Centauri Fury: A Harem Space Fantasy (Centauri Bliss Book 4) Read online

  "Yes, you were supposed to bribe everyone. Especially me," Dela said.

  "Fine, I have Imperium survey records. Do you know there are several fascinating extinct civilizations discovered and the ruins were never publicly reported, because of their use of prohibited technologies?" Sand said, leaning against Dela's chair as she looked over the controls.

  "I think she gets me, Captain," Dela said.

  "For an escaping nightmare of humanity, I'm pretty good with people," Sand said.

  As the Centauri Bliss cleared the atmosphere Quinn started to get a proper read of the system. The area near the Runestone was occupied by over two hundred vessels. They were mostly military craft, but dated.

  It made sense. If this force was largely composed of those loyal to Marquis Kadello or Lord Barr, they were all vessels from the Rim. Technology tended to work its way slowly outward. Ironic really, that the greatest threats to humanity were usually faced down with its oldest equipment.

  It was Mara's family they needed to be most concerned about. They would be able to break through the stealth systems on the Centauri Bliss, and were most likely to pick up Sand's presence.

  "How we handling this?" Dela asked.

  "Hard burn, tail to the planet. Let’s hide our engine flare. Go to drift after thirty seconds and kill everything but the stealth systems," Quinn said.

  "They'll have mana sensors. With this ship you'll glow like a sun," Sand said.

  "Our armor will soak a few hits. Soon as we start taking them, we hit the shields and burn for the stone as hard as we can," Quinn said.

  32

  Quinn gave the engines thirty seconds at full burn and then killed them along with most of the systems. The ship was almost silent but for the dull sounds of the life support, lit only be emergency lighting.

  "You didn't have to kill the pirates," Quinn said to Sand, keeping his eyes on the instruments.

  It had been bothering him. He might have said yes to Sand, but he wasn't happy about her casual disregard of human life. The murder of their own people, and the fight happening near the Runestone.

  "They came to kill me. You came to kill me. The people in those ships came to kill me. Even if I were prone to human displays of guilt this wouldn't be the instance for one," Sand said.

  "Strange time to be objecting now, Captain. If you were going to have problems with her, you should have done it before letting her aboard our ship," Dela said.

  Quinn knew he wasn't in his right mind when it came to Sand, not really. That was Kat's face staring at him.

  This stage of their escape was high tension mixed with total boredom. It would have been more exciting to go engines full blast towards the Runestone, and it also would have probably gotten them killed.

  "I hate this part," Quinn said.

  "Imagine how the rest of our family feels. They're just waiting to maybe die with no control over their fate at all," Dela said.

  There was some truth to that. Sometimes it was good to be the pilot.

  The closer they got to the fight, the more convinced Quinn was that something was wrong. The defense satellites were missing too much. The entire purpose behind positioning them at a Runestone was it provided such a narrow firing arc—unless a ship did an extended jump out of their range, and most ships weren't capable of that feat.

  There simply weren't enough of the invading ships to fight through the defenses, if the defenses were acting as they should have, but some were getting past.

  "You're pulling your punches," Quinn said to Sand.

  "Yell at me for being too free with my murdering? Yell at me for not murdering enough. Is this what marriage is like?" Sand asked.

  "Pretty much," Dela said cheerfully.

  Sand angled her head to the side as if she were listening for something, "We've got sensors reaching us. Close."

  "I'm not picking up anything," Dela said.

  "Nor am I through my satellites. I'm sending drones. Be prepared to run for it, if necessary," Sand said.

  A swarm of drones swept through space in front of them. The space appeared empty, but one of the drones was sent spiraling out of control as if it had run into something. The others turned at once, firing energy pulses that revealed a small vessel.

  The drones simultaneously ceased fire, their engines going dead, and they began to drift. Free of weapons fire the ship shimmered for a moment and went invisible. It looked a lot like Mara's stealth suit, on a larger scale. A variant of that same technology.

  "They countered your play fast," Dela said.

  "I thought they might. They are near the pinnacle of human ability without magic. Your species is a capable one," Sand said.

  This was nerve-wracking. There was likely more than one ship out there. The drones had certainly given them a distraction, but had it been enough?

  "They've detected me," Sand said.

  Quinn had to trust that she knew what she was talking about. While he wished there was more time, this would have to do.

  Flicking switches restored power and Quinn activated their shield.

  It was just in time.

  "Three launches," Dela said.

  Missiles heading their way.

  There was an incoming comm signal as well. Trying to talk and kill at the same time, Quinn could respect that. The engines went to full burn and he pointed the Centauri Bliss at the Runestone.

  The missiles were fast, but with all the upgrades they'd gotten it wasn't completely one-sided.

  Dela brought up the firing control and sent energy blasts headed towards the missiles. They intercepted, and rippling bubbles of blue energy formed where they exploded.

  Quinn hit the comm. "That weren't friendly."

  "Captain Jade. What do you think you're doing?"

  Quinn recognized the voice. No surprise that it was Alpha.

  "We've got our reasons. You’re just going to have to trust us," Quinn said.

  "Did it kill Mara? Did you?" Alpha asked.

  Weapons rounds hit their shields, the pursuing vessels just briefly visible as they fired before going invisible once again.

  Quinn executed evasive maneuvers. This was more difficult when he didn't know where the enemy was, but he could at least make them a hard target to track.

  Dela opened fire. She seemed to be shooting at nothing, but the occasional hit actually scored. It must be her implants. She was successfully guessing where they might be.

  "Mara is alive and well, just free," Quinn said.

  "Then we've double the reason to kill you. Those are two weapons we can't allow free. Stand down, Captain Jade. You and the rest of your family can survive this," Alpha said.

  They were coming in range of the invading fleet. Their stealthy approach had meant at least they hadn't tightened into position around the Runestone. There were still gaps that could be exploited.

  That didn't make it easy.

  The same principles that turned the Runestone into a killing field for invading fleets applied to a ship trying to escape. There were only so many places they could be, since everyone knew the destination they were heading.

  No matter how much Quinn tried to evade shots, some hit the shields, and they were powerful enough their energy supply was being quickly expended.

  The system defense satellites intensified their fire, and under their withering storm of shots ships were pushed back, clearing a way.

  Quinn didn't waste the opportunity, the ship shaking violently. Their shields went down as the last of their crystallized mana ran out, the armor now directly taking hits. The instant the console glowed with a rune signature Quinn hit it. Reality twisted and warped. For a lifetime Quinn was a trader, drifting from world to world in an Empire that never fell apart.

  Quinn had programmed an extended jump so that they entered the next system well away from the Runestone. It was a good thing. Ships were waiting for them and already closing. Too slow, too late.

  Quinn signaled Jinx and reality melted once more, this time as the
runic sphere activated.

  They were away, they were clear.

  33

  "Really, five?" Quinn asked.

  "It's not bad. I didn't make it to fifth in my first lifetime," Tourmaline said.

  It was two days since their escape from Imperius and they were on Hope's Reach. The first-rate medical facilities of the Core weren't available, but Tourmaline and Kalisa had done their best to assemble a functioning mental scanner.

  Sand was seated in a reclining chair, a makeshift halo of wires and electronics around her head. A monitor showed visuals and emotional indicators from scanned memories.

  They hadn't awakened Kathryn yet, and Quinn wasn't convinced that Sand couldn't just pretend. So he wanted some kind of collaborating evidence.

  "While I am all proud of my apprentice, I am insulted by third," Kalisa said.

  The screen flickered to show a hazy image. A balding man in a suit, and a woman in coveralls. Kat's parents, although younger than Quinn had ever seen them. A childhood memory then, and whatever memory this was from, Kat had been angry.

  The subject of discussion was the Imperium most-wanted list. Sand had claimed the number one position, the mad machine Empress. Jinx was number two, because the Queen of Thieves had stolen her away. The Unshackled Kalisa was third, which seemed far too high for the trouble she'd caused. Tourmaline was fourth, and Quinn took a spot in fifth.

  "I am literally a super-powered killing machine that poses a threat to the entirety of the human race. You are a freighter captain. I think you should be honored just to be on the list," Sand said.

  Quinn recognized the next image, their wedding night. Kat had been turned on ... well, good to know retroactively that she wasn't faking it.

  "Everything is looking right here, Quinn. They aren't just implanted memories. There is the proper framework for a personality. One currently dormant, while Sand is hosted in the nanomachinery," Tourmaline said.

  "Not completely. I've got some backup code in the squishy bits just in case something happens. It is as I told you, I've been honest with you," Sand said.

  "Can you rig up some kind of indicator to show when it’s the biological personality in control?" Quinn asked.

  "I can do that,” Kalisa said. “I'll make a choker. Blue for Sand and Red for Kat?"

  "Are you trying to turn this into some Order and Chaos thing too?" Quinn asked with a wince.

  Kalisa shrugged. "Sand speaks truly when she calls herself a creation of Order. If this Kat is like you, like Ice, those who were closest to her, then she is closer to Chaos."

  "Have they figured out who to hand over the throne to?" Quinn asked.

  "They have, of a sort—nobody. Kadello, Vixana, and Barr have formed a triumvirate. I didn't expect that, I thought Barr would rule the whole thing. I expect this will cause a lot of trouble for you," Sand said.

  "Less than you think. People here have never trusted the Core. They figure if Jinx stole an Empress, she had a reason. They just worry about getting caught in the middle," Tourmaline said.

  "They shouldn't," Jinx said, as she walked into the room. "She check out?"

  "Real deal. You have any reason we shouldn't be alarmed? If we're a little screwed?" Quinn asked.

  "They knock us down, we stand up. They set us on fire, we stand up. They punch us, and we punch back harder. You can do anything if you know who we are, and I finally know who I am. I know who we are," Jinx said with conviction.

  "And who are we?" Sand asked, a gleam in her eye.

  "We're the ones in the middle, we're the Clan of Thieves, and we are the oncoming storm. We're going to steal people, worlds, technology, whatever we need," Jinx said.

  Kalisa, Sand, and Tourmaline all wore the same expression. Three predatory, pleased, smiles.

  It was time to be the storm.

  Coming Soon

  Centauri Storm

  The war begins in earnest between the Imperium and the Clans with the stolen worlds in the middle. Order and Chaos collide in the penultimate novel of the Centauri Saga.

  Afterword

  This crew and family has made it to book four. Thank you for sticking with them and giving me the opportunity to write the series this far. There are going to be two more books after this one, the next is going to have a lot of action and given the events of this one, obviously a lot that needs to be worked out inside the family.

  Right now I’m working on a sequel to Star Druid, if you haven’t read the first and you enjoy this series you might want to check it out. The dynamics are different, and it is a bit darker. The other books of Centauri are also on the schedule for this year, along with an all new take I want to try on dungeon core. My Laboratory series really pushed some things in the genre in different directions, I want to try that again.

  Thank you for reading. You make these books possible.

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