Lady Lure (28 page)

“Tell me again. Exactly what did the Chief
Hierarch say?”

“That you had received superficial wounds
while commanding the winning side in a battle against pirates on
the Styxian border. But now a pirate was going to win against you,
because I was to pose as a pirate while abducting you and carrying
you off to Regula. But he told me lies. I have learned that your
wounds were not superficial. They were terrible. And I know the
Chief Hierarch’s intentions toward me were dishonest.”

“What was your reaction to the idea of
pretending to be a pirate?” Halvo asked.

“I thought it was a bad joke,” Perri said,
“but at the time, I believed he wanted me to have a credible
disguise. Later, after I learned it was all a trick and he and Elyr
were using me for their own purposes, I thought the Chief Hierarch
must be hoping the Jurisdiction government would believe that
pirates really were responsible for your abduction and thus would
not blame Regula for what happened to you.”

“I’m sure that line of reasoning was part of
it.” Halvo considered for a moment before continuing slowly, as if
he were thinking out loud. “Pirates. Yes, I did wonder
earlier.”

“Wonder what?” Perri asked.

“Let me think about it a little more. I
promise I will tell you what my conclusions are, as soon as I reach
them.”

“I trust your promises,” Perri murmured, at
last allowing him to draw her down on the bed beside him. “Yours
and no one else’s.”

* * * * *

Some hours later Perri stepped outside the
Space Dragon,
pitcher in hand, heading for the stream. With
only a few crumbs left from their supply of bread, water would be
their breakfast that morning instead of the cups of hot, steaming
qahf, the fried blueflour bread, and the broiled darahfish eggs for
which she longed. Halvo was planning to work on the communications
system and when it was repaired, assuming it could be repaired, he
would move on to the food processor.

“If I need to work on it at all,” he called
through the hatch after her. “We may be rescued before we have a
chance to starve.”

“If a rescue is to happen before I starve,”
Perri said, putting a bit of teasing into her voice, “it will have
to happen within the next hour.”

Laughing in response to his sympathetic
chuckle, she looked up toward the sky. There was not much to see.
The bright weather of the previous day had given way to a bank of
thick fog, which had rolled in from the ocean during the night. All
Perri could see was the area immediately surrounding the
Space
Dragon.
No birds would fly that day, and searchers relying on
visual contacts would have a difficult time finding the
Space
Dragon.

As she walked in the direction of the stream
Perri could hear the surf, muffled by the fog, and she heard Halvo
talking to Rolli as if the reactivated robot were a close personal
friend. There were no other sounds, at least not until she was
returning from the stream. Then what she heard made her hasten to
the
Space Dragon.

“Halvo, do you hear it?” Her empty stomach
forgotten, she set the filled water pitcher down in the galley and
hurried into the cockpit, where Halvo and Rolli were taking the
communications system apart in preparation for their repairs to
it.

“Hear what?” Halvo lifted his head,
listening. “That’s a shuttlecraft, coming in low.”

“Can you tell by the sound whether it is your
brother or—” Perri could not finish the sentence.

“They all sound pretty much alike. We’ll have
to wait until we can see it. Stay inside, Perri.” Halvo went to the
entrance hatch and stared out at the fog. Perri was right behind
him. The noise grew louder until, as if stirred by the approaching
ship, the fog parted and a brown shuttle-craft not much bigger than
the
Space Dragon
emerged.

Seeing it, Halvo’s mouth tightened.

“I can read those markings.” Perri pressed
closer to Halvo. “It’s a shuttlecraft from one of the Regulan
ships.”

“If the Regulans were able to find us,” Halvo
said, “then Jyrit’s people cannot be far behind. We have to stall
for time until they get here.”

“How?” Perri asked.

“I will go out and talk to them. You stay
hidden. Perhaps I can convince them that you have left me and fled
toward the south, where those thick woods are. If they decide to
search for you, their plans will be delayed – whatever their plans
might be.”

“They will only have to use their sensors to
know I am aboard the
Space Dragon,”
Perri said.

“Any delay, even a few minutes, could be
crucial to us,” Halvo said. “Please, Perri, trust me.”

“I do trust you.” She moved away from the
hatch when Halvo went through it. “But I do not trust the
Regulans.”

“What are you doing?” Rolli turned from the
controls to fix blue eyelights on Perri.

“Arming myself.” Perri took up the hand
weapon that had been issued to her back on Regula at the start of
her adventure. “Rolli, how are the repairs on the communications
system coming along? Could you at least get a homing beacon
working?” Nothing could help her then, but if Halvo’s brother, or a
shuttlecraft from the
Krontar,
could locate them before the
Regulans took them captive, then Halvo might be saved. It was the
most Perri dared hope for at that point.

“The Regulans can block all communications
from the
Space Dragon,”
Rolli said. “We were hoping to send
out a message before they found us.”

“Then I am going to fight.” Perri glared at
Rolli. “Don’t you dare tell me it will be a dangerous course. It is
the only thing left for us to do.”

“As always, I am compelled to warn you of
danger,” Rolli said. “However, your decision makes sense. To go
into Regulan custody would be more dangerous than open
defiance.”

“I am glad you agree, because you couldn’t
stop me,” Perri said.

By that time, Halvo was standing outside the
Space Dragon
and half-a-dozen men in the plain brown
uniforms of the Regulan Space Service had alighted from their
shuttlecraft and were approaching him. All of these men had gold or
red hair and the usual green Regulan eyes. All were strangers to
Perri, a fact which did not surprise her, since she had not been
allowed to meet many Regulan men. Being careful to keep out of
sight, Perri peered around the edge of the hatch opening.

“I am Admiral of the Jurisdiction Fleet Halvo
Gibal.” Halvo took a step toward the Regulans, who stopped as he
approached. “I assume you are here to offer your assistance.”

“We are under orders to return you to
Regula,” the Regulan leader said.

“Thank you for the hospitable offer, but that
won’t be necessary.” Halvo spoke pleasantly and even smiled. “All I
need is a little help with repairing my ship.”

“It is a stolen Regulan ship.”

“Is it indeed?” Halvo feigned surprise.
“Well, then, Captain—”

“Captain Mirar.” The identifying words were
snapped out in a brisk manner and Captain Mirar stood stiff and
unbending, his face serious. Perri could tell he was puzzled by
Halvo’s easy, unafraid attitude.

“A pleasure to meet you.” Politely, Halvo
inclined his head. “I admire your daring in venturing into the
Empty Sector, since you must be aware that it is forbidden
territory.”

“You are here.”

“True, and most inadvertently, I assure you.
I was thrown off course by a defect in my navigational system.
Otherwise, even the Admiral of the Fleet would not presume to break
Jurisdiction law.” Halvo’s last words took on a distinct warning
edge and Captain Mirar shifted uneasily.

“Where is the woman, Perri?” he demanded.

“Who?” Halvo spread his hands. “As you can
see, I am quite alone – and unarmed.”

Those words were said with a glance at the
hand weapons held by Mirar and all of his men.

“You are not alone. Our sensors show two
humans aboard the
Space Dragon.”

“Really? Well, Captain Mirar, you may be
right. However, I do feel obliged to point out to you the
interesting fact that, here in the Empty Sector, reality is not
always what it appears to be.”

“What do you mean?” Mirar took a menacing
step toward Halvo. Seeing him move, Perri took the safety catch off
her weapon.

“Surely, Captain,” said Halvo, “you have
noticed how undependable your ship’s systems have become?”

“I have noticed nothing of the kind,” Mirar
snapped. “You have delayed me long enough. Step aside and let my
men search your vessel.”

“By whose authority?” Halvo asked, his voice
cool, his demeanor commanding.

“By my authority,” Mirar growled, his face
beginning to flush.

“Must I remind you, Captain, that I am an
admiral?”

“Bah!” Mirar’s mouth twisted in disdain. “You
have been retired, invalided out of active duty. I take my orders
from the Regulan Hierarchy. Get out of my way, Admiral!”

It was then that Rolli spoke. The robot had
moved nearer to Perri and like her remained hidden just inside the
entrance hatch.

“There is another shuttlecraft coming,”’
Rolli said. “The sound is similar to that made by the first
one.”

“Has the second Regulan ship also sent out a
landing team?” Perri asked. “Or is this one from the
Krontar?
Well, it doesn’t matter. Halvo will continue to try
to delay this Captain Mirar, and if Mirar or his men try to hurt
Halvo, I know what to do.”

“I believe Captain Mirar is growing
impatient,” Rolli said. “Perhaps he, too, is aware of the
approaching shuttlecraft.”

At the moment, Captain Mirar was standing
almost nose to nose with Halvo, attempting to stare him down. Halvo
was not moving an inch from his position blocking the entrance
hatch.

“Men,” Captain Mirar said, “take him!”

Halvo raised an arm to fend off the hands of
the Regulans who were reaching for him. Perri saw him go white and
stumble, putting his hand to his head instead of hitting one of his
opponents. Perri knew Halvo’s dizziness had returned. There was no
time to think about how inconvenient his weakness was. She could
wait no longer. Halvo’s life was in danger. Perri stepped into the
hatch opening. Lifting her hand weapon she aimed it at Captain
Mirar and fired. At once she ducked back into the ship.

Her fire was returned. A blast sizzled
through the hatch to hit the opposite bulkhead and send white-hot
sparks flying around the cockpit.

“More damage,” Rolli said. “If this keeps up,
we may never complete repairs to this ship.”

Perri wasn’t paying much attention to the
robot. Instead, she was worrying about Halvo. She wanted to go to
him, but she decided she might be of greater help to him if she
stayed hidden for a while longer. Halvo was picking himself up off
the ground while three Regulans held their weapons pointed at him.
Nearby, Captain Mirar was cursing and clutching his left arm where
Perri had inflicted what looked like a minor, if painful,
wound.

By then everyone near the
Space Dragon
could hear the engines of the arriving shuttle-craft. Captain Mirar
looked up, searching the fog for a sign of it, and several of his
men also craned their necks to see what was approaching. By the
murmuring among them, Perri decided they were afraid it would prove
to be a shuttlecraft sent out from the
Krontar.

The noise grew louder and a dark shape could
be seen, lowering itself slowly to the ground. It came to rest
right next to the Regulan shuttle-craft. When the hatch opened, a
Jugarian male appeared, followed by a dark-haired human female.
Both of them were wearing the dark blue Jurisdiction Service
uniform and both held weapons in their hands. Behind them, two
other human shapes waited in the hatchway.

“Jyrit, my friend! Lieutenant Dysia!” Halvo
called. “I knew you would find me.”

“Good day to you, Admiral.” Jyrit’s antennae
flared an agreeable orange red, but then turned a darker, warning
red as he spoke to Captain Mirar. “Tell your men to put down their
weapons. I am here to take Admiral Halvo back to Capital.”

“And I am under orders to take him to
Regula,” Captain Mirar said.

“Jurisdiction government orders supersede the
routine orders of planetary governments,” Jyrit stated firmly.

“Your admiral is traveling with a known
criminal!” Captain Mirar shouted.

“He is not doing so voluntarily,” Jyrit said.
Pointing his weapon at Mirar’s heart, Jyrit added, “Admiral Halvo
will now step into my ship.”

“He will not!” Mirar’s own hand weapon was
aimed at Jyrit’s abdomen, where the most vital Jugarian organs
lay.

“Why don’t we all put down our weapons?”
Dysia said. “Then we can talk about the problem calmly.”

“Be silent, woman!” Captain Mirar said. “You
may not speak unless a man gives you permission.”

“Don’t talk that way to a Jurisdiction
officer.” From the
Krontar’s
shuttlecraft one of the men in
civilian clothes came to stand beside Dysia. The other went to back
up Jyrit.

“I knew they were good men when Tarik chose
them,” Halvo said softly to no one in particular. Perri heard
him.

“Those two are from your brother’s colony?”
she asked, speaking to him through the hatch. “Then he must be
searching for you, too.”

“I believe Tarik is about to join us.” In
spite of the threat the Regulans presented, Halvo seemed to be
enjoying himself hugely. When the sound of a third shuttlecraft
broke loudly through the fog, Halvo’s grin nearly split his
face.

Two men stepped from this new shuttlecraft,
one black of hair, the other blond. Both were strikingly handsome.
The two looked around at the tense scene; then the black-haired man
walked to where Jyrit and Captain Mirar were still standing.

“I suggest that you end this contest now,”
the new arrival said. “Regulan, if you do not put away your weapon
and tell your men to do the same, the full force of the
Krontar
will be turned upon your two vessels in orbit. I
need not tell you what will happen to those ships or to their
crews. And your landing team will be left here, at the mercy of
Captain Jyrit.”