Blackcollar: The Judas Solution by Timothy Zahn Page A

Haberdae assured him. "Whenever and wherever they come down, we'll have them covered."
    "Excellent," Taakh said.
    "I just hope Prefect Galway's right about them being of some use," Haberdae added under his breath.
    "I've got a lot of men and resources tied up in this."
    With a supreme effort, Galway ignored him. Haberdae didn't like Galway's plan. He hadn't liked it right from the very beginning, and hadn't been at all shy about saying so. The fact that Taakh's support of the operation meant that neither Haberdae nor anyone else on Khala got a vote in the matter only made it worse.
    And the Ryq hadn't been shy about making that clear, either. Nor, apparently, was he interested in starting now. "I ha' seen Lathe in action," Taakh said in response to Haberdae's quiet comment, taking a step closer to the prefect. "The 'lan rill rork."
    Haberdae grimaced. "Yes, Your Eminence," he said, his voice neutral again. Loyalty-conditioning permitted a man to offer suggestions to a Ryqril, or in certain circumstances to even argue with them. But no one argued with khassq -class warriors. Not if they wanted to stay alive.
    "Looks like they're splitting into two groups, sir," one of the techs at the monitor panel spoke up.
    "Yae ha' 'oth directions co'ered?"
    " Everything is covered, Your Eminence," Haberdae said. His voice was properly respectful, but beneath it his patience was clearly strained. "From that altitude, they have a maximum range of maybe thirty kilometers. We've got fifty klicks covered, in every direction—"
    "Something's wrong," Galway interrupted him, the back of his neck starting to tingle as he stared at the silhouettes of the hang gliders.
    "There's nothing wrong," Haberdae growled. "My people have them covered."
    "They're not there," Galway said, his vague apprehensions suddenly becoming certainty. "Those are decoys."
    Haberdae turned to the control board. "Vaandar?" he demanded.
    "Sensors clearly show a person hanging under each of those gliders," the tech assured him.
    "The sensors are wrong," Galway insisted, swiveling to the communications section of his panel and keying a switch. "Because that's all they're doing—hanging. They're not controlling the gliders. Dispatch?
    Get me fifty men—"
    "Hold it," Haberdae snapped, grabbing the armrest of Galway's chair and giving a yank that brought him rolling back from the board. "You already have all the men you're entitled to for this operation. You do not have authority to grab any more without my permission." He looked at Taakh. "Isn't that right, Your Eminence?" he added.
    "The gliders aren't under control," Galway said, carefully pronouncing each word. "They're decoys. Lathe and the others got off somewhere else."
    "Rhere?" Taakh demanded.
    "Exactly," Haberdae seconded. "We've had the shuttle under surveillance the entire way."
    "Except where it dipped into the Falkarie Mountain foothills," Galway reminded him. "There were a nearly two minutes where the sensors were blocked."
    "And the ground observers had visual contact the whole time," Haberdae countered. "They would have seen any parachutes."
    "Then they didn't use parachutes," Galway insisted. "Look, Prefect, I don't know how they did it. All I know is that they're not with those gliders."
    "Ha' yae other e'idence?" Taakh asked.
    Galway braced himself. "No evidence, Your Eminence. Just my experience with the way Lathe does things."
    "Then 'Re'ect Ha'erdae is correct," the Ryq said. "Yae nay not rekest his other nen." And there would be no appeal, Galway knew. Not with Taakh. "As you command, Your Eminence," he said. "In that case, may I be excused for a few minutes? The gliders won't land for at least another half hour, and I have some other matters to attend to."
    Taakh inclined his head. "Yae nay go."
    "Thank you," Galway said. Standing up, he headed for the door.
    "Don't you touch my people," Haberdae warned.
    "I wouldn't think of it," Galway assured him.
    No, he wouldn't touch any of Haberdae's precious