Gate Quest (Star Kingdom Book 5)

by Lindsay Buroker

  “Which sub is ours?” Asger asked, walking into the bay with a bag, a rifle, his pertundo, and wearing his silver liquid armor, his blond-brown hair tumbling about his shoulders as if someone had styled it for a photo shoot.

  “The one they took that body out of.” Kim pointed, then waved him to the side.

  “Uh.” Asger joined her and Casmir as the crewmen removing the body approached the exit.

  They were carrying her facedown, which revealed a dagger sticking out of her back. A dagger that, judging by all the blood and the holes in her shirt, had been stabbed into her at least ten times before being left.

  “Dear God,” Asger murmured.

  “I don’t think that autopsy is going to be necessary,” Casmir said bleakly as Ishii rejoined their group. He murmured a quick prayer for the poor dead woman.

  “It’s standard operating procedure,” Ishii said. “The cleaning crews will disinfect the area where she was found.”

  “That’s good, but… could we ride in that submarine?” Casmir pointed to one on the opposite side of the bay from the Waddler. As a robotics professor with an advanced degree, he was far too educated and intelligent to genuinely believe in bad mojo, but it didn’t hurt to be safe.

  “Sorry, the combat teams already have their gear packed into the other subs.”

  “Damn.”

  “Why did it take so long to find the body?” Kim was looking toward the exit, though the crew had already disappeared into the corridor with the woman.

  “It—she—was wedged into a luggage compartment,” Ishii said. “It must have been hell on that station. I guess I can’t be surprised. I saw the photo of Chronis with a rope around his neck.” He shook his head and walked toward the exit. “Once the cleaning crew finishes, pack your gear inside. You’re leaving as soon as possible. Rache is probably already down there somewhere. We have to catch up with him.”

  Casmir gazed numbly at the submarine. There had been bodies on Tiamat Station and plenty of signs of violence, but he hadn’t seen anything that violent. He hadn’t gone opening luggage compartments on his trip through the station, but still…

  “At the risk of sounding like a pansy,” he said, “does anyone else have a bad feeling about this?”

  “Yes,” Kim and Asger said together.

  Yas gripped the armrests of his seat in the submarine as it was lowered into a hole in the ice, swaying on the long chain hanging from the Fedallah. He would have felt much more secure in one of the ship’s pods, the smart sides cupping him gently, protecting his spine and organs from the travails of space travel. Instead, he had a narrow band across his waist, cupholders, and children’s magazines about undersea adventures stuck in a rack on the seatback in front of him.

  He wished Jess had come along on the mission, but her engineering assistant had been sent instead, a brooding man in combat armor who sat across the aisle from Yas. Rache was somewhere up front, talking to whatever pilot he’d decided had the skills to navigate underwater as well as in space.

  Five other submarines had already been lowered and released into the dark, deep hole in the ice. It wasn’t the same fissure that Rache’s team had explored on their first visit to the moon. He’d sent two of his shuttles down before the Kingdom ships had arrived in orbit to use sustained blasts from their weapons to melt an entry point in a spot where the ice was only hundreds of meters thick instead of kilometers, the theory being that the astroshamans and their robotic security drones wouldn’t see them coming if they entered hundreds of kilometers away and sneaked in under the ice.

  Yas thought Rache might be underestimating the astroshamans. It seemed far more likely that they knew exactly what was going on, both down on their moon and up in orbit. Maybe in the rest of the system too.

  “One of the Kingdom warships is heading this way,” the comm officer reported.

  “This way?” Rache asked. “To the hole we drilled?”

  “Maybe, sir. Or they may have detected the Fedallah hovering over it. It’s easier to detect the ship, even with the slydar hull camouflage, down on a planet or moon, since it’s affected by air currents and creates shadows.”

  Yas leaned out into the aisle. “Did you ever find that locator beacon, Captain?”

  “We did, yes. And we fired it far away from the moon with a railgun before dropping out of orbit. It doesn’t look like that fooled the Kingdom.” Rache waved to his pilot. “Just get us in the water. I’ll order the Fedallah back up into orbit as soon as all of our subs are in. Then she can play cat-and-mouse with the Kingdom fleet while we handle things down here.”

  Yas hoped that cat-and-mouse game wouldn’t result in anyone being hurt while he was gone. But what if there had been more than one locator beacon? He thought of Jess, still up there on the ship, and the handful of other mercenaries that he spoke to now and then. There were a few decent sorts up there. Some of them even came to the appointments he made for them.

  The submarine rocked as it splashed down, and Yas’s hands tightened around the armrests.

  Rache slid into the seat beside him, not bothering to belt himself in. Maybe his cybernetic upgrades caused him to be less worried about being hurled into the air and cracking his head on the ceiling. Yas should consider getting some.

  “We’re descending now,” the pilot said. “The Fedallah has released us and is heading out, shooting off in the opposite direction of the incoming warship.”

  “Good,” Rache said.

  “Uh, sir? Someone is comming us. It looks like a channel that the submarines use to talk to each other, but it’s not coming from any of our people.”

  Rache snorted. “It’s probably a Kingdom officer. This is what happens when you all shop at the same submarine store.”

  “Do you want me to reply, sir?”

  “No. Just slide us under the ice and head for the power generator we detected on our scouting mission. Run scans and see if you can pinpoint the base itself along the way.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Mind if I try to listen in on the channel chatter of their subs, sir?” the comm officer asked.

  “Not at all,” Rache said. “That’s why I brought you, even though you’ve got the combat prowess of a three-legged hedgehog.”

  “Your sense of humor is coming out more of late, sir. You know that?”

  “I’m working on self-improvement.”

  Yas wondered if Rache’s flirtations with Kim Sato had anything to do with his lighter mood of late. Or maybe he was simply excited to go on a dangerous mission.

  Some people found such things exhilarating. Others squeezed the stuffing out of their armrests.

  “Did you know,” Yas said, eyeing the dark water outside his porthole, “that the hedgehog is one of four mammals brought from Old Earth with a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor that protects against snake venom?”

  “Did you study them in your toxicology classes?”

  “I studied their receptors. They were quite fine.”

  Yas grimaced, waiting for Rache to ask him about the poison he’d been tasked with making… and hadn’t. He hadn’t been able to think of something that would affect astroshamans without being a threat to every human being around. He’d been desperate enough to send a message to Kim Sato to see if she knew of any bacteria that might work. Her reply had been professional but terse, and he suspected it was because they were in competition for the gate.

  That bothered Yas, because he didn’t want to see her as an enemy or a competitor. It also bothered Yas that he hadn’t come up with a solution. He couldn’t help but feel he’d failed Rache in this.

  Surprisingly, given the opening, Rache didn’t bring up poisons. He leaned a casual elbow on his armrest and gripped his chin. “I was hoping we’d have an advantage over the Kingdom submarines and could get to the base ahead of them, since we were here before to scout, but now I’m wondering if we should let them go in first and take the brunt of the astroshamans’ ire, while we try to find a back door to slide thr
ough.”

  “Scouting?” Yas asked. “Is that what you were doing when those drones popped out of the water and started shooting at you?”

  “More or less.”

  “Will we be able to hide from the Kingdom subs down here? Or can they all track each other?” Yas waved toward the small navigation cabin up front. If all of the submarines could speak to each other on the same comm channel, maybe they all kept track of each other automatically.

  “There were trackers, but Chief Khonsari took them out.”

  “We’ve descended to six hundred meters, sir,” the pilot said, “and are successfully traveling along under the ice behind our other five submarines.”

  A faint groan came from the hull.

  Yas’s eyes widened in alarm. “How deep can these subs go before, uhm…”

  “They collapse under the pressure?” Rache asked. “Very deep here. Don’t worry.”

  “Not even about those groans?”

  “If you’re concerned, perhaps you can enjoy that children’s adventure magazine there.”

  “I already looked at it. The advertisements want to sell me a lovely vacation to Balneario del Mar. Which sounds appealing right now. Do I have any leave coming up? We haven’t discussed how mercenaries get vacations.”

  “That’s because you didn’t sign a typical contract. That would have been your opportunity to negotiate for perks.”

  “It was hard to negotiate for perks from under your table while people were shooting at me.”

  “You’ll know to arrange for a better environment when it’s time for you to decide if you want to reenlist.”

  “Definitely,” Yas said.

  “The Kingdom subs are in the water behind us, sir,” the pilot reported.

  “I still can’t believe they used our hole,” Rache muttered. “I was hoping they’d be lured in by that big fissure and that the astroshaman drones would pepper them with fire.”

  “You should have left a few candy bars on the ice to lure them down. From what I’ve observed of the dietary preferences of your men, that might have worked. Assuming soldiers are much the same around the Twelve Systems.”

  “Maybe so.”

  “I’m picking up some of their chatter,” the comm officer said as they sailed along under the ice, the water pitch black outside beyond the submarine’s running lights. “I think they know we’re listening, or at least that it’s a possibility. They’re not saying anything about tactics, but I did get that they’ve got five subs that are going ahead to look for the base—and us if we get in their way—and one that’s going to wait back near the hole in the ice until the gate has been located. Something about their civilian advisors being on board.”

  Rache straightened in his seat. “Advisors? It was plural?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “That might be Kim and Casmir.” Rache looked at Yas. “I can see why they might have brought Casmir to deal with the systems’ preeminent machine-integrated society, but why would Kim be on board? Because they think they’ll need her bacteria or expertise in dealing with that radiation? But wouldn’t they have inoculated all their people before sending them in to potentially get near the gate? The same as we did?”

  “I inoculated everyone,” Yas pointed out, “and you still brought me.”

  “Because you’re a doctor, not because you’re a medical researcher.”

  “The bacteria would only buy us time; they don’t convey immunity.”

  “Hm.” Rache leaned back in his seat. “I suppose it doesn’t matter if she’s along. Casmir is who I was thinking of kidnapping.”

  Yas blinked. “Kidnapping? When did that become part of the plan?”

  “Recently. I wasn’t sure if it would be a possibility, but since they’re following us, it may be feasible, especially if there will only be one sub to deal with. I wasn’t sure they would bring Casmir, but I would far prefer to have his robotics expertise along when we walk up to the gate. We have the same problem that the Kingdom does, that we can’t take that gate on board the Fedallah while it’s oozing that radiation.” Rache lowered his voice. “As far as I know, only Casmir and I are immune to its effects. I’m not sure if he knows much about the gate tech, but I know even less.”

  “And would he appreciate being kidnapped by you?”

  “No, but I could get him to work for me anyway. Especially if I show him a certain video. I’m more concerned about kidnapping Kim for a second time if she’s with him.”

  “Yes, you probably shouldn’t do that repeatedly to a woman you’re romantically interested in.”

  Rache gave him a long look, and Yas decided he shouldn’t bring up such things when his men might overhear. Just because Rache had been in a good mood since leaving the station didn’t erase what he was or what he had been for the last ten years.

  Yas lifted an apologetic hand.

  “We’ll risk it,” Rache said. “Maybe I can convince her it’s for her good too. I’m arrogant enough to believe our team is superior to those Kingdom schlubs and that the odds of surviving this mission are going to be better with us.”

  Yas didn’t want another glare so he didn’t point out that the sentiment was arrogant. Besides, since he was stuck here, he hoped it was true.

  “Maybe you can take him without her,” Yas suggested. “Are there airlocks somewhere on the submarines?”

  Rache nodded. “On the port side back there. They’re designed to let divers go in and out.” He spoke up for the comm officer. “Rasher, tell four of our other subs to continue on and search for the base. Order the Reef Darter to hang back with us. Chung, find us a hiding spot where we can wait while the majority of the Kingdom subs slide past, ideally a nook in the ice where their sonar wouldn’t catch us.”

  “We getting rid of the competition early?” the pilot asked.

  “Even better. We’re going to kidnap their civilian advisors.” Rache leaned out into the aisle and looked forward and back at the armored fighters also buckled into the rows of seats. “You gents interested in a warmup raid?”

  Several grunts and yes, sirs came back.

  Though one cheeky mercenary asked, “There combat bonuses, sir?”

  “That’s how you negotiate for perks,” Rache told Yas.

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  5

  Kim sat buckled in a seat by a porthole as the submarine descended through a deep hole in the ice toward the dark water far below, water that never saw the sun’s influence. Not that such an influence would have mattered much. This moon was far enough away from Hydra’s sun that days on the surface were no brighter than twilight back on Odin.

  A twinge of homesickness went through her at the thought of the planet, the capital city, her lab, and her house that she’d once again left. The squirrels were doubtless confused at the sporadic delivery of their peanuts this year.

  The submarine wobbled as the pilot bumped the icy wall surrounding them, and she grimaced, hoping that didn’t mean he would prove a poor navigator down here. The man had probably only flown spaceships. Kim couldn’t imagine that submarines were similar.

  She shifted her weight, the toe of her heavy boot bumping the bag at her feet. She jerked back in alarm before remembering that she’d placed her vials in a sturdy case inside the bag, so they wouldn’t be easily broken. Still, she felt like a hulking dinosaur in the combat armor Casmir had finagled for them, and she could imagine the boot going right through the case if she accidentally kicked it. She’d already broken her armrest, thanks to whatever servos and gizmos inside added strength to her natural movements.

  “No, no,” came Casmir’s voice from farther up the aisle as Kim bent to tuck her sack safely under her seat. “You can’t get the bonus that way. You have to blow up the mushroom and then kill the ogre.”

  “You sure?” a baritone voice replied. “I got sprayed with mushroom acid last time and died.”

  “After you plant your explosive, make sure to dart back behind a tree, just like when
you blew up the boss on the previous level.”

  “I’ll give it a try.”

  “Good. I’m going to my seat. Let me know if there are any more power glitches.”

  Kim leaned past the empty seat next to her—Casmir had only spent thirty seconds in it so far—in time to see him pat a burly soldier on the armored shoulder.

  “Will do,” the man said, a pair of virtual reality glasses hooked over his ears. His legs were propped on the seat in front of him, and he appeared ready for a long trip.

  Casmir moved back down the aisle toward Kim, but he paused at each row of seats to offer a hand and a bow to the soldiers. To each one, he said a variation of, “Thank you for volunteering for this mission. I have faith that you’ll keep us all alive and we’ll succeed.”

  Most of the men appeared bemused, though they all accepted the handshake. A couple of them said, “You’re welcome, Professor.”

  Kim didn’t know if they had truly volunteered or simply been assigned.

  Asger sat across the aisle from Casmir’s empty seat, and he had his chin clasped in his hand, his elbow on the armrest as he watched the spectacle. When Casmir reached them, he grinned and offered Asger his hand.

  “I didn’t volunteer,” Asger said preemptively, though he accepted the handclasp. “I tried to get myself assigned to the main incursion team so I could hew down astroshamans like bamboo in a canebrake.”

  “Does that mean your mission is no longer to keep me alive?” Casmir touched his hand to his chest. “I’m distressed.”

  “It’s possible the queen still wants that, but I haven’t heard from her in a while. My recent orders from Sir Baron Farley—my boss—made it clear that I’m to help Ishii get the gate without screwing up again.”

  “You haven’t screwed up, and I’ll be certain to tell King Jager that while his minions are holding me upside down over a vat of boiling sap just before dipping me in to be flayed alive.” Casmir smiled and pantomimed something that looked more like a hanging than an upside-down flaying.