Home Front (Star Kingdom #7) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,4

must find Prince Dubashi’s ship and destroy him before he can take those rockets to System Lion.”

“I see,” Ishii said carefully. “I’ll attempt to get Shayban to sell it to us, or perhaps lend it to us.”

“You will not attempt this. You will succeed at it.”

Ishii only hesitated a second before saying, “Yes, Your Highness.”

Casmir wondered why he’d been called up to the bridge for this. Jorg hadn’t looked at him yet. Casmir would prefer to keep it that way, but he had to take a shot at getting Qin and Bonita back while they were still close.

As he opened his mouth, Jorg looked at him.

“Dabrowski.”

“Ah, yes, Your Highness?”

“Your friends are being held safely. As long as you cooperate with the crown’s wishes, they will be freed and permitted to return to their ship, which I magnanimously allowed Captain Ishii to collect and repair.”

Magnanimously. Right. Given the way Ishii’s lips twisted, Jorg had probably thrown a fit when he’d first learned the Osprey was towing it.

“And what are the crown’s wishes?” Casmir asked.

“As I said, pick up the rest of the new crushers and retrieve the slydar detector by whatever means necessary. Since my intel officers have informed me that you’ve established a rapport with Sultan Shayban—” Jorg’s eyebrows twitched, “—you will personally be responsible for getting the slydar detector. If you fail at either of these things, your friends’ lives will be forfeit.”

“But they haven’t done anything,” Casmir blurted before he could stop himself.

“Since they are bounty hunters, I highly doubt that is true. Regardless, their deaths would be completely your responsibility. It was your choice to defy my wishes and suborn two of my knights that prompted this action. Your actions have been treasonous from the day you first left Odin.”

“Your Highness.” Casmir calmly spread his arms and bowed, though his brain was gibbering and he wanted to collapse on the deck and thump his fists against it. “All I’ve done is seek to end the war and help our people. If what I thought was taking initiative you consider treason, I apologize. I will happily trade myself for them and serve you to the best of my abilities. From your brig if you wish.”

“You’ll serve me to the best of your abilities from Ishii’s ship and from between those two marines. Only if you do so will I release your co-conspirators.”

Casmir stared bleakly at him. These orders to steal from Shayban were criminal.

“If you do anything else, Dabrowski,” Jorg said, his eyes slitted, “or if you try to rescue my prisoners, I will consider you an enemy of the Kingdom and order you shot on sight. And the prisoners will be executed.”

“Will you let me speak to them?” The horrible thought occurred to Casmir that Bonita and Qin might already be dead. “Or at least see them?”

“No. That will be your reward for compliance. Take him to Stardust Palace, Ishii.” Jorg closed the channel.

One man’s compliance was another man’s theft…

“Officers talk,” Ishii said quietly, waving the marines back. “I’ve heard your friends are still alive.”

“I hope so,” Casmir said.

“I need you to get us invited to Stardust Palace. Even with the other warships with us, Shayban has enough firepower to give us trouble if we try to force our way in. There are weapons platforms all over that asteroid. Even if we get past them, he has all those crushers. Fully finished and operational, I assume. How many are left there? Eighty-eight? Hell, I don’t want to send my people against that army.”

“Comm him.” With defeat making his heart heavy, Casmir didn’t point out that the crushers wouldn’t be a problem. He could order them to stand down. Everything else was the problem.

Ishii flicked a finger toward his communications officer. It didn’t take long for Shayban’s face to appear on the display, his white hair mostly covered by a turban, his bushy eyebrows drawn down in a V.

“I told you that you people don’t have permission to dock here, but our scanners show you are still en route to our station with three of your warships.” Shayban’s scowl deepened. “We will open fire on you if you approach. The Kingdom is not welcome here.” His gaze shifted to the side, and his tone lightened. “Professor Dabrowski?”

“Yes, Sultan.”

The marines had stepped back but still stood behind Casmir, and Shayban asked, “Are you… a prisoner?”

Casmir considered the question. When he’d first met Shayban, he’d implied he was on the outs with the Kingdom. It hadn’t exactly been a lie.