by Skyler Grant
"We cloaked?" Quinn asked.
"Not nearly as well as if we’re using my stealth suit. Still, standard sensors will go right over us. It should keep the insects off you too."
A good thing, Quinn felt that they'd eaten him half to death. Mara though seemed untouched.
"Just me. Let me guess? You're one big, bug repellent?" Quinn asked.
"Something like that. Think of it as an immune system for insects. As soon as I get bitten once my blood is analyzing the traces and coming up with a deterrent."
"Don't suppose that’s something you can share?"
"Sorry," Mara said, shifting against him as she got comfortable. Quinn found himself reminded just how curvy she was.
"I don't think I've ever heard of an animal doing anything like that. You really are ... like someone sat down sometime and actually put together a feature request list. Did they?" Quinn asked.
"Of course they did. Once you get into engineering yourself, you take care of the standards quick. Stronger, prettier, healthier and then it all becomes what you want to do next. Adjustable features, bug resistance, optional sweat glands," Mara said.
"But despite everything you say about older being better, Tamara doesn't have all that."
Mara rested her head against his shoulder and Quinn moved an arm to slip around her.
"No, the basics of genetic manipulation are old, but we got a jumpstart there. Ever heard of the Phaxi?"
"The plaguebearers, right?" Quinn asked.
"That's right, they wiped out thirteen worlds before the Imperium ended them. Masters of biology, brilliant, their ships were even organic. They controlled their own biology by means of specialized cell constructs. It took a very long time and some very smart people to reverse engineer," Mara said.
It was strange, but Mara's tone had the hint of a secret. Quinn got the impression it wasn't something she was supposed to share. It was a strange thing for her to be open about, when so many greater secrets existed, but perhaps it made sense. This was her, a part of her, what made her unique and special.
"Can you make toxins?" Quinn asked.
"In the hands, lips, sex organs. I've never killed anyone that way, but some of my sisters specialize in it," Mara said.
"Guess you don't have much need. I've seen you in a fight."
"Strength, agility, blood oxygen levels mixed with superior spatial awareness," Mara said and chuckled. "It was a surprise when I fought Kara."
"Would you win if you fought her again?"
"Give me time to prepare and I'm the most dangerous woman you've ever met," Mara said by way of the answer.
Quinn believed it.
14
It was a restless night. Not only was Quinn keenly aware of the closeness of Mara pressed against him, but the night sounds of the jungle were both loud and violent. More than once they heard howls and roars close by—the predators really had come out at night. However much the fabric Mara had put up might help to mask them from detection, Quinn was aware it would do rather little to protect them should something prove to see past it.
Just before dawn Mara elbowed Quinn. "We've got a problem."
"We've got more than one as I'm counting," Quinn said blearily.
"We've got a new problem. I've been monitoring communications through my implants. Dela's emergency beacon is live," Mara said.
That got Quinn's attention. Stifling a yawn, he shook his head in an effort to clear it. "Did she say anything?"
"Negative. I can reach the ship but not her."
If she was in trouble that surely meant her shuttle was out of reach as well, which was the last bit of mobility they had apart from going on foot.
"Well this is a mess. Think the slavers got her?"
"Seems likely. A disruptor shot might have taken out her comms. I figure if she were running from a dragon we'd have heard something."
With their shuttles out of commission and the Centauri Bliss unable to fly Quinn was feeling increasingly helpless, and he didn't like it. Still, you worked with what you had.
"I'm seeing one solution, though I don't like it very much. You have any plans yourself?" Quinn asked.
"I'm always forming contingency plans. It relaxes me. We have more than one option. We could continue on foot and try to find the archive. It may have a shuttle, supplies, just the sort of things we are looking for and we use the resources there to attempt a rescue of the others."
"A lot of uncertainties there. If we find the archive. If we can gain access without Tamara. If it has the supplies we need," Quinn said.
"Alternatively we make our way back to the Bliss. They should have the mana distiller built by then and with Jinx's abilities plus the mana we have aboard we can get the Tango working."
"Which leaves Dela and Kara at the slaver's mercies for days. They're not nice people," Quinn said.
"They are not. I'm guessing the plan you formulated is the third I had in mind too," Mara said.
"I start squawking a distress call on a public channel. The slavers come to take me captive. We either ambush them straight away, or you come along secret and silent in stealth, and stage a jail break on the other end," Quinn said.
"That was my thought. The spy in me prefers the second option, the wife in me the first," Mara said.
"I'm not too fond of the second myself. They're like to go all mean on me once they get me. I don't think they'll kill me though. They'll be wanting to save me for Sinclair himself—and thinking we must have a way back," Quinn said.
"But we'll also have a second gun in fighting shape once we hit where they took the others. I'm great when it comes to killing silent, but if none of you are able to walk it means extracting three immobile targets solo," Mara said.
"Negatives of option one. They're going to smell a trap and be ready for it," Quinn said.
"They'll be jumpy, no doubt. They might even get the alarm out. But, if they don't we get a shuttle. That opens up a lot of options and so long as we keep things quick, we might be able to infiltrate where they're holding the others without raising any alarms." Mara said.
Quinn weighed the plans. This was his call to make, and he knew that Mara would go along with whatever he decided. They both had their advantages and their risks.
"First plan," Quinn said.
"Got it. I'll set up what I need for an ambush," Mara said, as she reached up to part the fabric, the light of dawn settling through the leaves of the jungle.
"Get a silent message to the ship too. Tell Taki to get her leg fixed and put together what we need to go into a place loud," Quinn said.
"Will do," Mara said.
Quinn rolled his head. Exhausted from a day’s hiking and a restless night wasn't how he liked to into a fight, but the hardest ones always came when you were least ready for them.
Two hours later and Quinn was pacing along the banks of the lake as he triggered a broad frequency distress call from his wristcomm.
It took half an hour for the slavers to respond, a shuttle circling overhead several times before coming down for a landing. Its position cut off Quinn's retreat to the forest, three figures quickly emerging to take positions and aiming weapons into the jungle as two more turned towards Quinn.
There was a real risk of getting shot here given how jumpy they were, so Quinn made sure to keep his hands up and away from his gun.
"Don't want a fight. I know you probably mean me no good, but whatever you got planned has got to be better than another night in that jungle," Quinn said.
"Oh, I doubt it will be," said one of the slavers, a lean man with a short-cut black hair. "You just clasp your hands behind your head and stay right there. You left your shuttle, why?"
"Shuttle went down after some flying thing took a bite out of it. Just wanted to get back to my ship, but got turned around in the jungle," Quinn said.
"Hey. It's him. Jade, the one the boss is all hot and bothered to see suffer," said a woman advancing towards Quinn. She pulled his pistol from its holster an
d tucked into her waist.
Before the first slaver could reply a line of red bloomed across his neck, the slightest shimmer betraying Mara's stealth suit as she slit his throat. A whine and flicker of blue, and an energy pulse hit the woman in the back, her eyes widening in shock as she slumped forward. Quinn caught her, using her as a shield even as he pulled his pistol from where she had just stashed it.
The whine had one of those watching the jungle turning. "Ambush!" he managed to shout before Quinn silenced him forever with a shot to the face.
Quinn and Mara had already discussed what would happen if the takedown didn't go silently. Still cloaked, Mara would be going to take out the pilot if one remained aboard.
That left Quinn alone against the two on the ground. The slaver he was using as a shield twitched against him as they opened fire. Mara's stun blast had left her alive, but as the slaver wasn't wearing armor Quinn doubted she was now. Two shots into the abdomen sent a second slaver tumbling backward, his gun slipping from limp fingers.
A shot grazed Quinn's shoulder, the shooter having taken a broad stance as he aimed carefully. Not good—a human shield wasn't of much use if someone had the wits to calmly aim.
Quinn charged forward, at the last moment throwing the body in the gunman's direction as he rolled to the side.
The gunman got off another shot but it went into the corpse, then in a tangle of limbs as he was falling backward. It was all the time Quinn needed. His roll ended in a crouch and he put several rounds into the slaver's side.
Quinn got to his feet, clearing weapons away from all the bodies before he raised his wristcomm and said on a short-range frequency, "Clear. Five down."
"Clear inside as well, one down," Mara said.
None of the slavers wore any armor and all had been just carrying pistols and clubs. The shuttle was dark and foul-smelling inside, and poorly maintained. It didn't even have a basic jump engine, designed strictly for in-system transit.
Quinn found Mara in the pilot’s seat, a body sprawled beside her with a slit throat.
"Getting comfortable?" Quinn asked.
"Going through the logs. Getting some vocal scans since we didn't hear enough of them speak. I'll call in that you're running and they're securing you before returning. That should buy us an hour or so," Mara said.
"Move aside then. We'll not want to waste time," Quinn said, slipping behind the controls as Mara stepped over the body to the copilot seat.
Quinn pulled up the navigation data. "This right? They're not flying out of the ship?"
"Looks like it. They've set up secondary camps in the jungle," Mara said.
Good, they wouldn't be fighting with the full guard force from aboard the Block.
15
Quinn piloted the shuttle back to the Centauri Bliss, keeping low over the jungle. Meanwhile Mara called in their delay and hacked the shuttle's transponder so they'd appeared stationary.
Once Quinn landed the shuttle and he and Mara had stepped out, the others emerged. Jinx gave him a tight hug even as Taki wheeled an equipment crate aboard the shuttle.
"Are you okay here?" Quinn asked.
"Once we realized they had shuttles in the air we shut down everything external, went quiet, and threw us some camouflage netting, Captain," Melody said.
Quinn was surprised that, even so, they hadn't been able to find the ship. The sensors of the Block should have been able to pick them up as they were crashing. Of course, perhaps those sensors were in the part of the ship that had been sheared off, or there was no way to access their data without the bridge.
Melody brought Quinn out some armor, dense ballistic plates woven into fabric. It was heavy and impaired movement. Quinn really didn't like it, but going in this loud you were foolish not to take every advantage you could get.
Taki was already in her own armor and she stepped out of the shuttle with a grimace. "That thing stinks. I don't like it. Can we get the Tango flying again?"
"Not in the time we have. Fuel regulator got tossed in the jungle," Quinn said.
"I can fix that, after I fix everything else that’s broken," Melody said cheerfully.
"You should take someone else—me or Melody. With just Taki that is still just three of you," Jinx said.
"You're pregnant and she's fixing my ship. I'm not taking either of you into a firefight," Quinn said.
"And it bugs Melody to kill," Taki said.
Mara returned from where she had slipped off into the Centauri Bliss. There was a new weapon at her waist, a scabbard with a familiar hilt projecting out of it.
"Mind telling me why you've got that thing?" Quinn said.
"Neither of us was making a difference against that dragon. You need magic to kill magic, and even if Jinx were willing she's all out of power," Mara said matter-of-fact.
"Ilinar was contagious. Is it safe for you?" Jinx asked.
"No," Mara said after a moment. "But I won't become a wraithspawn either. I'd suggest that nobody else pick up the blade, and that if I have it in hand I be given space."
"Liking it less and less," Quinn said.
"If I didn't think it might be necessary I wouldn't be attempting it."
They didn't have time to argue about it. They had a tight window to work off without drawing suspicion.
Soon Quinn was back in the pilot’s seat and the shuttle was returning to the shoreline and the slaver’s bodies. There, Mara reactivated the transponder and made the call that they were returning.
The Block was easily visible even from a distance as they came near, a pillar of oily black smoke winding into the sky. The ship had dug a massive furrow through the jungle when it crashed. Several kilometers away a large camp had been established, a dozen shuttles scattered around several makeshift shelters.
"Think they lost their life support at the ship?" Quinn asked.
"Smoke like that, it could be a lot of things. I wonder what happened to all the slaves?" Taki said.
The shuttle didn't have much in the way of sensors. Fortunately they had Mara with them who'd resumed her place in the copilot seat.
"I'm getting signals from active emergency transponders, including Tamara's. Marking location on the map," Mara said.
"How did they get Tamara?" Quinn asked as he looked at the structure Mara had marked. Prefabricated and worn, this wasn't the first time it had been assembled on a planet. About two thirds of the encampment was between it and the shuttle landing pad.
On the plus side they were going in loud, not quiet.
"We couldn't bring down a dragon, but there were a lot more of them. They must have managed it somehow," Mara said.
"I don't see any point in trying to be subtle about this. I'm going to bring us down right outside, shoot our way in and grab our people. We need to take out their shuttles," Quinn said.
"Fuel storage, sir. This isn't a standard layout and they didn't take safety in mind. It’s built too close. We drop explosives, it will go," Taki said.
Quinn saw she was right. A proper hanger gave the ships and fuel some distance, but they hadn't here.
"Open the hatch. I'll drop a remote detonator now. If they rush the shuttles as we make our escape, we'll take out some of their pilots," Mara said.
Quinn had no problem with that. Intentionally overshooting a landing he came around for another pass, opening the hatch so Mara could throw down a small bundle atop the fuel stores.
"It's go time," Quinn said.
"I'll clear the room," Mara said.
"I'll secure your exit," Taki said.
Quinn brought them down outside the structure.
It wasn't where the shuttles were supposed to land and the comm system was already squawking with protest even as armed guards were moving in the shuttle's direction.
Taki stepped down the ramp, aiming her shotgun and sending the first staggering backward as the blast caught him.
Quinn left the pilot's seat, snapping off a few shots from the ramp as he ran towards the building. The d
oorway was already open, a lone guard sprawled over in a pool of blood inside. That wasn't the only blood on the ground.
This place was obviously made for torture and they'd been hard at work at it. Cramped cages lined one corner of the room, each containing a single nude figure crouched over.
Mara grabbed a hold of the first cage door, her genetically enhanced muscles straining as she tried to tear it open.
"If it were that easy I'd have done it already," Kara said, and Quinn saw her green skin was slick with black blood.
The door screeched as the metal buckled and the door tore free.
"Well, if the horrible torture weren't humbling enough," Kara said.
"Neusethaline gas. Weakens and disorients just about all oxygen breathers. Traces of it in the air," Mara said, as she pulled Dela from a cage.
Dela at least didn't appear tortured, her arms folded over her chest as she shivered. "I really don't like these people. You killed them all right? We're killing them?"
"Not today," Quinn said.
Mara tore off the next door. In all there were eight prisoners, six had been tortured to one degree or another. Tamara was the worst of them, hands and feet both badly disfigured and her midsection so bruised she must have several broken ribs.
Unlike the others who seemed aware of the rescue, her eyes had no signs of alertness.
Mara pulled a medpatch from her pelt and pressed it against Tamara's stomach, the fine fibers extending from it to impale into her flesh. The patch bleeped and Mara checked the display on her wristcomm.
"Not enough," Mara said quietly. "It will keep her alive for now, but she has a lot of internal bleeding."
"If we get Jinx enough mana ..." Quinn said.
"She won't make it that long. The condition she’s in, without us she had another hour. We might have given her three," Mara said.
A woman stepped forward. Although her skin was dark with stained blood she sported no injuries that Quinn saw. Pronounced bone structure in the face and a few patches of scales marked the woman as clearly alien, although Quinn didn't recognize her species.
