by Skyler Grant
"We'll hopefully be gone by then," Quinn said.
"Hopefully isn't a plan," Dela said.
Whatever the alien technology that brought them here, Quinn didn't think they could reliably use it again. They still had no idea how in their universe the system had been activated, much less how to do so here. That said, there might be something they could do.
The rainbow shimmer that happened when they were brought here, that brief flash of might-have-beens. They'd jumped—Quinn might not know how they'd jumped without a ship or why it had brought them into another reality instead of another part of space—but it had been a jump.
"Mahara is powerful enough to use some Order magic. Do you know what a runic sphere is? Does she have one?" Quinn asked Rena.
Rena gave him a look. "She does, not that she can use it despite her best efforts. It is kept aboard her ship."
"I know that it’s asking a lot, but can you get it for us?"
"What are you hoping to do?" Dela asked.
"When Jinx gets here we take this station right to Imperius and let our Emperor deal with Mahara directly. If, that is, he would win?" Quinn asked Rena.
"He'd win," Rena said thoughtfully. "Mahara always has had a way out. Their past conflicts have burned whole systems, but it was always her that had to pull back. Take us to Imperius and he can finish her. You'll be heroes."
"You'll do it then?"
"I will," Rena said. Looking around in the cupboard she pulled out a hooded robe and slipped it about her shoulders. "Don't leave this room. I'll be back as soon as I can."
Once she had left the room Quinn said, "Not the real plan. What brought us here is related to my power. I think that maybe if I and Jinx connected our wills she can use my ability with the sphere to take us home."
"That is a lot of maybes," Dela said.
"If not, we do just what we told Rena. I don't want to stick around in this reality and I'm pretty sure the Emperor will kill me dead for what I am, especially now that I have this," Quinn said, holding up his marked arm. "But not any of you."
"Like we'd agree with that," Kara said.
"Versus staying in torture land?" Quinn gestured at the room. "I'll take my chances that maybe bringing him the head of his archenemy is enough to earn me a lifetime of quarantine."
"This is a really bad plan," Dela said.
"Those are our specialty," Kara said.
Quinn had to laugh, it was true.
15
The virtue of having a bar in the torture chamber is that when you’re stuck waiting for someone to retrieve a rare piece of magical hardware, at least you had something besides staring at torture implements to pass the time.
By the time Rena returned most of a bottle of wine had vanished between Dela and Quinn, and Kara had chugged down four of heavier stuff. With her Yek physiology she didn't really get drunk from alcohol, not that she didn't try her very best.
It took Rena around an hour to return, slipping through the doorway with a wrapped bundle under one arm.
"I hope this is worth it. I might have gotten away clean, but it is hard to say for certain," Rena said, setting the bundle down on one of the couches.
Quinn unwrapped it to have a look. It looked exactly as he expected, which was a good sign—a spherical orb of crystal with the impression of runes occasionally drifting within.
"You did well. We need to figure our next step. We have a little over half an hour until the others arrive," Quinn said.
"Not much time to make a plan and act on it," Dela said.
"Not like we could act much before this anyways. We're surrounded on all sides. We can start something right before they arrive, might even be a good idea, but we're going to need backup fast. Even I can only take down so many," Kara said.
"Would your companions be able to make that much of a difference?" Rena asked.
"Sand is really scary," Dela said.
"Was scary. We haven't actually seen her fight since she bonded herself to her new host. I don't know if she can do the mass-dissolving of people into their component parts anymore," Quinn said.
Rena was arching a brow. "Dare I ask?"
Dela answered, "The Glittering Sands. The Emperor's emergency plan to destroy Chaos completely. Do you have that here?"
"The Emperor has built rather a lot of super-weapons over time. So have the clans. There is always a way to defeat then," Rena said idly.
Quinn wondered just what kind of life you must have led that you grew to consider super-weapons boring. Of course, given he was kind of, sort of, married to one he had to wonder what that said about his own life.
"The important thing is where are they going to show up. When they first arrive is when they're going to be most vulnerable," Kara said.
"Dela, you're the most observant and you were paying attention to the moon ruins. Did we materialize in the identical position?" Quinn asked.
Dela closed her eyes for a moment and then nodded. "We did. Even facing the same direction. We were directly transitioned."
"This station is located in the same place as the other. I assume for similar reasons, it is in a convenient spot to send ships down to the surface as well as access the system’s Runestone," Quinn said.
"Different design though," Kara said.
"This one is a bit bigger. Seven decks?" Dela asked.
Rena nodded. "Seven, yes, and a communications spire that isn't a full deck."
"We didn't exactly have a plan about where we'd transition from. We'll have gone missing and silent. I'm sure they'd have a sent a team to the surface," Quinn said.
"We monitored the appearance of life-signs down below. If you hadn't been coming to us, we'd have gone to you. If anyone else had appeared, I'd have gotten a call," Rena said.
"So they investigated, but didn't find us or trigger the transporter. They returned to the station. They don't have anything to do but wait. They'd have found somewhere comfortable to settle in. Probably the main lounge," Quinn said.
"Let me run these numbers," Dela said, getting a distant look in her eyes. "Based on what we saw coming in, and the location of the lounge on the other station, they should appear near the middle of Deck Two here."
Rena winced. "That doesn't work in our favor. That is the main hangar for fighter craft. Constant activity and all of it well armed."
"If this works, your cover isn't needed. You must have plans to disable parts of this station if needed, in case the Imperium ever planned an attack," Quinn asked Rena.
"Of course I do," Rena said as she began to pace. "Although I refuse to blow my cover and I am increasingly regretting deciding to cooperate with you." Her movements took her near Selina and she pulled the comm from her wrist, attaching it to her own. A few tendrils of wire extended to interface.
"I know you don't know us, but we get things done," Quinn said.
"I do, in fact, see that. If you hadn't been able to overcome Selina I wouldn't be helping you at all. There, it will come from her access codes. I'm initiating now. Now they're getting an incoming comm warning about an Imperium fleet jumping into a nearby system," Rena said.
"That works. You're playing off the fact that Mahara expects the Emperor to show up," Quinn said.
"I am. She thought he might appear as you did, but she'll be open to the possibility a fleet is invading instead. Fighters will scramble and most will either report to their duty stations or be in their quarters."
"How long will it take to reach the deck?" Quinn asked.
"Five minutes, but we'll run into trouble. I might have cleared the halls, but it doesn't matter. Mahara still has her spell on one of you. The instant you leave this room she'll know."
"We'll go when the clock hits eight. We'll need to do some fighting, but if we're in the hangar too long it becomes a problem of its own," Quinn said.
Dela loaded the orb into a sack she scavenged from a cupboard and slung it over one shoulder as everyone got ready.
16
The halls were
mostly empty this time. Rena and Kara were both cloaked as they made their way towards Deck Two. If Mahara herself came to look for them this was pretty much over. Quinn had no illusions that they stood any chance against her. Hopefully though she was busy with the fake invasion and keeping an eye out for the Emperor.
They turned a corner and found a half-dozen clan warriors, weapons drawn. Kara charged them. She didn't have her healing factor at the moment or her usual heavy armor, but she was still a Yek. An energy blast seared her shoulder before she was in the middle of them, fists and legs lashing out, the force of blows sending warriors bouncing off the walls and in one case the ceiling. Quinn and Dela followed her in. Knocking out already downed opponents wasn't the most honorable way to fight, but it did the trick.
In under a minute they'd neutralized everyone, although Kara had gotten shot once more. Quinn hadn't taken any hits. With his newly amplified magic he'd found himself able to keep out of the way of anything coming in his direction.
Despite being under a time crunch they took another minute to strip them. Armor was worth the wait, as well as some guns. Quinn soon had a pair of pistols at his waist, as did Dela. Kara took both of Selina's knives. The blades were marked with runework, and they'd be useful in case they had to fight a magic-user. In addition she added a sword.
The hangar wasn't deserted. No reason it would be—even if most of the fighters had launched the hangar crews would still be on duty. In the Imperium they wouldn't have been combatants, but the clans didn't really do non-combat roles. Everybody was armed.
Within thirty seconds of entering they were taking cover behind a blastshield as energy fire pelted the barrier.
It left only Quinn able to get the occasional shot off, his abilities letting him glimpse the rare might-bes where putting his head up didn't promptly get it shot off.
"Ten seconds," Dela said.
It was cutting it close. From behind them, the door leading into the station opened and four warriors entered. Kara charged them.
Dela's timer hit zero.
Rainbow light rippled in the air in one corner of the hangar. The arrival here was less than perfect and both Jinx and Sand materialized about ten feet up in the air before crashing and falling hard onto the deck. Neither seemed fazed by it, Sand leaping acrobatically back to her feet while Jinx rose more slowly with her runes blazing.
Hangar crew opened fire on them. Energy blasts glanced off Jinx—she was quite invincible. Sand dove out of the way and threw a fireball which exploded in the middle of four clansmen sending burning bodies flying.
"Over here," Quinn called.
If the two of them had arrived alone they'd have been easily overwhelmed, but with the attention of the hangar crew split they were in no danger. The same couldn't be said for the rest of them. Kara limped back from the door, having been shot several more times, and even with her armored skeleton she was looking in rough shape.
Jinx reached them, a hand resting on Kara's shoulder for an instant as green flesh knit itself back together and burn marks faded. The faint red sparks that had regularly flickered from Kara's body faded. Jinx's magic must have countered whatever lingering effect Mahara had left in place.
"This isn't what I was expecting. There is someone really bad here," Jinx said.
"That would be Mahara. You'll hate her," Quinn said.
"I wouldn't meet her," Rena said, giving Jinx a look. "This version could spend more time in a gym."
More shots pelted the barrier.
"Sand, can you buy us a moment to talk in quiet?" Quinn asked.
"Not a problem," Sand said with a vicious smile as she stepped out. Some bullets she simply avoided with the aid of her implants, others seemed to bounce off invisible, hardened air that surrounded her. Several clan went flying from a fireball, and one that charged her with a sword was driven backward by a spear of ice through the chest.
Jinx touched Quinn's newly placed mark, her fingers resting lightly. "This is new."
"I didn't even have to kill ...ah, you to get it. We're in a might-be, an alternate universe, whatever you want to call it. I think we can get home, but we'll need to combine our abilities," Quinn said.
"You getting home wasn't the plan," Rena said flatly.
"If your Emperor is anything like ours, he'll kill you when he's done with you. He'll kill me," Quinn said.
"A sacrifice I am quite willing to make, if it means the death of Mahara. Of all the Unshackled none are a bigger threat. If she wins, she'll ultimately unmake everything, she can't help it," Rena said.
Dela pulled the runic sphere from her pack and offered it over to Jinx who took it, peering into the depths. Dela said, "We don't even know if this will work. If you can just do us or if it would have to be a ship."
"Smaller than ours," Jinx said, tucking the sphere under one arm. "I don't know what you have in mind by trying to link your abilities with mine."
It hurt, it hurt more than he expected as he reached towards Jinx with his power. It hurt Jinx too. He could see it in her eyes as she focused on the sphere.
Runes rose to the surface, blue and glowing, swirling, and after a moment another joined, red and flickering madly as if a sputtering flame.
"I think I can see the magic. The place ... it is weird, but I can see it. I can't just do us as individuals. It doesn't work like that. A ship or even the station, maybe. But I don't have enough power and Quinn really doesn't have enough from the Chaos side either," Jinx said.
Rena took Quinn's other hand and he felt a jolt go through him.
Within the sphere the red rune stabilized slightly.
"Still not enough," Jinx said.
"If you do this, you take the station with Mahara along with it," Rena said.
"If you can't remove her one way, you'll remove her another," Quinn said.
"My loyalty is to my Emperor. You don't have to take the deal," Rena said.
"No, we do, I don't know why, but we do. Agreed," Jinx said with a nod.
"Then we need to rescue your companion. She'll be held in Mahara's quarters, along with her private mana supplies," Rena said.
17
Mahara was waiting for them, and Selina was with her. There were three other magic-users as well, all with at least one mark. Mahara's quarters were opulent, all vibrant reds and yellows with the scent of nag champa in the air. Kalisa was pinned to one wall, literally, spikes of rune-marked metal driven through each of her runes.
"You came. I was afraid you might abandon her and I was so looking forward to this," Mahara said, her eyes playing over Jinx. "You aren't what I was expecting, or who I was expecting. I had hopes Opalia's blood might retain a trickle of its old power, but so far I've been disappointed in my own apprentice."
"Less talking, more killing," Selina said angrily.
Mahara's gesture was negligent, and her apprentice collapsed in screams.
"We'll get around to that. You inspired little Rena to finally reveal her true nature. No use hiding your face, girl," Mahara said.
Rena lowered her hood. "I don't know what you mean."
"What I've always wondered is how you took my mark, considering your true loyalty, which should have rendered you proof against it. I know he's gotten clever as well as simply strong, but that I thought beyond him," Mahara said with a lazy grin. "Don't worry, I'll figure it out. You’re the key to breaking the whole Imperium, girl. Now that we're showing each other our true faces we can really play."
"Can we punch her yet?" Kara asked.
"We aren't here to punch. We're here to make a deal," Quinn said.
Mahara shifted her gaze to Quinn. "Dear little Selina very much wants to hurt you after what you did to her. I'm not inclined to allow it. With Rena showing her true face I've an opening for an apprentice. You'll enjoy it, eventually."
"You can't make a deal with this woman," Rena hissed.
"What are you thinking?" Jinx asked Quinn.
Quinn said, "I think we've got ourselves a situation.
Mahara, I know you're thinking you've got all the cards, but this little meeting presents both more danger and opportunity than you know."
"I doubt it, sweetling. The girl has some strength, but I've fought stronger," Mahara said.
Jinx took a step forward and her runes flared. "You don't even know who I am, you haven't even asked. You think I am Selina Cartier, like that scared girl who is your apprentice."
Mahara looked interested for the first time, moving over to lounge in a chair while regarding Jinx. "You have my attention. If not Selina Cartier, who are you?"
Jinx seemed as if she were more a statue than a woman, she was so still, so determined. "Selina Cartier was the woman who killed Ilinar and got her first mark. I am the purifier of the font of change. I am the terror of the Ardoka. I am the Grandmaster of the Arena. I am Jinx, the Queen of Thieves, who steals victory from defeat and the life from tyrants."
Mahara was silent for a long moment before she tilted her head. "I am first of the Unshackled, the world breaker. Liberator of Feltori and hundreds of worlds after. Savior of the Intoki, the Drexor, the Seborru. Killer of Finax, Sellorana, Tobahina, and Moira. Mahara, the Queen of Blood."
"She's pretty good at this too," Dela told Jinx.
"I've had some practice,” Mahara said. “You claim to have killed Ilinar. Approach. Which rune?"
Jinx advanced towards where Mahara sat and extended her hand. Mahara reached out to rest hers atop the rune for a moment. Red and blue sparks crackled at the contact.
"Wrath turned to justice," Mahara said with a laugh that seemed almost bitter. "Ilinar would appreciate that, not that he'd appreciate learning he died to an apprentice that hadn't even earned her first mark. Speak your offer, Jinx. I do not promise I'll not kill you all eventually, but you murdered a man I respect. It gets you my ear first."