Alternatively, Twister could order his men to open fire, trusting their armor to withstand the Eickarie assault long enough for the threat to be neutralized. But the sound of weapons fire coming from the shadow of his watchtowers would be far more compromising than even triangulated transmissions.

Besides, the Imperials were here to free these people, not kill them.

"As you wish," he said, hand-signaling his men to stand easy.

"You sure we want to do this?" Cloud asked quietly.

"If they were on the Warlord's side, they wouldn't have invited us in for a chat," Twister pointed out. "They'd have opened fire and been done with it."

"Just because they're not on his side doesn't mean they're on our side," Watchman reminded him warily. "And I don't like the fact that our sensors didn't pick them up skulking around in there."

"The rain might have interfered," Twister said, looking at the display strip. The Eickaries were registering just fine now.

"It didn't interfere with him," Watchman reminded him, nodding toward the lone Eickarie still waiting calmly in the downpour for his captives to make their decision.

"We can ask them about it inside," Twister said, making it an order. Cloud was right, he had to admit; he wasn't at all sure he wanted to do this. But at the moment, there didn't seem to be a lot of other options. "Lower your weapons and let's go."

The stairway led down a dozen steps into a small tailor's shop that looked as if it had been abandoned years ago. Inside, a dozen more Eickaries were waiting in a circle against the walls, all of them as heavily armed as the ones outside. The young spokesman circled around the four stormtroopers as they filed into the room, crossing to a rusty seam-sealing table and hopping up to sit on it. "I ask again," he said, looking at each of them in turn. "What are you and your fellows doing in our city tonight?"