Deathstalker 01 - Deathstalker

Standing's power sources were nearly depleted when I came to Shandrakor, all those centuries ago, and most of what was left was used up maintaining the Standing. Until I have the opportunity to recharge the power cells, this ship isn't going anywhere. We're in no immediate danger, but unless you like the idea of being stranded on a world whose only points of interest are an alien Maze and a large Tomb, I suggest we all hurry."
    Owen and Hazel made their way down to the armory, where an empty suit of armor with a missing helm politely opened the door for them. Owen regarded it
    suspiciously. He didn't remember it being there the last time he'd visited.
    Hazel ignored the armor and made straight for the more impressive-looking projectile weapons. Owen watched amusedly as she loaded herself down with guns and bandoliers of ammunition. He settled for a nasty-looking handgun that used big, bulky bullets and a few grenades to fill his pockets. No doubt they'd come in handy, but on the whole he still thought he'd stick with the weapons he was used to. Guns were all very well, but in his experience, in the end it always came down to cold steel, and the man wielding it. Besides, at the rate Hazel was accumulating guns, they'd have to move her around on a trolley. She continued rooting through the rifle racks, unaware of his growing amusement, and finally came up with a gun so long and heavy it took all her strength just to lift and aim it.
    "Good choice," said Owen solemnly. "When you run out of ammunition, you can use it to club the enemy to death."
    Hazel sniffed and reluctantly put the rifle back. She looked at her collection of guns and grinned suddenly at Owen.
    "Come a long way, haven't we, aristo? From a not particularly successful pirate and an outlawed Lord running for his life to the leaders of a new rebellion.
    Who'd have thought it?"
    "We're only potentially a rebellion," said Owen. "It's going to take a hell of a lot more than the six of us to drag Lionstone off the Iron Throne. Jack Random's been fighting the Empire all his life, and you saw what it's done to him. All right, if we can awaken the Hadenmen, and if we can persuade them to fight on our side, then we might be in with a chance. All kinds of people might rally to our banner if they thought we already had an army. But I'm not at all happy about placing any trust in Hadenmen. Who's to say they wouldn't be following
    their own, hidden, agenda? They killed a lot of innocent people in their last attempt at a rebellion. The only reason they're not still officially designated the Enemies of Humanity is because the AIs on Shub are even nastier than the Hadenmen were. And that took some doing."
    "You worry too much," said Hazel. "The Hadenmen will behave themselves as long as we've got control of the Darkvoid Device. You know, these are really great guns.
    I've been studying their specifics in the computers. They aren't worth spit against force shields, but they'll chew up anything else you aim them at.
    Apparently there's something called a recoil we'll have to get used to, but no doubt we'll soon get the hang of it."
    "Until we run out of ammunition," said Owen. "We can't just run back to the castle for more in the middle of a firefight. With a disrupter, you can recharge the energy crystals at any handy power source, and you're ready to go again."
    "You always have to see the bad side of things, don't you? The point is, the Empire won't be expecting guns like these, and by the time they've worked out an effective response, we'll have kicked six different colors of shit out of them."
    Owen frowned. "You really think the Empire is going to follow us here? Into the Darkvoid?"
    "Of course. Don't you?"
    "Yes," said Owen unhappily. "They've been right behind us all the way. There's only one answer that makes any sense. We have a traitor in our group."
    "Not necessarily," said Hazel. "Someone could have planted a homing device on us."
    "No. One or another of our security systems would have found it by now. It's too
    obvious."
    "But… none of us have any reason to betray the group! We've all got good reasons for being here, and none of us have any reason to love the Empire."
    "How about fear? Or blackmail? Or money? There's a hell of a lot of credits on our heads these days. People will break under all kinds of pressure."
    Hazel glared at him. "Anyone you feel like pointing the finger at?"
    "No," said Owen steadily. "Not at the moment. Perhaps I'm wrong. We've all