Crossfire (Star Kingdom Book 4)

by Lindsay Buroker

  “Uhm, Kim?” Casmir stuck his head outside again. “You have visitors.” He winced and mouthed “I’m sorry” before backing into the kitchen.

  Chief Superintendent Van Dijk walked out, trailed by two soldiers. “Scholar Sato? King Jager has decided that you need to personally go on the mission, in case any adjustments to your bacteria are needed to ensure our people can deal with the gate once they find it.”

  Kim slumped back in her chair. So much for life getting back to normal.

  2

  Casmir’s stomach didn’t like his second trip into space any more than his first.

  He was pressed back into a pod in Sir William Asger’s gleaming purple knight shuttle, with Kim engulfed in the seat beside him. The pods reduced the effects of acceleration as they shot away from the launch loop and into space, where they would rendezvous with the Osprey, so Casmir’s eyes didn’t feel like they were visiting the back of his skull, but his stomach found the whole experience highly suspect.

  He’d taken two kinds of anti-nausea medication. Unfortunately, the combined effect was making him nauseated. The legendary Admiral Mikita had reputedly spent half his life in space, battling enemy ships and winning systems for the Kingdom. Had his stomach protested against every shift in gravity?

  “I may have to take you up on your offer, Kim,” Casmir said.

  Asger, who sat in the pilot’s seat up front, rotated his pod enough to glance back at Casmir. But he didn’t comment. Zee, who gripped a handhold on a bulkhead, also did not comment. He was the only robot helper Casmir had been allowed to bring along. Most of the ones he’d created to raid the terrorist base had been too damaged to travel, anyway, but he was finding that he liked having an army of robots he could hide behind when he faced enemies.

  “Which offer is that?” Kim sounded completely normal, unaffected by space-sickness.

  “To put weird bugs in my stomach to help with my nausea. And high histamine levels.” Casmir’s left eye blinked, and he sneezed. His nostrils hadn’t yet realized that he’d left pollen season behind and that the shuttle’s air was highly filtered. “Didn’t you say you had some that could do that?”

  “My bacteria are not weird.”

  Kim couldn’t look at him over the side of her pod, but Casmir had no doubt he was receiving a glower. Someone in one of the rear seats laughed. A number of large hulking soldiers in combat armor were also on the shuttle. Casmir didn’t know if they were there to defend him or to make sure he didn’t try to escape his fate.

  As if there was anywhere he could go. The blanket of stars on the large forward display was beautiful but also a stark reminder that he was surrounded by a frozen vacuum. Space was a far more effective deterrent to escape than bars on a cell.

  “As I’ve stated before,” Kim said, “I have numerous beneficial bacteria that could help you more efficiently clear histamine from your body, which has been linked to motion-sickness. My bacteria have been tested in many randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled studies, and the efficacy is undeniable. Few side effects were reported, even among patients with intestinal dysbiosis, so I don’t see why you’re hesitant to let me give you some. It’s very likely that I could not only fix your tendency toward motion-sickness but also cure your food and drug allergies with the right immune-regulating mix.”

  “There aren’t any cashews trying to ram themselves down my throat at the moment. I’m only concerned about…” Casmir swallowed and grimaced as the shuttle adjusted course, prompting his nausea also to adjust itself to a higher level. “Puking.”

  “Since I had the leisure to pack this time, I have numerous microorganisms along with me that I thought would prove useful on the mission. Simply let me know when you’re ready and if you’d prefer daily capsules or a more permanent solution.”

  “Who wouldn’t choose the permanent solution?”

  “The capsules contain transitory strains. The permanent solution involves a rectal insertion.”

  Casmir made a face.

  One of the fearsome soldiers behind him said, “Ewww.”

  “Maybe I’ll think about it a bit more first,” Casmir said, grimacing again, for the Osprey had come into view, the great warship large enough to create artificial spin gravity.

  “You should embrace advances in medicine,” Kim said, “not shy away from them. I can see shying away from having your skull opened up and a responsive neurostimulation system installed to rectify your seizures, but there’s no reason to fear such simple and non-invasive work when there’s potential for dramatic health improvements.”

  “The permanent solution sounded somewhat invasive.”

  “Less so than a hole in the skull.”

  “I’m not entirely positive that’s true.”

  One of the soldiers grunted in what might have been agreement.

  Another warship came into view as Asger adjusted their course again. And another. And another.

  Four? Casmir frowned. Just how many warships were coming along on this mission?

  “Asger,” Casmir said. “Are those ships all coming with us, or are they simply here for shore leave?”

  “Nobody’s going on shore leave right now.” Asger glanced back. “Have you been watching the news? Tensions are escalating in the other systems. There have been more attacks on stations and mining facilities, and even though I’m fairly certain the Kingdom wasn’t behind them, we’re being blamed.”

  “So those warships are here to guard Odin?”

  “Others in the system are strategically placed to guard System Lion. Those are going with us.”

  “If we barrel through another system’s gate with so many warships,” Casmir said, “won’t the inhabitants see that as a hostile and aggressive action? If not a threat of invasion?”

  “King Jager is making sure we have the firepower necessary to get the gate back. Further, he may be making a statement. Better to be with the Kingdom than against it.”

  “Oh, yes. Let’s strut around the systems like galactic bullies. That’ll have positive long-term results.”

  Asger slanted him a long look over his shoulder. “I’m sure it’s what Admiral Mikita did.”

  And thus Asger proved something Casmir had suspected, that he knew who Casmir had been cloned from. Asger had once said he’d had a hunch, but at some point, that hunch had turned into a certainty.

  Had Princess Oku told him that she’d helped Casmir get into the Royal Zamek Seed Bank so he could learn the truth? Somehow, the image of Oku and Asger strolling side by side through one of the castle gardens with the sun beaming on their faces disturbed Casmir. It wasn’t that he truly believed he had a shot with the princess—besides, he barely knew her—but imagining Asger as Oku’s confidant was troubling. Surely, Casmir, as a fellow academic, would be a more logical match.

  “I’m not so sure about that,” Casmir said, giving his brain a boot to return it to present concerns.

  “He was a war hero. That’s what war heroes do to win wars.”

  “Hm.” Casmir vowed to look up his progenitor as soon as he had time, to dig deeper than what the encyclopedias and online history texts said. If they’d gotten the face wrong, who knew what else was inaccurate?

  He wished he could look in that book about great leaders of the Twelve Systems that Qin had in her quarters on the Stellar Dragon. It hadn’t been published in the Kingdom, and she’d believed he looked “kind of like” Mikita, so maybe it had accurate information.

  He also wished he was going off to help Qin and Bonita with their pirate situation, rather than helping find a powerful ancient relic that Casmir still questioned whether the Kingdom had the right to claim.

  “Captain Ishii is going to want a destination as soon as we get on board,” Asger said. “I hope for your sake that you’ve figured out where that gate went.”

  “Er, not yet.”

  Casmir squirmed under the disapproving look he got. He missed occasionally goofy Asger, who flexed his biceps and talked about having as
sets that women admired. Maybe he’d been lectured for helping Casmir the last time they had been in space together.

  “I was going to suggest starting at Modi Moon to see if any clues were left behind.” Casmir hoped that the entire stealthed cargo ship with the ancient gate inside had been left behind, and that the Fleet ship that had searched for it had simply missed finding it. But Royal Intelligence had confirmed that the wormhole gate out of the system had been activated by an invisible ship, so Casmir feared it was long gone.

  Twin shuttle-bay doors came into view as Asger guided them closer, along the rotating hull of the warship. As their craft slowed, leaving them in zero-g, Casmir decided he looked forward to the Osprey’s relatively stable partial gravity. Even if he looked forward to little else about his assigned task.

  The doors yawned open, and Asger timed their entry perfectly. They settled to a magnetic deck, and with a lurch, the shuttle had gravity again. Casmir’s stomach also lurched, and he took several slow breaths. He was the last one out of his pod.

  The soldiers filed out quickly. Asger, wearing his silver liquid armor instead of a galaxy suit like Kim and Casmir, waited for them by the hatch. Kim unstrapped the luggage rack and started pulling off her several cases of belongings.

  “I’m guessing that’s not make-up,” Asger remarked as Casmir joined him.

  Kim, whom Casmir had rarely seen wear make-up, shot him a flat look. “I assume the captain will give me a laboratory where I can store my tools and specimens.”

  “I assume the captain will give me a brig cell,” Casmir said.

  Kim tossed Casmir’s tool satchel and travel case to him, the latter full of a suitable amount of clean clothing, almost as much as his mother had insisted on.

  “If you irk him, he will.” Asger spread his hand, inviting Casmir to exit the shuttle next. “You might not want to bring up his nicknames from robotics camp.”

  “Right. Good advice.”

  Though he had an urge to make Asger go first, so he could hide behind his tall, broad-shouldered figure, Casmir shouldered his bags and hopped down to the deck. Captain Ishii waited in his Fleet galaxy suit with a stunner on his belt. Was that a typical precaution, or did he think Casmir would attack him?

  Ishii eyed Zee, who walked behind Casmir, as they approached. That was the physical threat he was likely more worried about, but a stun bolt wouldn’t affect Zee.

  “Professor Dabrowski,” Ishii said with a quick stiff bow. “You are here in the capacity of civilian advisor. You will interact as little as possible with the crew, report directly to me, take orders from any officer that gives them, and work on the solution to our mutual problem during all hours outside of meal and sleep time. Neither of those had better be leisurely.”

  “Civilian advisor?” Casmir did his best to offer a friendly smile—he would prefer to turn Ishii into an ally, or at least a colleague with a good working relationship, rather than to continue on as antagonists. “That sounds like the role of civilian lackey.”

  “The king, when he commed me directly to remind me of the importance of this mission, was imprecise on your actual designation and job duties. I gather I have some leeway.”

  Casmir glanced at Asger. “The brig scenario is looking more likely.”

  Ishii shifted his focus as Kim stepped out, porting two boxes that looked like they would have squished her in the full gravity of Odin. He bowed much more deeply to her.

  “Welcome back to the Osprey, Scholar Sato. You also have the title of civilian advisor while you’re here. You’ll find that Dr. Sikou has cleared a dedicated laboratory for you. You have full access to the ship’s fitness and recreation areas. My soldiers will carry your cases.” Ishii waved for some of the men to hurry forward and take them from her. “If you need anything, you can ask any of my crew for assistance.”

  “Thank you,” Kim said.

  “Is it just me,” Casmir said to her, “or are the parameters of our positions vastly different, given that we have the exact same job title?”

  “I bet she’s getting paid more too.” Asger thumped him on the shoulder as Ishii headed for the exit, waving for them to follow.

  Casmir stared at Kim. “You’re getting paid?”

  “You’re not?” She sounded surprised.

  “No, I’m proving myself to the king.”

  “Does that come with benefits and time off?” Kim asked, her delivery as deadpan as usual, even though he knew her well enough to recognize it as a joke.

  “It doesn’t even come with leisurely lunches.”

  “I won’t be obnoxious and point out that you got yourself into this situation,” she said as they trailed Ishii and his men into a wide corridor.

  “That’s very considerate of you.”

  Ishii took them first to sickbay, where he waved Kim into Dr. Sikou’s waiting hands—she was the doctor that Kim had worked with on the research vessel Machu Picchu to find a cure for the pseudo radiation so many of them had been afflicted with while hunting for the ancient wormhole gate.

  Casmir wondered if he would get to see Kim at all during this mission. He felt the urge to blurt an apology through the doorway after her, since he highly doubted she would be stuck up here if he hadn’t hidden the gate from the government.

  But the presence of Ishii and the soldiers kept his tongue still. The next stop was guest quarters, where Asger was given a cabin of decent size. Casmir hoped for one nearby, but Ishii took him another level up and toward the bridge. He stopped before reaching it and waved open a door to a room packed with servers and monitoring systems.

  “Your quarters.” Ishii extended a hand toward a display- and technical manual-filled desk with a chair locked to the deck.

  “Uh, there’s no bed.”

  “You’ll be so busy researching that you won’t need one. You have all the computer power you need to find the gate, and your robot can plug in over there if he needs to.”

  “While the crushers can plug into an outlet, Zee typically absorbs and breaks down simple inorganic material in his environment. He’s kind of like a big autotroph, but instead of producing complex organic compounds, he creates pure energy.”

  Casmir expected Ishii to say “Whatever” and shove him into the little cabin, but he raised his eyebrows.

  “Really? Will you send me the schematics? I’ve been curious about the crushers.” Maybe Ishii hadn’t completely given up on his childhood passions.

  “Yes.” Casmir saw little point in withholding the schematics since the government already had them. Oh, they were supposed to be top secret, and he’d signed paperwork agreeing to that, but Ishii worked for that government, and now that terrorists and who knew who else had the crushers, did it matter? Maybe it would help prompt Ishii to see him as less of an enemy.

  Ishii’s eyebrows rose even higher, as if he hadn’t expected that answer. “Good.”

  Ishii sent a quick, admiring look toward Zee, but then his face closed off again. “Sit down and get to work, Dabrowski. No screwing around. Scour the networks and find out where the gate is. We’ve got Intelligence people looking now, but Jager presumably sent you along because he thinks you’ll see something they won’t.” Ishii’s lips twisted with skepticism. “Don’t even think of having a seizure or getting sick. We’re depending on you. I was reprimanded with demerits going into my record after you disappeared with the gate. This time, we’re going to drop it on the castle doorstep and be blasted heroes.”

  Ishii spun on his heel and stalked away. The door closed automatically, sealing Casmir inside the computer cabin with Zee.

  He feared his thoughts of befriending Ishii were in vain, and he regretted that his actions had resulted in the man getting in trouble.

  “I guess I better get to work,” Casmir murmured. So Ishii could be a hero. Or at least redeem himself in the eyes of his chain of command.

  “Do you know where to look for this gate, Casmir Dabrowski?” Zee took up a guard position by the door, his six-and-a-half feet in
height seeming even larger than usual in the tight quarters.

  “I have some ideas.”

  “I have observed that when humans say that, the answer is truly no.”

  Casmir sighed. “You’re more intuitive than you look, my friend.”

  3

  Dr. Yas Peshlakai stepped onto the bridge of the Fedallah and headed toward the briefing room at the back. He paused when he spotted Captain Rache speaking with Lieutenant Amergin, his security officer who specialized in hacking networks and gathering intelligence.

  The four other men working on the bridge only glanced at Yas before their gazes returned to the forward display or their own stations. Their shoulders were hunched, tense. And Yas saw the reason on the display. The Fedallah was trailing four Kingdom warships through space. It was from a distance, but he wouldn’t call it a safe distance. Rache’s ship had a slydar hull coating that should keep those ships from detecting its heat signature or spotting it on a camera, but… this seemed a blatant flirtation with trouble.

  “Briefing room, Doctor.” Rache pointed a thumb toward the sliding doors, and he and Amergin headed that way, Amergin’s face a smiling combination of biological and cybernetic parts under a broad-brimmed cowboy hat, and Rache’s face, as always, hidden under his black mask.

  “Yes, sir.” Yas followed them.

  He didn’t yet know why he’d been invited to the briefing, as he wasn’t usually a part of the mercenaries’ missions, other than patching people up afterward. He hoped it had something to do with the research Amergin had been doing about Tiamat Station—Yas’s home—and the murder of President Bakas. The murder Yas had been framed for…

  A vain hope, most likely, since Rache was surely following those warships for another reason. Maybe he thought the Kingdom Fleet would lead him to the ancient wormhole gate that he’d almost had in his grasp the previous month. If it did, would he attack all four warships in an attempt to wrest it away? Yas would need to do more than a little patching up, if that was the case.