Deathstalker 04 - Deathstalker Honor

various names, and none of them worked out. Being a professional rebel took up a lot of my life. There wasn’t always room left for anyone else, no matter how I felt about them.” “But your job’s over now,” said Hazel.
    “Don’t think I haven’t noticed,” said Jack. He started to raise his bottle to his mouth, and then stopped and put it down again. “I was the man who fought the System. Any System. I defined myself, who and what and why I was, in relation to Lionstone and her corrupt Empire. Now they’re both gone, I don’t know what to do with myself that matters a damn.”
    “You’ll just have to learn a new kind of war,” said Ruby. “It’s called politics.”
    “I’m too old a dog to learn new tricks,” said Jack. “Even if I have a new young body. I spent my whole life turning myself into a particular kind of man, only to discover there’s no need for that kind of man anymore. Instead, there’s just meetings and committees and endless bloody compromises, all the time trying to keep old enemies from each other’s throats. And all the time wondering if any of it really matters…” He sighed deeply. “I suppose I could put myself forward as a bounty hunter, like you and
    Owen, but I can’t escape the feeling that everything here will come crashing down in ruins if I’m not here to oversee the change. They trust me, you see. I’m the legendary professional rebel. The man who finally gave them their freedom. How can I tell them that their everyday little problems bore the shit out of me?”
    “Know what you mean,” said Ruby, nodding sagely. “Know what you mean. Success ruined us. I mean, look at me. Finally I’m as rich as I always dreamed of being. Maybe even more so—hell, I can’t even keep track of it all these days. Got accountants for that. They send me statements, but I can’t make heads or tails of them. I never knew there were numbers that big. I track down rich criminals, find where they’ve hidden their loot, confiscate it, and then hand it over to Parliament, minus my hefty commission.
    Not that I do much of the actual work myself, of course—got a whole bunch of cyberats working for me.
    They locate the funds and the bastard’s location, and then I just bash my way in there and arrest the bad guy. They rarely put up much of a fight once I’m past their defenses. Hell, most of them burst into tears when they see me walk in.” “Hold everything,” said Jack. “Arrest them? Since when did you ever bother with arresting people?”
    “Oh, all right, then. I break in and kill the bad guys, if you insist on being exact. They’d only be hanged by the war trials anyway, and I can’t be bothered with the paperwork. Point is, I am now rolling in money. More than even I can spend in a lifetime. Got a big house, servants, all the latest comforts and luxuries. All the things I always thought I wanted. But you can get tired of things real quickly. They’re just toys, when you get right down to it. Even shouting at the servants has lost its charm. There’s no fun in intimidating someone when you know you’re paying them to be intimidated. And on top of all that, I have this sneaking suspicion that I’m getting soft and losing my edge. There’s always someone waiting in the wings to take it all away from you.” “Yeah,” said Jack heavily. “The trouble with fulfilling all your dreams is that eventually you wake up to reality.”
    “Oh, very profound,” said Ruby. “Very deep. What the hell does that mean?” Jack shrugged. “Damned if I know. But it sounded good there for a moment.” He looked across the crowded Chamber at Owen.
    “What’s he doing, talking to that Wolfe woman?”
    “Maybe she’s got some lead on where we can find Valentine,” said Hazel. “Maybe,” said Jack. “But I wouldn’t trust anything that came from that direction. Last I heard, Constance Wolfe was in bed with the Chojiros. Bad Family. Bad people.”
    Hazel looked at him thoughtfully. “There was something in your voice just then, when you said Chojiro.
    Something cold… and angry. What connection do you have with the Chojiros?”
    “Yeah,” said Ruby. “This isn’t the first time I’ve heard you put them down. What makes the Chojiros so much worse than all the other aristocratic scumbags?” Jack stared at the bottle before him so he wouldn’t have to look at Ruby or Hazel. “My mother was a Chojiro,” he said quietly. “They threw her out and cut her off