Summary: Baldur's Gate, IN SPACE. Lionstone XIV, the Empress, rules as a tyrant from the Iron Throne. The warrior Ourawang, daughter of Bhaal, seeks to overthrow her, but not without help from a cyberrat, an esper, a thug, and a mad terrorist. Fusion crossover with Simon R. Green's Deathstalker series. Don't need to know canon.
Disclaimer: Baldur's Gate and Simon R. Green's Deathstalker series are not mine. Characters, worldbuilding, and quote references to these series are only borrowed for purposes of fanfic.
Jon Irenicus, first-ranked among Imperial scientists and confidante to the dread Empress herself, sat in his study. Frost rimed his white walls in his white room, though the cold did not visibly touch his gleaming steel instruments and clear glass AI screens.
Irenicus listened politely, with his full attention, to the current inhabitant of the Empire's Iron Throne. She was all cold, razor-edged, wintry glory. She appeared full-face to him, her fair hair wound into elaborate plaits around the diamond crown of the Empire. The Iron Bitch of Golgotha. She was vicious, greedy, deadly, and sharp as a sewer rat trapped in a corner. Empress Lionstone her own bad self.
"I want that stardrive," the Empress' holographic image snapped. "I want mass production to start decades ago. The work's going out of your experiments and into the Families' factories. Understand?"
"The alien energies require further investigation. Not one of the Families' pet puppets can understand it as I," Irenicus returned. He knew this was true: he was Chief Scientist because his intellect towered above others like a star to petty ants, not out of politics or a desire for a mere sinecure. He subvocalised an AI command to open a feed from one of his experiment rooms. There, a group of women with the same face-rather, with once the same face, before the alien energies mutated them all into differently hideous creatures in constant pain-worked around the alien stardrive in the centre of the room, carrying out his tests as ordered.
It was illegal for a man with no Family to manufacture clones. But these were a necessary business expense, and besides, the original genetic material was owned by the Imperial Crown.
"Duplicating the stardrive is enough. Stuff your investigation," the Empress said.
"A little more time, Empress. Let us say six months," Irenicus said. "The Families can begin by configuring their factories according to the designs I've already drafted."
"Don't be greedy." The Empress' teeth glinted a predatory white. "You know what happened the last time."
The Empress' holographic view swept back to show a vista of her with some of her maids: three naked, shaven women with blind cybernetic eyes and sharp steel fingernails. Since it would be improper for any of the Empress' subjects to look upon her in vulnerable moments, the maids had all their senses surgically removed and replaced by a host of cybernetic devices. Some of which Irenicus had designed himself. They were brainwashed servants and bodyguards, merciless killers and uncomplaining hands.
It was officially a great honour for a girl of the Families to be chosen as a maid to the Empress, but somehow the Families never saw it that way.
"One month," the Empress said. Irenicus bowed his head, careful to hide his satisfaction. The alien stardrive had been an impressive find. A starship crew had landed on the planet Unseeli to investigate the complete silence from the Base. The crew discovered an alien starship with malevolent aliens from a dying homeworld, fleeing a dreaded terror. Their stardrive had capability of which the Empire could only dream.
Until now.
"As you command, Empress." Irenicus schooled his face to show no expression, a cold man in his cold room. He barely looked at the second of the Empress' maids, the woman whose face was on all his clones.
Her name was once Ellesime. She was born with all gifts: noble birth, incredible wealth, unsurpassed beauty, and a true talent for gardening. And with all her gifts she saw Irenicus not as a lowly born scientist but as a man. They were lovers until Ellesime betrayed the Empire. She tried to change her planet for the sake of the peasant rebels. Irenicus turned her in: he hoped for a position as Chief Scientist and for Ellesime's fate to be given to him. The Empress gave him the position but not his lover. She was made a brainwashed maid under the Empress' control. Jon was left with his clones.
The clones weren't satisfactory. Irenicus conducted exhaustive experiments on them each time they failed.
The Empress' hologram abruptly disappeared. She had given all the orders she wished.
"Jon-Jon ..." Irenicus heard from another source.
He didn't bother to turn to the eavesdropper in the corner, hidden by one of his steel devices. She was a crucial flaw in most Empire security systems: a living being so cold and dead that no heat signature could ever find her. She prowled out of her hiding place, wearing a black basque and little else. She had a voluptuous body, sinews that could match steel with ease, and a smell of blood on her breath at all times.
Bodhi was his sister, and a Wampyr. Wampyr were developed as Empire shock troops, until the project was discontinued. The drawback was that the subjects were killed in the process. All the blood was pumped out of them and replaced by a new form of artificial blood, supercharged and potent, that turned anyone into a powerful warrior. Wampyr were strong, fast, self-regenerating, and drank fresh human blood.
Bodhi preferred to take her blood directly from the source.
"Send in the fucking clones," she groaned. "Got any spare? I skipped breakfast."
"I have a commission for you," Irenicus said. He handed her a disc. "Destroy this after you've memorised the contents. It's a dossier on several choices. Find one of these espers, capture them, and bring them to me alive."
Bodhi pocketed the tech. "Fine, brother. You owe me."
Irenicus knew that human science had reached its limits with the alien stardrive. It was time to try esp. He'd given his sister a list of potent rebel espers to work with. And if the one Bodhi captured was strong enough, Irenicus would carry out more experiments.
It was always time for more experiments.