Part 10 (1/2)

John frowned. ”Until the commwand's secured?”

”That certainly,” nodded the S'Cotar. ”But if the R'Actolians die, Harrison, we may all die. We need this dreadnought-and its secrets. It's the only s.h.i.+p in this universe that can stand against an AI battleglobe.”

Four hundred and nine light-years away, Lifepod 38 prepared to make planetfall.

8.

K'Ronar had no G.o.d. Ten thousand years of high technology had left the concept a desiccated anthropological husk.

h.e.l.l, though, thought D'Trelna, gripping his chairarms, h.e.l.l is alive, well and dead ahead.

The commodore sat to Egg's right, with L'Wrona buckled into the navigator's station, just behind him. An endless expanse of battlesteel, weapons turrets and instrument pods filled the armorgla.s.s windscreen: Alpha Prime. Alpha Prime.

Must have raped ten worlds to get all that metal, thought D'Trelna. He looked up to his right. The corsair shuttle was holding station next to them, its forward fuselage just visible.

”Why are none of the smaller batteries firing, Egg?” asked L'Wrona. He pointed in front, to the small circle of the mindslaver's hull now inside the subdued blue s.h.i.+mmer of the s.h.i.+eld's apex. ”Weapons scan shows several hundred small fusion cannon down there. We're not s.h.i.+elded-they should have wiped us the moment we came within range.”

”There are no weapons batteries, Captain,” said the slaver machine. It sat in the pilot's chair, safety harness buckled across it, light tendrils tying it into the shuttle controls.

L'Wrona tapped a telltale. ”Tacscan clearly shows ...”

”Scan-chimera,” said Egg. ”An instrument-sensitive hologram. Only the sally portal lies inside our s.h.i.+eld point.''

”But ...” protested L'Wrona.

”Mark to penetration: twenty,” said Egg, silencing the captain. ”Captain K'Tran, please a.s.sume position directly behind us.”

”Acknowledged,” came the corsair's voice over the commnet.

”Mark fifteen,” said Egg. The hull rushed up to meet them, looking very real and hard.

”Battlesteel is not a very forgiving surface, Egg,” said D'Trelna, teeth gritted. Serial numbers were now visible on the hull instruments.

A continuous shrill warbling sounded-the shuttle's crash warning. Instinctively, D'Trelna grabbed the copilot's control stick and pulled. Nothing. Locked.

”What if the disintegrator cubes are already on?” shouted L'Wrona above the alarm.

”Then we are ended,” said Egg as they knifed into the slaver's hull-and through it, shooting down a wide, brightly lit tunnel.

Egg fired the shuttle's turret cannon, sending a double stream of red fusion bolts ahead of them. A brief tongue of orange-blue flame shot out, marking the portal's far end.

Large hexagonal cubes along walls and ceiling provided the tunnel's light. D'Trelna blanched as they began to oscillate, glowing brighter with each cycle. ”Egg . . .”he called.

”Disintegration sequence has begun,” confirmed the machine.

There was a loud snap! snap! from behind. Something big, foiled of its prey, thought D'Trelna, punching up rear scan. A fierce white light glowed where they'd just been-a burning shaft that filled the tunnel's width, gaining on them with each from behind. Something big, foiled of its prey, thought D'Trelna, punching up rear scan. A fierce white light glowed where they'd just been-a burning shaft that filled the tunnel's width, gaining on them with each snap! snap! of ravening energy. of ravening energy.

”Pathetically obsolete,” sneered Egg. ”It can only activate by sections.”

”More speed!” called K'Tran urgently.

D'Trelna switched rear scan angle. The corsair shuttle was almost touching their own, with A'Tir and K'Tran clearly visible through their armorgla.s.s.

”No,” said the slaver machine. ”We must turn immediately after exiting. We cannot make the turn at speed- we'd crash into the bulkhead.”

”You're not making it without us, D'Trelna,” said the corsair. Watching the comm screen, D'Trelna saw K'Tran reach up and touch the weapons panel.

”Thought you were going to watch our rear, K'Tran,” said the commodore. Thick fingers sent their blaster turret swinging 180 degrees. Through the remote gunnery interface, D'Trelna could see that flawlessly destructive shaft of white almost touching K'Tran's tail. The commodore tapped Arm where it showed red on his screen.

”Belay, both of you!” snapped L'Wrona. ”We're through.”

The shuttles shot through the blasted ruins of a great slab of battlesteel, then banked right, accelerating down a broad gray corridor. From behind them came a final snap! snap! Light flared into the corridor behind them, then winked off. Light flared into the corridor behind them, then winked off.

D'Trelna leaned back in his chair, sighing. ”h.e.l.l is alive and well, H'Nar,” he said.

”Sorry?” blinked the captain, turning.

”Nothing,” said D'Trelna, waving a hand. He glanced at the rear scan. ”Ease off, K'Tran,” he said. ”You're almost up our tubes.”

”My pleasure,” said the corsair, putting three shuttle lengths between the two craft.

”And disarm those Mark forty-fours,” added the commodore. The corsair's cannon pointed straight at the Fleet shuttle.

D'Trelna was too far away to see K'Tran grin. ”Right,” said the corsair.

”Where's your counterattack, Egg?” asked L'Wrona, staring down the seemingly endless stretch of corridor. Intersections and equipment banks flashed by.

”Before we reach the bridge, Captain,” said Egg. It sent them spiraling up a ramp that would have accommodated ten or more shuttles flying abreast. ”It will be swift and deadly.”

K'Raoda stood, unfastening his survival jacket and tossing it over the back of the captain's chair. Others on the bridge were doing the same. ”First we freeze,” he muttered, ”now we bake.” He sat and punched into the commnet. ”N'Trol. Life systems' status?”

K'Raoda waited impatiently, watching as the comm screen slipped from the s.h.i.+p-s.h.i.+eld-and-sun into a distortion-flecked horizontal roll, then back to the Fleet emblem. Disgusted, he snapped off the commkey and stood again, sniffing the hot, dry air. ”This is absurd,” he said. He turned to T'Ral. ”I'm going down to engineering.”

The second officer shook his head. ”I don't think so, T'Lei. Look.” He pointed toward the doors. The two commandos on guard had the cover off the entrance control panel and were pus.h.i.+ng the red override again and again. The thick armored doors didn't move.

The crash and clang of falling metal sent everyone spinning around toward the deserted navigation console. The console's gray inspection panel lay on the floor. Multicolored light pulsed along the optics cables bunched beneath the instruments, a jungle of crystalline wire that parted beneath two hairy hands. The hands emerged, followed by gold-ringed brown sleeves and a familiar head. ”Don't shoot,” said N'Trol, looking up into a dozen Ml lAs. ”The way things are, you might trigger the jump drive. . . . You idiots going to help me out of here, or just stand there fondling your blasters?”

”Get him out of there,” ordered K'Raoda. T'Ral and a commando grabbed the engineer, pulling him free.

Brus.h.i.+ng himself off, N'Trol came over to the captain's station, the bridge crew following. Most of their instruments were now useless, all the screens blank.

”You climbed the light conduits from engineering,” guessed K'Raoda.

N'Trol nodded. ”Central core's locked tight. Eight decks up, then a third the length of the s.h.i.+p.” He slumped into the empty XO's chair and dialed for t'ata. A cold cup of brackish-looking liquid appeared. Warily, N'Trol sipped, shuddered and crammed the cup into a disposer.

”At best,” continued the engineer, ”you walk stooped over, or pick your way up ladder rungs, wondering if they're going to give-some of them are half out of their sockets. There's a warm, dry breeze blowing, and the only illumination comes from the light pulses.” He seemed strangely subdued, much of his old arrogance gone for now.