Dragon and Liberator

And somewhere deep inside her, Taneem knew she'd never see him again.

"Jack?"

Jack jerked awake, blinking his eyes violently. In that first confused moment he tried to bring his hands up to rub his eyes and wondered why he couldn't.

Then his brain cleared a bit, and he remembered. He was in a vac suit, hung up on a bulkhead like a slab of fresh meat, locked inside a half-wrecked troop carrier with a bunch of Brummgas. Had been all that, in fact, for the past three days.

"Jack, can you hear me?"

He tensed, this time coming fully awake. It wasn't Draycos's voice speaking directly to his mind, as he'd first thought.

It was Langston's voice, coming from the comm clip on his collar.

"Langston?" he croaked back, his mouth dry from his sleep. For a second he had a flash of fear, wondering if Langston's voice was even now being transmitted straight to Neverlin via the radio in Jack's suit.

But no. Neverlin had shut off his radio, and none of the Brummgas who'd been changing his oxygen tanks over the past three days had bothered to turn it back on.

"Yes," Langston confirmed. "I just wanted to take a moment to thank you and Draycos for everything you did for me on Semaline."

"No big deal," Jack said, frowning. Why was Langston doing this? More important, why was he doing it now?

"It most certainly was," Langston said. "Draycos nearly got himself killed in the process. So did you, for that matter. Anyway, I wasn't sure I'd ever thanked you properly. So this is it."

"You're welcome," Jack said. At the edges of his mind he could feel Draycos listening silently but alertly. "What's going on out there?"

"Our group's about to be deployed," Langston said. "That means that Neverlin's false starts are over, which means we're finally at the real rendezvous point."

Something cold closed around Jack's heart. "And?" he asked carefully.

"Someone has to stop these people," Langston said, his voice hard and determined. "But we're going to need help. I'm going to try to call that help."

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked. "Langston?"

"He's talking about sending a message," a new voice put in quietly. "In the only way any of us can."

Jack blinked. Was that—? "Harper?" he demanded.

"But you're too late, Langston," Harper went on, a touch of grim humor coloring his voice. "You hear me? You be a good boy, and play it cool, and stay in formation. I've got this one."

"Now, what are the two of you talking about?" Jack demanded. "Come on—someone talk to me."

"I appreciate the offer, Harper," Langston said. "But this isn't your fight."

"It's very much my fight," Harper said softly. "Besides, I've already burned all my bridges behind me. I can't be of any more use in this war. But there's a chance you can be."

"But—"

"No buts, soldier," Harper said firmly. "You're still a StarForce officer. Consider this an order."

There was a faint hissing sound as one of the two men exhaled at the comm clip. "Understood, sir," Langston said, his voice stiff and formal and unhappy. "Good luck, sir."

There was a double click as both comm clips shut off. "What the blaze was that all about?" Jack snarled, fear and uncertainty and helplessness rising in his throat and threatening to choke him. "Draycos? What was that all about?"

I don't know, the K'da's voice came grimly in his mind. But nothing good. I'm afraid, Jack, that the battle has begun.

"Hammerfall groups have reached their positions," Frost reported, half-turning to face Neverlin and Alison. "Backstop ready to deploy."

"I trust you approve of our tactical landscape?" Neverlin asked Alison.

He was half-joking, Alison knew. But only half. He and Frost and the Valahgua had clearly worked out all this in advance, probably months ago.

But the opinion of General Davi's daughter was apparently still worth something. Even if only for amusement value. "Looks reasonable enough," she said. "Your three main forces—the Hammerfalls—are set in a wide triangle formation behind you, perfect for herding you toward the refugee fleet. They're also positioned far enough back that they won't overtake you before you get there. That's the tricky part, really—making it look like they're trying to get to you when they really aren't."

"True," Neverlin said. "On the other hand, the K'da and Shontine aren't going to know how fast Djinn-90s, KK-29s, and Rhino-10s can fly"

"Point," Alison conceded. "At the same time, you don't want them so far back that they'll overtake you too slowly. That might give the K'da and Shontine too much time to stop and think while you're barreling toward them."

"Which is the reason for the five Djinn-90s of the Backstop group," Neverlin said, clearly pleased that he and Frost had anticipated that question and had an answer ready for it. "As our supposed rear guard, they can move up toward us if we need the Hammerfall groups to speed up, or else fall back if we need them to slow down."