A Forest of Stars: The Saga of the Seven Suns Book 2 (Saga of Seven Suns) by Kevin J. Anderson

Author:Kevin J. Anderson [Anderson, Kevin J.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: FIC028030
ISBN: 9780759528147
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2003-06-30T16:00:00+00:00

69GENERAL KURT LANYAN

When the volunteer green priests arrived on Mars, General Lanyan received them as enthusiastically as if he’d been given a brand-new weapon to play with.

He waited inside the base’s large briefing room as personnel transport pods docked against the base buildings and the volunteers disembarked. He paced the floor, eager to see just how these long-awaited communicators measured up.

The green priests came in, looking disoriented and chilly—nineteen men and women of varying ages and body types. All of them had smooth green skin in a range of shades; every one was completely hairless. Each priest carried a potted plant; the thin treelings were less than a meter tall, with feathery fronds spilling downward.

Tattooed designs on the priests’ faces and arms marked ranks and specialties within their mysterious religion. Accustomed to the warm humidity of Theroc, they wore little clothing—and seemed to be regretting it here on the cold red world. Lanyan would issue them regular EDF uniforms to facilitate their adjustment to military life.

Not surprisingly, the green-skinned Therons did not stand at attention or give any sense of well-behaved order. They filled the room with a casual chaos, showing no automatic deference to any officer. That would need to change, but he knew he couldn’t push too hard.

The green priests served the EDF in the most tenuous of alliances, and Lanyan probably wouldn’t be able to make them march in ranks. They might simply turn around and go home in a huff. Still, they were working with the Earth Defense Forces, and there were certain expectations. …

One green priest with an outrageous scar on his thigh limped over to the broad window and stared out at the rusty landscape. The leg injury would be a detriment in battle, but the General didn’t intend to let these volunteers get into any kind of physical combat. He had to think of them as valuable equipment, communications resources, transmitters in human form.

The scarred priest gazed with large eyes into Mars’s olive green sky. “You have no trees here.”

“You brought your own trees.” Lanyan tried to sound encouraging, rather than impatient. He cleared his throat to get their attention. “I am General Lanyan, your commanding officer.”

One priest stood straight-backed, his green skin marred by more tattoos and designs than any of the other priests. He stepped forward, holding his treeling as if it were a life-support system. “My name is Yarrod, the senior green priest here. The worldforest agreed to let us contribute our telink skills, and so we have come to do our part in the hydrogue war.”

“Yes … yes, and it will be a great help to us,” General Lanyan answered. He had hoped for a bit more patriotism and enthusiasm for the cause rather than this somewhat grudging cooperation. “Any intelligence you can provide about the enemy would be valuable to the war effort.”

Several priests joined the scarred man at the window wall to gawk out at the canyons, amazed by the stark bleakness. They didn’t seem to be paying attention to this important briefing.

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