Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

keep warm and pass hip flasks around as to share the latest gossip. Everyone knew what had happened on Loki. They'd all seen the holo footage; seen the bodies hanging from the walls of Vidar.
    Parliament had sent Random and Ruby to put down a rebellion on Loki. Jack did it
    by hanging the leaders of both sides, and a great many of their followers too.
    Public response throughout the Empire was divided. They wanted to see the guilty punished, but by courts and tribunals, not by one man, answerable to no one.
    After all, who knew when such a man might turn on them? Parliament was predictably outraged, not least because most of the hanged dead were politicians, appointed by Parliament. So they sent a ship to Loki, to pick up Jack Random and Ruby Journey and bring them back to Golgotha, to answer a few very pointed questions. They also sent a small army of guards along, just to make it clear how upset they were.
    The ship had landed over an hour ago, but as yet no one had disembarked. The great hull was still ticking quietly in the cold air as the hot metal slowly cooled. No one on board or in the port control tower was answering any questions. The reporters were beginning to wonder if anyone was left alive on board. It wouldn't have surprised any of the journalists present if Jack Random and Ruby Journey had killed all the guards sent to escort them, and sent the ship home empty.
    The main airlock suddenly began cycling open, and the reporters quickly moved forward to get the best positions facing it, while their hovering cameras fought it out overheard for the best covering angles, often resorting to savage butting contests to establish seniority. The lock remained open for several seconds of silent tension, and then a single guard captain stepped out onto the pad. He nodded tiredly to the journalists, his face grim.
    "Jack Random and Ruby Journey want it to be known that they are not in the best of moods, and will take any intrusive questions as personal insults. Anyone wishing to get really probing should make his next of kin known in advance.
    They've got a few things they want to say, but you'll have to wait for the rest until after they've spoken to Parliament. Everyone got that?"
    There was a certain amount of confused nodding, and not a few sideways glances, and then Thompson of the Golgotha Times stepped forward. A tall, gangling sort with piercing eyes, he'd covered everything from wars to gossip at Lionstone's Court, and there wasn't much left that frightened him. "A few small queries, Captain. First, why are you acting as their messenger boy, when you and your fellow guards were sent to escort them back in semi-disgrace; and second, shouldn't you be wearing some sort of weapon?"
    The other reporters took in the empty holster and scabbard on the Captain's hips. He cleared his throat unhappily. "Sir Random made us all give up our weapons. He said he found them… distracting."
    While that was still sinking in, a hundred other guards filed silently out of the airlock. None of them were armed, and most of them looked demoralized, upset, and, occasionally, downright twitchy. They all carefully avoided the reporters' gaze as they formed two ranks on either side of the airlock, and then snapped to attention as Jack Random and Ruby Journey finally disembarked. The cameras immediately went for close-ups of their faces, transmitted to the journalists via their comm implants, but the two Maze survivors looked much the same as they always had. Except perhaps a little colder around the eyes. Random and Ruby came to a halt before the assembled press pack, who suddenly had to fight down a collective urge to fall back several yards. The man and woman before them had always felt dangerous, but now there was something about them that was positively disturbing. They had the look of people who were no longer interested in taking prisoners. The reporters looked at the dispirited guards, and swallowed hard. Whatever had happened to so thoroughly upset the guards, the
    journalists were pretty damn sure they didn't want it happening to them. Random looked them over, unsmiling.
    "Where's Toby Shreck? I thought he'd be here. Only damn journo I ever had any time for."
    Again, only Thompson found a voice to answer with. "He and Flynn are covering the forthcoming royal wedding. He's got exclusive coverage rights."
    "Ah," said Ruby. "They're still going ahead with that constitutional monarch rubbish, are they? How are Constance and