Deathstalker (59 page)

“Can I depend on them? Will they follow orders?”

“Maybe. After all, they’re outlaws, like me. And like you. Convince them that it’s in their best interests to work with you, and they will. But don’t just give them orders and expect them to snap to attention. They don’t have much love or respect for authority in general and aristos in particular. But they’re good people. Mostly.”

“And what about you, Owen Deathstalker the historian? Can you fight?”

“I do all right,” Owen said steadily. “I’ve been trained by the best, and I have the boost. I can take care of myself.”

“The boost? That’s another thing they were trying to make work when I left. You’re full of surprises, kinsman. Unfortunately, I now have one for you. According to my computers, an Imperial starship has just dropped into orbit around Shandrakor. The Standing’s shielded from their sensors, unless they’ve radically improved since my day, but your wrecked ship isn’t. It won’t take them long to spot it and send some heavily armed people down to check for survivors. I’ve downloaded your AI into my systems; pretty sophisticated, but not half as smart as it thinks it is.”

“Oz!” said Owen. “Are you there?”

“Where else would I be?” said Ozymandius. “You should see the antiquated system they’ve dumped me in. Wouldn’t surprise me if this junk ran on steam power. Give me a week or two and I’ll be running things around here.”

“Behave yourself. We’re guests here. We’ll talk later. For now, keep your eyes and ears open and make yourself useful.”

“Got it.”

Owen looked at Giles. “He’s been with me a long time. He’s a pain in the ass, but he’s good at what he does.”

“I heard that!”

“Shut up, Oz.”

“Tell me, Owen,” said Giles. “Why did you come here looking for me?”

“My only hope for survival is to mount a rebellion against the Empress. And for that I need the Darkvoid Device.” With Giles’ eyes boring into his, it never even occurred to Owen to lie. “Do you still have it?”

“No. But I know where it is. I only ever used it once, and a thousand stars blinked out in a moment, leaving nothing but darkness. The Darkvoid. Thousands of inhabited planets were left without suns; billions upon billions of people died. That’s a lot of ghosts for one man to live with. I’d done many questionable things in my time as Warrior Prime, and come to terms with them, but that was too much, even for me.

“I’d sworn an oath to protect and preserve the Empire, not destroy it piece by piece for the pleasure of others. I created the Device almost by accident, while working on something else. I was the only one who could operate it. That made it my responsibility. So I did the only responsible thing left to me: I took the Device and ran. Hid myself here, where no one would ever find me except Family. And just as a safeguard, I stashed the Device somewhere else. I left it in the heart of the Madness Maze on the cold corpse of the Wolfling World, deep in the Darkvoid.”

Owen looked at him for a long moment, searching for something to say. The Wolflings were a part of legend: the first genetically-engineered human beings. They were supposed to be living killing machines, the perfect soldiers, but unfortunately the Empire did its work too well. The Wolflings were unbeatable. The Empire grew scared of what it had created and wiped out the Wolflings while they were still trapped on their planet. It was lost to history when it became part of the Darkvoid. No wonder no one had ever found the Device, if it was hidden there. Few ships had ever crossed the Rim into the Darkvoid and come back to tell of it.

“We need the Device,” he said finally. “Our rebellion hasn’t a hope in hell without it.”

Giles looked at him steadily. “And is your rebellion really so important?”

“You’ve been asleep a long time,” said Hazel, suddenly there beside them. “You don’t know how bad things have got. If you’re rich or an aristo or connected, you can have anything, do anything, and no one can stop you. You can destroy lives, and no one can make you pay.”

“They use and discard us,” said Moon. “And no one cares.”

“I’ve fought the Empire all my adult life,” said Jack Random. “Fought and bled on a hundred worlds, only to see my war for truth and justice come to nothing. They have the ships and the weapons and the armies, and all we have is right on our side. It’s not enough.”

Giles looked at Ruby Journey. She was standing quietly at the back, arms folded. She looked bored. “What about you, bounty hunter? Don’t you have anything to say to me? No appeals to my better nature?”

Ruby looked at him calmly. “I made a good living hunting down the Empire’s enemies. Outlaws. Now I am one. Funny how things change.”

“What changed you?”

Ruby smiled. “Hazel’s my friend. She hasn’t the sense to come in out of the rain, but sometimes the rain follows you no matter where you go. The Empire wants her dead, I want her alive. So to hell with the Empire. Besides, I was promised as much loot as I can carry if we win, and you’d be surprised how much I can carry when I put my mind to it.”

Hazel smiled at her. “Ruby. I never knew you cared so much.”

“Don’t get cocky. If the reward on you had been just a little higher, things might have turned out differently.”

Giles turned back to Owen. “If I led you to the Device, what would you do with it? It’s not exactly a subtle weapon. You could use it to destroy whatever planet the Empress is currently using as a homeworld, but only by destroying a thousand other worlds with it. Could you do that? Create another Darkvoid, in the heart of the Empire?”

“You used it,” said Owen.

“And look what it did to me. I thought I had good reason. I was wrong. What about you, kinsman? What price will you pay to win?”

“I don’t know. I’ve seen enough killing already, and none of it for a good enough reason.”
The young girl lay crying in the bloody Mistworld snow, her legs crippled forever by his blade
. “Perhaps all I really want is to see the Device destroyed before the Empress can get her hands on it. She wouldn’t hesitate to use it. I don’t know, Giles. I can’t make
a decision like this. I’m just a historian, a hoarder of old books and records, not a warrior or a revolutionary. Ask Jack. Or Hazel. Ask anyone but me.”

“That’s what I said,” said Giles Deathstalker. “But in the end, I did what I thought I had to, and so will you when your time comes. I’ll take you to the Device. And let us all pray we get there before the Empire does.”

“You have a ship?” said Hazel.

“Oh, yes,” said Giles. “I have a ship.”

“How long will it take to power it up?” said Hazel. “It’s got to be in one hell of a state after spending so many centuries in mothballs.”

“My computers began bringing it back to life the moment I awakened,” said Giles. “It’s been well looked after. I always knew I might have to leave in a hurry.”

“Better be a fast ship,” said Ruby. “Got a lot of determined people on our trail, most especially including the one in orbit.”

“And I must beg passage of you,” said Moon, and Giles looked at the augmented man interestedly. There had been a strange urgency in his grating, inhuman voice. “My people were created on the lost world of Haden. It stayed lost because that was not its true name. And because it was lost in the Darkvoid. Before my creators found and transformed its interior, it was called the Wolfling World.”

“Now that’s spooky,” said Hazel. “The Darkvoid Device and the sleeping Hadenman army, both on the same planet? What are the chances of that?”

“Too damn small for my liking,” said Owen. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear my father arranged it. It’s the kind of thing he’d do.”

“It’s far more likely that I didn’t hide my trail as carefully as I thought I had,” said Giles. “And if someone found the Wolfling World once, someone else might find it again. I think it’s time we got moving.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Random. He looked round at the armory almost wistfully. “You’ve got some wonderful toys here, Deathstalker. I could have used a collection like this many times, but weapons were always the most expensive part of a rebellion. Who were these supposed to be used against?”

“The same people I used the Device on. There was a rebellion
against the Empire. Widespread, well funded, lots of weapons and men to use them. I destroyed them all in a moment. They weren’t even offered a chance to surrender.”

“Wait a minute,” said Owen. “That’s not what it says in the official histories. The Device was only used after every other means had been exhausted. The Empire itself was in danger. That’s why they used the Device.”

“Not they,” said Giles. “Me. My finger on the button. There was no warning, no negotiations, and no danger to the Empire.”

“So why did you do it?” said Hazel.

“He was my Emperor.” Giles was quiet for a long moment, and nobody said anything. Finally he shrugged and smiled at Owen. “Winners write the histories, kinsman. You should know that.”

On the starcruiser
Dauntless
, orbiting Shandrakor, Captain Silence studied his bridge viewscreen thoughtfully. According to his sensor probes, the whole planet was overrun with homicidal lifeforms wherever you looked. No civilizations, past or present. Except for a certain crashed starship, currently on the viewscreen. Investigator Frost stood at his side, silent and disapproving. She’d wanted to lead the away team that was investigating the wreck and was still sulking because he’d said no. He’d been tempted. If anyone could survive the slaughterhouse down there it was Frost But if the outlaws got to another ship, the
Dauntless
might have to leave in a hurry to go after it, even if it meant abandoning the away team. Which meant he could only send down those people he could afford to lose. He sighed and made himself concentrate on the voice accompanying the viewscreen images.

“The ship … is a wreck. Extensive damage, before and after landing. No trace of any crew. Some human blood … not enough to be significant. The stardrive is missing. Cut out, very neatly. Professional. Somebody beat us to her, Captain.”

“Understood, Lieutenant. Continue your investigation. Captain out.” He turned away from the screen to look at Frost. “What do you think, Investigator? Could there be people, even bases, on this planet that the Empire doesn’t know about?”

“Possible, Captain.” Her voice was as cold and calm as always. “They could be shielded against our sensors. That would require a great deal of power, though. Perhaps they live underground. It would make sense, given the surface conditions.”

“Captain!” said a voice excitedly. “This is surveillance! We’re picking something up on the planet’s surface. Their shielding just dropped!”

Silence and Frost looked at the viewscreen again. The crashed ship had vanished, replaced by the image of an immense stone castle.

“What the hell is that?” said Silence.

“A castle, sometimes called a Standing, similar to those of the Empire aristocracy nine centuries ago,” said Frost. “They were forbidden to anyone else on pain of death. I think we can now be pretty sure of what happened to the outlaws and their stardive.”

“How far is it from the wreck site?”

“Half a mile, Captain,” said the surveillance officer. “The away team would be butchered before they got half that distance without extra equipment.”

“He’s right,” said Frost. “You’re going to need a full company of marines, armed and shielded to the teeth, and someone extremely experienced to lead them.”

“All right, Investigator, you’ve made your point.” Silence couldn’t help smiling at her. “You can lead the away team this time. Make the necessary arrangements.”

“It’s time to go,” said Giles. “I’ve dropped the Standing’s shields to divert the extra power to the takeoff. I never really thought I’d leave this planet again, but I hoped. There’s always hope.”

“How far is it to your ship?” Owen said quickly. He had a horrible suspicion his ancestor was about to get all sentimental on him, and he didn’t think he could cope with that just at the moment. “It better not be too far. With your shields down, we’re a sitting target for the starcruiser up above.”

“It’s not far,” said Giles, smiling slightly. “Not far at all, Computers, begin liftoff procedures.”

Owen looked blankly at his ancestor as the room began to shake and rumble around him. Far below, under his feet, he
could hear the building roar of mighty engines. “Wait a minute. Wait just a damn minute! Your ship is part of the Standing? We’re in it now?”

“Not part,” said Giles. “The Standing is the ship. And vice versa.”

“
We’re going into hyperspace in a stone castle that’s been sitting around for nine centuries?
”

“We built to last in my day,” said Giles. “Talk to your computer if you want more details.”

“Oz? Are you still there? Talk to me!”

“Yes, I’m still here, and you wouldn’t believe how cramped it is. Some of these systems are positively prehistory. I can’t believe I’m supposed to live in something this small. There isn’t room to swing a neuron.”

“Talk to me about the castle, Oz, or I swear I’ll reprogram you with a blunt spoon. Is it really a starship?”

“Oh, yes. A bit slow and stately, but it’ll get you there. Hang on to your hat, Owen; it’s going to be rather a bumpy take-off.”

On the bridge of the
Dauntless
, Silence and Frost watched speechlessly as the Last Standing of the Deathstalker Clan tore itself out of the ground and leapt up into the air. Powerful energies roared around it. The jungle was flattened for miles around by the backblast, but the castle rose into the air as smoothly as any starship.

“I don’t believe it,” said Frost. “A
stone starship?
”

“We’ve lost contact with the away team, Captain,” said the surveillance officer.

“Gunnery officer, open fire,” said Silence. “Blow that thing to rubble.”

“We can’t, Captain. It’s got one of the most powerful force shields I’ve ever seen. We don’t have anything that’ll breech it.”

“Fire on it anyway!” said Silence. “It’s got to have a weak spot!”

“I wouldn’t put money on it,” said Frost.

And then the castle shimmered and was gone into hyperspace, and there was nothing left to look at on the viewscreen but space.