文档介绍：Ringo, John & Co. - Legacy of the Aldenata 02 - Gust
Gust Front
John Ringo
Prologue
"Well, Tir, you think your plans for the humans are working?"
The Darhel Ghin waved a stick of incense through the air and placed the message to the Lords on the Altar of
Communication. The background of melodiously chiming song-crystals and the mirrored silver colonnades aided
his contemplation of the multitudinous alternate futures. At the moment he sorely needed the aid. Most of the
futures looked bleak.
His Indowy body attendants lifted his robes as he rose and turned to the attendant Tir. The younger Darhel's
foxlike face was the well-trained mien of a senior Darhel manager. He returned the Ghin's ear flick of polite
query with total impassivity. In fact better than two-thirds of the overall plan was in total disarray, mostly
because of the actions of a single lucky individual. Admitting that, however, was not a route to power. And there
was little for this old fossil to pick apart. The entirety of the plan was known only to himself.
"No plan unfolds in perfection," the Tir said smoothly. "That is the purpose of management."
The elfin Ghin flicked his ears again. The gesture was deliberately ambiguous. It might have been polite
agreement. Or it might have been polite disbelief. The difference was subtle. "We retain Diess."
The Ghin deliberately did not ascribe that as a positive or a negative trait. Destroying the allied human forces
arrayed to defend the might or might not have been part of the young pup's plan. Leaving the statement
ambiguous was a deliberate trap with overtones he doubted the Tir was aware of.
The Tir flared his nostrils in agreement and glanced at the gathered Indowy. "It is an important world." The
corporations of Diess were entirely Darhel-controlled despite the billions of Indowy residents. The laborers of the
Federation were as disposable as bacteria. "The revenue is significant."
The Ghin's nostrils flared.