The Ruins of Karzelek (The Mandrake Company series Book 4) (33 page)

“
And that refinery was such a spot.”

“
Yes, sir.”

“
Perhaps all of the other spots were refineries, too, centrally located in prime mining areas.”

“
That’s a possibility.” Sedge looked at Kalish. “If it’s a shipyard you seek, then maybe we need to look for what’s different.” He waved his hand at the lid. “The place where all of the things being made in the refineries were going.”

“
The problem with getting so close to the entrance is that we would risk detection,” Thatcher said. “It’s been a day since I’ve been able to communicate with the
Albatross
, and I don’t know if they have continued to be able to keep the miners out of the tunnels. And then there’s their corrosive biological agent. A problem for them, which could become a problem for us, too, if we came too close. I would like to get the specifications on that agent, specifically how far it was designed to spread.” Thatcher eyed the comm, his lips thin. He sat down next to Tick and tapped the controls, trying to reach his ship.

Kalish turned the lid over and over in her hands. This was
her
mission, and she was in charge. She could give the order to divert from the preplanned search, but if, in venturing close to the entrance, they were discovered, she might not get another chance to check the distant points. Or to ever return to the planet again.

Several short beeps came from the cockpit, and she lifted her head. Perhaps Captain Mandrake would report that none of the mining ships were in the caverns, and the risk would be minimal.

“
That was not me,” Thatcher said to the expectant eyes turned in his direction. “Sergeant Tick?”

“
Oh.” Tick leaned forward, checking a display on his side of the cockpit. His second, “Oh,” was much lower, and he added, “We may have a problem.”

“
The security cameras you left at our entrance?” Thatcher asked.

“
Yes.”

“
More of those old fighters from the mining compound?”

“
Not exactly.” Tick grimaced and waved his hand.

A holodisplay popped up, showing the familiar outlines of that first cavern, with the green ledge and with the gaping hole the laser had burned. Several ships were flying out of that hole. Kalish’s stomach sank. The sleek one- and two-man fighters were painted green and black, with torpedo launchers, guns, and laser cannons bulging from beneath the noses. The camera caught glimpses of names such as Tiger 1 and Spitfire 6 painted on the sides, along with distinctive GalCon Fleet nomenclature.

“
What’s the Fleet doing here?” Tick wondered.

“
Nothing that can be conducive to our health,” Sedge said.

Tick frowned back at him.

“
They can only be here because of us.”

“
Because of us?” Tick asked, pointing at himself, Thatcher, Striker, and Sedge, “or because of
us
?” This time he pointed at all of them and at Kalish too.

“
Does it matter?” Sedge asked, resting a hand on Kalish’s shoulder. “We’re all in this together.”

Thatcher frowned at the two of them, though she didn’t know if it was because of the touch or the situation in general.

“
It matters if there’s a dozen—hell, that’s
two
dozen that have streamed out of that hole—fighters coming after us,” Striker said, sitting up and frowning at the display. “Fighters don’t just appear on planets. That means there are Fleet ships in orbit too. At least two.” Striker pointed at the names on the sides of the craft, which represented multiple squadrons and apparently multiple mother ships as well. “What the hell? It’s too soon for them to have gotten ships out here, even if the miners sent out a distress signal that first night. And why would Fleet have cared anyway? This is a private operation that the whatever-it-is company owns, right?”

“
As Captain Mandrake pointed out,” Thatcher said, “Ferago Enterprises supplies the Fleet. In fact, GalCon is its largest account.”

“
Still,” Tick said. “Striker is right. And yes, it pains me to say sentences that involve the word right and Striker’s name. Enough time hasn’t passed for them to hear what’s going on and get ships out here.”

“
Maybe they were on their way out this direction for something unrelated and were able to divert on short notice,” Sedge said.

Kalish dropped her chin to her fist, only partially listening to their suppositions. They were here. That was what mattered. The chances of escaping Karzelek’s orbit while towing an ancient vessel had just dropped from improbable to impossible. Even without extra cargo, she couldn’t outrun Fleet ships. Her backup plan had always been to take the engine, since she hadn’t known if the alien craft would be small enough to tow or if anything even remotely space worthy would remain after all these years. She could hope that a ship as pristinely conserved as those robots would exist, but she had never been counting on that.

Even if she took the engine and nothing more, could she slip past the Fleet ships? If there truly were two or more, they would probably have their orbits staggered so it would be hard to escape without being seen. Normally Fleet would have no reason to stop her, but if attacks had been reported on the mining facility, any vessel leaving orbit would be suspicious. And, as she recalled with a wince, this mission of hers had resulted in the murder of miners. If Fleet put the pieces together, she would be labeled a criminal. Unless she could somehow foist the crimes off on the mercenaries—after all, she hadn’t
personally
killed anyone—but no, that would be cowardly. They had been protecting her.
Sedge
had been protecting her. She couldn’t abandon him to the Fleet and try to save her ass.

“
Captain got anything to say?” Striker asked.

“
I haven’t been able to get in touch with him,” Thatcher said.

“
Too much rock over our heads, huh?” Tick looked toward the ceiling.

“
That is possible,” Thatcher said, “but the altimeter shows us as only eighty meters beneath the planet’s surface currently. We were much deeper the last time I successfully contacted him.” He gave Sedge a short nod.

“
What are you saying, sir?” Sedge asked. “That the
Albatross
is no longer in orbit?”

Kalish shifted uneasily. If that was true, nobody would be distracting the miners any longer. There might be ships, automated and otherwise, all over that area they wanted to explore.

“
I believe that is likely,” Thatcher said.

“
They probably saw the Fleet thugs coming and cleared out,” Tick said. “Might be hiding in that nebula.”

All four men nodded. Nobody brought up the other possibility, which came to Kalish’s mind. The miners had reported Mandrake Company’s suspicious shuttle trouble, not to mention that strange gas that had poofed into existence along with their appearance, and Fleet had decided the mercenaries were after the ore. And taken drastic measures.

She turned away from the men, swallowing and staring at the deck. Getting innocent workers killed had been bad enough, but what if, as a result of her crazy plan, all of Mandrake Company had been annihilated?

“
How long until they catch up with us?” Tick asked.

Not soon, Kalish hoped. They had been exploring the tunnels for two days. They had a head start.

“
It depends on whether they can track us,” Thatcher said. “We have some time, but it’s a foregone conclusion that we won’t be able to go out the way we came in. That entrance will be guarded now.”

“
The main one will be too,” Sedge said.

“
Maybe Thatcher can penetrate his way through another wall and blast us a new one,” Striker said, smiling, though his innuendo wasn’t heartfelt this time. Maybe he was wondering if something had happened to his ship as well.

“
That’s a possibility,” Thatcher said.

“
Not yet.” Kalish turned to face them again. “We’re in trouble either way, right now.” An understatement. “I want that ship before we leave.”

“
We may no longer have time to check all of the points,” Thatcher said. “Especially if Mandrake Company is in trouble, and the
Albatross
has engaged in evasive maneuvers.” He leveled a piercing stare at her, and she knew he’d had all the same thoughts that she had and was also thinking that the mercenaries could be in trouble because of her.

“
Then we just check the one spot,” Kalish said. “If we find the ship, it could be a bargaining chip.”

“
A trade for our safe passage out of here?” Thatcher said.

Kalish could not make that trade, not when she had already promised the ship in exchange for her father’s life, but she nodded anyway. Whatever it took to keep the mercenaries on her side. She hated to lead Sedge astray, but what else could she do? If they found the ancient shipyard, then their options should increase. Maybe she could keep the engine for Cometrunner and trade the vessel itself to the Fleet. Or maybe there would be two ships. She prayed that whatever gods the aliens had worshipped might remain in the system and that they would bless her endeavor.

She tried not to think about what would happen if they reached their destination and found nothing.

* * *

Kalish watched over Tia’s shoulder as the
Divining Rod
swooped and rose, dipping and banking to follow the gray combat shuttles. It felt good to be back on her ship, though she didn’t think Sedge felt the same way. He had not asked to come along; Commander Thatcher had ordered him to, in case she needed more help interpreting alien ruins when they reached the cavern with the pool. Thatcher had sent Striker and Tick, too, and Kalish was less certain as to why. After several days together, she no longer believed the mercenaries would betray her—at least, she did not
want
to believe that—but she could not be certain they had not been sent along to monitor her, to make sure she didn’t try to abandon Mandrake Company here once she had what she sought. Either way, she had been pleased to have Sedge join her, and not only because she had activities in mind that they could engage in within her private cabin here. He had proven himself useful more times than she could count, both as a protector and as a partner in this hunt.

Her mother had not seen things the same way. She had given Sedge a chilly greeting of, “What’s he doing back in here?”

Kalish had admitted that Sedge had translated the list of parts more quickly than she had and could be of assistance when they reached the next outpost. She just hoped there
was
an outpost and that they would not be stumbling into a zealously mined chamber without a hint to suggest the aliens had ever traveled through that part of the caverns.

Clangs came from the back of the ship now, noisier clangs than her mother’s repair task probably required. But Kalish could not complain. She did not think her mother had slept at all during the rest period, instead ensuring their craft would be space worthy if they needed to flee the planet quickly. That could prove invaluable.

Tia frowned at something on the sensor panel.

“
Problem?” Kalish asked.

“
A mining ship, I think. A couple of miles ahead. It’s sailing into a side tunnel. We shouldn’t cross its path, but if there are more of them, it might be hard to avoid them.” Tia glanced back. “You know the mercenaries are heading toward the entrance of the mining compound now, right? There was a fork where we could have gone deeper into the complex, but this might eventually take us to their big entrance hole.”

“
I know. I told them to go that way.”

“
Oh?”

“
Change of plans,” Kalish said, giving Sedge a nod.

Tick and Striker were back in the cargo hold, cleaning their weapons, but Sedge had been standing quietly next to the hatch since the three ships had taken off. Judging by the pensive expression on his face, he was not thinking of sneaking away with Kalish to her cabin. It was just as well. She should not be thinking of that either, not until they finished here. One way or another.