Dragonback 03 Dragon and Slave

  "Don't be absurd," Neverlin scoffed. "The Tubman Group? Nonsense. Virgil Morgan and his nephew don't do charity work."

  "Then how do you explain all those slaves skulking around out there?" Gazen demanded. "I tell you, he's trying to stir up a revolt."

  Slowly, carefully, Jack turned his head. He got only about halfway around before one of the Brummgas noticed the movement and twisted his head to face forward again. But he'd seen enough to figure there were eight Brummgas crowding around him.

  Closer to Draycos's estimate than his. Still very lousy odds.

  "He just brought them to spread a little chaos in case he needed a diversion," Neverlin said. "As far as he's concerned, they're expendables." He cocked an eyebrow at Jack. "Or hadn't you noticed that he didn't actually bring any of them aboard with him?"

  "So you don't think they're of any use as bargaining chips?" Gazen asked.

  "Not a chance," Neverlin said. "Take them back to their huts, or burn them where they stand. Your choice."

  Gazen nodded and reached to his collar—

  "Wait," Jack said.

  The instant the word was out of his mouth he wished he could call it back. Gazen surely wouldn't simply kill Maerlynn and the others, at least not here and now. Even if he decided their actions deserved that, he would more likely have them whipped to death as an object lesson for the rest of the slaves.

  But Jack hadn't thought it through quickly enough. And now it was too late.

  "Well, well," Neverlin said, smiling smugly. "So he really does have some feeling for those dirty little zeros out there, does he? This is one for the record books."

  "Or else he's just squeamish," Gazen rumbled contemptuously. "You should have seen his face after those Wistawki passed him in the kitchen this morning."

  "You didn't need to whip them," Jack ground out. "They didn't steal the food. I did."

  Gazen snorted. "Don't make me laugh. You were in the frying pan all night."

  "Forget the food," Neverlin said impatiently. "Tell me, Jack. How much do you really care about that riffraff out there?"

  "And decide quickly," Gazen added. "I've got a squad at the upper windows with sniper rifles trained on them."

  Jack swallowed. The trap had been sprung, and here they were, with all of the Brummgas clustered close around him.

  But Draycos was still lying quietly against his skin. What in space was he waiting for?

  And then, as he focused again on the group by the door, he suddenly realized what the reason was.

  "Oh, yeah, that's real brave," he said, putting as much scorn into his voice as he could. "Shooting unarmed slaves from windows. That's the way a man does business."

  "As opposed to whatever you did to my guards out there?" Gazen countered.

  "You should be happy I didn't kill them," Jack said, hoping he was right in guessing that Draycos hadn't killed them. "Or Mr. Neverlin's hoppy-pop bodyguard there," he added. "How's your head, pal?"

  The bandaged guard made a sound deep in his throat. "Easy, Jondo," Neverlin said. "You'll get your turn."

  "Yeah, it's always their turn, isn't it?" Jack said contemptuously. "Bodyguards and Brummgas. You two ever do any of this stuff yourselves? Or do you always hide behind other people?"

  Gazen took a step forward. "Listen, kid—"

  "Stop it," Neverlin said. His voice was quiet, but there was something in his tone that brought Gazen to a sharp halt. "Don't let him goad you. He's finished, and he knows it."

  "He doesn't think I'm finished," Jack said loftily. "He's still afraid of me. If he wasn't, he wouldn't always be hiding behind his Brummgas. He's a coward; pure, simple, and unfrosted."

  He cocked an eye toward the Brummgas in his line of sight. "You know, if I were you, I'd find a better boss to work for."

  "Shut up," Gazen snarled.

  "Make me," Jack challenged.

  Gazen's glare shifted over Jack's shoulder. He sensed a slight movement behind him—

  "I said stop," Neverlin snapped. "Are you insane, Gazen? We need him conscious to talk to his uncle."

  "Oh, right," Jack said sarcastically. "I'm supposed to talk him into surrendering. Suppose I don't feel like doing that right now?"

  "Then your friends outside will die," Neverlin said softly.

  Jack gave him a smile he wasn't particularly feeling. "And you think I care?"

  For a long minute Neverlin studied his face. Jack met the gaze evenly, his heart pounding in his chest. If they called his bluff—if Gazen started shooting the slaves out there—

  "With all due respect, sir," the unbandaged bodyguard murmured, "I don't think we have time for this. Those Djinn-90s could be here any time."

  "He has a point, Jack," Neverlin agreed. "We don't want your uncle getting himself killed in a firefight, now, do we?"

  "I'm not going to tell him to surrender," Jack said stubbornly. "We've got time on our side. And you don't dare hurt me."

  Neverlin shook his head. "For a clever boy, Jack, you have some amazing memory failures. Castan?"

  The unbandaged bodyguard slid his gun back into its holster and pulled out a small, flat box. Opening it, he pulled out a hypospray. "The squatter poison," Neverlin identified it. "Remember?"

  Jack pressed back against his captors, as if trying to cringe away from the hypospray. One of the Brummgas tightened his grip on his arm—

  "Ow!" Jack gasped, as if it had really hurt.

  "Don't hurt him!" Neverlin snapped.

  "I didn't," the Brummga protested, sounding bewildered. "I just—"

  Jack hissed again in imaginary pain. "Stop it," Gazen ordered. "You heard Mr. Neverlin."

  "Back off him," Neverlin said. "Just back off."

  Reluctantly but obediently, the Brummgas let go of Jack's arms and shuffled a step backward. "Last chance, Jack," Neverlin said. "One way or another, you're going to cooperate."

  Jack took a deep breath, straightening as tall as he could. "I don't cooperate with losers," he said.

  Neverlin shook his head. "You young fool," he said softly. "Do it, Castan."

  The bodyguard started forward again, shifting the hypospray into working position in his hand. Jack hunched down, raising his fists into a boxer's stance. "You keep away from me," he said tightly. "You hear?"

  "This is ridiculous," Neverlin said, the smooth coating of his voice cracking with exasperation. "Jondo, go and hold him."

  "Yes, sir," the bandaged bodyguard said, taking a couple of quick steps to catch up with his partner, his gun pointed squarely at Jack's stomach. Side by side, the two men approached, the Brummgas backing off another step as they approached.

  "Very good, Jack," Draycos murmured.

  "You're welcome," Jack murmured back, smiling in satisfaction.

  Because now, instead of there being two armed men out of easy reach at the far end of the room, the whole group of enemies were nicely clustered together. "There you go, buddy," he added as Jondo and Castan stepped up to him. "Have a good time."

  And with a K'da battle scream, Draycos burst from the front of his shirt.

  He took out the two bodyguards first, one forepaw slapping hard against their heads in a quick one-two punch. Twisting in midair, he caught Castan in the chest with his rear paws and shoved off him to reverse direction. Almost as an afterthought, his flicking tail sent Jondo's gun sailing across the room to bounce off the side wall.

  Jack dropped into a low crouch. He'd had a vague plan of slipping out of the center of the fight and trying to get one of the bodyguards' guns so he could give Draycos some help.

  But there was no need for a plan. Draycos was way beyond any need of help.

  Once before, Jack had seen his new partner in combat, fighting a group of scavenger heenas in the Vagran Colony Spaceport. He had thought then that he was seeing the dragon at his full potential.

  He'd been wrong. He'd been terrifyingly wrong.

  It was as if someone had dropped a black-scaled threshing machine on top of the Brummgas. Drayco
s was everywhere, leaping and diving and twisting across their heads and shoulders like an insane cat on hot metal. He never seemed to touch the same Brummga more than once. But each time he did, his claws slashed, or his paws slammed, or his tail whipped.

  And when the Brummga fell, he didn't get up again.

  They never had a chance. This kind of fighting wasn't in any of their training manuals, and there was no time to improvise. Drawn slapsticks were knocked aside; hastily drawn guns were ducked beneath.

  And the attack went on. They didn't know how to stop him, or how to get out of his way. They never even knew which direction he would be coming from next, as he shoved randomly off their fellow soldiers or the ceiling into each new attack.

  It was over almost before Jack could catch his breath. Certainly it was over before he could move. The last Brummga slammed backward to the deck; and with a final spin and leap, Draycos again shot past overhead. Jack spun around, suddenly remembering Gazen and Neverlin.

  He needn't have worried. Both men were still by the door, frozen in place like a pair of well-formed ice sculptures. Draycos was standing on the deck in front of Gazen, stretched up on his hind paws with his head so close to the slavemaster's that his snout nearly touched the other's nose.

  One set of claws pressed against the side of Gazen's neck.

  Jack cleared his throat. In the sudden deadly silence, the noise sounded like distant thunder. "If I were you, gentlemen," he advised, "I'd be real careful right now."

  "Mother of . . ." Neverlin whispered, the words trailing off as he stared at Draycos. His eyes flicked to Jack, back to the K'da. "But it's . . ."

  "It's a poet-warrior of the K'da," Jack confirmed. Stepping over to Castan's limp body, he pulled out the bodyguard's gun. "You and the Valahgua missed one."

  Neverlin twitched violently at the name Valahgua. He threw another look at Jack, then focused again on Draycos.

  And suddenly, the stunned and disbelieving panic vanished. "So it was you," he said, his voice almost calm again. "You were the boy who escaped us on Iota Klestis."

  "Right again," Jack said, stepping up and pressing his borrowed gun into Neverlin's stomach. "Either of you carrying any weapons? Or shall I ask Draycos to search you?"

  "What is this?" Gazen hissed. Unlike Neverlin, he was trembling visibly.

  But then, Neverlin didn't have K'da claws pressing against his throat. "This is your life in your hands," Jack told him, taking the slavemaster's extendable slapstick from its holster. "How badly do you want to live today?"

  Gazen swallowed hard. "What do you want?"

  "Let's start by telling your snipers to back off," Jack said. "I want those slaves out there free to join me without getting shot."

  Slowly, Gazen reached toward the comm clip on his shoulder. He stopped short as Draycos gave a soft warning growl. "It's all right, Draycos," Jack soothed. "Gazen wouldn't try to pull a fast one by using code words or anything like that. He'll give the right order, and all the Brummgas will go away, and everyone will live through this. Isn't that right, Gazen?"

  The slavemaster's eyes flicked past Draycos to the Brummgas lying in crumpled heaps on the deck. "Yes," he whispered.

  "There, you see?" Jack said. "Okay, Gazen, go ahead. Oh, and you will make it sound like everything's all right out here, won't you? Like this is just a simple, minor change in the plan?"

  Gazen took a deep breath. "Of course."

  The performance was not exactly up to Stellar Award standards. But it was probably good enough. Especially since most of those on the far end would be Brummgas.

  "Good," Jack said after he'd shut off Gazen's comm clip and slipped it into his own pocket. "Now, I guess the question is what exactly to do with you."

  Beside him, Draycos's ears twitched. "Listen," he said.

  Jack strained his ears. "What is it?"

  "The sound of weapons fire," Draycos said grimly. "The fighters have arrived."

  CHAPTER 35

  Like the rest of the shuttle, the cockpit was a miniature version of a larger spaceship's flight deck. It was a three-seater, too, with copilot and system monitor stations in addition to the usual pilot's chair.

  "Have a seat," Jack ordered his two prisoners as he closed the cockpit door halfway and slid into the pilot's station. "This'll only take a minute."

  "You really think you have that long?" Neverlin asked.

  Jack peered out the canopy, a tight knot in the pit of his stomach. The two Djinn-90s had indeed arrived, and were engaged in combat with the Essenay.

  And for all the Essenay's speed and Uncle Virge's computerized skill, it was clear the ship was fighting for its life. It wove and dodged madly through the sky, trying to stay out of the fighters' sights while at the same time having to keep from straying over the deadly wall.

  And for the moment, at least, there was nothing Jack could do to help. Tearing his eyes away from the view, he started keying in the sewer-rat program.

  "I say we let them take him out," Gazen said blackly. "The kid and his uncle have become way more trouble than they're worth. There has to be another safecracker somewhere you can use for this job."

  "I'm sure there is," Neverlin agreed. "But I have no intention of letting Virgil Morgan die before he's told us who else knows about this."

  "What do we need Morgan for?" Gazen argued. "We've got the kid, right?"

  "You've got a really strange definition of ownership," Jack put in, keying the last part of the sequence. Now it was simply a matter of waiting for the program to do its job.

  "You can't escape, you know," Gazen warned. "Sooner or later, they'll come out here and close you down."

  "Like your other Brummgas did?" Jack asked pointedly.

  "Sheer weight of numbers will eventually take you down," Neverlin said calmly. "Even a K'da warrior can only do so much."

  "You might be surprised," Jack said, trying to match the other's confidence. The computer locking system was starting to waver now under the sewer-rat's attack. Should be any minute. "But no matter what happens here, you're still in big trouble."

  "Really," Neverlin said. "How do you figure that?"

  "Because your bid to grab control of Braxton Universis has gone smokers," Jack told him. "That means that when you go up against the main K'da and Shontine refugee fleet, you won't have the Braxton security forces to draw on."

  He nodded toward the mansion. "Or do you think the Chookoock family and their ten-thumbed Brummgas can do the job all by themselves?"

  Gazen snorted. "Look, kid—"

  "What's your point?" Neverlin cut him off.

  "My point is that you're finished," Jack said flatly. "You're a sinking ship; and you, Gazen, are going to go down with him if you're not careful. But if you call off those Djinn-90s and open the gate, that'll be the end of it. StarForce never has to know you were ever involved with this."

  Neverlin actually laughed out loud. "StarForce? You expect us to believe Virgil Morgan would go to StarForce for help?"

  "Gazen?" Jack asked, ignoring him. "Last chance to join the winning side."

  "Your last chance to surrender and maybe live through this," Gazen countered.

  Abruptly, Draycos's head twitched toward the half-open door. "Footsteps," he warned.

  Jack nodded. "And that ends the negotiations," he said, pulling out the slapstick he'd taken from Gazen and keying it to full power. Whether the newcomers were Maerlynn's group or more Brummgas, he didn't want his prisoners blurting out anything about Draycos. "Nighty-night."

  He flicked the tip at Gazen, then at Neverlin. A pair of brilliant sparks later, both men were down for the count.

  Draycos touched Jack's hand as he retracted the slapstick, sliding up his arm out of sight. Jack could hear the pounding feet now in the corridor. Hiding the slapstick behind his back, he waited.

  The door slid the rest of the way open, and Fleck burst into the cockpit, a laser rifle gripped in his hands. "Easy, Fleck," Jack said hurriedly. "It's under control."
r />   "I guess so," Fleck said, his voice sounding a little strangled. He threw an odd look at the sleeping prisoners, then another one at Jack. "That pile of Brummgas back there. Your work?"

  "I had help," Jack told him. "Where's the rest of the group?"

  "I told them to strap in," Fleck said, slinging the rifle over his right shoulder.

  "Wow!" Noy breathed from the doorway as he peeked in. "You really know how to fly this?"

  "If he doesn't, we're crushed berries," Fleck said. "At least we've got a couple of hostages now. You want me to move them back into the main cabin?"

  "Yes, thanks," Jack said. "And be sure to strap them in."

  "If we've got enough seats," Fleck said, grunting as he hoisted Neverlin over his shoulder. "We've picked up a few extra passengers. A Wistawk named Heetoorieef and a few of his buddies were waiting outside when I came by."

  "Really," Jack said, frowning as he turned to the control board and keyed in the startup sequence. The main controls looked pretty standard. But where were the weapons controls? "How did he even know anything was up?"

  "He said word had gotten out that you were missing and that the Brummgas thought you were trying to escape," Fleck said. "He pulled together all the household slaves who would come and sneaked them outside. I hope that was okay."

  Jack shrugged. "The more the merrier."

  "And I have to tell you that that private army you've got running blocks is really something," Fleck added. "I was falling over sleeping Brummgas every other step out there."

  "We aim to please," Jack said. "That where you picked up the rifle?"

  "Thought it might come in handy," Fleck said. "I guess I didn't have to bother."

  He disappeared out the door, Neverlin's dangling feet clunking against the corridor as he headed aft. "What are we going to do about the wall?" Noy asked, coming up to Jack's side.

  "Don't worry, we'll get through," Jack promised. "Go back and strap in, okay?"

  "Okay," Noy said. He took one more lingering look at the controls and left.

  "Blast it, where are the weapons?" Jack muttered, still searching the control board. "This is one of Neverlin's ships. It has to be armed."