Home Front (Star Kingdom #7) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,115

and an ominous rumble reverberated through the ship.

If you survive to do so, Ishii replied, probably watching the battle unfold from the scanners on the bridge of the Osprey.

That is my goal.

Casmir wondered if they should, if they could get away from their current attackers, head out and harry some of the big mercenary ships hanging back. If they were in charge, damaging them would do more than damaging the cannon fodder being sent in to try to take out the asteroid’s defenses. The problem was that he didn’t think anyone in particular was in charge of the mercenaries.

The Moon Dart flew toward one of the weapons platforms on the asteroid. At the last moment, their pursuers recognized their danger and veered off, but one was too late. The ground-based missile launcher swiveled and fired, having no trouble targeting the camouflaged vessel. One of its thruster housings blew off, and the ship was knocked away from the asteroid, out of control as it spun off into space.

“Thank you, Father,” Nalini murmured.

An explosive that one of the mercenary ships must have fired at the asteroid blew up and took out the missile launcher.

Nalini’s thanks turned into a vehement curse. “These idiots are destroying my home. The home of thousands of people. And for what? So they can loot my father’s art collection?” She turned a plaintive look toward Tristan and Casmir.

“Is his art valuable?” Casmir did wonder how much the mercenaries expected to get out of this once they divvied up whatever loot they found. Or was it all about kidnapping delegates and Miners’ Union leaders for ransom?

“No,” Nalini said. “His tastes are garish.”

“His ships are valuable,” Tristan said.

Nalini nodded. “We’re in one of them, but there are more in his bays. Dubashi tried to get them before to add to his fleet.” Her eyes narrowed. “He wouldn’t be here, would he?”

“Someone did suggest he might be.” Casmir didn’t cite his source, given everyone’s feelings on Rache. “I’m not familiar with the ship he used when he escaped his base, since we couldn’t detect slydar at the time, but I assume it would be well armored and fast, and staying out of danger while others do the dirty work.” Casmir waved at the scanner console. “So far, all the camouflaged ships have been among those harrying the asteroid. But it’s possible he’s hanging back out of range.”

“How far is the range on the detector?” Nalini asked.

Casmir tapped the controls to shift his scanner data to the forward display so everyone could see it. “It reaches out to where those ships are lurking.”

“But not beyond?”

“No. We could go out to visit them so we could see beyond them.”

“If we fly out of the range of your father’s weapons platforms,” Tristan said, “we’ll be an easier target.”

Nalini gripped her chin. “Let’s go partway toward them.”

Tristan frowned with worry. He probably hadn’t come out here expecting to have Nalini’s life seriously at risk. Or his own, though Casmir was sure the idea of losing her bothered the former knight more than the idea of dying himself.

Casmir didn’t want to lose anybody. “Any progress, Tork?” he asked quietly.

He and Zee were bent over the console, interfacing with the computer as they hung on to keep from flying free whenever the ship shifted directions to avoid more trouble.

“I have uploaded the necessary software to the weapons systems,” Tork said. “I will begin tagging the enemy ships.”

“Good,” Casmir said. “Thank you.”

“Where are you flying off to, Princess Nalini?” came a suspicious-sounding comm from one of their ally ships. “We’re here to help you, and this is already more than we bargained for.”

Casmir had his hand near the comm button, so he answered, not wanting to give the true reason in case the mercenaries were monitoring. “We’re going to visit the leaders out there and see how they like my crushers.”

“Is that going to work? Because I just saw Denton’s ship get blown up. We didn’t sign on to sacrifice ourselves here. We’re about to—”

“Receive what you’re hoping to get,” Casmir promised. “Ours is working, and I’ll be able to make more.”

“If we survive,” the ship’s owner grumbled.

“More camouflaged ships are coming within range,” Tristan said, an ominous note in his voice.

Casmir gaped as another dozen vessels showed up on the scanners, almost all of them arranged in a formation to protect a larger central ship, a custom craft like none of the others. It was heavily armored but also appeared fast, and it bristled with weapons like