Deathstalker 04 - Deathstalker Honor

met a Hadenman socially before.”
    “That’s all right,” said Moon generously. “I’ve never met a Saint before.” Mother Beatrice laughed
    briefly and shook her head. “You still haven’t. No one’s ever met a Saint when they’re alive. It’s more a posthumous award, bestowed by people who never met the real person.” She looked at Hazel.
    “Speaking of reputations, I’ve heard a lot about you, Hazel d’Ark.” “You don’t want to believe everything you see in the holos,” said Hazel uncomfortably.
    “Oh, I don’t,” Mother Beatrice assured her. “You should hear some of the things they’ve said about me.
    Last I heard, they were claiming I was feeding this entire colony on five protein cubes and five pints of distilled water. I wish. I’m no Saint; just a nun, going where I’m needed. Now, perhaps you’ll be good enough to introduce your two friends, whom I confess are unfamiliar to me.” “Oh, sure,” said Hazel. “The tall steroids case with a butcher’s ax on her hip is Midnight Blue. The S and M freak is Bonnie Bedlam.
    They’re… cousins of mine. Good fighters. Now, perhaps you’d be good enough to brief us on the current situation. I was given to understand things were pretty desperate here, but we traveled through miles of jungle to get here, and never saw a single Hadenman.” “They come and they go,” said Mother Beatrice. “We don’t know why. They started off attacking the outer settlements, but soon focused their attention here. We’re the main communications center, the only starport, and the main distribution center. Whoever controls the Mission controls the fate of the colony. But the jungle and the weather make air attacks and ground travel impractical, so they have to come on foot. And though there are always more of them in every attack, so far we’ve held them off successfully. High-tech weaponry doesn’t last long here; the rain gets into everything. So most of the fighting has been hand to hand, steel on steel.” “Even so,” said Owen, “how has a simple wooden fort like this stood off a Hadenman army?”
    “With increasing difficulty. The jungle is our protector. The Hadenmen have to get through it to get to us, and while the plant life here has always been somewhat aggressive, it really hates the augmented men. By the time they get to us, they’re already exhausted and thinned out by what the jungle’s put them through.
    And we do have a number of true warriors here. Some were marines before their condition was diagnosed. They’ve made good teachers. And we also have two Sisters of Glory.”
    “Bloody hell,” said Hazel, deeply impressed. “I’d back two Sisters of Glory against an army of Hadenmen, no problem. I’d even give odds. How did they come to be here?”
    “How do you think?” said Mother Beatrice, and Hazel had the grace to look a little embarrassed.
    Owen saw Moon’s puzzled frown. “They’re something new. Appeared while you were still dead. The Sisters of Glory are nuns who used to be part of the old Church’s Brotherhood of Steel, a semi-mystical order within an order, trained in all martial arts. The old Church used them as internal police, debt collectors, and for scaring the crap out of the ungodly. After Mother Beatrice reformed the Church, most of the Brotherhood were up on charges for atrocities, mass murder, and being massively politically incorrect. So the Mother Superior revamped the few survivors as the Sisters of Glory, and gave them a new mission in life: fight to put an end to fighting. Protect the weak and the needy. Die fighting that others might live. The last warriors in a pacifistic Church, the order tends to attract… extreme types.”
    “Very diplomatically put,” said Mother Beatrice. “Actually, they’re mostly homicidal headbangers with strong suicidal tendencies, and I just wanted a place I could put them all so I could keep an eye on them.
    To my surprise, they’ve turned out to be very good at what they do. Still a little too keen to martyr themselves for the cause, but I suppose that goes with the territory. Anyway, you’ll meet them later.”
    “Oh, good,” said Owen. “Two more homicidal women in my life. Just what I needed.”
    “What was that?” said Mother Beatrice. “Don’t mumble, sir Deathstalker. It’s a very annoying habit.
    Now then, we seem to be in a quiet phase at the moment, so why don’t you all take a walk through our little community? It’ll be good for