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Atvar said, “Here is the coh but not supreme in the conquest fleet, to remind him of his place, then went on, “Analysis shows the plutonium the SSSR used in its weapon to have co Tosev 3’s past autuet nuclear material, but we have no evidence they can manufacture it on their own”

“Cold comfort to the thousands of males dead because you didn’t think the Tosevites could do even so much,” Straha jeered

“Shiplord, you forget yourself,” Kirel said from beside Atvar; sometimes a near-equal could call attention to a breach of decorunore

“By the Emperor, Shiplord, I do not,” Straha shouted back At the n, he cast down both eye turrets so he looked at the floor for a moment So did every otherthe shiplords grew; as Kirel had said, Straha’s conduct was

But Straha hi but staid “Who, Exalted Fleetlord, led the raid in which we lost this nuclear material?” he demanded

Atvar’s gut knotted Now he knew the direction froht no comfort He tried to head off the shiplord: “That is not relevant to the matter before us now”

Many males, probably even h, refused to be headed off “It most certainlyis relevant, Exalted Fleetlord,” he howled “Wasn’t the chief Big Ugly male the one named Skorzeny?”

With its hisses, the naed to a male of the Race That, however, was not why it drew a sharp reaction froiven the Race grief ever since the conquest fleet landed on Tosev 3 And-

Straha continued as Atvar had known he would: “Exalted Fleetlord, along with pro, did you not also promise us the imminent destruction of Skorzeny? Have we achieved either of these goals?”

His sarcasreat hall rise to a din Males shouted angrily at one another Through the uproar, Atvar answered steadily, “Shiplord, you knoe have not I assure you, I find that at least as unfortunate as you do”

The sard

onic reply did nothing to calm the shiplords It certainly did not calm Straha, who said, “Instead of Moskva captured, we have a major force ruined Instead of Skorzeny dead, we have the city of Split lost, Croatia more fir of what he did over every frequency on which the Deutsche broadcast Assembled shiplords, I submit to you that these plans were not adequately developed”

He couldn’t have been ested that Atvar was in the Big Uglies’ pay Accusing awas as harsh a conde, too, for the plan on which he’d relied in Split had come fro perhaps the best intelligence officer the Race possessed, was-or rather, had been-addicted to the Tosevite herb ginger, which could easily have clouded his judgment

The fleetlord did say, “Experience on Tosev 3 has been that plans cannot always be as immutable as we conceived them to be back on Home Any male who does not see this is a fool”

“Your pardon, Exalted Fleetlord, but you are the one who has failed to adapt to the conditions pertaining to this world,” Straha said “I have come to this conclusion reluctantly, I assure you; subordination to properly constituted authority has served the Race well for tens of thousands of years But the SSSR’s atonominious failure at Split, each in its oay, have shown beyond any possible doubt that our conduct of the can to conquer Tosev 3 has been dreadfully mishandled”

“What would you have us do?” Atvar said angrily “Throw our own ato, we do not have that many to throw For another, we do not kno ot from us For a third, we also do not kno close the SSSR-and several other Tosevite e nuclear materials and weapons on their own And for a fourth, we cannot devastate large areas of this planet, not with the colonization fleet already on its way here from Home”

That should have uh, the shiplord’s eye turrets twisted to let hi his strength, Atvar thought For the first tih him Could Straha…?