Deathstalker 02 - Deathstalker Rebellion

with the role. It was much more likely she just had a great imagination, backed up by a touch of esp, but he wasn't dumb enough to tell her that. He was very fond of her, and besides, she tended to throw tantrums when she got annoyed. Still, he trusted her intuition. She'd always understood Court politics much better than he did. He'd keep his eyes open, if they didn't freeze solid first, like certain other parts of his anatomy.
    He'd originally taken up with Lily because both of them were bored. As one of Jacob's legacies they were assured of a place in Clan Wolfe, but no one felt any obligation to make them feel welcome. As a result, they were allowed no place in
    the Clan, neither business nor social. Jacob had arranged the marriages in the first place to gain control of certain subsidiary business interests involved in stardrive manufacture. But now those had been taken over and absorbed by the Wolfes, Lily and Michel were redundant. They could not be allowed any part in business because they weren't really Wolfes, and therefore not to be trusted with anything important. But they were also kept from any contact with their own Families, because they were Wolfes. And since they were Jacob's choice, Daniel and Stephanie wanted nothing to do with them. They managed a stiff smile when procedure demanded they appear in public with their spouses, to put across the polite fiction that all was well, but that was only to appease the Church and keep other Families from sniffing out a possible weakness in the structure of Clan Wolfe. The rest of the time, Daniel and Stephanie had time only for each other and the business they ran, so that Lily and Michel were left to their own devices to keep themselves amused. Everything that followed was inevitable, really. Their only other option had been plotting treason with some other Clan, and they were both too scared of Valentine for that.
    At least so far.
    Meanwhile, watching everything the Wolfes did with great interest were the representatives of Clan Chojiro. Still defiantly Oriental in appearance and tradition despite the countless centuries that separated them from their original ancestors and founders, the Chojiros had risen to prominence in the Empire through hard work, subtle cunning, and killing anyone who got in their way. They made few alliances with other Clans, preferring to stand alone. That way, they knew who they could trust. With the destruction of the Clan Campbell they had moved smoothly into the open gap, edging other contenders aside with
    subtle threats and the occasional quiet bloodbath, until now they were second only in the Empire to Clan Wolfe. And since no Chojiro had ever been willing to accept being second best at anything, there was a quiet, undeclared but quite deadly war going on between the two Families.
    However, the Chojiros specialized in computers: building, programming, installing, and maintaining them at every level—including the kind of computers used in starships. As a result, the Wolfes and the Chojiros currently found themselves in an uneasy partnership, not daring to upset each other's business for fear of attracting the wrath of the Empress. In fact, the situation had become so complicated that both sides had declared a temporary truce while they tried to work out where the hell they stood.
    The systematic trashing of the computers at the Tax and Tithes Headquarters had done great damage to the Chojiros' reputation, which was why there were so many Chojiros at Court today, to remind everyone of the size and power of the Clan.
    They were currently replacing the Tax computers at their own expense, and adding extra levels of protection to ensure the same thing could never happen again.
    Within the Clan, those responsible for installing the original security systems had already taken their own lives, to make atonement. A few had to be helped, but that was the Empire under Lionstone for you. There was no room for weakness or failure in Clan Chojiro. They were cutthroat businessmen, sometimes literally, and had made an art form of the hostile takeover. It was truly said: if you see a Chojiro smiling, run.
    BB Chojiro had come to Court specifically to act as spokesperson for her Family.
    She had been trained to appear the perfect smiling front, the acceptable face of a feared Family. She was diplomat, deal maker and deception incarnate. And though her standing in the Family had been a little tarnished by the escape of
    the esper Julian Skye,