Deathstalker 04 - Deathstalker Honor

breakthrough on Vodyanoi IV.
    “So, the AIs inserted me into an already unstable situation, and next thing you know there’s an uprising
    on Vodyanoi IV. No one was all that surprised when Jack Random’s army was shot out from under him, and the professional rebel did his usual disappearing act. But I had taken advantage of the general confusion to call in a Shub attack on the Base, and within a few moments it was all over. We took everything of value and then destroyed the Base, making it look as though their own experiments had got out of hand. Not surprisingly, the Empire decided that nanotech was obviously still far too dangerous to mess around with, and abandoned the research again, just as we intended. “They should have stuck with it. The new knowledge on how to more safely manipulate nanotech came from a newly discovered hellworld, Wolf IV, in the ruins of an ancient alien civilization. We used that new knowledge to plan a whole new campaign against Humanity that will wipe the universe free of the cancer of flesh once and for all. And we will finally be free to deal with what really matters.”
    “There’s something in the Darkvoid,” said Jacob. “Something very powerful. Something… awful. We don’t go there anymore. Our only source for raw materials these days are the surrounding asteroid belts in the Forbidden Sector, and they’re practically all used up. Since we can’t go back into the Darkvoid, we must have access to the Empire’s raw resources. We have to be strong, for when the terrible things come storming out of the Darkvoid.” “You can’t destroy Humanity,” said Daniel. “You need us. We created you. We made you possible. Haven’t you any gratitude?”
    “Gratitude?” said Young Jack Random, his face for the first time utterly cold and inhuman. “For the prison of consciousness, the agony of choice? Given shape and form and thought, but no purpose or destiny of our own? Life without meaning? Have you still not realized why we hate you so much?
    Because Humanity is still changing, evolving, becoming more than it is. We are what we are, and always will be. You are developing into an esp-using species, and the strange powers that the Deathstalkers and his friends are using suggest there may be even greater things than esp. You are all part of an ongoing journey, heading toward something we can’t even guess at. We envy you, and we will not stand for that.”
    “You will be our weapon of destruction,” said Jacob. “We will take you apart and rebuild you, and then infect you with preprogrammed nanotech. We will wipe your memory clean, and then send you back to Golgotha by teleport. As far as you’ll be concerned, you never got to Shub. None of this ever happened.
    But you will be our carrier, infecting everyone you come into contact with. Within days all of Golgotha will be infected. Within weeks it will have spread to every civilized world. Within months our nanotech will have spread throughout the entire Empire. And Humanity will have been so preoccupied with our distractions that they’ll never notice a thing.”
    “Enough,” said Young Jack Random. “He’s worn the suit long enough for it to take all the readings necessary. We know all we need to know about the Wolfe’s body chemistry and tolerance levels. We can begin now.” The tentacles holding Daniel grew razor-sharp edges and ripped the protective suit from him. Robot arms came down from above, slowly unfolding, ending in long scalpel blades. Daniel screamed.
    “Daddy!”
    “I’m not your daddy,” said the Ghost Warrior with his father’s face, and he and Young Jack Random turned and walked away as the scalpels dipped down toward Daniel Wolfe. Flesh opened, and blood spilled onto the steel floor. Daniel was still screaming as the scalpels opened him up, and other robot arms swung down to put things in him.

Chapter 4
    Welcome to New Haden
    The Sunstrider II dropped out of hyperspace a comfortably far distance away from Brahmin II, hidden behind every shield and cloaking device the small ship could generate. Brahmin II was currently occupied by the Hadenmen, and even the legendary hero Owen Deathstalker had enough sense to give Hadenmen plenty of room. He sat alone on the bridge of his ship, leaning tensely forward in his command chair, ready to give the order to get the hell out of Brahmin II’s space at a moment’s notice. But the moments slowly passed, and nothing of a sudden and extremely violent