"Sure," Fleck said. "Okay. What do you want me to do then?"

"Stand by the hatchway with that weapon," Draycos said. "There may be a way of opening it from the outside, and they may try to rush us as we lift."

Fleck looked questioningly at Jack. "Do it," Jack confirmed. "Trust me, he's the military expert on this team."

"If you say so," Fleck said, hoisting Gazen over his shoulder. "Good luck."

"And don't say anything to the others," Jack added, nodding toward Draycos.

"We're sort of trying to keep him a secret."

"Yeah, I figured that," Fleck said dryly. "Don't worry."

He left, this time shutting the door behind him. "I am ready," Draycos said.

"When shall I fire?"

"The minute you get a clear shot," Jack told him, peering back at his own board.

"I don't want to risk tipping them off by lifting until you've—"

He broke off as a triplet of brilliant blue sparks flashed out from the shuttle's nose. He jerked his head up, just in time to see one of the Djinn-90s buck violently to the side. Trailing a plume of smoke, it rolled away from its pursuit of the Essenay, dropping like an injured duck.

"Was that what you wanted?" Draycos asked calmly.

With an effort, Jack found his voice. "Yeah, that should do it," he managed.

Crabbing sideways, the damaged Djinn-90 dropped over the wall into the slave area and disappeared behind the trees. A second later, there was a second burst of fire, and a fresh red glow added its bit to the light from the glider fire.

Jack caught his breath. The fighter had gone over the wall, without drawing any fire from the hidden weaponry. "Did you see that?" he asked.

"Yes," Draycos said. "Do you think they have shut down the wall defenses?"

"Not with a battle going on," Jack said, thinking hard. "It must be a localized thing, probably running off transponders in the fighters. The wall senses when a

Chookoock vehicle is heading across, and holds its fire."

"The Clax-7s," Draycos said, his neck arching suddenly. "They are still on the ground by the wall."

"And they should have the same transponders," Jack said, feeling a surge of excitement as he threw power to the lifters. "That's our way out. Come on, let's get this thing moving."

CHAPTER 36

Gazen hadn't been bluffing about the snipers at the windows. Even as Jack lifted the shuttle off the ground, the hull began rattling with the impact of rapid-fire machine-gun bullets. He twisted the vehicle up and away from the mansion, folding the landing skids in against the shuttle's underside to protect them and hoping Neverlin had gone as heavy on the hull's armor plating as he had on the shock absorbers. Turning toward the glow of the burning glider, he tapped his comm clip. "Uncle Virge?" he called, searching the sky. Wherever the Essenay was, it was somewhere out of his line of sight.

"I'm here, lad," Uncle Virge came back. "Thanks for the assist."

"You're welcome," Jack said. "How are you doing?"

"Not too well," Uncle Virge admitted. "They've just ordered another two Djinn-90s into the air."

"How soon?"

"No more than five minutes, I'd guess," the computer said. "And to add insult to injury, it seems that the local law enforcement agencies are scrambling patrol craft of their own."

Jack grimaced. "I guess they don't like firefights over their cities."

"Law enforcement agencies are like that."

"Right," Jack said, putting the shuttle into hover mode over the burning glider and Clax-7s and peering out the side of the canopy. No Brummgas were in sight.

"Can you take out that other Djinn-90 before the reinforcements arrive?"

"Just between us, I wish you'd taken out this one instead of the other,"

Uncle Virge said, his voice sounding strained. "This pilot is definitely the smarter of the two."

"Tell him to try a kom treeta maneuver," Draycos called from the copilot's seat.

"What was that?" Uncle Virge asked.

"He says to try a kom treeta," Jack told him.

Uncle Virge grunted. "Hold on."

Jack clicked off the comm clip. "Something from your late-night poetry sessions, I assume?" he asked Draycos.

"Yes," the dragon replied. "It is similar to the maneuver we used over Iota Klestis."

"Let's hope it works," Jack said, easing off the lifters and keying the landing skids to unfold again. "Looks like the Brummgas Uncle Virge had pinned down took off as soon as he left."

"Yet they did not take the aircraft with them?"

Jack frowned in sudden uncertainty. Why hadn't they taken the Clax-7s away with them?

The shuttle was still descending. Kicking in the lifters, he got it moving up again.

Half a second later, the Clax-7s blew up.

Jack fought the controls as the shock wave bounced the shuttle around like a hooked fish, throwing them perilously close to the wall. "Check the monitors," he snapped. "See if we've lost anything vital."

"Right," Draycos said.

With an effort, Jack backed the shuttle away from the wall and swung it around.

The controls were suddenly feeling sluggish, he noted. That was a bad sign.

"Status?"

"We have lost the rear section of lifters," the dragon reported. "The underside has also been holed near the drive engines. We will not be able to escape into space in this craft."

"Terrific," Jack growled. "Anything else?"

"Minor sensor and navigational damage. Otherwise, we appear mostly intact."

"At least now we know why they didn't take the Clax-7s away," Jack said as he again clicked on the comm clip. "Uncle Virge? You still there?"

"I am, yes," the computer said tightly. "What about you?"

"Just a little singed," Jack assured him. "Their little booby-trap wasn't quite as successful as they probably hoped. What's happening out there?"

"The kom treeta worked perfectly," Uncle Virge said, a note of satisfaction in his voice. "I dropped him just past the outskirts of town, and I'm heading back to meet you."

"Great," Jack said. "Unfortunately, my plan for getting out has just gone smokers."

"How about ramming the gate?" Uncle Virge asked. "Give me another couple of minutes and I can be there to pick you up."

"It's a little more complicated than that," Jack warned. "We've got passengers along."

"You've got what? How many?"

"About thirty."

There was dead silence from the other end. Apparently, none of Uncle Virge's large repertoire of curses was up to this one. "Jack, lad, have you taken leave of your senses?" the other demanded at last. "Where in the Orion Arm do you intend to put them all?"

"Don't worry, I've got that part covered," Jack told him. "The only sticking point is how we're going to get out of here."

"Well, you'd better come up with something fast," Uncle Virge warned. "I've got those new Djinn-90s coming in now from the east."

"From behind us," Draycos murmured. "Perhaps they think our sensors have been damaged."

Jack frowned over at him. The dragon was using that tone again. "Hang on," he told Uncle Virge, clicking off the comm clip. "You have an idea?"

"Perhaps," Draycos said slowly. "Tell me, how maneuverable is this craft?"

"It was better before we lost the rear lifters," Jack said. "Probably still pretty good, though."

"And those landing skids are hinged to the outer sides of the hull, opening outward from the center like standard cabinet doors?" "Right," Jack said, frowning. "Why?"

Draycos bounded backward out of his chair and padded to Jack's side. "Do you have the incoming fighters on sensor yet?"

Jack checked his displays. There they were: two blips on the screen, approaching the wall on the far side of the Chookoock family grounds. "There," he said, pointing.