Trident's Forge by Patrick S Tomlinson Page A

satisfying sound of spears clattering on the road.
    â€œExcellent.” Benson probed the small tear in the front of his shirt with a finger, then put on his best smile. “Now then, let’s try this again. Kulay. Bryan see coe.”
    The alien’s eyes darted around the scene, still struggling to understand what had just happened. “Kuul see coe,” it said in a more muted, cautious tone. “My name is Kuul.”
    â€œNice to meet you, Kuul. Take me to your leader.”
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    â€œ S eriously ,” Valmassoi whispered to Benson as they waited outside the village’s gates. “‘Take me to your leader?’”
    â€œIsn’t that what you’re supposed to say?”
    â€œNo, that’s what the aliens say in tacky scifi movies.”
    â€œWe are the aliens here. I’ve been waiting to say that my whole life.”
    â€œWell I’m glad we could make a little boy’s dream come true. Speaking of boys, what do you suppose I should do about Korolev?”
    â€œGive him a medal?”
    â€œThat’s not exactly what I had in mind. Sergeant Atwood is livid and wants to send him packing for the shuttle.”
    â€œBut?” Benson could hear the word coming.
    â€œBut, I asked her to hold off until I talked to you.”
    â€œI thank you for that, but I don’t see as Pavel did anything wrong.”
    â€œHe disobeyed her stand-down order and fired on the people we’re supposed to be introducing ourselves to.”
    â€œWell, technically, she hadn’t finished giving the order yet when he fired.”
    â€œThat’s an awfully fine hair to split.”
    â€œI keep my razor sharp. Besides, he didn’t strike first.” Benson pointed to the small rip in his shirt and the tiny stain of blood next to it.
    Valmassoi scoffed. “Hardly a fatal wound.”
    â€œNo offense, but that’s easy for you to say. That jerk Kuul wasn’t backing down without a lot of convincing.”
    â€œYou have to admit, defending Korolev flirts with hypocrisy for a man who was lecturing me against shows of force earlier today.”
    Benson shrugged. “Not really. If you’ll remember, I said we only flexed our muscles when people needed a reminder. Kuul needed a reminder, or in this case to be taught the lesson in the first place. He didn’t recognize our guns as weapons, so he thought he had us dead to rights. Korolev’s solution was… novel, but it did drive the point home rather effectively. It was almost a lot worse. Another couple seconds, and one of Atwood’s people would’ve had to shoot him, and they would have lost a lot more than just a spear.”
    Valmassoi waved his hand, conceding the point. “Still, Mr Korolev has a history of ignoring the chain of command. He has to be reprimanded.”
    â€œThe last time Pavel ignored orders, he saved me from being cooked by plutonium dust from the inside out and wound up in sick bay for a week for his trouble. I’ve been his boss and now I’m his coach. Sometimes you have to trust your players to change the play on the field if they see something you missed. Otherwise opportunities slip away. What you call ‘ignoring orders,’ I call taking initiative.”
    Valmassoi shook his head. “Peas in a pod, you two. Anyway, there isn’t much to do right now. Our security detail can’t really afford to be down a man.”
    â€œI wholeheartedly agree.”
    â€œWe’ll sort it out when we get back to Shambhala. But for the rest of this expedition, I would strongly caution Mr Korolev against showing too much more initiative if he doesn’t want Sergeant Atwood to shoot him.”
    â€œI’ll pass that along.”
    â€œBe sure that you do.” Somewhere on the other side of the tree line, a horn bellowed. Valmassoi clapped his hands together. “Ah, it’s almost show time. Please excuse me.”
    â€œBe my