Captain von Breunig frowned. "But we must do something. I will not turn even one of my passengers over to the Draconis Combine."

Danica laughed coldly. "Why not, Captain? Is the ISF any less brutal than our own Loki? Let's be practical and leave these moral discussions to the philosophers. Those of us here who are not from the Combine have come from the Commonwealth, and we know well the excesses of power." Unconsciously, Danica reached out and rested her hand on Clovis's shoulder. When he hugged her hand between his shoulder and large head, her expression brightened momentarily.

Danica let her hand drop away. "Let us be pragmatic, Captain. If the ISF wants someone, we'll find out who it is and negotiate. If the ISF attacks, we know that many of us, including some of your passengers, will die. If, on the other hand, we sacrifice one person to save the rest, who can say it would not be the right choice?"

Hear that, Melissa?the voice echoed in her mind. People are going to die because of you. You'll not pass from this life alone. How many will go with you, little Princess? How many of them must die because of you?

Andrew held up both hands. "Wait a minute!" He pointed out toward the Bifrost."Why don't we just jump out of here?"

Von Breunig shook his head savagely. "Even if we ran the Bifrostout to an alternate jump point, the Kuritans are only twelve hours from here, and we'd not have enough of a charge to jump. The ISF troops would catch us in space."

Andrew frowned. "But the generators are recharging the jump drive. Surely they can power it faster than the solar collector."

The Captain again shook his head. "You don't understand, Leftenant. It's not the amount of energy needed to charge the coils that matters. It's the length of time required to do the job. Energy fed in too fast can damage the K-F drive. A speedy loading would probably rupture storage cells or blow the liquid helium seals. The latter would render the ship inoperable. Worse yet, the former could result in a misjump." Von Breunig looked down. "Only an idiot, or a very desperate man, would jump after having spent less then a week recharging his drive."

Danica nodded. "There, Captain, you have eliminated the only other logical choice. Either you surrender any passenger the Dra-conians want, or we will all die."

See, Melissa. They will all die. You’ve doomed them all, and you'll finally get what you deserve . . .

Andrew slowly nodded his head. "Let's talk with them. If it's me they want, I'm willing to trade."

Danica smiled, but von Breunig snarled harshly. "No, Leftenant. The welfare of Silver Eagle'spassengers is my responsibility." He shook his head wearily. "We'll never surrender a single passenger to them. Never."

"I remove that responsibility from you, Captain von Breu-nig." The woman's voice, strong and clear, reached out from the back of the room and demanded the attention of all assembled. The crowd parted and she whom they had known as Joana Barker came slowly forward. Pulling the brown wig from her head, she shook free the famous gold of her hair.

Fighting back the tears, she spoke without a tremor. "I am the one they want. I am Melissa Arthur Steiner, and no one must die because of me." She lifted her head as everyone in the room, including Danica Holstein and Andrew Redburn, dropped to one knee.

Only the dwarf Clovis remained standing and dared break the reverent silence. "Oh, this makes it very interesting, indeed." He turned and rubbed his hands together. "Now wehave a Princess, and the Kuritans' second Invader,hauling an Overlord,has just arrived."

46

Pacifica (Clara III)

Isle of Skye, Lyran Commonwealth

24 May 3027

Master Sergeant Nicholas Jones nearly jumped out of his skin as the lights came on in the recreation room. All the Kell Hounds surrounded their Lyran Commonwealth Tech Liaison and cheered deliriously. Jones staggered back toward the door of the crowded room, his hands clutched to his chest as he feigned a heart attack, but Rob Kirk caught him and prevented his escape.

Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Kell stepped forward. "Master Sergeant Nicholas Jones?" Kell's features sharpened, and the Master Sergeant snapped to attention. He gave a salute, which Kell returned smartly. "At ease, Sergeant. We're all friends here."

Another round of yells erupted as a smile blossomed on Jones's face. Kell raised his hand, and his people grew more quiet. "In honor of your thirty years of service, Sergeant, we wish to present you with some tokens of our esteem."

Cat Wilson stepped from the crowd and draped a brown leather jacket over Jones's shoulders. As the Sergeant looked down, he saw the Kell Hound insignia on the jacket's left breast and the Captain's bars on the shoulders. "Sir? I don't understand . . ."

Kell smiled and laughter rippled through the throng. "It's simple, Captain Jones. You've been elevated in rank, breveted, in fact. Now we'll confirm that in the computer and it will travel out with you. I hope no one finds out what happened so that you'll get the higher pension, but that may not work out. At the very least, however, you'll travel in luxury back to Tharkad."

"But sir, I won't be leaving for another six months because the Intrepidleaves tomorrow and I've still not been cleared to board her." Jones's appreciation for the gift fought with his desire to avoid abusing it on Pacifica.

Kell laughed and Salome Ward brought the Sergeant a mug of stout. "Captain, would we let such a thing happen?" She waved Jones to a table in the back of the recreation room. "We have everything under control."

* * *

Two floors above, Meg Lang's fingers danced across the keyboard on Pacifica's central computer. Austin Brand stood behind her, hands on her shoulders, just barely within the circle of light coming from Dan's flashlight. He looked over at Dan and smiled happily.

Leaning against the computer itself, Dan smiled benevolently and kept the light centered on Meg. Glad to see you've worked things out, Meg.She gasped slightly and Dan leaned forward. "Have you got it?" he asked.

She nodded and Brand gently squeezed the muscles at the back of her neck. Meg looked over at Dan. "Got it, Captain. Now, you just want me to move the day ahead by one?"

Dan nodded. "Yes, as soon as the clock passes midnight. On Pacifica, the 25th becomes the 26th. It'll confuse a few folks, but it'll get Jones out of here on the Intrepid."Dan laughed to himself. "It'll also cause the jump troopies a bit of trouble, but I'm sure O'Cieran won't mind that."

* * *

Chu-iOguchi could not conceal his agitation. Sho-saKame-kura frowned at his subordinate. Can you not comport yourself in a more orderly manner, Oguchi?Staring at the man through the half-light, Kamekura nodded his head curtly. "Hai,what is it?"

Oguchi swallowed hard. "It is the 26th, Kamekura-san!"

"What!" Kamekura's roar filled the cavern and caused several soldiers to freeze suddenly before they scurried out of sight. "How is this possible?"

"I do not know, Kamekura-san. I set an alarm on my computer terminal for five minutes past midnight on the 26th and it just started beeping at me. I checked, and it is the 26th!" The Chu-istared blankly at his commander. "What do we do now?"