Deathstalker 04 - Deathstalker Honor

where did you ever get that idea?” said the Fury. “You are useful, nothing more. Pray you don’t outlast that usefulness.”
    “We can’t fight Random and Journey!” said Tallon. “Not them. They’re monsters.
    They can do things no one should be able to do.” “Not to worry,” said Young Jack Random, still smiling. “We always thought some of the Maze survivors might turn up here. So we brought along a special little something just for them. Something that will make them merely human again. And then you’ll have no trouble taking them, will you, gentlemen?” “No,” said Tallon. “We won’t. They perverted and
    corrupted our cause. They made a deal with the Families instead of wiping them out. The same bastards are still running things, same as they always did. To hell with Jack Random and that psycho bitch Journey.”
    “We were betrayed,” said Jacks. “After everything we’d done for Loki, after all our blood and suffering, and the good men we lost—in the end it was all for nothing.”
    The two humans looked at each other, seeing again old hurts from the past. Only by continually rehearsing their old wrongs and grievances could they keep their rage fresh, and excuse the terrible things they had seen and done in their alliance with Shub. They needed to believe they were still the heroes of their rebellion.
    “When I took over as Planetary Controller, I thought the war was over,” said Tallon. “I thought I could finally start making changes, real changes. But it was all a sham. My position meant nothing, my ideas were ignored. The people who actually ran things, who controlled the money and the bureaucracy, found more and more ways to obstruct and sideline me. I was helpless, little more than a figurehead, there to fool the people into thinking something had changed.” “So all that was left to us was to rebel again,” said Jacks. “And this time make sure we had enough power on our side that we couldn’t be denied. And so we turned to Shub, and they sent you, Young Jack Random. You and all your killing machines.”
    “And haven’t we done an excellent job?” said the Fury. “Our forces haven’t lost a single campaign.”
    “Campaign? You call slaughtering defenseless villagers a campaign?” Tallon glared at Young Jack Random. “It has to stop! I won’t stand for this anymore! Stop the massacres now, while we still have some popular support left!” “We only do what is necessary,” Young Jack Random said calmly. “We must destroy the morale of the enemy so that when we finally come to Vidar, they will surrender rather than face extermination. Thus, a lengthy siege and much loss of life on both sides is avoided. You did agree to these tactics before we began.” “Yes,” said Jacks. “We agreed. But we never thought it would go on this long.
    Never knew there’d be so much blood on our hands.” “Better a few hundred die in a few villages than thousands in the city,” said Tallon. “That’s how you sold it to us. But Vidar still shows no sign of surrendering, and now they have the real Jack Random and Ruby Journey. They have monsters on their side.”
    “Not to worry,” said Young Jack Random. “You have me.” And he smiled on them both, and turned and left.
    Tallon and Jacks sank back into their seats again, not looking at each other.
    Tallon’s hands were clenched into fists on the tabletop. Jacks looked sick.
    “Monsters,” said Tallon quietly. “Wherever I look, I see monsters.” “What have we done, Matt?” said Jacks. “We’ve unleashed something we have no hope of controlling.”
    “We have to go on,” said Tallon. “We have to go to Vidar and win this, or all the blood and all the deaths will have been for nothing.” “But… say we win. Say we take control of Vidar and then Loki? You think Shub is just going to pull its forces out and leave us to get on with running things? What’s to stop them just slaughtering us all and making Loki into another Shub planet?”
    “We’re allies,” said Tallon.
    “Are we? We’re sure as hell not equal partners. Whatever Shub decides, we’ll have no choice but to go along. We’re damned, Matt, whatever happens.” “Then we’re damned!” said Tallon. “And I don’t care.
    Just as long as our enemies fall first. Just let me live long enough to see them all die, and I’ll be happy.”
    Jack Random and Ruby Journey strode through the crowded corridors of the city Council building, and