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"What?" Hunter's jaw dropped. "You have got to be kidding! You're out
of your mind!"
"You're out ofyour mind if you think you can run the Bonnie Heather
without either me or Gwen, boyo but I won't ask Gwen to be in on this."
She looked up at him sardonically. "That's good, 'cause I'm not stupid,
I'm not crazy, I'm not expendable, and I'm not going. Not even for you,
boss."
"There's too many things in here that you don't know ye canna tell
what they do," Paladin continued. "Push the wrong button or sequence of
buttons, and you could find yourself broadcastin' wide-band to the
Kilrathi, telling them "
Here he spit out a collection of snarls and hisses that had Kirha
flattening his ears down to his skull, eyes narrowed and claws extended.
"You leave my clan-mother out of this, you promiscuous ape!" the Kilrathi
snarled. "Your father had to beg for leavings from the beast-tenders, and
your birth-mother serviced sewage workers!"
Paladin chuckled, and Kirha suddenly shook his head, as if he had only
that moment remembered where he was. "I er " Kirha spluttered, ears
coming up and flushing at the tips with what Hunter thought was
probably embarrassment.
"Dinna worry about it, Kirha," Paladin said good-naturedly. "I was just
givin' Hunter a graphic example of what he could get into without me
along."
"Very graphic," Kirha said stiffly. "There is no worse insult than that
you just spat at me."
"And keyed up as you were, were, you reacted without thinkin', as any
trained and keyed-up warrior would," Paladin replied soothingly. Just as
any fighter pilot would, if that came over his com unit."
Hunter, who had watched Kirha's sudden anger with a certain amount
of awe, took the point. "So what if we do take you with us?" he asked.
"What's that gain us, besides your expertise? I don't think that's much of a
gain, considering that we'll have to be watching you every damn second!"
But Paladin only shook his head. "Nae, you won't. My pledge is as good
as Kirha's on this, and you know it, Hunter, me boy. I've been wantin' to
rattle around in that part of Kilrathi space ever since I got this crazed
assignment, and this is better than waitin' for permission from High
Command." He grinned crookedly. "You know what they say; it's easier to
apologize than get permission."
"Besides," Hunter replied dryly, "you can always blame us for forcing
you if you get into hot water over this."
Paladin's grin widened.
"Oh hell," Gwen said suddenly. "You might as well count me in on this
too."
Hunter looked at her in surprise. So did Paladin, but she ignored him.
"I don't want to stick around and face the music if all of you go haring
off on this wild adventure. Besides, I didn't have anything else planned for
the next couple of weeks," she said, shrugging. "If we can still stand each
other when this is over " She winked at him, and to his amazement, she
had a definitely flirtatious gleam in her eye. "Besides, this way I have three
chaperones in case you get frisky."
"Me?" he said innocently. "Frisky? Why, I'm a perfect gentleman!"
"Bloody hell! In your dreams, lad," Paladin muttered, and it seemed to
Hunter that he just might be a little put out that Gwen was giving Hunter
the eye.
Hunter looked at his partners-in-crime. "What do you think?" he asked.
K'Kai dropped her leg down to the floor, and fluffed her feathers. "I
think that two more very sneaky fighters whose ship, after all, this
is make a good addition."
Kirha lifted his chin and his ears. "I think that Paladin's Honor is as
true as that of any of my people," he replied. "Hunter, you as my liege-lord
clearly admire him. I do not know this female, but she has treated me with
honor, and if he and you speak for her, then that is enough. I think we
should let them come with us."
Hunter grinned ruefully; he still wasn't sure it was a good idea but he
wasn't sure any of this was a good idea. And he was clearly outvoted.
"All right, Paladin," he said, holstering his hand-weapon with a sigh,
"Just how do you start this bucket of bolts, anyway? Let's get this show on
the road."
Five days later...
Gwen's hands flew over the console at her station, as Hunter watched in
admiration. He wished he was that good; she didn't even seem to look at
anything; she was just aware of it all.
"Cat patrol in sensor range," she said crisply, long before the warning
beacon and while the patrol-ships were nothing more than vague blips
among the asteroids. In fact, Hunter wasn't quite sure how she knew they
were patrol-fighters, but a moment later the onboard computer system
had identified and red-tagged them.
"Right," Hunter said, reaching for a sequence of keys on his console.
"I could get us past them," Kirha offered, before he actually touched
anything. "Past the first squadron, at least. I was personally oathsworn to
Lord Ralgha; I doubt that any of them have anything close to my rank.
They will not dare nay-say me, for fear of a challenge, if I say that I am a
civilian inspector, coming to make a review of of supply records at the
base. Or something religious, an acolyte of the priestesses of Sivar, to
cleanse them of the taint of the failed ceremony."
For a moment longer, Paladin hesitated. Then he shook his head.
"Nae," he said, keying in a sequence too fast for Hunter to follow what he'd
done. "Nae, thank you, Kirha, but we canna take the chance that that
your rank would overawe them. I've got all the latest codes, and I have a
computer program that will simulate a Kilrathi on the outgoin' video
signal. Gettin' onto the station isn't going to be a problem."
Hunter heard what he didn't say; that even with Kirha's oaths, Paladin
still wasn't going to trust Kirha entirely.
Kirha looked as if he would like to object to this, but by then the
Kilrathi ship was hailing them and it was too late. Paladin hit another
sequence of keys, and answered the hail.
In so far as Hunter could tell near-flawless Kilrathi.
He didn't understand more than one word in ten, but Kirha leaned over
and translated for him, in a whisper too soft for the pickups to register.
"He says that we are fighter pilots, that we captured and boarded this
human ship, and we wish to bring it to the station. He is very good; what
slips he makes could be counted to being a lower-class fighter from the
deep country, or having been born and raised on a colony world, far from
Kilrah."
There was the inevitable pause, as the fighter squadron on Gwen's
screens surrounded them and their leader checked back with the station.
Hunter's gut clenched in an involuntary reaction to being surrounded like
that. All it would take would be one order from the station...
But the deception held.
The leader came back, ears erect, eyes relaxed, and barked a short
order that even Hunter understood. Paladin jerked his chin up in an
affirmative, and barked back, before cutting off communication. Out of
the corner of his eye, Hunter saw the fighters on Gwen's screen peel off
and reform on their leader, then shoot off in the direction of the asteroid
belt again.
Paladin leaned back into his chair with a grin. "Permission to dock," he
said cheerfully. "Aye. Piece of cake, lads."
"Huh," Kirha replied sardonically, "Now it only remains to be
seen just what kind of 'cake' it is. The mission is not over yet, hairless
one." Then he said something in Kilrathi that Hunter could not make out
at all.
Paladin only shrugged. "So they say." He turned back to his console. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl exclamation.htw.pl
"What?" Hunter's jaw dropped. "You have got to be kidding! You're out
of your mind!"
"You're out ofyour mind if you think you can run the Bonnie Heather
without either me or Gwen, boyo but I won't ask Gwen to be in on this."
She looked up at him sardonically. "That's good, 'cause I'm not stupid,
I'm not crazy, I'm not expendable, and I'm not going. Not even for you,
boss."
"There's too many things in here that you don't know ye canna tell
what they do," Paladin continued. "Push the wrong button or sequence of
buttons, and you could find yourself broadcastin' wide-band to the
Kilrathi, telling them "
Here he spit out a collection of snarls and hisses that had Kirha
flattening his ears down to his skull, eyes narrowed and claws extended.
"You leave my clan-mother out of this, you promiscuous ape!" the Kilrathi
snarled. "Your father had to beg for leavings from the beast-tenders, and
your birth-mother serviced sewage workers!"
Paladin chuckled, and Kirha suddenly shook his head, as if he had only
that moment remembered where he was. "I er " Kirha spluttered, ears
coming up and flushing at the tips with what Hunter thought was
probably embarrassment.
"Dinna worry about it, Kirha," Paladin said good-naturedly. "I was just
givin' Hunter a graphic example of what he could get into without me
along."
"Very graphic," Kirha said stiffly. "There is no worse insult than that
you just spat at me."
"And keyed up as you were, were, you reacted without thinkin', as any
trained and keyed-up warrior would," Paladin replied soothingly. Just as
any fighter pilot would, if that came over his com unit."
Hunter, who had watched Kirha's sudden anger with a certain amount
of awe, took the point. "So what if we do take you with us?" he asked.
"What's that gain us, besides your expertise? I don't think that's much of a
gain, considering that we'll have to be watching you every damn second!"
But Paladin only shook his head. "Nae, you won't. My pledge is as good
as Kirha's on this, and you know it, Hunter, me boy. I've been wantin' to
rattle around in that part of Kilrathi space ever since I got this crazed
assignment, and this is better than waitin' for permission from High
Command." He grinned crookedly. "You know what they say; it's easier to
apologize than get permission."
"Besides," Hunter replied dryly, "you can always blame us for forcing
you if you get into hot water over this."
Paladin's grin widened.
"Oh hell," Gwen said suddenly. "You might as well count me in on this
too."
Hunter looked at her in surprise. So did Paladin, but she ignored him.
"I don't want to stick around and face the music if all of you go haring
off on this wild adventure. Besides, I didn't have anything else planned for
the next couple of weeks," she said, shrugging. "If we can still stand each
other when this is over " She winked at him, and to his amazement, she
had a definitely flirtatious gleam in her eye. "Besides, this way I have three
chaperones in case you get frisky."
"Me?" he said innocently. "Frisky? Why, I'm a perfect gentleman!"
"Bloody hell! In your dreams, lad," Paladin muttered, and it seemed to
Hunter that he just might be a little put out that Gwen was giving Hunter
the eye.
Hunter looked at his partners-in-crime. "What do you think?" he asked.
K'Kai dropped her leg down to the floor, and fluffed her feathers. "I
think that two more very sneaky fighters whose ship, after all, this
is make a good addition."
Kirha lifted his chin and his ears. "I think that Paladin's Honor is as
true as that of any of my people," he replied. "Hunter, you as my liege-lord
clearly admire him. I do not know this female, but she has treated me with
honor, and if he and you speak for her, then that is enough. I think we
should let them come with us."
Hunter grinned ruefully; he still wasn't sure it was a good idea but he
wasn't sure any of this was a good idea. And he was clearly outvoted.
"All right, Paladin," he said, holstering his hand-weapon with a sigh,
"Just how do you start this bucket of bolts, anyway? Let's get this show on
the road."
Five days later...
Gwen's hands flew over the console at her station, as Hunter watched in
admiration. He wished he was that good; she didn't even seem to look at
anything; she was just aware of it all.
"Cat patrol in sensor range," she said crisply, long before the warning
beacon and while the patrol-ships were nothing more than vague blips
among the asteroids. In fact, Hunter wasn't quite sure how she knew they
were patrol-fighters, but a moment later the onboard computer system
had identified and red-tagged them.
"Right," Hunter said, reaching for a sequence of keys on his console.
"I could get us past them," Kirha offered, before he actually touched
anything. "Past the first squadron, at least. I was personally oathsworn to
Lord Ralgha; I doubt that any of them have anything close to my rank.
They will not dare nay-say me, for fear of a challenge, if I say that I am a
civilian inspector, coming to make a review of of supply records at the
base. Or something religious, an acolyte of the priestesses of Sivar, to
cleanse them of the taint of the failed ceremony."
For a moment longer, Paladin hesitated. Then he shook his head.
"Nae," he said, keying in a sequence too fast for Hunter to follow what he'd
done. "Nae, thank you, Kirha, but we canna take the chance that that
your rank would overawe them. I've got all the latest codes, and I have a
computer program that will simulate a Kilrathi on the outgoin' video
signal. Gettin' onto the station isn't going to be a problem."
Hunter heard what he didn't say; that even with Kirha's oaths, Paladin
still wasn't going to trust Kirha entirely.
Kirha looked as if he would like to object to this, but by then the
Kilrathi ship was hailing them and it was too late. Paladin hit another
sequence of keys, and answered the hail.
In so far as Hunter could tell near-flawless Kilrathi.
He didn't understand more than one word in ten, but Kirha leaned over
and translated for him, in a whisper too soft for the pickups to register.
"He says that we are fighter pilots, that we captured and boarded this
human ship, and we wish to bring it to the station. He is very good; what
slips he makes could be counted to being a lower-class fighter from the
deep country, or having been born and raised on a colony world, far from
Kilrah."
There was the inevitable pause, as the fighter squadron on Gwen's
screens surrounded them and their leader checked back with the station.
Hunter's gut clenched in an involuntary reaction to being surrounded like
that. All it would take would be one order from the station...
But the deception held.
The leader came back, ears erect, eyes relaxed, and barked a short
order that even Hunter understood. Paladin jerked his chin up in an
affirmative, and barked back, before cutting off communication. Out of
the corner of his eye, Hunter saw the fighters on Gwen's screen peel off
and reform on their leader, then shoot off in the direction of the asteroid
belt again.
Paladin leaned back into his chair with a grin. "Permission to dock," he
said cheerfully. "Aye. Piece of cake, lads."
"Huh," Kirha replied sardonically, "Now it only remains to be
seen just what kind of 'cake' it is. The mission is not over yet, hairless
one." Then he said something in Kilrathi that Hunter could not make out
at all.
Paladin only shrugged. "So they say." He turned back to his console. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]