One Good Soldier

security clearances check out, and it certainly appears to be Candis—DeathRay's AIC. The probability of the Seppies being able to forge such an exact replica of Candis, much less having known to do so, borders on nil.

Put me through!

Okay. Go.

DeathRay, DeathRay! Is that you? Dee thought frantically.

Yes, Dee. It's me. I have a CIA agent with me as well. We are on our way right now to free you. We'll be there in about thirty seconds.

Holy shit! I'm so glad to hear from you. Ahmi just left about five minutes ago from this penthouse, saying that my father had sent a fleet of ships. Are you with them?

No, Dee! I don't know anything about that. I'll check into it. In the meantime, if you can, go to the south side of the penthouse and take cover!

Roger that, DeathRay!

Dee looked out the window, trying to decide what south was on a moon orbiting a Jovian. She applied the same logic as she would on Earth. The rings of the Jovian planet had risen earlier, so she assumed that direction was east. She pushed the love seat over and dragged it next to the far window and then crawled under it. About that time, an enormous blast made the penthouse ring and rattled her teeth. At first she thought they might be explosions, but then she realized it must be AA cannon fire coming from the rooftop. Hell, she was practically on the rooftop, so that fire was coming from just outside. No wonder it sounded so damned loud. Then there was an explosion from somewhere down below her that seemed to shake the entire building. . . .

* * *

I've got the fleet signals, Jack. I'm boosting them through the mecha's comm system, Candis told him.

Good, put me through.

'Fleet ships, fleet ships, this is Captain Jack 'DeathRay' Boland, CAG of the Madira Gods of War squadron. Do you copy?'

'Roger that, DeathRay. This is CO, USS Anthony Blair. Please advise of your status and status of our missing package.' DeathRay recognized Admiral Walker's voice.

'Admiral! It's damned good to hear your voice, ma'am. Be advised that Ahmi knows you're here. The package told me that herself. I'm engaging her location as I speak and hope to be in physical contact with her in seconds . . . at the coordinates my AIC is sending now!'

'Roger that, DeathRay! Be advised that we are about to hit this system with everything we have, as hard as we can. You had better get in there and get out.'

'Yes, ma'am. I am painting two Seppy Gnats with the blue force tracker for you. That is me and a friendly operative code-named Bachelor Party, ma'am.' Jack wasn't sure if Admiral Walker had been briefed on Nancy or not, but it didn't matter as long as she knew not to shoot her out of the sky.

'DeathRay! What is your plan?' Walker asked.

'Ma'am. We just rammed a Lorda into the SIF generators, and are now attacking the penthouse where Dee is being held. All due respect, Admiral, I really need to focus on what I'm doing at the moment.' DeathRay twisted the enemy fighter through a corkscrewing trajectory around the firing solution of the AA boxes atop the Seppy Capitol Building. He grunted slightly; the maneuver wasn't that rough compared to others he was used to.

'Roger that, DeathRay. Keep us posted.'

'Aye. DeathRay out.'

Jack continued to draw the fire of the AA boxes until Penzington screamed over the top of the building at about mach two, blasting away at them. The boxes exploded into pieces, and the tracers stopped tracking his fighter. He toggled the Gnat into bot mode and grunted through full-reverse thrusters, coming down feet first through the roof of the penthouse armored windows. The windows cracked at the impact and absorbed most of his force. Then they gave way completely, sending Jack crashing through onto the floor below. The ceiling of the penthouse was no more than seven meters high, so he was stuck at his upper torso. He carefully tore out a large-enough chunk of the domed top and tossed it behind him, then bent over and reached a hand through.

'Dee!' he shouted over the loudspeakers. 'Come out! Now!'

Jack could see her crawling out from underneath some furniture and running toward the fighter's outstretched hand. Jack gripped her gently and stomped the upward kick