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wandering pack of wild dogs that just happen to catch your scent. They’re directed within an inch of their disgusting little lives.”
    Valerian shrugged. “If they were directed, then they left immediately. They must have gotten what they came for.”
    That much at least was true. He had feared, when word came of the attack, that somehow Kerrigan had gotten wind of what had happened with Jake and had sent her zerg to claim him. How, he had no idea. They had come, descended, wreaked the havoc that was synonymous with their name, and departed.
    A thought occurred to him, one that bothered and pleased him in equal parts. Stil seemingly casual, he said, “Stewart was indeed a former black marketer. I used him for my own ends, but it’s possible he was a double agent of sorts. I don’t suppose he was working for you in any sort of capacity?”
    Mengsk’s jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. Few who didn’t know him as wel as Valerian did would have noticed.
    “It’s possible. I don’t know every single person in my employ.” Arcturus chuckled.
    “You have a mere handful, my boy. But don’t worry, I’l soon give you more—
    maybe more than you can handle.”
    Valerian smiled. He wasn’t certain he had guessed correctly, but it was, as Mengsk had just said, a possibility.
    “I look forward to the chalenge, Father. If he was not working for you, then perhaps for an enemy? I’m sure you have more than a handful of those.”
    Now Mengsk did frown. “Also entirely possible. Humans have been in league with Kerrigan before now.” His gray eyes looked pensive. It was with difficulty that Valerian smothered a smile.
    Maybe Ethan had indeed been playing both sides. It didn’t matter now. What mattered was that even in death, Ethan was serving Valerian wel. He had distracted Arcturus from the real target, which was the escaping vessel.
    “I assume your people are there?” he asked his father.
    “Of course.”
    “I wil set mine to locating the hijacked ship then.”
    “If you feel it necessary,” Mengsk said. “If anything else turns up, you are to notify me immediately. Anything that’s of sufficient interest to warrant a zerg incursion into my space, I want to know about.”
    Valerian nodded. “Likewise. Stewart was my man. At least”—he smiled in what he hoped was a sufficiently self-deprecating manner—“I thought he was.”
    Mengsk chuckled, then his face was replaced by the official insignia.
    Valerian was both pleased and uncomfortable with how the exchange had gone. He did not like misdirecting his father, but he knew—he knew —that Ramsey would be destroyed if Mengsk had him. He hoped that soon he would have Ramsey safely in his hands and this would no longer be an issue.
    “Sir?”
    Valerian realized he’d been staring at the now-dark screen for some moments. He turned at the sound of Devon Starke’s melodious voice.
    “Devon,” Valerian said warmly, indicating a chair. “It seems I puled you out just in time.”
    Starke nodded his thanks and took a chair. He smiled slightly.
    “Not for the first time, sir. But yes, our recal was quite welcomed once we heard what had happened with the zerg.”
    Valerian didn’t ask if Starke thought the zerg had come for Ramsey. That was his father’s problem, not his. He needed to find Jake and Rosemary before Mengsk did.
    He posed this problem to Starke. “They can be tracked, sir. Al of Stewart’s vessels have tracking devices hardwired into their navigation systems. I have the sequence we need to look for.” The ghost tapped his temple.
    Valerian smiled. “Excelent. Now. Tel me about this psychic … I’m not sure what to cal it.”
    Emotions flitted across Starke’s thin face. “I’ve never experienced anything like this, sir. I know what you told me—that Ramsey had been attacked by a protoss and that knowledge had been rather forcefuly placed into his brain. But I shouldn’t have been able to sense that. Not at the distance I was from