“It’s too risky,” Sabor said. “He could shut me off in a second if he decided he had to let me know I’m dealing with someone who truly understands style. I’d never get another chance.”
The info from Choy’s display appeared in front of Sabor. A helicopter symbol occupied the northeastern quadrant. A vector line indicated the copter was traveling in their direction.
“It’s abandoned the search pattern,” Choy said. “They’ve probably located us. Shall I keep the radar active?”
“We might as well stay informed.”
They heard the rattle of the copter’s engines when the display placed it about a kilometer behind them. It closed to a hundred meters and the symbol stopped advancing.
Choy had hung four cages on the side of his widemount. The top of one of the cages flipped up and a white bird flapped toward the treetops. Choy paused the bird just above the canopy, where its color would blend with the leaves, and copied its transmissions to Sabor’s display. Three of Colonel Jina’s hardbodies were executing a classic rope descent from the copter. A guard cat was being lowered in its harness.
“It looks like he’s opted for a quick-victory, low-personnel budget,” Purvali said. “Two copters. One eight man squad and six cats. Eight cats if you limit the squad to hardbodies—which would probably be the optimum configuration for a combat unit under these conditions.”
“It should take them about five minutes to lower the soldiers and their cats,” Choy said. “I’m placing five of our cats between them and us. The other three will watch our front and flanks.”
Purvali added her consultant’s edge to her voice. “I recommend we launch a counter attack. While they’re vulnerable. I can go back and try for the copter. Our cats can attack them while they’re unloading.”
Sabor frowned at the display. The three hardbodies had already slipped beneath the canopy. A second guard cat tumbled out of the door and he watched it start its descent.
Purvali was the logical person to try a ground to air shot. Choy was the security expert but he was operating the cats. And the rest of the security system.
“The copters have to operate together,” Purvali said. “A hit on the troop hauler should drive both of them out of the area.”
“Attack with the cats, Choy. All five. Try to do as much damage to their cats as you can. Don’t waste effort on the humans.”
“You can always negotiate for me afterward if I get unlucky,” Purvali said. “You can’t do anything if they capture you.”
She had already picked up her weapon and raised the side of her carrier. Her feet were resting on the top step of the dismounting ladder.
“We won’t get another opportunity like this, Sabor. We can’t afford to waste it.”
A third cat dropped out of the copter door. “If my estimate is correct,” Purvali said, “they’re going to deploy eight hardbodies and eight cats against eight cats and one financier with two assistants.”
“Give them one burst,” Sabor said. “Just one. And get back here.”
Purvali dropped to the ground as if she had just been told she could run outside and play. The trees and the underbrush came between them before she had taken five steps.
Choy added an overhead map view to Sabor’s display. Five blue cats were racing toward the area under the copter. There would be no feed from Purvali. They had to assume someone was sitting in the helicopter monitoring their transmissions.
Three red cat heads appeared on the display. Four red circles marked the positions occupied by the hardbodies who had reached the forest floor. Choy disregarded his instructions—quite rightly, Sabor realized—and directed two of his cats at the red circles. The cats couldn’t attack the other team’s cats if they were paralyzed by moles from the enemy guns.
Three of Choy’s cats converged on one of the red cat heads. Slashing, snarling cartoon animals replaced the blue cat symbols.
Sabor had split the right side of his display top and bottom, with the map on the bottom and the image of the copter on top. The hardbodies on the ropes ripped their guns off their crossbelts as if they were conducting an exercise in simultaneous movement. They twisted around on their ropes and aimed their weapons one handed. The muzzles were all pointed in the same general direction.
On the map view, a grinning cartoon cat clasped its hands over its head. The basic blue cat symbols replaced the cartoon and sped away from the landing site.
“We crippled one of their cats,” Choy said. “I figured that was good enough. Run in, do some damage, get out before we lose anybody.”
“Quite right. My sentiments exactly.”
Something glistened on the upper half of the copter. Choy zoomed in. The side of the copter filled the upper half of Sabor’s display. The metal seemed to be covered with a thin film.
“I think she hit a fuel tank,” Choy said.
Choy pulled back the view. Cats were rolling out the door of the copter. Two hardbodies leaned over the side and grabbed at the ropes that were already being used. The hardbodies who were already hanging on the ropes were still firing at the point they had selected.
Choy’s cats formed a defensive line thirty meters behind the widemounts. Sabor twisted around on his pillows and peered into the forest. Purvali’s carrier blocked a third of his view. Her widemount eyed him with bored indifference.
His mother had warned him. Are you sure you should ask for a woman like that, Sabor? Remember—you are asking for someone who has all the qualities you find most attractive. You are asking for someone who will draw the maximum response from your own personality structure. You will be in control of the situation in one, very limited, sense. She will love you. She will want to please you. But can you control the emotions she will arouse?
There had been times when his mother had contented herself with male concubines. For her, they had obviously been a respite from the masculine storm centers that normally diverted her. She would never have requisitioned a concubine who could engage her deepest hungers. Sabor’s sisters seemed to feel the same way.
The side of Purvali’s carrier swung up. She trotted around a tree with her gun held across her breasts and hopped onto the ladder.
“Did I do any damage? Could you see if I did any damage?”
Sabor’s widemount swayed underneath him. Choy had started them moving again without waiting for instructions.
“We think you hit a fuel tank,” Choy said. “They’re dumping people and cats like the copter crew is very anxious to get out of here.”
Sabor rose to his knees inside his carrier. “I told you one burst! You disobeyed me. You disobeyed a clear instruction.”
“They couldn’t see me. I had plenty of cover.”
“They knew where you were. I could see it. They had every gun trained on the same position.”
“They had a general idea. Just a general idea. I was surrounded by leaves.”
“How many hits did your armor have to absorb?”
Purvali lowered her eyes.
“How many?”
“I quit when it told me it was approaching its limit.”
“Two more hits! Two more. That’s all it would have taken! Two hits. And you’d be in their power right now.”
“I hit their fuel tank, Sabor. They’re sending the copter back! We won’t have to worry about airlifts and air attacks. I evaluated the situation and balanced the risks—the danger they might capture me versus the danger we’d be in if they kept the copters in the area. I was the one who was there.