Page 2 of Warrior’s Mate

"The district database lists the retaining bank as operational."

"The district database is wrong."

"Then why hasn't it been corrected?"

She gave him a look that somehow suggested he had asked why rain was wet.

"Because the Public Works update was filed under agricultural access instead of civil transport. The two systems only reconcile once every quarter."

Kaiven turned toward the district administrator. "Is that accurate?" Administrator Baret's ears colored slightly. "Technically."

"Technically is doing strenuous work in this room."

That earned him the smallest flicker of amusement from Maelis. He ignored it.

"What route would you use?"

She brought up a different layer. Thin green lines appeared between farms.

"Service lanes."

"Those aren't rated for public evacuation traffic."

"They're rated for loaded grain crawlers."

"That isn't the same thing."

"No. Grain crawlers are heavier."

Someone laughed outright this time. Kaiven looked around the table. "Is there a reason everyone in Wasaytu finds emergency planning entertaining?"

"Only military emergency planning," Maelis said.

The reaction felt less like hostility than long practice. She had dealt with officers before and expected them to arrive with answers before they had learned the questions. He understood why that might irritate her, but he did not appreciate being assigned the sins of every uniform she had ever met.

Kaiven folded his arms. "If you have a better evacuation plan, Registrar Torren, I want it. Not commentary."

Her expression changed. The humor went out of it first, then the edge, leaving behind a concentration so complete that Kaiven found himself leaning closer to the map before she had even begun.

"All right."

She swept the official route overlay aside and replaced it with a district infrastructure map so dense that Kaiven needed a second to orient himself.

"You don't move Wasaytu as one population. You split it into six streams before anyone reaches the central road network. Orchard families go north through the maintenance cut. Market district goes west under the grain loop. Schools use the canal service route because the pedestrian bridges can carry them even if vehicle lanes stall. Anyone with limited mobility goes to the exchange first because we have the largest lift-capacity shelters and medical staging."

She tapped the southern quarter.

"And this district doesn't evacuate at all unless the threat comes from orbit."

Kaiven's attention sharpened. "Why?"

"Because there are only two reliable exits, both exposed. Their storm cellars are safer than moving them through open fields during a ground event."

"And during an orbital event?"

"Then nothing in that quarter is safe enough."

The room quieted. It was the first time anyone had used the phrase orbital event without treating it as an abstract exercise. Farseek was not undefended. The idea that an enemy force could establish bombardment position over a settled district belonged to catastrophic planning, not ordinary readiness.