Duty Bound by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller Page A

and they'd
determined that at least a dozen thruster pairs were operable. They
might actually be able to go somewhere--if only they knew where to
point.
    Thanks to the cloaks the air supply was good
for another 30 days. Food was another matter, since most of it was
in storage lockers--if they still existed--in the sealed portion of
the ship. They were stretching the interval between meals a little
longer each time. At full rations they had food for six days; at
their current rate they had fourteen.
    * * *
    "YOU HAPPENED BY at a fortunate time,
Captain," Acting Scout Commander sig'Radia was saying to him. "Not
only did you rid us of the last of that Infestation, but improved
morale merely by appearing, Tree-and-Dragon shouting from your
name-points, hard on the heels of rumors that Korval is
...vanished."
    Daav gave her a grave smile. "Korval's luck.
May we all walk wary."
    She was a woman of about his own age, he
estimated, though he did not know her. Obviously, though, she had
heard tales of Korval's luck, for she inclined her head formally
and murmured, "May it rest peaceful."
    "How did this come to pass? An open attack
on a Scout base by Liadens?"
    Scout Commander turned in her chair and
pulled a stack of hard-copy messages from under a jar full of
firegems.
    "Some of it is here," she said, handing him
the stack. She seemed about to speak further, but the comm buzzed
then; a Healer had been found for the Kia pilot Daav had rescued
from the courier boat.
    He gave his attention to the messages in his
hand. Slowly, a picture built of suspicious activity, followed by
conflicting orders and commands from Scout Headquarters and the
Council of Clans, muddied by people going missing and a strange
epidemic of Scouts being requisitioned--with the assistance of some
faction or another within the Council itself--for the mysterious
Department of the Interior. Amid it all, a familiar name
surfaced.
    The commander finished her call and Daav
held out the page.
    "You may blame Clonak ter'Meulen on my
fortuitous arrival--he having sent for me. May I see him? His
business was urgent, I gather."
    She looked away from his face, then handed
him another, much smaller, stack of pages. He took them and began
leafing through, listening as she murmured, "The Department of the
Interior had him targeted. He went down to meet a Scout just in
from the garbage run--Shadia Ne'Zame. That's when the battle began.
They fired on her ship and..."
    Daav looked up, face bland. Commander
sig'Radia shrugged, Terran-style.
    "The Department had a warship in-system--say
destroyer class. They claimed it was a training vessel. They went
after Ne'Zame's ship, fired on her. By then, we were fighting here
as well--open firefights and hand-to-hand between us and the
Department people here for training."
    She showed him empty palms.
    "Ne'Zame's ship was hit at least once,
returned fire, got some licks in. The Department's ship was closing
when she Jumped."
    Daav closed his eyes.
    "The only wreckage we have is from the
destroyer," the commander continued. "There's one piece that might
be from a Scout ship--but there was other action in that section,
and we can't be certain. The destroyer was more than split open--it
was shredded--no survivors. If it hadn't been, Nev'Lorn would have
been in the hands of the Department of the Interior in truth, when
you came in."
    Daav opened his eyes. "No word? No infrared
beacons? Nothing odd on the off-channels? Clonak is--resourceful.
If they went into Little Jump..."
    Her eyes lit. "Yes, we thought of that.
Late, you understand, but we've had tasks in queue ahead. In any
case, the chief astrogator gave us this." She turned the monitor on
her desk around to face him, touched a button, and a series of
familiar equations built, altered by several factors.
    Daav blinked--and again, as the numbers slid
out of focus. As if from a distance, he heard his own voice ask,
courteously, "Of your kindness, may I use the keyboard? Thank
you."
    Then his