by Skyler Grant
"And we're back to needing Ice," Tourmaline said.
It seemed that way, and Quinn really wished it weren't so.
"Let me put her through," Quinn said, opening a comm.
A moment later Ice said sharply, "I don't like being hung-up on."
"I don't like you flying across half of known space to kick me in the teeth. We're going to be dropping a team on planet and from there heading to the Runestone. I'd like it if you came aboard and your fleet follows us. We can discuss matters on the way," Quinn said.
"If you plan to hold me hostage to get my fleet to obey, you should know they don't like me very much," Ice said.
"Having flown with you in the past I understand the sentiment," Taki said.
"Taki? You still afraid someone better is coming to steal your man? Guess it's natural when you’re the crappy add-on to a package deal," Ice said.
"Enough," Quinn said. "You want what you want and we'll talk about it, but you aren't going to win any points by talking down to any member of this Centauri,"
A long pause at that and a frustrated sigh. Ice said, "Fine. I'll try to play nice."
That was that. Quinn broke up the meeting and headed back for the cockpit to take over for Dela.
Sinclair knew exactly who and where they were, and Dela had been keeping one step ahead of interceptors. There was also a blinking incoming comm from the heavy cruiser. Quinn ignored it. Sinclair would no doubt have threats to deliver. There was nothing to be had by listening, they weren't planning to give in to his demands.
With the engines at full-thrust there wasn't anything the pursuing ships could really do to catch the Centauri Bliss. Quinn took the long way around the battle with the cruisers, hitting the atmosphere far from the colony. It didn't matter, the shuttle could close that distance on its own. When sensors registered that the Whiskey had broken free he was heading back up to orbit on an intercept with Ice's fleet.
Quinn had to give it to Ice, she was a good pilot. At speed a sleek white shuttle swiveled to dock with their bay as soon as he broke the atmosphere. The gunships were crude, over-armed and under-armored, but it was still reassuring as they fell into place around the Centauri Bliss.
Sinclair’s gunships broke off. Sinclair wasn't ready for that fight, not while the colony waited. They were free to head towards the Runestone.
"Take the controls," Quinn said to Taki. "I'm going to go have a long heart-to-heart with our guest."
"Be careful, sir. I'm serious, she's bad for you and she gets under your skin," Taki said.
"I know," Quinn said. It wasn't something he could avoid.
31
Quinn sent word ahead for Ice to meet him at his office. By the time he arrived she was already there, sitting behind his desk with her feet propped up. As usual she was in a one-piece and form-fitting white jumpsuit.
"You're in my seat," Quinn said, looking down at her.
"Looking at your pictures," Ice said, leaning forward. "Must like her a lot, she's in here twice."
Quinn moved to have a look. Tourmaline had added herself. It stood in stark contrast to Tamara's and was absolutely obscene.
"They're different people. It's complicated," Quinn said.
"Twins aren’t that complicated," Ice said.
"Not twins. Complicated," Quinn said.
They stared at each other for a moment.
"You're looking good. Better than the last time I saw you," Ice said.
Quinn had been shot then. It was when he first learned about Jinx's powers.
"Things are going well. Not smooth, never smooth, but well. Why are you trying to screw me over when I've family in the line-of-fire?"
"Family," Ice said with a quiet sort of solemnity. "We're family too, Quinn, even if you've always been too damned stubborn to admit it. I'm glad you got over Kat's death, it was about damned time, but these folk you're with? They're going to get you killed unless you got someone to watch your back."
"Don't pretend this is about me. You know I've got Taki."
"Taki, who is so fucking weak she'd have let you wallow in despair forever. Taki, who so politely calls you sir every time you open your mouth and lets you get away with every damned fool idea that enters your head?" Ice shifted one of her feet to kick Quinn hard. "Don't tell me Taki is watching out for you. Love you, yes, but she'll never tell you no when you most need to hear it."
It was infuriating, but Quinn had to admit there was some truth to what Ice was saying. Taki as his second in command would always raise her doubts, that was her job. When he made his decision she backed it. When it came to personal matters she did the same—and that wasn't always the best. The family was more than just her though.
"If you think nobody tells me I'm wrong, you really have no idea what’s going on at family meetings," Quinn said.
"Yet it wasn't that long ago that family was calling me up, because you'd gone missing on the estate of some noble arse and she thought you were probably dead. Then you're calling me up because you went and kicked some slave lord in the teeth and bit off a bigger fight than you can handle," Ice said, then suddenly slammed her fist down on the desk. "I've saved you once already, Quinn. I lost good people, I lost my home, all to bail you out of the fire. So you do not get to tell me these people watch your back like they should."
"Those situations went bad," Quinn said.
"And that is why you have people to watch your back. We're in a dangerous business, Quinn. Stealing from others brings a world of hurt to your door and you need to be ready to answer. I'd have told you to kill this slaver outright. I'd have pushed you on it. How do you think you'd be if you'd have done that?"
Quinn didn't have to think about that one very long. Someone would have picked up the reins and not spent the time to mourn.
"The things you're saying make some sense, Ice. I'd be a liar if I called you one. But that doesn't mean it should be you. We're bad for each other, you've got to know that," Quinn said.
Ice shifted her gaze over the photos on his desk. "There is this thing about you, Quinn. You're a decent man, even when you don't mean to, and you change those around you to be more decent. You're about to punch me for this, but it needs saying. Was that which got Kat killed."
Quinn went cold. "I'm not going to punch you. I am going to call you a damned liar who doesn't know what she's talking about."
"How many of these with you are killers? Were bad from the start? I bet they were, you like girls like Kat. You like girls like me. How many are holding that edge they held when you met them?"
"Why are you pretending to know a thing about my family? You've no idea what we're involved in. What we're doing," Quinn said.
"I don't, but I asked you a question. Think about it, honestly. Give me an answer and if it doesn't say something I'll go. I'll get you your damned ships and drop this whole subject and be on my way when you're ready to throw me out," Ice said.
That was an offer Quinn wasn't of a mind to refuse. Taki could be hard and wasn't afraid of killing, but Quinn knew exactly what Ice meant and Taki wasn't it. Melody was a sweetheart, Jinx was learning to be hard, but she wasn't ruthless either. Dela had a bit of wild in her yearning to get out, but again, she wasn't what Ice meant.
Tamara fit what Ice described, she'd always been telling Quinn how cold and ruthless she was. He'd seen a bit of it, but even more the transformation from that into a protector. Of Jinx, of this family. Mara probably fit Ice's profile, but she too was toning it down. Even Tourmaline, a legendary horrible person, had been tolerable since having Tamara dumped into her head.
"Three ... and none have that edge now," Quinn said.
"I am a terrible person, Quinn. I'm maybe the worst person you know. I'm a killer, a liar, and I'm just plain mean and nothing you do is ever going to change me. Didn't when we ran together and it won't now. But I do care for you and I will have your back, so let me do what I'm good at," Ice said, leaning back in the chair and running her fingers through her hair.
&n
bsp; Quinn didn't think she'd had a hope in hell of convincing him when she came aboard. What she said though, it made some sense. He knew his trying to do the right thing caused problems sometimes.
Quinn hit the comm. "Taki, to my office."
"Really?" Ice asked.
Quinn said, "You convinced me, you did. You've come when I needed you, you've had my back and the old days weren't all bad. But Taki won't stand for it and she knows you're in my head. You get her to agree, well ... and it still has to go by one other too, but I'm fair sure she'll agree."
A minute later the door opened and Taki looked in. "Need me to take out the trash, sir?"
Quinn pulled her inside and pointed at Ice. "She just tried real hard to make her case to me and she did it. We know Tamara would agree, but this doesn't work unless you two can come to terms."
"Sir," Taki said, with the warning clear in her tone.
"Sir, sir, sir, sir sir," Ice said with a groan.
"Just talk," Quinn said and stepped outside, closing the door behind him.
Through the door conversation was muffled. He couldn't make out the exchange for all that talking went on awhile.
He heard the first punch being thrown though. The shake of the wall a moment later as someone was thrown against it.
No gunshots though, that was a positive. Maybe they were getting along.
It was over an hour before Taki opened the door again. It was a split lip for her, Ice meanwhile had a nasty-looking bruise forming over one eye.
"Well?" Quinn asked.
Taki said, "We don't need a pirate queen on the damned ship and I don't want her around every day. If Jinx agrees, she stays on the colony in charge of their defenses. If not, we find somewhere else to put her where I don't punch her again," Taki said.
"But I'm family. When you're in port I'm included in and out of the bedroom," Ice said.
"Like she says, sir," Taki said with a frown. "I worry this is a mistake, but she makes some good points. She's been there to help you even when I couldn't. Just don't let her change you."
Ice beamed a smile. "Oh, I'm sure I'll have him being much more dangerous in no time. For now though we've got a lot of wanton slaughter ahead. You've got me and my people, you just need to figure out how you want to use us."
Quinn had already been thinking on that very subject and had some ideas.
32
When Quinn returned to the cockpit he found Kalisa in the pilot's chair.
"What is it with terrible women with stupid clothes stealing my seats today?" Quinn said.
Kalisa rose gracefully from the seat and moved over to the copilot chair. "Would you have preferred no one with proper skills be behind the controls? You also do not get to question my fashion choices when you have oggled them anyways. Did you resolve the issue of our support?"
"She'll help us."
"You should have let me shatter her mind. It would have been faster. We're ready for jump."
Quinn quickly checked the instruments. Kalisa might be a crazy, under-dressed, magically-contagious space witch, but she knew how to plot a course.
Reality twisted in upon itself. Quinn spent a few timeless moments working in a factory on the Rim in a might-have-been before the real world returned.
They had a problem. They weren't expecting Sinclair to have come here to the abandoned space station and derelict fleet, but he had. There were gunships stationed around the Runestone and as soon as they jumped in they were opening fire. Quinn hit the side-thrusters to dodge, avoiding the flickering distortion new ships arriving as Ice's fleet followed them in a moment later.
Kalisa's hands were flying over the fire controls even as he dodged. Two disrupter shots went out, both struck gunships disabling their fire.
Ice and Joline arrived at the cockpit simultaneously, both at a run.
"What have we got?" Joline asked.
"What the fuck is happening out there?" Ice asked.
"Mercenaries. Guess Sinclair had better luck hiring than the colony did," Quinn said.
If it was just the Centauri Bliss they'd have been in bad shape, but the ambushing vessels hadn't expected a small fleet to come through. They were out-manned and out-gunned, and Ice's people didn't wait for her word to return fire. Less than a minute and they'd already cleared the Runestone.
"Why are there so many ships here?" Joline asked, leaning in to look at the sensors.
"They’re all abandoned. The Divide runs right through this system. It was under evacuation when two of the Unshackled were detected. The Emperor purged the whole place to try to stop them," Quinn said.
"And he called us the problem?" Kalisa said with a twist of her lips.
"No doubt he had his reasons," Joline said.
"Multiple transports are docked at the space station. Life signs are present," Kalisa said.
"What about the ships?" Ice asked.
Kalisa tapped her keys. "None that I'm detecting."
The station had been their main goal. It had more than enough firepower to defend a system on its own.
"Can your people take the station?" Quinn asked Ice.
"Maybe. If they haven't figured out the defenses yet. Will be slow though, mercenaries will know their trade and will have seen us coming," Ice said.
"Let me handle it," Kalisa said.
"People that know a lot more than me have said it's a bad idea to let you off this ship," Quinn said.
"I can take that stealth shuttle of yours. I had a chance to study it after capturing it, and it is sufficient to approach that station unseen. I disable their transports so they have no exit and kill everyone aboard. No risk of contagion," Kalisa said.
"There looks to be over fifty people aboard," Ice said.
"It isn't a problem," Kalisa said levelly.
"Can I have her?" Ice asked.
"I'm not for trade," Kalisa said.
"Do you have a list of the ships out there?" Joline asked.
"Grab a ship tablet. It's in our database," Quinn said.
"Well?" Kalisa asked, the question sounding more like a command.
Ice said, "Battle will be slow. We take one of the big ships instead and let her clear it out, we can win this thing faster, but not if that station is opening fire on us halfway through."
If they weren't going to trust Kalisa, at least a little, they should never have allowed her on this ship.
"Do it," Quinn said to Kalisa.
She gave an almost feral grin as she rose from the copilot’s seat and slipped away.
"This one," Joline said, handing the tablet over to Quinn. “The Granite.”
It was one that Kara had scanned but hadn't scavenged the last time they'd been here. It was only half the size of the largest Imperium military ship in the field.
"Little small isn't it?" Quinn asked.
"If this pirate wants to keep her own ships flying she can spare ... what? Three hundred men, from looking at them?" Joline asked.
"Little more than that. We're running crowded," Ice said.
"Not enough to run one of the big ships, not effectively, and I'd rather have a smaller one that does what is supposed to. That is a Nahira class, it was used to patrol the Rim in the day. Smaller crew, fast, more automated than most. I wouldn't take it against a dreadnought, and solo it would get overwhelmed, but with the rest of the fleet it will do," Joline said.
"Works for me. We can take a shuttle over and I'll have my people join us," Ice said.
"My command codes will work once I'm on the bridge, but won't help us to get close. The automated protocols might fire on us," Joline said.
"Well those are the most useless protocols ever," Ice said. "What use are they, if you can't reclaim a damaged ship?"
"They were designed to be given so another could take command aboard, if needed. There are codes so that one can reclaim a ship where the entire crew has perished. I don't have them."
Quinn scanned over the schematics of the ship. "There’s a broad arc just above the forwa
rd gunner array they don't reach, if I can get close. If I can get you there, you can take the Foxtrot."
"No docking or maintenance hatches there. Won't work," Joline said.
"Just have to get the armor plate off and we can cut our way in. I can do it. Pirate, trust me," Ice said.
"Rather not," Joline said.
"Too bad. It is a day for trusting folks we're unsure of. Get yourselves to the shuttle bay, I'll signal you when to launch," Quinn said.
With no one in the copilot seat, it was strange how alone Quinn now felt as he punched in a course without someone there to check his numbers.
The fleet of abandoned ships was so dense it was more like flying through an asteroid field. This really had been a mass exodus, stopped partway through by slaughter.
The ship did open fire as the Centauri Bliss drew near, but Quinn had a lot of practice out-flying automated routines. They depended on the expected and on the slow. Quick taps of the thrusters and a high rate of speed, and he avoided the first fusillade with only a single hit.
Halfway there. The automation did a lot better the second time around, better than Quinn's experience told him it should have. A trio of shots stripped most of their starboard plating as he swung beneath the gun’s reach.
Quinn signaled the shuttle and detected the launch. It was in Ice and Joline's hands now.
Given the hits the ship had already taken Quinn wasn't all that eager to leave. The Granite’s automated fire was surprisingly good. When Quinn thought about that, it made sense. It was the Emperor who had quashed artificial intelligences such as Melody. While those older ships probably didn't have anything quite so advanced, they were probably further ahead than more modern vessels.
That could be yet another advantage clan forces would have over the Imperium, if a war did break out. It was something more to think about.
Despite the fact that back at Hope's Reach members of the family were fighting, and possibly dying, there was nowhere to go. There was nowhere else the Centauri Bliss could be useful right now.
And so, Quinn sat and watched the sensors. Watched as the life signs aboard the station began to disappear. At first the deaths were isolated, one at a time. Then three went within a matter of seconds. By the time only eleven were left, the final ten all died within a minute of each other. A heroic last stand?