Dragon and Liberator

"Yes; his K'da," Harper said, shaking his head. "Damnedest thing I ever saw. Actually, I didn't do anything with either of them. I didn't have to. They went off somewhere, brought me back a roommate, then disappeared again."

"You didn't ask where they were going?"

"I didn't care where they were going," Harper said. "All I needed was his ship, and he was handing that to me on a platinum platter. I waited until he was gone, popped my cuffs, and plugged in the Point Two coordinates the Patri Chookoock had given me."

"This roommate you mentioned," Frost said. "What was his name?"

"No idea," Harper said. "We were never introduced, and the only times he opened his mouth were to be loud or insulting. Or both. I dumped him with the local cops just to get rid of him."

"What did he look like?" Frost asked, his voice gone suddenly dark. "And where exactly did Morgan pick him up?"

Harper shrugged. "Medium height, slender build, rusty brown hair, thin face, and we were in the middle of nowhere on Bentre. Why?"

Frost snarled a curse. "Chiggers."

"Who?" Harper asked, frowning.

"That's impossible," Neverlin said, ignoring the question. "He was seen boarding the—" He broke off. "Wasn't he seen boarding the Foxwolf?"

"You tell me," Frost said, stepping around Harper and heading for Neverlin's desk. He got two steps before he abruptly stopped. "Frunge it all. We can't even call over and check."

"Who's Chiggers?" Harper asked again.

"One of our pilots," Neverlin said grimly. "He got separated from the group picking up those KK-29 patrol ships you probably saw on your way in." He looked at Frost. "We thought he'd made it back safely."

"Blasted kid," Frost bit out. "Sir, we have got to get word to the Foxwolf right away."

"How?" Neverlin countered. "Besides, it's probably way too late to sound an alarm now. Morgan and the K'da have undoubtedly already made their presence known."

Frost swore viciously. "And six days before we can even get help to them."

"Six days?" Harper demanded. "Where are we going, Ghossta's End?"

"We're doing an evasive to our next rendezvous point," Neverlin told him. "We thought it would be a useful distraction for anyone who might be monitoring you."

"Terrific," Harper said heavily. "How big a force is the Foxwolf carrying?"

"Three hundred eighteen Brummgas, plus five of my men and a new recruit we're not entirely sure of," Frost said. "Plus nine Valahgua."

"Against a fourteen-year-old boy and a K'da." Harper pursed his lips. "Not too bad."

"You haven't seen the K'da in action," Frost said grimly. "I have. They'll have their work cut out for them."

"Still, they do have those nine Valahgua," Neverlin added. "One would think that after all these years they'd have some idea of how to deal with K'da."

"I guess we'll find out," Harper said.

"I guess we will," Neverlin said. "And we can always make do with a few less Brummgas if we have to."

He waved a hand. "But I'm forgetting my manners, and you did say something about wanting to rest before dinner. Colonel, would you escort Mr. Harper to his stateroom? There's an empty one forward that he can use."

"Certainly." Frost gestured back toward the office door. "Mr. Harper?"

Carefully, Taneem eased back from the grille and backed her way along the duct. This time, she waited until she was two turns away from the office before speaking. "Alison?" she whispered. "Did you hear all that?"

"Yes," the girl's voice whispered back. "Interesting."

"Did you know all of this when you made it look like Mrishpaw had broken into Neverlin's office?"

"I'd never heard a word of it," Alison told her. "It's beautifully convenient, though."

"I suppose." Taneem hesitated. "Do you think Jack and Draycos are really over in that other ship?"

"I don't know," Alison said, her voice tight. "But it sounds like the sort of crazy stunt they'd pull."

"Is there anything we can do to help them?"

"You heard Neverlin," Alison said. "As long as we're in hyperspace, we're cut off from the rest of the ships."

"Then what do we do?"

"The only thing we can," Alison said. "We keep an eye on things here and try to plan what we'll do when we reach Point Three. And we keep stirring the fire beneath Neverlin and Frost and see if we can get this alliance to implode."

"To what?"

"To fall apart," Alison explained. "To self-destruct."

"Oh," Taneem said. "What do you want me to do now?"

There was a soft, thoughtful hiss from the comm clip. "See if you can find out where Neverlin and Frost have put Harper," she said. "If he's really working for the Patri Chookoock, we'll want to see about pointing some of Neverlin's suspicions in his direction."

"You think he might not be?"

"Might not be what?"

"Working for the Patri Chookoock."

"Who knows?" Alison said. "If he's not, coming aboard like this would be a pretty crazy thing to do. On the other hand, Cornelius Braxton is famous for pulling crazy stunts."

"It sounds like he and Jack would get along very well," Taneem suggested.