The Ruins of Karzelek (The Mandrake Company series Book 4) (41 page)

“
I’m pushing us to max,” Tia said, “but four of their ships are after us, closing to within tractor beam range.”

Sedge wished he could come up with the brilliant plan Kalish needed. All he could hope was that there might be a chance for some cleverness when the troops boarded the ship, but he could not imagine what they could do with so much of the Fleet around them. Even if Mandrake Company had an armada of ships, it would not be enough to—

A thought lurched into his mind, an image of alien ships showing up in the sky. Even
one
alien ship showing up would surely sidetrack the Fleet. Humans had been alone in the system for fifteen hundred years. The suggestion that they might not be—surely that would throw off a commodore’s boarding plans.

“
Explosions going off on the ground,” Tia said. “I think it’s the mercenary shuttles, making some trouble in the mining complex.”

“
It’s not going to be enough, is it?” Kalish asked, her eyes locked on the sensors, on all the Fleet ships around them.

Sedge attached a repair kit to her side, then stood. If he was going to try, this was the time.

Kalish looked to him, a plea for help in her eyes. He wanted to promise that he would fix everything, but he had no idea if he would be able to do anything with that box. Even if he could, it would probably be the work of months to figure out how to work it, not minutes.

“
I’m going to try something,” was all he said, not wanting to promise too much. He squeezed her shoulder and sprinted for the cargo hold.

* * *

“
What’s he doing?” Striker whispered.

“
Not sure,” Tick replied. “He’s barely moved for ten minutes.”

Sedge knelt in front of the box, the back panel open. Rows of runes lined the inside of that panel, a few of them slightly indented, buttons that could be pressed. His tablet sat open on the deck next to him with the translation program running, trying to find words to explain the instructions. His hand hovered over the box, aching to try pressing things at random, seeing if he could get the program to run, to transmit the realistic holodisplay to the exterior of the
Divining Rod
. But it wouldn’t do any good if the workers showed up as well as the alien ship. Fleet would not be fooled if people were walking around in the middle of the sky.

“
Flying into some clouds and holding there for now,” Tia’s voice drifted back from the bridge, “but they’re all around us, like a noose. Whatever the mercenaries are doing, it’s not enough to convince the military to leave us alone up here.”

“
Any chance of losing them in the clouds?” Kalish asked.

“
Maybe in the nebula, but not simply in the clouds, no. And that big dreadnought is blocking me every time I try to angle for the atmosphere.”

A shadow fell across the box. Sedge leaned back. There was not much he could do until the program finished hunting for matches in the database.

He expected Striker or Tick, since they had been roaming around, their weapons clanking as they talked about him, but they must have gone up to the bridge. Ms. Blackwell was the one standing above him, her arms folded across her chest.

“
Kalish thinks you’re doing something clever,” she said, her tone making it clear she did not share the belief.

Sedge did not particularly share the belief either. “The more appropriate adjective is desperate.”

“
She’s not—”

The ship shuddered, then groaned some protest.

“
They’ve got us with a tractor beam,” came Tia’s defeated words from the bridge, then a softer, “Sorry, Kalish.”

“
It’s not your fault.”

Ms. Blackwell had turned her head to listen to the words, a disappointed expression crossing her face, but her jaw hardened when she faced Sedge again. “It probably doesn’t matter, since we’re all on our way to jail—or worse—but you were never going to be brought on board as a business partner, just so you know.”

“
Pardon?” Sedge stared up at her, mystified as he tried to remember if he had ever said something to lead her to think that was his desire.

“
That was Mingus’s goal, and he almost succeeded. As it was, he walked away with a lot of money. Climbing into my daughter’s bed isn’t going to make you rich, mercenary. She’s not foolish enough to fall for something like that again—she wised up in time last time not to fall for it.”

Hardly able to believe her accusations—or that she was bringing them up
now
—Sedge glanced at the translation program, hoping it had finished, so he would have an excuse to ignore the bitter woman. But it continued to hum along, drawing on resources from all over the system-wide network.

“
Ms. Blackwell, I’m not looking for a new job,” Sedge said, forcing himself to look her in the eye. “And if I wanted money, I would have continued to work in my family business. My parents are the founders and majority holders of Genes and Greens, a research and development horticulture company. It’s a publicly traded corporation. You can look it up if you wish.”

The tablet bleeped, announcing matches for his runes. Yes.

“
If you’ll excuse me, not letting us be captured is my primary concern right now.” Sedge bent, reading as quickly as he could, trying to figure out what he needed to reprogram the box and wondering if he could possibly do so before it was too late to help.

Without a word, Ms. Blackwell strode away, her boots clanging on the deck. He did not look up to watch her go.

“
The engines will burn out if we don’t give up,” Tia said. “We’re not getting anywhere.”

“
I know.” Kalish was watching the sensors, trying to figure out what was going on in the mining compound.
Some
Fleet ships had diverted to investigate the smoke and explosions coming from there, but there were still two ships flying on either side of the
Divining Rod
, each one more than fifty times the size and with fifty times the weapons. One had them locked in their tractor beam and was slowly reeling them in. “Don’t try to fight it. There’s nothing we can do now.”

She gazed to the dark blue sky ahead of them, the promise of space, with the pink haze of the nebula stretched out beyond the planet, inviting them to hide in its cloudy, sensor-distorting confines. If only they could reach it.

A lurch coursed through the ship.

“
Now what?” Kalish asked. Surely, the Fleet vessels would not attack them when they were clearly trapped in a tractor beam.

“
Uh. They let us go?”

“
Is that a question or what happened?” Kalish checked the sensors again and stared with befuddlement at the fact that the energy beam no longer registered around them. In fact, the dreadnought that had been locking them in was veering away.

“
Yes, both.”

“
Sedge?” Kalish started to turn in her chair to ask if he’d had anything to do with the change, but Tia lunged over and grabbed her arm.

“
Look! What
is
it?”

A huge triangular ship had appeared in the sky ahead of them, seemingly diving toward them from the atmosphere. The sleek craft was utterly alien... and utterly familiar.

“
That’s the ship we were looking at in the hangar,” Kalish said, staring at the sensors again, puzzled because it showed up as if it were a
real
ship.

“
There are
six
of them heading toward us,” Tia said.

“
Our second escort ship is veering away. They think they’re real. Or they’re confused. Something.” Kalish shook her head, a grin stretching her cheeks for the first time that day. “Tia, get us out of here. Go right toward them.”

“
Toward? Er, are you sure?”

Tia had not seen the ship being constructed in the hangar, so Kalish could understand her consternation. As far as
she
could tell, those ships were real and were heading right toward them.

“
I’m sure.” Kalish gripped her arm. “Trust me. Go right between those two. Hurry. The Fleet won’t be fooled for long.”

Tia only hesitated a second more, then nodded, and her fingers flew over the controls.

Sedge burst onto the bridge, gripping the frame of the open hatch with both hands. “Did it work? Did you—I see them. Good, good. Is anyone believing it?”

“
Our escort let us go,” Kalish said, even as a noisy hum reverberated through the ship, Tia pushing the engines to maximum. “For the moment.”

“
Good,” Sedge said again, coming to stand behind Kalish’s seat, his eyes locked on the view screen. “Did all of them show up?”

“
There are those two we’re heading for, and four more show up on the sensors.”

“
Sensors?” Sedge gripped the back of her seat and leaned over her shoulder to look. “They’re showing up on the
sensors
?”

“
They most assuredly are. It’s hard to get a read on what they are exactly, but they definitely appear as solid masses, and the Fleet ships turned away.”

“
That’s more than I’d hoped for,” he whispered.

She reached up, slipping her hand behind his neck and pulling him down for a kiss. The relief of the moment made her feel effusive. “That’s because you underestimate your brilliance.”

“
Oh, gag,” Tia said. “Some of us are trying to concentrate on flying here.”

Sedge kissed her back, though his eyes stayed locked on the sensor display, as if he couldn’t believe the ships actually showed up there. Kalish released him. She would demand his undivided attention later.

“
We’re escaping?” came Tick’s voice from behind them.

He and Striker thumped onto the bridge. Kalish had not realized her mother was already there, standing quietly by the hatch. She might have tamped down her effusive tendencies if she had realized Mom was watching. But she had lost the hostile aura that she had been wearing like a cloak since Sedge first came aboard. She was staring at the view screen, a dumbfounded look on her face that Kalish had not seen very often. An open tablet dangled down by her side, its display projecting onto her leg. She must have forgotten about it.

“
We’ve passed between them. The Fleet ships are ignoring us.” Tia snickered. “They’re trying to hail the aliens.”

“
Just so long as they don’t start shooting,” Sedge said. “The lasers could blast right through.”

“
I don’t know about that,” Tick said. “We had ourselves a nice stroll on top of those ships.”

“
That’s true. Their holodisplay technology is far more sophisticated than ours.”

“
Getting that box was a good find,” Kalish said. “I’m not sure if those cylinders in the cargo room are actually engines yet, but that holo technology should be worth a fortune already. Maybe that will be enough to trade for Dad.” She grimaced, her heart aching at the realization that they still had much more to do, even if they escaped the Fleet. Making it into the nebula wasn’t a guarantee of that either. Other ships might have a hard time using their sensors in there and finding the
Divining Rod
, but if it was a slow week, the GalCon vessels could wait for their prey to come out.

“
We’ve escaped Karzelek’s atmosphere,” Tia said. “Goodbye, ugly brown planet. I won’t miss you.”

The comm beeped.

Kalish grimaced again, reaching for it reluctantly. “I expect that’s our commodore, telling us to bring our bruised butts back before he sends a squad of fighters after us.”

But it was not Commodore Parson’s voice that came over the speakers.