The dead missile hit the ground a klick outside the village, gouging an unholy gash into fallow fields and spraying propellant into the air, where it ignited. The shock wave from the explosion was a fraction of what it would have been if the missile's payload had been armed, but was still enough to knock me on my ass a kilometer away and take away my hearing for the better part of an hour. Shards of the missile flew violently in every direction, their momentum increased by the energy of the propellant explosion. Parts of the missile tore through the forest, tearing up Roanoke trees and spraying flames into the foliage. Other parts punctured structures in nearby homesteads, collapsing houses and barns and turning livestock into bloody patches streaked across the ground.

One portion of the missile's engine casing flung high in the air, arced down and plummeted toward a plot of earth, below which was the recently constructed shelter of the Gugino family. The casing's impact instantly collapsed the dirt above the shelter, driving it and the casing into the shelter proper. Inside was the entire Gugino family: Bruno and Natalie Gugino, their six-year-old twins Maria and Katherina, and their seventeen-year-old son Enzo. Who had recently begun courting Zoe once more, to some greater success than he had had before.

None of them would be coming out of that shelter.

An entire family gone in an instant. It was unspeakable. It could have been so much worse.

I spent the hour after the attack collecting reports around the colony on the extent of the damage, and then headed to the Gugino homestead with Savitri. I found Zoe on the Gugino's porch, sitting listlessly amid the broken glass of the home's blown-out windows. Hickory stood beside her; Dickory was with Jane at the remains of the shelter. They were the only two at the shelter; a small group of men stood some distance away, awaiting Jane's orders.

I went to Zoe and gave her a fierce hug; she accepted it, but didn't return it. "Oh, sweetheart," I said. "I'm so sorry."

"I'm all right, Dad," she said, in a tone that made her words a lie.

"I know," I said, letting her go. "I'm still sorry. This is a hard thing. I'm not sure this is the best place for you to be right now."

"I don't want to leave," Zoe said.

"You don't have to," I said. "I just don't know if this is good for you to be seeing."

"I needed to be here," Zoe said. "I needed to see this for myself."

"All right," I said.

"I was supposed to be here tonight," Zoe said, and motioned back toward the house. "Enzo had invited me to dinner. I told him I would come, but then I lost track of time with Gretchen. I was going to call him to apologize when the warning came up. I was supposed to be here."

"Honey, you can't blame yourself for that," I said.

"I don't blame myself for it," Zoe said. "I'm glad I wasn't here. That's what I feel bad about."

I laughed a shaky laugh in spite of myself and gave Zoe another hug. "Oh God, Zoe," I said. "I'm glad you weren't here tonight, too. And I don't feel bad about that. I'm sorry for what happened to Enzo and his family. But I'm glad you were safe with us. Don't feel bad about being alive, sweetie." I kissed the top of her head.

"Thanks, Dad," Zoe said. She didn't seem entirely convinced.

"I'm going to have Savitri stay with you while I go talk to your mom, okay?" I said.

Zoe gave a small laugh. "What, you don't think Hickory is comforting enough?" she said.

"I'm sure he is," I said. "But I'm going to borrow him for a few minutes. All right?"

"Sure, Dad," Zoe said. Savitri went and sat on the steps with Zoe, drawing her into a hug. I motioned Hickory over to me. He matched my stride as we walked.

"You have your emotion implant on right now?" I asked.

"No," Hickory said. "Zoe's grief became too much."

"Turn it on, please," I said. "I find it easier to converse with you when it's on."

"As you wish," Hickory said, switched on its implant and then collapsed in a heap.

"What the hell?" I said, stopping.

"I'm sorry," Hickory said, righting itself. "I told you that Zoe's emotions were incredibly intense. I'm still working through them. These were new emotions we haven't had with her before. New emotions are harder to process."

"Are you all right?" I asked.

"I am fine," Hickory said, standing. "I apologize."

"Forget it," I said. "Listen, have you been in contact with the other Obin yet?"

"We have," Hickory said. "Indirectly, through your satellite data feed. We have only reestablished contact and provided a digest of the events of last year. We have not offered a complete report."

"Why not?" I asked. We started walking again.

"Your data feed is not secure," Hickory said.

"You want to report things to your superiors without having the Colonial Union listening in," I said.

"Yes," Hickory said.

"What things?" I asked.

"Observations," Hickory said. "And suggestions."

"Some time ago you said to me that the Obin would be willing to help us if we needed help," I said. "Does that offer still stand?"

"It does, so far as I know," Hickory said. "Are you asking for our help, Major Perry?"

"Not yet," I said. "I just need to know what my options are."

Jane looked up at me as we came over. "I don't want Zoe over here," she said to me.

"It's that bad," I said.

"Worse," Jane said. "If you want my suggestion, it's to drag out this engine casing, fill this shelter all the way up with dirt and then put up a headstone. Trying to find enough to bury elsewhere is going to be an exercise in futility."

"Christ," I said. I nodded to the engine casing. "Do we know anything about this?"

Jane motioned toward Dickory, who was standing nearby. "Dickory says the markings say it's Nouri," she said.

"I don't know them," I said.

"The Colonial Union's had almost no contact with them," Jane said. "But it's probably not from them. They have a single planet and they don't colonize. There's no reason for them to attack us."

"Are they part of the Conclave?" I asked.

"No," Dickory said, coming closer. "But they sell weapons to some of the Conclave members."

"So this could be a Conclave attack," I said.

"It's possible," Dickory said.

"General Gau said that he wouldn't attack us," Jane said.

"He also said he didn't think he could stop others from attacking," I said.

"I don't think this is an attack," Jane said.

I motioned to the wreckage on the engine casing, which was still giving off heat. "This looks like an attack," I said.

"If it was an attack we'd all be dead," Jane said. "This was small and stupidly done to be a genuine attack on the colony. Whoever did this dropped the missiles directly above our colony, where our defense satellite could pick them off and send us information to kill the ones it couldn't. Stupid for attacking the colony. Not so stupid for testing our defenses."

"So if they actually managed to destroy the colony that would just have been a bonus," I said.

"Right," Jane said. "Now whoever it is that has done this knows what sort of defenses we use and what our capabilities are. And we know nothing about them, other than they're not stupid enough to mount an attack without knowing how we defend ourselves."

"It also means the next attack won't just be five missiles," I said.

"Probably not," Jane said.

I studied the wreckage. "We're sitting ducks," I said. "We nearly didn't knock this down, and some of our people are still dead. We need better defenses, now. The Colonial Union put a target on our chests, now it needs to help us to keep people from hitting it."

"I doubt a strongly worded letter is going to make a difference," Jane said.

"No," I agreed. "The San Joaquin is due here in a couple of days to drop supplies. One of us should be on it when it heads back to Phoenix Station. We'll be a lot harder to ignore if we're standing in someone's doorway."