Dragon and Liberator

Langston stiffened. "I see," he muttered. "I wondered why I'd been trusted with this job." He took a deep breath. "Okay. What do you need?"

"Jack has a plan," Draycos said, hoping it was true. "But I need to locate the weapon. I think I know where it is, but it'll be faster if you can carry me part of the way."

"Okay," Langston said. "You ready?"

"One moment." Pulling the comm clip off his ear, Draycos set it beside the grille. It would have been nice to be able to take it with him, but there was no way for a K'da to carry anything while in two-dimensional form. Another thought occurred to him, and he set the clip on mute so that Jack could still hear but not transmit. "Ready."

Langston turned toward the two Brummgas standing guard by the door. "Hey—Vimpru," he called. "How'd you like to hop over to the mess and get me a drink?"

All five Brummgas in the room turned to face him, identical expressions of disbelief and contempt on their faces. The two at the door looked at each other, then deliberately turned their faces away from him. The three at the Death's controls gazed at him a moment longer, then did likewise.

Smiling tightly, Langston lifted his hand and poked a finger through the grille. Draycos touched it and slid up the man's sleeve onto his arm.

Draycos felt a shiver run through Langston's skin as he settled himself across the other's back, legs, and arms. "Whoa," Langston murmured. "That's . . . interesting. Out of sight, now."

Turning on his heel, he headed for the door. "Fine—I'll get it myself," he said as he passed between the two guards. "Lieutenant Pickering won't be happy to hear you weren't being helpful."

Neither Brummga bothered to answer. Keying the door, Langston exited the room.

The corridor outside was very quiet. "I see they've moved everyone else out of the line of fire," Langston commented. "Which way?"

"To the right," Draycos said, flicking out his tongue. There was nothing nearby but Langston's own scent and that of distant Brummgas. "We're heading toward the forward power substation on the port side."

"Got it."

Langston started down the corridor, his footsteps sounding unnaturally loud in the quiet. Easing his head along the other's chest, Draycos peered out through his collar.

This wasn't one of the main cross-ship corridors that cut a nice straight path between starboard and port-side hulls. This was instead one of those that meandered all over the place, angling and teeing every thirty feet or so as it worked its way around the more oddly shaped rooms at the ship's bow.

"It's forward to that T-junction, left, right, and left again, correct?" Langston asked.

"Yes, but I can't let you go that far," Draycos told him. "You told the Brummgas you were going for a drink. Just take me to the nearest mess room and I'll be gone."

Langston continued on in silence another few steps. "I think I can do a little better than that," he said. "What's Jack's plan?"

"I don't know yet," Draycos admitted. "I'll need to get back in the ducts before I can find out."

"He's in the ducts, too?"

"No, but my comm clip is," Draycos said. "I can't carry anything in two-dimensional form."

"No problem." Langston dug something out of his side pocket and pressed it against the base of his throat. "Here."

Draycos lifted his head slightly and focused on it. "Your comm clip?" he asked, frowning.

"A spare, actually," Langston said. "You can reset it to your private frequency and pattern specs and call Jack without having to go back into the ducts."

"Excellent," Draycos said. "Thank you." Lifting his front paws from Langston's chest, he took the comm clip and started adjusting its settings.

He was still working at it when Langston took a sharp turn to the right, keyed open a door, and went inside a room.

A room with the well-remembered aroma of permanent disinfectant. "A relief station?" Draycos asked.

"Why not?" Langston countered. "Low ceilings, no cameras, and as much privacy as we're going to get. And we're only three rooms away from your power substation."

"You're also way too far from your station here," Draycos warned. "There are two other relief stations closer to the starboard weapons bays."

"Both of which have been fitted with Brummga-sized equipment," Langston countered. "No, we token humans usually use one of the three that were left the way you and your Shontine friends originally had them. Perfectly normal behavior for me to be here. You ready with that yet?"

"Just finished." Draycos keyed on the comm clip. "Jack?"

"Here," Jack's voice came. "You find it?"

"Not yet," Draycos said. "But we're near the substation, and I can get into the ducts from here."

"Keep your voice down, will you?" Jack warned. "I can hear Brummgas in the background."

"That's coming from the comm clip I left by the weapons bay grille," Draycos assured him. "I'm using Sergeant Langston's spare comm clip."

"Oh," Jack said, sounding a bit taken aback. "Okay."