Crossfire (Star Kingdom Book 4)

by Lindsay Buroker

  “I assumed you meant wait in the building,” Kim said.

  “No, I meant wait on that floor tile back there without stepping over the crack.”

  “That’s a tyrannical definition of the word.” She crinkled her nose as they climbed the stairs, for the smell grew stronger, with a hint of smoke hazing the air.

  “I prefer to walk into danger first so the bullets are less likely to hit the doctors and scholars in my party.”

  “That’s very noble of you. It must be why you consider yourself the main event.”

  Rache caught his toe on one of the steps. He only flailed slightly and for a split second, but it was the first ungraceful thing Kim had seen from him, and she grinned.

  This time, Rache gave her the hard look. “Is there anything Casmir doesn’t tell you?”

  “Very little. He’s chatty.”

  “No kidding.”

  Rache trotted ahead at the landing, making sure he placed himself into danger first. Kim didn’t object to that—he was the one in armor. She just bristled at people telling her what to do, even if it was a logical thing to do.

  The smoke was thicker on the second floor, but on the third floor, it was so dense that Kim couldn’t see more than twenty feet down the hallway. She could make out that doors had been blown inward, some hanging warped and twisted from a single hinge. The floor tiles were scorched or missing entirely.

  Her gut knotted with fresh worry, and she quickened her pace. They found wreckage in the first two laboratories, equipment blown asunder and holes ripped in walls. A portable freezer unit half blocked the doorway of the third, the white material warped and blackened.

  Kim remembered Chi talking about the freezers he wanted to leave with, and she knew it was his lab before Yas pointed to a soot-darkened plaque on the wall with her corporation’s name and logo. Rache led the way in, boots crunching on shards of glass, broken equipment, and shattered panels that had fallen from the ceiling. A wall in the back had been targeted with an explosive, cabinets and counters and huge cases toppling, and half the lab from the level above had tumbled down through the floor. Countless people could be buried under that rubble.

  “Why would anyone attack a medical research lab?” Kim asked, as angry and frustrated as she was worried. She remembered Chi talking about the potential of one side taking hostages to force the hand of the other.

  She paused at a pile of ceiling panels half burying a float chair tipped on its side, its hover engine off. Hadn’t Chi said something about the princess racing around in her float chair?

  Were they too late? Would they find Chi and the princess dead under the rubble?

  “There’s someone alive back here.” Rache tossed a broken support beam aside.

  A feminine groan escaped from under the rubble. Kim started forward to help, but Rache pushed the heavy pieces aside far more easily than she could, so she paused, not wanting to get in the way.

  “Zee,” Kim said, realizing that might be the princess under there, “will you help me unbury this chair?”

  “Yes, Kim Sato.”

  She had no idea if it would still work—maybe Casmir could fix it if it didn’t—but if the princess couldn’t walk, she would need it. Kim doubted anyone would volunteer to be carried by Zee, though she was sure any robot that Casmir had designed would be amenable to giving piggyback rides.

  Another groan came from the pile, and Yas squeezed past Kim and Zee to wait at Rache’s side, his medical kit in hand. Rache tossed aside the last of the rubble covering the crumpled girl, and stepped back so Yas could attend her.

  “Huh,” Rache said, glancing from the girl to the chair. She was dark skinned with tight rows of black hair that probably hung to her waist when she was sitting upright. Now they were tangled all about her, covered with pale dust. “There really is a princess.”

  “You recognize her?” Kim asked.

  “Princess Tambora of Shango Habitat in System Boar. She’s the second born. The women lead there, so she’s theoretically second in line for the throne after her sister, but it’s a matriarchal society full of warrior women, so I don’t know if she’s considered a possible heir. I think I remember something about her being groomed as a diplomat. There’s another younger sister too.”

  “I’ve heard of the habitat but don’t know much about it,” Kim admitted.

  At first, she was surprised that Rache did, but she reminded herself that Odin and System Lion hadn’t been his home for a long time. He’d probably been to the rest of the systems often in his travels for work.

  “We’ve stopped a few times for supplies and so the men could take leave.” His tone turned dry. “Some of the men get excited by warrior women.”

  “You don’t?” Kim got the float chair positioned upright and tried to turn it on.

  “No,” Rache said shortly. More tersely than she expected.

  She thought of the pictures of Thea and thought she’d appeared athletic—and beautiful—if not a warrior woman. The Kingdom allowed women to serve in the Fleet and the Kingdom Guard, but there was an unsubtle implication that it was more desirable and traditional to be a mother and caregiver than a soldier or law enforcer.

  “Shit,” Rache said.

  “What?” Kim glanced at Yas and the princess.

  He was giving her a shot of something, but that wasn’t what Rache was looking at. He was simply staring at a wall. Getting an update from his team?

  “A bunch of pirate warships showed up. The Rogue Asteroids.”

  “Is that the name of the pirates or a hint as to what their ships look like?”

  Rache looked at her. “It’s one of the biggest pirate families. They brought six ships that are visible, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more out there with slydar hulls. It looks like they brought their whole fleet. I’ll check with my intelligence officer, but at last count, they’ve got twelve ships total. They do a lot of mercenary work as well as simple marauding and mayhem. It’s rumored the Miners’ Union uses them and considers them more privateers than pirates, at least around their space.”

  “What are they doing here?” Kim thought of the new bounty on Casmir’s head, courtesy of that Miners’ Union prince, and her stomach sank. This couldn’t have something to do with him, could it? Who would send an entire fleet of ships to collect a bounty on one man?

  “No idea, but they have the station surrounded.”

  “What are the Kingdom ships doing?”

  “Nothing yet.”

  “Nothing? Isn’t that a little odd?”

  If the Kingdom ships were outnumbered and didn’t want a fight, Kim would expect them to back away. If they intended to fight to keep the pirates from attacking the station, they would start maneuvering and posturing, wouldn’t they? Maybe the two fleets were negotiating—or threatening each other—right now.

  “If this was happening to a Kingdom station in System Lion, they would be attacking already, but Tiamat Station is very much in dispute right now, and backup for the Kingdom ships is days away.”

  “Are the pirate ships equal to the Kingdom warships?”

  “In firepower and crew size, they’re similar.”

  Kim grimaced. The Osprey was her ride back home, so she’d been hoping he would say the Kingdom ships had four times the firepower. Especially if there were potentially three times the number of pirate ships out there.

  “Easy,” Yas murmured. “Easy. We’re here to help. I’m a doctor.”

  He helped Tambora to sit up, and she peered blearily around at them with dark brown eyes tight with pain. Her gaze skimmed over Kim and Yas and lingered on Rache in his black combat armor before settling on Zee, her mouth dropping as her eyes opened wide in alarm.

  Kim wished Casmir had gotten him that pink bow tie she’d suggested.

  “You’re from the Kingdom,” Tambora whispered, her tone not implying it was a good thing.

  “Only I am,” Kim said, “but we’re not soldiers.”

  Tambora glanced at R
ache.

  “I’m not.” Kim held up her open hands, hoping the rifle slung across her back wouldn’t belie the words. “I’m a civilian, and I work for Parvus Biologia. We came looking for Scholar Chi. He’s a colleague of mine. He mentioned that you were here picking up specimens and got trapped when the chaos broke out.”

  Tambora groaned and slumped back against the rubble. “They took him. I tried to stop them, but I’m not a warrior.” She dropped her gaze to her slender legs. Kim wondered what injury or affliction she had that modern medicine hadn’t been able to cure. “I did throw a book at one of them. After I tried to run over him with my float chair. They were dragging off Scholar Chi! But my efforts were ineffective.” Her shoulders slumped low. “And then they blew up the lab. I didn’t think— I thought I would die.” She glanced toward the ceiling—the collapsed ceiling—above.

  “Who took Chi?” Rache asked.

  “Do you know if they took anyone else?” Yas added. “My parents—the Peshlakais—are missing too.”

  “I don’t know them. I’ve only been here a week.” Tambora frowned at Rache. “You are not from Parvus Biologia.”

  “You don’t think so? Maybe I’m Scholar Sato’s bodyguard.”

  “I am a Z-6000,” Zee proclaimed, sounding indignant, “programmed to protect Kim Sato and Casmir Dabrowski.”

  “Is that robot arguing that I can’t be your bodyguard because he’s already got the gig?” Rache asked Kim.

  “I think so.”

  Tambora started to say something, but a couple of clicks and a beep sounded from the wall near the door.

  Rache spun toward the noise with his rifle ready to fire. He lowered it when he saw a speaker dangling from the wall by a tangle of wires.

  “Greetings, Tiamat Station,” a familiar voice said. Casmir. What was he doing? “My name is Professor Casmir Dabrowski, and I’m here as a civilian advisor to try to help with some of the problems. For starters, I’ve reprogrammed your security robots—the big Aegis Defenders with cannons and grippers. They were working for Civil Security and helping round up prisoners, I understand, but they are now programmed to protect anyone who is in trouble. I’m placing them in key places around the station, so if anyone is bothering you, just run up to one. They will do their best to stop any conflict in their presence. Thank you for listening. I’ll update you when we’ve made more progress on—uhm, other fronts.”

  “Does he know the meaning of the word stealth?” Rache asked. “You’re not supposed to take over an enemy’s network and then tell the enemy all about it over an open comm.”

  “I’m sure they’d already noticed,” Kim murmured.

  She didn’t know what Casmir was up to—maybe he genuinely only wanted to help the locals—but wouldn’t be surprised if he had a plan. She hoped he had a plan. Someone here needed one, or the entire station might be stardust soon. She doubted all of those pirates had shown up to check out the brothels.

  “That name is familiar.” Tambora’s face scrunched with concentration. “Dabrowski. Does he know Princess Oku?”

  Rache snorted.

  “Yes,” Kim said. “He—we’re—working on a bee project for her.”

  “Yes.” Tambora pointed at her as if to award her a prize for the right answer, and she smiled for the first time. “The bees are for my habitat. Shango. We’ve been working together for a year to—”

  Rache held up a hand. “Let’s save bee chat for after we’ve found the missing people. Tell us anything you know about where they may have been taken. And tell us who took them.”

  Kim frowned at him, but Yas was nodding vigorously, and she admitted Rache was right. It was possible the people taking hostages might think to sacrifice some of them soon to make a point. She didn’t even know which side had them right now.

  “I don’t like him,” Tambora whispered to Kim.

  “He takes some getting used to. Will you help us find Chi?” Kim tapped the power button on the float chair and was relieved when it rumbled to life, air kicking at her legs as the hover jets activated and it rose a couple of inches off the floor.

  “Yes. It’s the group who calls themselves the Bakas Vengers—like avengers, I think. They took the hostages. They’ve been collecting people for days, but they got extra worried when Kingdom warships showed up. They’re saying they’ll do whatever it takes to keep the Kingdom off their station.”

  “Mild-mannered, one-hundred-and-fifty-year-old President Bakas inspired a group calling themselves avengers?” Yas gathered Tambora into his arms and carried her toward the chair.

  “Vengers.” Tambora sighed, looking indignant at being carried, but she probably would have struggled to get past the rubble and over to the chair on her own, especially since she was holding her wrist gingerly, had a gash in the side of her face, and a swollen knot on one temple.

  “These people are working against the Kingdom?” Rache’s tone had a weird note in it.

  Kim realized it was probably because he thought he should join them, not oppose them.

  “If they have my parents and think using them as hostages is a good idea,” Yas said wearily, “I don’t care who they’re working for or against.”

  “Hm,” was all Rache said.

  “Do you know where the hostages were taken?” Kim asked Tambora, hoping Rache wouldn’t balk at helping get them out. If he did, she still had Zee. And it sounded like she might have Yas, too, though he wouldn’t be effective in a fight.

  “The Vengers have Levels 6 and 7, and I heard the men say something about taking Scholar Chi to the Astrikos Gymnasium. The president’s Civil Security troops have Levels 1 and 2, which means all of the shipyards, industrial facilities, and shuttle bays.” Tambora grimaced. “Including the shuttle bay where my ship is parked. When the Kingdom fleet showed up, my bodyguard and advisor left me here with Scholar Chi so they could try to find a way to the bay, clear it, and then come back and get me. They were worried I might be taken as a hostage and that the fighting would escalate even further. Which it did.” She frowned around at the mangled lab.

  Booms, shouts, and gunfire continued to sound in the distance, though not as frequently as before. Maybe Casmir’s robots were helping calm down the situation.

  “We’ll help you find a way off,” Kim said, following Rache as he led the way out.

  “Onto one of the Kingdom warships?” Tambora asked dubiously, steering her float chair out the door.

  Yas came right after her, lifting a steadying hand whenever the chair wobbled.

  “If you’re a friend of Princess Oku’s, you’ll be safe with the Fleet,” Kim said.

  “Are you sure? From our conversations, I’ve gathered she’s not… well, she says she’s found it safest to stay out of politics and let her people think she’s decorative. Which is a sentiment I can understand completely, but if you’re not crucial to the workings of a society, sometimes people see you as expendable.”

  “You’ll be safe,” Kim said firmly. “Also, if you tell Casmir that you know Oku, I’m sure he’ll move galaxies to help you.”

  Rache glanced back at that comment, but he didn’t say anything, simply leading the party down the stairs, Zee now walking at his side.

  “Are roboticists powerful in the Kingdom?” Tambora asked skeptically.

  “Anyone who can arrive at an unfamiliar space station and take over all the wireless networks and robots within ten minutes is powerful. Casmir just has a knack for making people not realize it.” Because he didn’t realize it, Kim added silently.

  Rache stopped when they reached the empty lobby and drew Kim aside. “What are the odds that you would wait here with the princess and Dr. Peshlakai while I go and free the hostages?”

  “I don’t know. How many tiles would I get?” Kim waved at the floor.

  “I’d be willing to grant you the whole lobby. Or maybe that short hallway over there behind the reception desk. There aren’t any windows. You and Casmir’s hulking bodyguard could more easily defend the spa
ce.”

  Kim wanted to object to the idea of hiding while he risked himself searching for her colleague, but it wasn’t logical to drag an injured princess and doctor around a station with threats around every corner. Still, she wasn’t useless. She could help in a fight, or maybe provide a distraction for him while he went in to fight.

  “You don’t think you’ll need help?” Kim didn’t know how many people these Vengers had, but a gym full of hostages would be well guarded. Rache wouldn’t be the only one with combat armor.

  “I can call up some of my men if it looks too challenging.”

  “But if it’s only mildly challenging, you’ll fling yourself into danger alone?”

  “I am the main event.”

  She snorted, wishing he weren’t wearing the mask, because she would have liked to see his eyes crinkle with humor as he said that. He might have been serious when he’d told it to Casmir, but she was positive he was smirking now.

  “I’m willing to be the distraction.” Kim pulled a couple of vials out of her pouch, held them on her palm, and raised her eyebrows. “And I’m sure Zee is too. You could get one of your men to come here and keep an eye on Yas and the princess, couldn’t you?”

  He hesitated, face tilted down toward the vials.

  “If there’s a point where negotiating might be better than outright violence, I may be a better person to do it, since I have a connection to the station through Chi and my corporation.” Kim could envision Rache mowing down people left and right, as he’d done with those terrorists, but they weren’t dealing with terrorists this time. There might be some opportunists out there, but those in charge were doing what they believed they had to do to defend their home and their freedoms.

  “All right,” Rache said. “Dr. Peshlakai, I’ll send Chaplain to protect you two while I find your parents. Stay out of sight until he gets here.”

  Now Yas hesitated—maybe he also wanted to go along—but he glanced at the injured princess and nodded. “Yes, sir. Thank you.”