"Say," Hodicky rattled on, "you boys'll need uniforms too, won't you? Q, go on back and get a-large-long and a large-medium, right, Sarge? Go on, Q, the boys won't want to wait."

Quade shook himself like a dog coming out of the water. "W-what did you say, Pavel?" he asked thickly.

"Go get a couple uniforms," Hodicky repeated in a low voice."Large-long, large-medium. Quick, Q, it's what the Lieutenant would want."

Nodding, not really aware of what he was doing, the black-haired private walked through the door to the back. With a smile too stiff to be wholly engaging, Hodicky said, "Now, Sarge, maybe you could point that thing some other way? Don't want any accidents that'll screw up profits, do we?"

Briesach grunted, fumbling for the safety catch. Blood seeping from his shrapnel wound glued his collar to his neck. "If you bastards think you're going to try something cute when this is over-" he began. He did not finish the threat. The sonic boom of the follow-up run sent all of them, even the logy Ondru, scrambling for cover again.

From the sensor screens within the massive hull of theKatyn Forest, the shower of anti-personnel bombs was merely an intriguing spectacle. First Officer Vladimir Ortschugin spat into the bucket and watched the show. Idly, he reached for the stick of tobacco in a thigh pocket of his coveralls. TheKatynForest was a freighter, not a warship, and her home planet, Novaya Swoboda, was quite neutral in the struggle taking place on Cecach. The starship was at Smiricky #4 to load cargo at double rates for the hazard allowance. Nothing that had happened thus far justified the bonus.

The bombs swept the broad valley like surf on a dun beach.