Home Front (Star Kingdom #7) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,52

care if they find out. They’ll have to come to me and ask me for permission if they want to install something on the new chip. I just want this one out. Aren’t the newer models faster anyway? We’ll chalk it up to whimsy and wanting the latest tech.”

Pulinski hesitated before nodding. “As you wish, Your Highness. Let me go get the right equipment, and you’ll need to do a backup first, in case the chip is damaged during the removal and you can’t get data off it later.”

“I understand. Thank you.”

When the doctor left, Maddie stepped forward, her eyebrows drawn down. “Is there anything you want to tell me, Oku? Such as that you’re planning a coup?”

“Nothing that dramatic. I just want to be able to talk to a friend without being monitored.”

Maddie made a face. “Is he planning a coup?”

“No. What makes you think it’s a he?”

“Girls usually only care about secrecy if a boy is involved.”

“If he’s out there obeying my father’s orders to the letter, he may become my fiancé.”

“Oh?” Maddie hadn’t been privy to the message Oku’s father had forced her to send. “Do you think he will?”

“Obey my father’s orders to the letter? No.”

“Is that a relief or a disappointment?”

“I’m not sure. We’ve only met twice.” Oku smiled wistfully. Strange that their fates had become entwined after so few encounters.

“Well, do let me know if I need to prepare for a coup of any kind.”

“I will, but you ought to know me well enough to know I’d rather work in a lab at a university for the rest of my life than have anything to do with politics.”

Maddie considered that. “You have made many friends with political influence on other worlds through your academic work.”

“Only friends with political influence who also prefer labs.” Friends that Oku missed. She longed for the day when the Kingdom was once again safe and it was possible to fly to other systems.

Pulinski returned. “I’m ready to begin, Your Highness.”

Nerves jangled in Oku’s belly, but she made herself nod and say a confident, “Good. I’m ready too.”

She hoped she was right.

13

The night had passed uneventfully, with no pursuit from the Drucker warships, and the Dragon was an hour out from the asteroid that held Stardust Palace Station. Bonita sat in the pilot’s pod, looking forward to docking there for a few days and hopefully being safe.

She didn’t appreciate that she’d been brought in as a pawn in the Kingdom’s war and wouldn’t have minded hunkering down at the station until all their soldiers and warships disappeared from the system. But she supposed she should look for a cargo while she was there. The Kingdom engineers had done a decent job repairing the Dragon, and Casmir had also been wandering around with his tool satchel, but the freighter needed new parts.

Beyond finding work, there was the question of Qin’s sisters. Bonita wanted to help them—to help Qin—but was there truly a way it could be feasible? What she didn’t want was to end up with a Drucker bounty on her head.

A soft clang came from the ladder leading up to the navigation deck, and Bjarke’s voice preceded his arrival. “You’ve left an empty seat for your distinguished company? I’m so pleased.”

“Yeah, I thought Zee might like it.”

Bjarke swung into navigation, brushed the side of her head with his fingers, and slid into the co-pilot’s pod. “A robot couldn’t possibly be as engaging and appealing as I am.”

“I am sure Casmir would disagree.”

“If he’d seen the extent of my charms, he wouldn’t, but he is admittedly not my type.”

“No? He has those flexible lips.”

“That he’ll be able to use to schmooze the sultan, I hope.” Bjarke settled back into the pod. “I would prefer not to mount a raid and steal from this man, especially when we don’t have a fast, heavily armored escape vessel to get away in afterward.”

“Or anywhere to escape to.” Bonita waved vaguely in the direction of the gate. Whatever Casmir and the knights planned, they had better not get her and her ship in trouble. Again.

“I think Dabrowski knows something about that malfunction. Or, given its impeccable timing, that sabotage.”

“He said that?”

“It’s what he doesn’t say.”

“There’s not much that he doesn’t say, from what I’ve seen.”

“He’s not a man without secrets,” Bjarke said.

“Casmir is a delightful conversationalist,” Viggo chimed in. “Just this morning, we were discussing advancements in energy efficiency among newer models of Kingdom manufacturing robots. He believes that we could employ those techniques and,