Deathstalker 04 - Deathstalker Honor

Ruby. “There’s a lot of that about these days. I can’t believe humans would fight alongside Ghost Warriors of their own free will.” Savage shrugged. “They’re desperate. A lot of them have old scores to settle. And maybe… they’ve developed a taste for killing. I don’t know. Sometimes I think the whole Empire’s gone crazy. The old order was bad, but what we’ve got now is worse.”
    “It’s just a transition,” said Random. “There were always bound to be… difficulties in replacing one system with another. Things will get better in time.”
    “I’m sure that’s a comfort to all those who die during your transition,” said Savage. “Or to those who have to watch them die. What happened, sir Random? I always believed in you. Watched your battle against Lionstone on black-market vids. Prayed that someday, somehow, you’d succeed. Now I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
    “Have faith,” said Random. “Not in me, but in the people. They’ll put the Empire back together again and make it stronger than it was. All this will pass.” “If you start talking about birth pains again, I may puke,” said Ruby. “Nothing of worth is ever achieved without pain and sacrifice,” said Random, concentrating on Savage. “We owe it to those who have died to keep on fighting, to keep struggling, for what they and we believe in.” “I want to believe,” said Savage. “I want all this death and suffering to have been for something. But what have we achieved if people like de Lisle can come back to power again?”
    “Trust me,” said Random. “I’ll take care of him once I get back to Golgotha.”
    “Can you stop the rebels?” said Savage. “Can you stop the Ghost Warriors?”
    “Of course we can,” said Ruby. “We’re the good guys. Right, Random?” “Well, I am,” said Random.
    “I’m not too sure about you.” He looked straight at Savage. “We’ll do everything we can to save this world from its enemies. I swear it, upon my blood and my honor. Now, I need you to work out a map for me, showing how much territory the rebels control and what direction they’re moving in. I want some idea of what they’re going to hit next.” Savage nodded and got to work at his terminal again. Random gestured unobstrusively to Ruby, and they moved off a ways to talk in private. “Originally, I thought we’d been sent here to distract us from our investigations into Shub’s connection on Golgotha,” said Random.
    “But this is clearly more important. Shub has to be stopped here, and stopped hard, or they’ll move from planet to planet, repeating these tactics.” “But what can we do against an army of Ghost Warriors?” said Ruby. “You made a real nice speech to that boy, but I don’t see how we’re going to back it up. Even trained soldiers have a hard time against Ghost Warriors, and this city’s army is strictly amateur hour.
    Shub will chew them up and spit them out.” “I do have some experience plotting strategies against superior odds,” said Random. “I did win my fair share of campaigns, you know.” “You lost just as many.”
    “That was then, this is now. If Savage’s map shows what I think it’s going to, I have an idea that may win us this war in one blow.” “A desperate last gamble, against overpowering odds, with everything depending on us. That sort of thing?”
    “Yes,” said Random. “That sort of thing.”
    “Ah,” said Ruby, shaking her head, “business as usual. Look, just once, why not do the sensible thing; call in half a dozen starcruisers and have them blast the rebel positions from orbit?”
    “One, there aren’t half a dozen starcruisers available. Two, their sensors wouldn’t work accurately through the endless storms. Three, if we escalate matters, so will Shub. We have to beat them with what
    we have here, so they’ll think twice about trying this anywhere else.”
    “I hate it when you go all logical on me,” said Ruby. “All right, here we go again. Time to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, one more time.” Savage called politely for their attention, and they crowded around his monitor to study the map.
    “So far the rebel forces have been concentrating on hit-and-run attacks,” said Savage. “They attack during lulls in the weather, destroy the target, and then disappear before we can retaliate. Travel has to be on foot, for us and them. Aircraft won’t work on Loki; the storms are too much for them. In a