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  "But I'm a criminal. I'm wanted by the Imperium."

  "A wanted head of house is less of a problem than no head of house at all."

  "What is involved?"

  Tamara said, "Me and the legal team for the house doing a lot of paperwork, and you signing it. You'll be officially made Head of Household and then filing grievances on its behalf."

  "I still can't see that making sense, but I trust your judgment that it does. Why is it any of our business though?" Quinn asked.

  "These people are your family, my Lord. Those here, those who were taken. They need your help," Valla said.

  "Outside of any altruism, this house is one of the oldest and most powerful in the Imperium. You're being offered something people have killed for," Tamara said.

  "If he doesn't want it, he doesn't have to take it—any more than I had to take the throne," Jinx said.

  "I'll be a poor Lord. Frequently away and not attending to business at all," Quinn said.

  "That would make you a typical Tsaro. I am steward of this house, I am responsible for its wellbeing. I am aware of who you are and the struggles you bring with you, and still I make the request," Valla said.

  Quinn didn't like running away, and this wasn't just a matter of what made him happy. Order magic ran in the bloodline, and his children would have it. If he was considered Tsaro, so too would they.

  "We'll do it," Quinn said.

  Jinx looked a little disappointed. Tamara was pleased.

  14

  "Again," Jinx said.

  Quinn shifted towards her, folding space to appear behind her as he threw a punch. Quinn had never been as good with his fists as he was with a gun, still he used to be better than Jinx.

  Unfortunately, used to be was the operative phrase. While he spent most of his time in the cockpit, Jinx had been spending hours each day training with Kalisa, and it showed.

  Jinx couldn't have seen the punch coming, but somehow her arm was raised just right to catch the punch with her forearm and punching her was like punching steel.

  "Again," Jinx said.

  Quinn teleported again, and this time he drew on his Chaos rune as well. Predicting Jinx's defense before she made it and placing himself accordingly, lashing out a kick towards the back of one of her knees.

  The blow landed this time, although again it had all the effect of kicking a statue. Meanwhile her spin and punch sent him crashing hard to the floor.

  "Oww," Quinn said, as he pushed himself back to his feet.

  "Sorry," Jinx said with a wry smile, helping him back to his feet.

  "I really don't get how you are so soft one moment and like stone the next. How do you even move like that?"

  "I'm not rigid. It isn't like that. I'm just kind of a fixed point wherever I happen to be at any given moment. You're getting pretty good at the teleporting," Jinx said.

  When Quinn hadn't been signing papers, he'd been reading things. There might not be any Tsaro around to personally instruct him in the house magic, but there were texts.

  "I need to be," Quinn said.

  "Planning on getting rid of our runic sphere and just teleporting the ship directly?" Jinx asked.

  Quinn shook his head. "No, what is happening there is a bit of a mystery. Everything I've read says the Tsaro can move. Eventually really move. But they move only themselves—or maybe a few others, but not a ship."

  "So I guess I still get to be useful for something besides taking punches."

  "You know you're more than that. I remember the days when you were afraid of being a useless member of the crew. Now I think we all depend on you," Quinn said.

  Jinx laughed. "I still feel like a pretender sometimes. And so ... intensely, scarily certain at others. I just keep thinking now about Viktor, how he compared his own magic to what had happened with the Unshackled."

  "You think there is something to it?"

  "You know there is. When I killed Ilinar I was so scared afterward, so shaken. I'd killed a man. Since then I've reached into a man's chest and torn out his heart with my bare hand, and felt only righteous," Jinx said quietly.

  "That isn't really you."

  Jinx stared at him for a moment. "You know that is only partly true. That is the Queen of Thieves, and if she isn't who I was, she is who I'm becoming. Who I decided to be."

  Quinn wished he knew how to answer her—that had something comforting to say. From all he knew, from all he'd seen, it was true. Jinx had been a college student with an interest in psychology. The Queen of Thieves was who she'd had to become to survive.

  "I think you did well. Some people when faced with nearly infinite power would be all about taking it out on others, indulging in their own pleasure," Quinn said.

  "And don't I do these things? I could try to make the Imperium better, but I run because it suits me. I punish those I see as wicked, even while surrounded by those I love and who are called wicked themselves," Jinx said.

  "You know that if I'm on the side of right at all, it's the shady side. I'm not sure I'm fit to be giving you any comfort," Quinn said.

  "I'm not a problem to be fixed, Quinn. I just am. I'm sorry, though. I know it has to be hard to love me. To figure out which one of me to love."

  Quinn had to laugh at that. "Tamara is quite literally two different women now, so is Sand and Kat. Whatever goes on, whoever you become, I'm going to keep on loving you."

  Jinx leaned in and pressed a kiss against Quinn lips, she was all softness now.

  "Why did you take the title?" Jinx asked, as she pulled away.

  "These people need help and I may have other children. I may be an outlaw in the Imperium, but they won't be. I'm fine with burning my own bridges, but theirs?"

  That prompted a long silence from Jinx.

  "Is it selfish then to deny our child the throne of the Imperium? They could be born to power," Jinx said.

  "I think you've given them choice, not taken it away. With what we've already established they will have wealth and powerful allies. They'll have royal blood in their veins, if they choose to do something with it."

  "Do we have a next step yet? Do the Tsaro have a way we can shut down whatever is moving the Imperium fleets?"

  "Sort of. Powerful Tsaro can teleport themselves to other Tsaros who have passed the sphere. They're all like a beacon we each can focus on. I don't have the juice for that, but if we link ... maybe," Quinn said.

  "And what? Pop up in the middle of an Imperium prison somewhere? Or laboratory? Or battle cruiser?"

  "Well, it isn't a perfect plan."

  Jinx scowled at him for a moment before chuckling. "They never are, I guess. At least I feel better about going into danger now, more than I used to. Evil me is coming in handy."

  "You can't go," Quinn said.

  "You die if we're apart for too long. You need me," Jinx said.

  "I can't take everyone, and we could appear anywhere in Imperium space. We'll find out where we are and send word, and you'll bring us reinforcements," Quinn said.

  "I hate that. I won't get sucked along because of the link?" Jinx asked.

  It was a good question, she might.

  "If so, we somehow get word to Dela and the ship takes the long way," Quinn said.

  15

  Quinn was back on the platform in the center of the sphere, but this time he wasn't alone.

  The entire thing was an artifact, built over time by members of the house. Quinn had learned a lot about it in a few days. It sought out those on the planet with the capacity and power to teleport and pulled them in. For the Tsaro it was usually a coming-of-age ritual, one many did not survive.

  Yet, the artifact retained a connection with all who had ever passed through it successfully. And it linked them, connected them.

  Quinn wasn't sure how many of the Bliss crew could take with him, so he tried to keep the group as small as he could while still having a reasonable possibility of success where they might appear. That meant a group of four.

  Quinn
was in light body armor and armed with energy pistols, and carried a clan-made portable shield unit, along with enough mana crystals to keep him well supplied whatever might occur.

  Sand was his second pick.The most individually dangerous of any person on the ship, and with rumors that it was her technology that was being used, she was an obvious expert. Sand didn't have any weapons at all, she didn't really need them.

  Mara was his third choice, an expert on infiltration. There was still nobody in their family better at stealth.

  Kalisa was an easy fourth pick. The second most formidable woman on their ship in terms of combat potential, and a brilliant scientific mind.

  Quinn rested a hand on one of Jinx's runes, drawing upon her power and using it to help amplify his own.

  Reaching out here wasn't like searching for another reality. Everything was within the universe, but as the power filled him he could feel others. Faint pulses, some closer and some distant.

  Perhaps if Quinn were more experienced with this, or with the individuals involved, he could have told one blip from another. Identified who was who, and how far they were from home. Instead there was simply that awareness of others.

  Still, one blob was notably larger than any of the others. There was a concentration there, a gathering of some kind. Quinn reached out, bridging the distance, including the others standing with him and taking care to exclude only Jinx.

  Reality twisted and bent, and suddenly they were elsewhere.

  It seemed to be some sort of factory. They stood in a center aisle running between rows of massive cylindrical tanks that were churning.

  A figure in a white coat gaped at them in astonishment. At a gesture from Sand he caught on fire, falling screaming to the floor.

  "Well, that wasn't very stealthy," Quinn said.

  "We are almost certainly in a secret Imperium laboratory. Unless they are complete idiots they'll have sensors for Chaos magic, all of which are now blaring away," Sand said calmly, moving over to one of the tanks to press her hand against it. For a moment her flesh turned gray and seemed to ripple.

  "She's right. Alarms going up on the internal comm systems," Mara said through the comms. There was no sign of Mara, her stealth suit active.

  Kalisa had already moved to a nearby control panel and was tapping away. "Logs not going back longer than a month. This facility hasn't been going for very long."

  "Crude work," Sand said, pulling back her hand. "They're making some effort to duplicate my work, but with a complete lack of any subtlety."

  "Where are the Tsaro?" Quinn asked.

  "These are the Tsaro. Ground up and tossed into vats with mutagenic muck. Duplicating itself endlessly."

  "That does sound a lot like your work," Quinn said.

  "I was making people out of the people I minced up. I might have been killing, but I was giving life as well. There was balance. This is taking and giving nothing," Sand said.

  A spray of gunfire from a rifle raked Sand's body as a group of guards came running in from between the tanks. Although her body staggered and bled, Sand didn't go down. Another gesture and the guards fell to floor, covered in frost—and the blood was gone.

  "More guards on the way and the facility has shocktroopers, but not in this building. We've got two minutes until they arrive," Mara said.

  There were no prisoners to free here.

  "How do we shut this down?" Quinn asked.

  Sand said, "I can take out these tanks, but it will ... distract me. Kat can take over the meat while I'm gone, but she's not as good in a fight."

  "These tanks won't be the whole of it. They'll have backup samples somewhere, probably on site," Kalisa said.

  "I've got the location of that lab on internal schematics. Communications are under serious lockdown, I'm still trying to find a way to call Jinx for reinforcements," Mara said.

  "Sand, shut these things down. The rest of us will move on to the lab," Quinn said.

  Sand nodded and for a moment her body seemed to be caught in the middle of a small cyclone. Glittering hints of silver swirling around her in a cloud, and then they were off into the nearby environment.

  From behind a tank there came a gurgled scream. Another guard or researcher, Sand must have killed them as she dispersed.

  Kat took a ragged breath. "Tanks full of mushed people. This is some really sick crap, Quinn."

  "I'm aware. Can you fight?"

  Kat held up a palm and a dancing flame appeared. "I'm not as good as Sand, but I'm a damn sight meaner. Let's do some killing."

  "I still like her," Kalisa said.

  They moved down the row of tanks even as sensors began to blare out alarms, the contents of the tanks bubbling violently.

  Another patrol found them and at a gesture from Kat a fireball exploded in the midst of them and sent bodies flying.

  Quinn didn't know which he found more disturbing. The placid and almost serene expression that Sand wore while doing her killing, or the one of clear delight that Kat wore.

  16

  A facility like this almost certainly had to be on a Core world. Fortunately, there didn't seem many defenders posted, but that was only because the planetary defenses were so great. It gave them several minutes of a relatively easy fight, but given time overwhelming force could be brought to bear.

  The massive hall ended and they moved into a series of small corridors. Quinn could only assume that Mara was still with them, somewhere, given she kept providing directions through the comms.

  Behind a glass door Quinn saw around a dozen white-coated figures working on lab equipment. Kat shattered the glass with a single punch, then used both hands to send fire streaming in, engulfing those within.

  There were anguished screams as people died.

  Quinn put a hand on her shoulder and she gave him a look. Part excited, part turned-on. Quinn remembered that look, in the thrill of battle.

  "Enough, Kat. They're not in our way," Quinn said.

  "You brought us here to kill people. To burn this whole place to the ground. Don't get in my way for doing what I'm good at," Kat said, brushing past him.

  In the next corridor an ambush hit them. Guards had erected a portable barricade, and a machine gun fired on them. Kat threw a fireball and it exploded against the barrier but did nothing to stop the gun.

  As soon as they were engaged another guard patrol blocked them in from behind. They were equipped in heavy armor and wielding shotguns.

  "I've got the barrier," Quinn told Kat, who nodded.

  Kat ran towards the patrol as Quinn drew his magic inward and teleported the short distance to behind the barricade.

  A few guards tried to turn, but they were too late. Quinn had his pistols out and they filled with air with the scent of ozone as they discharged and bodies dropped.

  Further down the hall Quinn saw that Kalisa was already in amongst the heavy armored guards. It was a strange sight, them in armor and her barely dressed, but once she was in close it was no contest. Wherever they tried to strike, she wasn't there, and her enchanted daggers cared nothing for armor. Each strike shredded armor as if it were silk. It was almost a dance as she moved—a very fatal one.

  Quinn felt a sudden impact in his shoulder. A round had caught him and spun him around. He was already teleporting as it hit, relocating a short distance to the side. It was good he did, several more shots going through the space he'd just occupied.

  The shooter with a rifle was further down the hall. Quinn was prepared to jump again when Mara flickered into existence, drawing a dagger across the shooter's throat from behind.

  "Shocktroopers are a minute out. Lab we need is at the end of this hall, I already cracked the security," Mara said.

  The lab had been well-guarded. There were four corpses on the floor lying in pools of blood.

  The team made their way inside.

  "Is Sand going to be able to get back to us, if we seal ourselves in?" Quinn asked Kat.

  "She's not gone, she can't be, sh
e's in my very bones. Just busy, controlling the swarm elsewhere," Kat said.

  Kalisa tapped away at the control pad once everyone was through and the door hissed shut. It was thick metal. This room must be as much vault as a laboratory.

  "Will that hold off shocktroopers?" Quinn asked.

  "From what I've seen of them it should, for a time. But the door isn't enchanted and their weapons are. They'll break through with a bit of time," Kalisa said, moving deeper inside the lab to take a seat at a terminal.

  "I finally got access to external comms, just before they completely isolated the datanet of this facility," Mara said.

  "Were you able to get word out?" Quinn asked.

  "I think so. I wasn't able to get any sort of response, but the routines I used were robust. If they're still in the external network they'll keep trying."

  "They've samples here from most of the noble families of the Imperium. The Tsaro aren't the only ones they're trying to duplicate," Kalisa said.

  "Do you have any idea how they're actually using it to teleport ships?" Quinn asked.

  "I do. They've been mass-producing Tsaro biological matter. It looks like they're running it through conduits on ships and then introducing a mana spike. Not sure how they're giving it navigational data. They're forcing the magic to invoke, which is treating the entire vessel as the caster," Kalisa said.

  "Then taking this facility out won't stop them. They must already have converted a lot of the fleet."

  "The biological matter dies quickly. That is partly why they are so aggressively creating more," Kalisa said.

  Kat opened a door at the back of the lab and billowing clouds emerged from a freezer. Kat aimed her hands and a moment later there was violent hissing as fire flowed.

  "We need to save what data we can," Kalisa said.

  Mara materialized at another terminal, joining Kalisa in typing away. "I'm backing up what I can into my suit's storage."

  "You're what?" Kat asked, with a glance over her shoulder, "These sick bastards are making people soup and you're like, 'Oh, isn't that neat, tell me more'?"