Jindigar began gabbling at him full-speed. Chinchee dropped the ration bar and gabbled back, talking at the same time as Jindigar, who never stopped. Soon the shellperson was twittering and hooting with them. The pentad and everyone else gathered to watch this demonstration, and every once in a while, Shorwh put in a squeak or howl.
The duad link gave Krinata the gist. Jindigar was asking nun to stop the attack, and Chinchee was objecting that it was impossible. Jindigar insisted, and Chinchee's resolve weakened as the hivebinder rang in on Jindigar's side. Its nature was to bind mind-groupings, and that's what it wanted to do. But Chinchee overrode that with the edict of the plain's hives that the destroyers must be destroyed.
Before Jindigar could point out that the herds would also destroy people who respected the land, the main hatch clanged open, and armored feet marched into the bay. There must have been more than a dozen fully battle-armored troopers surrounding the fortress Commander. "Stand to! Which one of you is in charge here?"
As his troopers spread out to cover them, a few guards accompanied the Cassrian Commander down the center of the bay toward them. Krinata rose. This is the one who threw Chinchee in here without food or water. He deserves the same treatment.
The native was still too weak to stand, but the others gathered protectively in front of him. No one answered the Commander. The chairman of the defense committee for the settlement wasn't there. Terab was, but she had not been elected by the settlers.
The Commander surveyed them all, then zeroed in on Krinata and Jindigar, his manner hasty—almost jittery. "Technically a Prince outranks you, Lady Zavaronne, but he's Dushau. So I'll talk to you. Come."
He about-faced and started for the hatch, his guards closing on Krinata. He wants something from me! He knows who we are–why hasn' t he lifted off? She stood her ground. "Wait a moment!" The Cassrian turned. "First, we don't go by rank. Second, I don't go anywhere without Jindigar. Third, I won't speak for this whole group. You'll have to negotiate with all of us."
"Negotiate? You're hardly in a position to negotiate."
"No? We can stop the stampede."
The silence was profound. Even the faint wheezing of the armored breathing apparatus suspended. "Stampede," said the Cassrian at last. "How did you know—"
Krinata interrupted, keeping the initiative. "Ever heard of an Oliat? They know things about planets—like how to avoid enraging the native species to the point where they turn on you in suicidal attacks. Pity Imperial Squadrons don't employ them—"
"Enraging—?"
She had his attention now. She stepped out from the group. "Now, if you want our help saving this fortress, you'll have to come here and speak civilly to Prince Jindigar and his associates. Put your case nicely, and you could find yourselves with valuable allies."
As the Commander scanned the mass of settlers, then turned to survey the troopers deployed around the hatch, Krinata saw the bulkheads turn to a crazy patchwork of schematic diagrams that momentarily took on a depth as the pentad perception joined. Then it cut off, leaving her gasping. She saw Darllanyu's hands clench. The pentad was as frightened of the Archive as they were.
Jindigar stepped out of the group to stand beside her, whispering, "Sorry, I had to know." Then he addressed the Commander. "On the other hand, now that you've had such a power failure, I could simply ask Threntisn over there to work those three manual override levers and open the cargo bay doors behind us. We aren't your prisoners. We don't have to be your allies. We can all take our chances with the herds. Somehow I don't think they'll hurt us. It's you they're after."
"They're only animals—"
"Animals? Yes. Only? Well, they know what's been devastating their homes. They are willing to negotiate."
The Cassrian emitted a derisive hoot, no doubt a profanity. Jindigar didn't react, but a Holot officer behind the Cassrian said, "Commander, I've seen an Oliat pull off miracles. I can believe they could negotiate with a herd of wild beasts. It might be worth leveling with the prisoners. I doubt there's much they don't know already."
From the stir that caused among the distant troops, Krinata sensed that they all agreed. Darllanyu moved close to Jindigar and, in a warning undertone, asked in Dushauni, "You aren't planning to Invert—"
"Of course not. We are where we should be. Chinchee's friend will arrange everything."
The Commander watched that exchange warily. His men had lost heart for suicide missions merely to net two political prisoners. He had to be careful what orders he gave now. He stepped closer to Krinata. "What are your terms?"
What could make a loyal Imperial betray the Empire by consorting with the people who'd assassinated an Emperor? And then she knew. "Your Orbital support is gone, isn't it? They've abandoned you here!"
Krinata saw some of the farther troops move to make mystical signs. Another muttered cynically, "She must be a telepath. A few humans are, you know."
"We only have a few minutes more to live," said the Cassrian. The deck was definitely vibrating now. "I may as well admit it. They detected a large blip heading this way. There's been a lot of privateering in this war, and our ships are considered great prizes. But this planet has left our Fleet undercrewed, and low on spare parts. We're too far from our supply lines to risk an engagement. When the Fleet Captain was told we couldn't lift, he ordered landers down to evacuate us. But the pilots said going down to this planet was suicide with that stampede coming, and not one would volunteer, not even when I reported we had you.
"We've nothing to fight that herd with. Central power systems have failed, and so all our defensive screens are down. There's enough tonnage out there to shove us right over that cliff, and without power to the a-gravs, the fall won't do us any good. We're beaten—by your planet, or maybe by your Oliat."
Darllanyu bristled, but Jindigar said coolly, "The only hand raised against your troops, Commander, has been your own."
From the Cassrian's stiff pride, Krinata knew he'd never surrendered before, certainly never to his own prisoners. But his voice was perfectly modulated as he said, "State your terms."
"Our only terms.," said Jindigar, "are that when we've saved your fortress, you and your troops will join our community, live among us without regard to your origins or training, as fellow refugees from the crumbling Allegiancy Empire. We won't single you out as troopers, nor hold the violence of this day against you. And you won't set yourselves apart from the community but will give freely of every resource this fortress has yet to give."
Feet shuffled in the background, but the Commander's second urged, "Accept. I'll get them to agree."
"Done! Adjutant, pass the word!" Then, as if the words were torn from him, he added, "Strike the Imperial colors." The Adjutant muttered into his helmet pickup, and the Commander asked, "What do we do?"
"Don't strike the colors, Commander," said Krinata. 'Tell your people to salute the colors and remember they've been part of one of the greatest glories ever created in our galaxy. We've served the Empire well, but now it is dead, and we must bury it and go on with our lives. But we must never forget the peace and prosperity it brought to the galaxy."
He considered, then amended his order, while Jindigar turned to Chinchee. A passage opened to expose the tall white native and his little black friend. Krinata sensed Jindigar's inward uncertainty. They hadn't won the native over yet. Jindigar knelt and respectfully asked the hivebinder to come onto his shoulder, stroking the little shellperson affectionately.
Through Jindigar's touch Krinata could feel the hivebinder quivering with the restrained need to bind. How could Jindigar, with his limited command of the language, explain that those who had gutted hives all across the plain were now friends of the hives? Did they have wars, that they could understand truce?