Dragon and Herdsman

"I'll be fraggled," Alison murmured when he'd finished. "You two have definitely been through the meat grinder on this one."

"And it's not over yet," Jack said, studying her face. But she was every bit as good at masking her thoughts and feelings as he was. Her face said exactly what she wanted it to, which in this case was basically nothing.

"So why haven't you taken this to the Internos government?" she asked. "The Malison Ring's a pretty big group, but StarForce could eat them for breakfast."

"That would be great," Jack agreed. "If we could trust them. If I were Neverlin, I'd have made sure I got to a few of the top people in StarForce, the Internos Police, and maybe even the government itself before I started this whole thing. Nothing big or fancy or obvious, but enough to cover my back."

Alison made a face. "You may be right," she admitted. "Though if it makes you feel any better, I doubt the whole Malison Ring is involved. Frost is only—let's see; only the fifth or possibly fourth in the chain of command. General Aram Davi is the man in charge, and I haven't heard his name even mentioned. Best guess is that Frost is pulling this underneath Davi's nose."

"Rather like Neverlin was doing," Jack said, nodding. "It would certainly be nice if that was the case. Might limit his manpower even more."

"Not to mention his resources," Alison agreed. "What I don't get is this business of cozying up to the Valahgua. Aren't they worried these guys will turn around and bite them once the K'da and Shontine are out of the way?"

Jack shrugged. "Maybe Neverlin thinks he can handle them."

"Or perhaps he does not truly understand the threat," Draycos added. "I have met Neverlin only twice, but he does not seem to plan sufficiently far ahead."

"More likely you've just managed to catch him by surprise," Alison said. "Normally, Neverlin's the type who plans everything out to the last detail, with contingency plans already prepped for anything that might go wrong."

"And you know all this how?" Jack asked.

"My dad did a scam once on one of the Braxton Universis board members," she explained. "I remember him saying at the time that Neverlin was the one he was going to really have to keep an eye on."

"Then we're back to him thinking he can handle the Valahgua," Jack concluded. "He must have one beaut of a trick up his sleeve. Especially since he's seen their Death weapons in action and knows what they can do."

"Which brings us to the other really big question mark," Alison said. "Namely, what the blazes are the Valahgua doing in the Orion Arm in the first place?"

"They wish to destroy us, of course," Draycos said, his tail lashing the air restlessly.

"I'm sure they do," Alison said. "But way out here, this far from their main stomping grounds? What did you do to these guys, anyway?"

"We did nothing," Draycos insisted, his voice dropping ominously. "They attacked us."

"Easy, Draycos," Jack soothed. "I'm sure she didn't mean anything by that."

"Or maybe she did," Alison retorted. "Round-trip, we're talking about a four-year mission here. Nobody does that unless they have a very good reason for it."

"Maybe they just don't like leaving loose ends," Jack said, keeping a wary eye on Draycos. The dragon still looked offended, but he had his annoyance under control again. Three and a half months of dealing with Uncle Virge's snide comments had apparently done a good job of thickening his skin. "Or maybe they think the K'da and Shontine are planning to regroup here and come back after them."

"If so, they are wrong," Draycos said. "We have left our homes forever. Here is now where we shall live, or where we shall die."

"Still seems like overkill to me," Alison said. "But I suppose that's not something we need to worry about right now."

"No, what we need to worry about is getting off this rock alive," Jack agreed. "Do you really have people coming for you? Or was that just some scam?"

Alison's lip twitched. "Oh, they're coming," she said sourly. "Problem is, they could get here anywhere from now to two weeks from now."

"Terrific," Jack growled. "And you were planning to mention this when?"

"I wasn't, because it wasn't any of your business," Alison said. "I was expecting you to just drop me and take off."

Jack made a face. But in all fairness, she had told him he didn't have to stay with her. "Yeah, whatever. So bottom line is that they probably won't get here until it's all over."

"Basically," she conceded. "Which means it's up to you and me and Draycos."

"And Uncle Virge," Jack reminded her.

"Assuming the ship survived," Alison agreed. "Incidentally, not that it matters right now, but I don't think Uncle Virgil could have pulled off a personality imprint like that with a P/S/8. That's got to be at least a ten or eleven in there."

Jack shrugged. "He upgraded everything else on the Essenay. Why not the computer system, too?"