Home Front: A Space Opera Adventure (Star Kingdom Book 7), page 21
“Pirates haven’t dared encroach in System Lion for centuries,” Bjarke added. “And it would be our problem to deal with, not yours. We could let it be known that we forced or tricked you into lending us your ship. No fault would fall on you.”
“Sure it wouldn’t.” Dya snorted. “But I do not fear reprisal from scruffy pirates. I am merely debating the odds of you being successful. The Congo has some weaponry, but it is not designed to take on warships. Will your Kingdom Fleet help? I’ve noticed they have ships lurking by the gate.”
“We can handle the pirates without help,” Bjarke said.
“We’ll have allies on the inside,” Qin added.
Bonita wondered if even Qin’s sisters and Casmir’s crushers would be enough against two warships full of hundreds of pirates—hundreds of fighters—each.
After some consideration, Dya shook her head. “No. It’s too risky. As much as I’d like to see the Druckers snubbed, or outright destroyed, my yacht could be damaged if not completely destroyed. I’ve not risen to this position by throwing away resources. But you knights and your tongues are still welcome to come over and visit for a couple of hours.” She blew Bjarke and Asger kisses, ignoring Qin and Bonita, and sashayed back to her ship.
“I don’t like that woman,” Qin said.
“This being a civilized station,” Bonita said, “I don’t suppose we can kidnap her, lock her in a cabinet, and take her ship.”
“That may be frowned upon,” Asger said.
All except one of the delegates wandered off, Jemadari and his robo-parrot. He walked up the ramp to face them, and Bonita expected more questions about gate pieces or Casmir’s whereabouts.
“My ship isn’t as swanky as Dya’s, but it’s less than a year old and has the latest engines and equipment. I would consider letting you use it if you really could get rid of those pirates. They’ve also robbed from me before.” Jemadari pointed across the bay at an elegant black yacht with aesthetically appealing curves. “I’d been thinking of leaving before the talks are over anyway. Rumors abound about mercenaries on the way to attack the station. Many of the others are convinced they’ll be safe here under the asteroid’s surface-mounted weapons. I’m not so sure. Mercenaries don’t start fights unless they believe they can win.”
“Do you have room for knights and crushers aboard that ship?” Asger asked.
“Even a fake cargo if you think they’ll run scans before attacking.”
“What would you want in return?” Bonita found the man’s altruism suspicious.
“Besides the destruction of pirates that have vexed my people in the not-so-distant past?” Jemadari shrugged. “Protection as I fly from the station and to the gate. It’s not safe to travel alone out there with all those mercenaries in the area. Your allies are the Kingdom warships, yes?”
Bonita started to say they weren’t her allies, but Asger and Bjarke both said, “Yes.”
“They will come to help if we get in over our heads.” Jemadari smiled. His bird squawked semi-realistically, and he patted it on the wing. “Shall we make plans?”
“Come on in.” Bjarke waved him into the cargo hold and led the way toward the ladder up to the lounge.
“Should we trust this guy?” Qin asked.
Bonita shook her head. Trusting any stranger, especially some wealthy Miners’ Union stranger, was never a good idea.
“We’ll look him up,” Asger said. “I’m also going to let Casmir know we’re going to need some crushers.”
“Maybe you should let him know that half of the station is looking for him too,” Bonita said.
“He may not want to know that.” Asger spread his hand. “What’s he supposed to do to help people get the gate pieces from the Kingdom anyway?”
“Maybe they think that since he facilitated the original free-for-all, he’s going to be on their side.”
“I don’t know, but I better let Ishii know about this development. And that the Kingdom may have a bargaining chip. There must be something special about one of the pieces they snagged.” Asger scratched his jaw. “I’ll let Casmir know about it too. He’s more likely than Ishii or Romano to use the information to his advantage in a negotiation.”
Asger headed after Bjarke and Jemadari.
“When did Casmir become such a linchpin to everything going on in the systems?” Qin asked when she and Bonita were alone.
“I don’t know, but it’s probably going to get him killed.”
Qin shook her head sadly. “I hope not.”
18
We need some of the crushers, Casmir, Asger messaged from wherever he was on the station. A couple dozen if you can swing it.
Casmir, his mind and his eyes bleary after being up all night and morning, couldn’t remember why Asger might need crushers. He was lying on his back under a console in the station’s control room, using his contact camera to take photos of all the circuitry in the slydar detector. He’d already spent hours examining and copying the software program. Soon, he should have enough data to recreate the slydar detector, but to do so, he would need access to a manufacturing facility again. And he hadn’t admitted to Shayban what he was really doing here.
Are Viggo’s robot vacuums not sufficient for keeping the Dragon in good shape?
They’re fine. I understand you can lick the decks with your tongue if you want.
Why would you want to?
Maybe they’re cherry flavored. I don’t know. Casmir, I’m serious. We’ve got a nice ship that we can use for bait against the Druckers. We have to act soon if we want a shot to get Qin’s sisters out.
Ah! Excellent. Who’s going? I’m still working on the slydar detector, and I think Kim is working on an antiviral.
I think we’ll be all right without you two great warriors.
I’m insulted that you don’t recognize our value in combat, but yes, good. You and Bjarke are going?
That’s the plan. With as many crushers as we can get. By the way, has the sultan actually said you can take them? I heard they were entertaining the guests at his party last night.
They’ll come. I better not take them all though. I’ve heard from numerous people now about mercenaries heading this way.
Everybody has heard, Asger messaged. A couple of ships in this bay are taking off, fleeing before the storm arrives, and I suspect more will follow.
At this point, they might be better off staying. The mercenaries are coming in from a number of directions and could potentially pick off lone targets.
I think that’s why this Jemadari guy is willing to give us a ride for our ruse. If someone gets aggressive and boards his ship, he’ll have crushers to throw at them.
I’ll send three dozen crushers. Is that Jemadari Sayyid? The Miners’ Union leader from System Boar? He’s been here representing not only his own people’s interests but those of two governments and a university in his system. I met him at the party.
Does that mean I should kiss his ass?
I guess if you’d lick the deck of a cargo hold, a butt cheek isn’t much different.
Trust me, it’s a lot different. Jemadari didn’t give his surname or a title. Does that mean he’s less pompous than the others?
Maybe. Casmir sent an order to the crushers still in the Dragon and another dozen in the sultan’s manufacturing facility. He would have to warn Shayban that he was deploying some of them. And make sure the sultan truly intended to let him have the rest of the crushers without a fuss.
“Is he sleeping?” a familiar voice asked from the middle of the control room.
“I don’t think so, Father.” That was Samar. “I’ve been giving him what he needs to stay awake and work all night.”
“Caffeine tablets? Heart Jolt pills?”
“Candy and fizzop, which I believe is liquid, carbonated candy. See the cans and wrappers?”
“I assumed someone had mistaken that corner for a dumpster.”
“No, that’s his work area. You can see some tools amid the refuse.”
Casmir scooted out from under the console, managing to not clunk his head on the edge. He staggered to his feet and bowed. Princess Nalini and Tristan were there as well as Samar, Shayban, and the staff working in the room—the shift had changed again and new people had come in. Was this the third group of faces he’d seen since the night before? Yes.
More people filed in after Shayban and his family, and they peered curiously at Casmir. He recognized some of the faces from the party.
“Hello?” He smoothed his rumpled shirt the best he could and grimaced when he noticed a grape fizzop stain on his chest. Maybe he should have kept wearing the self-cleaning and wrinkle-proof SmartWeave galaxy suit. Feeling self-conscious at all the gazes turned toward him, he was compelled to blurt an honest, “I haven’t figured out how to extend the range of the slydar detector yet. I’ve mostly been studying it to see how it works, and I was thinking that it would be helpful to be able to replicate it.” For the good of the Kingdom. But he caught himself before saying that. What came out instead was, “If every ship here could be outfitted with one, it would be a wonderful start toward making piracy in the Twelve Systems far more difficult for the nefarious types hiding behind camouflaged hulls. And if we could make our own, there wouldn’t be any need for anyone else to pay what I assume was an exorbitant price for this unit, Sultan.”
Was he babbling? Did they believe his intentions were altruistic? He did think slydar detectors for all was a good idea, even if it hadn’t come to mind more than twenty seconds ago.
Shayban had grown hard to read. Nalini’s beautiful brow had a faint crease to it.
“I would love a slydar detector,” one of the delegates said. “Sultan, did you plan this from the beginning? I’d pay you a fair price, of course, for such a device, but what a relief it would be to know there were no pirates lurking between here and the gate. And on all future travels.”
“It wasn’t my plan,” Shayban said, “but… I believe it is a good one.” He nodded at Casmir, though something about his expression—his forehead was crinkled similar to his daughter’s—suggested this wasn’t what he’d wanted.
“I admit that the Kingdom has interest in such technology too,” Casmir heard himself confessing. He was a horrible secret agent.
“Ah. I am not surprised.” Shayban’s brow smoothed, but his eyes grew shrewd as he tapped his chin. “But they will pay four times as much for theirs, I believe.”
His guests chuckled. Casmir didn’t point out that he’d downloaded the software and enough information to replicate the machines for his own people.
“Perhaps I could once again use your manufacturing facilities,” Casmir said, “to start building some for your guests.”
“There’s something I want you to do first,” Shayban said. “I want Dubashi dead. Or I want him here in front of me so I can strangle him.” He lifted his hands, demonstrating how the strangling would work. “He’s been a comet threatening to crash into us for decades, and he was responsible for Scholar Sunflyer’s death, as well as that attempt to steal ships from me, the one you thwarted.”
Casmir nodded, though Zee had thwarted it, and only because Casmir had asked him to break him and Kim out of the detention area. “You want me to go after him again? Unfortunately, I don’t have the use of the Kingdom’s ships, and I’m not sure how—”
“You have the use of my ships. I can’t give you my entire fleet, since there’s a mercenary threat on the horizon, and we’ll need some ships to defend this station, but I’ll give you ten.”
“I’ll send my second ship with him if it’ll get rid of Dubashi,” one of the delegates offered. “Especially if those who help will be first on the list to receive a slydar detector.”
Three other delegates chimed in with offers to help. One man had brought four vessels to the talks and promised to lend two to the effort.
“Who will command this fleet that we’re forming?” one delegate asked.
“Professor Dabrowski,” Shayban said firmly.
Casmir lifted a finger, intending to suggest that perhaps the ships should be attached to the Kingdom fleet under Ishii’s command, but was Ishii in command? He’d mentioned before that one of the other captains was his senior, and then there was Ambassador Romano to deal with.
“Are professors allowed to command fleets?” One of the delegates looked Casmir up and down, his gaze lingering on the fizzop stain.
Casmir dropped his hand over it.
“You can call him an admiral if you want,” Shayban said. “Acting admiral. But I’m not putting any government bureaucrat in charge, and I’m certainly not relying on those meandering Kingdom warships to handle it. Professor Dabrowski was responsible for the destruction of Dubashi’s base, and I’m positive he’s the man to finish off this plague on the Twelve Systems.” Shayban looked at his family and the delegates. “I’d bet a ship of the best iridium ore that Dubashi is behind the mercenary fleets flying to my station. I bet he promised them they could loot your ships while he slips in and steals mine. Well, that’s not going to happen. Professor Dabrowski is going to hunt him down first.”
“I…” Casmir wanted to object to everything from being called an acting admiral—how could a civilian even receive a military title?—to being put in command of a fleet, but having this many ships might allow him to find Dubashi more easily. It wasn’t as if the Dragon was going to be able to hunt down the prince. And was it possible that if he completed this task for the sultan—a task the Kingdom also wanted completed—that the ship owners might be grateful enough that he could borrow the fleet long enough to fly to System Lion? These ships, combined with what Ishii and Romano were scraping together, might be enough to convince the blockaders to flee without a fight. “We won’t have much luck finding him unless I can get slydar detectors on every ship.”
“There won’t be time for that,” Shayban said, “unless you can get it done before the mercenaries arrive.”
Which was in less than a day. “Ah, I can maybe have one done by then.”
“If the fleet had even one, that would be an advantage,” Shayban said.
“We all get them eventually, right?” a delegate asked.
“You all get to be on the top of the list of people who will be able to buy them once the professor makes more.” Shayban patted Casmir on the shoulder. This might not have been his plan, but he was willing to capitalize on it.
“Whatever it takes to get one,” the delegate said.
“You better get started promptly, Professor. Days pass quickly.” Shayban turned the pat into a shoulder squeeze.
“I’ve… heard that.”
Casmir had a grasp of how the slydar detector worked, but could he truly build one from scratch that quickly? He had better. He couldn’t imagine how they would find Dubashi without a working slydar detector.
“Let’s let the man work.” Shayban lifted his hands. “And start prepping the ships you’ll send after Dubashi. I’ll do the same. Samar, see to it that the professor doesn’t run out of snacks.”
Samar’s expression was wry as he looked at Casmir’s pile of cans and wrappers, but all he said was, “Of course, Father.”
Tristan and Nalini lingered after Shayban and the delegates filtered out.
“Do you need help, Casmir?” Tristan asked. “You look daunted.”
“Do I? Huh.”
Nalini poked Tristan in the shoulder. “I think you’re supposed to call him Acting Admiral Casmir now.”
Tristan eyed Casmir. “I think he’d prefer it if I didn’t.”
Casmir nodded in ardent agreement. “What kind of help? I could definitely use some engineering assistants. And I’ll take your math expertise if you want to lend it.”
“I’m not sure it would be helpful with software development or whatever you need for that thing, but if you want it, it’s yours. I also thought I could go along with you and your new fleet as a representative of the sultan, assuming he’ll approve. If I’m with you, his ship commanders might give you less lip. Asger didn’t take my pertundo, so I could wave it menacingly if need be.”
“You’re planning on leaving again?” Nalini frowned at him. “Without me?”
“I appreciate the offer, but you don’t have to come, Tristan,” Casmir said. “I’ll have Zee and the crushers I don’t send with Asger. They can loom menacingly if needed.”
“Hm, I thought it might be helpful to have someone who’s almost in the sultan’s family along in case you run into any red tape.” Tristan held Nalini’s hand. Did that mean he’d proposed? Or she had?
“Or,” Nalini said before Casmir could figure out if he should offer congratulations, “you could take a current and blood family member along.” Nalini patted Tristan’s hand and squinted at Casmir. “If you end up chasing Dubashi through the gate and into a different system—or into your home system—it might be useful for you to have someone who can speak as his representative.” She nodded, as if she’d decided without anyone else’s input. “I’ll make sure my father is all right with it.”
Tristan scratched his jaw as she walked out.
“Did you expect her to throw herself into danger?” Casmir asked.
“It’s not surprising. I was just debating if she has an ulterior motive. She’s not a student of war tactics and strategy, as far as I know.”
“Maybe she wants to come along this time to try to keep you safe.”
“I don’t think that’s it,” Tristan said. “She once mentioned being interested in real-estate development deals in the Kingdom. Maybe she thinks you’ll end up back in System Lion and that there’ll be opportunities there in the aftermath of the war. I once offered to show her the neighborhood where I grew up.”
“Nice place?”
“Oh, no. It’s a hellhole. But Nalini likes to take neighborhoods like that and develop them into something nicer. It’s also possible that her father will want her to spy on the Kingdom and try to figure out where those gate pieces went.” He shrugged. “I guess you’ll have a chaperone, acting admiral.”
