Gate Quest (Star Kingdom Book 5)

by Lindsay Buroker

  Qin.

  He closed his eyes. What was she doing? He’d sent a note a week or two earlier, jokingly asking if she’d found any trees in System Cerberus, but he’d mostly wanted to know if she was all right. The last he’d heard, she had been going off with Bonita to try to get that bounty off her head and make the Drucker pirates forget about her. It was a job for a fleet, not two people, and he felt guilty that he couldn’t have gone to help.

  When he’d first met Qin, he’d mistaken her for an enemy and treated her poorly, so that didn’t help with his sense of guilt. As he’d gotten to know her, he’d realized she was a sweet girl—woman—under the fur and fangs, and he’d also seen how she was treated by the average human, especially the average Kingdom human. Somewhere along the way, his feelings had changed, and now he wanted to protect her. Maybe that was silly since she didn’t need protecting, not in the physical sense, but she needed… someone to make the universe a more accepting place for her.

  Maybe he should have mentioned that to her instead of teasing her about trees, but jokes made him feel safer, less vulnerable. He wasn’t ready to contemplate the meaning of his feelings. There was too much else to worry about now.

  Shaking his head, Asger walked out. He would record a response for Farley before he headed down to the moon. He needed to let his frustration and temper ebb first.

  As he stepped onto the bridge, the first thing he heard was Ishii growling at someone.

  “Where in all the dark matter did all these ships come from?” Ishii was sitting in his command chair, which looked far more like a throne than anything President Nguyen would get, and wasn’t addressing any specific bridge officer stationed around him.

  Asger looked at the forward display for evidence of these ships, but all he saw was the curving white-gray horizon of Xolas Moon. The Osprey and the other three Kingdom warships had reached it and taken up orbits.

  Ishii was scowling at his handheld tablet rather than the forward display.

  “The ones approaching Tiamat Station, sir?” an officer asked.

  “No, the ones flying up my ass.”

  Someone sniggered.

  Asger walked up to his chair, wanting to see the tablet.

  Ishii glanced up at him. The fingers of his free hand were curled into a fist. “I’m struggling to maintain my military professionalism this week.”

  “Do you not usually discuss your ass with your officers?”

  “I try to only share my ass troubles with Dr. Sikou.”

  “She’s a lucky woman.”

  “It’s what she spent all those years in medical school for.” Ishii tilted the tablet so Asger could see it.

  Ishii had also been annoyed with Asger after the gate had gone missing, but they’d been through a couple of sticky situations since then—and shared sake in his quarters twice—so he’d been treating Asger more like a confidant lately.

  The tablet’s display showed a dozen dots—ships—flying toward Tiamat Station, all less than a day out. There was also a column of ident codes and a summary of each of the spacecraft. They were from different governments around the system, most from universities rather than militaries.

  “At least they’re not pirates,” Asger said.

  “I’d rather deal with pirates,” Ishii grumbled. “You’re allowed to shoot them.”

  “It doesn’t look like they’re heading here.” Asger waved at the icy white moon on the display. “Maybe we won’t have to deal with them.”

  “They’re close enough to see us on their scanners and wonder what four Kingdom ships are doing hugging up to their barren and supposedly uninhabited moon.”

  “True.”

  “Ambassador Romano has already bribed a few government officials not to notice us.”

  “Is that what he’s here for,” Asger murmured.

  Ishii gave him a dark look. “That was supposed to be all.”

  “Sir?” the officer who’d spoken before asked. “I’ve got some intel on them. It seems that President Nguyen sent out invitations to all the governments in the system. She wants to put together an alliance and is hosting a meeting.”

  “Damn, she moves fast, doesn’t she?” Ishii pushed a hand through his short black hair. “How long has she officially been in office? Two days?”

  “About that, sir.”

  Ishii looked up at Asger. “You know what kind of alliance she’ll want to put together, right?”

  Lunar wing moths fluttered in Asger’s stomach. “One designed to keep the Kingdom out of the system?”

  If that was the end result of Nguyen’s new rule, Asger could see why Jager and Royal Intelligence would be annoyed. Was he deluding himself about the role he’d played? Had he truly done the wrong thing? There’d been so few other options…

  “That’s my guess,” Ishii said. “Which would mean she was just saying what we wanted to hear, and that she never had any intention of negotiating a treaty with us, whether Dabrowski shows up at the table or not.”

  “There’s a ship hailing us, sir,” the comm officer said.

  “One of the ones heading to this meeting?” Ishii curled a lip.

  “No. This is a big mining ship that someone fortified with a lot of weapons. It’s been in the system longer than we have—it was lurking in the asteroids of the outer belt when we first came in. Now, it’s heading our way.”

  “The system is getting extra popular, isn’t it?”

  The officer didn’t answer, but someone brought up a visual of the ship on the forward display. It was long, rectangular, and large enough to spin and provide gravity for its crew. Rail guns, sun destroyers, and cannons were mounted on all of its sides.

  “That looks more like a pirate ship than a mining ship,” Asger said.

  “No kidding. Tibbs, tell Colonel Jeppesen to get his marine teams together and have our engineers finish prepping the subs. All these ships are making me nervous. I want our people in the water and to find that gate yesterday.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Do we answer the hail, sir?” the comm officer asked.

  “You get an ident on that ship?” Ishii asked.

  “Uh, not a real one. We’re reading it as a mining ship from the Songtham family, but they were usurped by the Dubashis ten years ago and don’t legally own any ships in their own name anymore.”

  “Let’s see what they have to say.” Ishii waved at the display.

  A bald, pale-skinned man with freckles and a red mustache appeared, then bowed deeply. “Did I get it right? My bow? That’s how they do it in the Kingdom, isn’t it?”

  “That’s how we do it.” Ishii didn’t bow back. He identified himself and said, “Who are you?”

  “Captain Cullen. I have a proposition for you, Osprey.”

  “What do you and that large ship do for a living, Captain Cullen?” Ishii asked.

  “Exploratory mining, of course.”

  “With railguns and sun destroyers?”

  “Sometimes asteroids put up a fight.” Cullen smiled easily.

  “Uh huh. What’s your proposition?”

  “We’ve learned through various channels that you have a Professor Casmir Dabrowski on board. Is that correct?”

  Asger rocked back. This wasn’t about that bounty again, was it?

  He made a note to ask Farley if the knights or Royal Intelligence knew why a Miners’ Union family was gunning for Casmir. Farley might not tell him even if he knew, but Asger felt compelled to look out for his friend.

  “What do you want with him?” Ishii asked without admitting they had him.

  The lift doors opened, and Ambassador Romano walked onto the bridge.

  Ishii, focused on the display, didn’t seem to see him.

  “We could use a roboticist,” Cullen said. “We have a large number of mining robots on board, and many are on the fritz. We’re willing to offer five thousand Union dollars.”

  “You want to buy a human being?” Ishii gaped at him.

  “Yes, th
at’s legal in several systems.”

  “Not this one, and not in the Kingdom either. Dabrowski is a Kingdom subject.”

  The ambassador, eyeing the cheeky Captain Cullen curiously, came to stand next to Asger and Ishii.

  “Let’s not quibble, Osprey,” Cullen said. “The rules are flexible in the space between habitats and planets. I’ll go as high as seven thousand, and I’ll also give you some information that I recently purchased. Invaluable information, especially to someone like yourself.”

  “I’m sure. Dabrowski isn’t—”

  “What information?” Romano interrupted.

  Ishii shot him a glare and muted the comm. “It’s not Kingdom policy to negotiate with pirates or traffickers of human slaves.”

  “Do we have proof that this man is either?” Romano asked.

  “He’s as much as admitted it.”

  “Hm, nonetheless, it would behoove you to gather as much intelligence as possible.”

  Ishii continued to glare for several seconds—he didn’t look like he appreciated having some civilian attaché on his ship and interfering with his command. Asger didn’t blame him. He half-expected Ishii to ask one of his men, or even Asger, to tote the ambassador off the bridge, but Romano had made it clear that he was good buddies with the king, so he expected preferential treatment.

  Ishii un-muted the comm. “What information are you offering, Captain?”

  Cullen smiled broadly, as if the trap he’d laid had sprung in front of his eyes. Asger was positive that nothing good would come from talking to this guy.

  “It turns out that an associate of mine was on Tiamat Station during the upheaval a few days ago. I believe your warships were also there but weren’t invited to dock.”

  “So?”

  “So that’s unfortunate, because you might have been able to do what my brazen associate was able to do.”

  “And that was?” Ishii’s fingers were curled into fists again. Unfortunate that one couldn’t send punches through a video channel.

  “She noticed that a couple of shuttles owned by Captain Tenebris Rache, the infamous mercenary, came in to dock. She, being an entrepreneurial gatherer and seller of information, sent a drone out to watch his crew. It was, unfortunately, spotted and shot down, but not before she learned they were skulking around the station and stealing submarines of all things. Can you imagine?”

  “No.”

  “No? Are you sure? I can’t help but notice your little fleet is orbiting a moon with an ocean under the ice. What an odd place to visit.”

  Ishii looked at Romano, not muting the comm. “This is a waste of time. This buffoon doesn’t have any information we don’t already know.”

  “Ah, but wait.” Cullen lifted his hand. “There’s more. While Rache’s people were stealing these submarines, my brazen friend programmed another drone, a small and less noticeable one. She sent it into one of his shuttles when the hatch was opened, had it place a locator beacon on board, and then zip out. His men were too busy to notice. She then sold me the frequency of the locator beacon in case I wished to find the shuttle once it was back aboard Rache’s ship, the Fedallah, which has, I believe, slydar coating that makes it difficult for your people to track.”

  “For anyone to track,” Ishii said.

  “Anyone who doesn’t have the frequency of the locator beacon.” Cullen smiled.

  “Which you’ll give to us, along with seven thousand dollars, for Dabrowski?” Romano asked.

  “Yes, it’s a fabulous deal. Especially considering I had to pay ten thousand for the frequency. She’s a shrewd negotiator, my contact.”

  “But you’d be turning Dabrowski over to Prince Dubashi,” Ishii said, “who wants him dead, and is paying fifty thousand Union dollars to the person who makes that happen.”

  “Is he?” Cullen’s mouth opened, and he touched his hand to his cheek. “How interesting. I, of course, need him to fix robots on my ship, so I can’t take advantage of that.”

  “Uh huh. We’re not interested. Don’t comm us again.” Ishii made a throat-cutting motion to his officer, and the face on the display disappeared.

  Ambassador Romano frowned. “You should have kept him talking and learned as much as you could.”

  “We did. He wants Dabrowski to sell to the prince, and the odds of him having anything to track Rache are close to zero.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure,” Romano said. “He knew what was going on in that station, and there’s no way he should have unless someone inside reported to him.”

  “For all we know, the whole story is on the news network by now.”

  “It’s not, sir,” the bridge intelligence officer offered. “We’ve been monitoring all of the media outlets. Tiamat Station has recently started broadcasting again, after a hiatus of several days, but they’re saying nothing of what happened, only that control has been re-established and it’s safe to visit. There’s nothing out there to suggest Rache is even in the system, not on the public channels.”

  The look Ishii shot him didn’t appear that appreciative, and the officer turned back to his station.

  Romano opened his mouth, but Ishii spoke first. “We don’t deal with pirates, criminals, or other miscreants, Ambassador. I’m sure you’re familiar with Kingdom policy. We also don’t sell our subjects to slavers or bounty hunters to gain intel.”

  “I wasn’t suggesting that,” Romano said dryly, “just that we should have milked this contact for all we could. If we could get that frequency, it could be invaluable. Rache is our biggest competitor for the gate, after the astroshamans themselves.”

  Ishii rose from his seat. “You don’t have to tell me that. That’s why we’re getting our teams together right away. We’ll beat him down there. Even if we don’t, he has one ship, and we have four.”

  “Superior numbers have rarely resulted in the Kingdom defeating him,” Romano pointed out. “And we managed to acquire only an equal number of submarines.”

  Judging by Ishii’s clenched jaw and the muscle ticking in his cheek, he knew that and didn’t appreciate being reminded of it. “We’ll handle it, Ambassador. In the meantime, I would appreciate it if you would return to your quarters and leave the bridge to military personnel.”

  Asger thought Romano might argue, but he merely clasped his hands behind his back and walked away with a bland, “As you wish, Captain.”

  Asger frowned after him, finding that easy acquiescence unsettling.

  “What a pain in the ass,” Ishii said after the lift doors closed. He didn’t bother to lower his voice.

  Asger wondered how their conversation had gone when Romano had given the order to obliterate the defenseless pirate ships.

  “Given your problems in that area today, you better make an appointment to see Dr. Sikou.” Asger smiled, hoping to lighten Ishii’s mood, though his own mood was bleak. “Maybe she has a helpful cream she can offer you.”

  “Funny. If you don’t make it as a knight, you can get a comedy gig at a nightclub.”

  “That wouldn’t be necessary. My agent has a new modeling job lined up for me when I get home.”

  “Your face going to be on more tubes of underwear?”

  Damn, was there anybody who hadn’t seen that?

  “Baseball bats and zero-g rackets actually.”

  “You’re moving up in the universe.” Ishii headed to one of his stations to check on an officer.

  “If only that were true,” Asger muttered, not wanting to contemplate the possibility that he might truly be kicked out of the knighthood and would have to fall back on modeling and competitive bodybuilding.

  What would his father say about that? Not that he’d seen the man or even heard from him in over a year. His father had made it clear when he hadn’t shown up for Asger’s graduation ceremony that he didn’t care about him. Someday, he’d learn how to keep the sarcastic jerk from taking up space in his mind.

  “Someday,” he sighed, heading for the lift so he could warn Casmir th
at bounty hunters were still looking for him.

  Dr. Yas Peshlakai reported to the largest shuttle bay on the Fedallah, not because Captain Rache had ordered it but because Chief Jess Khonsari had requested it.

  He stepped into a cacophony of controlled chaos. The entire engineering department was there, preparing six long, white and blue submarines for their deployment. Names on the sides such as Tiamat Tours: Bubbles 3 were a reminder that they hadn’t been built to go into battle. The engineers were affixing torpedo launchers to the hulls, but Yas didn’t envy the teams that would go down. The submarines seemed paltry devices for attacking a high-tech base full of who knew how many human and robot defenders.

  Cranes and heavy machinery that Yas couldn’t name had been brought out of storage and assembled, presumably to lower the submarines into the ocean. He remembered the fissure that Rache’s team had explored—and he also remembered the drones that had zipped out of it and attacked them. What would be waiting to defend the ocean entrance this time?

  “Over here, Doc.” Jess waved to him.

  Pain furrowed her brow, and she lacked her usual smile. He’d brought his medical kit, assuming someone was injured—nobody requested his presence otherwise—and he hurried over.

  “What is it Je— Chief?”

  “You can call me Jess. It’s fine.” She smiled briefly, but it appeared forced. “Especially now. I heard you found your parents and that the sleazy usurper who killed your former president got hanged by his own people. That means you’re not a criminal anymore, right?”

  Yas eyed the submarines. “I suppose that depends on the various systems’ treatment of men who aid criminals.”

  Jess also looked at the submarines. “We’re not doing crime. We’re collecting an artifact from people who stole it. Though I’m upset that it’s the astroshamans. I still wish… well, I told you what I wish.”

  Yes, she’d expressed interest in their religion and those who left their human bodies behind to live entirely as machines. Maybe she thought that would be a way to escape the pain she dealt with from being a human with so many cybernetic parts. Or just from being a human.