Cobra Alliance-Cobra War Book 1 by Timothy Zahn Page A

frustrated, no doubt as a result of the ground being cut out from under him twice in two minutes. Merrick merely looked his usual stolid self, with no hint of embarrassment or shame at how quickly he'd refused to even consider going to Caelian with his sister.
    Or maybe he'd simply realized before the rest of them that his father was heading in that direction and had made certain he wouldn't be standing in the elder Broom's way. "I guess it's settled, then," Jin said, forcing some false heartiness into her voice. "Paul and Jody will go to Caelian, I'll head to Qasama, and Lorne and Merrick will hold down the fort here."
    "And try to maintain the illusion that you're still on Aventine," Merrick put in.
    Jin frowned. She hadn't thought about that part of it. "Yes, good point. Any ideas on how we do that?"
    "One or two," Merrick said. "But we can work on that later." He raised his eyebrows at Corwin. "After dessert, perhaps?" he prompted.
    "That is the direction we were headed, wasn't it?" Corwin agreed. "Perhaps, now, Lorne and Jody, you'll be kind enough to clear the table for us?"
    "Sure," Jody said as they both obediently pushed their chairs back from the table and started collecting the dishes.
    "So is that it for the evening's surprises?" Paul asked, looking at Corwin.
    Corwin cocked an eyebrow. "Isn't that enough for one night?"
    "Very much so," Paul said dryly. Reaching under the table, he took Jin's hand in his. "I just wanted to make sure. And to make sure that everyone had a say."
    "Everyone who wanted a say has had one," Corwin assured him. "For now."
    The group was midway through dessert, and the conversation had shifted to Jody's plans for the Caelian study, when Jin suddenly realized that Aunt Thena hadn't said a single word throughout the entire debate.
     
    The next three days went by quickly. Far too quickly.
    The Troft recording had said that everything Jin needed would be supplied aboard ship. But she couldn't and wouldn't simply assume the Trofts knew what a proper infiltrator needed to do her job.
    On the other hand, she could hardly go to the hardware store and ask the clerk to assemble a standard-issue commando backpack for her, either. Fortunately, the standard Cobra survival pack was a good place to start, and she knew its contents by heart. She bought enough supplies to stock two such packs, making sure to shop in a half dozen different stores across the city so as to muddy the backtrail a bit. Once those were prepared, she added a few other odds and ends as they occurred to her, and then decided she was as ready as she was going to be.
    She spent the rest of the time she had left with her family. Those hours went by even faster.
    The sky was beginning to cloud up as she stepped off the intercity transport and headed on foot toward the long, sleek Troft freighter squatting on its pad across the Pindar landing field. She'd done everything she could; had given Paul and Jody their final hugs earlier that morning, and then had called from the transport for a last good-bye as her husband and daughter watched Jody's two colleagues load the last bits of gear aboard the Freedom's Fire. But the farewells had been sorely inadequate for the occasion, and Jin could feel her mood filling with its own dark clouds as she walked wearily toward the ship.
    The danger she had long ago accepted. The loneliness she hadn't counted on.
    "Carry your bags, ma'am?"
    She spun around, feeling her eyes widen with shock. Merrick was back there, smiling solemnly as he strode toward her, a survival pack of his own settled across his shoulders. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.
    "What do you think?" he countered, stopping beside her and getting a grip on the straps of one of his mother's packs. "I'm coming with you."
    "You most certainly are not, " she insisted, trying to snatch her pack away from him. It was a waste of effort—his servos were every bit as strong as hers were. "Now get of here and back to Capitalia before