Dragonback 03 Dragon and Slave (31 page)

"I'm here, lad," Uncle Virge came back. "Thanks for the assist."

"You're welcome," Jack said. "How are you doing?"

"Not too well," Uncle Virge admitted. "They've just ordered
another two Djinn-90s into the air."

"How soon?"

"No more than five minutes, I'd guess," the computer said. "And to
add insult to injury, it seems that the local law enforcement agencies
are scrambling patrol craft of their own."

Jack grimaced. "I guess they don't like firefights over their
cities."

"Law enforcement agencies are like that."

"Right," Jack said, putting the shuttle into hover mode over the
burning glider and Clax-7s and peering out the side of the canopy. No
Brummgas were in sight. "Can you take out that other Djinn-90 before
the reinforcements arrive?"

"Just between us, I wish you'd taken out this one instead of the
other," Uncle Virge said, his voice sounding strained. "This pilot is
definitely the smarter of the two."

"Tell him to try a
kom treeta
maneuver," Draycos called
from the copilot's seat.

"What was that?" Uncle Virge asked.

"He says to try a
kom treeta
," Jack told him.

Uncle Virge grunted. "Hold on."

Jack clicked off the comm clip. "Something from your late-night
poetry sessions, I assume?" he asked Draycos.

"Yes," the dragon replied. "It is similar to the maneuver we used
over Iota Klestis."

"Let's hope it works," Jack said, easing off the lifters and
keying the landing skids to unfold again. "Looks like the Brummgas
Uncle Virge had pinned down took off as soon as he left."

"Yet they did not take the aircraft with them?"

Jack frowned in sudden uncertainty. Why
hadn't
they taken
the Clax-7s away with them?

The shuttle was still descending. Kicking in the lifters, he got
it moving up again.

Half a second later, the Clax-7s blew up.

Jack fought the controls as the shock wave bounced the shuttle
around like a hooked fish, throwing them perilously close to the wall.
"Check the monitors," he snapped. "See if we've lost anything vital."

"Right," Draycos said.

With an effort, Jack backed the shuttle away from the wall and
swung it around. The controls were suddenly feeling sluggish, he noted.
That was a bad sign. "Status?"

"We have lost the rear section of lifters," the dragon reported.
"The underside has also been holed near the drive engines. We will not
be able to escape into space in this craft."

"Terrific," Jack growled. "Anything else?"

"Minor sensor and navigational damage. Otherwise, we appear mostly
intact."

"At least now we know why they didn't take the Clax-7s away," Jack
said as he again clicked on the comm clip. "Uncle Virge? You still
there?"

"
I
am, yes," the computer said tightly. "What about
you
?"

"Just a little singed," Jack assured him. "Their little booby-trap
wasn't quite as successful as they probably hoped. What's happening out
there?"

"The
kom treeta
worked perfectly," Uncle Virge said, a
note of satisfaction in his voice. "I dropped him just past the
outskirts of town, and I'm heading back to meet you."

"Great," Jack said. "Unfortunately, my plan for getting out has
just gone smokers."

"How about ramming the gate?" Uncle Virge asked. "Give me another
couple of minutes and I can be there to pick you up."

"It's a little more complicated than that," Jack warned. "We've
got passengers along."

"You've got
what
? How many?"

"About thirty."

There was dead silence from the other end. Apparently, none of
Uncle Virge's large repertoire of curses was up to this one. "Jack,
lad, have you taken leave of your senses?" the other demanded at last.
"Where in the Orion Arm do you intend to put them all?"

"Don't worry, I've got that part covered," Jack told him. "The
only sticking point is how we're going to get out of here."

"Well, you'd better come up with something fast," Uncle Virge
warned. "I've got those new Djinn-90s coming in now from the east."

"From behind us," Draycos murmured. "Perhaps they think our
sensors have been damaged."

Jack frowned over at him. The dragon was using that tone again.
"Hang on," he told Uncle Virge, clicking off the comm clip. "You have
an idea?"

"Perhaps," Draycos said slowly. "Tell me, how maneuverable is this
craft?"

"It was better before we lost the rear lifters," Jack said.
"Probably still pretty good, though."

"And those landing skids are hinged to the outer sides of the
hull, opening outward from the center like standard cabinet doors?"

"Right," Jack said, frowning. "Why?"

Draycos bounded backward out of his chair and padded to Jack's
side. "Do you have the incoming fighters on sensor yet?"

Jack checked his displays. There they were: two blips on the
screen, approaching the wall on the far side of the Chookoock family
grounds. "There," he said, pointing.

For a moment the dragon peered over his shoulder in silence. "Here
is what you must do," he said. "Swing around so that you are facing
them. Then drive straight toward them."

Jack blinked. "Straight
toward
them?"

"I will tell you when to turn," Draycos said, jumping up onto
Jack's shoulder and melting down his shirt. A quick slither, and he was
back in his usual position. "Go now," he ordered, the top part of his
head rising up from Jack's shoulder.

"This is stupid," Jack warned as he threw power to the drive and
sent the shuttle curving around toward the approaching Djinn-90s. "I
mean,
really
stupid."

"So they will think, as well," Draycos agreed. "Trust me."

Jack shook his head. "I hate it when you say that."

He turned the shuttle's nose east and sent it speeding across the
darkened landscape. Another minute, and he spotted the Djinn-90s'
running lights as they flew toward him.

"They are crossing the wall," Draycos said.

Jack glanced at the displays. "Right," he confirmed.

"And again no attack from the wall's defenses."

Jack frowned. "Is that all you wanted to know? Whether the wall
would still let them through?"

"Partially," Draycos said. "Now; come around a quarter circle to
the right and head south."

"That'll open up our port side to attack," Jack warned.

"They do not seek our destruction, but our capture," Draycos
assured him. "Go now."

"Right," Jack said, turning the shuttle's nose to the right. He
braced himself; but aside from altering their own course slightly the
Djinn-90s didn't react. "Now what?"

"Hold course until you are five seconds from the wall, then turn
right again and head toward the gate," Draycos instructed.

The wall was looming ahead. Jack took them to within three
seconds, then twisted the control stick over again, turning his tail to
the approaching fighters. This time they opened fire, short pulses that
burned chunks of metal and plastic off the shuttle's hull. "Trying to
take out the engines," Jack shouted as the wail of warning alarms
filled the cockpit. "What now?"

"Keep heading for the wall," Draycos said, his head lifting a
little higher from Jack's shoulder. "And slow down to two-ten."

"Slow
down
?" Jack peered at the display. "They're gaining
fast enough as it is."

"Slow down," Draycos repeated, his voice making it an order.

Jack clenched his teeth and complied. "I hope you know what you're
doing," he bit out. "The rate they're coming, they'll be on top of us
in no time."

"Again, they do not wish to destroy us," Draycos repeated. "Aside
from your own value, we also have Gazen and Neverlin aboard. As you
pointed out, they are merely trying to disable us."

"Great," Jack muttered. Ahead, he could see the pale white of the
wall rapidly approaching. "So what are we going to do? Spite them by
getting ourselves vaporized?"

"Prepare to turn again, this time a quarter-circle to the right,"
Draycos ordered, his head stretching close to the displays.

Back toward the slave areas. "Ready," Jack said. The wall was
coming up mighty fast—

"Now."

Jack twisted the stick again, and again the safety straps pressed
into his chest as the shuttle cut hard over. He straightened out—

And ducked involuntarily as one of the Djinn-90s shot past
overhead.

"Geez!" he hissed. "When did they get that close?"

"On our last turn," Draycos said calmly. "They know now that you
are aware you cannot fly safely over the wall. They see you as racing
around inside the estate like a frightened rodent in a cage, trying to
escape capture while searching hopelessly for a way out."

"Yeah, that about sums it up," Jack growled as the dark landscape
flashed by beneath them. "So what
are
we doing?"

"Lulling them into carelessness—watch out!"

Jack twisted the stick to the left as the other Djinn-90 flashed
past overhead. "Excellent," Draycos said with grim satisfaction. "With
no further concerns that we will attempt to fly over the wall, they
will now attempt to force us down."

"They'll need more than two of them for that," Jack said, looking
cautiously up through the top of the canopy. The first fighter had
returned and was pacing him directly overhead. "They don't have nearly
enough mass to push us to the ground."

"They probably have more ships available," Draycos pointed out.
"And time is on their side." He shifted position, pulling his neck back
so that only his eyes were poking off Jack's shoulder, and Jack felt
his sleeves swell as the dragon's forelegs rose from his wrists. "Or so
they think," he added. "Open the landing skids."

Jack frowned. But this was no time to argue. Reaching over, he
touched the switch. "Landing skids opening," he reported, glancing at
the indicator. "Locked in place."

"They see it," Draycos murmured. Jack could feel the dragon's
forelegs tensing against his skin, his claws stretching out to rest on
the control board. "They believe they have won."

"Here he comes," Jack warned as the Djinn-90 overhead began to
drop toward them. "Trying to make sure we don't change our minds."

"Yes," Draycos said. "Brace yourself." There was a muffled clink
of metal against on metal as the fighter bumped firmly against the top
of their hull. Draycos jabbed at the controls—

And Jack gasped as the shuttle rolled a hundred eighty degrees on
its long axis, flipping him over to hang upside down against his
restraint straps.

"Draycos!" he yelped as the drive began to screech with the sudden
strain of holding the shuttle in the air without the aid of the
lifters. "What are you
doing
?"

"Landing skids closed!" the dragon shouted back over the noise.
There was another muffled grinding of metal on metal—"Now!" Draycos
snapped. "Full speed to the wall!" The shuttle bucked like it had hit a
sudden crosswind—

And then, suddenly, Jack understood. When he'd flipped the shuttle
onto its back, Draycos had put the Djinn-90 crowding above them
squarely between the shuttle's big landing skids. By then closing the
skids, he had caught the smaller fighter like a bug inside the spines
of a Venus fly-trap. They were flying as a single big ship now: the
shuttle, the fighter . . .

And the fighter's handy wall-defense transponder.

"Got it," Jack said, feeding as much power to the drive as he
dared. The shuttle was bucking harder as the fighter pilot belatedly
woke up to the scheme and fought to free his trapped ship.

But he was too late. Seconds later, the combined ship shot
smoothly over the double breaking wave of the white wall.

They'd made it.

"Let him go," Jack snapped.

"Releasing now," Draycos called back. The bucking ceased as the
dragon opened the landing skids again and the trapped fighter darted
free. "Turn us over again and I will go back to the weapons board."

"Forget the weapons," Jack said, rolling the shuttle and dropping
thankfully back into his seat as the vehicle righted itself. He got his
bearings and made a hard turn to the left. "We won't be in the air long
enough to bother with that."

"But there is yet a long way to go before we are free," Draycos
objected.

"Not really," Jack said, tapping his comm clip as he fought the
shuttle's controls. "Uncle Virge?"

"Here, lad," Uncle Virge said. "Shall I come get you?"

"No," Jack said. "Head off-planet—Station C. I'll catch up with
you there."

"Right. Good luck."

Jack clicked off. There was his target, straight ahead. "Draycos,
can you find the ship's intercom?"

"There." A K'da foreleg rose from Jack's arm again, pointing.

"Thanks." Jack hit the switch. "Brace yourselves, everyone," he
called to the passenger section. "As soon as we're down, unstrap and
make for the hatchway. We aren't going to have a lot of time."

He keyed the intercom off and twisted the nose high. An instant
later, the shuttle hit the ground, sliding along on its skids with a
tortured squeal of stressed metal. It made maybe another fifty yards
before finally grinding to a halt.

"Everyone out," Jack shouted back toward the door as he untangled
himself from his straps. "Nice landing, huh?" he added to Draycos.

"Very similar to the
Havenseeker
's final flight," Draycos
said, a little too dryly. "What now?"

Jack smiled as he made for the door. "We take them to the one
place in this part of Brum-a-dum where escaped slaves will be safe."

The Djinn-90s were circling overhead as Jack sprinted along the
street. "Where are we going?" Fleck asked as he caught up with him, the
borrowed laser rifle held ready.

"There," Jack said, pointing ahead past the glowing sign on its
decorative post. "Get ready to blast the door open if we have to."