Gate Quest (Star Kingdom Book 5)

by Lindsay Buroker

  “It is hot in here. Is it hot in here, Needles?”

  “Uhm, maybe?”

  Kim returned to her seat to sit down. Yas pulled out a scanner and attempted to look busy. A few seconds later, the two men appeared at the hatchway.

  “Doc? Is there really a plague?”

  Yas lowered his scanner. He also didn’t have to feign distress—or graveness. “So far, it’s only affected one person that we know of.”

  “But you’re sure it’s a plague. The Great Plague?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Can you check us for the thing that makes us not taste good?”

  “Yes, that’s easy enough.”

  Yas waved them forward, trying not to notice how large they were in their armor. And how much bone-crunching force that would give any punches they threw at him.

  His hands shook as he pulled out the jet injectors. Even non-medically-inclined individuals might realize he was plugging something into them rather than removing blood.

  He cleared his throat and glanced at their armored upper bodies. “Do you want to take your armor off? Or I can test at your necks if you want.” Where they would be even more likely to notice the full vials in his injector. “But arms are handier.”

  “This is fine, Doc. Just get it done, eh?” One man leaned in, showing Yas the side of his neck.

  Yas didn’t let himself hesitate. He pressed the injector to the man’s skin.

  “Thanks, Doc.” The mercenary stepped out to make room for the pilot, who was frowning. He’d been watching the injection.

  He stepped into sickbay but pointed at Yas’s hand.

  “Don’t you need to take blood to look for stuff in it? What’s that?”

  “I did take blood.” Yas smiled and struggled to come off nonchalant. Why was he doing this? “These new injectors work both ways. Here.”

  Yas reached up, but the pilot caught his wrist. “There’s something already in there. Are you—”

  An arm snaked around the man’s neck, and Kim sprang onto his back, pulling his chin back.

  Yas was so startled he almost dropped the injector.

  The mercenary cursed, reaching for her arm as he sprang backward, ramming her into the bulkhead behind him.

  Yas cursed and rushed in with the injector. The pilot’s head was still back, his neck exposed, but Kim grunted with pain. Yas found skin and tapped the button. The injector hissed. He ducked as the pilot tried to backhand him. A fist whistled over his head.

  Kim jumped off the man’s back before he could ram her into the bulkhead again.

  “Grab them, Corporal!” the pilot snarled.

  But the corporal had already passed out, crumpling in the aisle.

  The pilot roared at Yas, hands raised, but he must have deemed Kim the true threat for he sprang up the aisle at her. She’d backed away, but his armor-enhanced legs carried him toward her in an instant.

  Somehow, she anticipated his speed and got a side kick up in time, planting her boot in his torso. Yas had almost forgotten that she also wore armor. The pilot rocketed back so fast that Yas was almost bowled over. He stumbled back into sickbay as the man flew past the hatchway. A meaty thud sounded when he hit the back.

  “Shit,” Kim whispered and rushed after him.

  When Yas leaned out, the pilot was out, lying atop his buddy. Kim jogged back and knelt, her hand in the air, looking like she didn’t know if she should check his pulse or pry open an eyelid.

  “I’m sure the sedative kicked in,” Yas said, “and that he’ll be fine.”

  “It’s my first time wearing armor. I knew it enhanced strength, but I never kicked someone before while…” Kim looked back, her eyes wide and concerned.

  It was the most emotion he’d seen on her face.

  Yas came out and patted her on the shoulder. “They throw each other around like that all the time. Trust me. I’ll check him, but I’m sure it was the sedative that knocked him out.”

  “All right.” Kim sounded uncertain, but she rose and gave him her spot.

  “Just promise me I haven’t assisted you in doing something that’s going to get any of Rache’s men killed or captured.”

  “I just want to get Casmir out of here, not get anyone killed.”

  “I know, but sometimes, there are unforeseen consequences to pursuing what one wants.”

  The emotion vanished from her face as she donned a mask as effective as Rache’s more literal one. “I’m aware of that. If anything goes wrong, I’ll do my best to make it right. But Rache has been outsmarting the Kingdom for the last ten years. I’m sure he can handle them now.”

  Yes, but Rache was busy inside the base. He wasn’t here. Yas hoped he hadn’t made a mistake.

  Asger walked beside Zee, who carried Casmir, near the back of the group of mercenaries. The distant explosions had grown less frequent, but the ice continued to snap and crack over their heads, and nobody was speaking, only glancing toward the noises and fingering weapons, as if rifle fire could save them if the millions of tons of ice above them collapsed.

  Or was it more likely that the frozen white floor would break away and they would plummet into the depths of the ocean? It was Asger’s first ice base. He didn’t know how such structures worked.

  Rache continued on and on, not hesitating when he came to intersections or tubes that looked like they could carry one higher or lower into the complex on a jet of air. He occasionally glanced at the scanner he held, but he seemed to have made up his mind beforehand and was only referencing it to double-check his route. His men followed him without questioning him.

  Asger was tempted to question him, but if Rache was choosing routes at random, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. He decided to believe the mercenary had found a map of the base before they arrived. Though that supposition made him uneasy, because Asger didn’t think the Kingdom men had been as assiduous or capable with their homework.

  Casmir muttered to himself now and then, his chin tucked to his chest, his helmet comm off so, as he’d said, nobody would have to listen to his mindless babble. Asger doubted it was mindless, but he did worry his friend was experiencing moments of delirium. At least Zee was carrying him in front now, with his arms under Casmir’s shoulders and knees, like one might tote a child to bed. Before, Casmir had been slung over his shoulder. Asger had finally pointed out that he might not be comfortable with all of his blood rushing to his head, and Zee had promptly rearranged him.

  The mercenaries ahead of them parted and let Rache through so that he could walk on Zee’s other side. He looked at Casmir, at Asger, and finally at Zee, who ignored him. Casmir didn’t appear to be aware of him. It was hard to tell if he was awake.

  “Casmir, you look like a damsel in distress being rescued from a tower,” Rache said.

  Asger ground his teeth, irritated at the callousness. “Better than like the villain who killed her father and locked her there.”

  “Her? You agree Casmir is looking feminine and damselly today?”

  “Damselly?” Casmir muttered, flicking his comm back on. “I’m telling Kim you made up a word.”

  “Does she not approve of creative vocabulary?”

  “She approves of proper vocabulary. She corrects me when I make up words.”

  “She might find it quirky and appealing when I do it,” Rache said.

  “No.”

  “Damn.” Rache thumped one of Casmir’s armored calves.

  This earned him a flat look from nanny Zee. Zee didn’t exactly have eyes, more the vague amorphous suggestion of them, but Asger could still tell it was a peeved look.

  “Sir?” someone called back. “There’s light up ahead.”

  “Summon some strength, Casmir,” Rache said. “We’re about to need you.”

  “Haven’t you been needing me all along?”

  “It’s true, and you’ve been doing a good job—for an invalid. If you worked for me, I’d give you a bonus.”

  “What about letting me talk about si
lly topics?”

  “Let’s see if you can fix up this gate, and then we’ll negotiate.” Rache trotted forward to resume his position ahead of his men.

  Asger was tall enough to see past a few of them, though most of the mercenaries were also big men, and he spotted where the tunnel opened into a large chamber, the walls still made of ice.

  As the mercenaries flowed out of the tunnel, weapons fired. Asger whipped up his pertundo, tempted to race forward to help, but he was reluctant to leave Casmir.

  At the noise, Casmir grumbled and shifted in Zee’s grip. “Let me down, please, Zee.”

  “I will do so if you agree to stay behind me, Casmir Dabrowski.”

  “How will I see anything then?”

  Zee set Casmir down behind him. “You may crouch and look between my legs. I must protect you from the threat ahead. I detect unfamiliar life forms.”

  Asger jogged to the opening of the tunnel—Rache and the mercenaries were fanning out, taking cover behind more of the omnipresent pillars as well as stacks of crates and rolling tool chests. A few androids and men with noticeable cyborg parts crouched behind pillars farther into the chamber and in front of the—

  Asger’s breath caught. It was the gate.

  It was still in hundreds of pieces, the long curving metal sections stacked ten high in the cavernous chamber. They were toward the back of the vast space.

  Countless hulking robot defenders similar to the ones back at the harbor dotted the chamber, but they weren’t attacking. They were as inert as the other ones they’d passed. Only the androids and cyborgs were firing.

  Some of those cyborgs weren’t wearing armor. They should be susceptible to Kim’s vials. Unfortunately, they were staying behind the pillars to shoot, and many of them only had small patches of flesh visible among their machine parts. Asger had a limited number of vials, and he couldn’t waste them.

  “Are you responsible for these dead robots, Casmir?” Asger called back as a mercenary darted forward, crouching to use one for cover.

  “Yes.” Casmir peeked around Zee. “But they’re only temporarily offline, not dead. When Moonrazor gets less distracted, she could override my interference and turn them back on.”

  “Then I hope you’ll forgive me for this.”

  Asger stuck his pertundo in its holder and slung the shell gun off his shoulder. Staying in the mouth of the tunnel for as much cover as it would give him, he fired at the robots closest to the android and cyborg defenders. The round exploded when it hit. His target didn’t blow up completely, as he’d hoped, but a chunk of the side did blast apart. Smoke and flames filled the air, and metal shards flew toward a couple of their enemies.

  Rache’s men took advantage of the distraction and stormed across the chamber toward the defenders.

  Asger itched to join the fray, since his pertundo would be more effective against androids and armored foes than many weapons, but he put more of the robot defenders out of commission first. The last thing they needed was for those monstrosities to come to life and attack them.

  He felt cowardly standing back and picking off unmoving enemies, but he doubted he could talk Casmir into doing this. He and Zee had moved up behind him, and Casmir was gaping at the carnage, probably just as disturbed at the destruction of the robots as he would be by the deaths of the human defenders.

  One of Rache’s black-armored mercs flew across the chamber and slammed into a pillar with a thunderous crack, and Asger realized the defenders might not fall easily. The astroshamans had likely been chosen to defend the gate because they were good.

  “She knows we’ve breached the gate room,” Casmir said, gasping and pressing a hand against the wall. “She’s trying to override me and activate these robots. Get the rest of them, Asger. Hurry.”

  He jerked his other hand up to his helmet near his temple—his chip.

  “Is she hurting you somehow?” Asger kept firing, loading shells as rapidly as possible. He’d destroyed at least ten of the robots, but there were dozens of the monoliths out there.

  Casmir shook his head. It could have meant yes or no.

  “Rache,” Asger yelled. “The robots might come to life soon.”

  Even as he focused on another one, yellow power indicators flared to life, and its weapon-arms all came up. They fanned out and fired without hesitation, white flashes of light that Asger thought were DEW-Tek bolts, but when they struck their targets, they exploded. A mercenary in full armor flew into the air as one slammed into his helmet. The explosion tore off his head.

  One of the robots spun toward the corridor where Asger crouched, still firing and trying to eliminate as many of the threats as possible. Several of those arms came up, pointing in their direction.

  “Get back!” Asger yelled.

  He fired at the robot as he scrambled backward himself. Zee sprinted past him, bumping Asger’s shoulder as he ran into the chamber.

  Casmir flattened himself against the wall in the tunnel, out of the robot’s line of sight. Asger’s round went off, but when it exploded, it only took out one corner of the robot. The weapon-arms fired.

  He expected the white bolts to ricochet down the tunnel, and he tried to block Casmir’s body with his own. Several of the bolts zipped toward Zee as he raced for the robot. He leaped and twisted in the air, but one caught him in the shoulder. It exploded, and Asger saw some of his tarry black bits fly in a dozen directions before two energy bolts slammed into the walls of their tunnel.

  Ice exploded, pelting his armor. A crack ripped through the air, and the ceiling collapsed atop Asger and Casmir.

  Asger’s armor protected him, and he barely felt the glacial chunks raining down on them, but they buried him, regardless.

  He snarled and shoved pieces away, determined to unbury himself—and hoping only a small amount of the tunnel had collapsed, not tons and tons.

  The shouts of men and firing of weapons continued, muffled by the ice. Asger cleared enough space to get his pertundo out, and he switched to that, using it as an axe to cut the big slabs of ice that had collapsed on them, then shove them away. He bumped against Casmir’s armored elbow and was careful not to hit him with the weapon.

  Finally, Asger’s head came free, and he clawed himself to the top of the pile. The tunnel was only partially blocked. The team could still escape if they needed to. Good.

  He spotted Casmir’s helmet and hurried to dig him out of the ice, throwing glances over his shoulder toward the fight. He couldn’t see much from inside the half-collapsed tunnel, what remained of it, but he could hear the battle raging. Rache’s voice remained calm as he gave orders. His men roared like bears as they complied.

  “Trying to… get them… back offline,” Casmir gritted out as Asger pulled him from the ice. “But I’ve got… her full attention… now.”

  “Keep trying.” Asger patted him and pulled the shell gun out, knowing there were more enemies, and also knowing he might have to tell Casmir that Zee had been destroyed.

  Abruptly, the sounds of battle stopped.

  Asger rushed out of the tunnel, weapons in hand. The mercenaries, easy to pick out in their black armor, faced piles of rubble and still-standing robots that had stopped moving again, their weapon-arms back at their sides. Eight of them remained standing amid dozens of piles of metal that represented the destroyed robots.

  Asger swallowed at how close one of the still-standing robots was to the tunnel. Less than five steps away. It looked like it had been on the way to annihilate him—or, more likely, Casmir. The person causing Moonrazor the most trouble.

  “Most of the defenders are down,” Rache said. “Two androids got away. We’ll chase them down later. Let’s finish off these robots.”

  Rache stood amid piles of wreckage—and bodies—in the back, as if he’d singlehandedly downed most of the cyborgs and androids. Asger felt a twinge of guilt for not having done more. Even if he’d destroyed a bunch of the robots, it hadn’t been the same as facing enemies and battling them head o
n.

  Some of his men were pausing to look around, seeing the towering stacks of gate sections for the first time. None of the pieces appeared to have been damaged in the battle, though shrapnel littered the floor all around them.

  To Asger’s surprise, Zee stood atop the wreckage of a nearby robot, one that had also been angling for the tunnel. Even though he’d had his shoulder blown off, he was back to his usual self. Asger had forgotten about his ability to suck his bits back together and re-form.

  “I have defeated this inferior robot,” he announced, looking toward Asger.

  No, toward Casmir. Casmir had crept up to the mouth of the tunnel and stood just behind Asger.

  “Hurry and defeat the rest, please,” Casmir said, his voice strained. He gripped his helmet with one hand and wore the expression of a man with the worst headache in the universe.

  “You heard him,” Rache barked. “Blow every nut and screw out of these while they’re turned off.”

  His mercenaries focused on the still-standing robots, all save the one in front of the tunnel. Asger lifted his shell gun to take care of it as Casmir gazed sadly around the chamber, no doubt wishing he could have subverted the mechanical creations instead of ordering them destroyed.

  A second before Asger pulled the trigger, the robot’s power indicators flared to life, far more intense than they had been before. They strobed irritating flashes of light at the tunnel. Maybe the thing was already about to explode.

  Asger fired, happy to help that along. His round took it high in the torso and blew the neck off. The lights stopped flashing.

  But next to him, Casmir crumpled.

  Startled and afraid he’d been struck by shrapnel or an attack, Asger grabbed him and pulled him back into the tunnel, though he couldn’t go far with the collapsed ceiling half filling it.

  “Casmir?” Asger asked uncertainly.

  His legs and arms were twitching, as if his armor was on the fritz. Only then did the truth dawn on Asger. He’d heard about but hadn’t seen one of Casmir’s seizures yet.

  “Shit, what am I supposed to do, Casmir?”

  Footsteps thundered, and Asger raised his weapon, afraid some enemy approached. But it was Zee and Rache running toward them.