"There's the hatch," Santyana said, pointing ahead to the oval-shaped barrier.
"Where are the guards?" Blair asked. "Supposed to be a couple of guards."
"And the door's unlocked," Maniac said, eyeing the control panel.
Santyana broke out of his jog and stood at the door, panting. "They're waiting for us in there."
"So we go in shooting." Maniac grimaced and shook his rifle, demonstrating how he would punch holes in the next contingent of Marines.
"Blair? Karista? When I open the hatch, you reach in there first," Santyana said. "See what you can do." He thumbed the touchpad.
And Blair surrendered to that other place inside him. He and Karista stepped gingerly onto the circular catwalk overlooking the coliseum-like drive chamber. A score of Marines had strung themselves along the walk at three-meter intervals and leaned over the rail, sweeping the room with their rifles. The two jar-heads nearest the hatch rushed forward, though everyone kept hidden in the corridor outside-a position good for only another few seconds.
Moving with the fluid grace of a breaker, Karista reached the first Marine, raised her hand-and froze. She looked at Blair, shocked. "I can't."
A tall black man materialized next to her. He had already seized one of her wrists and now grabbed the other and forced her back. "No, Sostur. There's nothing you can do here."
Blair dove toward the man, but a palm of force held him in midair. He fought against the gravitic barrier, against an impossibly strong mind, then suddenly dropped to the deck.
Gunfire reverberated nearby. He tried to stand but couldn't against the riptide.
Then he opened his eyes to find himself back in the corridor with the others, rifles pointed at their heads. Santyana and Maniac had shot three more Marines before being overrun. The Marines confiscated their rifles and eyed them with a vengeance clearly restrained by an order from Aristee.
"Inside," one jarhead said, shifting his position to drive them back toward the hatch.
"Well, what a supreme waste of time this has been," Maniac said. "Like we had a chance-"
"If you don't shut your hole, you're going to suddenly hate me even more," said the Marine guarding Maniac.
"What happens now?" Blair asked.
"Guess we're in time for the show," Santyana answered. "Look."
Paladin, Aristee, and Frotur McDaniel stood on the lower deck, at a U-shaped control panel positioned near the foot of the hopper drive. Four drive officers sat at their stations near the bulkhead behind Aristee, and three other Pilgrims now gathered near the control panel, one of whom Blair recognized as the black man who had seized Karista. A rhythmic churning sound came from the drive itself, as though the thing were some curving beast consuming shadows and whipping itself up into a frenzy.
"There he is," Maniac muttered. "Our goddamned hero. Pin a medal on his ass." He cocked his head to Blair. "What do you think now, Ace? Look to you like the commodore's trying to stop her?"
Blair swallowed back his reply as he gripped the staircase's railing. They descended to the lower deck as Aristee left the control panel, probably on her way to gloat over their capture.
But as she came forward, her face tightened in a curious expression of grief. "You think I like doing this? You think I don't realize how many people are going to die? We didn't ask for any of this. We were first. We were meant for the stars. No war will ever murder that truth." She regarded the Marines. "Return to your posts. Keep them in your sights."
As the Marines dispersed, Maniac slipped a few steps away and swung his glare on Paladin. "You goddamned traitor!"
The accusation hardly struck a blow as Paladin continued watching the monitor before him.
"Sir?" Blair cried.
Paladin would not look up.
"Sir? Is it true?"
Aristee closed in, blocking Blair's view. "Commodore Taggart was a Pilgrim first, Mr. Blair. He can't change that. No one can. Follow his example. You've assimilated your Pilgrim side even more than I thought you would, and you're not finished. And you," she began, twisting her lip at Karista. "Maybe you'll come to see the truth in our new order. Change is always difficult. I'll give you time."
"Trying to keep your enemies close?" Karista said with canines fully exposed.
"We're the same-determined, stubborn, in touch with what burns inside us. That's why we're so powerful. That's why I want you close."
"Captain," Paladin said, raising his voice. "Brotur Vyson reports multiple bogies inbound. Had them on the scope for a moment, then lost them."
Aristee stormed to the control panel and worked the touch-pad. "Give me the XO."
Blair moved in with others, ever wary of the Marines above. He spotted the grim-looking XO on a comm monitor, with bridge officers darting behind him.
"Ma'am," the XO began curtly. "First contact bearing three-two-four by five-one-nine. Designate Alpha three-one, Kilrathi Skipper missile. Range: two-zero-one-five-two Ks. Velocity: three-seven-nine KPS and holding. Five similar contacts, designated Alpha three-two through six inbound, with headings and velocities marked. We've lost them again."
"How much time?"
"Missiles will impact in forty-nine second… mark."
"Brotur Hawthorne?" Aristee cried, spinning toward one of the drive control officers. "We need to jump in thirty seconds."
"Captain," the XO called. "Count one-eight-seven bandits closing. Range: two-one-two-seven three Ks. Velocity: three-eight-nineKPS. Dralthi fighters. ETA: fifty-four seconds… mark."
"They've sent in their fighters to tie up ours, so we can't interdict the missiles," Paladin said. "We couldn't scramble enough fighters in time anyway."
"And there's no way we can jump in thirty seconds," Drive Officer Hawthorne said, tearing fingers through his shaggy hair. "The containment field is only operating at ninety percent. If we jump now, we run the risk of an antimatter leak that would destroy the ship."
"Brotur Zimbaka?" Aristee said to the black man who had stopped Karista. "Can you reinforce the containment field?"
"We can."
"Very well. Do so." Aristee rushed over to McDaniel and placed an affectionate hand on the old man's shoulder. "Frotur, are you ready to input jump coordinates?"
McDaniel regarded the panel. "Computer, ready to receive NAVCOM coordinates for hopper drive jump?"
"Ready," came the NAVCOM's even voice. "Jump interphase point reached."
"Brotur Hawthorne?" Aristee said. "Engage the drive."
As the system's whirring turned into a riot of booms and bellows, Blair turned burning eyes on Paladin. How could a man whom he admired so much resort to something as heinous as this? What had happened to him?
Frotur McDaniel gesticulated wildly as he recited strings of coordinates as though they were songs, holding his vibrato on the last number in each set.
"Report on the field?" Aristee said to Hawthorne.
"Up to ninety-six percent, with no signs of leakage."
Blair looked to Zimbaka and the other two pilgrims. All winced and leaned back on the bulkhead, using their extrakinetic ability on an inanimate object. They would pay the price for their actions. Blair shivered as he remembered moving his cot and the sensation that effort had produced.
"Hey, Ace," Maniac said, edging closer to Blair. "Get ready to shield the jewels."
"Don't try-"
But Maniac was already halfway to the control panel, with fire from above tracking his steps and ricocheting off the deck. Blair dropped to his stomach but continued to watch as Maniac sprinted up behind Aristee, slid his arm around her neck, then turned to face the Marines as he slapped a palm on the side of the woman's head. "I'll break her neck," he shouted. "I learned the same way as you." Then Maniac cocked his head to Drive Officer Hawthorne. "Shut it down."
The man lifted shaking hands.