"I appreciate the honesty." And, Tarlac thought, the fact that he'd been lucky enough to be rescued by someone who could appreciate the fact of his own limitations! Not too many people of any age, in his experience, had that much judgement. Too bad Dave's assessment was so negative--but from what he'd said, Tarlac was able to take grim amusement in the fact that he wouldn't be worrying about it much longer. This mess would be a lot harder on the youngster than it would on the one who should be in charge-- He broke off that pointless line of thought. "Just keep me breathing till Friday morning, if you can-- the Marines will be landing as soon as it's full light, and there'll be Navy mediteams with them. If they can get me into a lifepod, I'll have a pretty good chance." "I'll do what I can, of course." Dave frowned. "That's less than forty-eight hours . . . the rebels'll be looking for us too, but I don't think they'll get to us very fast." "Don't be too sure," Tarlac cautioned. "Lord Robert is a fanatic, and he thinks I'm his key to ruling at least a Subsector. He'll be after me, and I'm willing to bet his people have the equipment they need to find us." Dave shook his head. "It's not as easy as you make it sound, sir. People who've wanted to be found have been lost in these mountains for weeks. We don't want to be--and we're in a cave, which'll make it that much harder for them." He hesitated, a thought surfacing. "Unless they search on foot, and happen across us. If they do, I guess it'll be up to me to decoy them away." Tarlac didn't like that idea, but he also didn't have Lord Robert's convenient ability to ignore unpleasant reality. A Ranger was, to put it bluntly, far more valuable to the Empire than any youngster. It was a hell of a note, he thought sourly, that he had to look at it that way; Dave had saved his life once already, and it would be his doing if Tarlac lived through the next couple of days. The fact that Dave would get a substantial reward if they made it out wasn't a lot of help; dammit, part of his job was protecting Imperial citizens! Still . . . "I'm afraid it will." To his surprise, Dave grinned. "That shouldn't be too hard. Those rebels're city people; they don't know what real mountains're like. Chaos, I don't think they'd even know to avoid something as simple as a trapper vine!" "This is no holo show," Tarlac cautioned him. "If they do find us, we've bought it." "I know--but Mom was a Marine for thirty years and never even saw a live Ranger. I go on a camping trip, and end up helping one, against a bunch of rebels!"