Dragon and Liberator

"Nothing much," Uncle Virge said, the urgency in his tone starting to blend into the annoyance Draycos knew so well. "They're doing their final running checks and systems tweaking. If our noble poet-warrior has anything to offer in the way of—hold it."

There was a click from the board as Jack dropped into the pilot's seat. "—bit of trouble," a new voice came from the cockpit speaker. "Looks like I've got a slow air leak."

"You told me the pre-lift diagnostic came back negative," a second voice said accusingly.

"It did," the first voice retorted. "The leak's not in the air system. Must be in the cabin itself."

The second voice swore. "Blast it all, Chiggers."

"Lighten up, Sarge," Chiggers scolded. "Like I said, it's real slow. I can probably patch it with sealant and the torch from the onboard tool kit."

"If you can find it," Sarge warned.

"He can probably do that just with his breath," a third voice put in.

"Stow it, Driscol," Sarge snapped. "You think Colonel Frost is going to make jokes about us having to put down again?"

"Who said anything about us having to put down?" Chiggers asked. "There's an outpost town right on my glide path. You go ahead and I'll drop down and get this fixed. Shouldn't be more than an hour or two behind you." He snorted. "Fact is, the way Driscol flies, I might even beat you there."

"I don't like this," Sarge growled.

"Would you rather go back to Frost and tell him we left one of the 29s behind because you were afraid I might get lost?"

Sarge hissed an irritated sigh. "All right, fine. Just make it quick. Driscol, you stay with him."

"I don't need him," Chiggers put in before Driscol could respond. "Besides, he might run into my breath and hurt himself."

"Chiggers—"

"See you, Sarge," Chiggers said. "When I get to Point Two I'll tell Frost you're on your way."

There was a soft click as Chiggers shut off his transmission, and another as Uncle Virge closed down the speaker. "One of the ships is breaking formation," he reported. "He's heading back down."

Draycos lifted his head from Jack's shoulder for a better look at the display. The patrol ship was definitely curving back toward the surface. More important, none of the others seemed to be following. "Can you locate his landing point?" Draycos asked.

"He said there was a town on his flight path, and there are only two settlements of any real size along that vector," Uncle Virge said.

"Make for the first one," Jack told him. He looked down at Draycos again. "We are planning to meet him, aren't we?"

"Absolutely," Draycos confirmed, feeling a sense of relief. So far, this was working exactly the way he'd planned.

"And once we do that?" Uncle Virge prompted.

"He should have this Point Two already programmed into his ship's computer," Draycos said. "If we can retrieve that information, we can find them."

"And then what?" Uncle Virge countered. "Harper seemed to think Neverlin would put a couple of midway points into his schedule."

"And I'm sure he was right," Jack said. "Neverlin and Frost probably won't give anyone else the actual rendezvous point until the last minute."

"So I repeat: then what?"

"We'll figure out something," Jack assured him. "Let's just first make sure we get to Chiggers before he fixes Draycos's leak."

CHAPTER 9

The patrol ship was nowhere to be seen when the Essenay reached the settlement Uncle Virge had mentioned. "Wonderful," Uncle Virge growled. "Now what?"

"Calm yourself," Draycos said. "He must have found someplace out of sight to make his repairs."

"I only see two buildings big enough," Jack said, pointing out the canopy at the town stretching out in front of them. "Looks like both of them have doors big enough for the 29, too."

"Odd," Uncle Virge muttered. "I wonder what they want with hangars that big out here in the middle of nowhere."

"Don't know," Jack said. "Don't really care, either. Either of you have any preference as to which one we look at first?"

Jack felt some weight come onto his shoulder as Draycos lifted up his head for a better look. "He's in the farther of the two," the K'da said.

Jack frowned down at him. "How do you know?"

"There are swirl marks in the dust on the near side of that building," Draycos said. "The other has no such marks."

"Meaning something has just flown in there," Jack said, nodding agreement. Turning the control yoke a few degrees, he angled the Essenay toward the building Draycos had indicated.

"I don't know," Uncle Virge said doubtfully. "If it was me, I'd have come in strictly on lifters with no drive at all."

"That takes more time, and Chiggers is in a hurry," Jack reminded him. "Besides, he doesn't know anyone else even knows about this little patrol ship deal."

"It's still sloppy," Uncle Virge declared. "So what's the plan?"

Jack looked down at Draycos again. "Over to you, symby," he invited.

"The leak is near the rear of the cabin," Draycos said. "If he's found it and is in the process of sealing it, we should be able to slip in through the forward hatchway without being seen."