Chapter 26

As Igwanda had promised his wife, this would not be the day for the full ship's meeting to discuss their future plans for the visit. But other matters did need prompt attention.

The first was his assumption of military command. Instructing Zo to muster the troops in the exercise compartment—it was still during the hours when the compartment was reserved for military use—he and Shaw proceeded there. At the door he found Accorda standing guard as she had been before.

"Accorda, please come inside with us," he told her gently. "A guard here is no longer necessary, and you should be present with the others at this briefing."

"Sir, Maj. Miller—"

"Maj. Miller is in sick bay, and a very long recuperative period lies ahead of him," said Shaw. "He's no longer in command, that's the purpose of this session. Please do as Col. Igwanda says."

She preceded them in. As Igwanda entered Zo called them to attention; the colonel walked with Shaw to the center of their grouping and stood there for a moment, looking at them without expression. "At ease!" he finally said. "Please find yourselves chairs and be seated, our ship's captain has something to say to you."

After they'd retrieved chairs from where they were stacked in the corners and re-positioned themselves, Shaw got to the point quickly.

"As you know, your commander was injured yesterday in the course of the action," he said. "He'll be unavailable for duty for an extended time, very likely, his doctors tell me, for the duration of our stay here. I consider that your task force"—Igwanda had instructed him briefly on the proper terminology—"needs an experienced officer to lead. We have such a man on board; although he recently resigned his commission, I think Col. Igwanda is best qualified for this. Pursuant to my authority under our voyage charter, I have therefore appointed him as replacement commander for Maj. Miller. You are to obey him as you did the major. Thank you."

With this Shaw shook Igwanda's hand ceremoniously. "I leave you in good hands," he concluded to the soldiers and departed.

"There are several matters," the colonel said. "To begin, I know only a few of you. Starting from my left, please stand in turn and give your names, ratings and briefly any experience or skills you may have of which I should be aware." One by one they did so; Igwanda found he had three combat veterans, including Edmundson; two snipers, one of them Accorda whose talents had apparently been squandered because of her gender; and all had a variety of other accomplishments they chose to mention.

"Thank you, lady and gentlemen," the colonel said when they were finished. "There will be certain changes, the first of which is that all drill activity is suspended indefinitely. I do require that you maintain yourselves in top physical condition, but you may do so individually for the most part. Also hand-to-hand sessions are likewise suspended; you may continue that individually as well if you like, although I must insist that this be done without physical injury, but these skills are likely to be of no value to you on Eden.

"Josephs," he went on, singling out the most junior trooper, "please remove that"—he pointed to the poster of Akakha overlaid by a target, which had been remounted on the wall—"and dispose of it. I was, as you may or may not know, married on Eden during our last visit, and it may be of interest to some of you that the individual pictured there acted as my best man." The soldiers looked at one another in consternation as Trooper Josephs hastily ripped the picture down.

"I'll burn it, sir," he said.

"Do so. A further change is that the word 'bug, ' and any other disparaging terms you may have adopted, are henceforward banned from your vocabularies, both on and off duty. The natives below us are Edenites, and will be so referenced. In any encounters you may have with them they are to be treated with full respect just as you would show any human.

"That is all. You know that I was military commander on the first expedition here, on which we successfully overcame several problems that arose during our stay, including one incident involving direct combat. Sgt. Zo was with me then, and he can give you further information if you want. I believe I can put that experience to good use, and I ask that you place your trust in me as you did Maj. Miller."