Deathstalker 02 - Deathstalker Rebellion

augmented men were very understanding. They let her have all the Blood she wanted, a little at a time, and never once mentioned a price. Hazel had no doubt they eventually would, but for the moment she couldn't bring herself to give a damn or even question where the Blood came from. The Blood made the pressure go away, and that was all that mattered. For a while she thought the boost she obtained from Owen might work as a substitute, but it didn't last long enough and had its own dangers. Typical of Owen. Always let you down when you really needed him. She knew that wasn't true even as she thought
    it, but didn't care. She needed someone to blame apart from herself. For the moment no one knew about her problem but the Hadenmen, who had promised to keep it to themselves. Eventually, the truth would come out, but that was the future, and these days it took everything Hazel had just to deal with the present.
    The meeting finally lurched to a start under the chairmanship of Jack Random. He stood on a small raised stage so everyone could see him and just started talking loudly and clearly. He might not look very impressive, but his voice cracked like a whip, and he still had the gift of words combined with a natural authority. Voices in the crowd died away to an expectant hush as Random thanked them all for coming, introduced himself and some of the more prominent faces, and then threw open the floor for discussion. And not very surprisingly, the first to raise his voice was Elias Gutman.
    "Before we begin, my dear friends, might I take this occasion to point out that the rebellion's raid on the Tax and Tithe Headquarters turned out to be an unmitigated disaster? Because of us, Golgotha's shields were down when the alien ship arrived, and now everyone blames us for the damage and loss of life it caused! It's going to be even harder now than it was before to gain popular support for our cause."
    "That's not fair!" Hazel said quickly. "We had no way of knowing the alien ship was coming. We did everything we were asked to, at great risk to ourselves, I might add, and achieved everything that was required of us. If you don't think that's good enough, feel free to lead the next attack yourself!"
    "Right," said Owen. "Look on the bright side. The Tax and Tithe systems are now a complete mess, and likely to stay that way for years. And we now have billions of new credits in our secret accounts. That money will fund the forthcoming rebellion. Whatever happens next, we made it possible, and don't you forget it,
    you ungrateful little toad."
    "Let's keep the name-calling to a minimum, shall we?" Random said quickly.
    "Otherwise this meeting will never get started, never mind finished. I think we can all agree that the Golgotha mission was a qualified success, in that we achieved the aims we set ourselves. We'll just have to plan things a little more carefully in the future, to allow for… unexpected complications. For now, the credits that raid contained are already being used to establish rebel bases and undergrounds on planets throughout the Empire. Those credits will also buy us ships, weapons, and if need be, mercenary armies. I'm sure that must stick in the craw of some of you, but the fact remains that we're going to need an army of trained soldiers to face off against Lionstone's forces. The Hadenmen have very kindly promised us their full support in the field, but I think we'd all feel happier not being reliant on their goodwill. Don't forget it takes time and expertise to turn fighters into trained soldiers. I know, I've done it before, many times.
    "The aliens… are an unknown factor. We'll deal with them as and when the situation arises. We have to concentrate on the enemy we know. We're not exactly without weapons of our own; two esper clones have come to us as representatives of the Golgotha underground. They speak for an army of battle-trained espers and clones, ready to strike at a moment's notice. Investigator Topaz is here to speak for Mistworld. I'm sure I don't need to tell you who she is or remind you of the rebel planet's strength. They're an army in themselves. If we can just get them all pointed in the same direction."
    There were quite a few muffled chuckles at that. Mistworld's population were well-known to spend as much time fighting each other as they did the Empire. But
    what else would you expect from a planet populated almost exclusively by crooks, rebels, and political subversives? The chuckles died