Hero Code Read online

  Hero Code

  Star Kingdom, Book 3

  Lindsay Buroker

  Copyright © 2019 by Lindsay Buroker

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you for following along with my Star Kingdom series. I hope you’ve been having fun with my quirky heroes.

  I grinned several times while writing Hero Code (I’m not sure if authors are supposed to admit to being entertained by their own work), so I hope that means you’ll get a few laughs too.

  Before you start, please let me thank my beta readers Cindy Wilkinson, Rue Silver, and Sarah Engelke. They read this one and got their notes back to me in four days, because I was heading off to a conference, and I was afraid the manuscript would miss its hot date with my editor if I didn’t get it finished beforehand. That’s Shelley Holloway, by the way, and let me thank her while I’m here too. And also Jeff Brown for the fun cover art for this series.

  Now, I’ll hush up and let you read!

  Prologue

  Fire burned in Yas’s veins as the treatment solution flowed into his arm. His breath caught, and his entire body clenched in pain.

  Had he been a true cryonics revival patient, he would have still been dead, and he wouldn’t have had to live through this. He supposed feeling envious of a corpse was strange.

  A groan came from the bed next to him, its occupant strapped down, the same as he was. Maybe it was to keep the patients from flying off their beds in the low gravity of the small medical facility. Maybe it was to keep them from tearing out the IVs and fleeing the premises.

  “You all right, Jess?” Yas tried to remember when she’d last taken a dose of trylochanix, the drug she was unfortunately addicted to. If they survived this, he vowed to help her wean herself off it. Of course, he wouldn’t have minded some of the potent painkiller himself right now.

  “The only things that don’t hurt,” she bit out around clenched teeth, “are my hand and foot and eyeballs.”

  “Your cybernetic replacements? I suppose they don’t have cells that need regenerating. You’re fortunate. I’ve had nothing replaced, so I’m entirely human.”

  At least the fire was fading as the solution in the IV bag dwindled. A pump whirred softly, helping drive it into the tubing—and into him—in the limited gravity.

  “Yeah, fortunate.” Jess closed her eyes, but that didn’t hide the tears on her lashes.

  From the pain, Yas presumed, but she might also be feeling the effects of some of the mental trauma of the last week—or of her entire life. Unlike the rest of Captain Tenebris Rache’s mercenaries, many of whom had paid for the various enhancements to their physiques, her cybernetic replacements had been done because of a terrorist attack that had left her body too damaged to repair by biological means.

  More than a dozen of Rache’s burly mercenaries were strapped to beds on the other side of Jess, the long bay stretching back to a bank of computers. Robots with squat bodies and articulating arms rolled about on wheels, checking on the patients. In addition to the cryonics treatment, they had all been inoculated with the custom strain of radiation-eating bacteria that Yas’s team had taken from the microbiologist, Kim Sato. Yas had never imagined himself helping mercenaries steal bacteria, but in this case, it had saved their lives.

  Yas hoped he never had to have anything to do with that ancient gate, or the pseudo radiation it oozed, again in his lifetime. He doubted he would be that lucky.

  A soft clang came from the entrance of the bay. Rache walked toward them in his black combat armor, his helmet off and tucked under one arm, but his head hooded, his face masked. As always. He walked straight toward Jess and Yas, stopping between their beds.

  “I’m ready to retire, Captain,” Jess announced. She blinked away the moisture on her lashes and managed a cocky smile for him.

  “Because Dr. Peshlakai is such a poor conversationalist that you feel the need to flee the unit?” Rache asked, his voice so deadpan that Yas wasn’t sure if it was a joke or not.

  “Because I was only prepared for getting shot at and blown up as a mercenary. This—” she twitched a finger toward the tube oozing its viscous liquid into a vein on her brown-skinned arm, “—is an imposition.”

  “It is an unappealing shade of green-gray,” Rache remarked.

  “The color isn’t the problem.”

  “It feels like ants gnawing their way through your veins,” Yas told Rache. “Be glad you were immune.”

  Yas had never figured out why Rache was immune, but he’d barely been coherent the last couple of days before Kim Sato had found a treatment. Even days later, on a secret hospital favored by pirates and smugglers and hidden away in an asteroid that had the ability to move to different parts of the system, he didn’t feel magnificent. But after this treatment, he hoped for a marked improvement. He had been lamenting that his life was a miserable mess after being framed for the assassination of President Bakas back on Tiamat Station, but he now believed it was still superior to the alternative.

  “Yes,” Rache said quietly. “I had injuries of my own to deal with—” he touched the top of his head, “—but I’ll concede that your situation is worse.”

  Since the hood covered it, Yas had no idea what he referred to. All he knew was that Rache had supposedly battled for and lost the gate and the cargo ship that his twin brother had somehow acquired. The man, Casmir Dabrowski, was an academic with no military experience. Yas couldn’t envision a scenario in which Rache wouldn’t have come out on top, and yet… Rache and his squad of enhanced fighters had been dumped into two escape pods and left stranded until the Fedallah picked them up.

  Rache was lucky he had a loyal crew who had wanted to come pick him up, and hadn’t decided to leave the system, sell the ship, and disappear. Not that many people would risk Rache’s wrath for any amount of money. Yas ached to ask how Casmir had gotten the upper hand, but he didn’t want to irritate his captain, not when he was paying for the very expensive treatment Yas, Jess, and the others were undergoing.

  “It’s my understanding that you had the chance to stay on the research ship,” Rache said, his mask turning toward Yas, “and receive treatment there, but you opted to retrieve some of the bacteria and come back to the Fedallah to help my men.”

  Yas’s heartbeat doubled, and he could feel it pulsing in his ears. Rache’s tone was neutral. It sounded like he approved, but if he’d heard this story, it had to have been from Corporal Chains. Yas had been with Jess the whole time, and he would know if she’d spoken privately to Rache. Chains might have also mentioned that Yas had lingered, debating whether he could get away with staying behind, before finally climbing into the shuttle with the rest of the mercenaries. Did Rache know that? Would he resent that Yas had paused? That he’d been tempted?

  “We all figured jail, if not a firing squad, would be waiting for us at the end of that treatment,” Yas said, re
fusing to pretend he’d been more of a hero than he had been.

  Jess nodded firmly.

  “And Chains was the one who broke down the door and sneaked up to the lab to take the bacteria,” Yas added.

  “But you told him what to get and where to find it.”

  Yas shrugged. “I knew you had other people who had been exposed, and I wasn’t positive the single dose we’d gotten would be enough.”

  He was relieved that Rache didn’t sound irked, that he appreciated that Yas had chosen to return. He wondered if there was any chance that Rache would feel grateful enough to help him with his personal problem. As he’d told Jess, Yas wished he could get to the bottom of President Bakas’s assassination and figure out who had truly killed her, not only to clear his name but because she’d been a good woman and the station—the entire system—ought to know who had truly taken her down. Jess had suggested he try to hire Rache, just as she had once done, to investigate the mystery.

  “Do you believe the bacteria will remain in the men’s bodies and give them some immunity if we have the opportunity to get near the gate again?” Rache asked.

  Yas pulled his mind back to their medical problem. “I know the strand that Sato and her colleagues originally made to consume standard radiation is self-propagating in the human body. I do not know what changes she made to the bacteria to get it to work on this stuff. As I’m sure she told you, it’s not quite radiation, not like any kind we’re familiar with.”

  Rache nodded.

  “But I can look in a couple of weeks. I should be able to find signs of them in our blood if the bacteria is still there.”

  “Good.”

  “Are we going to try to get the gate again, Captain?” Jess asked. “And if so, how soon?”

  “Are you eager to get a look at it?”

  “Actually, I wanted to know how much time I had to fill out the paperwork for my retirement request.”

  “Request denied. You’re too young to retire.”

  “Damn.” Jess let her head flop dramatically back onto the pillow.

  Yas wondered if Rache would truly keep her if she wished to leave.

  “I do not know where it is currently,” Rache said, “but I will.”

  “Dabrowski got away with it?” Yas asked, the question based solely on what he’d heard from the other men in the bay, those who had been there, battling robots in the cargo hold around giant pieces of the gate.

  “He did,” Rache said coolly. “The cargo ship has advanced stealth technology. I’ve had the Fedallah trying to track it, but they haven’t found anything. Several days have passed now, so it’s less and less likely they’ll chance across it.”

  “You think he’s taking it back to Odin to give to King Jager?” Jess asked.

  “I do not know what he’s doing with it.” Rache shook his head. “That is a possibility, that he wants to take it to the king directly to curry favor. Had he merely wanted to make sure the Kingdom had it in its possession, he could have given it to the Fleet warships that were also fighting for it. The irate communications we intercepted suggest that he was supposed to give it to them, not disappear with it. From what intelligence I’ve gathered, he left the cargo ship—and presumably the gate—hidden somewhere and rejoined Kim Sato on the research ship. From there, he joined the same smugglers that he showed up at the refinery with. They appear to be heading toward Odin in their freighter. An odd choice, since there are people back there who want to kill him.”

  “He must want to give it to the king personally,” Jess said.

  “If that is true, I will do my best to stop him. Jager must not be allowed to have such technology, such power. With a wormhole gate to study and replicate, he could lead the expansion of humanity into the rest of the galaxy. Maybe even beyond.”

  “So you’re going to hunt him down?” Jess asked. “Or maybe Sato knows what he plans. Is she still on the research ship? Maybe you could question her.”

  Yas looked sharply at Jess, wishing she hadn’t brought up Kim. They owed her for finding a solution to this, for saving their lives. Yas had already inadvertently caused Rache to kidnap her once. He didn’t want her to be in Rache’s sights again.

  Rache gripped his chin. “She does seem to be Dabrowski’s confidante.”

  Yas searched for something to say that might deter Rache from this line of thinking. Surely, Kim wouldn’t be any easier to find than Casmir himself. They had probably left the research ship together. It wasn’t as if Kim was employed by the military or part of the crew of that ship. She’d been helping them out of necessity and that was it. If Rache wanted to interrogate someone, why not capture Casmir and ask him about the gate? He was the one who’d slunk off with it when nobody was looking.

  “No.” Rache lowered his hand. “I owe her a favor, not an interrogation. I’ll find Dabrowski and question him.”

  Jess shrugged easily. She had probably only meant to be helpful, not toss Kim into a black hole.

  “You two get better soon,” Rache said. “I need you back on the Fedallah.”

  “To go after Dabrowski and the gate?” Jess asked.

  “Yes.”

  Rache started to turn away. Yas glanced at Jess and cleared his throat.

  “Uh, Captain,” he said, “I was wondering if, after you finish with this mission, I could convince you to help me find out who really killed President Bakas in my system.”

  Rache faced him again.

  “I’m sure I could scrounge up a little money to hire you, if that’s how it works. And I would have access to more if I was able to clear my name and get back into my accounts.”

  Long silent seconds passed. Thanks to the mask, Rache’s face was impossible to read—to even see. Was he annoyed at Yas’s audacity? Or was he considering the request? Maybe wondering how much money Yas could get together?

  “You would finish out your five years as my ship’s doctor?” Rache asked.

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Then we can speak of it after the gate mission. It is possible I can find some work in System Hydra that would justify the trip.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Yas dared not ask for a firmer commitment. It was more than he had expected.

  Rache nodded—the man never said you’re welcome—and walked out.

  “He’s distant, aloof, and a little quirky,” Jess said, “but he’s more reasonable than most people think, and not bad at all if you stay on his good side.”

  “So I see.”

  Yas was glad he’d chosen to do just that. Though he felt a little bad for Casmir Dabrowski, who was clearly now on Rache’s bad side.

  1

  The six-and-a-half-foot-tall crusher loomed near the porthole in the lounge while Casmir sat on the deck, his tools scattered within reach, the arm of one of his newly acquired but battle-damaged robots in front of him. He had already fixed the fan on one of Viggo’s carbon-dioxide scrubbers, the sanitization spritzer in the bottom-level lavatory, and the leak in Bonita’s supposedly vacuum-sealed and space-rated soup cooker.

  There wasn’t much left to fix, which was distressing, because his brain, left to its own devices, would likely find its way into a panic-attack-inducing state of worry. He was on the Stellar Dragon, a freighter possibly wanted by the Kingdom Guard, and heading back to Odin where terrorists wanted him dead. Further, he now was the only person who knew the location of the priceless ancient wormhole gate, a secret that King Jager might be willing to kill him for. Or at least torture him for.

  And what was his plan? To trust Sir Asger to get him a meeting with the queen, who might possibly be sympathetic to his goals and help him find a way to share the gate, and all that might be learned from it, with scholars throughout the Twelve Systems. Never mind that she lived in the castle with Jager, and Casmir couldn’t imagine how he would be able to meet with her without running into the king.

  “Your respiratory rate has increased twofold, Casmir Dabrowski,” Zee announced. “Are you experiencing a medical e
mergency?”

  “Meaning am I going to have a seizure and collapse at your metal feet?” Casmir grimaced, since that was always a possibility. He felt safer now that he was back on his medication, but the fluctuations between partial gravity and no gravity that they experienced out here added an unstable variable to the already dubious equation of his health. He wasn’t confident that his seizure medication had been suitably tested on a large space-faring control group.

  “I am not programmed to protect you from the failings of your own body,” Zee said. “What is the proper procedure? Would I get the captain?”

  “Can we not call them failings, please?” Casmir set down his pliers and rose, waving the bipedal robot owner of the arm over to him. “Get Kim if I have a medical event in space.”

  He probably should have programmed Zee with basic first-aid instructions. The original crusher programming had been more concerned with battling enemies than healing them.

  “Understood. What is the preferred human term for genetic shortcomings?”

  “Delightful character-building opportunities for growth.”

  Zee didn’t have distinct human features, not like an android, but he did have a semblance of eyes, a mouth, and a nose, and they turned straight toward Casmir. “You programmed me with the ability to detect sarcasm, Casmir Dabrowski.”

  “Yes, I know.” Casmir worked on fastening the robot’s arm while he spoke. “That may have been an error. It’s definitely more important to know what to do with a seizure patient.” Casmir had used the same template he and his team had used when building the first crushers for the Kingdom military. It had been deemed important for them to understand human emotions, including sarcasm. Looking back, Casmir should have known then that he wasn’t simply building robots to help defend his home world. The military had probably wanted the crushers to have that programming so they could more effectively interrogate people and figure out if answers given were believable. “Though in most cases, I shouldn’t need medical intervention. Just pull me out of the way if I’m in danger of being stepped on. If I’m not bleeding or foaming at the mouth, I’ll probably be fine.”