Dragon and Liberator

But then, Frost could afford to be calm. Certainly calmer than Neverlin. With the collapse of her Alison Davi soap bubble, Frost's own position in this group was suddenly back to normal again. "Well, we'll be making up for that soon," he said. "Let me see; what's been happening since you left? The Lordhighest informs me the K'da/Shontine warships are now poised to intercept and detain us, still with no idea that we have the Death waiting for them. The rest of our attack force has abandoned the original game and is speeding to join us in a straight-up battlefront configuration."

He gave her an evil smile. "And your friend Jack Morgan has just put on a burst of speed, apparently in hopes of getting past us and out of the bubble in time to warn his K'da friends."

Alison looked over at the tactical, her mouth going dry. Frost was right—the Essenay was charging straight up the Advocatus Diaboli's drive trail. "He can't possibly make it in time," she said. "You can just ignore them."

"It does look that way, doesn't it?" Frost agreed. "But I think it's a little late to start taking unnecessary chances. Especially now." His eyes flicked over Alison's shoulder to Neverlin. "Especially with this particular boy and K'da."

"The story I spun you before wasn't completely bogus," Alison persisted. "A live K'da would bring an astronomical price at any bioweapons lab."

"And I thank you for suggesting it," Neverlin said, coming up beside her. "But there will be plenty of safer specimens for us to choose from later." He waved toward the display. "Right now, I'm rather looking forward to watching Jack and his K'da die."

Alison swallowed hard. "You'll be using the Death on him, I suppose?"

"I think he's counting on that, actually," Neverlin said. "Our use of the Death would finally alert the refugee fleet to the surprise we have aboard." He smiled at Alison. "But only if they see us use it."

Alison frowned, looking again at the tactical display. What was Neverlin up to now?

And this time she saw it. "You're letting the Foxwolf pull ahead," she said. "You're going to lure the Essenay in close, where the Foxwolf's bulk will block the refugees' view when you fire the Death."

"Very good," Neverlin said approvingly. "You really could have been General Davi's daughter, couldn't you?" He smiled. "Of course, there are a few details you don't know."

"It won't work," Alison said, trying one last time. "It can't work. There's no way you can use the Death against enough of them before they realize what's going on."

"We'll see," Neverlin said calmly. "In the meantime, we have Jack and his K'da to deal with."

At the sensor station, one of the displays began beeping urgently. "Sir, we have incoming spacecraft," the captain snapped, swiveling in his seat and keying some switches. "Thirty of them, approximately eight hundred miles aft. All craft accelerating in our direction."

"Identify" Frost ordered, moving up behind him.

"ID coming up now," the other said. "Sixteen are Malison Ring Shrike fast-attack fighters. Thirteen register as Braxton Universis Security cruisers. The thirtieth—"

He swiveled around to face Neverlin, his eyes wide. "It's the Angelside," he breathed.

Alison felt her breath catch in her throat. The Angelside? Cornelius Braxton's personal yacht was here?

This was not good. Not good at all.

"Interesting," Frost said, his voice glacially calm. "Signal Hammerfall One that we have some fresh targets. He's to split Outriders Two and Three from his group and send them back to deal with the intruders."

"Belay that order," Neverlin said. His voice, too, was calm, but there was a simmering hatred beneath it that froze Alison's blood. "Hammerfall One will continue its mission to support the Foxwolf's attack. Backstop will turn back to intercept the intruders."

"Sir, five Djinn-90s can't take on two wings of Shrikes," Frost said urgently.

"Don't worry, Colonel; they'll have all the help they need," Neverlin assured him. "As soon as we've dealt with the Essenay, we'll be circling back to join them."

He half-turned, and it seemed to Alison that he was looking straight at her. "I'm going to deal with Mr. Braxton personally. Captain, what's the Essenay's status?"

"Coming up fast, sir," the captain said. "Another thirty seconds and he'll be alongside us."

"And the Foxwolf?"

"In position and ready," Frost assured him. "The enemy ships won't see a thing."

Neverlin nodded. "Good. Lordhighest, contact your operators." He looked again at Alison. "Tell them to prepare to fire."

The Essenay was nearly to the Advocatus Diaboli's stern now. "Steady on," Jack said aloud. They were empty words, he knew, said for no better reason than to fill the empty space around him. In less than a minute the Essenay would be alongside Neverlin's ship.

And with a push of an alien's hand on a button, Jack and Draycos would die.