Deathstalker 04 - Deathstalker Honor

Pardon,” said Carrion. “I have not repented or reformed. I am the last of the Ashrai, and their legacy lives on within me. I’m here… because I have nowhere else to be now that the metallic forests are gone.” “You’re here because I asked you,” said Silence. “Because I needed you. Because you’re my friend.”
    “Perhaps. There is bad blood between us, John. The two men we used to be, the men who were friends, are a long way off in the past, so far from us I can barely see them. We’re different people now.”
    “Perhaps, Sean. Time changes everyone. It’s not many who end up the people they thought they’d become. We all look back from time to time, and wonder how the hell we got here from there.”
    “I chose my path,” said the man called Carrion. “I regret nothing.”
    “Die, you bastard traitor!”
    A crewman stepped suddenly out of an alcove, aimed a disrupter point-blank at Carrion’s chest, and pressed the stud. There was no time to dodge, and nowhere to go in the narrow corridor. Even Silence, with all his more than human speed and reflexes, couldn’t do anything to stop what was happening. The disrupter’s energy beam crossed the few feet between the crewman and Carrion in less than a second.
    And a blazing energy field radiated from Carrion’s power lance and absorbed the disrupter blast without flinching. There was a reason why power lances were banned through the Empire, their very possession a death sentence. They amplified an esper’s power to the point that he was literally unbeatable in battle.
    And Carrion was no ordinary esper.
    For a long moment nobody moved. The crewman stood frozen in place, his discharged gun still pointing at Carrion, his mouth hanging open. Carrion stared back at him impassively. Silence’s hand still hovered above his holstered gun. And then the crewman sobbed suddenly, his face twisted with rage, and he grabbed for the sword at his side. Silence moved quickly forward, grabbed the crewman by the shirt front, and slammed him back against the steel bulkhead behind him. All the breath went out of the crewman, his face went slack, and his hands hung limply at his sides. Silence growled into the man’s face, and then turned to look at Carrion, who hadn’t moved an inch, as calm and apparently relaxed as always.
    “Nice reflexes, Sean.”
    “I’ve had to develop them to stay alive in Human space,” said Carrion. Silence growled again, turned back to the crewman, and glared into the man’s dazed eyes.
    “Name and rank, mister. Now!”
    “Ordinary starman Barron, Captain. A loyal member of your crew. Unlike that piece of scum!”
    “That’s enough, mister! He’s a Pardoned man, an Investigator, and your superior officer. He has my full confidence, and an attack on him is an attack on me. Now, turn yourself in to security. I’ll deal with you later. And Barron, don’t make me come looking for you.”
    “No, Captain. I said I was loyal. But you don’t understand—“ “Save it for your court-martial.”
    “He killed my father! On Unseeli!”
    The man looked like he was about to cry. Silence and Carrion looked at each other. Carrion nodded slowly. “It’s possible. I killed a lot of people on Unseeli. I regret your loss, Barron.”
    “Save your lies, traitor!”
    “That’s enough!” Silence pulled Barron away from the bulkhead and threw him staggering down the
    corridor. Other crew members moved quickly back to get out of his way. Barron stumbled away down the corridor, not looking back. Carrion and Silence looked after him for a while and then turned away.
    Around them the watching crew slowly returned to their tasks.
    “We never really leave the past behind,” said Silence heavily. “Some part of it always turns up again, demanding payment.”
    “He must have been a child when his father died,” said Carrion. “Probably joined your crew to follow in his father’s footsteps. Only to find me here and you defending me. It must have been difficult for him.”
    “None of that makes any difference,” said Silence flatly. “I thought I trained my people better than that.
    They’re supposed to be warriors, not sneaking assassins.”
    “It’s not as if he was the first,” said Carrion. “There have been several attempts on my life since you brought me back from Unseeli.” “What?” Silence looked at him sharply. “Why wasn’t I informed? Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “It wasn’t important. I handled