Deathstalker 07 - Deathstalker Return

rugged cliff, with the pounding ocean at its back and a broad plain before the main entrance. The attack troops drew up in great numbers facing the closed and sealed main gates, filling the plain with their eager, brutal faces and ranked energy weapons. There were Church Militant crosses on their battle armor, and every one of them was Pure Humanity to the hilt. Finn had chosen these soldiers well—hardcore fanatics who would not be dissuaded by even the most reasonable of arguments. They were led by the Paragon Lola Martinez, possessed by the uber-esper Screaming Silence, eager for a chance to prove herself after her panicked flight from Heracles IV
    Lola was tall and willowy, with flaming red hair falling in waves to her waist, held out of her face by a filagreed silver headband. Her body armor was scored with ancient runic symbols that hadn't protected her after all. She wore her proud purple cloak and a broad flappy leather hat, tilted over one eye. She smiled and laughed a lot, for no obvious reason, and there was something about the light in her bright green eyes that made even the hardened attack troopers give her plenty of room. They still jumped to obey her every order, though. She was Finn's voice on Virimonde.
    Unfortunately, the Deathstalker Standing had been designed to hold off armies. It was huge and blocky, with outer walls of solid stone over ten feet thick. Set on a rocky promentory, it could only be attacked head-on, from the front; and the many slit windows for defensive fire would make the open plain a killing ground for any attacking force. The castle might be old, but it had state of the art protections, including energy weapons and force shields; and every member of Clan Deathstalker had been trained in the warrior's way since they were children, in honor and memory of their greatest warrior, the blessed Owen.
    Finn didn't care. He gave the order through Lola Martinez, and the attack troops surged forwards across the plain. Withering fire from the castle cut them down, but they were an army of zealots, and they just kept coming, singing their death songs, vaulting over the bodies of the fallen, every rank getting a little closer to the outer walls and the main gates. But the walls absorbed endless punishment, and the gates would not yield. Lola Martinez was forced to recall her forces, or watch them all die under the organized disrupter fire blazing from the recessed window slits. The army retreated, leaving its dead behind, and the guns fell silent. The siege of the Deathstalker Standing had begun.
    No one came to help the beleagured Clan. Although the Deathstalker family had many friends and allies on Virimonde, none of them dared come forward. High above the world, the great engines of the Transmutation Board hung waiting in orbit, ready to unleash their unstoppable energies at a moment's notice and wipe the slate clean of all living things. And while Vinmonde was not as helpless as it might have seemed, having many old and secret and very powerful planetary defenses—for they had never forgotten the terrible invasion of Lionstone's time—still none of their defenses could stand off the transmutation engines. The planetary council saw no point in revealing those defenses uselessly, just to save one family. The Clan was doomed, already dead in every way that mattered. The council bided its time, and looked to the future. And revenge.
    Emma Steel and Nina Malapert watched it all happen on one of Nina's walls. When it was over, Emma launched herself up out of her chair and stalked back and forth across the room, loudly declaring herself ready and willing to kill everyone in the entire government, from Finn Durandal down. Nina nodded and made all the right supportive comments, but mostly she was thinking about how she'd give her eye-teeth to be on Virimonde right then, covering a real breaking news story. It didn't help that she and Emma still hadn't worked out what to do with the evidence they already had on Finn's involvement with the ELFs and the uber-espers. Emma's language had just started to turn the air blue when a blue steel robot from Shub suddenly materialized in the room with them. Emma's gun was quickly in her hand, and Nina was just as quickly standing behind Emma and peering over her shoulder. The robot looked at them with its blank face and made no threatening moves.
    "I come in peace," it said mildly.
    "That's what they all say," growled Emma. "Haven't you ever heard of