Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

all across the Empire. We were fortunate indeed that the Deathstalker and his allies were able to destroy New Haden, before it could become the communications center that would have linked the Nests together. However, only E-class starcruisers have the speed and the firepower to equal the golden ships, and their numbers have never been more limited than now. And if I hear one voice saying Build more, I'll have that person dragged outside and shot. The factories are running day and night as it is. Next up, we have a report on how the ground wars are going against Shub's forces on the outer worlds."
    The screen revealed a montage of swiftly changing images, showing great armies of Imperial marines clashing with equally large armies of Ghost Warriors, Furies, and Grendels: the Legions of the dead and the damned. Swords flashed and energy weapons flared, and the dead and the dying lay everywhere. The marines fought bravely, often to the last man, but their victories were few and far between. Often the best they could manage was a bloody standing action, holding their ground in the desperate hope of reinforcements. The marines had to burn their own dead to prevent Shub raising them again as Ghost Warriors. Battle espers were the Empire's only match for the machines in the form of men, the Furies, but there weren't enough of them to go around. Rushed from one danger point to the next, with never any time to rest, they died by inches from fatigue and overstraining of their powers, but still fighting bravely for as long as they could.
    No one was stupid enough to face the Grendels head on. The scarlet devils swarmed unstoppably forward on all fronts, killing every living thing they encountered. The marines' current best tactics involved using themselves as bait to lure the Grendels into an enclosed space, and then blowing the whole area sky high with previously placed explosives. Unfortunately, the Grendels were very hard to kill. Sometimes the charges did the job, and sometimes they didn't, and either way there always seemed to be more of the crimson aliens to replace those who fell.
    "And just to further complicate things," said Gutman, "the Grendels seem to be throwing off their Shub controls, and attacking the Shub forces as well as ours.
    This was considered good news, until it was discovered the yoked Grendels we'd been using as advance troops were also rejecting their conditioning, and turning on our troops. The Grendels are becoming wild cards in this war; completely
    unpredictable. There's also some evidence that the Grendels have been showing signs of increasing intelligence. Apparently the harder you hit them, the faster they adapt to meet the new conditions."
    The viewscreen went blank. The MPs and honored guests looked at one another, but no one seemed to have anything to say. Gutman looked out over the packed crowd till his eyes fell on Jack Random and Ruby Journey, and then he gestured for them to approach him. They did so, taking their time about it. People still hurried to fall back out of their way. Random and Ruby were used to respect, but naked fear was new to them. Ruby quite liked it.
    Eventually they came to a halt before Elias Gutman on his raised dais, and he looked down on them with all the authority he could muster. "Well?" he said heavily. "Do either of you have any comments you'd care to make on what we've just seen?"
    "We're getting our ass kicked," said Ruby. "We're outnumbered, outgunned, and using outdated tactics. Either we get our act together soon, or the whole damned human Empire will be nothing more than a footnote in Something Else's history books."
    "Diplomatic as ever, Ruby," murmured Random. "Though essentially accurate.
    Gutman; we can't face this many enemies on so many scattered fronts. We're potentially a match for any one of our enemies, maybe even including Shub, but dispersed as we are we're too ineffective to achieve any real victories. Our only real hope is to get our enemies fighting each other…"
    "We're working on it," said Gutman. "In the meantime, however, we need a secret weapon. Something powerful enough to reverse our losses and buy us valuable time to work out new tactics."
    "You're talking about the Darkvoid Device," said Random coldly. "And the answer's still no. Some cures are worse than the disease."
    "If you'd allow me to finish. Sir Random, I was about to say we need you and Ruby Journey. Your Maze powers have so far proved superior to everything that's been