The Service of the Sword

back toward the convoy she'd abandoned. The raider behind her, she noted, was accelerating in her wake, continuing to herd her toward the battlecruiser while at the same time being careful not to get close enough that she would be tempted to turn and engage. It was still over an hour back to the convoy, according to DuMorne's plot. Plenty of time for the battlecruiser to deal with the Dorado.

For a moment she studied the numbers. Fearless's acceleration was hovering right at five hundred and four gees. That was far above the normal eighty percent power the RMN normally maintained, but it still left a safety margin of almost three percent against her inertial compensator. . .

'Chief Killian,' she said quietly to the helmsman, 'increase acceleration to maximum military power.'

Venizelos turned to look at her, but remained silent. He'd probably run the numbers, and the logic, the same way she had.

'Aye, aye, Ma'am,' Killian acknowledged, and the safety margin dropped to zero as Fearless went to a full five hundred and twenty gravities.

'And prepare a broadside, Commander Wallace,' she continued. 'We'll fire as soon as we're within range.'

Because, after all, it was the wolf's job to distract the rampaging bear from the cub, not the other way around.

And with a little luck, the Peep would find out just how distracting HMS Fearless could be.

'We're in range of the Dorado, Commodore,' Koln announced. 'Crippler reports ready to fire.'

'Tell them to make sure they actually hit the damn thing this time,' Dominick said pointedly. 'Fire when ready.'

'Yes, Sir,' Koln said, touching the signal key. Vanguard's lights dimmed yet again, and on Dominick's tac display Dorado's wedge vanished. 'Good,' he said, weighing his options. As long as he was here anyway, he could send a couple of boarding boats to go and loot the attempted runaway.

But if he did, that would leave Jansci floating around on its own behind him, with all that top-secret military equipment aboard. Would the Manties have orders to destroy the most sensitive cargo in case of imminent capture? The Harlequin's crew hadn't bothered with any such sabotage before they'd run; but then, Harlequin's cargo hadn't been as sensitive as what was supposed to be aboard the Jansci, either.

There was no point in taking chances. He opened his mouth to order the ship around—

'Sir!' Koln said suddenly. 'We've got another ship on scope. Small one—dispatch boat class, about forty thousand tons.'

'Where?' Dominick demanded, scanning his displays.

'Behind the Dorado,' Koln said. 'It must have been hidden by her wedge. Probably moored to the topside hull; they had their belly to us when their nodes went down that first time. Really hauling gees, too.'

'Yes,' Dominick murmured. The dispatch boat was indeed eating up space, and at a rate that was impressive even for that class of high-speed ship. That implied it was something special.

He smiled, a sudden wolfish grin. 'Well, well,' he said. 'The Manties are being cute, Lieutenant.'

'Sir?' Koln asked.

Dominick gestured at his displays. 'There's no reason for the average merchie to carry a boat like that.' He cocked an eyebrow. 'Which implies she's not an average merchie.'

For a second Koln just looked puzzled. Then his face cleared. 'The Jansci,' he said, nodding.

'Exactly,' Dominick agreed. 'Somewhere along the line, she and the Dorado must have exchanged ID transponders.'

And they might not even have tumbled to the deception if the crew hadn't panicked and jumped ship. Typical Manties.

His smile vanished. Unless the hurry they were in wasn't simply panic . . . 

'Full scan of the Dorado,' he snapped. 'Look for odd energy or electronic emissions.'

'Nothing showing, Sir,' Koln said, sounding puzzled. 'Except that the nodes are acting like they're on standby. That's impossible, of course—that last Crippler blast caught them dead center, and we saw the wedge collapse.'

Dominick gnawed at his lower lip. Koln was right—he'd watched the wedge die himself.

So then what the hell was happening over there? Some new technological deviltry the Manties had come up with? A feedback loop in the nodes, maybe; something that would blow up the impellers and fusion plant after the crew had had time to get away?

He couldn't even begin to guess the details. But the details didn't matter anyway. He'd been right the first time: those Manties were the keepers of a ship full of secrets, and they were going to scuttle that ship.

Or at least, they were going to try.

'Man the boarding boats—double-time,' Dominick ordered. 'Helm, get us in as close as you can—I want the crews aboard as quickly as possible.'

He glared at his displays. Because he would be damned if he would let the damn Royalists take his prize —his prize—away from him.

They were nearly finished when the bone-cracking sound of the collapsing wedge once again echoed through the Dorado. 'There it goes,' Pampas called from beneath the sensor monitor panel. 'Hope the breakers can handle all this stress.'

'We'll send a nasty letter to the manufacturer if they can't,' Cardones said, looking over his own handiwork. Just wrap the receiver pack around the control cables, Sandler had said, and the remote control would be ready to rock. He just hoped he'd wrapped it properly. 'How's it going in there?'

'Two minutes,' Pampas said. 'Maybe less.'

The bridge door slid open, and Cardones turned as McLeod stepped in. 'Forward sensor interlocks are disabled,' he announced. 'And I checked the lifeboat on my way back. Everything's ready.'

'Good,' Cardones said. 'Georgio says two more minutes and we'll be off.'

'I hope so,' McLeod said sourly, stepping over to the helm and peering at the displays. 'The Peep's still coming.'

Cardones nodded, craning his neck to look at the impeller status display. 'Looks like the breakers just closed again,' he said. 'Georgio?'

'Finished,' Pampas said. 'Let me make sure the wires are sealed and I'll be right with you.'

'What's he doing down there?' McLeod asked, the worry in his voice tinged with suspicion.

Cardones took a deep breath. 'He's just taken the compensators off line.'

McLeod's mouth fell open a centimeter. 'On a ship with a functional wedge? Are you insane? You fire up the impellers—'

His face suddenly changed. 'That's why you had me wreck the interlocks,' he breathed. 'No compensators, no limit protection on the wedge—you fire it up now, and anyone aboard will be smeared across the bulkheads like jelly.'

'Yes, I know,' Cardones said evenly, looking back at the display. The Peep battlecruiser was on the move now, sweeping in with sudden new urgency toward the Dorado. Preparing, no doubt, to launch its boarding boats . . . 

'Done,' Pampas grunted.

'Good.' Carefully, Cardones picked up the attache case that contained Sandler's remote control system. 'Let's go.'

'They've dropped another boat,' Koln announced. 'Standard lifeboat this time.'