Centauri Pax

by Skyler Grant

  It was a strange feeling, and Ilsa and Bravo were not the only audience. Three others were in the pool, four were sunning themselves, and none of them his wives.

  Quinn's wives had recently gotten him off to thoughts of Mahara, a part of pushing him to accept a more sexual side of himself.

  Quinn was almost to the point of release when Helena came in and took one of the seats at the table, grinning at Bravo. Quinn didn't stop, a few moments later groaning as his body spasmed.

  Bravo waited until he was done. "Now, I'm going to need to clear this with Tamara, but I think she'll agree. This is a pretty clothing-optional place, and I want you naked the rest of your time here. I want to know exactly when you get hard. And whenever you do, whomever is there, if they agree, I want you to get off thinking about them."

  "You have a weird way of trying to make a one-time thing a thing," Quinn said.

  "But it turns you on. I know it does," Bravo said. "Chicken out, if you want."

  Helena said, "We don't mind, if that is your concern. We're kind of on an extended sex vacation. We're even open outside our Centauri, but I get the feeling you're not."

  "Not all the time. I've little desire to have my dick out in front of the former Emperor," Quinn said.

  "Fair," Bravo said with a grin.

  Quinn tried to tell himself she hadn't won a pretty big victory today, but he was pretty sure all concerned knew that wasn't true.

  11

  The next week was almost a blur. Tamara had agreed, and far from being offended his wives largely seemed to find it funny, Kara, Vess, Tourmaline, and Dela in particular. Quinn could barely be in a crowd for more than a few minutes without one of them appearing only long enough to wander out again. Just enough time for him to react to their presence.

  With whatever being a mate to a Yek had done to his physiology, there really wasn't any sort of limit on things. Even without a wife in a room a few minutes had him recovered.

  To Bravo the whole thing seemed an effort to run up her score. The success she had was daunting. By the time six days had passed the count stood at two hundred and seventeen times for her. Ilsa stood at seventy-seven. The Emperor's companions had formidable numbers themselves, Gemma had a twelve count, Helena forty, and a perky brunette named Isao a respectable twenty-one.

  Quinn didn't even want to do the math, but he was pretty sure that meant almost every waking moment was spent lost in a sexual haze.

  It was almost a relief when Viktor asked them all for a meeting to close out their time there.

  "Wow, your hand didn't actually fuse with your cock," Dela said, elbowing him in the stomach as she took a seat beside him. They'd gathered in a small conference room.

  "No thanks to you," Quinn said.

  "I didn't agree to the crazy assassin's terms. That was all you. I've been busy."

  "With what?" Quinn hadn't followed much of what the family was doing.

  "Xeno data. They have files on every alien species the Imperium met. Even the sealed files, which are usually the ones who kicked our ass," Dela said.

  "I think that is everyone. Most of us have had a busy week," Tamara said, standing up the front. "If not, we've had a great vacation. We're both about to pull our exit plans. I just want to thank our hosts for inviting us, and sharing their knowledge and experience, before they do."

  "Are they going to help us in any of our objectives?" Quinn asked.

  Tamara shook her head. "Not more than they already have. That said, the data is invaluable. They still have connections inside Imperium Intelligence and we now know not just what the Triumvirate is up to, but how they're doing it."

  "Can we start with the shocktroopers? I'm wanting to do some real shooting and stabbing," Kara said.

  "Shocktroopers were a plan drawn up in case the Imperium was ever losing to particularly dangerous enemies. The Yek, Donobi, Telsaran were all races that vastly exceeded humans in combat," Tamara said.

  "Kadello pulled the plan early?" Jinx asked.

  "It appears so. While menaces from outside the Imperium's borders are growing more aggressive, with the change in rule they aren't yet to the levels set aside for the program. Instead human troops are currently being made shocktroopers, and the expectation is those alien races are next in line to be attacked," Tamara said.

  "We have a place to hit?" Kara asked.

  "It isn't a single facility, but yes. We know the people and the resources involved. Some parts of their design, like armor, are easily replicated elsewhere. Others, like the morphic control chips being used to instill obedience, will slow the project down years if neutralized," Tamara said.

  "The Runic Spheres?" Jinx asked.

  "Not runic spheres at all. House Tsaro was recently raided and their members are missing. Their abilities involve spatial awareness and teleportation. Quinn's Order magic abilities appear to be Tsaro. We think they're being used to move the fleets."

  Quinn had no idea. It shouldn't have been a surprise that one of the noble houses had magic identical to his, but then again his Chaos magic had been unique, one that none of the Unshackled had.

  "I'm just learning this. What do we know about House Tsaro?" Quinn asked.

  "They're one of the great houses. Their magic was key to the creation of both rune stones and runic spheres."

  "And they got rich and powerful as a result. They're secretive and very loyal to their own, even above their Emperor. I always held them in a grudging respect," Viktor said.

  "Their originator was a ship's navigator," Kalisa said.

  "A brave woman," Viktor said.

  "There are other matters that have come up that we also need to address and decide what, if anything, we hope to do about them. The Imperium is planning a sneak attack on the Athenaeum," Tamara said.

  "They won't succeed. We have our own agents in Imperium Intelligence," Bravo said.

  "The threat is a credible one. I've looked over the data. I don't know how, but they identified our agents—the ones I know about, at least," Mara said.

  "Then we have to do something. You have to do something," Bravo said.

  "You and your organization are not a friend or reliable ally to any in this room. You're in no place to make demands," Viktor said.

  "They've helped us before," Quinn said.

  "They've betrayed us before too," Jinx said.

  "Usually in the interest of safety—ours and the galaxy's. We're not the bad guys and we never have been," Bravo said.

  "You know how I feel, how I always feel. They're my family, even if I've left most of them behind," Mara said.

  "We're supposed to be the good guys, or at least the not the worst guys. We don't have to rush to their defense, but we should at least warn them," Quinn said.

  Bravo gave him a grateful smile. "I can provide you with the latest security codes so they know to take it seriously. They won't listen to Mara's, not anymore."

  "Besides that, we have data files filled with the secrets of the Imperium now, even the stuff Sand didn't get in her time as Empress," Tamara said.

  "Where are you folks going to go? Will you at least leave a way to contact you?" Quinn said.

  "We're going far away," Viktor said.

  Helena shot him a stern look. "But if we get our asses handed to us by something, you're one of the few groups out there who might actually be able to help. We'll give you a way to contact us, but for dire emergencies only, and we probably won't answer quickly."

  Interesting, it wasn't Viktor who made all the decisions in their family despite the rank he'd once held. It was refreshing to see how another Centauri functioned, how they got along.

  12

  The Centauri Bliss jumped into the orbit of Sekara Four. The ship's stealth systems were fully powered, and it was good that they were. Five orbital defense stations were located around the planet.

  Something was off though. This many stations should have meant a large fleet to accompany them, and yet there were only a few ships in orbit, mostly tra
nsports.

  "The stations have battle damage," Dela said from the copilot's seat.

  Quinn was seeing it now. Sekara Four was the homeworld of House Tsaro. Before doing anything else, they wanted to rob the Imperium of its ability to move ships quickly. Given the involvement of House Tsaro, they were hoping to find some answers here. Of course, the recent violence was an answer of its own.

  "How bad, and how long ago?" Quinn asked.

  "If I probe too much I'll ruin our stealth. Not recent, and pretty bad. I'm guessing these stations had been totally knocked out. They're back to operational now, but at reduced capacity."

  Quinn was about to respond when his vision blurred, an intense burst of power suddenly escaping from his Order rune and hitting him with a dizzying rush.

  There was a brief blur of realities. A might-have-been where Quinn built a merchant empire, starting with piloting a single trip.

  When reality formed back around Quinn he was elsewhere. There was no sign of the Centauri Bliss. Quinn stood upon a platform in some massive chamber. The platform was in motion, and it wasn't alone. Perhaps a dozen more spun within the chamber at dizzying speed.

  Quinn hit his comm. "Dela. Do you read me?"

  Only silence greeted the query.

  Quinn tapped it again. "I'll take any other members of the family. Does anyone read me?"

  Still silence.

  Quinn either had to be out of range or something was blocking the signal. Could he have shifted into another universe? It would explain a lot.

  Quinn stilled his thoughts and reached out with his powers. No, he was in the right universe. As he focused he could even get a pretty good sense of his position. He hadn't left the system, but he had left the ship, and somehow been moved down to the surface of the planet—no, below the surface of the planet.

  It was out of range for his wristcomm. If he'd known he'd be going somewhere he could have brought an amplifier.

  This place obviously wasn't natural, not with these spinning platforms. There was purpose here, design. Quinn broadened the frequency of his comm.

  "Why have you brought me here?" Quinn asked.

  There were several long moments of silence before Quinn's comm crackled.

  "Who are you, and why are you trespassing on this estate?"

  An estate. It had to be the Tsaro's, but they didn't seem to have any more idea what he was doing here than he did.

  Quinn weighed how much to tell them. He was one of the most wanted men in the Imperium, and all the people even more wanted than he were out there in orbit.

  A half-truth, he'd reveal who he was, but not mention the others' presence.

  "My name is Captain Quinn Jade. I was aboard my ship and suddenly found myself here. I don't know why."

  There was another long pause.

  "You must find your own path out, Captain Jade. We'll have words, if you do."

  Helpful.

  The platforms weren't the only things shifting and swirling, This whole thing was essentially one vast sphere with over a dozen layers constantly changing. Besides platforms there was wire, barely shimmering with reflected light. At the speed these components were moving Quinn expected that meeting one would mean being cut in half.

  The whole thing was a deathtrap, and Quinn was in the center of it, the innermost layer.

  Even taking in the details of the larger room beyond was difficult, so quick was the motion. Still, the walls were sleek and unmarked stone—except for one clearly lit square.

  That must be the exit.

  Quinn didn't see any easy way from platform to platform—he didn't really see any proper way at all. Teleportation, that was supposed to be the gift of House Tsaro, and if he had to guess that was just what was required here. The problem was, he couldn't do it.

  Quinn didn't even see how shifting realities would help him here. In fact, if he focused on them much at all the sense of vertigo got overwhelming. There were already too many moving parts. Adding more was too much.

  Quinn could wait and hope that the family would find him. He knew that they'd be looking and they were formidable in the extreme. There was no reason for them to look here though, and a timer was running on his life.

  It had already been three hours since Jinx had last healed him.

  Chaos magic. Other universes might not help Quinn right now, but Chaos magic was the only edge he had that the designs of this place did not expect.

  Even without other universes Quinn could do some manipulation of probabilities. With his keen awareness of the moving parts of this assembly, he could make sure he knew the right ones to adjust.

  Quinn moved to the edge of his platform and waited. Forty seconds and he jumped, twisting in midair. A wire caught the tip of one boot, shearing cleanly through it as Quinn landed hard on a new platform.

  One down, a dozen more to go.

  It took him over an hour. An hour of bone-jarring impacts and close calls as he barely navigated a three dimensional maze designed not to be beaten. In fact, it couldn't be. One platform away from the exit and Quinn simply couldn't make it like he had been.

  Yet, his mind was buzzing. Over an hour in this place, over an hour of working with it, and the entire thing felt like it was twisting his mind. Rebuilding it, reshaping it.

  Quinn twisted space and stepped forward, a brief-flicker of a might-have-been only half forming around him, and then the walls of the exit surrounded him.

  He'd made it.

  It was only a short distance, but for the first time Quinn had teleported—or at least teleported for himself, discounting how he'd gotten there in the first place.

  A woman was waiting for him, stern of features and dressed in the manner of a servant. She looked to be in her late thirties.

  "Unusually done, my Lord, but you got there in the end. I'm Valla, House Seneschal. I expect you'd like an explanation. Follow me and I'll see what I can do."

  It was an invitation Quinn wasn't about to refuse.

  13

  They were deep underground, and Valla led Quinn to an elevator that began slow movement to the surface.

  "First, while you completed the trial, I was able to do some research on you. I suspect your ship must be somewhere in orbit. As a courtesy I haven't sent patrols. I don't care about your current status with the Imperium. Would you like me to relay a message that you are safe?" Valla asked.

  "I could have come alone in a shuttle," Quinn said in a futile attempt to hide the presence of the Centauri Bliss.

  "Into the heart of the sphere? No, you found yourself there by surprise, Captain Jade, I'm sure of it. The range isn't infinite, your vessel is nearby."

  "Why do you not care my status with the Imperium? You are one of the great houses," Quinn said.

  There was a chime as the elevator finally came to a halt. The doors opened and Valla led the way. The hall was lined with what looked like remnants of expeditions, artifacts from countless worlds, star charts, weaponry, all with carefully placed name plaques.

  Valla was quiet for a moment. "This is going to be difficult to understand. I assure you, it is difficult for me to explain. The Imperium recently attacked this world and captured the senior members of the Tsaro line and have placed this house in a gravely weakened position. It is my hope that you'll stand as the new Lord Tsaro."

  Right, that was only rational. Except that Valla sounded serious.

  "If you're being serious, and I believe that you are, I need to speak with my attorney. Send the message that I'm safe and provide details to Tamara Cross, along with safe passage for her to the planet," Quinn said.

  "Sensible," Valla said. An open door let them into a small sitting room, complete with holoviewer and a bar. "There is a bath and bedroom off here. For now your status is ... complicated. I'd prefer you stay here until we resolve matters."

  If Valla really passed along his message, his family would know where to find him. Whether she was playing things straight or this was an act, it was best to go along, f
or now.

  "You just put me through a death trap that taught me to teleport. You can't hold me, if I don't want to be held," Quinn said.

  "I'm well aware, I assure you. Your family has always been problematic that way. It is why it is a request, my Lord."

  Fair enough.

  Quinn nodded and Valla bowed before her making her exit

  It was five hours until Quinn heard anything more. Time enough for him to take a shower. He quickly found a very attentive guard was outside the room, and an order for food was quickly delivered.

  They were at least being polite about things. It was still a welcome sight when the door opened and Jinx and Tamara came through trailed by Valla.

  Jinx moved to his side at once, taking Quinn's hand, and a rush of healing magic flowed through him. Tamara for her part had a large binder under one arm.

  "Sorry that took awhile. There was negotiation that had to occur," Tamara said, taking a seat.

  "I take it we're not shooting our way out then?" Quinn said.

  Valla gave him a stern look. "One does not need to shoot their way out of their own home."

  "I don't think it's needed. House Tsaro has a problem and you are the solution," Tamara said.

  "Valla mentioned wanting me to be Lord Tsaro. I'm not even of their blood," Quinn said.

  "You have their power, you are of their blood. That is standard across any of the noble houses. It is part of the reason Jinx would have been a legitimate Empress. In a way it can be legally argued she is the heir of two royal lines," Tamara said.

  "Can we not make this about me?" Jinx asked.

  "Few Tsaro are capable of passing the sphere test, and the Lord of the House must be selected amongst those who can. Most of those who do, wander. The Triumvirate seized all those here who had passed the test," Valla said.

  "And you can't call the others back?" Quinn asked.

  "Given time we surely could, but time is something we do not have. Aggressive action is being taken against our lands. At the moment we are a fallen House without a leader," Valla said.