Gate Quest (Star Kingdom Book 5) Read online

  Asger had his helmet lamp activated, opting for that over the night-vision option, and a narrow beam of light ameliorated the darkness in the chamber. It was enough for Asger to make out his comrades and see Zee blending in with the shadows.

  He was waterproof, presumably, but could he swim? He had to weigh almost as much as solid metal.

  If Asger hadn’t practiced swimming in combat armor during his training, he would also be worried about its extra weight, but the built-in air tank and air in the helmet and small gaps of the interior kept it from sinking. It was more likely that he would have to exert effort to keep from floating up rather than staying level.

  “Comm check,” Asger said quietly, setting up a channel for their group and inviting Kim and Casmir onto it.

  “We hear you,” Casmir said.

  “Yes,” Kim added.

  But chip-to-chip would be better, I think, Casmir texted him, looping Kim in. There will be records of anything we say in our armor.

  And we’re going to say things that we don’t want a record of? Asger replied through his chip.

  I think that’s a given.

  Have you been in contact with Rache? Once the chamber was full of water, Asger spun the outer hatch wheel to open it manually. The blue and yellow paint of Rache’s sub was visible thirty or forty meters away—its running lights were on.

  Kim was the one to answer. He messaged me and told me he’s rescuing us.

  From our own people? Oh, I bet. I assume he wants Casmir to deactivate the gate and is bullshitting about the rest.

  We’ll find out.

  Asger started to go out first, but Casmir stopped him before he could push out into an ocean that was darker than space, except for the dim lighting along the exterior of the other vessel. Absolutely no light filtered down through the thick ice above.

  Let me go first, Casmir messaged. They won’t shoot me or Kim.

  Asger’s training to defend those weaker than himself made him want to protest, but Casmir had a point. All Rache wanted was Kim and Casmir. Asger and Zee were crashing the party.

  Still, he couldn’t bring himself to hide behind anyone. He went out at the same time as Casmir. He pushed off, as he would do if he were leaving the airlock of a warship, but the water outside was vastly different from the frozen vacuum of space—or even the lake he’d practiced in back on Odin.

  The seams of his armor groaned at the pressure, and an alarm flashed on his heads-up display. But as he’d guessed, he started floating upward. He paddled hard, angling himself downward and toward the other submarine. Since he didn’t think his jet boots would work underwater, he didn’t try to activate them. Fins would have been better.

  The hatch in the side of Rache’s submarine opened slowly. Two men in black armor waited inside the airlock.

  A dark figure moved next to Asger, on the side opposite of Casmir, and he jerked, envisioning some massive sea creature swooping in to attack.

  But it was Zee, kicking and swimming hard, his arms flailing to keep his heavy body from sinking. As Asger watched, he re-formed his arms into something more akin to fins, his legs into great flippers. Once he made the adjustment, he zipped ahead, not caring if he arrived first and the mercenaries fired at him. Maybe he wanted that.

  Fortunately, the two mercenaries hadn’t brought out rifles or pistols. Maybe they hadn’t known if their weapons would work underwater. Asger didn’t know, either, but he was sure his pertundo would work fine, the cleaving halberd head and spike, if not the technological energy component.

  He landed in the airlock behind Zee. Casmir and Kim reached the submarine, but there wasn’t room for anyone else inside. They found nearby handholds, but Casmir waved for Asger to trade positions with him.

  Asger debated. He would rather go inside, face the mercenaries, and make sure it was safe before Casmir and Kim came in, but Rache and his people hated the Kingdom and had killed knights before—Asger gritted his teeth as he remembered hearing about the incidents in the news and the discussion around Prester Court when he’d still been a squire. The mercenaries might take him down if Casmir didn’t go in first and deliver his threat to not help unless they let Asger live.

  He reluctantly pushed himself back outside, making room for Casmir and Kim to squeeze in behind Zee and the two mercenaries.

  The hatch closed, leaving Asger hanging on to the hull, his legs floating upward behind him. He swallowed uneasily, feeling alone and vulnerable. He reminded himself that if the hatch didn’t open again after the airlock cycled, he could go back to the other submarine if he must. But leaving Casmir and Kim to Rache’s devices would be another failure.

  He leaned his helmet against the hull, telling himself this wasn’t the time to dwell on how often he’d been applying that word to himself of late. Casmir might argue otherwise, but he was in trouble with the king too. Winning Casmir’s favor wouldn’t do anything for Asger’s career. It might continue to hurt it.

  “Did you take your seizure medication this morning?” Kim’s voice came over their shared channel.

  “Yes, Mom,” Casmir said. “If I hadn’t, it would be a little late to do so anyway.”

  Were they still in the airlock?

  “Did you bring it along with you for your kidnapping?”

  “I thought it was a rescue.”

  “We’ll see.”

  “Yes, I did. In my tool satchel. Which that hulking man with the metal thorns implanted in his cheeks just took away. Hm.”

  “They’re taking my vials too,” Kim muttered.

  “Maybe they’ll accidentally break them open and incapacitate themselves,” Casmir whispered even more quietly.

  Asger wondered what concoction Kim had made.

  “They’re all wearing full armor. That makes them safe from airborne particles—and bacteria.”

  “Ah, so we have to convince them to strip naked first?” Casmir asked.

  “Just removing their helmets would do.”

  “I forgot,” Casmir said, “you don’t get excited by naked men.”

  “If you do, Prin— any women you’re thinking of dating might be disappointed.”

  Asger frowned at that slip. That hadn’t been about Princess Oku, had it? Surely, Casmir couldn’t imagine he had a chance with royalty. Beautiful and serene royalty, at that.

  How odd that Asger had almost forgotten about Oku lately. He’d been thinking more about Qin. But not romantically, he assured himself. Oku was the kind of woman men dreamed of. Qin was just… a good friend. That was all.

  The hatch opened, and Asger berated himself for his drifting thoughts. He swam into the empty water-filled airlock.

  “You two all right?” he asked quietly, hoping the mercenaries cycled the airlock and let him in. They might find this a handy brig to store him in.

  “Many large armed men are pointing their rifles at us,” Casmir said.

  “Actually, they’re pointing them at Zee,” Kim said. “And gaping as his fins turn back into arms and legs.”

  Casmir and Kim fell silent, and Asger worried. He shifted his weight impatiently as the hatch closed behind him and the water drained out. He’d put his pertundo in its holder for the swim across, but he drew it now. Just in case.

  It was dark in the airlock, and when the inner hatch opened and light flooded in, he squinted. His headlamp turned off automatically.

  “We taking their weapons, boss?” someone asked as Asger stepped out into the divers’ prep area, his boots landing on damp perforated rubber mats.

  “I don’t have any weapons.” Casmir lifted his hands, gauntleted fingers spread.

  An armored merc was searching through his tool satchel as water dripped from it. Asger thought of the gauges and electronic devices he’d seen Casmir use and hoped they were in waterproof cases inside.

  Kim’s bag had already disappeared, and she wore an irritated expression behind her faceplate. Her arms were crossed over her chest. A stunner was attached to her utility belt, but she didn’t r
each for it.

  “Not if they remove their helmets and make it easy for us to stun them,” Rache’s voice came from the front of the submarine.

  “Isn’t that an appealing suggestion.” Kim sent a dark look in his direction.

  The deck rumbled as engines came to life, and Asger sensed movement. He couldn’t see a porthole from where he stood, but he knew they were sailing away from the Kingdom submarine.

  The clock on his helmet display said the rest of their allies had to be ten minutes away, if they were on the way at all. He wasn’t sure. Maybe they’d considered their part of the mission too important to come back, and that was why the commander had decided he was willing to cooperate.

  The mercenaries parted, and an armored man shorter than the others walked forward, his helmet off, but his black mask and hood hiding his features. Rache bowed to Kim and Casmir, glanced at Zee, and ignored Asger.

  “If you’ll follow me to the office in the back,” Rache told Casmir, “I’ll show you how I’m rescuing you instead of kidnapping you.”

  “Are you sure you know the different meanings of those words?” Casmir asked. “Because this feels like a kidnapping.” He turned to Kim. “Doesn’t it feel like a kidnapping to you?”

  Kim sighed.

  “If you wish me to attack these men and attempt to take over the vessel to ensure your safety, Kim Sato and Casmir Dabrowski, I am prepared.” Zee wasn’t taller than all of the mercenaries, but he exuded an ominous presence with his solid, nearly indestructible build. “Simply give the order.”

  Rache didn’t look alarmed. He pointed past Asger toward whatever cabin he’d mentioned.

  “Can I give the order?” Asger muttered.

  “No,” Zee said. “Casmir Dabrowski has not programmed me to accept orders from anyone else other than Kim Sato.”

  A familiar man leaned out of an open hatchway behind a couple of mercenaries. Dr. Yas Peshlakai. He was holding Kim’s bag and watching the goings on curiously. Unlike the mercenaries, he wasn’t in armor.

  Rache pushed Casmir to the side and walked into the short back corridor, a few hatches lining the bulkhead. “This way.”

  “I expected we’d spend more time bantering first,” Casmir said.

  “Guess he’s in a hurry.” Kim was the first one to follow Rache.

  Several of the mercenaries eyed Asger’s pertundo, but to his surprise, nobody tried to take it. The man who’d been searching Casmir’s satchel withdrew a chocolate bar, then handed it back to him.

  “Rache.” Casmir slung the satchel over his shoulder and followed Kim. “One of your fearless mercenaries just stole my emergency rations.”

  Asger had the urge to spring at the man and protect Casmir’s belongings, but the thief withdrew behind a wall of his comrades. One of them eyed the chocolate bar like a starving wolf. Asger supposed it was silly to hope they would all get in a fight over it, kill each other, and Asger could take over the submarine.

  “Emergency rations? That looked like a candy bar.” Rache entered a hatchway just before engineering.

  “Actually, it’s a Cosmic Crater Deluxe, far superior to some generic sweet.”

  “Maybe he’ll give it back if you help us with the gate.”

  “That seems unlikely. He’s opened the wrapper and is sniffing it now.”

  Two men followed Asger, rifles pointed at his back, as he entered the cabin behind Kim and Casmir. There were posters all over the bulkheads, promising good deals to those who booked tours four months in advance.

  Rache waved to a tablet on a desk but didn’t sit in the chair. “I have something to show you, Casmir. Asger, close the hatch.”

  “Sir?” one of the mercs behind them asked. “You don’t want some of us in there with you?”

  “I’ll call you if I need you, Chains.” Rache waved toward Asger.

  Asger was happy to slam the hatch shut in front of the mercenaries’ faces. And he felt better being alone in the cabin with Zee, Casmir, and Kim. Even though Rache was armored, he didn’t have an obvious weapon, and it crossed Asger’s mind that he and Zee could overpower him and hold him hostage. Maybe force the rest of the mercenaries to take a trip out that airlock hatch.

  “Zee and I could take him,” Asger whispered into his helmet’s comm pickup.

  “I want to see how he rescued us first,” Casmir whispered back.

  Asger clenched his fist but didn’t push.

  Rache waved for the tablet to play a video and slid it across the desk toward Casmir and Kim. Asger, taller than both, had no trouble seeing it.

  Thoughts of commandeering the submarine slipped from his mind as Ambassador Romano’s face came up side by side with that Captain Cullen who’d tried to barter with Ishii for Casmir. To repair his robots, he’d said.

  Cullen didn’t keep up the pretense with Romano, and Asger’s mouth dropped open as the video played and Romano callously bartered for Casmir’s life.

  “We already found and neutralized the locator beacon,” Rache said when the video was done.

  “Oh, good,” Casmir said. “Because that’s the thing I was most concerned about.”

  “I just want you to know that Jager’s puppy was going to sell you out—sell your life—to some scummy bounty hunter for nothing.” Rache rested a hand on his chest. “I am rescuing you.”

  Kim had removed her helmet to watch the video. She said nothing but raised her eyebrows, not appearing impressed.

  Rache looked at her. “I’ll admit nobody was talking about killing you, but I thought you might be caught in the crossfire as some suborned thug took shots at Casmir.”

  “So I should consider myself preemptively rescued?” It was hard to tell if she was joking or if she was still angry.

  The latter, Asger hoped.

  “I believe so,” Rache said.

  “Who was he going to get to shoot me?” Casmir flipped his helmet back and scrubbed at his already tousled dark hair. It was damp with sweat, which was surprising since the swim over hadn’t been that laborious or long. Maybe he was more nervous than he sounded. “How many suborn-able men does Ishii have on his ship? And is that a word?”

  “No,” Kim said at the same time as Rache.

  Kim added, “A man who believed he was working for the ambassador—and through him Jager—might not consider himself suborned. He might think he was doing the right thing for the crown. Either that, or Romano was going to pay someone from the kitchen. We already know they’re motivated by money. At least that way, you’d know him by the choice of assassination weapon.”

  “Right. I wouldn’t have needed to be rescued.” Casmir looked at Rache. “I would have just avoided the man swinging a whisk.”

  “I envisioned a meat cleaver,” Kim said.

  “That’s gory,” Casmir said.

  “Sorry.”

  Asger looked at Zee, the only other person—if one could call him that—not bantering casually in front of the enemy who’d captured them. The only other sane person in the cabin.

  Asger knew they had all dined together at that apartment in the capital, but that didn’t mean they should trust Rache. He’d sounded bloodthirsty when he’d spoken about how his enhanced men would destroy anyone who’d sworn an oath to Jager. That, along with knowing about all the crimes he’d committed over the years—all the people he’d murdered—made Asger want to slam the blade of his pertundo through that helmet and mask.

  “Where are you taking us, oh noble rescuer?” Kim asked Rache.

  “To the astroshaman base,” Rache said, “to get the gate while your people are distracting the defenders.”

  “I believe their plan is to sneak in while your people are distracting the defenders,” Casmir said.

  “You did arrive first with the submarines you stole instead of renting,” Asger said. “That means your people are in the lead.”

  “That’s what you think.” Rache bowed slightly to Kim, then walked out.

  He shut the hatch behind him, leaving their group
alone. The lock clicked. Alone and imprisoned.

  “I don’t like that man,” Asger announced, not caring if the cabin was bugged.

  “What are your feelings on Ambassador Romano?” Casmir asked.

  “I don’t like him either. When I joined the knighthood, I thought I’d be surrounded by and working for noble and honorable people. Casmir, why does everybody want you dead? Is it just because of your genes?”

  “I don’t know.” Casmir looked bleakly at Kim, but she wasn’t saying much. She mostly looked irked, not at Casmir but at Rache, if her glare toward the closed hatch was any indicator.

  “How would a Miners’ Union prince even know about your genes?” Asger added.

  “I don’t know that, either, though I did find some photos of Admiral Mikita here in System Hydra. The resemblance is clear. I think President Nguyen recognized me right away.”

  “Going from thinking you resemble him to assuming you’re his clone is a stretch.” Asger kicked the desk, annoyed that Casmir was in danger and annoyed that they were in Rache’s clutches.

  He wasn’t positive they’d made the right decision in handing over Casmir and Kim instead of fighting for them. What if they—what if he—inadvertently helped Rache acquire the gate instead of the Kingdom? Asger was already at risk of being kicked out of the knighthood. At this rate, he would end up with a bounty on his head.

  “Perhaps it is I that this prince fears,” Zee said, “and he is targeting Casmir Dabrowski so he cannot build me a mate. Who would be equally fearsome.”

  Asger stared at the crusher. So did Kim. Casmir only smiled, though it was a wan smile. Sweat dampened his forehead. That couldn’t still be from the swim, could it?

  “I am attempting to use levity to lessen the human tension in the room,” Zee stated. “I have observed that Casmir Dabrowski does this often, to varying degrees of success.”

  “Are you rubbing off on your crusher, Casmir?” Asger asked.

  “Like a fungal infection,” Kim said.

  “Ouch.” Casmir touched his hand to his chest. “Shouldn’t you save your vitriol for the man who kidnapped you twice in the same year?”