by Skyler Grant
"I'll talk to Taki. Work it out," Quinn said.
Despite Quinn's best efforts the night wouldn't have any direct intimacy between him and Kat, she just wanted to watch him and Ice. Still, in a strange way it was the closest he'd felt to her since she'd returned.
20
They had barely completed a resupply of the Centauri Bliss when Quinn got an emergency call from Mara. Bravo had collapsed. The two seemed to have been talking when Bravo began screaming.
Quinn arrived to find Jinx on the scene, kneeling beside Bravo.
"Nothing I do is helping," Jinx said, looking up at Quinn. "I don't know what is wrong."
"Do you have any ideas?" Quinn asked Mara, who was pacing nearby.
"I'm investigating. I've missed something. We had her locked out of all external comms, but she'd opened one somehow, masked her signal within our other traffic," Mara said.
"Did it just happen? Could she have made contact with the others? Is this a kill order?" Quinn asked.
Mara paused and shook her head. "No, it isn't that. And the connection has been in place four days, so whatever is happening it was recently initiated. She is under some kind of attack."
Quinn hit his comm. "Sand, come to the lounge."
Jinx might be the best healer that they had, but nobody understood biology as well as Sand.
Bravo screamed, her body convulsing so violently it seemed that she might do herself harm. Her eyes were manic, panicked.
Sand arrived quickly and knelt next to Jinx, a hand turning gray as she rested it on Bravo's shoulder.
"There is data traffic. It's encrypted though and I'm no longer a part of my family's network to have the keys," Mara said.
"A good thing. If you could receive the messages you'd be in a similar state. I believe we are witnessing something most unusual. A digital virus that is taking advantage of how closely linked your biology is to your implants," Sand said.
"Is this the Imperium attack we heard about?" Quinn asked.
"One part of it, I suspect. I'm limited in how I can fix this. Killing the connection will, I think, kill her. I might be able to bring her back, of course," Sand said.
"Anything that doesn't have you raising people from the dead?" Quinn asked.
"What is happening is very specifically an overload of her nervous systems and a hyper-stimulation of the portions of her brain relating to pain. Painkillers won't have an effect."
"Can we provide some kind of counter-sensory input? Scatter the signal?" Mara asked.
"If I had more time. I can neutralize her ability to perceive pain. It is a less than ideal state, but will save her life."
"Do it, please," Mara said.
Sand glanced at Quinn, who nodded.
A silvery shimmer rippled beneath Bravo's flesh and the screaming stopped in an instant.
"Thank you," Bravo said in a strangely flat tone. "Please keep my channel open. Control is being transferred."
Mara gasped.
"What?" Quinn asked.
"What it sounds like. Control means the one of us who in charge—of everything. In an emergency anyone on the network might be selected to take over. This is a bad sign," Mara said.
Quinn looked over to Jinx. "You'd better get to the runic sphere. Grab Dela on the way and get her to the cockpit. We may need to go in a hurry."
"If the Imperium is hitting my family I doubt this ship would be enough," Mara said.
Bravo blinked. "When you're right, you're right. Central our flagship is holding, but is badly damaged. Facing eight dreadnoughts. The entire network is under assault. I'm going to need full access to your systems, I don't have the bandwidth I need."
"We've been over this. We're not friends. But I mean no ill to you and yours," Quinn said.
Bravo focused her gaze on Quinn and her eyes were hard. "Do you want me to break out the threats? This is our darkest day and you will be remembered as the one who either helped us or who stood in our way. Be careful what side of the line you stand on."
If Quinn understood what was happening correctly, right now Bravo was in control of her entire organization. Bravo was a killer, through and through. Ruthless in the extreme. Quinn also couldn't forget their time together recently on the Emperor's station. Why was everything so muddled?
"Allow her full access to our systems," Quinn said to Mara.
"Thank you," Mara said.
Bravo let a shaking breath. "With my control operational I've been able to override the signals the others are getting. They're starting to come out of it. Central is currently located at an unmapped Runestone. I can provide coordinates."
"What do you expect us to do against eight dreadnoughts?" Quinn asked.
"You have a navy. I want you to use it. This isn't a negotiation, Quinn, I don't have time for it to be a negotiation. We pay our debts. We'll survive if Central is lost, but roughly half our number are on that ship," Bravo said.
Quinn opened a comm again. "Ice, we need to engage eight Imperium dreadnoughts. Ideally destroy them. Do we have forces at Hope's Reach to do so?"
"That number of dreadnoughts can destroy a planet. We've upgraded most of our Vanguard ships with clan tech, but with a fleet like that there are no guarantees. Whoever wins is going to bleed for it," Ice said.
They'd spent a lot of time gathering resources, getting the defenses of the colony in place. They'd brought attacks upon it more than once and made it a priority to defend these people.
Of course, this wasn't really Quinn's decision to make, but he thought Jinx would accept his recommendation.
"Jinx. This is up to you, but I think we should do it," Quinn called.
Jinx said, "Prepare us for launch. Ice, fleet is needed in tight formation for a jump in ten minutes."
"Will that be fast enough?" Quinn asked Bravo.
"It will have to be," she said.
Quinn hoped that this was the right decision. Mara was a valued part of this family, but her relatives were a different story. Still, Quinn generally thought they were on the right side.
21
It was amazing how much things had changed for them. It still seemed almost yesterday the Centauri Bliss had been just a beat-up freighter with no weapons and any combat at all meant they were outmatched.
Now they were able to scramble a fleet capable of taking on some of the Imperium's finest. The Vanguard ships were ancient but well made, enchanted long ago by the Emperor himself which offered them hull-plating more formidable than anything else in the Imperium. To that, they had since added clan energy shielding. Defensively these ships were incredibly powerful, although their guns were antiquated. They'd managed to install some energy cannons as secondary weapons, but the main gun mounts were too integral to the ship designs to change.
Quinn had asked Bravo to join him as copilot in the cockpit. Whatever was happening, she was the best source of knowledge, and while he wouldn't normally trust her, in this case he was certain she'd do her best.
With every additional rune Jinx gained she was able to carry more ships with them in a jump. A physical connection was required, but they'd set up a network of wires that could quickly connect ships and yet easily be retracted on the other side of the jump.
"Fleet reports ready," Bravo said.
"We still have something we're going to rescue?" Quinn asked.
"We do," Bravo said.
Fair enough. Quinn sent the coordinates to Jinx.
Reality twisted around them. Quinn had a brief flash of another life. He was a bounty hunter, partner and lover to a brunette he thought he recalled back from his days as a Marshall.
Reality crashed back around them.
The dreadnoughts were massive, but they were engaged with a ship more massive yet. Central was a massive pyramidal ship made of scales of unknown material with a torus of curved links twining around it.
Several scales had peeled away and more were glowing as dreadnoughts rained fire upon the vessel.
The fact that it survived a
single volley was surprising. That it had seemingly been in combat for some time was almost unbelievable.
"What is that thing?" Quinn asked.
"You know that we hoard magical artifacts. You know that we acquire knowledge. Is it a surprise that we have technology you've never seen?" Bravo asked.
It wasn't, but Quinn had seen their other ships and they were nothing like this. Bravo might talk a good game, but whatever this vessel was they'd never been able to duplicate it.
The Vanguard ships were already breaking off, moving to engage the dreadnoughts.
"Assault teams stand ready," Quinn said.
The Centauri Bliss might not have the firepower to neutralize any of these ships, however some of the Bliss's crew could be formidable if they could be placed aboard an enemy ship. Kalisa alone had wiped out the crew of a combat vessel. Of course, dreadnoughts were of a scale vastly different and with shocktroopers against tehm they may have forces aboard that would let them kill a single Unshackled. But, they now had two Unshackled, and Sand, who was just as formidable in her own way.
One of the dreadnoughts had a heavier fighter screen surrounding it than the others, so that was likely their command ship. Quinn issued commands to the fleet to leave it alone and set a course.
"You don't have any super-powered alien weaponry aboard that thing?" Quinn asked.
"None whatsoever. The computer controlling Central doesn't like guns," Bravo said.
"So the people that hated us for having Sand have a super-powered, alien, artificial intelligence in an ancient alien ship, right?" Quinn said.
Bravo gave him a wry look. "Yours wiped out a significant portion of the population of Imperius. Ours simply hates guns. If you're hoping to win some point of moral superiority, you are going to fail."
Quinn increased their shields to full power and brought them in. The Centauri Bliss was fast and agile enough to surprise most ships, but against fighters much of that advantage went away.
The sheer number of fighters in the defense screen almost worked against the enemy. It was like a lone fighter being surrounded by a dozen, and while the odds were terrible, if they all attacked at once most would get in each other's way. That could be used against amateurs, and with professionals it turned into one sustained combat against smaller numbers of vessels and negating any advantage in huge numbers.
These were professionals, Quinn wouldn't be scoring any easy kills. Really, he wasn't trying to score many kills at all.
These fighters expected him to dodge and weave. Instead he simply hit the thrusters at full power. The move took them be surprise. One fighter hit the shields and exploded, several other shots hit their shields.
"Down to sixty percent on forward shields," Bravo said.
Quinn diverted extra power to them and the rear shields. At full speed they'd be difficult to flank and side shields weren't vital.
Small guns on the dreadnought opened up. The concentrated mass of fire was something their shields might be able to take. Quinn wasn't going to take their chance, a hard burn of side thrusters sending them clear. They were close now, close enough. Quinn brought them skimming along the surface of the dreadnought's hull.
"Clear to deploy," Quinn said.
The control panel showed the ship's shuttles launching.
They had a short distance until they were on that hull. With the cloaking technology they'd installed they could hopefully avoid attention long enough for their people to get aboard.
Quinn didn't stop, burning engines at full power as he headed towards the fore of the ship. The heavy weapons were located there, the ones bombarding Central. Quinn might not be able to take out a ship, but he might have enough firepower to silence one of those weapons even before the guncrew could be neutralized by the team aboard.
Ahead an enormous barrel extended from the hull. The gun itself would be well-armored, too much for their weapons to take, but at the base were the positioning controls. Quinn hit reverse thrusters and came to a sudden standstill, unleashing disabling shots.
Electronics sparked and flared.
There was no way to know if it worked. Perhaps that was one weapon silenced. Quinn hit the engines. There were more ships, more fighting to be done.
22
Quinn had never been so good behind the controls as he was since after acquiring the Order rune. Teleportation wasn't of any use to him here, but the innate sense of location helped. Quinn didn't need to look at his instruments to know the ship's current velocity or orientation. Three-dimensional combat was a dizzying affair and one that got worse the more ships that were involved.
The Centauri Bliss couldn't do anything against the dreadnoughts directly. Instead it made for an excellent fighter hunter. Meanwhile many of the crew were invaluable in their own ways. Mara and Tamara hacking communications, and Dela interfacing with the sensor feeds, helping to identify targets.
Their ship was known to the Imperium and targeted, but anytime fighters converged on them in too great a numbers Quinn had Jinx perform a short range jump with the runic sphere, relocating them in combat.
It was a devastating battle for both sides and the Imperium forces must have been under orders to fight to the end. By the time the last dreadnought had finally stopped firing they'd lost almost three quarters of their Vanguard vessels.
The Centauri Bliss shields were down and much of the armor stripped. The fact that they still had any at all was only because of the running repairs Jinx could provide with her magic.
The lone dreadnought left in the system was the one they'd boarded and soon the assault team sent word they were returning to the ship.
"What is the damage? Can you get that ship of yours out of here?" Quinn asked Bravo.
"Central doesn't use Runestones. We've something a bit like a runic sphere, but slower to activate and disrupted by weapons fire. We should be able to move within the hour," Bravo said.
"Need help securing your destination?"
"We'll not be sharing our destination, at least not yet. We would, however, very much appreciate your forces remaining until we've made our departure."
"We didn't take losses like this just to let you die anyways. Will you be going with them?"
Bravo had been their prisoner, but if she was now in charge of her people that seemed an increasingly untenable position.
"Not just yet. I would appreciate my data channel remaining open however. I have discussions to have with my people, and depending on the results, a discussion with your family," Bravo said.
"I wish somehow everything you said didn't seem ominous."
Bravo flashed him a grin, "Oh please, you find that hot. I've had lots of proof. Seriously though, you did us a good turn today."
"How bad was the attack?"
"Bad. They hit our most hidden sanctum. They hit our network. They knew our organization inside and out, and you can imagine how that went."
"I'm guessing you no longer have any agents embedded with them?" Quinn said.
"I'd speculate in truth that we haven't had any with real intelligence for some time. This is all a conversation for a later time. But soon," Bravo said.
Things happened more or less as Bravo said. Within an hour the clearly alien vessel jumped away in a shimmer of green light. As soon as it was clear they brought the Vanguard ships, and the Imperium dreadnought manned by a skeleton crew, back into formation and jumped back to the colony.
Once the ship was settled Quinn went seeking out Mara. She had already disembarked and he found her sitting near one of the colonist's aquaculture ponds, Mara always loved the water.
"That was something. I'm surprised you aren't at a data feed," Quinn said.
"For what purpose? They won't talk to me. The fact that they were almost wiped out and I was completely unaffected is just proof of how far I've strayed," Mara said, before letting out an exhausted sigh.
Quinn settled himself down beside her and she leaned against him, her face pressing into his shoulder.
This was a side of Mara that Quinn hadn't seen very often. Mara was always strong, composed, focused on the mission.
"Bravo is still here, in part because she cares about you. You should know they all do," Quinn said.
"It is odd how all my life I wore only masks and I wondered if there was a real person behind them, who she was. Now I find something was there all along, because it is suddenly missing," Mara said, and her arms squeezed Quinn. With her strength it was enough to leave him feeling a little breathless.
"Do you think I made the right choice? Having us go to their rescue?"
"The resources of my new family were expended to save the lives of my old family," Mara said. "I think you did. I think they're a force for good. A dangerous, bloody-minded force for good, but a force for good all the same. The Imperium didn't do this casually, they did it because they're doing wicked things and they were scared."
Quinn knew at once that she was right. Mara's family was ruthless about the wrongful use of magic, and while they'd always given the Emperor some latitude it was increasingly obvious that the Triumvirate was less interested in reining in their worse impulses.
"They're going to come for us, aren't they? The Triumvirate, I mean. With our recent activities they have to fear us, just as they feared your family," Quinn said.
"I'd say it is almost certain. They are probably gathering the resources now most needed to come after us."
"The artifact that neutralized our ability to use the runic sphere. Your family had it. I wonder if they still do," Quinn said.
"We can ask Bravo, she'll know. I fear if they infiltrated the network as thoroughly as it seems, they knew the location. Our vessels always relied more on stealth than raw power."
"I'll check with Kalisa too. She was experimenting with a fix. Perhaps she figured something out," Quinn said.
