No, thanks," Thrr-gilag said, stepping to the prisoner's other side. "I'm Thrr-gilag; Kee'rr," he said, switching to the Human language. "This is Klnn-dawan-a; Dhaa'rr. We've come here to study you."
"I got that impression," the Human said. His tone was very similar to the one Pheylan Cavanagh had often used while a prisoner, a tone Thrr-gilag had always associated with quiet mockery. "I'm Sergeant Janovetz of the Peacekeepers. How much more studying are you going to do?"
"She's almost finished," Thrr-gilag assured him. "Why did you come here to the Zhirrzh encampment?"
"We saw the other spacecraft come down," the Human told him, his face twitching as Klnn-dawan-a slid a sampling needle into his upper leg. "We thought there might be injured Humans aboard who needed our help."
"You're a healer, then?" Thrr-gilag asked.
"I can do some healing," Sergeant Janovetz said. "Our commander reasoned that if the injuries were more severe than I could handle, we could then offer the assistance of one of our more expert healers."
"Ask him about the attack on the Mrachanis," Thrr-mezaz muttered.
"I'm told your fellow Humans launched an attack on this encampment six fullarcs ago," Thrr-gilag said in the Human language. "There were explosions with the purpose of killing the Mrachanis who had arrived."
Sergeant Janovetz shrugged his shoulders. "I can only tell you what I've already told your commander. It wasn't a Human attack."
"Then explain it."
"I can't," the Human said. "Maybe if you'd let me see the site, I could tell you more."
Thrr-gilag looked at his brother. "Any reason you haven't let him look at the attack site?"
"Lots of them," Thrr-mezaz growled. "The first of which is I don't trust him. He may claim to have healer skills, but he's almost certainly a warrior. We've already taken one Elderdeath weapon off him-who knows what other tricks he might have under his tongue?"
"Letting him out might be a good way to find out," Klnn-dawan-a suggested. "What can he do, really?"
"He could try to kill the Mrachanis," Thrr-mezaz said. "You may have faith in that fancy obedience suit you brought with you; I don't. Or he could raise more of my warriors to Eldership or study our defenses in preparation for a Human-Conqueror attack. Who knows?"
"We don't have any proof that he ever intended to kill the Mrachanis," Thrr-gilag reminded him. "Besides, with Nzz-oonaz on Mra, these two aliens can hardly be that important anymore."
"And as to whatever other damage he might do," Klnn-dawan-a added quietly, "I hardly think the Human-Conquerors would need any help from him. We both saw those Copperhead warriors in action, Thrr-mezaz."
Thrr-gilag looked across the table at her, his tail speeding up as the fresh realization of what might have happened to her came flooding over his tongue. Out in the center of a Human attack...
"Have there been any more explosives attacks?" Sergeant Janovetz asked.
Thrr-gilag glanced at Thrr-mezaz, caught his brother's negative flick of the tongue. "No," he told the prisoner.
"Are the Mrachanis still here?"
"Yes."
"Well, then," the prisoner concluded reasonably, "if wehad launched that first attack, don't you think we'd have kept at it until we'd succeeded?"
Thrr-gilag looked at Thrr-mezaz. "Well?"
"He's got a point," Thrr-mezaz conceded. "I've been wondering the same thing myself."
"Then let's let him look at the site," Thrr-gilag urged.
"You just want to see if he'll turn violent," Thrr-mezaz said with a grimace. "But I suppose we ought to try it. It could be a trick, though. You two"-he flicked his tongue at two of the watching Elders-"go back to the command/monitor room and have Second Commander Klnn-vavgi put all perimeter warrior teams on alert. Wait there until all warriors and Elders have reported in, then report back to me here."
"I obey," one of the two Elders said for both of them, and they vanished.
"All right," Thrr-mezaz said, his tone suddenly changing as he glanced around the room. "We've only got a couple of hunbeats before they get back. Let's get to it." He gestured to the two warriors. "Thrr-gilag, Klnn-dawan-a: this is Warrior First Vstii-suuv and Warrior Third Qlaa-nuur; both Aree'rr. Warriors, Thrr-gilag and Klnn-dawan-a have brought us a second cutting from Prr't-zevisti'sfsss."
"Thrr-mezaz!" Thrr-gilag hissed, flicking his tongue warningly toward the third Elder, still hovering beneath the table.
"It's all right," the Elder said. "I already know-I'm the Dorcas end of the secure pathway Prr't-casst-a set up between you and Commander Thrr-mezaz."
"We're the only ones on Dorcas in on it, though," Thrr-mezaz warned. "So keep it strictly quiet. Vstii-suuv, have you been able to identify any other routes into Human-Conqueror territory?"
"We've located two other possibilities," Vstii-suuv said. "Neither is an especially appealing climb, but both should get us within the five-thoustride range we need."
"Assuming we can catch the Human-Conquerors sleeping," Qlaa-nuur added. "If not, we're going to have the same problem we ran into last time."
"Last time?" Thrr-gilag asked.
"We got caught halfway up a cliff face," Thrr-mezaz said. "We were able to get down; and then they just let us go."
"Like they did at the underground room?" Klnn-dawan-a asked.
"Very much like that," Thrr-mezaz said. "But we can talk about that later. Vstii-suuv, when do you think we'll be able to try one of these new routes?"