The Ruins of Karzelek (The Mandrake Company series Book 4)

by Lionsdrake, Ruby

  The ministrations could not have felt good, and sweat gleamed on Sedge’s forehead, but he appeared to be in more of a state of bliss than of pain. Because of her? Kalish would not have guessed that her presence could have that impact on anyone, and she struggled not to grow teary-eyed under his gaze. She wanted to tell him how she had felt when he had tumbled over the ledge, but having Tick right there made her tongue shy.

  “Thank you for your help,” Sedge whispered to Kalish.

  “You’re welcome, buddy.” Tick slapped him on the thigh, winked at Kalish, and handed her the injector. “Stab him with that whenever you get tired of his blathering.” He stood up, leaving the first-aid kit on the deck and glancing toward the cockpit, where Striker and Thatcher stared intently out the view screen. Soft thrums went through the shuttle as weapons fired. “I’m going to check on Striker, make sure he doesn’t shoot the wrong thing.”

  “You’re welcome,” Kalish replied once Tick had ambled up the aisle.

  “I wasn’t sure,” Sedge said, his steady gaze faltering. He looked down at her hand, still clasping his. “After what I did, I thought maybe you would leave me there.”

  Kalish felt her eyebrows fly up. Had he honestly thought she was that angry with him? It was true she had felt betrayed by his poking into her files—and the revelations about his history had disturbed her as well—but she would never leave someone to die, certainly not him. Whatever questionable things he might have done in the past, he had been nothing but kind to her. More than kind. He had been useful, and that meant as much to her as kindness, if not more. They would not have made it this far without his help.

  “I’m sorry,” Sedge whispered. “It was unfair of me to consider that. Logically, I know you couldn’t be that cruel, but strange and terrified thoughts run through a man’s head when he’s on the verge of dying.”

  His expression grew bleak, and she wanted nothing more than to comfort him. But putting an arm around his shoulders would only hurt him, so she kept herself to stroking his hand. Tick had joined Striker and Thatcher, and he was probably not paying attention to their conversation, but Kalish still found it difficult to speak openly of her feelings in a shuttle that had grown quiet as the men concentrated. They must have escaped the robots, but they still had to escape the booby trap.

  “Letting you fall would have been inconsiderate of me,” she said, meeting his gaze and willing him to understand that she meant more than the light words implied. “You saved my life twice. It was my turn.”

  “Yes, thank you. Kalish? I’m sorry that I snooped—that I pried. I just wanted to help.”

  Help? How? “What were you looking for in my files?”

  Sedge hesitated. Afraid she would not approve? Or that she would grow angry with him again?

  “You can tell me,” Kalish added, trying to make her voice gentle. She had lashed out at him before and could understand why he might be wary of speaking his mind, but she wanted to know what he had meant.

  “I wanted to know who held your father. I thought maybe if I knew that, I could come up with a way to help, just in case this didn’t turn out the way you hoped. Or even if it did, I thought you should be able to keep the ship for your own gain instead of handing it over to some blackmailing, kidnapping pirate. I... I’m sure you won’t be pleased about this, but I sent the information to Captain Mandrake.” He avoided her eyes, grimacing a few times as the repair kit hummed, but that did not keep him from speaking rapidly, as if he had longed to confess this all along. “I couldn’t imagine what he could do while stuck in orbit here, since that biological agent would have needed to be delivered repeatedly or it would simply dissipate in the large caverns, but he’s been around the system for a long time, and I thought he might know the pirate or know someone who could deal with the pirate... something.”

  “So you know all about Dad, and the ship too,” Kalish said, struggling to process his words—and not to grow upset with him. That he had cared enough to help meant much, but she was not comfortable with the idea that the mercenary captain now knew so much about her. Still, if Sedge had thought Mandrake could help, was it possible he could? That even if they failed down here, some other solution might present itself? She might hope for that, but what if Mandrake Company took some action that resulted in her father being killed when he might not have been otherwise? She swallowed and closed her eyes.

  “I assumed you knew this already, that your mother had figured out which files I had been looking at,” Sedge said softly.

  “No, Mother stormed in because she had been looking up you.” Kalish opened her eyes, finding his again, longing to finally get the full truth about him. “And the fact that you were kicked out of the Fleet after killing—the article said murdering—your commanding officer.”

  He winced. “Oh.”

  “What happened?”

  His eyebrows rose in surprise. Had he not expected an invitation to explain? As if Kalish hadn’t wanted to know the truth since Mom had first thrust the information at her...

  “Captain Huntington was... the type of person to take advantage of his rank,” Sedge said. “He was a good tactical officer, so nobody above him paid too much attention to what others would consider crimes. Some were aware of them, since officers tended to report him after they had safely moved on to another ship and were in another chain of command, but they were usually crimes against civilians instead of against his fellow officers and soldiers. I had heard stories, and because of my, ah, snooping tendencies as you might call them—”

  He gave her a wary glance, but Kalish barely noticed, intent on listening to his tale.

  “I had seen some of the kinds of files he kept on his personal tablet,” Sedge continued. “He had quite a collection of child pornography, which is... more illegal in some places than in others, but frowned upon in the Fleet. What you have on your personal computer won’t get you kicked out, but he was said to, ah, do more than watch vids. It wasn’t until we were down on Dandarisk IX that I saw him do anything untoward myself. We were protecting GalCon’s agricultural interests from rebels who had arisen there, blowing up silos in an attempt to spite the government. Anyway, there wasn’t an official garrison there, so it was just our ship. It was a Python Saucer, so it could land on the farm fine. We had our quarters on board, and there was no reason to spend nights in the local community, but some of the men went out and found themselves women, and he went out and found himself... younger people.”

  Sedge looked away from her, his eyes locked on distant memories. “I was the officer on watch one night when a mother with a black eye came to report him to me. The sergeant of the watch said to ignore it, to not put it on the record or say a word about it. Maybe I could have pretended it wasn’t happening if that woman hadn’t come to the ship, but... I couldn’t. I was furious after her story, and when I picked up my pistol and stalked after her, I remember thinking that taking the weapon was a bad idea and that nothing good for my career would come of the night.”

  Sedge closed his eyes and let his head thunk back against the hull. He grimaced, his face tight with pain, perhaps from the memories as much as from his injury. Kalish wanted to tell him to take the sedative, that she could wait for the rest, but she could not bring herself to interrupt him. She wanted to hear all of the tale, and he seemed intent on finishing it.

  “I was right, but I did it anyway. When I walked in, I lost it. I didn’t even give him a chance to explain. What kind of explanation could there be for that? There wasn’t one. I shot him. My hand was shaking though. Fury, anger, all of that. So it wasn’t a killing blow. He roared and came at me. He was a deadly man, and if his trousers hadn’t been around his ankles, I might have been the one never to come back to the ship. But he tripped. We went down in a wrestling match. He pulled a dagger on me...” Sedge touched his abdomen, outlining an old scar on his bare abdomen. “That’s where he got me. But I had never let go of my pistol. I jammed it in his face, even as he was trying to kill me with his kni
fe, and I fired. Right between the eyes. The result was... gruesome. I still have nightmares about that night.”

  He pulled his gaze back to Kalish, looking into her eyes, concern on his face, as if he still wondered if he had done the right thing. Or was he wondering if she believed him? She remembered Tick’s words, that in most cases a man would be killed for shooting his commanding officer and that there had to have been extenuating circumstances. Kalish nodded. This made sense. She believed him. More than that, she found a lump in her throat as she contemplated all the training and the promising career he had given up to take action where so many others had been too cowardly to dare.

  She could not find her voice, but she nodded solemnly at him.

  “Almost through,” Thatcher said quietly up front, reminding Kalish of the larger situation going on.

  She would need to check on her mother and sister, make sure their ship was being guided through the traps again too. But she was reluctant to leave Sedge’s side, to leave him alone with such grisly thoughts.

  “Have you told the whole story to anyone in your company?” Kalish wondered.

  “The captain knows. He does thorough research before hiring anyone, and I think he still knows people fairly high up in the Fleet, so he can get personnel files if he needs to. I explained things to him anyway though, because... well, obviously, I didn’t want him to think I made a habit of shooting my commanding officers. I also wanted to get his reaction, to make sure... I didn’t want to be put in that situation again.”

  “Have you pried into his personal files?” Kalish smiled, her amusement piqued despite the graveness of the tale.

  “As the ship’s intelligence officer and a part of the security department, I have full access to all of the personnel files.”

  “That was a yes, wasn’t it?”

  Sedge’s cheeks grew pink. As if she did not know by now that he was a snoop. Why be embarrassed?

  “Yes,” he admitted, “but he didn’t put much in there. Most of the original crew files are like that. I may have dug elsewhere too, though.”

  “I thought so,” she said, still smiling. “Tick did say that it was odd that you weren’t shot over the incident with your commanding officer. Is that because it was known what kind of things he was up to? It’s shameful to think that the military that’s tasked with protecting GalCon citizens would allow such crimes.”

  “I heard my name back there,” Tick called back over his shoulder. “You better be saying nice things.”

  “We were talking about the insect, not the tracker,” Sedge called back over the seats, but frowned at his shoulder, his movement sending a flash of pain across his face.

  He must be enduring much pain simply because he wanted to be here with her, to have this time together, instead of letting himself give in to unconsciousness. Kalish reached across his legs to pick up the injector full of sedative.

  “Ah, carry on then,” Tick said.

  “Works every time,” Sedge said. “As to the rest, an organization is only as good as the people in it. Yes, I believe a lot of the higher ups knew about the captain, but sometimes those from the right families or who know the right people have more power than they should for their rank. It takes some dumb lieutenant too naive to know better than to try and make things right. When I joined Mandrake Company, part of it was because there weren’t many people who would hire a dishonorably discharged officer, not to do the work I enjoy and that I was trained to do. But also, part of it was because I knew there were people who would think twice about taking on the whole mercenary company to get to me. I’ve tried to keep minimal contact with my family as well for the last couple of years, hoping that the brash choice I made won’t harm them in any way.” He looked down at his lap. “It’s been a lonely couple of years,” he added quietly.

  “I’m sorry,” Kalish said.

  “You shouldn’t be. I’m the snoop, remember?”

  “A snoop that needs some rest.” She squeezed his hand and held up the injector. “Ready for a nap?”

  He hesitated, frowning at his shoulder, and she thought he might object. But he shyly asked, “Will you hold my hand again when I wake up?”

  She kissed him on the cheek. “I might even do more than that.”

  The speculation in his eyes made her smile again. She delivered the dose of sedative and waited for him to doze off before getting up to check on the others.

  “We’re through,” Thatcher said before she had walked halfway up the aisle.

  “Bless the Buddha,” Tick said, sagging back in his seat.

  “Can’t believe all that effort, and I scarcely got any gold,” Striker mumbled.

  “Scarcely any?” Tick said. “At least you got some. I didn’t get anything except bruises, gashes, welts, and some kind of rash from sliding down those ore piles on my butt. I hope there’s a cream in the first-aid kit for this.”

  “Not my fault you didn’t take an opportunity to scrounge for goodies,” Striker said. “Thatcher did. He got a plate.”

  Tick snorted.

  “I believe it’s a lid,” Thatcher said. “And there’s a map on the back. It may prove valuable.”

  “I didn’t realize that,” Kalish said, though she was more concerned about her family at the moment. “Commander Thatcher, how’s the Divining Rod doing?”

  “Checking on the other ships now.” Thatcher tapped the comm panel. “Lieutenant Calendula?”

  “That disk shaved the hair off my legs,” came Val’s voice over the comm, “but yes, I’m through.”

  “Excellent.”

  “Guess Thatcher’s not into leg hair,” Striker said. “I don’t mind. I like natural women.”

  “Is that what you’re going to request when you order up your six from whatever space dock that was?” Tick asked.

  “I might. You better stop being sarcastic to me. Maybe I’ll let you come along, share one with me.”

  “If I can think of something more horrifying than sharing a woman with you, I’ll let you know,” Tick said.

  “Getting blown up by a ten-thousand-year-old robot?” Striker suggested. “Or chewed on by a giant, winged monster? Or getting cut in half by a spinning saw blade?”

  “Nah, none of those qualify. Sorry.”

  Striker snorted, then flung himself across a row of seats. “I’m taking a nap. Let me know when the Chief of Boom is needed again.”

  Thatcher waved the men to silence. “Ms. Blackwell, did the program I send work sufficiently?”

  “We’re through,” Tia said. “Is Kay all right? She left her winch and rope dangling from the ramp, and it got sliced off.”

  “I’m fine, Tia,” Kalish said, relieved their clunky ship had survived another pass through that gauntlet. “Got that hole fixed yet?”

  “Judging by the cursing and complaining come from the cargo hold, Mom is working on it.”

  “Good.”

  “We’re going to put some distance between us and that platform before we search for a place to rest for the night,” Thatcher said.

  Striker’s snores almost overrode his words.

  Unfazed, Thatcher continued on. “It looks like that flying creature came down through a chute in the ceiling, and thus didn’t have to brave the booby traps, but I would like to leave the area, nonetheless.”

  “Sounds agreeable,” Tick said.

  Now that she knew Tia and her mother were all right, Kalish headed for the rear of the shuttle to sit with Sedge. After all, she had promised him she would hold his hand again.

  * * *

  Sedge awoke, still leaning against the hull by the hatch, the sound of Striker’s snores reverberating through the shuttle. Thatcher and Tick were sitting up front, guiding the craft through dark caverns again. Sedge could not see much of the view screen from his spot on the deck, but neither man seemed tense, so they must not have found any more trouble in the time he had been out.

  Aware of the aching and itching in his shoulder, Sedge risked investigating his
wound. The repair kits Tick had affixed to both sides of his shoulder hummed softly as they worked.

  He grew aware of the warmth of a body pressed against his other side. His soul lightened as he remembered his conversation with Kalish. And that she wasn’t mad at him. She might not have been tickled when he had admitted to sharing the contents of her files with the captain, but she had listened without judgment when he had explained how he had truly come to be discharged from the Fleet. She had even held his hand. Such a simple action, but it made him grin.

  She looked like she might have been holding his hand while he was unconscious, but she had fallen asleep, her head against his shoulder, her hand falling open. Sedge did not want to disturb her, but he must have moved, because she stirred and looked up at him. Something about her comfortable, drowsy smile made his throat tighten with emotion. Or maybe it was the fact that she had passed up padded seats to sit on the deck back here with him.

  “Thank you for staying with me,” he whispered.

  “You’re welcome. How’s your shoulder?”

  “Itchy and numb.”

  “It’s too bad those kits are on it.” She smiled, flashing dimples. “Or I could kiss it and see if that would help.”

  Sedge raised his brows, intrigued by the idea that she might want to kiss any part of him. Perhaps she had found his honesty appealing? Or had she simply forgiven him for being a prying snoop? Either way, he found himself thinking of their aborted kiss on the bridge, of how much he would like to continue where they left off. Her face was only a few inches from his now. If they had been alone in the shuttle, he would have lowered his head, touched his lips to hers, and let her know exactly how much he appreciated having her by his side. Maybe he would do so anyway. Striker was snoring, and the others were busy. Maybe—