by Skyler Grant
"You okay with this? These are your people," Quinn asked.
"You are my people. These are Mahara's people, her war band. And you aren't killing them—well, you probably are, and many of them. You are putting the strong in a position to work things out. This is as it should be. As it should have been all along," Kalisa said.
They'd spent so long trying to prepare for a clan invasion of Imperium space. They'd opened the first hole in the Divide that had let the clans through, and now they opened a second hole in space directly to Imperius itself.
"Well, we're not going through that way," Quinn said, putting in new coordinates and sending them along to Jinx. Reality twisted around them. Quinn was in a Centauri, a different one. Ice, Kat, and a dozen women he didn't recognize, that he didn't know, robbing and plundering their way across space.
45
"Popcorn feels wrong," Jinx said.
"Popcorn is never wrong," Kara said, scooping out a giant handful and upending it into her mouth.
Quinn had parked the Centauri Bliss at the very outskirts of the Imperius system and set the sensors to trigger an alarm if anything went near. They were close enough to get some readings of what was going on, and given a few minutes Mara and Sand were able to crack the orbital satellites for a whole different view of the battle.
They weren't intending to fight and so they'd set up a viewing room to watch in the lounge. Pillows were everywhere and the screens were showing the battle from multiple angles.
"Do we even have anybody we're rooting for?" Quinn asked.
"Clans," Kara, Kalisa, and Ilsa said in unison.
"Imperium," Dela, Bravo, and Mara said at the same time.
Kara threw a piece of popcorn at Dela and made a face. "Maybe I should say Artexi? Am I allowed to root for the Artexi?"
"We don't even know anything about them," Quinn said.
"To be fair they've tried to kill us the least of any of the other factions. I might be team Artexi too," Taki said.
The battle so far was complete chaos. The Chaosian forces had poured out right in the middle of the Artexi fleet which had been forming careful battle lines that matched the precision of the Imperium forces.
It had thrown the Artexi forces into complete disarray and the Imperium forces moved into an already chaotic battle.
"It doesn't matter who wins, not really. Whatever side it is, we profit for the day and in the long term still might have problems," Tamara said.
"But it really doesn't matter, because we're done. Maybe Kadello goes down in this and maybe he doesn't, but we're done. Everybody agree?" Taki asked.
"For now," Quinn said.
"For now," Jinx said with a nod and a smile.
Tamara reached behind her and a moment later her top was being flung across the room.
"Really?" Dela asked.
"We won? Right? Time to celebrate," Kara said.
Tamara rolled her eyes.
Dela pondered for a moment and then her own top was being thrown aside.
"People are dying out there," Jinx said.
"People are always dying—and they aren't people. Sign me up for the orgy," Kat said, slipping out of her clothes. "Doesn't it get you kind of hot anyways? The power. We did this, this battle."
Quinn wasn't sure of the ethical ramifications, but he wasn't going to protest as three pairs of hands started tugging at his clothes. Soon he was naked and lounging on pillows as Kara rode him, her powerful thighs clenched around his waist as Kat took a place straddling his head. Quinn even soon found both his hands being guided, and he wasn't even sure into which wives.
The battle was glimpsed the next few hours only between orgasms. The family had worked long and hard to get to this place, and once they'd gotten past the odd timing everyone seemed to be a little into it. They'd survived, and they'd won. No matter what happened here they'd won.
It was a time for happy endings and there were a lot of them.
The Artexi proved capable, their ships regenerating damage, and the swarms of them arriving through portals seemed almost endless. One by one though the devices on this end holding the rifts open were destroyed, and once the last had closed the Artexi lost whatever properties helped them to regenerate.
Imperium and clan turned on them, temporarily putting aside their enmity with each other to focus on the threat trying to destroy them both. Mahara's peace efforts had clearly come to naught.
When the clans and Imperium finally turned on each other, it was ultimately the ordered lines of the Imperium that proved triumphant although they paid dearly for it. Of the clan fleet that arrived in the system soon only a quarter was left fighting. Mahara's flagship was among them, of course. The Unshackled wouldn't be easily killed. There weren't much more in the way of Imperium ships, but with so much of the fixed defense network still intact it had given them the edge.
Kadello’s flagship was badly damaged but holding together when over two dozen Imperial ships that been held in reserve turned their fire on it. Imperial fought Imperial, at least until Kadello’s ship finally exploded.
“I guess Vixana decided she didn’t want to share power and made her move. Think she’ll be able to defend Imperius without him?” Quinn asked.
"The Emperor built a great engine. The greatest engine in the galaxy. Mahara might break it, eventually. I suspect she can break anything, but it will take time even for her," Jinx said, pushing herself up from beside Quinn and putting her clothes back on.
"We going somewhere?" Quinn asked.
"Exit plan, but the Queen of Thieves needs to give one last dramatic speech. Can one of you hackers get me a feed? I want to go Imperium-wide and into clan space if we can manage it," Jinx said.
"On it," Mara said, reaching for her clothes.
It was another twenty minutes before the video wall in the lounge replaced the battle with Jinx. Communication channels across the Imperium were going out with her.
Jinx looked relaxed, powerful, confident. It was strange how over time the outfit, showing as much flesh as possible and originally drawn by some artist for a pulp serial in the Core, had come to look right on her.
"Most of you know me, but if you don't, I'm Jinx, Queen of Thieves. By agreement the Rim Worlds are now mine. They are a neutral zone for clan and Imperium both. Violate it at your peril," Jinx said, staring into the camera with her hands on hips.
"The Imperium won a great battle today, but this war will wage on, if you let it. If the people don't want it, it is yours to stop, but I do insist on rules. Quarter will be given and honored. No battle will steal the last bite of food from a child's mouth. Traders and crafters will be allowed to do business. Violate these rules and thieves may visit you in the night to steal away all you love. Your fortunes, your victories, your very lives. I am watching."
Jinx made a motion and the video cut off.
"Hell of a speech," Quinn said.
"I want orders going to our network to honor it. If they can't keep this war civilized, we'll destroy them," Jinx said.
"I'll see they get the message," Tamara said.
"Figured out where we're going?" Jinx asked.
"We’re going to pick a star at random and go," Quinn said.
"Terrible idea, sir," Taki said.
The End
Authors Note
I made a lot of promises in past author's notes about the Centauri Saga. I promised I would keep a ship focus, and a focus on the family. I promised that it would become real space opera, with big battles and galaxy-shaking consequences. I even promised at one point that it would go to six books, and here we are at number six.
I've tried to keep my word to my readers, I think I did a pretty good job this time around. If you've read this far you love this family, so do I. They may return, but if they do it will be a whole new arc.
Soon I'm finally working on the fantasy comedy that I mentioned way back in the end of the first book of this series. I'm also planning a return to dungeon core, and I'm excited for a w
hole new take there.
I know that I do a harem novel quite differently than a lot of others in the genre. Some love that, but it isn't for everyone. If you read this far I sincerely hope you are ones who love it. This series won't be my last in the genre. I've loved playing with the dynamics of a family like this.
Thank you for reading, thank you reviewing. Feel free to toss an email or say hi on Facebook, I love to hear from fans.
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