Dragonback 06 Dragon and Liberator (32 page)

"Clever," Alison said. She'd already figured that out, actually,
but it wouldn't hurt to stroke Neverlin's ego a little. "You can't risk
any direct radio communication with the Hammerfall ships—the K'da would
definitely find that suspicious if they spotted it. This way all the
Hammerfall Leaders have to do is monitor the Backstop group's position
relative to the
Advocatus Diaboli
and they'll know what you
want them to do."

"Exactly," Neverlin said. "The Lordhighest doesn't think the fleet
would pick up a tight beam pointed at such angles, but it's better to
be safe than—"

"Sir!" the
Advocatus Diaboli
's captain spoke up sharply.
"We've got lifepod separation. Number two, port-side bow."

"What?" Neverlin demanded, crossing over to stand behind him. "Who
in—?"

"Never mind
who
," Frost cut him off. "Where's he going?"

"He's curving around," the captain reported, peering at his
displays. "Looks like he's trying to—correction: he's curving around
again. Picking up speed."

"Evasive!" Frost barked. "Backstop group—emergency close and
engage!"

"What's going on?" Neverlin demanded. "Frost?"

"He's going to ram," Frost snarled. "I said
evasive
,
frunge you."

"Trying, sir," the helmsman shot back. "We're not as maneuverable
as he is."

"Backstop?" Frost snapped.

"Backstop Leader," a tight voice came back. "We're out of
position, Colonel. No way to get to him in time without hitting you."

Frost glared at the displays, muttering under his breath. Then,
abruptly, he turned on the Lordhighest. "The Death," he ordered. "Get
him with the Death. Now!"

"You do not order us in that tone—"

"To blazes with my tone!" Frost snapped. "Just
kill him
."

For a moment the Valahgua gazed at him. Then, he muttered a pair
of guttural-sounding words toward his shoulder. There was a slight
flicker of the bridge lights—

"Got him," the captain announced. "Helm: hard about."

"Too late," Neverlin said, pointing at the display. "He's going to
hit."

The captain must have seen that, too. "Collision!" he shouted.
"All hands!"

Lunging to the nearest console, Alison grabbed the handgrip and
braced herself.

A fraction of a second later, the lifepod hit.

It wasn't a big impact, not nearly as big or violent as Alison had
expected. The
Advocatus Diaboli
shuddered like a dog giving a
final shake as it shed the last bit of water after a dip in a cold
lake. But the bridge didn't fill with the screaming of the hull-breach
alarm, or even the slightly less strident hooting of the decompression
warning.

She took a careful breath, feeling slightly ridiculous. Given the
urgency of Frost's warning, she'd expected something a lot more
dramatic.

Neverlin apparently had, too. "Is that it?" he asked, sounding
flustered and more than a little annoyed.

"No, that is
not
it," Frost bit out. "Captain, get someone
to the InterWorld transmitter and shut it down."

"Shut it
down
?" Neverlin put in. "But it's not on."

"You worthless fool," Frost snarled at him. "What do you think an
emergency beacon
is
?"

Neverlin stiffened. "Oh no."

"Exactly." Snarling a curse, Frost left the bridge at a dead run.

"What has happened?" the Valahgua demanded. "Neverlin, explain."

"Later," Neverlin said, starting to follow Frost.

"Not later," the Valahgua insisted. "Now."

With a visible effort, Neverlin slowed to a stop. "This ship is
equipped with an emergency distress beacon," he ground out. "That
beacon is connected to our InterWorld transmitter. In an emergency—such
as a lifepod ramming our hull—it sends out a signal that anyone within
range can pick up."

He glared at Alison. "
And
can trace."

"Don't look at
me
," Alison warned. "Whatever happened, it
wasn't my—"

She broke off as a brief staccato of shots sounded in the
distance. What in the
world
? "Whatever happened, it wasn't my
doing," she went on, fighting to keep her voice calm and even. The
daughter of Aram Davi shouldn't be startled by a little random gunfire,
after all. "I suggest you or Colonel Frost start by taking a head count
and finding out who's missing."

"No need," Neverlin said bitterly. "It was Harper. It had to be
him."

Alison felt her stomach tighten. Harper. Of course. "All by
himself?" she asked pointedly. "An interesting trick."

"Braxton's full of interesting tricks," Neverlin said. But there
was a glint in his eye as his gaze drifted around the bridge.

Across the bridge, the door opened and Frost reappeared. "The
transmitter's been shut off," he said. "If we're lucky, we got it fast
enough that no one was able to get a solid fix on it."

"That was my
transmitter
you were shooting at?" Neverlin
demanded. "Blast it all, Colonel—"

"Would you rather have Harper's friends drop in on us while we're
in the middle of looting the refugee ships?" Frost asked. "If someone
followed Harper to Point Two they're only four days away."

Neverlin's lips pressed together into a thin line. "Captain, get
your men busy making repairs to the InterWorld transmitter," he growled.

"Yes, sir," the captain said.

Neverlin looked at Alison. "And once it's back together, have them
disconnect the emergency beacon system," he added.

"Do not fear the friends of our enemies," the Valahgua said. "If
any come, they will die as surely as will the K'da and Shontine."

"Let's just hope your K'da and Shontine are on time," Frost put in
darkly. "If they're late, we could end up being caught between two
different groups of enemies. That's generally considered a bad idea."

"Do not lecture me on military truths," the Valahgua said stiffly.
"And do not concern yourself with such matters. If our enemies arrive
together, they will die together."

"I'm sure they will," Neverlin said before Frost could answer.
"Meanwhile, we have our final few ships to deploy."

"Not yet," the Valahgua said. "You have tracked the lifepod that
carried the traitor?"

"I don't know," Neverlin said. "Captain?"

"Yes, sir, we have its trajectory," the captain said, peering at
his displays.

"You will retrieve it," the Valahgua said. "Send your ships now."

"Lordhighest, all we have available right now are the five
Djinn-90s of the Backstop group," Frost reminded him. "Everyone else is
over a thousand miles behind us at the three Hammerfall start points."

"If you're worried about the refugee fleet spotting it, we can
simply destroy it," Neverlin offered.

"You will retrieve it intact," the Valahgua said. "We have never
before used the Death on a human. I wish to study exactly how its
effect has been."

Neverlin looked at Frost, and Alison could sense a sudden
uneasiness in both men. "There's no need to make a full investigation,"
Neverlin said, his voice studiously casual. "You told me you and your
colleagues would be leaving as soon as the K'da and Shontine were
destroyed."

"There is science to be done, Neverlin," the Valahgua said. "The
science
will
be done. Retrieve the lifepod and the body."

Neverlin's lip twitched, but he nodded to Frost. "Go ahead,
Colonel," he said, again working at sounding casual. "I'm sure your
pilots can figure out some way to grab the lifepod."

For a half-dozen heartbeats Frost continued to glower at the
Valahgua. Then, with clear reluctance, he gestured to the captain.
"Feed Backstop Leader the lifepod's trajectory and order him to
retrieve it," he said shortly. He looked back at Neverlin. "Anything
else?"

"No, that will be all." Neverlin turned to Alison. "Would you care
to sit in on the autopsy?"

"No, thank you," Alison said. "If you don't mind, I'd like to go
back to my stateroom for a while and get some rest."

"Good idea," Neverlin said, his eyes suddenly thoughtful as he
gazed at her. "Yes. A very good idea."

As always, Alison gave her stateroom a quick sweep with her sensor
as soon as she was inside. As usual, she found they'd planted another
bug while she'd been out. Dealing with it, she lay down on the bed.

And let her heartache wash over her.

It was all going wrong. All of it. Spectacularly and devastatingly
wrong. Taneem was probably dead, drifting off into that strange
fourth-dimensional world, all because Alison hadn't been able to break
free from Neverlin and Frost in time. Jack and Draycos didn't seem to
have made any move to take over the troop carrier, like she'd expected
them to. Maybe Neverlin had changed his mind and they were dead, too.

And Harper
was
dead. Killed quickly, quietly, and
efficiently by the Valahgua and their monstrous Death weapon.

It was all coming apart.

And it was all her fault.

What in space had ever made her think she could pull off something
like this, anyway?

She didn't know how long she lay there, staring at the ceiling and
condemning herself and her failures. All she knew was that she was
suddenly startled out of a light doze by a soft scratching at the
ventilation grille.

She bounded off the bed onto her feet, staggering a little as the
blood level in her brain dropped briefly before her heart got up to
speed again. "Taneem?" she called softly, afraid to hope.

But for once, hope hadn't abandoned her. "Yes," the K'da's
familiar voice came back. "May I come in?"

"Of course, of course," Alison said, grabbing the desk chair and
pulling it over to the grille. "I don't suppose you still have the
screwdrivers we borrowed from Harper?"

"Yes, I've had everything waiting right here," Taneem said. A thin
piece of plastic slid into view through one of the openings in the
duct. "Here."

Alison took it and set feverishly to work. It was the flat-head
screwdriver, not exactly suited to the crosshead bolts the grille was
fastened with.

But it was good enough, and Alison was inspired, and within two
minutes she had the grille open far enough for her to wedge her hand up
into the duct.

Two seconds after that, Taneem was once again nestled against her
skin.

"Thank God," Alison murmured as she refastened the grille. "Thank
God. I was hoping you'd found a safe haven."

"I couldn't get to you," Taneem murmured back. "You were with
Neverlin and Frost the whole time."

"I know," Alison said, climbing off the chair and putting it back
in its place by the desk. Going back to the bed, she lay down again.

But this time, it was relief that washed through her instead of
heartache. "I tried every trick I could think of to get away, but they
weren't buying any of them," she went on. "I couldn't even go the
bathroom alone for those first few hours. I don't think they completely
trusted me back then. Probably still don't," she added, remembering the
look on Neverlin's face as she'd left the bridge just now. "All I could
do was hope you could find a sleeping crewman or someone else you could
borrow long enough to get by." She was babbling like an idiot, she
knew. But strangely enough she didn't care. "I tried to point you
forward toward the crew section a couple of times—did you notice?"

"I did better than that," Taneem interrupted her gently. "Harper
let me stay with him." She paused, and Alison winced with the sudden
sadness she could sense in her friend. "He's dead, isn't he?"

"Yes, he is," Alison said, fresh tears misting across her eyes.
"He died trying to save Draycos's people."

"Did he succeed?"

Alison swallowed hard. "Not by himself," she said. "Maybe not even
with all the rest of us to help."

She wiped at her eyes with her sleeve. "But it's not over yet,"
she added firmly. An hour ago, all her hope had been gone. But now some
of it was back. Maybe enough of it. "Not by a long shot."

There was a soft knock on the door. "Hide," she whispered urgently
to Taneem as she stood up. She waited until the K'da had settled
herself out of sight beneath her clothing, then keyed the door open.

It was Neverlin. To Alison's mild surprise, he was alone. "Ms.
Davi," he greeted her courteously. "May I come in?"

"As you wish," Alison said, stepping back out of the doorway, her
heart thudding suddenly in her chest. Could he have recognized her, as
Frost had back on Brum-a-dum? "Please; sit down."

"Thank you." Stepping to the desk, he swiveled the chair around
and lowered himself into it. "I trust you had a good rest," he
continued as Alison perched herself on the corner of the bed facing him.

"I'm feeling much better, thank you," Alison said, telling the
complete truth for once.

"Good." Neverlin paused. "Tell me, how soon do you think your
father could get a full military force out here?"

"Not nearly soon enough," Alison said. "The refugee fleet could be
here, what, as early as tomorrow?"

"Theoretically, yes," Neverlin said. "Though personally I'm not
expecting them for another four to six days. But I wasn't thinking
about a force for the attack itself."

"Then for what?"

"For the work afterward." Neverlin gave her a small smile, his
eyes glinting unpleasantly. "For the looting."

"For the looting?" Alison asked pointedly. "Or for protecting us
from any friends Harper might have on the way?"

"You mean his friends in Braxton Universis Security?" Neverlin
snorted. "Actually, I rather hope they do show up. The more of them our
Valahguan friends take care of here, the fewer I'll have to deal with
later when I take over the company. The Valahgua have finished their
examination of Harper's body, by the way."

Alison forced herself not to look away from him. "Any surprises?"
she asked.