Dragonback 06 Dragon and Liberator

  "But how did you even know about them?" Jack asked.

  "Later," Braxton said briskly. "Right now, I see that Mr. Neverlin has noticed our intentions."

  Jack looked at the display. Three of the five Djinn-90s that had been on course for the Essenay had turned around again, heading back to intercept the incoming Braxton Universis ships. "Leaving us only two to handle," Jack muttered. "I guess that's better than nothing."

  "It's a lot better than nothing, Jack lad," Uncle Virge said, a dark slyness in his voice. "One of those two ships is Langston's."

  He'd barely finished the comment when the rearmost of the two approaching Djinn-90s blew the other one out of the sky.

  "You're clear, Jack," Langston's voice came over the radio. "What else do you need?"

  "Nothing," Jack said. The Advocatus Diaboli, its use as bait suddenly gone, twisted violently away again.

  Only this time the maneuver was too late. "Just get yourself clear," Jack added as he turned the Essenay to follow. "Go hook up with the rest of Braxton's group and wait to help with the cleanup."

  "What about you?"

  The Advocatus Diaboli loomed directly ahead. Clenching his teeth, Jack turned the control yoke hard to the left.

  With a horrendous grinding of metal the two ships slammed together. For a long second the Essenay slid forward along the bigger ship's side, still grinding metal.

  And then, with a lurch that threw Jack hard against his straps, the Essenay came to an abrupt halt. "Hatches linked," Uncle Virge announced. "Or at least, close enough."

  "Jack?" Langston called. "What are you doing?"

  "We're going to destroy the Death," Jack told him. "I don't suppose you happen to know where they've got it mounted?"

  "I saw them kill Harper with it, remember?" Langston said grimly. "It's in the forward bulk storage room: upper deck, all the way at the bow."

  "Got it," Jack said. "Thanks."

  "Good luck," Langston said. "I'll see you later."

  Jack grimaced. "Let's hope so."

  The Advocatus Diaboli shuddered with the impact, the distant scream of tortured metal echoing through the empty corridors all the way to the bridge. Alison winced, her ears throbbing with the screeching.

  And then she was nearly knocked off her feet as the Essenay caught the larger ship's docking collar.

  "He's here," Frost spat. "Sergeant, get a squad to the starboard docking station."

  "No," the Valahgua ordered. "We go instead to the bow. Everyone goes."

  "You want to give Morgan the run of the ship?" Frost demanded.

  "He may have all that he wishes," the Valahgua said coldly. "When we stand beside the Death, we will release it from its mount and sweep it through everywhere else."

  "And then what?" Frost asked. "He and the K'da are immune, remember?"

  "Only if they're together," Neverlin said. "I think we can arrange something that'll get them apart. Get everyone to the Death weapon chamber."

  "I hope you know what you're doing," Frost warned. "Both of you."

  "We do," Neverlin said. "Now get moving."

  He gestured to the guards holding Alison's arms. "And bring her, too. If the Death isn't enough bait for Morgan and the K'da, maybe she will be."

  The Advocatus Diaboli's airlock had been slightly warped by the impact. But it was functional enough. Slipping inside, Jack pressed his back against the inner door. What kind of reception committee have they got waiting? he asked Draycos.

  The K'da peered over the door. I see nothing, he reported, sounding both surprised and more than a little suspicious. They may have set up an ambush in one of the cross-corridors.

  Let's find out. Hefting his tangler. Jack keyed the door.

  It slid open with another screech of tortured metal. He ducked out into the corridor for a quick look, then ducked back into cover again.

  No one shot at him. I don't smell anyone nearby, Draycos said, his tongue flicking up from Jack's shoulder. Shall I go investigate?

  Better not, Jack said. An ambush we can hopefully spot before we get in range. They don't have to be nearly that obvious to turn the Death around and shoot it at us.

  Then let us deal with it, Draycos said firmly.

  They set off down the corridor, Jack holding his tangler ready, Draycos's tongue rhythmically darting out and tasting the air.

  But for all the signs of life they found, the ship might have been deserted. Where is everyone? Jack asked as they passed the ship's midpoint.

  In the bow, Draycos said. You were right—they're planning to use the Death against us.

  Good luck to them, Jack said. How do they think they're going to get you to come off me?

  By also attacking us with normal weapons, Draycos said. Frost knows I'll have to leave you if I'm going to defend you against his men.

  Jack chewed the inside of his cheek. Unfortunately, that made a lot of sense. So we need to get you to the Death before he can get his guns lined up?

  Or get me past the guns before we attack the Death, Draycos said.

  Jack grimaced. Sounds like your classic chicken-and-egg problem.

  Pardon?

  Never mind—tell you later, Jack said. I guess we're playing this one by ear.

  They continued forward through the still-deserted ship. Maybe we can get to the Death room from underneath, Jack suggested as they walked. Or maybe we can just cut off the power.

  We can try, Draycos said doubtfully. But I suspect Frost has blocked any threats that obvious.

  Frost had. They reached the middeck bow to discover that all the forward compartments had been sealed. And no one's getting in there any time soon, either, Jack said, pointing to a red light on the door's release switch. They've opened that whole section to vacuum.

  Including all the power connections to the Death room?

  And including the section's backup generator, Jack confirmed. I guess it's a frontal assault or nothing.

  Then let us not keep them waiting, Draycos said.

  Fine with me, Jack said, feeling his heart start to race again. But we've got one more stop to make first. If they've moved the Death into a bulk storage room, it stands to reason they must have moved all the bulk storage itself out. Let's find out where they put it.

  "Hurry up with that thing," Frost growled as the two Valahgua worked at disassembling the swivels of the Death weapon's mount. "Come on; come on."

  "It is not easy to work in these confines," the Lordhighest countered stiffly.

  He had a point, Alison had to agree. The storage room followed the shape of the ship's bow, reasonably wide at the aft end by the door but narrowing considerably toward the bow where the Death weapon had been mounted.

  And with Neverlin, Alison, Frost, the three Valahgua, and six crewmen crammed in that narrower area, the Valahgua didn't have a lot of extra room to work with.

  "Relax, Colonel," Neverlin said calmly from Alison's side. "We have time." He nudged Alison's shoulder, nodding back toward the door. "I trust you approve of our tactical landscape?"

  Alison looked toward the room's door, her stomach tightening. The ship's twelve resident Malison Ring mercenaries were facing the door, five of them kneeling, another five standing behind them, the last two another pace back from the double firing line as backup. "It's beautiful," she said. "Draycos will cut through it like winter wheat."

  "I hope he tries," Neverlin said. "I understand K'da evaporate into thin air when they die. I'd like to see that."

  Alison's eyes flicked up to the ventilation grille just above the door. She hadn't seen Taneem since the K'da had wrecked the jamming equipment and Alison had ordered her to go hide.

  She hoped Taneem had obeyed. She hoped even more that the K'da had found a hiding place somewhere forward and in the lower deck where Neverlin's planned sweep of the Death might miss her.

  Jack found the displaced storage items on the third door he tried, two doors aft of the Death room. Everything he'd hoped for was there.

  Three
minutes later, he was ready.

  Okay, he said, running a critical eye over his masterpiece: a rolling cart with three oxygen tanks strapped to it, twenty feet back from the Death room and lined up squarely on its door. We're good to go. You ready?

  Yes. Draycos hesitated. Jack . . . if this doesn't work . . .

  It's okay, symby, Jack said, a lump coming to his throat. We already said our good-byes, remember?

  Yes, Draycos said. The moment had passed, and he was all business again. Do you want me to take another look over the door?

  No time, Jack said. They looked like they might have the Death free any second now. Besides, where could anyone possibly have moved in there?

  Point, Draycos agreed. Then let's do it.

  He leaped out of Jack's collar and landed on the deck beside the cart. Jack moved up to the door, his usual full-size tangler in his right hand, Harper's tiny palm-grip tangler hidden in his left. Holding the butt of his tangler an inch away from the door release, he looked back at Draycos and nodded.

  With a triple slash of his claws, Draycos sliced the ends off all three oxygen tanks.

  The cart surged forward, picking up speed as the escaping gas drove it forward like a small, rolling rocket. Draycos loped along beside it, picking up his pace as the cart sped up, nudging it back on track whenever it started to drift off-target. Jack watched it come, holding out his left hand toward Draycos as he judged his timing.

  A second before the cart reached the door, Draycos leaped up and forward, catching the back of Jack's hand and melting onto his arm. A half second later, with the cart still picking up speed, Jack tapped the butt of his tangler into the release.

  The door opened, and Jack leaned around the edge. "Catch!" he called, tossing his tangler in a high arc into the room. Several of the mercenaries instinctively looked upward toward the flying weapon, before suddenly spotting the cart roaring through the door toward them.

  The soldiers directly in front of it scrambled to get out of its way. As they did so, Jack lifted his left hand and fired both shots of Harper's tangler.

  The cartridges hit the side of one of the oxygen tanks and burst open, their milky white threads snagging the nearest of the kneeling mercenaries and anchoring him solidly to the careening cart. The sudden drag sent the cart pivoting sharply to the side, changing its course and bouncing it into and across more of the mercenaries.

  And as it careened through their neat double line, Draycos leaped out of Jack's sleeve.

  He landed in front of the nearest mercenary just as the other got clear of the cart and started to bring his gun back around toward his attacker. The K'da got there first, slapping his paw against the man's gun hand and deflecting it to the side.

  But instead of leaping to the next soldier in line, the K'da simply vanished up the first man's sleeve.

  Someone gasped a curse. But before anyone could move, Draycos was back, bounding out of the back of the man's collar toward the soldier behind him. Again his outstretched paws caught the man's hand and he slid out of sight up his sleeve, his tail managing to slap across the head of the next man in line before he vanished.

  "Now!" Neverlin bellowed over the chaos. "Shoot them!"

  Draycos leaped out of the mercenary's collar, headed for a man a couple of steps farther back on the right-hand side of the group. Beyond him, a pair of Valahgua heaved the long Death weapon cylinder off its mount and swiveled it around toward Jack.

  And as it started its turn, the end erupted with the familiar sickly yellow flash and the violet light of the Death. Cutting through the soldiers to Jack's left, it swept ponderously toward him.

  There was nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide. Instinctively, Jack leaped forward into the room, diving for the deck. His last glimpse before the struggling soldiers blocked his view was that of Alison breaking free from Neverlin's grip and throwing her body at the side of the weapon in a desperate attempt to slow it down.

  But it was a futile gesture, and Jack knew it. Even with her interference, he had no more than a second before the beam would sweep over him. Alison could do no more; Draycos was already an eternity too far away. Jack hit the deck chest-first, the impact knocking half the wind out of him, and prepared himself to die.

  And then, the rest of the air was knocked out of him as something hard and heavy slammed into his shoulders and the back of his neck. The sudden weight vanished as suddenly as it had appeared—

  The violet beam swept over him, and he felt the by now familiar tingle. The tingle, and nothing else. He heard the hum of the weapon change pitch slightly as it halted its swing and came back toward him to try again.

  And then, the hum was drowned out by the thunder of a pair of gunshots.

  The hum vanished, and the room fell abruptly silent. Cautiously, Jack raised his head.

  The mercenaries who had been standing in front of him were lying crumpled on the deck. All dead. The Death weapon itself was lying on the deck, too, as were the two Valahgua who had been holding it. A third Valahgua was still standing, something that looked like a weapon in his hand and pointed down at Alison, who was sprawled frozen on the deck looking up at him.

  To Jack's right, Draycos was crouched on the deck, poised to spring. His green eyes glittered as he stared unblinkingly at the Valahgua. Pressed against the curved bulkhead, as far back as they could get, were Neverlin and six white-clad crewmen.

  And standing between Draycos and the Valahgua, no more than a step back out of their line of sight, was Frost. His gun was in his hand.

  Pointed at the Valahgua.

  "Lower the weapon," Frost told the alien. "You hear me?"

  "They must die," the Valahgua insisted, his voice sounding utterly alien. "They must all die."

  "There's no point," Frost said. "It's over. It's all over. Surrender, and you can still live."

  The Valahgua snarled something in his own language. "Do not mock me!"

  "He isn't mocking you," Draycos said. His voice was low and bitter and deadly. "If you surrender, you will be allowed to return with a message."

  "What message, K'da?" the Valahgua spat.

  "That the power of the Valahgua is broken," Draycos said. "That if you ever come again to this region of space, you will be destroyed." His tail flicked. "But you will only live to carry that message if you lower your weapon."

  "Better take him up on the offer," Jack advised, standing up and taking a couple of steps toward the standoff. A risky move, he knew, but giving the Valahgua one more target to choose from might give Draycos the opening he needed. "You don't want your people always wondering what happened out here, do you?"

  The Valahgua flashed Jack an unreadable look. "Come on," Jack cajoled. "You don't want to die, do you?"

  The Valahgua looked down at Alison. "Don't do it," Jack warned.

  And with a scream that seemed to shake Jack's teeth, Taneem leaped out of his collar. The Valahgua twisted his arm up and around, trying to bring his weapon to bear on this sudden new threat.

  He never made it. Before the gun was even halfway to its target, Draycos leaped across the open gap and buried his claws in the Valahgua's throat.

  The gun went off, sizzling a blast of blue-white energy into the ceiling, then dropped to the deck.

  "Now," Draycos said, "it is over."

  Jack took a deep breath. "I guess they'll never know what happened now, will they?" he said.

  "Perhaps not," Draycos said, turning to face Frost.

  Frost, whose gun was still pointed at the dead Valahgua. Only now, Jack realized suddenly, it was pointed at Draycos.

  Neverlin spotted it, too. "Do it," he muttered urgently, taking a step forward.

  Without even looking at him, Frost swiveled his gun away from Draycos and pointed it at Neverlin. "As he said, sir. It's over." He looked at Jack. "Give Braxton a call," he said. "Tell him I want to make a deal with him. And only with him."

  "Sure, no problem," Jack said. Picking his way through the sprawled Malison Ring bodies, he stop
ped in front of Frost and held out his hand. The other hesitated, then turned the gun around and handed it to Jack. "The keys to Alison's cuffs would be nice, too," Jack suggested as Alison got awkwardly back to her feet.

  Frost shook his head. "I don't have them. Not sure who does."

  "Allow me," Draycos said. Inserting one claw into the handcuff chain, he sliced through it.

  "Thanks," Alison said, wincing as she brought her hands back around again. "That's hard on the shoulders," she commented. "You all right?"

  "I'm fine," Jack assured her.

  "Yes, I can see that," Alison said dryly. "I was talking to Taneem."

  "I'm also fine," Taneem said. Somewhat hesitantly, she moved forward. "I know you told me to hide, but I couldn't leave you alone. I hope I did all right."

  "You did more than all right, Taneem," Alison assured her, reaching over to stroke her head. "I'm sure Jack and Draycos agree."

  "And then some," Jack agreed. "Thanks for saving my life."

  "You did the same for me on Rho Scorvi," Taneem said simply. "I'm glad I was able to repay you."

  Jack cleared his throat. "Speaking of payments and paybacks, we'd better get Braxton on the radio." He eyed Alison. "Did you know he came all the way out here personally to find you?"

  Alison shrugged. "I thought he might."

  "I hope he hangs you," Neverlin said bitterly. "Whoever you really stole that tracer for, I hope he well and truly hangs you."

  "He does seem to want you pretty badly," Jack warned.

  "Yes, I suppose he does," Alison agreed. She smiled at Neverlin. "But then, grandfathers are like that."

  CHAPTER 31

  "That's it," Alison announced, dropping one last folded shirt into the carry bag laid out on her bunk in the Essenay's second cabin. "You know, I'm really going to miss this place."

  "Not that you ever spent much time in here," Jack pointed out.

  "Oh, I don't mean the room," she said, looking around the cabin. "Not even the ship, really."

  "The company, then?" Draycos asked from the corner where he and Taneem had stretched out on the deck to watch Alison's packing.