Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

old Empire, Giles Deathstalker's castle was also a massive starship, full of wonders and enigmas and forgotten lore, powered by marvelous engines and protected by impenetrable force shields.
    Diana Vertue was currently in charge, her orders carried out by a crew of one hundred and twenty volunteers from the Imperial Fleet, and a small army of the castle's silent mechanical drones. The volunteers were currently manning the fire controls, gun ports, and other defensive stations too important to be trusted to the castle's computers. They had to be volunteers. Even Diana Vertue had to admit there was a good chance no one on board the Last Standing would survive the coming conflict.
    Meanwhile, the service drones oversaw the running of the castle's countless maintenance systems, just as they had for over nine hundred years. Silent, self-renewing, endlessly obedient, many of the drones were humanoid in shape; stylized metal figures tip-tapping down the stone corridors as they went about their business. Random avoided them wherever possible. They gave him the creeps.
    No one had built robots in human shape since the days of the AI rebellion.
    He made himself concentrate on the drink in his hand. One of the advantages of a recent mapping of the castle had been the surprise discovery of a quite extraordinary wine cellar. Some of the wines laid down there were so ancient now as to be works of art rather than mere beverages. The bad news was that the castle's food synthesizers still refused to deliver up anything but bog-standard protein cubes. Random didn't even want to think what they'd been recycled from.
    Even though they were rapidly closing with a Shub fleet that would in all probability reduce the ancient and powerful castle to so much ancient and powerful rubble, Random's thoughts persisted on pondering what he was going to do after the battle. He knew better than to trust the word of Kings or Parliaments. He'd help defeat Shub, if that was possible, and then disappear again. Maybe with Ruby, if he could just persuade her to the justice of his cause. He sighed quietly. It was unlikely. But he could always hope.
    Ruby was currently sprawled in a more than comfortable chair by the huge open fire, half-dozing like a cat, lulled by the crackling of the flames in the great stone fireplace. But for all her apparent ease, her hands were still resting near her weapons, and Random knew she would be on her feet and ready to fight the moment the Shub fleet was sighted. She was just killing time, until she could kill something for real. Random often suspected that all of life's comforts were nothing more to her than distractions, a way of passing the time
    until she could do again what she was born to do, and feel really alive. There were times when Random felt that way too.
    He studied Diana Vertue as she addressed Captain Eden Cross of the Excalibur on the great floating viewscreen. The Captain was new to his ship, and to his position as head of the seven ships accompanying the Last Standing. His dark face seemed calm enough, and his voice was relaxed and even, but his tension was clear to Random's experienced eyes. Diana, on the other hand, seemed older and more sure of herself. She spoke soothingly to Cross, supportive without being patronizing. And not a glimpse of Jenny Psycho anywhere. Random approved. Jenny was one of the few people who could still make him nervous.
    "We should make contact with the Shub fleet in just under an hour," said Cross.
    "Isn't there anything you can tell me about this marvelous plan of yours, Vertue? A lot of lives are riding on it, both here and back on Golgotha. If we fail…"
    "We won't," said Diana. "Have a little faith, Captain. My plan is dependent on the element of surprise. And what you don't know… I'm sure you can fill in the rest. Let me know when the Shub fleet comes into sensor range. Until then, Vertue out."
    The viewscreen vanished, taking Cross with it. Diana sighed, and then turned and caught Random studying her. She flashed him a weary smile. "And before you ask, no, I'm not going to tell you either."
    "You must have been very persuasive, to get Parliament's approval and backing for such a… nebulous scheme," said Random.
    Diana grinned. "You have no idea. Still; having the Mater Mundi in my corner was one hell of an exposed card."
    "Can't you even tell me why you needed Ruby and me to come along? Even with all our abilities, there's not a lot we can do, stuck in this