By the plan Song Chen had settled upon at the last.
First to find some way of reaching those Star Alliance fighting men who had come through alive upon this planet.
For since these two had contrived to live, others assuredly could have done the same.
Though there was a certain risk in it.
For at present they had only the communications software of a handheld terminal, and a communication of that kind is very easily listened in upon or detected by the enemy.
And once it were used, their position might well be fixed by the enemy.
So the risk in it was no small one.
And if that step could be carried through smoothly.
Then it was to gather a body of Alliance fighting men, make for the nearest building connected with surface communications, take it in the shortest time there was, and send a call for aid to those of the Alliance who lie hidden within the enemy's universe.
And let that part of the Alliance's hidden people send this weighty word back to the Alliance's universe.
The whole plan looks simple enough, but it is full of risk at every turn.
And a little carelessness might bury both Zhao Chen and Song Chen here.
"Then when do we act? The enemy knows we are hidden here, and will assuredly send a search party into this region in the shortest time there is. Or they may even give the region a covering strike outright," Zhao Chen reminded Song Chen.
"Wait a moment." Song Chen walked off toward a dim corner at one side, and what he did there was not to be seen.
Zhao Chen folded his arms and looked about him.
And at the same time went through what was in that emergency pack.
Emergency food enough for one man for three months, and certain gear needed for surviving in the wild, such as a tent, and means of warmth and of keeping heat.
Three phials of medical serum.
One laser pistol and three energy magazines.
One signal sender, whose chief use is that a man once lost may set it going and so draw every eye to him, that the search party may find him.
But to use it now would beyond doubt be to make a live target of oneself.
And one miniature single-use personal star shield, which may be reckoned a small defensive article of star-shield technology.
And when Zhao Chen had been through all this, he saw Song Chen come back with an odd look upon his face.
"Has anything happened?" Zhao Chen asked.
"Nothing." Song Chen looked now at the articles laid out there.
Zhao Chen handed the laser pistol to Song Chen. "You take this pistol and the magazines."
"And you?" Song Chen took the pistol.
"I use this." Zhao Chen patted the light-blade hilt at his waist.
And at the same time Zhao Chen marked the three light-blade hilts at Song Chen's own waist.
The three hilts differed somewhat in color and in shape, and should be of Song Chen's own particular make.
"Presently I go in front, so this star-shield device I shall carry." Zhao Chen pointed at the personal star shield.
"Mm." Song Chen nodded.
Soon this gear was divided between them,
while the stores needed for staying alive Zhao Chen went on carrying upon his back.
"Do we set out now, then?" Zhao Chen asked Song Chen.
And at the same time his eyes went over Song Chen.
For in truth he could feel that there was something Song Chen had not told him.
For one thing, that he could hand over that personal star shield without the least hesitation showed beyond doubt that he had some like device upon him still.
Or else, at a moment so critical, how should he not have kept a thing that might save a man's life for himself?
"We may. And now let us settle which way we are to go." Song Chen opened his own handheld terminal and threw up a rough map of the planet.
And marked the place where they now stood.
"We are underground here, and to use our communications gear in this place might not send clearly. So we must first get out," said Song Chen.
And at this Zhao Chen spoke all of a sudden. "In truth, I think a part of your plan might be altered."
Song Chen looked at Zhao Chen with some surprise.
For among that body of subordinates of his, it is seldom that any man, once he has settled a plan, will propose altering it.
And from their meeting until now, he could feel it plainly, that Zhao Chen held no great awe of him.
It felt rather as though the man were facing someone as ordinary as could be.
Though in the case they stood in now, Song Chen had no leisure to go into that question deeply.
"Let us hear it," said Song Chen.
Zhao Chen set out what was in his mind.
Song Chen's eyes lit up, though he looked at Zhao Chen with some worry. "Are you sure of it?"
"I will not say a hundred parts in a hundred, but nine in ten I have. It is rather at your end that I would ask whether there is any difficulty," Zhao Chen asked him back.
And with that, Song Chen's own will to win was roused; he gave a cold snort. "I hope you can finish your part of it on time."
The corner of Zhao Chen's mouth lifted, and there was confidence in his face.
And thereafter came the settling of the detailed plan to follow, such as from where they should go out, which is a matter of weight.
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
And at this Zhao Chen heard a sound of rustling.
"It is a scouting machine," Zhao Chen warned him, and signed to him to be still.
"Come with me." Zhao Chen made the signs to Song Chen with his hands.
Song Chen nodded.
The two of them began threading through the rock caves, moving for all the world like ghosts.
And went with great care about those scouting machines that had come down to search,
until at the last the two of them found the mouth of one of the caves.
Zhao Chen and Song Chen put their heads out with great care.
This was a place upon a ridge, and some way off already from the valley floor where the escape shuttle had come down.
And overhead at that moment,
a dozen and more of the enemy's craft could be seen quartering back and forth, while of the Alliance's craft there was near enough none left to see.
And at the same time,
within the atmosphere, an interstellar warship of T3 grade was coming slowly down into it.
"By the look of it, if they cannot find us. They will truly use an interstellar warship and give this place a covering strike outright." Zhao Chen raised his head and looked at that warship's guns, laid upon this valley.
"Then let us act by the first step of the plan." Song Chen looked at Zhao Chen and said gravely, "Let me make certain of it with you once more. There is truly no difficulty in it?"
Zhao Chen said mildly: "Leader, see to your own life and safety. Or else, even if I get back alive, I shall be standing before a military tribunal."
Hearing the banter in Zhao Chen's words,
Song Chen gave it no thought at the time.
And thereupon the two of them parted.
Song Chen lay hid quietly among the rocks of the hill, and came at the last to a place that would serve.
And took from his pocket a handheld terminal, which was Zhao Chen's own.
He worked Zhao Chen's terminal, and set going a process that would send a communication at an appointed hour.
This terminal would, ten minutes from now, send out from this place a message calling the Alliance's survivors together.
And having set all this in place, Song Chen began to draw off quickly.
And in some ten minutes he came to the place upon the ridge they had agreed on.
Where one of the enemy's shuttles hung hovering, looking about it from time to time, for all the world like a sentry post set to watch the country round.
Song Chen knit his brows slightly.
Could Zhao Chen's plan have failed?