Free Cobra Gamble by Timothy Zahn Page B

"Besides, if we wake him, we'll probably also wake Jin and Lorne."
    "Which we probably should," Beach pointed out. "They deserve to know what's going on."
    "They'll find out soon enough," Paul said. "And if they find out now, they'll want to argue about it. As I said, we haven't got time."
    "You should at least say good-bye," Beach persisted.
    "You don't understand," Zoshak asked quietly. "The choice we would set before Jin Moreau would be that of giving the life of her husband or the life of her son. Do you really wish to force that decision upon her?"
    Beach's lip twitched. "Yeah, I see your point," he conceded. "Fine. Go ahead and hop on." He shook his head. "Though it occurs to me that if I'm going to have to face her with this after it's over, maybe I should be the one the Trofts take."
    "Don't worry about it," Paul said as he maneuvered himself carefully onto the spooker. "With two of us against a Troft warship, there's a good chance we'll both be killed anyway."
    "Yeah, that's looking on the bright side," Beach said dryly. "Zoshak, mind the store. Broom, you just focus on hanging on."
    * * *
    From the southern edge of Milika the booming translator voice drifted over the village with the same message it had been delivering since the warship first appeared outside the gate.
    "To the koubrah -soldier of Milika: you will surrender to this vessel by sunrise. If you do not surrender, the village will be destroyed and the people within the wall will be killed."
    Merrick listened as the message repeated the usual three times, then, the loudspeaker fell silent, and the normal forest noises once again began to drift across Milika.
    "Only two and a half more hours before sunrise," Dr. Krites commented from Fadil's bedside.
    "Yes, I know," Merrick said. Either Krites or Fadil, before the latter had fallen asleep, had made sure to remind him of the approaching deadline roughly every hour since he'd sought refuge and counsel here a little after midnight.
    "Knowledge is silver," Krites said tartly. "Wisdom is gold. What do you plan to do?"
    Merrick stared at the darkened buildings and homes stretched out beneath the window. It was a question he'd been struggling with ever since the ship had first appeared outside Milika at yesterday's dawn.
    On one hand, the answer was simple. He couldn't just sit here while the Trofts destroyed the village, or even started that process. With the first actual laser blast or missile he would have no choice but to leave the Sammon house and march toward the warship with his hands held high in surrender. Certainly that was the reaction the Trofts were counting on.
    But the more he dug below the surface of that supposedly simple answer, the more he realized things weren't nearly that straightforward. If the Trofts wanted to kill him, then they would kill him, and there was little Merrick could do except hope that his death would buy Milika a release from this siege.
    But what if the Trofts wanted to take him alive? As the hours shrank toward the deadline, that possibility seemed more and more likely. Especially after Fadil had pointed out that the aliens could have forced Merrick's death long ago by simply opening fire on the village and forcing him into a suicidal counterattack.
    So what did the Trofts want him for? There was only one reason Merrick had been able to come up with, and the very thought of it made his skin crawl.
    The invaders had been defeated once by a coalition consisting of hundreds of Qasaman Djinn and two Aventinian Cobras. They'd presumably captured enough Djinn combat suits along the way to know how they operated, and to counter future attacks.
    But that was the Djinn. So far, the Trofts hadn't been able to crack the full range of Cobra weapons and capabilities. Remedying that deficiency was very likely the goal of this current operation.
    They were hoping to take Merrick so that they could dissect him. Possibly while he was still alive.
    Merrick couldn't let them to that, of