Deathstalker 07 - Deathstalker Return

that, from outside our galaxy…"
    And then the whole castle shook around them. They all clung together as the floor bucked and heaved under their feet. New cracks appeared in the stone walls, and dust fell from the ceiling. The stasis field reestablished itself, and the steel door slammed shut. Alarms sounded, harsh and blaring, and Giles's voice said, "The Standing is under attack. Force shields have been activated. Weapons systems… are offline. Stardrive is offline. Available power cannot support full shields for more than two hours, twelve minutes. Sensors detect unusual energies operating."
    "Show me what's happening!" yelled Lewis.
    A viewscreen appeared on the air before them, showing a series of views of what was occurring outside the Standing. A wide area of jungle including the castle's clearing was being blown apart by a battle barge hovering overhead. Energy blasts stabbed down again and again in a substantial barrage, toppling trees and incinerating the vegetation. Fires were burning everywhere, filling the sky with thick black smoke.
    Misshapen creatures were running everywhere, panicked by the fire and the noise and a threat most of
    them could barely comprehend. Disrupter fire picked many of them off as they ran. More attack ships were dropping out of the sky, adding their firepower to the assault. The main attack was centering in on the clearing, the grassy earth being systematically blown away to reveal the castle beneath. And right there in the heart of the mayhem, whooping and howling as they darted in and out of the energy beams, thirteen gravity sleds bearing men and women in familiar armor and purple cloaks.
    "Paragons!" said Lewis. "I don't believe it…"
    "Unusual energies are attacking the force shields," said Giles's voice. "Systems are collapsing, malfunctioning. I am being targeted. My mind is under attack."
    "Can you still maintain the shields?" said Brett.
    "Not for much longer. Get out while you can." Giles's voice sounded almost apologetic. "I will protect you for as long as I can. I am built to serve Clan Deathstalker, even to the death."
    Lewis led the way back through the stone corridors, running now, as the castle creaked and groaned and shuddered around them. Already the lights were going out, and sometimes the artificial gravity flickered on and off, sending the party staggering this way and that. Guide caught them when they would have fallen, his eight legs skittering easily over the bucking stone floor. The alarm cut off. It wasn't telling anyone anything they didn't already know. Cracks in the walls lengthened and widened, and sometimes the walls bulged slowly, the ancient stone buckling under the strain. The roar of the power plant under their feet became ragged and uncertain.
    "Are the force shields still holding?" said Jesamine as she ran hand in hand with Lewis.
    "If they weren't, we'd all be dead by now," said Lewis when Giles's voice didn't answer. "The castle's been inert for too long. It wasn't ready for an attack like this."
    When Lewis and his companions finally made it back to the hole in the outer wall they'd entered through, they found Saturday sheltering there, his foreclaws flexing helplessly as he glared at the attackers outside.
    Lewis pushed past the reptiloid to see for himself. The roar of engines was deafening, and the air was thick with smoke and the stench of burnt vegetation. Ships filled the sky for as far as he could see, energy beams stabbing down like malevolent lightning. The thirteen Paragons shot back and forth on their gravity sleds, cheering on the destruction.
    "I don't believe this," said Lewis. "I know some of those people. Good men and women. Hell, I fought beside some of them. How could Finn have turned people like this to his cause?"
    "I've got to say I'm surprised to see Paragons at all," said Brett, darting quick looks past the reptiloid's sheltering bulk. "The files I found in Finn's computers said he planned to have them all ambushed and taken care of, because he didn't believe they'd ever come over to his side. What could have happened, while we've been away?"
    "Never mind that," snapped Jesamine. "How did they find us? How did they know where to find the castle? Hell, we didn't even known where we were going until we got here." She glared at Guide. "Could some of your people have betrayed us?"
    "Never!" said Guide. "Any one of us would rather die than betray our promised savior."
    "Screw that!" said Brett, flinching as smoke was