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Mace glanced at Nick; Nick shrugged dolefully. Mace said, "It seems not."

Knots of exhausted Balawai untied themselves and frayed to pieces to let the departing Akk Guard through. He joined the other, and along with the dogs they faded into the trees beyond the reach of the afternoon sun.

Nick fingered his rifle. "Think they'll really go down there to Kar?"

"Not at all," Mace said crisply. "They'll move up the switchback to cut off our retreat."

"Don't much like the sound of that. What's our move?"

"You tell me, Major."

Nick blinked. "You're kidding."

"Not at all. Given our victory conditions-saving as many of these people's lives as possible-what should we do?"

"I can't believe you're asking me."

"What I'm asking you," Mace said, "is not what we're going to do, but what we should do. Let me put it another way: what does Kar think we'll do?"

"Well..." Nick looked back up the trail, then forward down toward the mouth of the canyon and the steamcrawler track. "We should split up. If we all stay together, we all get caught either by whatever Kar's got below, or the guards and the ULF behind us. If the prisoners scatter, some might slip through while Kar's rounding up the rest."

"Exactly." Mace pointed at the boys' father. "You. Get the others out of the trees. I want all of you on this rock. On your knees, with your hands behind your heads."

The Balawai gaped. "Are you crazy?"

"Y'know," Nick said, sighing, "I ask him that all the time. Somehow I never get a straight answer."

Mace folded his arms across his chest. "All those who don't want to do what I say are welcome to take their chances with the jungle and the ULF."

The man turned away, shaking his head.

"What are we gonna do?" Nick asked.

"Something else."

"Y'know, if you hadn't told Kar about going to the steamcrawler track, he wouldn't be down there right now."

"Yes: he would have overtaken us in the jungle, and we wouldn't have had a chance."

"Wait-wait, I get it-" Understanding dawned on Nick's face.

Mace nodded. "Back under the trees, the prisoners would have scattered.

Some might have escaped as you say. He's expecting us to scatter, just as you did. From his point of view, it's the obvious move: let some die to save the rest. That's why I expected Kar to try this, instead: find a place where he could trap everyone. Because Kar and I have this in common: with these people, it's all or nothing. He wants to give them all to the jungle. I want to send them all home." Muscle bunched along Mace's jaw. "I am not willing to purchase life with death, unless that death is my own."

Nick looked impressed. "Kar's not an easy man to lie to. He's so hooked into pelekotan that lying's a tricky business; I once saw him yank out a guy's tongue-"

Mace gave him a sidelong look. "Who lied? I told him that he and Depa would be able to find me at the steamcrawler track this afternoon. The lie is in what he assumed I meant, not in what I said."

"And you had me lead, because you figured he'd be able to guess what route I'd take-and you brought the'Akk Guards along so that he'd be able to track us..."

Mace nodded.

"But why?"

"To get us all in a place just like this. Here, I'm sure he thinks he has everyone boxed."

"And he does."

"So he's in no hurry to come and collect us. Now: what's the steamcrawler track good for, in view of our purpose? It's a broad open area, where any passing gunship will spot these people, and it's clear enough to use as a landing zone."

"Yeah..."

"So how much good does it do him to cut us off from an open area-" Mace reached inside his vest and pulled out the lightsabers. He tossed Depa's to Nick, who caught it reflexively. "-when all we need is a little time, and we can make one of our own?"

Nick stared down at the lightsaber in his hand. "It could work," he admitted. "And you want me to teach people warfare?"

Mace shrugged. "This isn't warfare, it's dejarik."

"Yeah, sure. When Kar shows up, you can be