Home Front (Star Kingdom #7) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,82
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.