Deathstalker 01 - Deathstalker

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