The Dragon Never Sleeps

— 123 —

WarAvocat rested his hands on the back of Aleas's seat. A black ship model floated before her. Its length to thickness ratio was the highest he'd ever seen. That indicated a high powered linear accelerator type starspace drive. Ought to be a going sonofabitch running a straight course.

"New approximation?" The original had been watching them for two days.

"Yes. And Gemina doesn't like it. These bulges along here, all the way back, are riders." She tapped her board. Two lesser hulls separated from opposite sides of the main. "The riders' drives are always clear. They can output with the rider nested. These blisters between riders are fighters. They nest nose down thirty degrees with their drives clear."

"They can thrust to maneuver the main?"

"Gemina says the whole can outrun and outmaneuver most anything."

"Tractor vanes on the riders, too?"

"Light duty but mounted so they can supplement those on the main."

"A beautifully wicked piece of machinery."

"Probe has both oxygen and methane readings from inside."

"Let's see what it can do."

WarAvocat launched five riders and a dozen pursuit fighters on silent approaches. He and Aleas moved to WarCentral.

"WarAvocat. Target is moving."

Impossible. "No way could he have picked up our secondaries yet."

"Gemina concurs. Target action is independent of ours."

WarAvocat watched track data develop. Moving closer to the Web. And not sneaking. "Find its closest point of approach to the strand. Redirect the strike there."

The strand marked the apex of a triangle. The shortest leg ran to VII Gemina. Time passed. The Outsider spotted the secondaries. It accelerated.

"That bastard can move!"

"Attack speed," WarAvocat directed.

Minutes later, "WarAvocat, target has launched two riders and four fighters."

He asked Aleas, "Why? They can't handle what I sent." He studied the geometry. His secondaries would reach CPA moments behind the Outsiders.

A pinpoint of light appeared in the main action tank, waxed, waned, between converging forces. A breakaway.

On the time lag mark, Gemina piped, "... emergency. Guardship, this is Lieutenant Jo Klass TAD off Guardship VII Gemina aboard Pioyugov Traveler Dawn Watch. I have a bogie on my tail. Emergency. Emergency."

"Red One!" WarAvocat snapped. "Aleas. Missiles and interceptors." Alarms wailed, "Access, OpsAvocat. Stand by to move ship."

A second breakaway came. The speaker added to her message, "The bogie is off the Web and launching. I have you fixed. I'm coming in hard."

Missile tracks moved toward the action at accelerations that would cause ordinary steel to creep like heated wax.

Aleas remarked, "She's cool."

"She's a good soldier." Jo Klass. Out here. With two top-tech Outsiders trying to keep her from getting home. What the hell?

They were shooting out there now.

His secondaries brushed the insystem group away from the Traveler. Others met the breakaway in a head-on firing pass. A fighter died on each side. The breakaway had not put out its riders. It was gaining on the Traveler fast. No way his secondaries could turn and catch up. The Traveler would live or die depending on Aleas's missiles.

The voice from the Traveler calmly announced, "Bogie is launching missiles."

WarAvocat watched his own streak closer, chased by lagging interceptors. He did not ask Gemina for the probabilities. He had a bad feeling and did not want it confirmed.

Klass must have had a bad feeling, too. "WarAvocat, we're getting a coded squirt from the Traveler."

"WarAvocat, the Outsider has done a rollover and is using full thrust to dump velocity."

They believed they had their kill.

He checked his secondaries. Most were maneuvering to face the Outsider's escape run. The other and its riders had climbed onto the Web, to safety, leaving its fighters to fend for themselves.

His first missiles streaked past the Traveler as the enemy's arrived. That fraction of the universe turned to fire.

"Guardship, we have damage aft. The ship is starting to break..." A roaring blast of static. Then nothing.