Home Front (Star Kingdom #7) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,33

sounded a lot better than going with Rache anywhere.

Excellent work. There’s a cargo bay on the bottom level with two airlocks. Meet us there.

We’ve got a few obstacles to get through— Bonita eyed the dark armored backs of the mercenaries ahead of her, —but we’ll do our best to be there.

Qin is all right too? Bjarke asked. William wishes to know.

So far.

As they followed Rache’s men down a ladder well and through a wide carpeted corridor, they passed statues and busts floating free from alcoves where they had sat on pedestals. Some were still there, secured even in zero-g, but others had been damaged, the pedestals blasted by rifles. A tapestry floating out in the corridor was scorched and smoking. Bonita was reminded that this was the prince’s personal yacht, not a warship. She was amazed the defenses were good enough to have staved off their attackers for as long as they had.

The mercenaries stopped to exchange fire with crushers and men in blue Kingdom combat armor. Qin started forward to help, but Bonita pulled her into one of the alcoves, shoving a suit of ancient armor out of the way.

Let them fight, she messaged Qin. We’re not picking sides.

I saw a crusher, Captain. It’s not going to care which side we’re on.

They’ll be focused on the bigger threat. Rache.

Rache’s men also used the alcoves for cover, methodically trading fire with their enemies, blasting helmets and armored torsos with perfect accuracy. One of them spun a grenade down the corridor. It blew up, taking a crusher’s head off, at least until it could regroup.

“Down that other ladder.” Rache glanced back and pointed them toward what Bonita had thought was another alcove. “We’ll hold them off.”

Since Bjarke wanted to meet them on a lower deck, Bonita obeyed Rache’s order without hesitation, pushing off toward the spot. A few energy bolts zipped past the men, and one almost careened off her helmet. She was glad Qin had found their armor.

The headless crusher re-formed itself and charged the lead mercenaries.

Bonita reached the ladder as Rache pulled out another grenade. Making sure Qin was behind her, she pulled herself down the rungs upside down, the lack of gravity making directions inconsequential. When she’d gone down as far as she could go, she poked her head out before committing to leaving the ladder well.

It was the cargo bay Bjarke had told her about, with a small shuttle in the center—it was closer to an escape pod than a true shuttle, and she doubted it could carry more than four people. Men in Kingdom armor were getting it ready for departure while eight crushers stood guard around it.

Naturally, the two airlock chambers Bjarke had mentioned were on the far side of the bay. Bonita and Qin would have to run past all those crushers and Kingdom men to get to them.

Casmir pulled himself past Tristan and into the Dragon’s compact navigation room. Asger was in the pilot’s seat and Bjarke in the co-pilot’s seat, so there wasn’t much room. Kim was in the corridor with Zee and Reuben behind her.

“Are we out of range of the Osprey’s weapons?” Casmir’s head throbbed, and he still felt hungover in the aftermath of that inconveniently timed seizure, so he stared blearily at the forward display, not trying to focus on the instrumentation panels in front of the pods.

“We are. The Osprey didn’t fire.” Asger looked back at Casmir. “When I saw that mess of soldiers chasing you, I was sure they would.”

“Ishii had orders to from Ambassador Romano. He made the mistake of—no, he made the choice to warn me.”

“He warned you he would fire at us?” Bjarke asked.

“Yes. I temporarily deactivated their weapons system. It’ll come back online in time for them to deal with—we believe it’s Dubashi’s men attacking the Chivalrous, right? Nothing changed while I was, uhm, fuzzy?” Casmir decided not to mention that Rache had been the one to tell him that.

“If it’s not Rache, it’s Dubashi,” Asger said. “How can you, a civilian advisor with no military clearance whatsoever, deactivate a protected weapons system on a Kingdom warship?”

“I made myself an account and gave it clearance.”

“You’re not supposed to be able to do that.”

“No,” Casmir agreed, then smiled and shrugged. He’d spent numerous days on the Osprey by now. Foreseeing potential emergencies, he’d given himself access to everything important long ago.

“Rache said Dubashi’s ships are the attackers,” Kim said from behind Casmir.

“That doesn’t make it the truth,” Bjarke growled. “If anything, I’m more inclined