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"If you plan for that," Kainor said, "you will also have to assume a Ranger will be involved within minutes, or at most hours." "What " "A Ranger!" Valla and Thark exclaimed as one. "Yes. Ranger James Medart arrived yesterday aboard the battle cruiser Emperor Chang, and took a lander down to the Colvis Reserve." "Why was I not informed?" Thark asked, forcing his voice to remain steady.
It wasn't easy for any of them, though an outsider would have thought them discussing abstractions. Only Thark himself had been truly close to Corina, but Kainor and Valla had known and liked her for the four years since her Talent was discovered; her betrayal hurt. When Thark was finished, Valla detailed the steps she'd taken to insure the traitor's death, for Kainor's benefit.
The Throne Room, when they reached it, was also empty except for a handful of Guards. Thark grabbed one of them while Valla and Kainor killed the rest. The man was a typical human, with no trace of screen, so Thark found it simple to probe his mind. And this time he went deep, digging for everything the man knew instead of only for directions. The results were bad, very bad.
But exactly what is it about their personalities and thinking? What is so unusual about them that there are only ten Rangers, and none of those Irschchans?" "Nine, since Tarlac's assassination," Kainor reminded him. His ears went back in a slight frown. "Despite my investigations since the Crusade was decided on, I have not been able to discover the actual selection criteria.
This man was a professional, would do his job in spite of his personal opinions. And his shield was fractionally tighter than Hobison's or Nevan's, though not up to Jim's partially-trained one. "I believe, Colonel," she finished, "that you would be most useful on the team going after Thark, Valla, and Kainor, although that will mean working directly with me. Are you willing to do so?" "Yes, sir."
And whether Medart fights or not, Entos will be able to give him a swift death." Kainor nodded. "After all, it is not their combat abilities that make them so valuable to the Empire, even though Menshikov is the Empire's greatest strategist. It is their personalities and the way they think." "Yes," Thark said. "That much everyone knows.
Thark's ears went back briefly. He had seriously misjudged her; he could not honorably ask anyone else to correct his error, now that she was no longer his guest. But making that correction would not be a pleasant task. He went on. "Kainor, what about your status report on the Rangers?" "Crown Prince Forrest is at the Imperial Palace on Terra," Kainor said.
"Medart was not sent in until the Duke of Sector Five admitted her inability to stop the Sandemans and requested Imperial assistance. Medart took a fleet to the one world the Sandemans had made a protectorate rather than conquering, stopping long enough en route to capture several for study." Kainor paused briefly.
"I am positive there are other qualifications; as I said, I have been unable to discover the actual criteria, which are known perhaps only to the Sovereign and Rangers themselves." Thark held back a growl. "I understand that still, can you deduce from what data you do have why there are no Irschchan Rangers?" Kainor shook his head slowly. "Not with any degree of confidence," he said.
"And I would appreciate hearing about both with the information you have that Imperial newscasts probably left out because humans would take it as a given," Thark said. Kainor sighed, something a number of Irschchans had picked up since meeting humans. "Very well. The Ondrian situation, then.
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