by Skyler Grant
23
Their next family meeting was an unusual one. Normally it was just that, family. But with prisoners, quasi-prisoners and the need for everybody to eat dinner, things were getting a little fuzzy. Bravo wanted to talk to all of them and they scheduled it over a meal.
The farms at Hope Reach were really starting to come along. Now they had ample fresh produce they were growing themselves and they'd established regular trade with Arkstone for luxuries.
Melody had prepared something that was nothing even close to liver and onions, but bore the name anyways. Whatever the beast had been, it didn't even have a liver, but nobody was feeling overly-picky about organ identification.
"First of all, I again want to offer you my thanks. You came to our aid in our hour of greatest need. We haven't always gotten along and we know the price you paid," Bravo said.
"I don't suppose you'll be compensating us for it anytime soon," Tamara said.
"Perhaps. I have an offer to make before any of that, although I've an explanation first to explain why I make the offer and why you should accept it," Bravo said.
That got everybody's attention.
"What is this about?" Mara asked.
"We've long held an advantage against our enemies for a number of reasons. Our genetic modifications make us naturally smarter and stronger than even the wealthy, because our modifications are better. Our implants are at least a century ahead of anything else seen in the Imperium," Bravo said.
"That is conservative. Your technology pursues a different path, but is comparable to most of what is seen in clan space," Kalisa said.
"It is also compromised. The Imperium was able to compel the obedience of several of our agents and through them compromise our entire network. Our entire path, as you call it, is built around a design architecture that must now be discarded," Bravo said.
That was big news. If Quinn understood correctly they would have to give up their implants, or at least their current iteration of them. Their ability to access data and share it within their clusters was one of the things that had always made them so formidable.
"You're certain it can't be salvaged?" Mara asked.
Bravo shook her head. "We're still playing catchup, but our experts assure me that they're convinced. The fundamentals are broken."
"Then what are we ... you ... going to do?" Mara asked her.
"We lost a significant portion of our field agents. A compromised network led to their positions being known. Disabled, they were easy prey. I was safe on this ship, others were safe on Central, but our losses were significant."
Mara lowered her head and took deep breaths. Quinn knew she must be trying to remain calm, to keep it all together.
"Many of our allies were also killed. Our secrets exposed. Because of your help in restoring me, and then your help in saving Central, our organization survives but we are greatly diminished over what we were," Bravo said.
That couldn't be an easy thing to admit—if it were true. Quinn was never certain just how much he could believe Bravo.
"So what is your plan?" Mara asked.
"You are seeking to build an intelligence network and have resources, but lack expertise. We have expertise but our network is in shambles. I'm suggesting a merger," Bravo said.
"No one can believe you. I can't believe you. No matter what happened we still have funds. And you don't need a money infusion," Mara said.
"We don't need money, no. But, you have amongst you the sole example of merging basic cybernetic systems with magic. Furthermore, you also have the sole living example of a merger of Chaos and Order magic," Bravo said.
"You've gone away from considering me a threat in need of containment awfully quickly," Sand said, glancing up from her plate of food which was almost untouched.
"We still do, but survival makes for strange bedfellows," Bravo said.
"And how literally do you mean that? Are you expecting entry into our family with this merger? For yourself? For all of you?" Tamara asked.
"For myself, yes, and I want a child. We ... don't do children. Every single one of us came out of a growth chamber, a virtual requirement due to the integration of our organic and biological components," Bravo said.
"She's telling the truth there. We might like sex for fun, but the thought of reproducing sexually is kind of unpleasant to most of us," Mara said.
Quinn wished he felt particularly surprised or shocked by this. It was strange what you could get used to. The original agreement that had helped to form their Centauri involved him giving Jinx a child. Ice and Sand both had more or less bartered their way into the family because they had something it needed. Bravo wasn't traversing new ground here.
"I'm seeing where you are getting a lot out of this. What's in it for us?" Quinn asked.
"You've time and time again said how we are enemies you didn't want to face directly. Even damaged as an organization we are still astonishingly competent, each and every one of us," Bravo said.
"And you'll pursue our goals and obey our commands, just like that?" Quinn asked.
"I'm not suggesting we become your servants. I'm suggesting a merger of our organizations. This ship, the Clan of Thieves—whatever you want to call yourselves—makes the preservation of knowledge and the control of dangerous magic a primary mandate. We do the same for wealth acquisition, protecting your holdings, or whatever is important to you."
"We've absorbed other clans under our banner already. I'm not opposed to absorbing yours, but your goals will not become ours. You'll just be a part of the whole, free to still pursue your own objectives," Jinx said.
"If we also get Sand's assistance with genetic and circuitry design, and Quinn's agreement to impregnate as required, I can work that. Physically, by the way, not just genetic samples," Bravo said.
"Physically? Why, exactly, do you need me to do any such thing?" Quinn asked.
"I think it is wise to leave the old ways behind. Our sheer uniformity worked against us. In a way we are a monoculture."
"Just one father and a lot of mothers isn't going to change that dramatically," Kalisa said.
"But what will is a wide genetic sample of whatever modifications his body is making to be able to maintain both Chaos and Order magic. We'll replace our technological edge with a magical one," Bravo said.
"Right now I'm not hyper-evolved. Right now I'm diseased and dying," Quinn said.
"We're willing to take our chances," Bravo said with a shrug.
Tamara held up a hand. "We're not going to decide this right now. Give us a few days to think about it."
The very thought gave Quinn a headache. Mara had proved her loyalty, but even she was such a spy she barely knew who she was anymore. Bravo was a killer from head to toe. Their family was filled with both, and everything in between.
24
The Centauri Bliss completed a jump.
They weren't in any recognized system. The place they'd come to wasn't on any star charts. The Athenaeum had the finest hackers in the Imperium and Bravo thought they'd arrived at a location identified the source of the attacks on their implants.
The family still hadn't decided whether or not to take Bravo up on her offer, and more of a fight with the Imperium wasn't something they were after, but whatever had launched such an attack was a threat to more than just the Athenaeum.
Dela was seated in the copilot position and going over the sensors.
"For a place that doesn't exist it's pretty busy isn't it?" Dela said.
It was. Quinn didn't need Dela's enhanced senses to see that. Sitting out here off the grid was a fully equipped relay station. Relay stations were all about storing and transmitting data, and they were integral parts of the Imperium's data network.
What didn't make sense was hiding one. There was no Runestone here and the station had to have gotten here the slow way, and with technology long illegal in the Imperium—a skimmer drive.
"How long it would take to get this out here using a skimmer dr
ive?" Quinn asked.
With the number of implants in Dela's head she could do the math quickly. "Seven months. That dates whatever is happening here to before the Emperor's death."
"Do we have anything from the Emperor's data stores about a facility like this?"
Dela shook her head.
Mara and Bravo were watching communications. Quinn opened up a ship-wide channel.
"We've got a mystery station out here in the middle of nowhere. Slow to move and the Emperor didn't tell us about it. I'm open for ideas," Quinn said.
"It could be that Imperium Intelligence had facilities even the Emperor wasn't aware of, and this might be theirs," Mara said.
"Remember all our girls in tubes?" Dela said.
Quinn had almost forgotten. A woman named Valkyrie had hired them to transport several women in suspended animation to the Rim. It was investigating the truth of that claim that had eventually led them to Mara.
"Or this is related to Valkyrie," Quinn said.
"Keep your distance. Our stealth systems should keep us hidden if we don't get too close. We're going to continue to monitor," Mara said.
The thing about spying was that it was often boring. Quinn stayed at the controls for a few hours, just in case anything happened, but nothing did. The station just continued to transmit data. Nothing approached, nothing docked or left. Without a runic sphere craft such as the Bliss to make the journey quickly, this station was probably only rarely resupplied.
It was another twelve hours until Mara and Bravo called a meeting. By that time Quinn had gone for a ap, telling the others to wake him if there was an emergency.
Quinn had to give it to Mara and Bravo, they knew how to throw a meeting. A floating holographic diagram of the station floated over the table, along with a star map, and tables of data.
"I really hope we get to shoot something now," Kara said.
"Absolutely not," Mara said.
"Did you figure out who this station belongs to?" Quinn asked.
"The data transmissions are encrypted. Still, with Sand's assistance we have managed to crack the most basic layers. This station seems to belong to a group we never knew existed, but we should have. They've long been our shadow, or perhaps we have been theirs," Bravo said.
"Valkyrie, the woman I once met. She was a member?" Quinn asked.
"Several of our agents taken and placed in suspended animation. We never did find out who took them, which was suspicious in itself, but not implausible. We aren't perfect," Bravo said.
"Although it was surprising," Mara said, and Bravo nodded.
"When you said your shadow, who do you think these people are? What are they doing?" Quinn asked.
"Do you want what we can prove or what I suspect?" Bravo asked.
"Give me the good story even if it's guesswork," Quinn said.
"The Emperor's war on knowledge always struck us as odd. Yes, the Imperium was more stable with basic technology, but slow, well-tested growth would have made it both stable and strong," Bravo said.
"That was why you started, right? The Emperor burned the great library and you didn't like it?" Dela asked.
"Something like that. In a galaxy where new knowledge was becoming a rare commodity we were hoarders. I think with this station we've encountered another group of hoarders. I think the destruction of the library might have had the purpose of making their own knowledge all the more valuable," Bravo said.
"That seems like a big leap. What makes you think that?" Tamara said.
"The technology on that station is too advanced. Their encryption is too advanced. While clearly utilizing Imperium, not clan design, elements they are simply too far ahead of us," Bravo said.
"They also aren't alone. We've been monitoring outgoing signals. This station is acting as a relay to at least seven other stations and none are on inhabited or networked planetary systems," Mara said.
That thought made Quinn's mind ache. One station out in the middle of nowhere was a huge undertaking. An entire network of them?
"You think the Imperium isn't really responsible for the attack on you then," Quinn said.
"I think the dreadnoughts were pretty unmistakably Imperium. They also clearly weren't acting alone. They were the finishing blow after the knife somebody else slipped between our ribs," Bravo said. "The used, I suspect, not the user. They wanted to hurt us and somebody planning to do so for a long time helped."
"We could blow this station to pieces, but I'm guessing you spies want to be spies?" Quinn asked.
"Of course we do," Bravo said with a wry smile. "The murder will come later, I promise you. And I'm going to have a long list of names before we spill the first blood."
That was a reassuring thought.
25
Quinn rubbed at his eyes. The Centauri Bliss had just completed its eighth jump in two hours. They were all used to jumping, and it had been awhile since anybody had thrown up all over the controls, but this was pushing it. You couldn't bribe Quinn to go near the hold right now. He didn't even want to think of what the tigers and bears were doing.
Quinn took the opportunity to take a long drink of water before hitting the ship-wide comms. "We're clear. If you need another pass let's take a few before doing it."
"This is fun. Scouting our prey. Flying the hunt," Vess said, lounging back in the copilot's seat.
Quinn was glad that somebody was enjoying it.
"You are getting a lot of practice at least," Quinn said.
"Some. Would rather fly in fight. Breathe this ship's fire. Burn and crush," Vess said.
The dragoness had something of a one-track mind.
"You're not quite there yet. Maybe the next battle we let you take the Whiskey out," Quinn said.
"Would like. Tourmaline has no need of me in this place and as a dragon I do little."
"We don't want you getting hurt. I know you can do a lot of damage, but your scales aren't that armored," Quinn said.
"My choice. I wish to fight," Vess said.
"Maybe Sand can figure out some way to armor you, even with the shape-shifting. We'll ask her."
"We've got one more pass. I think this will be the last one. Sending in desired coordinates now. Give us five seconds on the other end," Mara called.
Quinn keyed the coordinates to Jinx. This set of coordinates was just slightly offset from the last.
Reality blended into a blur around them. Quinn was an arena fighter, a quickdraw artist, a maestro with a pistol in hand.
The return of reality showed the same system they'd already seen a dozen times before.
Ugoni was a farmworld on the Rim and had nothing in the way of defenses. Their target was a ship in orbit around it, a luxury yacht flanked by two gunships.
For five seconds this time they hung in a space just off its bow, sensors scanning before they blinked away. The same reality this time in the might-have-been.
This jump wasn't any more exciting than their prior passes. While the yacht, gunships, and Centauri Bliss all ran their scanners there was no gunfire, nothing in the way of attacks.
Quinn and Vess headed for the dinner table as soon as they were back. It was time to learn what all this had been for.
Bravo and Mara already had holographic displays set up.
"As you all know six hours ago we received a request for a meeting through official Imperium channels on behalf of the Triumvirate," Mara said.
"An obvious trap," Taki said.
"Perhaps. It was the sort of thing we weren't going to trust in at least, thus our rather exhausting trips scouting out the location," Mara said.
"From the cockpit I saw nothing but the yacht and two gunships. The system has a Runestone, but it's too far out of range to bring in surprises. Are there any stealth ships we're missing?" Quinn asked.
"I'm pretty certain there aren't. Our sensors are good and with me they're better, and I've gone over things thoroughly. Bravo knows their technology best though," Dela said.
"There are cer
tain traces that can reveal even a hidden vessel. I've looked for them. This shadow organization may have vessels built on a different architecture, of course," Bravo said.
"Nothing hiding in orbit on the far side of the planet, sir. The readings from the surface though make me think ships are there. Not a lot, but more than just food transports," Taki said.
"I concur. Reinforcements, almost certainly under sensor dampeners. Hidden, but not able to reach that ship in time if trouble did break out," Mara said.
"So they're playing it fair?" Quinn asked.
"I don't want to believe that. We've been able to get solid readings of the life signs aboard that yacht. One I recognize, the former Lord Barr," Mara said.
When they first met Mara she'd been watching Barr. At the time he'd been planning on forming his own little empire on the Rim. His stock had risen since then.
"That bastard locked us up in his creepy kink dungeon. I barely got out alive. We can't trust him," Quinn said.
"And you shouldn't. The gunships made me suspicious. They aren't enough to offer a defense against any formidable force and yet the yacht has enough arms to discourage casual threats. What I wondered is their true purpose," Kalisa said.
"You never look that proud of yourself unless you solved a puzzle," Quinn said.
"A Runestone will only show on your sensors if it is whole. Each of those gunships carries half a stone," Kalisa said.
"They could bring a fleet down on top of us in a hurry, if needed. So it is a trap," Quinn said.
"I don't think so. That is still risky, and slow, and there is no need for Barr to come himself," Mara said.
Quinn tended to hold a grudge against people who had tried to murder him. Still, Mara knew Barr better than anybody else on this ship.
"You think this is what? Just him trying to protect himself?" Quinn asked.
"Barr is a schemer, a pragmatist, and while he's not averse to holding grudges he isn't fanatical about them. My guess? His desire to talk is sincere," Mara said.
"Which means he is probably having problems with the rest of the Triumvirate," Bravo said.
