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others were fleeing.
    In a crazy moment. Bet remembered Acau/lay telling her of the Stra!bo pride. In their two-million-year history they had never broke and run.
    The tear-runnels had dried, but still marked Nem!i's cheekbones. He and Alex lay below the crest of the low hill overlooking the Jann cruiser.
    "If these men are beyond custom, then they are beyond the law," the alien whispered.
    "Y'ken right," Alex said. "Ae Ah said b'fore, they're naught better'n ae scum a' Campbells."
    Sten lay on the hilltop, binoc-lenses carefully shielded from reflection, staring down at the cruiser.
    "If they do not have the law, then we cannot surrender our friends to them," Nem!i continued his careful analysis. He was still deeply shocked by Acau/lay's murder. "So this will mean…"
    Sten clicked the binocs off and back-slithered down the hill beside them. He'd overheard the last of Nem!i's whisper.
    "This will mean," he interrupted flatly, "that at night's fall we kill them. We kill them all."
    As the sun was occulted by the crater wall, an exterior speaker crackled:
    "Evening stand-to. All bow. Talamein, we thank thee for thy recognition of our might. We thank thee for our strength as Jannisars and for proclaiming our duty on this world of unbelievers."
    There was no movement around the cruiser as the black-uniformed troops listened to the prayer, except the endless, automatic sweep of the chain-gun's turret atop the ship.
    "We thank you in advance," the captain's voice rasped on, "for the boon which you will grant us on the morrow as our due for pursuing these unknown raiders. S'be't."
    The soldiers moved quietly into their nightwatch positions.
    "Why did your Sten not pick one of us, one of the Stra!bo, to begin the attack?" Di'n asked furiously.
    Bet deliberately kept stroking Hugin, even though both tigers had been given their instructions and should have been on their way. Ida didn't volunteer, either.
    "Because Sten respects your customs," she finally improvised.
    She picked herself up and eyed the ranked formation of Stra!bo warriors, hidden deep in the battle grove.
    "Knowing little of your laws, he felt that perhaps his methods—the methods of our team—might violate your customs."
    Di!n grunted in satisfaction. She returned to the endless stropping of her spearblade on the leather strap curled around her fingers.
    Bet looked down at the tiger. "Munin. Hugin. The cattle.
    Now."
    The tigers spun and bounced off into the gathering dusk, bounding deeper into the grassland that led out of the crater.
    Ah, nae ye're bonnie wee boys, Alex thought, watching the five-man Jann patrol approach the clump of brush he was flattened in.
    Ye hae not jus' the wee perimeter laddies, but rovin' patrols goin' to an' fro throughou' the night.
    Aye, an' here they come. Point mon, all alert an' stri-kit…
    patrol leader… aye, two weapons mons, an' th' wee tailgate.
    C'mon, laddies. Alex's waitin'.
    The patrol crept through the now almost total blackness past his clump of brush. Kilgour shouldered out of his weapons harness. Waiting.
    Eyes awa' fr'm 'em, he needlessly reminded himself. Dinna be lookin'… ah, they be passin'. Pass on, pass on horseman, his mind misquoted.
    The patrol, moving at a well-trained slowstep, silently passed the clump.
    And Alex came up and fell into step behind them. Step an'
    step an' y'ken we're in rhythm… an' now comin' up behind yon laddie…
    Alex's enormous fist, three-gee-world muscles bunched behind it, smashed into the back of the rearguard's neck. The Jann dropped without a sound. Alex caught him, eased him to the ground.
    There was no sound. The patrol eased forward, and Alex continued his creep.
    Nae, these twa'll be linked by th' weapons belt. A nit tricket if y'can solve it. His fist went flat at belt level, flashed forward, into the base of the fourth man's spine.
    He contorted, back broken, and fell. Alex pivoted around the falling corpse and sideslammed one meaty paw into the base of the third man's