Crossfire (Star Kingdom Book 4)

by Lindsay Buroker

Ishii still looked disgusted, but he returned his focus to Meister. “Can you dig around and see if we can confirm that she’s in the system?”

  “I’ve looked for recent mentions of her, but nothing came up in the news feeds. Since that cargo ship has stealth technology, it’s unlikely anyone recorded it coming into the system. Though maybe I can find out if there was a gate activation where a ship didn’t come through, much as the one we recorded of a ship not leaving the system.”

  Ishii snorted. “Let’s just hope that stealth technology isn’t widespread.”

  “I don’t think so, sir. I haven’t found any mentions of it on the public network. But there are numerous rumors of the astroshamans having some more advanced devices than the rest of the systems.”

  “No kidding.”

  “Maybe we could try talking to her,” Casmir suggested. “Do the astroshamans have a network portal with information on joining their organization?”

  Ishii gave him a dark look.

  “Casmir enjoys chatting with his enemies and trying to learn things directly from them,” Asger said.

  “I doubt the contact form on their generic network portals goes to her inbox,” Meister murmured. “You’d probably get to chat with some lowly janitor that scrubs the floors in their shrine.”

  “Such a person might know quite a bit and be easier to get information out of,” Casmir said. “Even better, maybe there’s a robot that would answer our communication.”

  Ishii snorted and started to make a chopping motion with his hand, but he paused, eyed Zee, and then eyed Casmir again. “I suppose if anyone could suborn an enemy robot and inveigle information from it, it would be you. I…” Ishii trailed off, his eyes growing distant as he read some message on his contacts. “Shit. Wait here.”

  He stalked out of the briefing room and into what looked like a private office.

  Murmurs started up around the table, a few people glancing at Casmir. He couldn’t tell if they were hostile or puzzled glances. Or hostilely puzzled glances.

  “I’m wondering why I was invited to this meeting,” Kim murmured when he looked her way. “Ishii didn’t ask for anything from me.”

  “Did you help with the hair analysis?”

  “His forensics people did have me check for bacteria on it. It read similarly to Tork, meaning they both probably came from the same system.”

  “And meaning we may get to face a nemesis who can out-program and out-clever me? That should be fun.”

  “My corporation, Parvus Biologia, has a small lab on Tiamat Station. Maybe I’ll reach out to my colleagues there and see if they know anything beyond what Military Intelligence knows.”

  Casmir nodded, but Ishii returned before he could say anything. The room fell silent again.

  “There’s been an incident at Tiamat Station, and we’ve been ordered to assist, so we’ll be heading straight there.” Ishii looked at the marine colonel. “Run some station infiltration drills and prep your men for combat.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Dismissed.” Ishii stalked out to the bridge without further explanation.

  The rest of his officers filed out, leaving Casmir alone with Kim and Asger and Zee.

  “Only in the military would orders to assist involve prepping marines for combat,” Casmir said ruefully.

  Asger frowned. “It sounds like there may have been an invasion. I’ll check the news.” He turned his frown onto Casmir. “You don’t think Rache would bother a civilian station, do you?”

  “I suppose it would depend if someone was paying him to.” Casmir shrugged. “I thought he was focused on getting the gate, though, so you wouldn’t think he would take side jobs.”

  “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.” Asger pushed himself to his feet and walked out.

  “Is that true? Will we find out anything?” Casmir met Kim’s gaze. “Or will we be shuffled off to the side and kept in the dark until the incident is handled?”

  “I don’t know, but I now have even more of a reason to contact Parvus Biologia’s Tiamat Station branch,” Kim said. “I’ve met one of the researchers there a few times. I’m going to be distressed if he’s in danger because some mercenaries or other hostile invasion fleet have decided to claim the station.”

  “Is that likely?” Casmir rubbed his head. “I know we’ve been hearing that the systems are on the brink of war, and the Kingdom is somehow wrapped up in it, but this is our first time encountering anything first-hand.”

  “It’s also our first time going to a new system. I would normally have heard if something major was going on in any of the other systems where my corporation has labs, but it’s been months now since I’ve been in to work back home. I’ve been receiving the generic company announcements, but I haven’t been contacted specifically by anyone since I let them know I’ve been pressed into government work.” She shrugged. “I’ll reach out to my contact and see if he can update me.”

  “Good. I’ll see what I can dig up in the system news.”

  “I,” Zee said, “will stand by assiduously and protect Kim Sato and Casmir Dabrowski while they work.”

  Kim glanced at him. “He’s definitely gotten more personality.”

  “Chattier too,” Casmir said. “I like it.”

  “You could definitely suborn and inveigle an enemy robot.”

  “I’m hoping I already did that.” Casmir waved vaguely, indicating Tork in his cabin several levels below.

  “Me too,” Kim said.

  Casmir smiled, hoping it didn’t come across as bleak. If he hadn’t, they might have a lot of trouble on their hands when they faced this Moonrazor and all her astroshaman buddies. In a submarine under kilometers of ice and water.

  Kim was standing in her lab in sickbay, doing some research into Princess Oku’s bee problem, when the response she’d been waiting for came in. Scholar Tom Chi sent a request for a live video call rather than a simple text message, and she put aside her work to answer it.

  “Scholar Sato?” The man she remembered as being round-faced and quick to smile had new crow’s feet edging his eyes and a tense, worried expression as he spoke loudly to make himself heard.

  Clatters and shouts in the background made it difficult to understand him, and she focused on his face.

  “Yes. What’s going on, Scholar Chi? I can’t hear you well.”

  The ship was still a day from the station, and there was a pause of a few seconds before his response came back.

  “That’s because there’s chaos everywhere here. I’m locked in my lab, but—” A bang sounded, and he shifted out of focus as he leaned forward to look at something.

  Kim tried to figure out where in his lab he might be, since there was a gray background, and he appeared to be hunching under a low ceiling. Was he under a desk?

  “Door’s still locked.” He leaned back into view. “I’m all right for now. They shouldn’t target me, but you never know. Innocent people are being shot.”

  “Who shouldn’t target you?” Kim had looked on the news for talk of some invasion fleet or attack on the station, but she hadn’t found anything, not on the limited public network she could access.

  She clenched her fist, annoyed at the lag. Chi looked like he was in danger at that very second.

  “The station inhabitants,” Chi said. “It’s civil war in here right now. Did you see the news? About our new president visiting King Jager on Odin personally? Were you there for that? Wait, where are you now? I’m sorry, I’ve been distracted. I only just realized that you have to be in System Hydra for us to be having this communication. Scholar Sato? Did the corporation send you or…?”

  “It’s a long story. I essentially got drafted by the government, and I’m on one of four warships that have been ordered to assist with the trouble at Tiamat, but I’m just a civilian advisor. Nobody’s told me what the trouble is.”

  Chi’s face vacillated between horror and greater horror as her words played for him. There might have been more emotions
in there, but Kim wasn’t adept enough to read them on his face. All she could tell was that her news distressed him, and she thought it was more that the warships were coming. Her corporation was apolitical, with headquarters in three systems, so he shouldn’t professionally fear the Kingdom, but if he was among the inhabitants that opposed a Kingdom presence in the station, he might personally object to their arrival.

  “Warships are coming?” Chi gaped at her. “Kingdom warships? I may be… Damn, damn.”

  The view blurred again as he leaned too close to the camera to look at something else.

  “There’s already been talk of taking hostages,” he continued, “and bartering them to the Kingdom representative here to talk them into leaving Tiamat alone. I’m afraid that since Parvus Biologia has a headquarters on Odin, they might think I’d make a good hostage. Maybe they don’t know about me. Hardly anyone pays attention to my work on this station. Most of our clients visit from elsewhere, like Shango Habitat. Their princess is here right now. She got stuck when the riots broke out.” Chi groaned, letting his head thunk back against the desk behind him.

  Kim didn’t know what to say. This wasn’t anywhere close to the mission she’d been drafted for, and she suddenly felt uneasy, since she’d answered his comm on an open channel. If officers on the bridge—or in the Intelligence office—were bored, they might be monitoring her contact with the station. Or maybe all outgoing messages would be automatically recorded for security purposes. She was sympathetic to her colleague, but she had to be careful not to say something that might incriminate her.

  “Perhaps the appearance of the Kingdom warships will end the conflict,” Kim said.

  Chi shook his head. “You’re not here. You don’t know the hatred that’s fueling people. And the fear—a lot of the citizens here are genetically modded and are terrified they’ll be exiled, or worse, if the Kingdom takes over. I’m afraid those warships will only make everything escalate. Scholar Sato, is there anything you can do? I need help, if only to get out of here with my research. There have been explosions, and I’m afraid our lab is in danger, and oh dear, the princess. She came because she’s a customer, picking up bacteria to help with biodiversity and improve the health of the birds on her station, and now she’s trapped. I feel responsible. We’re the only reason she’s here.”

  “I empathize, but I don’t know what I can do. I’m just a science advisor.”

  “I don’t suppose you can tell them there’s an outbreak of a virulent new strand of Mycobacterium leprae? And that people’s limbs are falling off left and right all over the station, so they dare not come close?”

  “I’m sure Captain Ishii’s doctors would be able to recognize and treat leprosy even if I wasn’t here,” Kim said.

  “Something more exotic then. I could make something up. Or I could make something.” A dangerous, manic light entered his eyes.

  Kim swallowed, afraid he wasn’t joking. That he was desperate enough to try something like that. What if he thought he could make some horrible virus that would only affect those from the Kingdom? She could think of a few ways it might be possible, and she had no doubt her colleague could too.

  Kim lifted her hands in the air in what she hoped was a calming gesture. “Don’t do anything drastic, please, Scholar Chi. I’ll talk to a friend of mine. He specializes in crazy ideas. Maybe we can figure out a way to help get you out.”

  “Could you? And my freezers? We’ve been working on all manner of flora and fauna bacterial enhancements to help plants and animals thrive on the ever-expanding number of space habitats around the systems.”

  “I don’t suppose you’ve done any work with insects lately? And, uh, how many freezers? Can you pack everything up to be portable?” Kim tugged on her braid, wondering how she was going to convince Captain Ishii to take aboard a Kingdom-hating scientist with a daisy-chain of freezers strung out behind him.

  Maybe Chi just needed help getting to a shuttle bay in the station, and he could find civilian transport from there. Though she feared it wouldn’t be that easy. The station was probably on a lockdown.

  “We do have several insect experiments ongoing,” Chi said. “I’m currently attempting to genetically rewire spiders so that they can spin their webs in low-gravity environments. Have you read my papers?”

  “Not the recent ones. I do remember some tinkering you were doing last year to help birds lay eggs on space stations.”

  “Indeed, yes. The chicken egg is a staple on Mawu Habitat. They paid the corporation quite handsomely for a solution to their eggless coops. When will you be here? Is there any chance you can get me off before your warships arrive?”

  How was she supposed to do that when she was on one of the warships? Toss on a pair of wings and fly ahead of it?

  “Let me talk to my friend. He’s clever.” And excellent at scheming ways to get into trouble. What were the odds that Casmir could scheme up a way to get Chi out of trouble?

  He probably could, especially if they brought in Asger and his private shuttle, but at what cost? Casmir was already in Jager’s sights. This might make matters worse for him. Maybe she shouldn’t bring this to him. Maybe she should try to come up with something on her own. But what? Asger was more Casmir’s friend—and was supposed to be keeping an eye on him—than Kim’s. If anyone was going to talk him into taking his shuttle out against Ishii’s wishes, it would be Casmir. And Casmir also had Zee. And apparently Tork now too. They were as good as a couple of armored marines. Maybe better since they would be loyal to him rather than some Fleet chain of command.

  Kim forced herself to smile, since Chi still wore a worried expression. “I’ll get back to you soon. I promise.”

  A bang and what sounded like gunfire came over the comm, and Chi jerked, cracking his head on the desk above him. “Good. Thank you. Hurry, please. My work is very important. I’m sure the corporation will talk to your king on my behalf if you incur someone’s wrath to help me.”

  The channel went dead.

  Parvus Biologia was powerful and did have deep pockets. Maybe it was possible that their chief operations officer could sway the king if need be.

  Though ideally, Kim could help Chi with his problem without getting herself or Casmir into trouble.

  Casmir? She sent a message to his chip. Will you come by when you get time? I have a new problem, and I need someone schemy to brainstorm with.

  Schemy? Is that a legitimate adjective?

  It seems to describe you effectively.

  Asger is forcing me to lift heavy weights and bounce on a trampoline with cables pulling me down, all to keep my muscles from atrophying in half-gravity. I think this is why people transfer their consciousnesses into android bodies. To avoid the evils of exercise. What’s your mother’s opinion on trampolines?

  We haven’t discussed them. Kim grimaced. She hadn’t received so much as a brief update from her mother since leaving her on the Machu Picchu and had no idea if she was still on the research vessel or even in System Lion. But then, she hadn’t sent her mother any updates either. She wished she knew how to have a relationship with her.

  No? Odd. I thought mothers and daughters discussed all manner of important things.

  Such as trampolines?

  They are on my mind since—ow, this crazy knight is torturing me. How much would I have to pay you to come up and beat him with your wooden sticks?

  More than you’re getting paid.

  I’m still not getting paid anything.

  Exactly. Casmir—

  No, I got it. As soon as I can escape him, I’ll come see you. Schemily. Also not a word.

  And yet, also appropriate for you.

  Thank you. You’re fabulous too.

  Kim checked to make sure she had a recording of Chi’s message, so she could show it to Casmir. He would need all the details, or as many details as she had.

  She wished she’d gotten further on her research of bee bacteria, so she would have something to trade him when asking
for a favor. Not that he would want anything in exchange. He would help her simply because he was her friend. And he would get himself in trouble for the same reason.

  She grimaced and hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

  14

  “What do you think, Doc?”

  Yas considered the ragged edges of the blueish-brown mole he had been called up to the bridge to inspect—a medical emergency, Neimanhaus had proclaimed over the comm. “It might be cancerous. I can biopsy it and take a look.”

  “Cancer!” Neimanhaus twisted his arm around so he could look at the suspicious growth near his elbow.

  “Told you,” one of the navigation officers said. “We all get it out here. Doesn’t matter how modded you are. Radiation gets ya eventually.”

  “But I’ve never gotten it.”

  Perhaps not, but Neimanhaus had visited sickbay no fewer than six times in the scant months Yas had been on board, complaining of everything from itchy skin, to abdominal pains, to foot cramps, to a weird tickle in the back of his throat that wouldn’t go away. He certainly seemed a magnet for afflictions. This was the first time he’d called Yas to the bridge. Yas gathered that heckling about the mole from nearby mercenaries had worked Neimanhaus into a panicked state.

  This wasn’t the best time for that since Neimanhaus was supposed to be keeping an eye on the scanners to make sure the captain and his team didn’t get any surprises. The Fedallah was flying lazy circles around a deep fissure in the ice below while Rache investigated closer. He’d taken a shuttle that was small enough to fly into the narrow gap and land on a ledge.

  As far as Yas had heard, this was one of only a handful of spots on the moon where the water was exposed to the surface. Periodically, hot geysers shot up, spattering the surrounding terrain before the water froze into lumpy mounds around the area.

  Now, Rache’s team was tramping around on the ledge, taking readings and examining the ice. The officers on the bridge were split between watching the men via the forward display and snickering at Neimanhaus’s problem.

  “It might be nothing.” Yas dug into the large medical kit he’d chosen to bring up, expecting a more grievous injury to deal with. He selected a fine needle for aspiration. “Let me take a sample.”