There were five Malarans seated at a roundconference table—the prime minister, two other males, and twofemales. Nearby was a bandaged figure in a hospital bed that wasadjusted to a sitting position.
“Carrak!” Zia sprinted over to the general,aghast at her battered condition. “My God, you look awful.”
“Yes, I am aware.”
“But you were so incredible. I’ve never seenanything like it in my life.” Zia eyed the general’s right arm,which was in a sling. Blood was beginning to seep through the whitebandages on her chest, and her entire left leg was wrapped tightlyas well. “Shouldn’t you be in the hospital?”
Carrak ignored the question.
“General Carrak.” Rem saluted smartly. “Zee’sright. You were amazing.”
Turning to Prime Minister Tanbur, Rem gave aslight bow, Malaran style. “Good evening, sir.”
Tanbur stood and smiled. “Thank you both forcoming. There is no time to lose.”
“What’s wrong?” Zia asked him. “It was adraw, wasn’t it? Are we missing something?”
“Have a seat and we will explain. Would youlike some refreshments?”
“No, they fed us on the cruiser.” Zia chose aseat close to Carrak’s bed, and Rem sat next to her, his expressionwary.
Zia noted how he began studying a matrix onthe individual vid screen in front of his seat, so she turned herattention to the one that had been supplied for her, then groaned.It listed every possible battle configuration of mechs, from simpleone-on-ones to the most complicated combinations of prowlers,skirmishers, giants, and even hoverbots.
“As you can see, it is time to choose thenext configuration,” said Tanbur. “It will be an exhaustingprocess, and so I apologize in advance. Let me introduce myadvisors. You know Carrak, of course. This is Taryak, our chiefstrategist. Marrur, an expert on Alluvan psychology. And Barrak,Admur, and Partur, our tech experts.”
Zia stared at them in disgust. “Can’t thiswait a day or two? Carrak needs to recuperate—”
“Zee,” Rem murmured, covering her hand withhis own. “Something’s going on. Let’s find out what it is.”
She winced in apology. “Sorry.”
The prime minister nodded. “Captain Stone iscorrect. There is no time to waste. As you know, the rules ofwarrior challenge give us thirty Malaran days before the nextbattle. But as the target, we have the right to shorten that time.Our only limitation is that we must give Alluva four days’ noticeof the configuration and battle site.” He paused, then revealed ina deep, authoritative voice, “We will issue that notice at dawntomorrow.”
Zia gasped.
This time, even Rem could not stay silent.“Are you saying the next battle will take place in five days?That’s all the time the new group will have to train? Does thatmean . . . ?” He glanced back at Carrak, then murmured, “Does thatmean General Carrak won’t be piloting the colossus?”
“The doctors assure me I will be capable bythat time,” Carrak corrected him. “The issue is not my condition,but that of my mech. It was heavily damaged, and the engineers areworking on her now. If they have repaired her in time, I willparticipate. If not, then one of the other colossus pilots willserve. Remember,” she added proudly, “it takes eight years to builda colossus that is attuned to a particular pilot. Malara would notwaste such resources on an ordinary warrior. Each of us who havebeen given that honor is fully capable of leading Malara tovictory. Never doubt that.”
“Of course, General.” Rem cleared his throat.“May I ask why Captain Quito and I are here?”
Carrak scowled. “Prime Minister Tanbur isconvinced your advice is of value in the selection process.”
“Are you kidding?” Zia interrupted. “I’m theone who suggested the prowler, and that didn’t exactly work out.It’s crazy to rely on me, although Captain Stone will be a hugeasset. He has studied mech warfare his entire life.”
Tanbur arched an eyebrow. “We do not agreethat the prowler was a poor choice. General Carrak assures us thatit was a deciding factor in our ability to withstand Alluva’sstrategy.”
Rem nodded. “It’s true, Zee. Alluva probablypracticed for months, maybe even a year or more, so that they’d beultra-prepared when they issued the challenge. That would havegiven them a huge advantage, except they didn’t anticipate aprowler in the mix, so that threw them off. It made their advanceknowledge less useful.”
“That is correct,” Carrak admitted. “And ourprowler struck the first blow. The fact that it was so effectivegave us confidence. We will owe a debt to its brave pilot for yearsto come.”
“Oh!” Zia remembered that the prowler hadbeen operated by Gannor’s cousin. “Did she survive?”
“The doctors are doing their best to save herat this very moment. The pilot of the skirmisher died instantly,though.”
“Yeah, that’s how it looked,” Rem said sadly.“But what a hero he was. Absolutely fearless.”
Carrak nodded. “It was an honor serving withhim. And with Annyak also. She piloted her prowler brilliantly.”Grimacing, the general added, “We must begin our deliberations now.There is no time for idle chatting. Zia? Do you understand?”
“I’ll be quiet,” Zia promised. Then sheturned her attention back to her vid screen as the prime minister’sstrategy expert began to lecture them on the process that would befollowed.
* * * *
By midnight, they had eliminated eighteenconfigurations, which would have seemed like good progress if theyhadn’t been such easy decisions. There were certain immutableparameters to be respected, such as the fact that they had toinclude at least one giant in any configuration so that theAlluvans would fear the Quito giant’s involvement. And even inlight of that proscription, Rem stubbornly argued againsteliminating the famous one-on-one, skirmisher-versus-skirmisherconfiguration that had allowed Daniel Quito to prevail in theconflict between Earth and Alluva.
“I can do it too. I know it,” heinsisted, his voice confident but also weary. “And even if youcan’t bring yourself to use me, your best Malaran skirmisherpilot can beat the best Alluvan. Plus, you’ll still have theelement of surprise to a point, because I’m sure they stoppedpracticing non-giant configs the minute they heard Zee was on herway to Malara.”
“We will leave it on the matrix for themoment,” Carrak muttered. “But only so that we can discusssomething else. Anything else,” she added in a frustratedgrowl.
Zia gave Rem a playful nudge. “You’re worsethan I am.”
“Yeah, I guess
