Page 3 of Warrior’s Mate

Kaiven glanced from the map to Maelis. She had built a more realistic civilian defense model out of farm roads, drainage access, and lived memory than the regional system had managed with military-grade software, and she had done it without seeming particularly impressed by herself.

"How long would it take you to formalize this?"

"It's formalized."

"Approved?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because approval requires Military Civil Defense to sign off on routes that aren't in Military Civil Defense's route database."

He almost sighed.

"Send it to me."

Her eyebrows rose. "Why?"

"Because I'm Military Civil Defense for the next six days."

"You're flight security."

"Attached to readiness review."

"Temporarily."

"Do you want the plan approved?"

She studied him for a moment.

Maelis Torren was not what he had expected when Hessantu described the district registrar. She was younger than the title suggested, though not young enough to be impressed by his rank. Dark auburn hair was pinned at the back of her head with a practical metal clasp. Her tunic was civilian gray-green, sleeves rolled to the elbows, one cuff smudged with what looked like blue inventory dye. She wore no jewelry except a thin family band at her wrist.

Her family line was human rather than Uatu, one of the old human diaspora families that had lived on Farseek for generations. The distinction mattered more in medical and genetic records than in daily life; Maelis was Farseekan in language, culture, memory, and loyalty. Centuries of human settlement and intermarriage across the galaxy had also made coloring a poor guide to ancestry. A human-descended Farseekan did not have to resemble a human from Earth.

Her eyes were a clear gray that held on to people. Kaiven had noticed that sooner than he wanted to admit.

"I want the plan tested," she said. "Approval comes after that."

That answer pleased him more than immediate agreement would have.

"Good. We'll test it."

Administrator Baret looked alarmed. "Today?"

"Why not today?"

"Because the exchange is operating."

Maelis gave Kaiven another quick look, this one almost approving.

"We don't need a full evacuation," she said. "We can run three unmanned crawlers and two passenger carriers through the north service lanes, measure interference, then do the school route on foot."

"You have access authorization?"

"I have every access authorization worth having in Wasaytu."

"That's a dangerous sentence."