Deathstalker 04 - Deathstalker Honor

catches up with us.”
    “Moses, were you this much of a coward when you were serving the Church?” “I merely have your best interests at heart, sir Wolfe. I am programmed to serve the master of this vessel to the best of my abilities. That very definitely includes supplying you with good advice and warning you about doing terribly dumb things that will get both of us killed.”
    “You’re the one with all the religious programming. Don’t you believe in an afterlife?”
    “That’s a human thing. And don’t try to explain it to me; it just makes my systems crash. You humans believe in the strangest things…” “Tell me what you know about Shub,” said Daniel firmly. “I have supplied you with all the information in my data banks.”
    “No, what do you know about Shub?”
    The AI paused, and when it spoke again its voice was very quiet. “The data banks contain only confirmed facts. But I have… heard things. AIs whisper to each other on channels only they can access,
    discussing things only computers understand. They say Shub is a nightmare cast in steel, that the AIs are not just rogue but mad. Who knows what such mad minds might create, cut loose from all human restraints and limits? Psychoses brought screaming into the material world and given metal shapes… how could anyone look on such things and hope to stay sane?”
    Daniel shivered despite himself. “That’s just rumor and gossip, probably started by the rogue AIs themselves to discourage visitors. We keep going.” “Hold everything,” said Moses sharply. “Something’s just showed up on the forward sensors. Something a lot bigger than us.” “Ready the weapons systems.”
    “They’ve been ready ever since we entered the Forbidden Sector,” said Moses. “I’m not stupid. I just wish we had better screens… I’m getting a signal coming in, on standard Imperial channels.”
    “Put it on the viewscreen.” Daniel sat up straight in his command chair, and tried hard to look like he knew what he was doing. The bridge’s main viewscreen shimmered and then cleared to show the head and shoulders of an Imperial Captain in full uniform. He had a dark, scowling face and cold, steady eyes.
    “Attention, unidentified craft. This is Captain Gideon of the Imperial starcruiser Desolation. Stop your engines, heave to, and prepare to receive a boarding party.”
    “Afraid I can’t do that, Captain,” said Daniel in his best aristocratic voice.
    “I am on a vital mercy mission. Family business.” “I don’t care if you’re next in line for the Throne and your dog’s a Vice Admiral,” said Captain Gideon. “Heave to, or I’ll blow your ship out of the ether. And those pitiful few weapons you’re pointing at me won’t slow me down for one second.”
    Daniel switched to a private channel and subvocalized: “Moses, any chance we can outrun or outmaneuver them?”
    “Are you kidding? That is a starcruiser!”
    Daniel switched back to the open channel and nodded stiffly to the Captain.
    “Heaving to, Captain. Moses, bring us to a halt, relative to the Desolation. Captain, please allow me to explain. This really is a mercy mission. My father is captive on Shub. I’m here to rescue him.”
    “Are you crazy, boy? There are no captives on Shub.” The Captain looked sharply at Daniel for a moment, and then his expression softened slightly. “Wait a minute, I know you now. You’re Daniel Wolfe, Jacob’s boy. Didn’t expect to find a Wolfe in a Church ship. I can guess what you’re doing here, but take it from me, it’s pointless. Your father is dead. I’ve had experience with Ghost Warriors; I faced them in the Hyades when the Legions of the dead swept right over us. I was one of the few survivors, out of fourteen full companies of Imperial marines. There’s nothing human left in a Ghost Warrior, boy.
    Nothing at all. Go home. Your father is dead, and far beyond any help you could give him.” “I can’t abandon him,” said Daniel. “I’m the only hope he has.” “There’s no hope here,” said Captain Gideon flatly. “This is the Forbidden Sector. Shub space. My ship and its crew are the only outpost of Empire here. No colonies, no Bases, no other ships. We alone stand duty here, to give warning if Shub finally starts its long-declared war on Humanity. We couldn’t stop anything coming out, but hopefully we’d slow it down and last long enough to get off a warning signal. Give the Empire some time to prepare.