by Skyler Grant
"Good that they did. Anyone that hadn't would be dead now. Uda won't be here, she is always lurking in the shadows. She'll try to kill without risking herself. If you want to save lives, everyone on these ships should die. I promise you, each is capable of wiping out a world," Kalisa said.
"They've been pulling back if the attack is pressed," Quinn said.
"With our upgrades we can take one. I wouldn't want to get into a firefight with all three though," Dela said.
Quinn agreed. With their stealth they could get close enough and should be able to disable the engines of a single ship.
"If we get you close and you use a shuttle, can you take out a ship on your own?" Quinn asked Kalisa.
Kalisa gave a sly smile in response."You know it. They have nothing special that can hurt me since I'm immune to their disease."
"What are you thinking?" Dela asked.
Quinn was trying to put together a plan in a hurry. Three ships, and if they sprang an attack on any one of them too soon before the others, it would warn the remainders to flee. Quinn didn't want to just spare worlds from the blight they could unleash. He wanted to make sure the message was understood that attacking their worlds was a deadly mistake.
"We send Kalisa in on the Tango. Tourmaline, Kara, Vess, and Mara go after a second with the Whiskey. They'll see the second shuttle. Soon as it launches we pull a full burn and go after the third," Quinn said.
"Include Jinx on the Whiskey. She needs the practice. My apprentice is strong enough," Kalisa said.
Perhaps she was at that.
"They might need a good pilot. And maybe after we breach, I can put these shiny new implants to the test?" Dela asked hopefully.
Quinn thought it over. Dela was useful in the copilot seat, but it wasn't just charity to send her. The Whiskey was either going to have to shoot their way through the hull and do a breach, or perform a hostile docking maneuver. Either would take a skilled pilot.
"You're on deck. Get that team ready. Tell Taki I need her up here to take over for you," Quinn said.
Within twenty minutes they had their teams equipped and ready in the shuttles.
With their new stealth upgrades it would take direct observation of the Centauri Bliss on approach, even while under thrust.
Quinn gave the signal to the Tango to launch as they drew near to the enemy ship closest to the system’s Runestone. It had the shortest distance to flee, so it was important Kalisa be in place first.
Drawing near the second Quinn signaled the Whiskey and Dela launched.
The enemy ship gave a shot of its thrusters seconds after launch. The Whiskey must have startled them, the shuttle seemingly coming from nowhere right up on them.
Quinn sent the Centauri Bliss hurting towards the third ship. They were quick, and it didn't take them long to realize that their sensors weren't reliable and to put up spotters. Incoming fire started to come in their direction and an energy shield flickered into being around the ship.
"Just like that Job on Bernamire, sir," Taki said.
There they'd been hired to lift some chemicals from a transport frigate. The storage containers for safety reasons had been sealed while the ship was in motion, unlocking only when the engines stopped. They'd stolen a gunship and shut down the engines the hard way.
Quinn let loose a stream of fire from their new weapons, blasts rippling against the energy shield. He steadied a moment to concentrate fire, and then applied a sharp burn of the thrusters to avoid the incoming fire.
They were taking hits, but not many. The clan ship might be willing to burn through their shields, but Quinn didn't want to waste their own power. Their supply of crystallized mana was limited and maintaining shields would burn through it quick.
The enemy ship didn't want to stick around for a fight. It had already turned for the warp stone and was making way at speed. The Bliss’s shots weren't having the desired impact, those shields were simply too strong. Until the attackers ran out of shield power they weren't doing any damage.
"Well, this isn't how I saw this turning out," Quinn said. All he could do for the moment was keep up the pressure and avoid taking too many shots himself, let the clanship exhaust its defensive power.
"I don't think these shields are the same power everywhere, sir. They're protecting the engines," Taki said.
Quinn hadn't known it was possible to vary shield strength based on sections like that, but it made sense. By focusing most of your defensive power only to a part of the shields, you could vastly extend their life span.
A full burst of the engines sent the Centauri Bliss hurting ahead of the fleeing vessel and Quinn did a sharp turn to deliver a spray of fire towards the prow of the ship. Another burn of thrusters put him off to one flank as it passed and allowed more shots into the clanship’s side.
The second burst penetrated the shields. There was only light armor on the hull itself. Shrapnel spun into space and atmospheric gases vented as the blasts breached.
Quinn had hoped to just stop the engines on the ship and to clean it out later. However, the warp stone was rapidly growing closer and there was still a chance of them jumping away. A chance Quinn didn't want to take.
With another burst of side thrusters and then a sustained burn he used it to hold position where the shields had collapsed, pouring fire into the open rent in the ship’s hull.
It didn't take long and within thirty seconds an explosion from within tore the ship to shreds. A blast must have finally reached their energy cell storage.
One ship down. A check of the life signatures showed only one aboard the ship Kalisa had boarded. The other ship was down to ten apart from friendlies. It didn't take long for that number to get down to zero.
Once the battle was done with Quinn hit the comm. "Tourmaline, let Tamara know I want to get her onto finding us a market for these ships. Clan tech, venom-spawn corpses. There has got to be a market."
"We'll find one," Tamara said.
24
"You don't have to look like you're coming to your execution," Ice said.
Battle done with, and there was no need for the Centauri Bliss to rush off anywhere else. Ice was finally getting her wedding night.
They weren't quite alone. Taki had insisted on being present, and it made an already awkward situation several dozen times more awkward.
"That is exactly what he's doing. The fact that you aren't instantly fatal doesn't change this being a bad idea," Taki said.
"You agreed to this. No getting in my way," Ice said, with a sharp look towards her.
They were in the main quarters. The others had made different sleeping arrangements for the night. Ice was dressed in her usual white leathers that hugged her form sinfully, while Taki wore a far more practical slacks and long-sleeved shirt.
"We are a family. We are a really messed-up family, but family all the same. We're going to make this work," Quinn said.
"It hasn't been that long. You don't have to act like this is some kind of shock," Ice said.
The last time had been with Kara too, and Quinn had been so drunk on booze and Yek pheromones he barely remembered the whole thing.
"You both know why this is hard," Quinn said.
"Kat is dead. I loved her too, but what you have now is better than we had then. Her memory isn't some kind of poison that needs to be doled out in small portions," Ice said, harshly.
"Well, I see that my keeping the captain clear of you for so long was really the right idea," Taki said, moving to stand before Ice.
"You want to go? We'll go. Kicking your ass sounds like just the sort of thing to get me nice and turned on for riding the love of your life in front of you," Ice said.
"Enough!" Quinn barked, but it wasn't.
Taki took a swing, Ice was ready. Arms raised to block, she kicked out with a foot, hitting Taki's midsection and sending her stumbling back.
"You're too emotional, you always have been. I wouldn't have to be here at all, if you could just do your job," Ic
e said.
Taki was usually the cool one, the sensible one. The one Quinn could always rely upon to be a voice of reason whenever he got too reckless. There was nothing reserved about her now, she flung herself against Ice.
Ice was good in a fist-fight, even better than Taki. A lifetime of bar brawls coming to her advantage. It was clear that she expected to win, but Ice wasn't enhanced and Taki had implants now. With a howl of rage Taki grabbed onto Ice, twisting an arm that came up to block again, using enough force that Quinn could hear the crack as the bone broke. A moment later Ice was being slammed into the floor and Taki was atop her and punching furiously.
"Taki! Enough! You'll kill her," Quinn said, moving to restrain Taki. With an almost incoherent howl she punched at his ribs, a blow strong enough to send him flying backwards to bounce against the wall and leave him wheezing for breath.
Ice was trying to put up a proper fight, head-butting Taki and working to get out from under her. It was a doomed effort. She'd already taken too much damage and was in an inferior position.
Still laboring for air Quinn hit the distress signal on his comm and tried to stop Taki once more. This time it was a blow to the head that caught him and the room faded to black.
When Quinn came to he was in the bed. No pain, and no medpatches either, which must have meant that Jinx had done some healing on him.
A look around the room showed the blood had been cleaned up. Three chairs were positioned near the bed. Two facing each other held Taki and Ice, a third between them and off to the side held Mara.
"I'm so sorry, sir," Taki said breathlessly as he sat up.
The mess might have been cleaned up from the room, but Ice's leathers had some telltale stains. Her blood had left them in something of a mess and she hadn't changed.
"We're better now. Sort of," Ice said.
"Taki, we've been together for years. I know you don't like Ice, but that wasn't like you," Quinn said.
Mara said, "It's the implants. I should have seen it coming. We normally get ours as children, and we're raised to best use them. Going into a fight they flood us with some customized combat hormones. Taki got angry enough to flood her system and didn't know how to ride that wave. She takes her share of the blame, but it was an extraordinary situation."
"I almost killed you. I almost killed both of you," Taki said.
"I was pushing. I know that. I'm always pushing. I respect getting my ass handed to me," Ice said.
"Why can't you ever be a decent person? You shouldn't be happy I became some sort of rage-filled monster that almost beat you to death," Taki said.
"Family ... right," Ice nodded.
Quinn had to admire this about Ice, she appeared to mean it. Perhaps she was a bit too forgiving of violence, perhaps she sometimes gave in to it too much herself. Ice knew where she stood though, and who she stood with. Today she knew that better than Taki.
"Sorry this kind of put a stop to your night," Quinn said to Ice.
"You're not off, sir. Not unless you want it to be. You two have round one, me and her round two, and Mara’s here to make sure I don't flip out and start murdering people," Taki said.
Quinn scratched his head a moment. The Centauri at first had seemed shocking to him, but over time he'd almost started to getting used to how people came to terms with things most would find unacceptable. That even people who didn't much like each other would agree to being part of the same family. This though? This hurt his brain a bit.
"You sure about all of this?" Quinn asked Taki.
"I did agree to this, we need her. You need her. I need to not become a rage-monster if you get all kissy-faced," Taki said.
Ice wordlessly rose from her chair, her hands going to the zippers that sealed her leathers. They seemed designed to get out of easily and soon she was standing naked in the middle of them.
Ice was human, and unmodified. That meant she lacked perfect beauty, and some might call her features too hard to even be pretty. She also went all the way with her theme, even the thin patch of pubic hair was bleached a perfect white. In addition to her frightfully pale skin it would be easy to mistake her for an albino except for the color of her eyes.
Ice's athletic frame was adorned with scars. Knife wounds, gunshots, burns. Being a pirate queen was no safe occupation and it showed.
"You've got some new ones. Since ... I last remember," Quinn said, as he got up from the bed to disrobe.
"You've got a few less. How does that even make sense?" Ice asked.
"It's Jinx. When she fixes a body sometimes she fixes it better than it started out. If she keeps having to shove your guts back inside you, soon you'll be all sparkly and new."
Ice made an expression of distaste. "I like my scars. I like your scars."
Ice stepped forward and Quinn found his arms wrapping around her. Their bodies didn't fit like new lovers discovering each other—they knew how they fit. They'd long since figured out how the other liked to be touched. Quinn hadn't expected that he’d remember her that well.
A long session of exploring hands and teasing lips, and they made their way back to the bed.
The others in the room were only a little awkward. Mara at least seemed to be into the sight of the two of them, but then she usually enjoyed watching almost as much as getting involved. Taki on the other hand might have been a statue for how fixed her expression was, and how strained her posture.
It wasn't until well into their lovemaking that Quinn realized the tension in the air was more than sexual. The heat in his body more than just desire. Chaos magic. Quinn was contagious, and while his bracelet stopped casual infection there was nothing casual about his relationship with Ice. Without question she was more loyal to him than she was to Jinx. It violated her immunity, and the magic wanted her. Ice was filled with Chaos and like called to like.
Quinn tried to pull away when he found Ice's grip hard on his arm.
"We shouldn't," Quinn said.
"I want it. I want you. All of you," Ice said, her voice almost a growl.
Quinn wasn't at a point where he really wanted to stop. What self-control he had was crumbling.
25
This time they were holding their family meeting in one of the conference rooms on Hope's Reach. Mara had rigged the entire thing for holographic displays, aware they'd have need of them.
"Everybody knows why we're here. We helped to put an Empress on a throne, except it turned out she’s some big technological bad thing I don't really understand and is going to murder a lot of people unless we do something. We've looked to them that handle such things and they shrugged. This seems impossible, but we've a reputation for doing the impossible," Quinn said.
"My family still intends to strike. If we take action, they'll do what we can to back us up so long as it doesn’t compromise their own operation," Mara said.
Melody asked, "Captain, I don't normally speak up on these things, but I've got to ask. Can't we do this without killing? This thing is an artificial intelligence. I know you organics are all terrified, but isn't there another way?"
Quinn hadn't really thought about that, and he wasn't sure why. If killing was so difficult, why not explore options?
"I'm not sure on this one. Kalisa? Mara? Any thoughts?" Quinn asked.
"The Glittering Sands aren't a single intelligence, but a host of them. They are—were—broken. You might try to negotiate, but what is important to them versus what is important to you? You just can't tell what they want," Kalisa said.
"They kept their word about letting us collect our pay and get out. That’s better than some have treated us," Quinn said.
"They are fair. They are creatures of extreme order and they keep their word, but that doesn't make them sane by any metric you'd recognize," Kalisa said.
"Can they be reprogrammed? Did the Emperor do that to them?"
Kalisa frowned. "How would I know? I was locked on the other side of the galaxy behind a magical barrier."
Mara cleared her
throat. "I don't think he did. After outlawing androids and artificial intelligence, the Imperium simply didn't keep the expertise."
"But did he outlaw them before he tried to weaponize the Glittering Sands? Was part of the reason for outlawing them because he weaponized them?" Quinn asked.
"It doesn't matter. Their core programming isn't something we have access to. Even if we did, reprogramming them would take months," Kalisa said.
"How do they choose a dominant personality? I can't help but to compare it to my own situation," Tamara said.
"Huh," Kalisa said, steepling her fingers on the table and looking thoughtful.
"You have something?" Quinn asked.
"I have an idea. I'm not sure how viable it is. Artificial intelligence here is centuries ahead of where it was when the Glittering Sands were made. Across the Divide, it’s millennia behind," Kalisa said.
"You think that if you threw something modern into the mix, it would be like a Tourmaline in the head?" Tamara asked.
"By default? No, the locally stored intelligences have an actual physical advantage being directly coded into the nanites. Although with some specialized tweaks applied to what I remember of their programming, perhaps," Kalisa said.
"That doesn't help us if we can't hack them," Mara said.
"I can think of a way to introduce a new personality. Boot mode. When we were in development we needed a way to quickly introduce new personalities. While rebooting they scan for marked storage media, assimilate and incorporate a resident mind," Kalisa said.
"I appreciate us trying to think smart. But this is way too many variables when dealing with something incredibly deadly," Mara said.
"I might not know any of this science, sir, but you know she's right. Simpler is better on a job," Taki said.
"We want to either sneak into the presence of the Empress or break into her vault, either on the Imperium home world or a military moon. I don't think we have a simpler plan to try," Quinn said.
"Of course you do. We get as close as we can without being discovered, and then we fight our way through everything thrown at us," Jinx said.
