Deathstalker 03 - Deathstalker War

platform, sword in
    hand, waiting patiently for them to come to him. His energy half spit and crackled loudly in the quiet.
    Half A Man.
    Hazel moved up beside Owen and swore quietly. "I knew things had been going too smoothly. Why did it have to be him, of all people? The one man in the Empire who definitely can't be killed?"
    "Because my loyalty is beyond question," said Half A Man. "Because the sensors in the carriage told us who was coming, and Lionstone knew someone of more than usual valor would be needed to stop you. And because I wanted to be here.
    Lionstone was quite annoyed when the gas jets wouldn't function, but I wasn't.
    That would have been such a… petty way to win. This way is better. It's only fitting that the truest man in the Empire should face such infamous traitors to the Crown. I suppose it's too late even now to talk you out of this madness?"
    "Far too late," said Giles.
    "And it's not madness," said Owen. "It's necessary. The Empire has become corrupt, sick, evil. It has to be put down, so that something better can take its place."
    "I've heard all that before," said Half A Man. His half face was unreadable, but his voice was firm. "It doesn't mean anything compared to the evil waiting outside the Empire. The aliens that destroyed my ship and my crew and did this to me are still out there, somewhere, waiting for us to grow weak and divided so they can move in and destroy us. And the petty evils that so concern you are nothing to what the aliens would do to Humanity. I saw and experienced horrors beyond your worst nightmares in their ship. We're nothing compared to them. Only the combined strength of the Empire has a chance of stopping them. By this
    rebellion, you put the survival of our very species at risk."
    "Stuff that shit," said Hazel. "I've been hearing that all my life, and there's still no sign of your aliens. If they were coming, they'd have been here long ago. These days, it's just an excuse to keep people like you in power. That lets people like you do whatever you want to people like me. Let the aliens come.
    They couldn't be worse than the life you people wanted to condemn me to. You're the real aliens. You have nothing in common with the people whose lives you control."
    "Hazel's right," said Owen. "You've held the threat of the aliens' coming over everyone's heads for so long, you've come to the point where you can use it to justify any damn thing you want. If you really want to ensure the Empire's survival, stand aside. Let us overthrow Lionstone, and put things right in the Empire."
    "You wouldn't know what to do with an Empire," said Half A Man. "You people would loot and pillage and destroy the traditions of centuries, just to satisfy your own needs and pleasures. I can understand what drives a mercenary like the d'Ark woman, but what the hell are Deathstalkers doing here? You took an oath, upon your name and your blood and your honor, to be true to the Empress and serve her all your days."
    "No," said Giles. "Our oath was to the Throne, not to the madwoman who currently sits on it."
    "A distinction without meaning." Half A Man moved unhurriedly toward them, the sound of his one human foot slapping on the platform sounding loud and distinct in the hush. It felt to Owen as though the whole Empire was listening and holding its breath to see what would happen next. "We have nothing to talk about, outlaws," said Half A Man. "We don't even speak the same language
    anymore."
    "I don't think we ever did," said Owen, just a little sadly. "Throw down your sword. You don't stand a chance against the three of us."
    "You can't kill me," said Half A Man. "No one can."
    "You never met us before," said Giles. "We're different."
    "So we've heard," said Half A Man. He stopped a few yards short of them, and his half mouth moved in something that might have been a smile. "Know what this is?"
    And he held up in his human hand a small metal box with a red button on it.
    Owen, Hazel, and Giles just had time to recognize it as a mindbomb, and then Half A Man pressed the button. The tech in the box stimulated the esper brain tissues, and a psionic signal leaped out, falling across the three rebels like a thunderstorm in their heads. Owen and Hazel and Giles rocked on their feet, hands pressed to their heads, trying to force the hideous howl out of their thoughts. Owen staggered back a step, his eyes bulging, his thoughts slow and churning and not entirely his own. Bright lights flared around