Dragon and Liberator

And above him, dimly heard through the thick deck, the control complex erupted in chaos.

Thirty seconds later he was at the far end of the crawl space. With multiple footsteps now thudding back and forth over his head, he pushed open an access panel and climbed through into the midaft expansion conduit.

Two minutes after that, he had made it back into the starboard tween gap. "Here we go," he murmured toward his comm clip as he closed the panel behind him. "Look sharp."

Turning on his light, he headed forward at a dead run. Fifty yards ahead, Langston and his team of Brummgas were waiting expectantly around their Death weapon. Between Jack and them were the spy cameras the Valahgua had planted inside the tween gap one room over from them.

One room over from the waiting Death weapon. Distantly, Jack wondered whether anyone would be watching the camera monitors.

Draycos's count had just reached three minutes when the Brummgas in the room beneath him reacted. "There!" one grunted, pointing toward the bank of displays. "The boy!"

One of the others slammed a massive hand across the room's intercom switch. "Control; Mrishpaw," he called. "The boy is in the hull-gap near the starboard weapons bays."

There was no reply. Draycos peered through the grate as Jack's image hurried up to the camera. His foot loomed suddenly huge—

Abruptly, the image gave a wild twist and went black. The other monitor's image lasted perhaps half a second longer; then it, too, gyrated and went black.

"Control, the boy has destroyed the starboard cameras, Mrishpaw reported urgently. "Instructions?"

The intercom remained silent. But through the comm clip attached to his ear Draycos now heard a second call. "Control, Langston," Langston's voice came faintly from the comm clip hidden in the ventilation duct. "Morgan's in the hull-gap—starboard side near the weapons bays—and he's wrecked the cameras. Repeat: we've lost him."

Below Draycos, the two Brummgas at the Death's controls looked uncertainly at each other. Apparently, their instructions hadn't included this possibility. "Control; Mrishpaw," Mrishpaw tried again. "The boy is somewhere in the hull-gap, perhaps still near the starboard weapons bays. Instructions?"

"Control," a dark voice came over the speaker. "Was the K'da with him?"

Draycos felt a shiver of anger and disgust ripple through his scales. That was a voice and a tone he knew all too well.

Whatever damage Jack's sabotage had inflicted on the control complex, at least one of the Valahgua was still on top of the situation.

"I could not see him," Mrishpaw said, a note of relief in his voice. Finally, someone was there to tell him what to do.

"Instructions?" one of the Brummgas at the Death's controls called.

For a few seconds the speaker was silent. Draycos felt his claws sliding restlessly in and out of their sheaths as he watched the Brummgas fidgeting below him. If Jack's attack on the control complex had made the Valahgua too nervous, they might take the cautious way out and simply order the Death to be swept across the ship's bow.

If they did, Jack would die.

"Watch the monitors," the Valahgua ordered. "Let me know when the boy reappears."

Draycos breathed a silent sigh of relief. So the Lordover wasn't going to panic and blindly open fire.

But Draycos could also hear the suspicion in his voice. He knew there was some sort of plan going on here, and he was determined not to be taken in by it.

Unfortunately for him, he would be measuring the possibilities against what he knew about K'da battle tactics. Jack's conman tactics might be something new.

"Control; Langston," Langston's voice came again in Draycos's ear. "Repeating: Morgan has passed by the starboard weapons bays and we've lost him. Do you have any orders?"

There was no answer. Either the Lordover was ignoring him or else Jack's sabotage had damaged the intercom to that area of the ship.

"I see him!" one of the Brummgas called, stabbing a finger at one of the other monitors. "There!"

"Lordover, the boy has reappeared," Mrishpaw said excitedly, "He is approaching the port-side weapons bay cameras."

"And he is carrying something," the first Brummga added, leaning close to the monitor. "Two bottles with something wrapped around their necks."

"They see you, Jack," Draycos murmured toward his comm clip. "Get ready."

"Control; Langston," Langston's voice came again, starting to sound agitated. "Morgan's coming up on the port-side weapons bays. Control, do you copy?"

Now, Draycos silently urged him. Do it now.

"Blast it," Langston snarled. "Intercom must be out. Vimpru—you and Galcra find a working intercom and let control know that Morgan's on the loose."

Draycos held his breath. If the two Brummgas obeyed Langston's order . . .

"We cannot leave," Vimpru said flatly. "Our orders are to stay and guard the weapon."

"Well, blast you, too," Langston snarled. "Fine—I'll go."