Deathstalker Honor (67 page)

“Looks that way. Tallon and Jacks were big men in the original rebellion. Hard-line idealists. Heroes. It must have broken their hearts to discover it had all been for nothing.”

“They didn’t have to go to Shub,” said Random. “They could have got word to Parliament. They could have come to me. I would have done something, if I’d known.”

“You’ve been busy,” said Savage. “How many people wanted to talk to you every day, and were turned away because there just weren’t enough hours in the day to see them all? You had to rely on your subordinates to weed out the head cases and the time wasters. And you can bet good money that de Lisle’s bosses would have made sure that word never got to you, one way or another.”

Random sat quietly for a while. Savage sipped his wine and watched Random brood. Even sitting still and silent, the old professional rebel still looked sharp and dangerous. If anyone could still save Loki, it might be him. The murmur of hushed conversations went around the bar, rising and falling like a distant tide. Random sighed and shook his head.

“I won the rebellion. Threw down the Iron Bitch. And nothing’s changed. I thought when the war was over, I’d finally be allowed to put down my burden and have a life of my own at last. I should have known better. No matter how many wars you fight, another always comes along. I tried to put away the warrior’s sword and become a politician, a man of peace. But I don’t believe in politics. Never have. I believe in right and wrong, not deals and compromises.”

“And yet you agreed to the deal with Blue Block,” Savage said carefully. “Because millions would have died if you hadn’t.”

“Yes, I saved lives, but only by compromising everything I ever believed in. I should have stood firm. Said no, and to hell with the consequences. People would have died, maybe whole worlds, but in the end we would have been rid of people like de Lisle forever. A fair price, perhaps. I don’t know. All I know is that tomorrow I have to lead an army out to fight rebels who just might have right on their side, to protect the interests of scum like de Lisle. Where’s the right in that? Where’s the honor? I used to be an honorable man. I was famous for it. I wonder when I lost it.”

“The rebels might have been justified in the beginning,” said Savage. “But they lost all claim to the moral high ground when they called in Shub. What good to save the world if you lose your soul in the process? They have no excuses. Everyone knows how deals with the Devil work out. I’ve never forgotten the first footage I saw of Young Jack Random and his Ghost Warriors in action. Rows and rows of men, women and children crucified on metal crosses. I know where I stand, sir Random, and so does everyone else in Vidar. Even these scumbags sitting around us, making a last few, desperate deals, will be with us tomorrow, sword and gun in hand, to fight the war of man against machine. Even them.”

“I’ll give you good odds de Lisle and his cronies won’t be there.”

“It’s not their world. No one expected us to survive when we first came here, let alone turn Loki into a viable colony, but we did it. Because we were so hard the storms of Loki just broke against us. If a whole planet couldn’t defeat us, a few tin soldiers and walking corpses aren’t going to do it. Even if they are led by Young Jack Random.”

“Don’t you worry about him,” said Random. “I’ll deal with him. And then I’ll come back and deal with de Lisle. I give you my word.”

“And Jack Random’s word is good enough for me,” said Peter Savage.

Random smiled for the first time, reached across and took Savage’s glass, and tried some of the wine. He shuddered and put the glass down firmly. “God, you must be tougher than you look if you can drink that stuff voluntarily.” But the smile didn’t last long, and his face fell back into brooding lines. “I’ve been here before, you know. On worlds like this. Cold Rock, Mistworld . . . but what Loki reminds me most of is Virimonde. What used to be Owen Deathstalker’s world.”

“The world Shub destroyed under Valentine Wolfe,” said Savage, nodding. “I’ve seen the holo documentaries. We all have. But that’s not going to happen here. We have an army.”

“Yeah. I’m just glad Owen isn’t here. It would break his heart to see another world faced with such destruction.”

Savage leaned forward, his eyes shining. “What’s he really like? The Deathstalker? Has he really done all the things they say he has?”

“Most of them, yes. You’d be surprised. If there’s a single real hero to come out of the rebellion, it’s him, not me. He’s never compromised, never once wavered from what he believed in. The best kind of warrior—the man who never wanted to be one, but fought anyway because he believed in the right-ness of his cause. I’d given up. The Empire had broken me. But he brought me back . . . What is he like, really? A good man in bad times. The only really honorable man I ever met.”

“Would he come to help us? If we asked?”

“Probably. But I have no idea where he is right now. Once . . . I would have known, just by thinking about it. We were that close. But we’ve become distant since then. Grown apart. Because I gave up who I was to become somebody else. Someone I thought I was supposed to be. You don’t know what I’m rambling on about, do you, Savage, but you’re too polite to interrupt. It doesn’t matter. Tomorrow we go out to meet the army from Hell, and all problems will be decided then.”

“I can’t wait,” said Savage, raising his wineglass in a toast to Random. “It will be an honor and a privilege to fight beside the legendary professional rebel!”

Random looked at him sadly and said nothing.

 

The human army, Loki’s only hope, gathered noisily in the great square before the main gates in the city’s huge outer wall. Everyone had a sword, and some had guns too. Men and women wielded their weapons with grim enthusiasm, and struck bold poses for the hovering holo cameras, which would be accompanying them into battle. The war would be broadcast live to those unfortunate enough to be staying behind, those too young or too old, the sick and the lame and those necessary for the city’s security. Like de Lisle and his people, who had chosen not to make an appearance. There were no flyers, no ground vehicles; the storm might be heading for a lull, but the winds in the upper atmosphere would still be strong enough to toss gravity craft around like toys, and the dust still floating in the air would short out the motors of any ground craft. Vidar’s army would go to victory or damnation on its own two feet.

Jack Random and Ruby Journey stood with their backs to the great airlock and watched the excited confusion, knowing that enthusiasm wasn’t enough to win battles. When the Vidar army finally clashed with Shub and the rebels, some would inevitably break and run, simply because not everyone has a killer in them. It’s not something any man can know until he’s tested. But most would stand and fight and die bravely, because they knew they were fighting for something bigger than themselves.

Peter Savage was darting back and forth, trying to be everywhere at once, browbeating and cajoling different groups into some kind of order, desperate for his people to look good in front of his hero, Jack Random. The crowd goodnaturedly let Savage get on with it. Bottles of booze were being freely handed back and forth, and Random decided he’d better get his army moving soon. Still, it was a six-hour hike to the chosen spot, and that would sweat most of the booze out of them. So he let them drink a little before they had to leave. For all their enthusiasm and commitment, this was a crowd of strangers, brought together by need and duty and desperation. They had to win this battle or lose everything. They couldn’t retreat if things went bad, and hope for a second chance. If they fell back, the Ghost Warriors would pursue them tirelessly, to the walls of Vidar and beyond.

Savage came over to Random, who nodded approvingly. “Doing a good job, Savage. They’re actually starting to look like an army.”

“Good,” said Savage. “Because I’ve just received some news, and it’s all bad. The Empire has become concerned enough to send two starcruisers, but they’re only D-class, so they won’t get here for at least a week. Their orders are to negotiate with whoever has control of the mining equipment—the colonists, de Lisle and his people . . . or the rebels.”

“Can they do that?” said Ruby. “Strike a deal with Shub allies?”

“Sure, they can,” said Random. “Politicians are nothing if not practical people. They need the cobalt this planet produces, and they’ll deal with whoever they have to, to get it. Hard times make for hard choices, or at least, that’s how they’ll sell it to the public. If the rebels win, and give the appearance of distancing themselves from Shub, Parliament would do business with them. It doesn’t matter. It’s just one more reason why we have to win this battle. Pass the word, Savage. It’s time we were moving out. The lull will hit our chosen location in just over six hours, and we don’t want to be late.”

Savage bobbed his head and hurried off into the crowd, shouting orders. Men and women gathered in their companies and formed ranks, as they’d been trained. Random turned to Ruby.

“Off we go to save the day one more time. You know, Ruby, I’ve missed this. Things are so much simpler on a battlefield.”

“This is where we belong, Jack. Right in the middle of things, in blood up to our armpits. Peace was just a dream. You can’t fight destiny.”

“Maybe,” said Random. “Maybe.”

The great gates opened, and the last army of Vidar filed through the huge airlock and streamed out into the raging storm, disregarding the violent weather in anticipation of the fighting still to come.

 

They made good time across the dark, jagged landscape, and five hours later they passed through a narrow valley to reach the open plain where the lull was supposed to hit. They set up a temporary camp of reinforced tents and waited impatiently for the storm to pass. When the lull finally came, it was like a kind of magic. The wind’s voice fell away like the end of an oratorio, and suddenly there was utter silence. The air was still, like the eye of a hurricane, and the dust settled slowly to the ground. It was like the end of the world, the last pause before Judgment Day. The army emerged from their tents and looked around them, seeing their world with new eyes. Most had never known anything but the endless storms.

People laughed and joked and cheered and slapped each other on the shoulder, as though the lull was a sure sign of victory. Savage had them start stripping off most of their protective armor, so they’d have more freedom of movement once the fighting began. And when that was over, everyone just stood in place, looking expectantly out across the open plain. The world was very still, as though holding its breath, waiting for everything to begin. And then the holo cameras out on the plain sent back the first pictures of the rebel and Shub forces. They were on their way. Random, Ruby, and Savage crowded around a small monitor screen and nodded, satisfied. The enemy had taken the bait and committed all their forces.

The Vidar army surged out across the plain and the enemy came to meet them. There was no time or need for subtle tactics. Two opposite forces crashed together, no quarter asked or given, and blood spilled on the dusty ground. Human fighters threw themselves against walking corpses, and the thought of surrender was alien to both of them.

Within an hour, most of the living on both sides were dead.

The battle was a mess, groups of fighters surging this way and that, each concerned only with their personal part of the war. Swords rose and fell, hacking at living and unliving flesh. Axes chopped through human meat and jarred on bone. And from everywhere came the sudden flaring and roar of discharging energy weapons. Men and women fell and did not rise again. Ghost Warriors fell too, blown apart by energy beams or surrounded and cut to pieces by howling warriors. The maddened mob surged back and forth on the blood-soaked ground, driven by rage and hatred that could be soothed only by victory or death. And among them moved the living dead, driven by cold disappasionate minds that killed and killed and felt nothing at all. The bodies piled up to every side, and still the battle raged on.

Peter Savage fell, unnoticed.

He’d stuck close to Random and Ruby, guarding their backs, awed and amazed. He saw men and Ghost Warriors fall under their blades, swept almost casually aside by superior strength and speed, and his heart swelled to be fighting in such company. He thought they were invulnerable, protected by fate and destiny, and because he fought at their side, he must be too. He never even saw the blade that came thrusting out of nowhere to slam into his rib cage and out again. Driven by servomechanism-assisted muscles, the blow threw him to the bloody ground, and ignorant feet stamped around him.

At first Savage thought he’d just had the wind knocked out of him, and tried to get up again. But his legs wouldn’t obey him, and when he put his hand to his side, it came away dripping blood. Pain hit him then, and he cried out in spite of himself. He was no quitter. He kept trying to get to his feet, even as his lifeblood drained away. His place was at Random’s side. But his body wouldn’t listen. He died there, unseen and unremarked. Peter Savage was a brave man, and a hero, but he was never more than human.

Jack Random and Ruby Journey, so much more than human, fought savagely and tirelessly, dealing out terrible wounds and sudden death with every blow, and what small injuries they took healed almost immediately. They never saw Peter Savage fall, or even missed him until much later. They were too busy doing what they did best—surviving against impossible odds and killing everything within reach. The dead piled up around them, the blood-streaked skin of the fallen rebels lying next to the gray flesh of fallen Ghost Warriors. And Random and Ruby never even noticed that gradually, foot by foot, they were being separated from the main body of the fighting.

It took little more than an hour for the human forces on both sides to pretty much wipe each other out. They never even noticed that the Shub forces had moved away, so wrapped up in their own needs they never knew the real battle for the future of Loki was being fought somewhere else.