Dragon Pearl(62)

Two figures marched through the entrance, their shadows cutting across the floor. A faint, wavering glow in the air told me that they had personal shields. I didn’t know how much blaster fire it would take to overwhelm the armor. We might have to find out the hard way.

It took me a moment to identify the soldiers. They were backlit, and the light reflecting off the crates’ surfaces didn’t do a very good job of revealing their faces, especially through their helmets. But once I got used to the alien-looking combat suits, I knew exactly who they were. The one on the left was Sujin. The one on the right, Haneul.

“No!” Jang cried in anguish, loudly enough to be heard by everyone.

The mercs glanced about wildly, but I had no attention to spare for them.

Neither Sujin nor Haneul was armed. That didn’t make sense. Unless . . .

“I have learned,” Captain Hwan went on, his voice still soft, “that Cadets Sujin and Haneul failed to recognize the intruder in our midst.”

I couldn’t help it. I sucked in my breath and stared wide-eyed at my friends. Former friends, I assumed, since they now knew that I wasn’t Jang. Was Hwan holding them hostage? He wouldn’t. . . .

He would. “Gumiho, if you and your comrades surrender to the cadets,” Captain Hwan said, “you will be treated fairly. As long as you cooperate with our operations.”

Bile rose in my throat. I had a pretty good idea of what Hwan meant by “cooperation,” at least from me. Surely he’d figured out that I was, if not related to Jun, connected to him somehow.

Chul squared his shoulders. I could tell he was tempted by Hwan’s offer. I couldn’t blame him, to be honest. At the same time, I couldn’t imagine this ending well for any of us.

Instead of capitulating, though, Chul signaled to his two comrades, and they raised their blasters. My heart almost plunged to the deck. But they didn’t fire, not yet.

“If you don’t come with me,” Captain Hwan said, “the cadets will be court-martialed for treason. Right here. Possibly even executed.”

What? This was insane! “You can’t do that!” I shouted.

Sujin’s expression was stubbornly impassive. Haneul looked stricken, and lightning crackled around her.

Chul squeezed his eyes shut.

“In deep space, a captain’s word is law,” Hwan returned. His voice never wavered from its eerie calm. “I have to be able to rely on my crew. Any real cadet knows that.”

I flinched.

The engineer mouthed, Should we? at Chul.

Chul shook his head and mouthed back, They’re unarmed. It made me think better of him.

“All right,” I said in defeat. I couldn’t let Captain Hwan kill Sujin and Haneul, who had done nothing wrong.

I heard Jang’s sigh of relief.

Chul reached for my shoulder to hold me back, but I slipped past him. “I’m coming out. Don’t shoot.”





I started to speak to Haneul and Sujin, but the dragon only stared stonily at me. Sujin wouldn’t meet my eyes. Hwan didn’t bother putting restraints on me, which made sense. Given my shape-shifting abilities, handcuffs wouldn’t slow me down. Regardless, I didn’t want to get the cadets into even more trouble by slipping out of his grasp.

The march to the breach in the ship’s hull and into one of the Pale Lightning’s sealed airlocks took only minutes, but it felt much longer. I had to put the helmet back on, which frustrated me, because it dulled my senses. I had a little difficulty walking in the magnetic boots, which had a stronger pull than the ones I’d worn on the Pale Lightning, but I wasn’t about to admit that.

“All right,” Jang’s voice said inside my helmet. Although he spoke in a whisper, I jumped. “This is where we part ways. Thank you for leading me to these mercs. I’ll have fun haunting them.”

“Wait—” I started, but I couldn’t feel his cold presence around me anymore. Desolation overcame me. We’d been coconspirators, in a sense, and now he was gone. Since I was no longer borrowing his form, Jang had no reason to stick close to me. While he’d originally been interested in finding out about the specific pirates who’d caused his death, it now appeared that he’d become more generally vengeful toward the whole category. I didn’t envy Chul and his comrades.

Behind me, soldiers were escorting Chul and the other two prisoners. Sorry for siccing a ghost on you, I thought in their direction.

I craned my head but didn’t catch sight of Captain Hwan. I couldn’t use my sense of smell to track him, either. At a guess, he was with the other soldiers, too. My shoulder blades tingled unpleasantly.

The Pale Lightning’s airlock was vaster than the other ship’s. I fought a surge of panic at being surrounded by soldiers. They could easily gun me down. One of the lieutenants gestured sharply at Haneul and Sujin, and they stepped back, leaving me alone in the center.

Captain Hwan strode forward to loom over me. I’d already been sweating, and this didn’t help. It took all my courage not to shrink from his ruthless predator’s glare. I wished for claws and sharp teeth—but I knew that even if my friends’ lives weren’t at stake, there was no way I could best Hwan in a physical fight. If I was going to escape this situation, I’d have to do it another way.

“Captain Hwan,” I said, bowing courteously. I was glad that my voice didn’t quaver—much.