Dragonback 06 Dragon and Liberator (13 page)

By the time the ECHO timer trilled its ten-minute warning Draycos
was again at peace. Fifteen minutes from now he might very well be
dead, and his host along with him. But he would die with honor, doing
what he could to protect those who had put their trust in him.

He would die a poet-warrior of the K'da.

"Draycos?" Jack's voice drifted down the corridor from the
cockpit. "Come on, buddy. Time to get aboard."

"Coming," Draycos called back, giving the controls in his chosen
weapons blister one final check. Jack wanted them together when the
ship came off ECHO, but at the first sign of trouble Draycos would
hurry back here where he could man the patrol ship's weapons.

If he and Jack were going to die, Draycos intended to at least
take as many of the enemy with them as possible.

He reached the cockpit as the ECHO timer was counting out its last
twenty seconds. "Come on; come on," Jack said, holding his hand back
over his shoulder.

Draycos set a paw on Jack's palm and slid up the arm of the
Malison Ring flight suit the boy had taken from Chiggers.
Do you
have an attack plan
? he thought as he settled into his usual
position.

No, but I have a
non-
attack plan
, Jack thought back.
Watch and learn, symby
.

The countdown reached zero. Jack pushed the ECHO lever forward,
and the shimmering blue hyperspace sky faded back to star-sprinkled
black.

There, stretched out in front of them, was Neverlin's attack force.

Draycos lifted his head from Jack's shoulder, studying the ships
scattered across his field of vision. There was the
Advocatus
Diaboli
, of course, the luxurious Braxton Universis corporate yacht
that Neverlin had run off with. There were the Malison Ring Djinn-90
pursuit fighters, at least twenty of them, formed up in a defensive
circle at the fleet's outer edge.

A large troop carrier was off to one side, probably the ship
Neverlin had used to bring those three hundred Brummgas here from
Brum-a-dum. Near it was a fueler ship, and Draycos could see the other
eleven KK-29 patrol ships from Bentre clustered around it like
hatchlings gathered alongside their mother at lunchtime.

And there was one more ship present, floating a few hundred feet
from the
Advocatus Diaboli
. A large and agonizingly familiar
ship.

It was the
Gatekeeper
. One of the four ships of Draycos's
advance team.

Jack apparently spotted it at the same time Draycos did.
Geez
,
the boy's startled thought echoed through Draycos's mind.
Is that
one of your advance team ships
?

It is indeed
, Draycos thought back grimly. Suddenly,
Neverlin's strategy was as clear as the cold vacuum of space.

Hey, hey, slow down, buddy
, Jack protested into Draycos's
sudden flurry of thoughts and speculations.
Did you say something
about a trap
?

Sorry
, Draycos apologized, forcing his mind to slow down.
Their telepathic link only worked if he and Jack were thinking directly
at each other. Other thoughts could be sensed, but only as a wordless
and rather distracting buzz.
Yes, it's a trap. But not for us. Do
you see all the hull damage, especially in the forward part
?

Yes
, Jack thought back, sounding puzzled.
I didn't
realize Neverlin's team had hit you that hard
.

They didn't
, Draycos replied.
That damage has been
added since the Iota Klestis attack
.

He sensed Jack's sudden flash of understanding.
Got it
,
the boy said.
They're going to pretend they're being attacked by
the rest of the ships and go running to the refugee fleet for protection
.

Exactly
, Draycos confirmed.
Many of the Valahgua can
speak our language well enough to be mistaken for Shontine. They'll
call for help, and the screening warships will almost certainly let
them past the defense ring
.

There's no password
?

There are several
, Draycos told him.
But the Valahgua
can feign transmission trouble, or claim that all senior members of the
advance team were killed or incapacitated
.

And come to think of it, why
shouldn't
the warriors
believe them
? Jack agreed grimly.
As far as they know, there
isn't a Valahgua for thousands of light-years
.

There was a ping from the control board. "Hey, Chiggers,"
Driscol's voice came from the speaker. "So you didn't get lost, huh?
Too bad. Guess I lose the pool."

Jack took a deep breath. "Showtime," he muttered, and flipped the
transmission switch. "Yeah, and my heart bleeds for you," he replied
sarcastically.

Only somehow, it was no longer Jack.

Draycos twisted his head around to look up at the boy's face, a
wave of disbelief running through him. Jack's face had subtly changed,
his eyes gone dark and smoldering with resentment, a cynical twist to
his mouth.

And his voice was Chiggers's voice, matching the mercenary's tone,
phrasing, and attitude. It was as if Jack had flipped a switch and
somehow become the mercenary.

"That's not the only thing that'll be bleeding if you don't get
your tail over here and fuel up," Driscol warned. "Colonel wants us
taking a turn at sentry duty."

"Colonel's going to have to wait," Jack growled. "I need to dock
and get some repair sealant."

"You still leaking air?"

"No, now I'm leaking calozyne," Jack told him.

"Calozyne?" Driscol echoed, a sudden catch in his voice.

"Yeah, calozyne," Jack said impatiently. "You want me to spell it
for you?"

"You sure it's not just your breath?"

"Smells more like your butt," Jack countered.

There was another click from the speaker. "Chiggers, this is
Borkrin," Sarge's voice came on the line. "What's this about a calozyne
leak?"

"It's a calozyne leak," Jack said. "What do you want me to say
about it?"

"How about starring with how bad it is?" Sarge growled. "You need
us to set you up an isolation bay?"

"Oh, frunge, no," Jack scoffed. "It's not going to kill anyone.
But it's eating the lining off my nose, and I used all my sealant on
the air leak. Can you set me a port with the
Advocatus Diaboli
?"

"Oh yeah, right," Sarge said with a snort. "Like the colonel and
Mr. Neverlin want to smell it. Get yourself over to the
Foxwolf
.
I'll have Reinking set you up a docking port there."

"Copy," Jack said, and tapped his transmission key, cutting off
the radio. He took another deep breath; and as he did so, the resentful
expression smoothed away. "I think we're in," he said. His voice, too,
was back to normal.

It took Draycos another second to find his own voice.
"Impressive," he said. "I had no idea you could do something like that."

"You like it?" Jack asked, getting a grip on the control yoke and
turning them a few degrees to the left. "A little trick Uncle Virgil
taught me."

"More than just a single trick," Draycos said. "It was as if you'd
actually become the man."

"That's the best way to imitate someone," Jack said. "Body, mind,
attitude, voice. Everything." He shrugged. "
If
you can do it.
Most people can't. At least, not very well."

"Obviously, you're one of the few who can," Draycos said. "And all
that after having heard only a few sentences from the man."

"Yet another useless talent for a reformed con man and thief."
Jack shook his head sharply.
Okay, I think my brain's ready to go
with the telepathy thing again
, the thought whispered across
Draycos's mind.
Next job is to actually make it aboard the ship
.

Draycos turned his head to look out the canopy through Jack's
collar. While they'd been talking, Jack had shifted their course toward
the
Gatekeeper. Isn't the next trick to figure out which ship is the
Foxwolf? Draycos asked.
Going to the wrong one would be a dead
giveaway that you aren't Chiggers
.

Not a problem
, Jack said.
If you scratch the
Advocatus Diaboli,
the only ships big enough to dock this thing are
your
Gatekeeper,
the fueler, and the troop carrier. Troop
carriers and fuelers, if you'll recall from all that reading we had to
do when I was in the Whinyard's Edge, are usually numbered, not named
.

Neverlin might have made an exception
.

He didn't
, Jack assured him.
Now that we know Frost's
plan
, Foxwolf
is a perfect name for the
Gatekeeper.
It'll
start out looking like it's running for its life, like the fox in a
foxhunt. Once it's past the main defenses, it'll suddenly turn into a
wolf and start ravaging its way through the fleet
.

Draycos felt his tail twitch. With his mind occupied with Jack's
performance, he hadn't yet spotted the most important implication of
the
Gatekeeper's
presence here.
Which also means that's
where the Valahgua will have mounted their Death weapons
.

Or at least most of them
, Jack agreed.
I'm guessing
Neverlin has at least one aboard the
Advocatus Diaboli,
just to
make sure his own skin is safe
.

And if they could get aboard the
Gatekeeper
and disable
those weapons . . .
Tell me about this calozyne you mentioned
,
Draycos said.
What exactly is it? And there
isn't
any
actual leak, is there
?

Believe me, buddy, if there was you'd know it
, Jack said
dryly.
It's a heat-exchange fluid for the laser chargers, and it
stinks to high heaven
.

Odd
, Draycos said.
Our heat-exchange fluids are odorless
.

Actually, calozyne smells the way it does on purpose
, Jack
said.
It's a safety feature, so that you know right away if you've
got a leak. Firing lasers without being able to dump the heat is
generally considered a very bad idea
.

Agreed
, Draycos said.
But won't those aboard the
Gatekeeper
then know immediately that we have no leak
?

The minute they get close enough to get a good whiff
, Jack
confirmed.
That's why we'll have to hit first and fast and then go
to ground. I hope you know somewhere aboard where we can do that
.

There are several such hiding places
, Draycos assured him,
gazing out at the
Gatekeeper
and forcing his brain to work. So
far Jack had been carrying the burden of planning here. It was about
time Draycos picked up his share of the load.
If we haven't got a
leak, can we make one
?

Sure, but what's the point
? Jack asked.
The minute the
mercenaries in there see me, the game will be up
.

Unless those who meet us are Brummgas
, Draycos said.
I
doubt they'll be nearly so good at distinguishing one of Frost's
mercenaries from another
.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jack frown down at him.
Probably
not
, the boy agreed cautiously.
But we don't even know if there
are
any Brummgas aboard. Let alone that Frost will let them play
reception committee
.

Actually, aside from the Valahgua manning the Death weapons, I
expect nearly all aboard will be Brummgas
, Draycos told him.
Very
likely all those we watched being brought from the Chookoock estate, in
fact
.

Okay, buddy, you've now officially lost me
, Jack said.
I
thought we'd just decided the
Gatekeeper
was their primary
attack ship. Neverlin's certainly not going to leave that part of the
scheme in Brummgan hands
.

They aren't here to handle the attack
, Draycos said.
They're
here to create the proper illusion. As I said earlier, the Valahgua can
imitate Shontine voices well enough to fool the fleet's warriors. What
they
can't
imitate is the heat signature of five hundred K'da
and Shontine crew members aboard ship
.

He caught Jack's flicker of understanding.
So Frost has loaded
the ship with warm Brummgan bodies
?

Exactly
, Draycos said.
The refugee fleet's sensors
can't read individual heat emissions through the hull but only the sum
total. Three hundred Brummgas should be just about right
.

And the spectrum from a living being probably looks different
from ordinary heaters or anything else Neverlin might have used
,
Jack said.

Exactly
, Draycos said.
I'm sure Neverlin would have
preferred to use humans, but I'm guessing neither he nor Frost had
access to the necessary numbers
.

Hence the whole deal with the Patri Chookoock
, Jack said
slowly.
So if we can avoid the handful of Malison Ring mercenaries
Frost has watching over the Valahgua and Brummgas, we may be able to
push our own game a little longer
.

As long as we can
, Draycos said.
The more quiet time we
have to seek out and sabotage the Death weapons, the better
.

Ahead, the marker lights came on beside one of the
Gatekeeper
's
hatches.
There—that's our target hatch
, he told Jack, flicking
out his tongue toward the lights.

I see it
, Jack said.
Hop off, will you? I've got a job
for you
.

What job
? Draycos asked as he leaped out of Jack's collar
to land on the deck behind him.

"Go to the nearest weapons blister and get under the control
board," Jack said. "Right up against the inside wall there should be
one or more blue-striped tubes labeled
coolant
."