Dragon and Judge

TIMOTHY ZAHN DRAGON AND JUDGE Dragonback #5

For all those who work for justice 

CHAPTER 1

" 'The quick red fox jumps over the—' " Taneem paused, her glowing silver eyes narrowing in concentration, her whiplike K'da tail making little circles in the air behind her long, gray-scaled body. " 'Lassie dog'?" she suggested.

" 'Lazy dog,' " Draycos corrected, keeping his own tail motionless. Having grown up among the Phookas instead of proper K'da, Taneem's body language was very different from his. He didn't want to make any gestures that she might interpret as impatience. "The 'y' at the end of the word makes the 'a' long."

" 'The lazy dog.' " Taneem gave her tail another flick. "There are so many rules to this language," she said ruefully.

"And so many exceptions to those rules," Draycos agreed, his mind going back to his own introduction to written English. He and the others of the K'da/Shontine advance team had learned a fair amount of the spoken language from their peoples' earlier contacts with the Chitac Nomads. But it wasn't until the advance team had been ambushed and destroyed, and Draycos had linked up with Jack Morgan, that he'd been introduced to the written form. "But you'll make it through," he assured Taneem. "I know you will."

"Then I will," she said firmly, turning back to the display. " 'When the tall cliff is lit by the sunlight . . .' "

Draycos listened with half an ear, his eyes tracing down the smooth lines of her neck and across the sleek scales along her flank. She did so much remind him of the other Taneem, the friend he'd lost so many years ago to the Valahgua and their horrible Death weapon.

Which made it even more of a shock sometimes when he remembered that only a couple of weeks ago this Taneem had been little more than an animal. A Phooka, rooting around in the forest of Rho Scorvi for grubs, with no knowledge of starships or computers or written English.

Or of war or hatred or enemies. Enemies who had launched a war of conquest against the K'da and Shontine in their distant homelands, ultimately driving them out and into a fleet of refugee ships that was still making its long journey here to the Orion Arm part of the galaxy.

Enemies who had now made that same long trip across space in order to intercept and destroy those K'da and Shontine refugees. Bringing his gaze back to Taneem's silver eyes, Draycos wondered if he'd really done her a favor by taking her away from that simpler, safer life.

Taneem finished the page, and Draycos keyed for the next one. Nothing happened. Feeling his tail curve in a frown, he tried again. This time the next page came up.

But that second's delay meant that the ship's computer was busy. Very busy.

Had Jack made it in?

"Please continue with your exercises," Draycos told Taneem as he headed for the dayroom door. "I'll be back soon."

He found Jack in the Essenay's cockpit, sitting in the pilot's seat and glowering at the displays. Alison Kayna was standing behind him, leaning an elbow on the back of his seat as she gazed thoughtfully at something on a handheld computer. "Anything?" Draycos asked as he padded up behind Alison.

"No," Jack growled. "For a minute there I thought we were in. But then it locked back up on me." "I told you it wouldn't work," Alison said. "Malison Ring computers aren't easy to get into without the proper passkeys and protocols."

"I suppose you want to give it a try?" Jack suggested acidly.

"Well, not now I don't," Alison said. "The whole system's been alerted."

"What do you suggest?" Draycos asked.

"We pull up stakes and try a different base." Alison cocked her head. "Only next time / get to try first."

"Forget it," Jack said. "My ship. My mission."

"Your ship, Draycos's mission," Alison corrected calmly. "It's his people at risk out there, not yours."

"Maybe his people happened to be the first ones on the field," Jack countered, "but that doesn't mean the rest of us are sitting on the sidelines. Once the Valahgua finish them off, what's to keep them from turning that Death weapon of theirs on everyone else in the Orion Arm?"

"Numbers, for a start," Alison said, shutting off her computer. "If and when you're ready to give up on that, I've got something to show you."

"Fine," Jack said, keying a handful of switches. "I'm done."

"Thank you," Alison said. "Uncle Virge? Pull up your record of the Iota Klestis battle, will you?"

"Jack, lad?" Uncle Virge asked.

"Sure, go ahead," Jack said in a tone of strained patience. "While you're at it, go ahead and call the port tower for clearance. We might as well get off this rock."

"Preferably before the Malison Ring traces your intrusion attempt," Alison said.

"Alison—"

"Okay, here we go," Alison interrupted him smoothly as the main display lit up with a set of slightly fuzzy spaceship images. "Four Malison Ring attack ships, four K'da/Shontine advance team defenders. Note how the Malison Ring ships open up with that whatch-ya-call-it—"

"It's called the Death," Draycos said, his tail lashing the air as the memory of that horrible day came rushing back. "The weapon that kills right through bulkheads and walls and even the heaviest metal or ceramic shielding."

"And I still don't understand how that can work," Alison said. "But I'll take your word that it does. Anyway, note how the Malison Ring ships all open up with the Death in perfect unison?"

"Yes, we see," Draycos said.

"And we've been through it a hundred times," Jack added.

"Maybe you should have gone through it a hundred and one times," Alison countered. "Remember your theory that Neverlin and the Valahgua must be really good allies because the Valahgua gave him their precious Death weapon to play with?"

Jack's back visibly stiffened. "Look—"

"We're listening," Draycos cut him off, his eyes on the display. Arthur Neverlin was the brains behind this plot. He'd been the second most powerful man in the megacorporation Braxton Universis until he'd tried to kill Cornelius Braxton and take over the company. Jack and Draycos had foiled that attempt, driving Neverlin underground in the process.

But even on the run, the man had plenty of resources to draw on. One of his allies was the Chookoock family of Brum-a-dum, with their collection of slaves and big Brummgan soldiers. Another ally was Colonel Maximus Frost and his team of Malison Ring mercenaries.

All of them with just one goaclass="underline" to assist the Valahgua in their attempt to utterly destroy the K'da and Shontine.

"Okay," Alison said. "Let me fast-forward a bit . . . there. See how all four Death weapons also cut off in perfect unison?"

"Because all the K'da and Shontine were dead," Jack said with exaggerated patience.

"No, they weren't," Alison said. "That's the point. The Havenseeker's little twitch maneuver had slipped it out of the beam for a few seconds, which is why Draycos and the rest of the bridge crew were still alive at this point. So why did the mercenaries quit firing?"

"We were already on the path to a crash landing," Draycos said grimly. "They had no need to continue."

"No, what they didn't have was the capability," Alison corrected.

Jack frowned over his shoulder at Draycos. "Is she making any sense to you?"

"Yes," Draycos said, the pain of memory fading into cautious excitement as he suddenly saw where Alison was going with this. "The Malison Ring ships didn't shut off the Death weapons. The weapons shut off by themselves."

"Bingo," Alison said. "Probably with their innards burned to slag. The Valahgua didn't trust their new allies not to double-cross them and fly away with their wonderful little Death weapons. So they put a timed self-destruct into each of them, giving the mercenaries exactly three minutes forty-seven seconds' worth of juice they could use to take out your advance force ships."