strength into his man's stomach, and had his earlier hypothesis confirmed when the man folded, gagging and retching. Unquestionably drunk. Miles dodged emesis, and at last achieved a strangle hold. He put the pressure on full power for the first time in his life. To his surprise, the man jerked but a few times and went still. Is he surrendering? Miles wondered dizzily, and pulled the head back by the hair for a look at the face. The man was unconscious.
A mercenary, bouncing off Bothari, stumbled past Mayhew who at last found a use for the stunner, blackjacking the man to his knees. Mayhew hit him a couple more times, rather experimentally. Bothari, hurtling past, paused to say disgustedly, 'Not like that!', grab the stunner, and smash the man flat with one accurately placed blow.
The Sergeant then proceeded to assist Daum with his second, and it was over, but for some yelling by the door accompanying a muffled cracking noise. The mercenary captain, his nose gouting blood, was down on the floor with Elena atop him.
'That's enough, Elena,' said Bothari, placing the bellmuzzle of a captured nerve disruptor against the man's temple.
'No, Sergeant!' Miles cried. The yelling stopped abruptly, and Auson rolled fear-whitened eyes toward the gleaming weapon.
'I want to break his legs, too!' cried Elena angrily. 'I want to break every bone in his body! I'll Shorty him! When I'm done he's going to be one meter tall!'
'Later,' promised Bothari. Daum found a functioning stunner, and the Sergeant put the mercenary captain temporarily out of his misery, then proceeded systematically around the room to make sure of the rest. 'We still have three more out there, my lord,' he reminded Miles.
'Unh,' Miles acknowledged, crawling to his feet. And the eleven or so in the other ship, he thought. 'Think you and Daum can ambush and stun 'em?'
'Yes, but …' Bothari hefted the nerve disruptor in his hand. 'May I suggest, my lord, that it may be preferable to kill soldiers in battle than prisoners after?'
'It may not come to that, Sergeant,' said Miles sharply. The full chaotic implications of the situation were just beginning to dawn on him. 'Stun 'em. Then we'll—figure out something else.'
'Think quickly, my lord,' suggested Bothari, and vanished out the door, moving with uncanny silence. Daum chewed his lip worriedly, and followed.
Miles was already starting to think. 'Sergeant!' he called after them softly. 'Keep one conscious for me!'
'Very good, my lord.'
Miles turned back, slipping a little in a spatter of blood from the mercenary captain's nose, and stared at the sudden slaughterhouse. 'God,' he muttered. 'Now what do I do with 'em?'
CHAPTER NINE
Elena and Mayhew stood waiting, looking at him expectantly. Miles suddenly realized he had not seen Baz Jesek in the fight—wait, there he was, pinned against the far wall. His dark eyes were like holes in his milky face, his breathing ragged.
'Are you hurt, Baz?' Miles cried in concern. The engineer shook his head, but did not speak. Their eyes met, and Jesek looked away. Miles knew then why he hadn't noticed him.
We're outnumbered two or three to one, Miles thought frantically. I can't spare a trained fighting man to funk—got to do something right now … 'Elena, Arde,' he spoke, 'go out in the corridor and close the door until I call you.' They obeyed, looking baffled.
Miles walked up to the engineer. How do I do a heart transplant, he wondered, in the dark, by feel, without anesthetics? He moistened his lips and spoke quietly.
'We've got no choice. We have to capture their ship now. The best shot is to take their shuttle, make them think it's their own people coming back. That can only be done in the next few minutes.
'The only chance of escape for any of us is to take them before they get a squeak out. I'm going to assign the Sergeant and Daum to take their Nav and Com room, and prevent that. The next most vital section is engineering, with all the overrides.'
Jesek turned his face away, like a man in pain or grief. Miles went on relentlessly.
'You're clearly the man for that one. So I'm assigning it to you and—' Miles took a breath, 'and Elena.'
The engineer turned his face back, if possible more drained than before. 'Oh, no …'
'Mayhew and I will float, stunning anything that moves. Thirty minutes from now it will all be over, one way or another.'
Jesek shook his head. 'I can't,' he whispered.
'Look, you're not the only one who's terrified. I'm scared witless.'
Jesek's mouth twisted. 'You don't look scared. You didn't even look scared when that mercenary pig decked you. You just looked pissed.'
'That's because I've got forward momentum. There's no virtue in it. It's just a balancing act. I don't dare stop.'
The engineer shook his head again, helplessly, and spoke through his teeth. 'I can't. I've tried.'
Miles barely kept his lips from curling back in a snarl of frustration. Wild threats cascaded through his mind—no, that wasn't right. Surely the cure for fear was not more fear.
'I'm drafting you,' Miles announced abruptly.
'What?'
'I claim you. I'm—I'm confiscating you. I'm seizing your property—your training, that is—for the war effort. This is totally illegal, but since you're under a death sentence anyway, who cares? Get down on your knees and put your hands between mine.'
Jesek's mouth fell open. 'You can't—I'm not—nobody but one of the Emperor's designated officers can swear a vassal, and I was already sworn to him when I got my commission—and forsworn when—' he broke off.
'Or a Count or a Count's heir,' Miles cut in. 'I admit the fact that you're previously sworn to Gregor as an officer puts a wrinkle in it. We'll just have to change the wording around a bit.'
'You re not . ..' Jesek stared. 'What the hell are you, anyway? Who are you?'
'I don't even want to talk about it. But I really am a vassal secundus to Gregor Vorbarra, and I can take you for a leigeman, and I'm going to right now, because I'm in a hell of a hurry, and we can work out the details later.'
'You're a lunatic! What the bloody hell do you think this is going to do?'
Distract you, thought Miles—and it's working already. 'Maybe, but I'm a Vor lunatic. Down!'
The engineer fell to his knees, staring in disbelief. Miles captured his hands, and began.
'Repeat after me. I, Bazil Jesek, do testify I am, am, am a forsworn military vassal of Gregor Vorbarra, but I take service anyway under—under—' Bothari will be hot as hell if I break security, 'under this lunatic in front of me—make that, this Vor lunatic—as an Armsman simple, and will hold him as my leige commander until my death or his releases me.'
Jesek, looking hypnotized, repeated the oath verbatim.
Miles began. 'I, uh—I better skip that part—I, a vassal secundus to Emperor Gregor Vorbarra, do accept your oath, and pledge you the protection of a leigecommander; this by my word as—well, by my word. There. You now have the dubious privilege of following my orders to the letter and addressing me as 'my lord', only you'd better not do it in front of Bothari until I get a chance to break the news to him gently. Oh, and one more thing …'
The engineer looked the question, bewildered.
'You're home. For what it's worth.'
Jesek shook his head dizzily, and staggered to his feet. 'Was that real?'
'Well—it's a little irregular. But from what I've read of our history, I can't help feeling it's closer to the
