Deathstalker 01 - Deathstalker

"This is all going too fast for me. I can't lead a rebellion. I'm a historian, not a warrior."
    "On the other hand," Hazel said thoughtfully, "he's right that we can't keep running forever. Eventually, they'll track us down and kill us. We've become too important. If even Mistworld isn't safe…"

    "That's not enough," said Owen. "Rebellion against the throne is against everything I was brought up to believe in."
    "Not against the throne," said Hazel. "Against the Empress."
    Owen looked at her. "I made that distinction earlier."
    "I know. I was listening." Hazel hurried on before he could say anything. "At least think about it, Owen. You said you wanted to stop things like that girl from happening."
    "I need to think about this," said Owen. "You're asking too much of me."
    "Time is not on our side," said Moon. "You must choose soon, or the choice may be taken away from you by events."
    Owen looked at the Hadenman almost angrily. "What do you want from me, Moon?"
    "Right now? Transport. You have a starship and I do not. I want passage with you to lost Haden and my waiting brethren."
    Whatever answer Owen might have expected, that wasn't it. The location of the planet Haden was one of the greatest mysteries of the Empire. All knowledge of its coordinates had vanished at the end of the Hadenman rebellion: the last desperate gamble of the augmented men. And despite all the Empire's increasingly desperate efforts, Haden had remained lost for the better part of two centuries.
    In an Empire built on information, that should have been impossible. But somehow the augmented men, or their agents, had contrived to wipe every piece of information on Haden and its people from every computer in the Imperial Matrix.
    As a historian, Owen had found that hard to believe, but after wasting months of research time tracking down rumors and glimpses without getting anywhere, he had been forced to admit he was beaten. Haden was lost, by its own wishes, and would remain so. And so it passed out of history and into legend, a nightmare with
    which to threaten disobedient children.
    Be good, or the Hadenman will get you.
    Owen looked thoughtfully at Tobias Moon. "You have the coordinates for Haden?"
    "Unfortunately, no, or I wouldn't still be stuck here on Mistworld. But the answer is out there, somewhere, and I will find it. Until then, I offer myself as a soldier in your war. Get me some new energy crystals, and a good cybersurgeon to implant them, and I would be a formidable ally. And when I come at last to Haden, I will speak for you with my people. That is what you want, isn't it?"
    "I don't know," said Owen. "I'm not sure of anything anymore. Even assuming that we can find Haden, eventually, do I really want to ally myself with the betrayers of humanity? The butchers of Brahmin II, the slaughterers of Madraguda? I could go down in history as one of the greatest traitors of all time."
    "It doesn't matter whether you want us," said Moon calmly. "You need us, if your rebellion is to succeed."
    "All right," said Owen. "You're my man, until I tell you otherwise. Now let's get out of here. I'm surprised we're not already hip deep in bounty hunters."
    "Think about it," said Hazel. "Would you go rushing in after someone who'd just killed a Wampyr and seen off a whole pack of his blood junkies?"
    "Good point," said Owen. "But let's get moving anyway. Standing around make me nervous."
    "I think we should get you to a doctor first," said Hazel. "You took a lot of punishment before the Hadenman… helped you out."
    "I've felt better," said Owen, "but I'll be all right. One of the more useful properties of boost. Any wound that doesn't actually kill me will heal itself,
    given time. I'm going to be rather fragile for a while, but I've got you and Moon to look after me, haven't I?"
    Hazel thought that was getting a bit pointed and decided it was probably a good time to change the subject. "Where are we going?"
    "The Olympus health spa, on Riverside, wherever the hell that is. If I'm going to lead an army of rebellion, I want Jack Random at my side. We'll look for your bounty hunter friend later, assuming she isn't already on our trail for the price on our heads."
    "That is a possibility," Hazel admitted. "Friendship is fine, but credit lasts longer. All right, follow me. And let's keep to back alleys and the shadows where we can. I'm starting to feel like I've got a target painted on my back."
    She set off more or less confidently into the mists, and