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standing ready as backup if enemy aircraft head that direction. And warn them to keep sharp. If the Human-Conquerors think they can salvage anything from the wreckage, we might see those Copperhead warriors after all."

"Right." Klnn-vavgi murmured an order to the warrior at the Stingbird monitor, then came over to join Thrr-mezaz. "Looks like the main Human-Conqueror attack force is preparing to disengage, too. What's left of them, anyway." He gestured at the overview monitor. "What are the ground warriors doing?"

"What they're mostly doing is not making any sense," Thrr-mezaz growled. "At last report they were here, moving along behind this ridge."

Klnn-vavgi frowned. "Where are they going?"

"Good question," Thrr-mezaz agreed. "They're not really getting any closer to either the northern pyramid or the village."

"Could this be the only route with adequate cover?" Klnn-vavgi suggested doubtfully.

"No," Thrr-mezaz said. "That's the whole point: it's not. This ridge here-see it? Leads almost due southwest, right over to this group of hills. At least as much cover as they've got now, and they'd end up in a line-of-sight position over the village. Or they could follow this other ridge over here and make their way to the pyramid."

"Maybe they're just lost," Klnn-vavgi sniffed. "Shall I send a couple of Stingbirds to chase them away?"

Thrr-mezaz gazed at the monitor, trying to think himself into the aliens' footsteps. All right. If they were heading for either the village or the northern pyramid, they weren't doing a very good job of it. Could they have merely been part of the Human-Conquerors' feint, like the aircraft that had overflown the south pyramid? Something else to keep the Zhirrzh ground warriors occupied while those reinforcement warcraft tried to sneak in?

Or was that merely what they were hoping he would think? Could the aircraft-maybe even the fighter warcraft-have actually been the distraction for the ground mission? Were they even now making their way toward some important objective, something outside the village itself?

"They had two high-power Elderdeath weapons operating when we first arrived," Thrr-mezaz said, tapping the shoulder of the warrior at the monitor. "Show me where those were."

"Yes, Commander," the warrior said, fingers and tongue flicking across the keyboard. A beat later two flashing spots appeared superimposed on the view, one at the northern edge of the village, the other on a hill a few thoustrides west of it. "The heavy air-assault craft destroyed both of them at the beginning of the invasion," the warrior added.

"Yes, I know," Thrr-mezaz said. But the Human-Conquerors had already demonstrated that they had small, portable Elderdeath weapons on hand. If they had another of the high-power versions hidden out there somewhere...

"Do you want me to send the Stingbirds?" Klnn-vavgi prompted.

Thrr-mezaz flicked out his tongue. Time for a command decision... and a command gamble. "No," he said. "Let's let them go a little farther. See if we can figure out where they're going."

He sensed the flick of Klnn-vavgi's tail. "I'm not sure that would be a wise idea," the second commander said. "We've already seen that some of their explosive weapons don't rely on line of sight. If we let them get too close, they could do considerable damage."

"I realize that," Thrr-mezaz said. "I think it's worth the risk."

"Commander, if I may suggest-"

"Commander, the enemy warcraft are withdrawing," one of the warriors called.

Thrr-mezaz looked over at theImperative's optical-viewer feed in time to see the last of the Human-Conqueror warcraft flicker away. It was over, at least for now. "See if you can find out how extensive the damage to our warships was," he instructed the warrior.

"Yes, Commander," the other acknowledged. "It'll probably take a while, though-they're going to be busy up there. Just a beat... Commander, theImperative reports that there was a series of laser-communication signals to the