Battlemind by William H Keith Page A

with the other guests aboard the research ship for almost a month, now… and he still always managed to present the crisp perfection in dress and bearing of the professional military officer. Kara wasn’t sure how he managed it. He must, she decided wryly, grow himself a new uniform every couple of hours to keep it looking that sharp.
    She also suspected he donned fresh-grown grays each time he was going to meet with her, for whatever reason. He can be sentimental that way, sometimes, Kara thought with a secret smile.
    “Hi, Dad,” she said, returning his hug. “You didn’t keep me waiting at all.”
    He pushed her back and held her at arm’s length for a moment, studying her face. “You’re okay?”
    “Clean bill of health. No static.”
    He let her go and glanced around the empty room. “I told Daren you were back,” he said, glancing around. “I was expecting him to be here.”
    Kara shrugged, unconcerned. “The day my brother can be anywhere on time.…”
    “He has been busy,” Vic said. He looked at Kara a moment longer, then grinned with evident relief. “Damn, I’m so glad you’re back. Back and.…” He broke off, embarrassed.
    “And still sane?” Kara said, filling in the blank. “Or as sane as I ever was, at least.”
    “The casualty figures haven’t exactly been encouraging,” Vic said.
    “No, they haven’t,” Kara agreed. She cocked her head to the side. “You know, Dad, it seems sometimes that the high brass has declared open season on striderjacks like us. Each mission they dream up is hairier than the last one. We’re going to lose more good people if they keep sending us into hellholes like the Core.”
    “How was it?” Vic asked. “How was it really?”
    Kara suppressed a shudder, crossing her arms, her hands clasping her elbows close to her sides. “Well, you’ll get my report when I write the thing and download it. I just came up from the intelligence debrief on the war deck, so I haven’t exactly had time for the routine scutwork.”
    “I’m not looking for your report,” he told her. “I wouldn’t normally get to see it anyway, unless I asked for it special. And then, well, it looks bad.”
    She nodded. Having a general for a father, especially one as high-ranking and as powerfully connected as the Victor Hagan, could be a real problem, especially when she was trying to carve out her own career as a Confed military officer. The fact that her mother was Senator Katya Alessandro of the Confederation Senate made it even worse. There was always the assumption—unspoken, of course, but very real—that she’d gotten her rank because of her family connections.
    Vic spread his hands. “But I do want to know what you saw in there,” he continued. “I’ll be briefed, certainly, and I’ll get to see both the recordings you made and the conclusions from your regular debriefing, but it helps me a lot to have an eyewitness run-down. I’d appreciate hearing… well, your impressions. Of the Web. Of what we’re up against.”
    Kara shrugged. “I don’t know what I could say that you don’t know already. I’m really not sure what we learned today mat we haven’t known since the battle here two years ago.” She paused, frowning. “There was one thing I wanted to make special mention of. There were times when I was moving around on the planet alone… and Web machines were moving around too, in easy range, but they ignored me. Didn’t even look at me, as near as I could tell.”
    “That’s interesting.”
    “I thought so. I don’t know what it means, but it seems like a, well, a weakness, maybe. Something we can exploit. I got the distinct impression that they are so wedded to the idea of lots and lots of parts working together as a whole, they tend to neglect individuals. They may not even think of individuals the way we do. Maybe that means they tend to overlook them.”
    “That seems a little farfetched.”
    “Oh, I don’t know. It’s like you might