Crossfire (Star Kingdom Book 4)

by Lindsay Buroker

  Two of Rache’s senior officers were seated at the large briefing room table, along with the assassin Chaplain and Chief Jess Khonsari. She lounged sideways in her seat, one arm slung over the back, and one boot on the table.

  Rache looked at her, looked at the leg, and looked back at her. When one couldn’t see his face, it was hard to tell if he was glowering, but Jess grinned broadly, one of the few crew who never seemed intimidated by him, before lowering her leg to the deck.

  Yas’s stomach did a little flipflop when their eyes met, but then he winced, for her smile faded and she only gave him a wary nod. Because he kept trying to get her to agree to an exam and to look for alternatives to the addictive painkiller she didn’t want to give up?

  He resisted the urge to sit next to her, not wanting to make her uncomfortable, but a large part of him wished he weren’t her doctor. If he were just her friend, maybe he wouldn’t feel so compelled to look after her health, when she clearly didn’t want to confront it herself.

  No, he decided. He would still want to help her.

  Rache waved at a display on the wall, and the same view of the four warships came up. “Amergin has ferreted out proof that those ships are being sent to find the gate that slipped through the Kingdom’s fingers.” His tone cooled. “And my fingers.”

  He didn’t mention his genetic twin, Casmir Dabrowski, the one who’d been responsible for all that slippage.

  “We’re following them,” Rache continued, “since, from what I gathered down on Odin, we have to head out of the system to find the gate anyway.”

  Yas was curious what Rache had been doing down on Odin for several days. Questioning Dabrowski? He’d returned to the ship with numerous injuries and combat armor that had looked like someone had dropped a mountain on it. As usual, he hadn’t allowed Yas to treat those injuries, saying his enhanced immune system would handle them.

  These mercenaries all fell into one of two camps: people who would take a bullet to the chest, deal with the pain, and wave it off as a mere scratch; or people who would get a scratch and act like they’d taken a bullet to the chest. There was absolutely nobody on the ship who treated health and injuries with an amount of gravitas appropriate to the situation.

  “We’re monitoring their communications and doing our best to decrypt encoded transmissions.” Rache nodded to Amergin. “It’s possible they’ll report their destination to their headquarters, and we’ll catch it, but I would prefer to figure out where the cargo ship carrying the gate went before the Fleet does. We know astroshamans were, before they died, piloting it and were likely the ones to steal the gate pieces from Skadi Moon. Amergin, you’re the one who’s been researching them. Where are the most likely places astroshamans would have taken the gate, assuming they didn’t want anyone to find it?”

  Yas sank back in his seat. This briefing definitely didn’t have anything to do with his problem. He was disappointed, but he shouldn’t have been. Rache had told him he would focus on finding the gate first and then help him. Assuming they survived this gate hunt. Yas couldn’t help but eye the heavily armed and armored warships with concern.

  “The astroshamans have bases and a presence in all the systems except this one,” Amergin said from his seat. “The Kingdom doesn’t forbid the blending of biological and machine components, such as almost all astroshamans embrace, but it’s known to be unfriendly to all except pure humans.”

  “The astroshamans were the ones that seemed to be in charge of the bombings that took place on Odin,” Rache offered. “There was a terrorist group down there led by a former Royal Intelligence chief superintendent who’d gotten a few noticeable cybernetic implants since he stepped down from his position.”

  Amergin hesitated, then nodded and adjusted his hat. “I read about those terrorists in my intelligence gathering, Captain. It was implied that you’d been to their base and had something to do with its destruction.”

  “It’s not important.” Rache flicked dismissive fingers. “Go on about potential locations.”

  “Yes, sir. Like I said, they’ve got bases all over, and a lot of the followers of their religion are normal citizens living in the various habitats and colonies around the systems. Usually, they don’t make trouble or get involved in squabbles over resources or what they consider mundane things. At the core of their belief is the idea that ultimate enlightenment comes from leaving one’s human body behind and embedding one’s consciousness into a droid or computer. I don’t know about that myself. Machine bits have their uses, but I’m fond of my human bits too.”

  Amergin smiled at Jess.

  Yas frowned. Was that a flirtatious smile?

  “Nobody wants to know about your human bits,” she told him.

  “That’s disappointing.” Amergin faced Rache again. “Despite them being pretty integrated into a lot of societies, there are rumors that the astroshamans have a secret headquarters that’s part shrine and part laboratory where they test out human-machine interfaces and new cybernetic implants before sending out the schematics to the rest of their followers. The majority of the astroshamans exist as humans or hybrids until they near death, and then they seek that ultimate enlightenment of continuing on without their biological bodies. That secret testing headquarters seems a likely spot where they would take the gate to study.”

  Rache nodded. “Rumors of locations?”

  “Oh, quite a few. I’m surprised I had trouble pinpointing it, given how many people must know. I’d figured the shrine was a place any of their followers could visit—but it seems that their high shamans are the only ones to know the location and go there, along with the devotees that work inside. I have been sorting through the rumors and trying to narrow things down. Something that keeps coming up is the idea that you can only get there with a submarine.”

  Yas sat up straighter, his interest rekindling. System Hydra, his home system, had two water worlds. Several of the other systems had planets with land and oceans, but a high number of astroshamans lived on and passed through Tiamat Station, which was centrally located in the system.

  “That still leaves quite a few possibilities,” Amergin went on, “but I’m assuming it’s somewhere sparsely populated, since they’re secretive with their comings and goings. They probably didn’t hide their base on the continental shelf in front of the resort islands of Tlaloc. So I’ve got three likely possibilities. Planet Oceanus in System Stymphalia, an underwater facility on the stormy side of the water world of Nabia, or under the ice on Xolas Moon. There’s a whole ocean under the moon’s frozen surface, and it hasn’t been visited much, except by science teams. At least that’s what the public records say.”

  Rache looked at Yas. “Two of those possibilities are in your system. Have you heard any rumors of the existence of this shrine?”

  Yas wished he had, so he could urge the Fedallah toward System Hydra. Maybe then, as long as they were in the neighborhood, Rache would send a team to Tiamat Station to help him investigate the president’s death.

  “I haven’t heard of that shrine or laboratory before,” Yas said slowly, raking through his brain just in case he’d forgotten some useful tidbits. “There is a relatively high population of astroshamans in the system.”

  Amergin nodded. “About two percent of the population in System Hydra, compared to .5 to one percent in other systems, barring System Lion here.” He waved toward the display and the stars outside.

  “If two out of three likely possibilities are there,” Rache said, “it makes sense to start our search in Hydra.”

  “What happens if the Kingdom warships are going to System Hydra?” Chaplain asked, speaking for the first time, his hands folded neatly on the table. He never did anything so assassinly as picking his teeth with his knife or sharpening the blade in public, but his eyes were intent as he gazed at Rache, and Yas had the feeling he wanted a fight. A bloody fight that resulted in a lot of dead bodies.

  “We’ll attempt to get to and obtain the gate before they arrive
,” Rache said.

  “And if we don’t?” Amergin asked.

  “We’ll find a way to get it anyway. As I said weeks ago, I’m not letting Jager squirrel away something so powerful.” Rache waved toward the exit. “Dismissed, everyone. Except you, Doctor.”

  Yas paused, halfway out of his seat. Was he about to learn why he’d been called to this briefing?

  “Does something ail you, Captain?” Yas hadn’t seen him limping or favoring any body parts, not the way he had been when he’d first returned from Odin, but for normal people, such injuries would take a while to heal.

  “No.” After the door shut, Rache said, “Do you know of any poisons or bacteria that would have deleterious effects on humans with mechanical interfaces?”

  Yas grimaced. He knew of a lot of poisons that would have deleterious—also known as deadly—effects on anybody. But he’d studied them so he could save people from them, not make recommendations to killers.

  “If Amergin is right,” Rache said, “and this base is underwater, we won’t be able to bring the entire might of the Fedallah down to deal with the inhabitants. We’ll likely be dealing with a lot of loaded droids and robot defenders. It would be advantageous to have a way to entice those with human parts to cooperate.”

  “I understand, Captain, but I’m not comfortable recommending poisons.”

  Rache gazed steadily at him. Yas waited for him to point out that he’d offered to help Yas with his problem, or maybe to suggest that he would only do so if Yas helped him first. But all he did was stare wordlessly. Somehow, that was worse.

  “I’ll look and see if there’s anything in the toxicology dictionaries.” Maybe Yas could find something that would inconvenience their enemies without killing them.

  “Good. If there’s time on the way or after, we’ll stop by Tiamat Station. Did you see this?” Rache faced the display, sending some command with his chip, and the image changed from the warships to a news clip.

  Yas recognized Vice President—no, he was President now—Chronis. And also… “Is that King Jager?”

  They were standing together on a beach and shaking hands as they faced the camera, a clear blue sky behind them. That definitely wasn’t Tiamat Station.

  “Yes.” Rache froze the image on the display. “The media is reporting that he visited Odin personally two weeks ago and is on his way back home to announce news of an alliance.”

  Yas grimaced. “At least half of Tiamat Station is going to be very unhappy about that.”

  “It’s something that wouldn’t have happened if President Bakas had been alive and in charge, I presume.”

  “No, she was vehemently opposed to the old-fashioned mindset of the Kingdom and any sniff of a tyrannical regime encroaching in our system. There could be some major upheaval over this. All of the citizens who have genetic modifications or who are in non-traditional marriages wouldn’t be welcome in their own home if the Kingdom were to gain control of Tiamat Station. A lot of people will fight to prevent that. Tiamat Station is over three hundred years old, and many citizens trace their heritage back to the founders. They won’t simply leave.”

  “If System Hydra is distracted by upheaval on one of its most populous habitats, that’ll be a good time for us to slip in unnoticed and explore the moon and water world.” Rache nodded and headed for the door. “Let me know what you find regarding poisons, Doctor.”

  As Yas stared at the image of his new president shaking hands with Jager, the only poison he could think about was the one that had killed President Bakas.

  The door to Kim’s lab slid open, and the Osprey’s chief surgeon, Dr. Angelico, leaned in, knocking on the jamb.

  “The glorious Kim Sato hath returned to our modest sickbay,” he said with a cheery smile. “I’m delighted.”

  Kim turned in time to catch him checking out her ass. She sighed. The fact that galaxy suits were form fitting made them prized over the bulky spacesuits of earlier centuries, but she wouldn’t have minded some bulk at that moment. She also wouldn’t have minded if Angelico had been transferred to another ship in the weeks since she’d last seen him.

  “I was never on the Osprey,” Kim said. “We worked together on the Machu Picchu.”

  “Ah, but you’re here now. Perhaps we can have a drink together? It’s well into the night shift, you know. You should take off for the day. The R and R deck isn’t as appealing as the café on that orbital station I was telling you about, but we do have coffee.” He wrinkled his nose. “If you persist in being addicted to it. Did I, by chance, convince you that a green smoothie would be a far superior health choice?”

  “No.”

  Not only that, but she’d brought bags of her own beans along this time, as well as a portable espresso machine and milk steamer. There was no way she would have gone into space unprepared a second time. She pointed to a corner of the counter where she’d set them up, carefully securing the accoutrements so they wouldn’t float off if there were hiccups in the ship’s gravity.

  Angelico wrinkled his nose again. “I’d have to check the regs, but I don’t think that’s allowed. If there’s an inspection, Captain Ishii may insist that you put that in your cabin or in the mess hall.”

  “Captain Ishii can try.”

  Angelico snorted and smiled. “Why don’t you let me show you around the ship later? Have you seen the hydroponics gardens? We’re able to grow fresh vegetables and fruit.”

  “I’m busy.” That wasn’t really true. Kim had refined the bacteria that fed on the pseudo radiation before she’d left Odin. There had been little point in her being dragged along on this mission, as she’d informed Chief Superintendent Van Dijk, but the military was certain they needed her along in case there were any medical surprises related to the gate. “And also, I am not interested in spending recreational time with you or having intercourse.”

  She should have made that clear from the beginning.

  Angelico blinked, his lips parting in surprise—or bafflement?—but he recovered quickly, and the smile returned. “You only think you don’t want to have intercourse with me, but that’s because you haven’t seen me naked yet.”

  He winked and stepped out into the corridor before she could issue a retort.

  Kim shook her head in disgust, missing her lab back home at Parvus Biologia Corporation headquarters where all of the men were old and married. Not that she was usually hit on left and right during her regular life. She wasn’t sure how she’d managed to get two men asking her to dinners in the same month. Though who truly knew what Rache’s intentions were? The idea of someone like him having intentions was still mind-boggling. Surely, some of his fellow space mercenaries or outlaw pirates would be more logical choices for his affections.

  Though maybe not. If he was as book-loving as he seemed, he might have trouble finding kindred spirits in that crowd. If such things mattered. Men seemed to care less about common interests, at least some men. She couldn’t imagine Casmir having a relationship with someone purely based on physical attraction. Though it was hard to believe Rache could want a relationship. How could that even work if he was constantly switching systems and always in hiding? Always putting his life in danger? Wouldn’t casual sex be a lot safer for him? Or abstinence, for that matter. Rache had mentioned that someone had sent a female assassin to seduce and kill him. She was surprised he wasn’t completely soured on relationships.

  Kim pushed away the thoughts as she realized she’d been staring at her computer display for several minutes without seeing it. She was trying to think of what else besides bacteria might be used to protect people who came in contact with the gate and that pseudo radiation. But she kept coming back to what she’d suggested to Van Dijk as the most logical action, sending in Casmir, since he was immune, to see if the gate’s defensive mechanisms could be deactivated.

  Maybe she should suggest the idea to Captain Ishii. He seemed to be in charge of the mission. Perhaps he would be more logical.

  She closed dow
n her workstation and left the quiet lab—aside from a curly-haired female nurse on duty, the rest of the sickbay staff had departed for the night—and headed to the lift. She would see if Captain Ishii was on the bridge and make the suggestion to him. Maybe it was moot, since they hadn’t found the gate yet, but she felt like she should be working on something, since she was, as Asger had pointed out, being paid by the military to be here.

  Casmir’s computer cabin—computer closet was a more accurate term—was on the way, so she stopped and knocked. She had little doubt that he would be there and doing research. It wasn’t as if Ishii had given him the option of recreation, though Kim considered it inhumane to deny him exercise time. In the ship’s low gravity, they all needed to spend time with the gym equipment on a daily basis.

  The door slid open to reveal Zee filling the entryway.

  Kim jumped. Even though she had grown accustomed to the crusher in the days he’d been her bodyguard, she hadn’t seen him since arriving on the ship earlier in the week, and it was easy to forget how large, dark, and intimidating he was.

  “Casmir, are you in there?” Kim asked. “I can’t see around your butler.”

  Zee shifted aside and pressed his back to the wall. It still didn’t leave a lot of room to maneuver past, but when she spotted Casmir rising from the cabin’s only seat, Kim stepped inside.

  The door closed automatically behind her, making the space feel claustrophobic. Heat radiated from the banks of computer equipment, and the air smelled faintly of ozone.

  “Greetings, Kim.” Delight blossomed on Casmir’s face, and his arms twitched upward, as if he wanted to hug her. He turned it into a deep bow.

  “I’m guessing you haven’t seen many people these last few days.” Kim felt bad that she hadn’t come by to visit sooner. She hadn’t been certain it would be permitted. She could envision Ishii storming in and dragging her out, saying that nobody was allowed to distract Casmir.