"Hold your fire," Frost snapped as the mercenaries finally got their guns lined up again. His own weapon, Alison noted uneasily, was pointed at her. "No point. It's gone."
The Valahgua stepped toward Frost, his tentacles writhing like twin snakes caught in an electric fence. "How a K'da here aboard?" he demanded. "How a K'da here aboard?"
"I don't know," Frost said, his eyes steady on Alison over the barrel of his gun. "But I can guess."
"Alert the crew and soldiers," Neverlin ordered, his breath coming quick and shallow. "If they see it, they're to shoot to kill."
Across the room, an alarm warbled. "Proximity warning," the helmsman called tensely. "It's the Essenay, coming in fast."
"Evasive," Frost ordered. "Morgan must have left a last-ditch ramming order on the computer before he died. Keep us away from the ship. And get that jamming bubble back up."
"Too late," the captain said. "The Essenay's transmitting."
He hit a switch. Alison held her breath. . . .
"Attention, K'da and Shontine," a familiar voice boomed. "Attention, Braxton Universis ships."
And Alison felt her heart surge, the ashes of defeat blazing again with sudden fire.
It was Jack.
"Attention, Braxton Universis ships," Jack called, watching the Advocates Diaboli. The bigger ship had finally noticed the Essenay bearing down on it and was trying to veer away. Turning the control yoke, he swung back toward them. "The ships heading your way are carrying your enemies. For you Braxton people, that includes Arthur Neverlin and Colonel Maximus Frost of the Malison Ring. For you K'da and Shontine, it also includes a group of Valahgua.
"Most important, for all of you, the ships are carrying three Death weapons."
"Identify yourself," a voice demanded, his English carrying an accent Jack didn't recognize.
Draycos lifted his snout from Jack's shoulder and poured out some more of his alien speech. The voice answered back in the same language, and for a few seconds they conversed in short sentences.
Midway through the discussion the violet beam of the Death again swept through the Essenay's cockpit. Again, Jack felt nothing but an unpleasant tingle.
The conversation ended. They're convinced, Draycos said, going flat onto Jack's skin again.
Good, Jack answered. Let's just hope we can convince Braxton's people, too. "Braxton Universis ships—"
"Hello, Jack," a voice cut him off. "Where are you?"
Jack stared at the bridge speaker. "Mr. Braxton?"
"Yes indeed," Braxton confirmed. "Where are you?"
"I'm in the Essenay," Jack said, his mind flashing back to what Harper had said about Alison's thefts from his company. Braxton must want her really badly to have come all this way personally to get her. "Currently working my way toward the Advocatus Diaboli."
"You mean you're in the ship that was just hit with the Death?" Braxton asked.
Jack blinked. "You know about the Death?"
"I know everything," Braxton said. "But if the Death hit you, why are you still alive? Doesn't it work against humans?"
"Oh, it works just fine against humans," Jack said grimly. "And as you saw, Neverlin's got one of them aboard the Advocatus Diaboli. You and your people need to back away before he gets it into range."
"Understood," Braxton said. "But you haven't answered my question."
"I don't know why we're alive," Jack said. "Somehow, a human/K'da combination seems to be immune." He grimaced, belatedly remembering that Braxton didn't know what a K'da was. "A K'da is a sort of—"
"That doesn't make sense," Braxton interrupted. "The Death has no trouble killing K'da/Shontine combinations."
Jack blinked. How in blazes does he know all this?
I don't know, Draycos said. But I have had a sudden thought. With your permission . . .?
Go for it, buddy.
Draycos lifted his head off Jack's shoulder. "Mr. Braxton, this is Draycos," he said.
"The K'da who saved my life on the Star of Wonder," Braxton said. "I hadn't had a chance yet to thank you for that."
He does know a lot, doesn't he? Draycos thought toward Jack. "You're welcome," he said aloud. "There is an analogy I've used regarding the Death. If you wished to destroy the core of a planet, a normal weapon would have to first blast through the crust and mantle to reach it. The Death instead seeks out that core directly, without needing to expend energy on the destruction of its victim's flesh and blood and bone."
"All right," Braxton said. "And?"
"Perhaps a K'da/human combination acts like a double planet," Draycos said. "As the Death seeks out the center of that combination—"
"It seeks out the center of mass," Braxton said, a sudden interest in his voice. "And the center of mass of a double planet is halfway between them. In empty space."
"Exactly," Draycos said. "Again, I don't know how accurate the analogy is. But the fact remains that a human/K'da combination appears to be safe from the Death."
"Interesting," Braxton said softly. "Very interesting indeed."
"Turn it off," Neverlin said quietly.
Like a man awakening from a strange dream, the captain stirred and touched the radio control. The voices cut off.
A deathly silence settled onto the bridge. Alison looked around the room: at Neverlin, at Frost, at the other Malison Ring soldiers. All looked stunned, or worried, or quietly but helplessly furious.
And finally, she turned to the Valahgua. "So that's the secret," she said. "That's the reason you came all the way across the galaxy to the Orion Arm just to kill the K'da. You knew, maybe from the beginning. You knew the K'da originally came from Earth."
"They came from Earth?" Frost echoed.
"That is only a theory," the Valahgua rumbled. "It has not been proven."
"Oh, it has now," Alison told him. "That's why Draycos has been picking up new abilities over the past six months. With Jack as his host, he's found a part of himself he hadn't even realized was missing."
More and more of those on the bridge, she noticed, were starting to transfer their attention from the silenced radio speaker to the Valahgua.
And some of those stunned expressions were starting to give way to anger. The Valahgua had kept a vital secret from them, and all of them knew how disastrous that could be in the middle of a battle.
"You didn't dare take the risk that the K'da would find us and figure this out for themselves," Alison continued. "So you came to Neverlin and dangled big rewards in his face and got him to—"
"Enough," Neverlin said.
Alison stopped, a sudden chill running up her back. There was nothing of the growing sense of outrage or betrayal in Neverlin's own voice or expression. There was nothing there but a dark and deadly determination. "This is all very interesting," he said quietly. "But it changes nothing. There's only one human/K'da combination in the galaxy, and it won't be around much longer."
He looked at Frost. "Meanwhile, we still have the Death, and we have solid Valahguan tactics with which to use it against both the invaders and Braxton."
"And those other Malison Ring ships, too?" Frost asked, an odd edge to his voice.
"Did General Davi develop immortality for his men when I wasn't looking?" Neverlin retorted. "Of course those other Malison Ring ships, too."
"I was thinking of the possible future consequences," Frost persisted. "Those Shrikes wouldn't be here if General Davi didn't already know what was going on."