Dragon and Liberator

CHAPTER 31

"That's it," Alison announced, dropping one last folded shirt into the carry bag laid out on her bunk in the Essenay's second cabin. "You know, I'm really going to miss this place."

"Not that you ever spent much time in here," Jack pointed out.

"Oh, I don't mean the room," she said, looking around the cabin. "Not even the ship, really."

"The company, then?" Draycos asked from the corner where he and Taneem had stretched out on the deck to watch Alison's packing.

"Yes," Alison said. She gave Jack a wry look. "Strange though that may sound."

"That's okay—it's been a day for strangeness," Jack assured her. Oddly enough, he thought, he was going to miss her, too. "You're really Mr. Braxton's granddaughter?"

She nodded. "On my mother's side," she said. "My dad, on the other hand, is an Internos Intelligence agent."

"Must have made for an interesting childhood," Jack said. "So you're an Internos agent. And I thought the Whinyard's Edge recruited them young."

A shadow seemed to pass across Alison's face. "I'm a special case," she said quietly. "Do you remember, after you got back from Semaline, when you asked if I knew what it felt like to have people die because of me?"

"Yes," Jack said, wincing at the memory of that day. He'd been full of anger and pain and guilt, and had lashed out completely unfairly at her.

"I was nine at the time," Alison went on, her eyes staring into infinity. "My best friend's brother told me in secret that he was going to run away from home and join a mercenary group."

"How old was he?" Draycos asked.

"He'd just turned twelve," Alison said. "Two years too young to legally join. But he was tall for his age, and he really wanted to go." She closed her eyes briefly. "Three months later, he was dead. Killed in combat."

"I'm sorry," Jack said quietly. "But it was his decision, not yours. What happened wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was," Alison said. Her voice was calm, but Jack could hear old pain still lurking beneath it. "I could have told someone. I should have told someone. But I thought the whole thing was terribly grown-up and too glamorous for words."

Jack nodded as he suddenly understood. "So that's what you were doing in the Whinyard's Edge. You were looking for evidence of underage recruitment."

She gave him a wry half smile. "You are pretty good at this, aren't you? Yes, that was my mission in life. I'd already infiltrated Weber's Hellions and the Malison Ring and pulled data on them. This time, it was the Whinyard's Edge's turn."

"The whole thing your dad's idea, I suppose?"

"Actually, Dad was dead-set against it," she said, her smile vanishing into memory again. "As were Mom, Grandfather, Grandmother, and pretty much everyone else. But I had righteousness on my side. And guilt."

"And you wore them down."

"More or less," Alison said. "Dad finally agreed, on the condition that I go through a full five years of training first. He probably figured I'd get tired of it and drop out."

"Only you didn't," Jack said.

"Like I said, righteousness and guilt." She cocked her head "And then I met you, and a whole lot of really interesting questions came tumbling out into the light. After we escaped from Sunright I contacted Dad. We put two and two together, and figured out that you were the same Jack who'd saved Grandfather's life on the Star of Wonder. After a little discussion, we agreed I should change missions and concentrate on you for a while."

She snapped her fingers. "Which reminds me, I've got the footlocker you left at the Whinyard's Edge camp."

"With my leather jacket inside?" Jack asked. "Great! I thought that was gone forever."

"No, Dad's got it, all safe and sound," Alison assured him. "We'll pick it up after we get out of here. Anyway, we lost you for a bit while you were on Brum-a-dum, then picked up your trail again after you freed all those Chookoock slaves. I followed you to Bigelow, where you promptly got yourself captured trying to sneak into the Malison Ring HQ there."

"Which Draycos and I could have gotten out of on our own," Jack said, his face warming at the memory. "So that was why I spotted Harper hanging around your ship. He was your excuse to talk me into giving you a ride?"

"Yes." Alison lowered her eyes. "He was also . . . bodyguards aren't supposed to be your friends, you know. But he was anyway."

"Sometimes it's a bodyguard's duty to die for those he protects," Draycos said. "Just as it is a warrior's."

"I know," Alison said. "And we'd probably all be dead if he hadn't sacrificed himself to set off the Advocatus Diaboli's emergency beacon that way. But it still hurts."

"He wouldn't want you to hold on to the pain, Alison," Draycos said gently. "But you may always honor him in your memory. As I will."

"As we all will," Jack promised, searching for a way to get Alison off this subject. "So that whole thing about meeting friends on Rho Scorvi was just a bucket of soap bubbles?"

Alison's eyes and mind seemed to come back. "Basically," she said. "Though someone would have come eventually to check if I hadn't surfaced. Grandfather's scientists had analyzed the scratch mark Draycos made on the bottom of his rejuvenation cylinder, and they'd somehow deduced that it was a Phooka claw mark. So I maneuvered you into going there, just to see how you'd react."

She smiled at Taneem. "Little did I know. Anyway, once we got off-planet again, I called my contact on your InterWorld transmitter. I told him about the Phookas and had Dad go in with a team and spirit them away. I didn't want Neverlin killing them or, worse, using them to scam the refugee fleet when it arrived."

Jack looked over at the computer module. Uncle Virge was being awfully quiet about all this. "How did you bribe Uncle Virge into not telling me about the call?"

"No bribery needed," Alison said. "I'd already figured the Essenay was either a diplomatic or governmental ship, and their computers always come with a privacy lock-out. I just said the magic words, and Uncle Virge basically went to sleep."

Jack nodded. "Is that also how Harper got you on Bentre, Uncle Virge?"

"Yes," Uncle Virge said, a strangely thoughtful tone to his voice. "He shut me off, got out of his cuffs, unwired the sopor mist canisters you'd hooked up, flew us to the Braxton Universis office on Keeleywine, and dropped Chiggers off with the security people there. Then he woke me up again, explained the situation, and gave me a take-it-or-leave-it offer to help out."

"And so the two of you came to Point Two to masquerade as Uncle Virgil and infiltrate Neverlin's group," Jack said, shaking his head. There was nothing like suddenly getting an entirely new angle on a situation you'd thought you understood.

"And to bring me some emergency equipment," Alison said. "He was also there on Brum-a-dum, by the way, the night I locked myself in Neverlin's safe."

"I remember," Jack said, an odd memory suddenly kicking in. "When Frost and Neverlin came charging into the hangar, you said both of us weren't supposed to rescue you."

"Right," Alison said. "I'd given him a comm clip with your frequency and pattern so he could keep track of what we were up to." She grimaced. "Of course, if I'd realized that Frost and Neverlin were still on Brum-a-dum, I'd have called in a full Braxton Security force to grab them as they left the Chookoock estate. We could have ended the whole plot right there."

"That wouldn't have ended it," Draycos said. "The Valahgua and their Death weapons were still free. Even without Neverlin and Frost, they would have found a way to attack the refugee fleet."

"I suppose," Alison said reluctantly. "Anyway, you know the rest."

"All except your story about being General Davi's daughter," Taneem spoke up. "How did you create that fiction?"

"It's no trick for Intelligence people to create false IDs," Jack explained. "Her dad probably also gave her all those voiceprints Uncle Virge told me she had stashed away in case she needed them."

"Jack's right," Alison said. "But in this case, we also had General Davi himself ready to back up my story if Neverlin decided to check up on me. After I called his forces in on the Patri Chookoock last month, Dad had to tell him the whole story to keep him from launching a full investigation and maybe knocking over my personal applecart in the process."

"I'll bet he was thrilled," Jack murmured.

"He was several miles north of furious," Alison agreed. "Not at us, but at what Frost had done with his men and equipment. He agreed on the spot to cooperate with us."

"Hence the Malison Ring contingent your grandfather brought in with him," Jack said dryly. "Probably the main reason Frost switched sides there at the end. He knew he'd lost, and figured he'd better surrender to your grandfather before Davi got to him."

"Something like that." Alison shook her head. "I just wish we could have persuaded the Patri Chookoock to cooperate, too. But he wouldn't. All Dad could do at that point was block his communications so that he couldn't bring the hammer down on Harper."

"Though Neverlin still guessed the truth," Taneem said.

Alison sighed. "Yes."

"So why didn't you just tell me from the start who you were?" Jack asked. "It would have made things a lot easier."

Alison shrugged uncomfortably. "In the beginning, because we weren't sure whether we could trust you," she said. "You or Draycos."

"Oh, that's nice," Jack growled.

"No, she's right, Jack," Draycos said. "She had only my side of the story, after all. There was no way for her to know we weren't a group of invaders planning a conquest of the Orion Arm."

"At least not until I got to know him," Alison agreed. "By then—" She grimaced. "You'd gotten it into your head that Grandfather might have been involved with your parents' death. At that point, I didn't dare tell you the truth."

"You don't still think that, do you, Jack?" Taneem asked.

"Not really," Jack assured her. "Besides, if Alison can accept the whole K'da race based on Draycos's character, I suppose I can accept Mr. Braxton based on hers."

"Which makes him a good man?" Taneem suggested.

"It certainly makes him a conniving man," Jack said blandly. "Also smart-mouthed, underhanded—"

"Hey!" Alison protested.

"—but probably not a murderer," Jack finished. He turned innocent eyes on Alison. "You say something?"

"Listen, buddy-boy," she said, leveling a finger at him, "if you want to talk about conniving—"

"Please," Taneem interrupted anxiously. "Please don't fight."

"They're not fighting," Draycos soothed her. "This is a rather silly game humans sometimes like to play together."

"You'll get used to it," Alison assured her, sending Jack's innocent look right back at him.

Jack felt his stomach tighten. "Yeah," he muttered.

"What, you don't think she will?" Alison asked, frowning.

"I don't think she'll have a chance," Jack told her. "As soon as—"

He broke off at the sound of a footstep down the corridor. "Hello?" he called.

"It's just me," Braxton's voice came back. "Where are you?"

"Second cabin," Alison called back. "Down the corridor aft."

There were more footsteps, and Braxton appeared in the cabin doorway. "There you are," he said, crossing over to the bunk and sitting down. "You ready, Alison?"

"Almost," Alison said. "Is the battle over?"

"Actually, the battle never got started," Braxton said, looking thoughtfully around the room. "We were able to get through to the Brummgas on the Foxwolf—" He looked at Draycos. "Excuse me: the Gatekeeper," he corrected himself. "They decided there was no sense in throwing their lives away and mutinied against the Valahgua."

"Lucky for them," Alison said.

"Not for all of them," Braxton said soberly. "The Valahgua turned the Death weapons around and killed over a hundred before they were finally overwhelmed."

The room went quiet. Jack glanced at Draycos, seeing his own revulsion and regret in the K'da's expression. Even big, dumb lummoxes like the Brummgas didn't deserve to die that way. "Rotten losers, aren't they?" he murmured.

"Yes," Draycos said, his voice dark. "They are."

"Well, they'd better get used to it," Alison said. "Now that you're back where you belong, they're done for."

"Yes," Braxton agreed. He finished his survey of the room and turned to Jack. "Speaking of being back where they belong, Jack, you and I need to discuss your future."

"What future?" Jack said sourly. "Now that everyone knows Uncle Virgil's dead, some Internos bureaucrat's bound to take the Essenay away from me. Then they'll put me in school, or with some strangers—"

He broke off. "Sorry," he apologized. "I suppose I should just be happy I'm still alive."

"Yes, you should," Braxton said. "But I think we can do a little better than your rather unappetizing scenario."

He gestured to Draycos. "You see, as it happens, Braxton Universis still owns Iota Klestis."

Jack eyed him suspiciously. "And?"

"Oh, don't worry," Braxton hastened to assure him. "The K'da and Shontine are welcome to it, for as long as they want to stay. But instead of giving it to them outright, I thought I'd give them a permanent lease at a dollar a year."

"Why is that better than selling it to them?" Jack asked.

"Or just giving it to them?" Alison added pointedly.

"A mere dollar a year fee is giving it to us," Draycos told her.

"May I speak?" Braxton asked. "Thank you. There are two reasons to lease instead of sell. One: those Internos bureaucrats Jack just mentioned also have their own ideas as to what should be done with refugees and displaced persons. If I still own Iota Klestis, I can let anyone move in there that I want."

"Giving the K'da and Shontine time to negotiate their way through the paperwork?" Alison suggested.

"Exactly," Braxton said. "And two: since I own the world, I can hire anyone I want to be ambassador to the residents."

"Ambassador?" Draycos asked.

"Technically, he'll be a corporate liaison," Braxton said. "But the duties will be effectively the same. Naturally, I'll need someone who knows and understands the K'da."

He looked at Jack. "Ideally, one who is also already known and trusted by them."

Jack frowned . . . and then, suddenly, he understood. "You can't be serious," he said.

"I certainly can," Braxton said. "My planet, remember?" He looked around the room again. "And of course, an ambassador needs his own personal diplomatic ship." He smiled. "It needs a little hull work around the hatchway, but I think it'll do."

"But I'm just a kid," Jack protested.

"But you have the gifts of insight and compassion and justice," Draycos said. "Speaking on behalf of the K'da and Shontine, we would be honored to have you among us."

"Then it's settled," Braxton said, standing up. "Once the fleet's ready to move, we'll escort them to Iota Klestis. I've already alerted the nearest Universis depots, and they're putting together an initial supply run to help with the transition."

"Thank you," Draycos said.

"My pleasure," Braxton replied, inclining his head. "I'm very much looking forward to working with you and your people."

He crossed back to the door. "As soon as you're all ready, come on over to the Advocatus Diaboli. I've decided to stay aboard for the trip to Iota Klestis." His face tightened a little. "And to make sure that Death weapon is well and truly destroyed."

"I would be happy to assist in that," Draycos offered grimly.

"I was hoping you would," Braxton said. "See you all soon."

He left, his footsteps retreating again down the corridor. "Well," Alison said. "What do you think of that?"

"I don't know yet," Jack said. "This is all coming way too fast."

"You've got time," Alison said quietly. "The point is that you're finally safe. You're safe, and you're among friends. Just like Draycos and his people are."

"You're safe, Jack lad?"

Jack frowned at the computer module. It had been Uncle Virge's voice . . . but there'd been something odd about it. "Yes, I think maybe I really am," he said. "Who'd ever have guessed, huh?"

"The people responsible for your parents' murder are dead?"

"Dead or in custody," Jack said. "Why?"

"Just a minute."

There was a long pause. "What's going on?" Alison asked.

Jack shook his head. "I don't know."

There was a click from the speaker. "Hello, Jack lad," Uncle Virge said.

Jack tensed. Because it wasn't Uncle Virge, the personality Jack's uncle had programmed into the Essenay's computer. This voice was subtly but definitely different.

It was Uncle Virgil himself.

"I apologize for speaking to you through this recording," Uncle Virgil went on. "I presume from the fact that you are listening to it means I'm dead or in jail or otherwise unavailable to give all this to you in person.

"But I wanted you to know how it was you ended up living with me aboard your parents' ship."

Silently, Draycos got to his feet and crossed the room to stand at Jack's side.

"It was their ship, if you haven't already figured that out. A beautiful Judge-Paladin ship, loaded to the intakes with all the finest equipment money can buy.

"Unfortunately, not all of us have that kind of money. So seeing as I was a thief by profession, I set out to steal it."

Jack glanced at Alison. She was staring at the speaker, an intense look on her face.

"Not that I specifically targeted your parents' ship. That was just . . . I don't know. Luck? Fate? I can never tell about these things. I just needed one of the ships to put down at some out-of-the-way place where the alarm would take a while to get out. The Hreenwoth Canyon on Semaline was the perfect spot."

Jack looked down at Draycos. All that time they'd spent in that canyon, all that danger, and he'd never even known its real name.

"I knew the Golvins had requested a Judge-Paladin to come mediate their dispute with Triost Mining, so I got there first and arranged to have myself arrested. Nothing serious, just some minor theft that would give me an excuse to hang around the valley. Once your parents arrived and settled down to business, I slipped out of custody and got over to their ship.

"I had just popped my way through the lock when the Lesser Assembly Hall blew up."

Jack closed his eyes. The image of that explosion . . .

"I didn't have time to think," Uncle Virgil went on. "My first instinct was to get out, and to get out fast. I got to the cockpit, froze out the computer that was trying to block me, and took off."

"Must have been fewer guy wires linking the pillars back then," Draycos murmured. "Otherwise, the Essenay could never have landed in the canyon."

"I figured that whoever had had the chutzpah to kill a pair of Judge-Paladins would have been smart enough to have some air backup ready. But he'd missed out on that one. I got into space and on ECHO before the planetary space control even realized anything was wrong.

"It was only then that I found out I had a passenger. You.

"It was quite a shock, as I'm sure you can imagine. You were in your bunk, sleeping like a—well, I suppose like a three-year-old, a remote sitting beside you."

"A remote?" Draycos asked.

"It's an electromechanical robot linked to the ship's computer," Jack said. "Huh. I'd forgotten all about that."

"Not entirely," Draycos said. "Do you remember when we stumbled into that Wistawki bonding ceremony on the Vagran Colony?"

Jack nodded. That had been right after he and Draycos had met, while Jack was still trying to get out from under the theft charge Neverlin had framed him with. "I called you my electromechanical assistant."

"The remote had stopped when I froze out the computer," Uncle Virgil continued. "I got rid of it right away. Hate the things. Then you woke up, and—well, again, there wasn't time to think. I got you something to eat and spun you a story about your parents asking me to watch you for a while. I figured I'd drop you off with the authorities on the next planet.

"Only before we got to the next planet I finally did have time to think. I didn't know why whoever it was had killed your parents, but it occurred to me that if it was personal rather than business, he might not want their son to live, either. So I decided to hang on to you until I had a better handle on what was going on.

"But that was going to take some time, and meanwhile you were starting to ask questions. So . . . well, you know the rest. I told you I was your uncle Virgil and that your parents had been killed in a mine accident. And I sort of . . . adopted you."

"And turned me into a thief," Jack murmured.

"I know you're probably not happy with some of the things I did," Uncle Virgil said, an odd note of pleading in his voice. "Changing your name and . . . well, teaching you something of my profession. But you have to remember that I didn't know who or what we were up against. I had to keep your real identity hidden from everyone, including you. At the same time, I needed to give you the tools you'd need if I didn't solve the puzzle and you had to track down the murderers yourself.

"But you're safe now. Somehow, you're safe. Otherwise the computer wouldn't have been able to find and unlock this recording. You don't need me anymore. And for that I'm glad. I really am.

"So I guess this is good-bye, Jack lad. I know you'll probably hate me for what I did to you. I wish I could have done better, but it's too late for that now. Just please try to believe that I did the best I knew how."

The voice stopped. Jack took a deep breath, let it out in a slow sigh. "So," he said, just to fill up the silence.

"Do you hate him?" Taneem asked quietly.

Jack looked at her. "No," he said, and was rather surprised to discover that he meant it. "He made mistakes. We all do. But he kept me alive for eleven years." He considered. "And I guess he really did give me the tools I needed to bring Neverlin down."

He looked back at the computer module. "Thanks, Uncle Virge."

There was no answer. "Uncle Virge?" Jack called again.

"Good afternoon," a courteous feminine voice said. "How may I assist you?"

Jack swallowed. "Never mind," he said.

"I'm sorry, Jack," Alison said gently.

Jack blinked back sudden tears. "Don't be," he said. "Uncle Virgil died a long time ago." He looked at Draycos. "And he was right. I don't need him anymore."

He took another deep breath. "So what are we hanging around here for, anyway?" he said, forcing some cheerfulness into his voice. "Let's get over to the Advocatus Diaboli and wreck a Death weapon. And after that, we can introduce Taneem to her people."

"Will you stay with me awhile, Alison?" Taneem asked, almost shyly.

"As long as you need me," Alison promised. "I'm looking forward to meeting your people, too." She picked up the carry bag and looked at Jack. "You ready?"

"Go ahead," Jack told her. "I'll be along in a minute."

Alison glanced at Draycos, then nodded. "Okay," she said. "But make it snappy." With Taneem padding along behind her, she left the room.

"Are you all right?" Draycos asked gently.

"I don't know," Jack said. Suddenly, to his surprise and embarrassment, more tears were flowing from his eyes. "I just feel sort of . . . I don't know. Sort of lost."

"That's to be expected," Draycos said. "For the past six months you've been on the run, living with fear and danger and a burden no one your age should ever have to carry. Along the way, you've grown a great deal as a person, as well as learned things about yourself and your history you thought you'd never know."

He reached up a paw and rested it gently on Jack's arm. "You've never had a chance to truly grieve for your parents. Now, finally, you have that chance."

"I guess," Jack said, swiping a hand across his eyes. "But it hasn't just been the last six months. With Uncle Virgil, and then after he died . . ." He shook his head. "That was my life, Draycos. It was all I ever knew. Now, suddenly, everything's changed."

"Yes, it has," Draycos said. "It's called being at peace. Being at rest. It's something you haven't experienced since you were three years old." He lashed his tail gently. "To tell you the truth, it's something I've never truly experienced, either."

Jack looked down at the K'da, a wave of tangled thoughts and emotions swirling through him. There was grief for his parents, certainly, along with the scary sense that his life had changed forever. There was also a little shame that he was even carrying on like this when Draycos and his people had suffered so much more than he had.

But on top of all the rest of it— "We did it," he murmured, the fact suddenly and truly sinking in. "We saved your people. We actually did it."

"We did, didn't we?" Draycos said, his jaws cracking open in a K'da smile. "You and I, and Alison and Taneem."

"And Langston, and Mr. Braxton," Jack added. He felt his stomach tighten. "And Harper."

"All of us together," Draycos agreed quietly. "We're safe, Jack. You're safe."

Safe. The word flowed through Jack's mind like a gentle summer breeze. Safe.

"Hey, in there?" Alison's voice drifted back down the corridor. "You two get lost?"

Quickly, Jack wiped the last of the tears from his eyes with his sleeve. "Keep your socks on," he called back. "We're coming."

"Then do it," Alison said as she and Taneem stuck their heads around the doorway into the room. "Grandfather's waiting, and you don't want him mad at you."

"Oh, right," Jack said dryly. "What's he going to do, take away the dessert cart?"

"Worse," Alison said solemnly. "He might limit you to a single day at Great Galaxy Romp next time he takes us there. And no roller coasters at all."

"Actually, no roller coasters would be fine with me," Jack assured her. He gave Draycos a lopsided grin. "I'm at peace now, you know."

"Not for long," Alison warned. "You're an ambassador to a whole race of people. Two whole races, actually. Your future's about to get really complicated again."

"Complicated, but good," Draycos said. "For all of us."

"Absolutely," Alison agreed, reaching down to stroke Taneem's neck.

"You really think so?" Jack asked.

"Oh yes." Alison smiled. "Bet on it."