by Skyler Grant
“You’re not making things any clearer. Why is a member of a fallen family able to bring me back from my tragic demise?” Quinn said.
“No idea,” Jinx said with a slight shrug. “Six weeks back I got the ability to heal. I’d never had it before.”
“Selina and every other potential claimant to the throne,” Tamara said.
“So what magic did you have before?” Quinn asked.
“Probability becomes fluid around those of Opalia’s line. Opalia herself had almost perfect fortune until the streak of bad luck that destroyed her and her lineage,” Tamara said.
“Pretty much all bad in my case too,” Jinx said. “Got the nickname for a reason. Sorry.”
“Having you aboard my ship seems like good fortune to me right now,” Quinn said. “I better let Taki know I’m okay before she tries to gun down Kara.”
“And my secret?” Jinx asked.
“After Kara shot Taki, you helped her to the medbay. I know Taki thought she was hurt worse than she was. Your doing?” Quinn asked.
Jinx nodded. “Just a little jolt to put her ribs back in place. She was still unconscious, so didn’t know I’d done anything.”
Quinn didn’t like keeping secrets, but that made twice now Jinx had come to the aid of him and his crew. He’d also given his word to see them safely to their destination and this coming out might jeopardize that.
“I can’t promise I’ll hold it forever, but for now your secret is yours to tell,” Quinn said.
Tamra bowed her head. “Thank you, Captain.”
Quinn keyed the comm. “Taki? I’m alright.”
“Hell you are, sir. I saw the wounds. We’re nearing the stone now, I’m heading for a Core hospital,” Taki said.
“Taki. I’m alright. Tamara is rich and was holding out on us. She didn’t want to give anything away in front of Ice, but she broke out some of her toys and put me back together.”
It wasn’t a lie, not exactly.
There was a moment of silence. “I’m coming to see you. Dela, get your ass to the bridge and take the controls. If that green-skinned freak gets in my way I’m shooting her with the good stuff this time.”
Tamara rose from the bed and squeezed Quinn on the shoulder as she headed towards the door. There was the brief sound of conversation and then Kara followed her inside.
“It will be fine,” Quinn said to Kara.
It was less than a minute before Taki arrived, she must have run the whole way from the bridge. Stalking towards the bed she pushed Quinn back so she could inspect his stomach.
“Hey!” Quinn said.
Taki spun to face Tamara. She was quivering with rage. “I could have killed him. I almost did. You could have told me what you had planned.”
“I did, you didn’t believe me,” Tamara said calmly, staring her down.
Taki quivered more. It was rare for her to be this angry. It was like she didn’t even know where to put all that emotion. Spinning, she slapped Quinn hard on the cheek with a force that made his head ring.
“Ice, Captain? After what that bitch did to you before?” Taki asked.
“I was drunk,” Quinn said.
“He fucked me, too. Twice. If you want reason to slap him again,” Kara said, enjoying this far too much.
Taki trembled, and slap Quinn again is just what she did, the blow this time jerking his head in the other direction.
Silence hung in the air for a moment.
“Glad you’re alive, sir. Let me know our destination before you indulge in any celebratory orgies,” Taki said, turning on her hill and stiffly walking from the room.
“Wow,” Jinx said, after the door slammed shut. “She’s really into you.”
“Are we doing a celebratory orgy? Is that for real, because I just want to say I’m totally into it,” Kara said.
“Keep your clothes on. Please,” Quinn said, rubbing at his eyes.
“You were a convenient outlet. Give her some time and some of that anger will burn off. We did get our tanks full before departure. Is that going to be enough to get us to our destination?” Tamara asked.
Quinn got up from the bed and moved over to the table filled with astrogation charts.
A minute of flipping through them and he nodded. “Should be. Six jumps, we’ll do a double the first one. The rest will require we do a bit of running around systems, but provided we don’t hit trouble ... eighteen hours?”
18
Tanik was on the periphery of the rim but had been settled centuries before. A pastoral world that was a vivid green from orbit, and almost totally given over to agriculture.
Tamara had taken the copilot’s seat for the approach to the world, not that she was piloting. Rather, she was there to provide codes when requested. They’d just cleared a third security checkpoint and been given permission to approach the surface.
“So who are these people?” Quinn asked.
“Duke Ellos. Old family, very old money, and titles dating back to the First Imperium. Not close to Jinx personally, but they contracted our firm to get her safely here and in one piece,” Tamara said.
“So what does it mean? This whole … thing?” Quinn asked.
Tamara gave him a wry smile. “You sure you want an answer to that?”
“Fairly sure I don’t, but it might matter going forward. I’d rather see than be blind,” Quinn said.
“Surprisingly sensible. Anything I can offer is pure speculation.”
“Whatever else I think about you, I respect your mind. I’d like to hear it,” Quinn said.
“The Emperor didn’t die a few days ago. Deep and terrible things are afoot,” Tamara said, after a pause.
“And someone out there is murdering those with any claim to the throne?” Quinn asked.
“Something like that. I’m sure the exact complexities are, well, more complex. Fortunately, politics is not my area of expertise for all that I try to keep informed,” Tamara said.
“Yet you wound up playing babysitter,” Quinn said.
“The lot of one moving up the food chain.”
Following the coordinates provided they were coming down on a sprawling estate. It was idyllic with large, open gardens and a hedge maze, and sheep grazing along one hillside. A small port was situated behind the main house and Quinn brought the ship down.
It was so unusual to not be greeted with guns. Oh, there was security nearby, but they weren’t pointing their weapons. Tamara and Jinx were soon separated from the rest of the crew by a gaggle of chattering servants. Kara and Quinn both received heavy bags of coins, payment in full for services rendered. Quinn’s a touch lighter as he wanted to refuel while they were there.
They were offered accommodations for the night and it was strongly suggested they leave in the morning.
The rooms were all a single suite, bedrolls laid out and a sideboard filled with food and drink. Quinn found it all very friendly—in the way you were friendly when you wanted to make sure your guests stayed in their place and didn’t track mud into the nice parts of your home.
Everyone had gathered to drink and eat. Taki was still giving Quinn a bit of the silent treatment, but Dela, Melody, and Kara were more than capable of keeping the conversation going.
“You sure you don’t want any?” Kara asked, shoving a plate of tiny sandwiches at Melody.
“Don’t eat much. More for you!” Melody said with enthusiasm, and Kara seemed more than happy to chow down on another.
“Thought you were maybe going to stay on with the lawyer? What are you doing next?” Dela asked Kara.
Kara shrugged. “Don’t know. Somebody out there is going to need shooting. Way it looks like things are going, a whole lot of people.”
“I’m going to miss everyone. Was nice having people about for a change,” Melody said.
“Got me,” Dela said.
“You need a gun, I could maybe be convinced to stay around awhile longer. You’ve got good food and I like the company,” Kara said.
Kara looked surprised at that. “Not mad at me anymore for going all bouncy-bouncy?”
“Was never mad at you,” Taki said pointedly, with a look to Quinn. “We get in dangerous situations all the time and some people don’t wear their armored vests when they should.”
“Kind of thought we’d have had more opportunity to say goodbye to Tamara and Jinx,” Dela said.
“Didn’t know you were that close. You been talking?” Quinn asked.
“Jinx was minoring in xenobiology. Not quite my friend, but still interesting, you know? Biology shapes cultures and so I’ve had a bit of it,” Dela said.
“I liked Tamara. On our world we’ve got this thing called a Dejak that live on the plains. They look all elegant, refined, and like a total herb animal until they open their mouth and then it’s all fangs. If they don’t kill their prey with the first lunge they can chase it for days. That girl is a Dejak,” Kara said.
“Well, if I wasn’t terrified of xenobiology before, I am now,” Melody said.
Kara shrugged. “Most things back home are trying to kill everything else. It’s why I’m such a total badass. Maybe after a few thousand years of my people hunting yours, you’ll all be badasses too?”
“So where are we headed next? Do we get to take a vote?” Dela asked.
“Back to visit Ice? Seems like she’d always have work for us, and I bet she’ll be happy you’re alive,” Kara said.
“We are not going back to visit Ice,” Taki said primly.
“We’ve already seen shooting happening out there. Somewhere, merchants are scared and supplies aren’t getting through. We put out feelers and we run some cargo. Semi-legit,” Quinn said.
“Boring,” Dela said with a frown.
“You’re sort of okay. Flimsy, but okay,” Kara told Dela.
“Nothing boring about running cargo past military ships not wanting it to get where it is going. Captain’s right. Good pay and we’d be helping people too,” Taki said.
“And if we can, we find something else, like we always do,” Quinn said.
Melody tilted her head, looking distracted for a moment. “Uh, Captain. We might have a problem?”
“Go on,” Quinn said.
“I just got a message from Tamara. All private network, bypassing the comms. Guess she knows ... huh, anyways. It’s a limited channel so she couldn’t say much, but she’s saying we need to run,” Melody said.
“How do you have a private network?” Dela asked, frowning at Melody.
“Wondering the same,” Kara said.
“You don’t have to say anything,” Taki quickly said to Melody.
“No. If they’re staying, they should know. I’m uh, not human. Android,” Melody said.
It was a big admission. Androids and artificial intelligences had once been legal in the Imperium, up until the War of Three Reaches. Now few remained, and all had large bounties on their heads.
“Woah,” Dela said.
Kara didn’t say anything, she just looked thoughtful.
“Are we being monitored right now?” Dela asked.
“We were. I’m spoofing them. We got a little time to talk,” Melody said.
Quinn would have to put the problem of Kara’s expression off for another day. If Tamara was bothering to send messages privately and separate from any of the main comms, it meant she thought the danger was both real and urgent, and they needed to be vigilant.
“Melody, get back to the ship. Pretext is you just want to check the status of the fueling. Look her over and make sure there are no surprises,” Quinn said.
“Why aren’t we all going? She said to get away. How is Tamara sending messages anyways? She an android too?” Dela said.
“Because if we’re in trouble, she probably is too,” Taki said.
“Thought it weird I hadn’t heard from her,” Kara said.
“And she isn’t an android, but she’s got a lot of hardware in her,” Melody said.
“We don’t even know where they are,” Dela said.
“I can find them. If you don’t mind the body count, I can get them out. Helps if I have a distraction,” Kara said.
“We don’t even know if it is that bad. Can you crack their communications?” Dela asked, looking to Melody.
“I’m not ... I’m not actually all that great at computers,” Melody said sheepishly.
Dela said, “I’m decent at them, learned a few things working for Monk. Captain, I recommend everyone head back to the ship. I’ll figure out what is going on, Kara can arm up, and if we need to we can pull a rescue.”
“It’s a good plan, Captain. Better than the ones we usually come up with,” Taki said.
It was.
Quinn nodded and moved for the door. As soon as he opened it a member of the household guard turned.
“Sir? Did you need something?” the guard asked.
“We’ve had enough free booze and food, that’s all. Grateful for the hospitality, but we’ve got a long day tomorrow and would rather sleep in our own beds. Any objection if we head back to our ship early?” Quinn asked.
“One moment,” the guard said, backing off and talking into his comm quietly for several seconds.
“You’re good, sir. Thank you again for your assistance in this matter. I’ll escort you back,” the guard said.
He wasn’t alone. On the way back to the ship another three joined them. Still, apart from making sure nobody wandered off, they didn’t try anything and soon the whole crew was aboard the Kathryn.
19
An hour later and Quinn had acknowledged the fourth reminder that they were cleared to depart. He was buying as much time as he could with minor issues while Melody went over the ship from top to bottom and Dela tried to hack the estate’s communications.
Melody found something first, calling Quinn back to the engine room. A large support plate had been pulled aside, beneath it was a sleek silver cylinder.
“Doesn’t look like much does it?” Quinn asked.
“It doesn’t, but if we jumped with this attached we’d never come out of it. When mana starts pumping through the systems this would join it. Sour the blend,” Melody said.
“Glad you caught it,” Quinn said.
“They tightened the bolts too much. I keep ‘em loose. We got a pump failing back there I need to get at often,” Melody said.
“Can you fix it?”
“They knew what they were doing, Captain. Welded it in and put it where it hurts. They didn’t want us finding it, and if we did, didn’t want us disabling it. I know this ship better than they do though and we’ve got a few surprises they didn’t know about. I kill the whole board, bypass the primary pump and use the secondary thrust pumps. You’ll lose some speed, but I can have us ready to jump without dying in a couple hours,” Melody said.
It was far from ideal. The estate had its own craft and if they were lifting off in pursuit after any violence broke out, Quinn was going to want every bit of speed he could manage.
“Do it,” Quinn said and left her to her business. In the hall he met Kara returning from her shuttle. She had her body armor on and Quinn counted at least six guns on her person.
“Got enough firepower?” Quinn asked.
Kara frowned. “You don’t think so? No, you’re right.” Kara turned and dashed back the direction she had come, guns rattling.
Taki was building explosives in the hold. Quinn thought it best to leave her to it alone given how tense things had been between them lately. Instead he went to seek out Dela. He found her slumped over a console and looking exhausted.
“Any luck?” Quinn asked.
“I didn’t think it would be any problem. What they’re running though, there just wasn’t anything like it on Corono. I’ve broken into a few minor channels, but I was hoping for more,” Dela said.
“At this point we’re running out of time and I’ll take anything y
ou’ve got. What have you found out?”
“They’re both in the southwest corner of the estate. Tamara on the second floor under guard, Jinx on the third. I still don’t know what happened, but I know Tamara tried to interfere and they subdued her. They haven’t hurt her though, no more than they have already, and they’re waiting for someone from her firm to come pick her up.”
“So no word on if this is something worth killing a lot of people or not,” Quinn said.
“Afraid not. I tried and I’ll keep trying.”
There wasn’t time. The estate guards already had to be getting suspicious about why they hadn’t launched yet. Quinn could buy them a little more time, but the clock was winding down.
Quinn opened a channel to Taki and Kara. “You two ready for action?”
“I’ve got a dozen small bombs,” Taki said.
“I added another three guns,” Kara said.
Quinn idly wondered where she put them.
“This is going to take each of us doing our thing and doing it proper. I can buy us a little bit of time. Taki, I want you to sneak out of the ship and plant those bombs where they’ll do damage to the docked ship and the fuel supplies. If possible I want to avoid any bodies, we don’t know how bad these people are,” Quinn said.
“I’ll see what I can do, sir, but if we’re blowing the fuel dump, no promises,” Taki said.
“I still get to shoot people, right?” Kara asked.
“Use that rib-breaking gun of yours. When an hour passes I’m going to lift from the estate. Soon as we’re off the ground Dela is going to take Tango and land you on the roof of the estate, southwest corner. Tamara is on the second floor and Jinx the third. The guards give you no choice, do what you have to do, but try not to drop any bodies,” Quinn said.
“No choice include if they’re shooting real guns back at me?” Kara asked.
“It does,” Quinn said.
“Then this won’t be a problem.”
“Where do I rendezvous with you?” Dela asked.
“If Kara manages to get them out without a fuss, keep low and head west, we’ll meet you twenty kilometers out. If she starts shooting up the place as I know she’s likely to do, signal us and stay put until you hear the big boom. I’ll be coming straight down on top of you. Just get in the bay and we bounce,” Quinn said.