I faced them squarely for my closing comments.

"You will all be quartered here with Zur and me. Once your teams are formed, you will be on call to me at all times. If I call a staff meeting, I will expect to see you, not your second-in-commands. Serious illness or injury will be the only excuse for nonattendance, and if your impairment is serious, we will not expect you to recover and will seek a replacement. I mention this so you will not overextend yourselves between sleep periods. Do not allow yourself to become fatigued to the brink of exhaustion, for your planned sleep may be interrupted."

"As we are one of the first strikes forces to be sent out, we will have to adapt to any new developments or equipment in minimum time, or not at all. Are there questions?"

The team leaders were silent for several moments as they digested the briefing.

I waited.

"Question, Commander!"

"Yes, Tur-Kam?"

"Would you clarify the necessity for destroying the egg beds as well as the queens?"

I turned to Zur and nodded for him to reply.

"It has been discovered," he began, "that in event of a queen's death, the Ants are able to inject additives to certain eggs to produce a new queen. Therefore, if we are to succeed in exterminating the Ants as a continuing species, we must destroy the eggs as well as the queens."

"Commander?"

"Yes, Raht?"

"In our selection of specific Warriors, particularly our second-in-commands, are there any Warriors you would deem unacceptable?'

"While you will be expected to review your choices with Zur or myself prior to acting on them, we currently have no prejudices against any individual, Hatching, or ability group which would result in an immediate veto."

"Question, Commander."

"Yes, Kah-Tu?"

"What are your anticipated casualties on this mission?"

"If the assault proceeds according to plan without unanticipated resistance, we expect to survive the mission with no more than seventy percent casualties." No one said anything else.

CHAPTER THREE

Zur accompanied me as I rode the shuttle flyer to the Technicians' portion of the colony ship. Actually, I realized, the term "colony ship" was a misnomer. The reality of the situation was that the colony was actually a collection of smaller ships traveling in close alignment without any physical connection between them. Although they theoretically could be joined together to form one massive unit, and each new module was designed with that purpose in mind, the fact of the matter. was that they had not been so arranged since shortly after the Empire relocated its population into them. Each massive module was a self-contained, stand-alone unit. When it was necessary to form a new colony ship, orders were simply issued for certain modules to set a new course, and there would be two colony ships where before there had been-only one. How many such colony ships there were currently in the Empire I neither knew nor cared.

The modules that composed the Technicians' portion of the ship were easily distinguished from the others on the screen. They were the ones that were solid discs as opposed to the rings that were the Scientists' and Warriors' modules. I had never known the reason for this until the first time an occasion arose necessitating a visit to the Technicians' section. Once there, it became obvious. Unlike the Scientists and Warriors, who worked and trained in the centrifugal-force-simulated gravity of rim-module, the Technicians did much of their work in the near-zero gravity that existed at the center of the module. In fact, certain subcastes of Technicians, such as the pilot of our shuttle craft, the transport pilots, and the heavy construction workers, were specifically bred for zero-gravity work and spent the majority if not all of their lives in that condition.

The docking process interrupted my thoughts. We departed the shuttlecraft without exchanging words with the pilot. As I have noted before, exchanges between members of different castes are rare except at certain rank-levels.

A Technician was waiting to receive us as we disembarked.

"I am Or-Sah," he introduced himself. "I have been assigned to answer your questions."

"This is Rahm," Zur responded, "a Planetary Commander of the Warriors, here to inspect the progress on various pieces of equipment being prepared for the Ant campaign."

I did not question why Zur did not introduce himself. Part of the reason I had him accompany me on these trips was that he was far more familiar with intercaste protocol than I.

"First," I stated, "I would wish to inspect the new Borer units."

"Certainly, Commander," replied Or-ah without hesitation. "This way."

The Borer units were an improvement on the fortification we had used in our last mission. Instead of simply burning their way into a ground-level position, the new units were fitted with telescoping walls that extended downward as a tunnel was burned to accommodate them. Although all the units were of the same general design, they had to be individually modified. As each anthill was unique, the Borers designated to each anthill had to be built to penetrate to different depths. In cases where the chosen path for the Borer intersected existing Ant tunnels, ledges and firing slots had to be added to enable the Warriors to defend the tunnel from assault.

"Here is the prototype of the Borer unit, Commander," Or-Sah said, leading us into a large chamber.

High above us, work crews were laboring, furiously constructing additional units. We ignored them and studied the unit at our level.

One feature that was immediately apparent to the eye was the additional armament. The weapons at the top of the dome were heavier and more numerous, and there were additional weapons mounted along the perimeter of the unit.

"Have the lock-out mechanisms of the auto-weapons been modified?" I asked.

"They have," Or-Sah confirmed. "They will now recognize and bypass a Tzen in their field of fire, though I personally have never understood the need for such a requirement."

I kept my silence, but involuntarily my head lowered.

"On our last mission," Zur commented conversationally, "the Commander lost a team member because one of the auto-mounts opened fire while he was in line with the target."

"But the specifics of this campaign state that no Warriors will be on the ground outside the Borer units," the Technician argued. "Why should the Technicians have to waste valuable time designing-"

"Are the walls of this tube in their finished state?" I interrupted.

"Yes they are, Commander."

"Why haven't they been treated for cold-beam immunity?"

"Because it isn't necessary, Commander," Or-Sah replied. "The Energy-Drain units should render the Ants weapons ineffectual."

I found the patronizing tone of his voice irritating.

"And if they do not, every Warrior in the tube will be vulnerable to having his escape route cut off," I commented.

"The Technicians have every confidence in the Energy-Drain units."

"Have they been live-tested?" I asked.

"The Warriors' caste vetoed any live testing," Or-Sah retorted. "The reasoning given was that if the units were successful, it would give the Ants forewarning and provide them with time to develop a countermeasure."

I noticed that now it was Or-Sah who was lowering his head. I considered his position, and found his anger justified. It would be irritating to be forbidden to test a piece of equipment, then have to answer complaints that it was untested...particularly when both the veto and the challenge came from members of the same caste.

"Perhaps," I suggested, "you could provide me additional information as to the nature of the Energy-Drain units. My lack of understanding of the official releases on them is doubtless contributing to my reluctance in accepting their effectiveness."