The Skypirate Part 27

Roxton blinked. "Then he could blow his way out from the inside," he said slowly. "But if there are no windows..." Roxton looked at her speculatively. "Any suggestions?"

"There's an air hatch on the roof," she began, as her mind started racing over the possibilities. It had been a year since she'd had to turn her mind to any tactics more complex than those it took to stay alive, but she felt as if it were only yesterday. "A diversion would help," she said. "Any thermal grenades in those cases?"

"Some," Roxton said.

"There's a weapons and ordnance bunker a few yards away from the club. If you could figure out a way to launch a few of those grenades..."

"We've got that old rail gun," Larcos said, warming to the planning. "I could rig it to catapult something that small."

"How long would it take you?" she asked.

"Fifteen minutes, if you want a second set of rails. That plasma gas is so powerful it tears the rails up after two or three shots."

"Forget the second rails." Califa said. "If we need it more than three times, it won't matter."

Larcos looked startled at her order, but when Roxton nodded, he shrugged and trotted away.

"We?" Roxton asked.

"We," she confirmed. I'll have to get the controller from Dax's room, she thought. She only hoped she could find it. But he hadn't hidden it after she'd given it to him on board theEvening Star, it had been in the open, as if he were testing her resolve.

Roxton was looking at her oddly. "Why?"

"I'm the one who knows where the bunker is. And the brig. And I know the layout of the Legion Club."

"And if you're caught," he said, his gaze lowering to the collar, then back to her face, "they'll execute you right alongside him."

Califa held the old man's gaze steadily. "I'm willing to take that chance. Are you willing to make me stay here, and take the chance that I might be the one to make the difference?"

When he spoke, it was so softly the others couldn't hear him. "Why?" he asked again.

"Does it matter?"

"It might. To Dax."

Califa shook her head. "I don't think anything matters to Dax."

"What matters to Dax is why in Hades there's no sentry posted."

All the occupants of the room spun around at the sound of the mocking drawl. He stood in the doorway, hair damp and clinging, his cloak soaked at the hem, his boots muddy. And looking completely exhausted.

"Dax," Califa whispered unnecessarily, knowing delighted relief must be showing in her face yet unable to stop it. His gaze came to rest on her for a moment, and she thoughtimagined, she told herselfthat his expression softened a little. Then she heard Rina's glad cry, and realized the softening must have been for the girl who dropped her armful of cloaks and ran to him. He hugged her, rea.s.suring her with calming words, barely audible over the clamor of relieved welcomes from the crew.

"What happened?" Roxton exclaimed. "What in Hades did you think you were doing?"

"We thought you were dead," Hurcon put in.

"Or worse," Nelcar said. No one laughed; they had all dealt with the Coalition enough to know that there were indeed fates worse than death.

Before he could answer Larcos came back into the room, stopping dead when he saw Dax. "You're back!" He smiled widely. Then, his expression becoming slightly crestfallen, he looked down at the gun and the handful of parts he held. "I guess we won't need this, then."

Dax laughed, but there was an undertone of weariness to it. "Don't be so disappointed, Larc. We'll find a chance for you to play with it."

"Will it be soon?" Califa asked, when she could trust her voice not to betray her happiness at seeing him alive and whole. He lifted a brow at her quizzically. "I mean are they hot on your boot prints?"

He managed a smile. "I don't think they're going to show up here. I gave them plenty of opportunity to catch up, if they were going to."

I'll bet you did, Califa thought. You'd run up a flare so they'd be sure to find you, if you thought they might follow you here.

"Whatdid happen?" Nelcar asked.

Dax's mouthed twisted wryly. "I was sitting in the taproom on the Rigel Byway, having a drink." Had he not gone to the Archives after all? Califa wondered. "I was just about to leave, when in walked two of the Coalition's finest."

Roxton whistled, long and low. "They recognized you?"

It seemed to Califa that Dax hesitated a second before he said, "One of them."

"You kill him?" Hurcon inquired, his voice untroubled.

Dax let out a breath. "No. I just got out of there."

Nelcar looked at him curiously. "How'd you get out of the colony? They must have been after you."

"I...er, borrowed a shuttle that was parked outside the Legion Club."

Califa gaped at him. "You stole a Coalition shuttle? From right in front of the Legion Club?"

"That's where it was," Dax explained reasonably. "Anyway, I flew it to the delta region, next to the river, set it down and got out, then programmed the self-pilot to take it on up a canyon. I took one of their hand communicators with me, so I could listen. Last I heard, they were still looking for the shuttle."

"In the mountains above the delta region?" Roxton asked.

Dax nodded. "With any luck, they're still up in those mountains now."

"And when they find the shuttle?" Califa asked. "All they'll have to do is read the settings on the selfpilot to know where you got off."

"That may take them a while." A grin flashed across his face. "I didn't program it to land."

Roxton laughed. "So when they find it, it'll be in pieces. Then what?"

Dax shrugged. "I also borrowed a rivercraft that was tied up where I set the shuttlecraft down. Sent it down current, toward the skyport. If they figure out what happened, hopefully they'll take off downriver, looking. And I left a few other diversions along the way."

She smiled despite herself; what a warrior he would have made. No, she corrected silently, in his own way, hewas a warrior.

"That river's at the base of the mountains on the other side of the flood plain," Roxton pointed out.

"How'd you get back here?"

"I walked," Dax said dryly.

"Walked?" Hurcon yelped. "That's nearly an hour away in an air rover."

"Believe me, I know."

It was a good thing she hadn't gone with him, Califa thought. Her leg would never have stood up to such a trek. She watched as Dax leaned back and tousled Rina's blond mop of hair.

"I want a soak, a long one." He grimaced, glancing downward. "My feet are hurting."

"I'll start the water heating," Rina said, giving him a final hug before she ran off to the soaking room.

She had told Califa Dax had built it himself after a raid last year had netted, of all things, a full-sized soaking plunge. The men had laughed when Dax had begun the project, but they'd all wound up using it.

"What are you all staring at?" Dax said when the silent group just stood there.

Embarra.s.sed, they began to shuffle away, going back to their abandoned game of chaser, their dropped microbooks, and unfinished meals. But Califa couldn't help noticing the odd looks she drew from a few of them, who were obviously remembering the moments when the woman they knew as a Coalition slave had taken over planning and handed out orders like an officer. And that Roxton had let her. She lingered only until the last of them was out of earshot, then looked at the clearly exhausted Dax.

"I'm...glad you're all right."

For an instant that softer expression was there. "Thanks." Then one corner of his mouth quirked. "But I think I'll wait until I look at my feet before I agree that I am."

"That was quite an escape."

He shrugged.

"Was the drink worth it?"

He grinned then at her accusing tone. "No. But the information was."

"Oh." She hadn't thought of that. She hesitated before asking, "Did you...get what you went after?"

An odd expression, half jubilance, half awe spread across his face. "And more. Much more."

He looked at her for a moment, an odd glow lighting his green eyes. "Come on," he said quietly, glancing at the others. "I've got something to tell you."

She followed him as he walked toward the back corner of the storehouse, where his room was. She hesitated, then stepped inside after him; he nodded toward the door and she shut it. He took off his worn, wet, torn, much worse for wear cloak, handling it with a care belied by its appearance as he laid it gently on the bunk that sat against the back wall of the small room. Then he turned to look at her.

"I think they're all right," he said suddenly.

Califa blinked. "Who?" Then, as his meaning dawned on her, her eyes widened.

"Shaylah?" she whispered. "And...Dare?"

He nodded, and told her what he'd learned. Shaken, Califa sank down to sit on the single chair in the room.

"Eos," she murmured in awe, "they did it."

"That's not what the Coalition says," Dax warned.

"The Coalition says what it suits it to say."

"Then you believe it?" he asked, his voice soft.

A curve that could barely be called a smile shaped her lips. "It sounds just like Shaylah," she said, almost wistfully.

"And Dare," Dax agreed.

"I'm glad he's free now. I know you won't believe this, but had I known then what I know now, I would have freed him myself, and d.a.m.n the cost."

Dax glanced at the collar she wore. "Califa," he began, but broke off as his door slid open and Rina trotted in. Califa wondered what he'd been going to say.

"Your soak is ready," the girl said, looking only mildly surprised at Califa's presence.

"Thanks, little one. But I've something to show you first."

He walked over to a narrow shelf and picked up a holograph projector identical to the one Rina had in her quarters aboard theEvening Star. Then he bent over the cloak he'd placed on his bunk, felt within it for a moment, then straightened and walked to the small table that took up most of the rest of the room. He set the projector on the table, then slid the disk he'd apparently gotten from the cloak into the slot, and turned the device on.

Both Rina and Califa gasped, Califa with wonder, Rina with joyous recognition, as a scene leapt to life in the air above the table. A broad, flat meadow, green with Triotian gra.s.s and dotted with trees of a darker green, spread before them. At the far edge was a crystal blue lake, looking cool and inviting even in replica. In the distance rose a rank of rugged mountains, their peaks dusted with the white purity of snow. And to one side lay a city, of buildings that were not the cluttered jumble of styles Califa was used to, but as pristine as the snow, white and beautiful and sparkling in the sunlight, and seeming nearly as natural as the mountains themselves. Califa had never seen anything like it, anything or anyplace so beautiful.

"It's Triotia!" Rina exclaimed. "There, I can see the tower of the Sanctuary!"

Califa looked where the girl pointed with sinking heart. She saw the graceful spire, the arch of the welcoming doors, the elegance and grace of the building known as the Sanctuary of the Sojoumer. But all she could think of was that this was where it had begun, in this temple of welcome to weary travelers, that this was where the Coalition had made their first move, as a jumpspider first injected his poison before sucking the victim dry.

Rina was looking so excitedly, Califa knew that she couldn't know what had happened there. But Dax did. It took only one look at his face to know that. But he said nothing to Rina, just let her enjoy this glimpse of her world as it had once been. And quickly turned away himself.

"I'm going to take that soak," he said, and to Califa, the pain in his voice was almost palpable.

"Where did you get it?" Rina asked, never looking away from the scene before her. And with the absorption of the young, not noticing the anguish Dax was in.

"I...".

Words seemed to fail him, and Califa suggested gently, "Liberated it?"

His mouth twisted. "I guess you could say that." He reached out and flicked off the machine. Rina looked at him, startled. "Take it to your room, will you? You can look at it there for as long as you want."

Rina went cheerfully enough, after giving him another fierce hug. Califa started to go after her, but something stopped her. She turned to look back at Dax; his effort to control the emotions roused by the holograph were visible. She searched her mind, trying to find words, any words that would ease his pain.

There were none. So she simply went to him, and urged him to sit on the edge of the bunk with a gentle hand. Then she knelt before him and began to pull off his battered boots. He looked startled at first, then, oddly, almost humble. He said nothing, just let her go about the task, even let her remove his knife and set it aside without comment.

He winced when she began to tug on the left boot, but when she looked up questioningly he nodded to her to go ahead. She did, deciding one quick pull would be better than a slow, inching removal. She heard him suck in a breath as she quickly yanked. When the boot came free she saw why; his foot was raw, bleeding in spots, despite the boot liners he'd worn over his feet.

Her troubled gaze flicked to his face again, but he only indicated the other boot with another nod. She repeated the process and found the same results, plus a raw spot where the hilt of the knife had rubbed his calf. She touched it gently with her fingers, as if she could mend him.

"I'll heal," he said, his voice gruff. She drew back her hand. "My boots, however, are probably shot," he added, his tone conspicuously glum, as if he were fighting off whatever had made his voice so husky.

Califa stifled the urge to help him as he stood and gingerly made his way to the door on his battered feet; she had the distinct feeling he wouldn't welcome it at this moment. She sensed he was too full of roiling emotions, and that he feared that any softness from her would snap his control. So she did nothing.

When he was gone, she looked down at the battered, muddy, sc.r.a.ped boots. As a Coalition officer, she'd known a thing or two about boots. Glad for something to do, she set to work.