Draycos touched Jack's hand as he retracted the slapstick, sliding up his arm out of sight. Jack could hear the pounding feet now in the corridor. Hiding the slapstick behind his back, he waited.
The door slid the rest of the way open, and Fleck burst into the cockpit, a laser rifle gripped in his hands. "Easy, Fleck," Jack said hurriedly. "It's under control."
"I guess so," Fleck said, his voice sounding a little strangled. He threw an odd look at the sleeping prisoners, then another one at Jack. "That pile of Brummgas back there. Your work?"
"I had help," Jack told him. "Where's the rest of the group?"
"I told them to strap in," Fleck said, slinging the rifle over his right shoulder.
"Wow!" Noy breathed from the doorway as he peeked in. "You really know how to fly this?"
"If he doesn't, we're crushed berries," Fleck said. "At least we've got a couple of hostages now. You want me to move them back into the main cabin?"
"Yes, thanks," Jack said. "And be sure to strap them in."
"If we've got enough seats," Fleck said, grunting as he hoisted Neverlin over his shoulder. "We've picked up a few extra passengers. A Wistawk named Heetoorieef and a few of his buddies were waiting outside when I came by."
"Really," Jack said, frowning as he turned to the control board and keyed in the startup sequence. The main controls looked pretty standard. But where were the weapons controls? "How did he even know anything was up?"
"He said word had gotten out that you were missing and that the Brummgas thought you were trying to escape," Fleck said. "He pulled together all the household slaves who would come and sneaked them outside. I hope that was okay."
Jack shrugged. "The more the merrier."
"And I have to tell you that that private army you've got running blocks is really something," Fleck added. "I was falling over sleeping Brummgas every other step out there."
"We aim to please," Jack said. "That where you picked up the rifle?"
"Thought it might come in handy," Fleck said. "I guess I didn't have to bother."
He disappeared out the door, Neverlin's dangling feet clunking against the corridor as he headed aft. "What are we going to do about the wall?" Noy asked, coming up to Jack's side.
"Don't worry, we'll get through," Jack promised. "Go back and strap in, okay?"
"Okay," Noy said. He took one more lingering look at the controls and left.
"Blast it, where are the weapons?" Jack muttered, still searching the control board. "This is one of Neverlin's ships. It has to be armed." Draycos leaped from his collar and landed beside the copilot's seat. "They are here," he said, bounding up into the chair and flicking his tongue toward a section of the control board. "What do you wish done?"
Jack peered out the canopy at the running battle. "The Djinn-90s aren't expecting an attack from inside the wall," he said. "If we can nail one of them, that'll give Uncle Virge a better chance."
"Understood," Draycos said. He arched his back over the board, his claws skating delicately over the controls.
"Holy fra—?" came a gasp from behind them.
Jack spun around to see Fleck trying to fumble the rifle off his shoulder.
"It's all right," he said quickly. "He's a friend."
Fleck took a shuddering breath, his hands freezing on the rifle sling. "A
friend," he said as if trying the word on for size.
"And an ally," Draycos added, swiveling his long neck to stare back at him.
"And it talks, too," Fleck muttered. "You the one who took out all the Brummgas?"
"Every one of them," Jack said. "And we're a little busy right now. Just get Gazen out of here, okay?"
"Sure," Fleck said. "Okay. What do you want me to do then?"
"Stand by the hatchway with that weapon," Draycos said. "There may be a way of opening it from the outside, and they may try to rush us as we lift."
Fleck looked questioningly at Jack. "Do it," Jack confirmed. "Trust me, he's the military expert on this team."
"If you say so," Fleck said, hoisting Gazen over his shoulder. "Good luck."
"And don't say anything to the others," Jack added, nodding toward Draycos.
"We're sort of trying to keep him a secret."
"Yeah, I figured that," Fleck said dryly. "Don't worry."
He left, this time shutting the door behind him. "I am ready," Draycos said.
"When shall I fire?"
"The minute you get a clear shot," Jack told him, peering back at his own board.
"I don't want to risk tipping them off by lifting until you've—"
He broke off as a triplet of brilliant blue sparks flashed out from the shuttle's nose. He jerked his head up, just in time to see one of the Djinn-90s buck violently to the side. Trailing a plume of smoke, it rolled away from its pursuit of the Essenay, dropping like an injured duck.
"Was that what you wanted?" Draycos asked calmly.
With an effort, Jack found his voice. "Yeah, that should do it," he managed.
Crabbing sideways, the damaged Djinn-90 dropped over the wall into the slave area and disappeared behind the trees. A second later, there was a second burst of fire, and a fresh red glow added its bit to the light from the glider fire.
Jack caught his breath. The fighter had gone over the wall, without drawing any fire from the hidden weaponry. "Did you see that?" he asked.
"Yes," Draycos said. "Do you think they have shut down the wall defenses?"
"Not with a battle going on," Jack said, thinking hard. "It must be a localized thing, probably running off transponders in the fighters. The wall senses when a
Chookoock vehicle is heading across, and holds its fire."
"The Clax-7s," Draycos said, his neck arching suddenly. "They are still on the ground by the wall."
"And they should have the same transponders," Jack said, feeling a surge of excitement as he threw power to the lifters. "That's our way out. Come on, let's get this thing moving."
CHAPTER 36
Gazen hadn't been bluffing about the snipers at the windows. Even as Jack lifted the shuttle off the ground, the hull began rattling with the impact of rapid-fire machine-gun bullets. He twisted the vehicle up and away from the mansion, folding the landing skids in against the shuttle's underside to protect them and hoping Neverlin had gone as heavy on the hull's armor plating as he had on the shock absorbers. Turning toward the glow of the burning glider, he tapped his comm clip. "Uncle Virge?" he called, searching the sky. Wherever the Essenay was, it was somewhere out of his line of sight.
"I'm here, lad," Uncle Virge came back. "Thanks for the assist."
"You're welcome," Jack said. "How are you doing?"
"Not too well," Uncle Virge admitted. "They've just ordered another two Djinn-90s into the air."
"How soon?"
"No more than five minutes, I'd guess," the computer said. "And to add insult to injury, it seems that the local law enforcement agencies are scrambling patrol craft of their own."
Jack grimaced. "I guess they don't like firefights over their cities."
"Law enforcement agencies are like that."
"Right," Jack said, putting the shuttle into hover mode over the burning glider and Clax-7s and peering out the side of the canopy. No Brummgas were in sight.
"Can you take out that other Djinn-90 before the reinforcements arrive?"
"Just between us, I wish you'd taken out this one instead of the other,"
Uncle Virge said, his voice sounding strained. "This pilot is definitely the smarter of the two."
"Tell him to try a kom treeta maneuver," Draycos called from the copilot's seat.
"What was that?" Uncle Virge asked.
"He says to try a kom treeta," Jack told him.
Uncle Virge grunted. "Hold on."
Jack clicked off the comm clip. "Something from your late-night poetry sessions, I assume?" he asked Draycos.
"Yes," the dragon replied. "It is similar to the maneuver we used over Iota Klestis."
"Let's hope it works," Jack said, easing off the lifters and keying the landing skids to unfold again. "Looks like the Brummgas Uncle Virge had pinned down took off as soon as he left."