Arkadian Skies: Fallen Empire, Book 6 (31 page)

“Suns’ fiery coronas, what’s going on now?”

She’d had access ten minutes ago. Was the temple putting out some kind of dampening field?

“Can volcanoes block satellite signals?” Alisa asked, eyeing the smoke and the lava outside. They weren’t
that
far below the lip of the crater.

“Possibly,” Yumi said. “Maybe if you fly back out, you’ll regain access. Remember that Abelardus couldn’t sense the staff or the people until we were almost here.”

Alisa glanced at the clock. “There’s no time. Leonidas is probably clawing at the hatch to get out.”

“Last century’s Cat-1880 experimental cyborgs from the ConGlom Corporation had retractable claws,” Yumi offered. “I don’t believe any of the imperial military cyborgs were given that attribute.”

“You know too many things, Yumi,” Alisa said, adjusting the thrusters so the ship would hover near the lip of the volcano. She hopped to her feet and jogged out.

“It’s not possible to know too much,” Yumi called after her.

Alisa wasn’t sure about that. If she didn’t know so much, she might not be so certain that storming the Starseer temple would not end well. They needed more allies.

“Captain,” Beck blurted as she turned down the corridor toward the cabins. “Do you need me to go out and help Leonidas? The prisoners haven’t tried to break out for almost ten minutes.”

“An infinitely vast amount of time,” Alisa said, ducking into her cabin.

She grabbed her multitool and weapons as she glanced around, wishing she had more useful items in her arsenal. Like a full set of combat armor. Someday, there would be time to shop for one. She just hoped she survived to see that day.

As Alisa returned to the corridor, an idea popped into her head. Maybe she could
get
more allies, at least a few.

“Beck,” she said, “I need you to stand at my back and look fierce while I do something.”

“Gladly, but isn’t that Leonidas’s job?”

“Yes, but he’s elsewhere. And he might not agree with my new plan.”

“Uh, will I agree with it?”

Alisa pointed to the hatch in front of him. “Is that the cabin with Hawk in it?”

“That one over there. This is where his men are. They’re noisier and more rambunctious. Hawk’s probably busy canoodling with his woman.”

“While her dad watches on? I doubt that.” Alisa unlocked the hatch he had indicated.

“The admiral is a military man. I’m sure he understands the need for canoodling when one’s fate is uncertain.”

Alisa opened the hatch without responding. Something sprang out of the closest corner, and she jumped back, bumping Beck as he surged past her and into the cabin. He grabbed Hawk as the man landed, pushing him back against the bulkhead.

Suyin and Admiral Tiang stood up from their spots on the edge of the bunk, Suyin wincing as Hawk was lifted against the bulkhead to dangle with his feet above the deck. Hawk snarled, trying to shove Beck away, but without his combat armor, he wasn’t a match for Beck.

“No canoodling happening in here, Captain,” Beck announced, impervious to the officer’s struggles.

“Glad to hear it. Admiral Hawk?” Alisa faced him while keeping the Tiangs in her peripheral vision. She held her stun gun loosely, not wanting to aim it at them unless she had to. “I have a proposition for you.”

“Not interested,” he snarled at her.

“We’re about to go down to fight the rogue Starseers who stole the powerful Staff of Lore. Admiral Tiang has heard about it. Have you?”

“Yes,” Hawk grumbled, shoving at Beck again. “Put me down, you lumbering ox.”

“Can’t do that, Admiral,” Beck said. “Not unless my captain tells me to. Or if there’s something burning on the grill.”

Hawk’s brow furrowed.

“My Starseer ally tells me the staff was responsible for the Laikagrad earthquake,” Alisa said, “and my science officer tells me that its energy has been increasing, that it might be getting ready for another attack. Something even larger this time, maybe.”

Hawk quit glaring at Beck and turned his angry eyes toward her.

“We aim to take the staff back from the thieves who have it,” Alisa said.

“So
your
people can have it and use it instead?”

“My people have no interest in creating earthquakes.” She couldn’t be certain a young and vengeful prince wouldn’t be intrigued by the idea, but she did not intend to let Alejandro or Leonidas give the artifact to Thorian, no matter what plans they thought they had. “The staff is being held in the Starseer temple, and we expect resistance. Strong resistance. I came to offer you the chance to help us. You and your men. Anyone who’s willing to walk beside my security officers without attacking them. We’ll go in, stop the rogue Starseers, and figure out the rest later. After the threat to Arkadius has been nullified.”

“As if you care about Arkadius. You’re running around with imperials, and you’ve betrayed the Alliance.”

“So, you’re not interested in coming to help?”

“I—” He paused, still glaring at her, but calculation filled his eyes.

Alisa could practically see him cogitating. He had to be thinking that if he was let off the ship, he might escape permanently, and maybe his people could retrieve the staff and take it back to the Alliance, perhaps throwing her and the rest of her crew in a brig somewhere as a bonus. If he was going to be a politician, he would have to learn to hide his thoughts better.

“I’ll help,” Hawk said. “Assuming your hulk sets me down.”

Beck promptly dropped him to the deck, though he didn’t let go.

“Shall I ask the rest of your men if they’re willing to help?” Alisa asked. “It will be dangerous down there, so maybe it should be a volunteer mission.”

“They’re soldiers. They knew there would be dangers when they enlisted. I’m their commander. They’ll help.”

“Good,” Alisa said. “Beck, do you know where Leonidas put their armor?”

It ought to still be intact since Stanislav had waved his fingers to open it, and nobody had been required to use a crowbar.

“Pardon?” Beck asked. “You’re going to give them back their armor?”

“We can’t ask them to fight Starseers naked.”

“Are you sure? Because a bunch of naked soldiers might distract the Starseers more than men in armor.” Beck lowered his voice and whispered, “And we’d have an easier time wrangling them back into these cabins later if we need to.”

Alisa met Hawk’s eyes. “I trust that won’t be necessary.”

Beck, looking far less trustful, released Hawk and walked out.

Hawk squinted at Alisa, assessing her, or perhaps debating if he should punch her in the face and stalk out to find his men and his armor on his own.

“I can already tell you’ll be an asset,” she told him, forcing a smile and hoping the words would prove to be true. If nothing else, he and his men could take some of the
chasadski
’s ire. Alisa didn’t want it all directed at Leonidas and for him to end up in another coma. Or worse.

Chapter 17

As Alisa slowly lowered the
Nomad
toward the temple, she kept her finger on the button for the thrusters, ready to streak out of the caldera at top speed should an attack come their way. The weapons mounted in those towers still appeared functional. And, of course, the Starseers themselves could attack her ship—or
her
—without ever showing themselves.

But the temple lay oddly quiet. Eerily quiet. If not for Abelardus’s promise that more than twenty people were down there, she would think someone had parked the floating fortress in the volcano and gone out for coffee and Asteroid Icies.

As the
Nomad
drew closer, however, she
could
see a ship perched in the landing area outside the walls, the same docks where her freighter had once rested. It was snugged up to the wall, and she hadn’t noticed it earlier, but the craft looked like the one that had shot away from the rainforest clearing, leaving Stanislav behind. Judging by the size, it shouldn’t be able to seat more than a few people. Definitely not twenty.

Alisa circled the structure one more time, looking for traps before committing to landing. But the temple floated about fifty feet above the lake of lava, nothing moving inside, the temperature and the smoke not damaging its hover engines. Her sensors did not show its shields raised or much energy coming from it at all.

“We’re ready, Captain,” Leonidas said over the comm, professional as always. He would never consider using her first name over the comm when he was about to go out on a mission. She resisted the urge to call him sweetcakes when she responded.

“Just looking for a parking spot,” she said. “Abelardus didn’t sound interested in rappelling.”

“Only because it’s hard to do in a robe,” Abelardus’s voice came over the comm.

“Ah,
Captain
,” Alejandro said, also down in the cargo hold. “Did you let the Alliance soldiers out?”

Combat boots rang on the textured metal walkway, just audible over the comm.

“I did,” Alisa said. “They didn’t complain about rappelling. Beck should be with them.”

“What about that is supposed to be reassuring?”

Ignoring the question, Alisa guided the
Nomad
in for a landing. She thought about cheekily setting down right next to the Starseer craft, but chose the middle of the courtyard instead. A central location seemed like it would be better if her people had to race back to the ship to escape. It would be too easy for the Starseers to cut off that single corridor that led to the docking area outside the walls.

They landed with a soft thump. In a puddle. The ice that so much of the fortress was made from appeared to be melting. Alisa assumed there was a more permanent framework beneath it all, but she did not find the water and slush comforting.

None of the doors to the courtyard opened at their approach. A few windows overlooked the area, but Alisa did not spot movement or lights behind any of them.

“Are we cleared to go out?” Leonidas asked.

“Just a moment.”

After one more final check, Alisa stood up. She left the engine hot, assuming they would need to take off quickly. Then she jogged down to the cargo hold where Alejandro, Abelardus, Leonidas, and Beck stood near the hatch, glaring over at the squadron of Alliance soldiers, Hawk and eight men.

“You’re not coming along,” Leonidas said, looking Alisa up and down and no doubt taking in her jacket and weapons.

“How do you expect me to come up with surprising ways to keep you alive if I’m not with you?” Alisa asked.

“I imagined you flying around in your ship in surprising ways.”

“Without weapons?”

“That lack hasn’t kept you from surprising your enemies in the past.”

Grunts and growls came from the open hatch leading to engineering. Mica and Yumi came out dragging a box. Alisa hadn’t realized Yumi had come down here.

“I’ll be useful against our nemesis,” Alisa told Leonidas. “I promise.”

He glowered at her.

“We have a nemesis?” Mica grunted, one of her homemade explosives teetering and threatening to spill out of the top of the box. Three suns, it
was
in a green bean can. There was another one made from a cracker tin.

Alisa rubbed her face. She needed to get her engineer better supplies.

“I’m considering the fellow in charge of the staff thieves and likely the one who attacked Laikagrad our nemesis,” Alisa said. “It’s possible he doesn’t yet know we’re
his
nemeses.”

“I doubt he thinks we’re here for the weather,” Mica said. “I’ve got rust bangs, smoke bombs, and explosives here for anyone who wants them.” She eyed the Alliance soldiers a little suspiciously, but waved them toward the box. Some of the men curled their lips and patted their own weapons. A few came forward and poked in the box.

“I hear his name is Tym,” Alisa added.

“That doesn’t sound like the name of a criminal mastermind.”

“So I told Stanislav.”

“These look rustic,” Hawk said, poking in the box.

“They’ll work fine,” Mica said. “If you’re too proud to launch green bean cans across a temple, then you can leave them. More for me.”

“You’re not planning to come along, are you?” Alisa asked.

“Of course not.” Mica frowned at Alisa. “Are
you
?”

“No, she’s not,” Leonidas said.

It was true that Alisa’s proper place was in the pilot’s seat, but she had arranged for Hawk’s men to go along. Shouldn’t she be there to make sure they played nice with her people? And didn’t try to push Leonidas off a tower and into a lake of lava while he was fighting the
chasadski
leader…

“I figured the person who joined these two forces together—” Alisa gestured at Hawk’s men and her team, “—should be there to act as a mediator.”

“Or a target when they start shooting at each other,” Mica grumbled.

Ostberg trotted down the stairs with his staff in one hand and Stanislav’s strings of beads in the other. Alisa started to question him, but he tossed the beads to Abelardus, who was holding out his hand, as if he had expected them.

“Did he object?” Abelardus asked.

“He was unconscious,” Ostberg said.

“I guess he didn’t object then.” Abelardus slid the beads into his robe, where they disappeared into some interior pocket.

Alisa frowned at this cavalier treatment of someone else’s belongings, but if they could enhance Abelardus’s power somehow, wouldn’t it be for the best? So long as he returned the beads later.

“Let’s roll out,” Leonidas said, opening the hatch. Hot, humid air that stank of sulfur rolled into the ship. “Abelardus, you can sense the staff, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then you’re leading.”

“How lovely for me.”

Leonidas pushed him onto the ramp and followed right behind.

Alisa waited for the soldiers to tramp out before starting after the group. She had debated whether she should truly go along, but in addition to her other concerns, she wanted to keep an eye on Abelardus. He was a pilot himself, and there was a ship down there that he could use to escape if he got his hands on the Staff of Lore. Even though he spoke often of having Starseer babies with her, she wagered he would take off with that relic if he got the chance. Alejandro might too. He couldn’t fly, but he might try to make a deal with Abelardus. Hawk could fly too. Alisa was less worried about the Alliance getting their hands on the staff—she had considered
giving
it to them to get it out of her hands—but she couldn’t help but think this lovely lake of lava presented a convenient way to end the temptation of using it forever. If she had just a minute or two alone with the staff, she could run up to one of the towers and chuck it into the molten stuff. With luck, the staff would melt. Even if it didn’t, dredging it up could take years.