Deathstalker 03 - Deathstalker War

is unavailable at the moment," said the Steward. "Things are rather chaotic here, as I'm sure you can imagine. Tell me where you are, my lord, and I'll send an armored flyer to fetch you, and bring you back safely."
    "Turn it off," said Kit. "If he's in charge, your people are dead. The Steward's the one who sold you out in the first place."
    "I must insist on knowing where you are, my lord," said the Steward. "You are in danger every minute you're not under my protection."
    "Turn it off," said Stevie One. "Before they trace the signal."
    David shut down the screen. He didn't know what to say. It had never occurred to him that his own people might turn against him. Sure, he and the Steward had had words on more than one occasion, but to betray the Family that had fed and sheltered him from birth, that gave his life purpose and meaning… It had all happened so quickly. One minute he was the man who had everything, then suddenly he had nothing but a price on his head. Just like his cousin, Owen. Maybe the planet was jinxed. Laughter dangerously close to hysteria bubbled up inside him.
    He realized Alice was talking to him and tugging at his sleeve.
    "My parents, David. I need to know about my parents."
    "Of course you do. You set the codes, I have to think. Kit, if the Steward's got my emergency codes, my private security measures aren't worth shit anymore. But that works both ways. If he's got access to my codes, then I've got access to his."
    "What good does that do us?" said Kit.
    "I should be able to patch into the Standing's comm system, and through that
    into the Empire's systems. We'll be able to see what they're seeing. I need to know what's happening elsewhere on my world. I can't believe Lionstone's ordered a complete taking of Virimonde. The loss of life would be enormous. Appalling."
    "Since when has that ever stopped the Iron Bitch?" said Kit.
    "Kit," said David. "They said it's all my fault. My people are going to die, because of what I did."
    "I've got the farm!" said Alice, and they all turned to look. The view on the screen was fuzzy, unfocused. Alice bent over the control panel, cursing under her breath as she tried to boost the signal. It finally snapped into focus, and Alice shrank back from the screen, one hand half-raised, as though to protect herself. She'd patched into one of the farm's exterior sensors, showing the farmhouse from outside. The great stone building was under attack. The stonework was riddled with holes from energy guns, and part of the roof had been blown away. What remained of the thatched roof was burning fiercely. There were two bodies lying still in the courtyard, clutching projectile weapons in their dead hands. They'd both been hit by energy guns.
    Alice shook her head slowly, as though to deny what she was seeing. "That's Sam.
    And Matthew. My brothers. Where are the others? Where are my father and mother?"
    David put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she didn't feel it. The farmhouse's front door flew open, and black smoke billowed out, thick and heavy.
    And out of the smoke, projectile weapons in hand, firing at an unseen enemy, came Adrian and Diana Daker. They kept up a steady fire as they ran for the stables behind the house. The camera was too far away to show their faces clearly, but their body language showed calm determination. They weren't panicking.
    Energy beams flashed around them, blowing holes in the farmhouse wall, but the
    Dakers were hard targets to hit. And then a company of Imperial marines appeared from behind the house, cutting the Dakers off from the stables. Adrian and Diana skidded to a halt, looking quickly about them, but there was nowhere they could go. The marines opened fire. Diana screamed and fell as one of her legs was shot out from under her, and then screamed again as an energy beam punched through Adrian's stomach and out his back. He fell to the ground, still holding his gun.
    Diana tried to pull herself along the ground toward him. Adrian reached out a hand to her, and another beam blew his head apart. Two more blasts hit Diana, tearing her body in two. Her torso rolled away, leaving her legs shuddering on the ground. She looked across at her dead husband. Her mouth moved as she tried to say something, then the life went out of her, and she lay still.
    Alice was making strangled mewling noises, her wide eyes fixed on her dead parents. Jenny took her by the shoulders and forcibly turned her away from the screen. All the strength