all the way out here, exactly?'
'You,' said Stevie One. 'But you can take your hand away from your sword. And SummerIsle, that is the worst case of sneaking around behind someone that I've ever seen. Now relax. We're here to help. The shit is about to hit the fan in a major way, Deathstalker. You've been outlawed.'
David's mouth dropped open. He could hear the girls' shocked gasps, but for a moment he couldn't say anything. It was as though someone had punched him in the stomach and taken away his breath. 'What do you mean, outlawed?' he managed, finally.
'I mean, Lionstone wants your head on a stick,' said Stevie One. 'Your holding is forfeit. Virimonde is no longer yours, and there's a big reward waiting for anyone who brings Lionstone your head, preferably unattached to your body, so the Iron Bitch can spit in your eyes.'
'But why?' said David, almost plaintively. 'I've been good. I've kept my head down, like we agreed.'
'Funnily enough,' said Stevie Three, 'I don't think Lionstone even knows you're a rebel. She wants you dead because you encouraged local democracy and because you stood against her plans for mechanizing this planet. You shouldn't have been so open with your Steward. And you really shouldn't have threatened to go to the Company of Lords. Lionstone's calling that conspiracy against the Crown. Every other Lord is scrambling to put as much distance as possible between himself and you. They can see which way the wind's blowing. Luckily for you, Alice's parents are rebels. They told us where to find you. The bad news is that Empire ships ambushed us on the way down and shot the hell out of us. So you can forget about hopping a lift offplanet. We're all stuck here. Your best bet is to run like hell back to your Standing and barricade yourself in. We'll try and work out some way to get you safely offworld. We can't let the Empress have you. You'd be too big a trophy for her to boast over.'
'Oh, thanks a bunch,' said David.
'Hold everything,' said Kit. 'What about me? Am I outlawed too?'
'Hell no,' said Stevie One. 'You're still the Iron Bitch's darling. Her favorite killer, apart from the Consort.'
'Unless you try and defend the Deathstalker,' said Stevie Three. 'In which case, you get to stand trial beside him.'
'She's right, Kit,' said David. 'We'd better split up. If they find you in my company, they could declare you guilty by association. I'll take the flyer in the stable and head back to the Standing. You and the Blues can get the girls to safety.'
'Forget it,' said Kit. 'I'm not leaving you. You wouldn't last ten minutes without me.'
'You'd be putting your life at risk!' said David.
'Good,' said Kit. 'It's been far too quiet around here. I was only saying I could use a little action. But may I suggest we use the tavern viewscreen to check out the situation at the Standing first? You have enemies there, as well as friends.'
'Good point,' said David. 'Alice, Jenny, you'd better get out of here. Go home, and keep your heads down till this is over. If they ask, you barely knew us. It'll be safer that way.'
'I'm afraid it's not that simple,' said Stevie Three. 'You haven't heard all of it yet.'
David stared at her. 'There's more?'
'You aren't the only one that's getting the chop,' said Stevie One. 'The whole planet's been outlawed. Normally that would mean a scorching, but Lionstone has plans for Virimonde. So she's sending in the troops, to punish the rebellious and bring the survivors under direct Empire rule. The first troop ships should be landing by now. It's war, Deathstalker. The whole planet's under attack.'
'My parents,' said Alice, numb with the shock of the news. 'They're high up in the local underground. If the Empire's infiltrated our ranks, they'll be targets. We have to contact them, David!'
'First things first,' said Kit. 'First we try the Standing.'
'You're a rebel, too?' said David to Alice. 'Why didn't you tell me?'
'Hell, we're all rebels here,' said Jenny. 'Not much else to do for excitement on a backwater dump like this.'
'The Standing,' said Kit. 'We have to know, David.'
They gathered together in front of the viewscreen on the tavern wall, and David put in a call to the Standing, using his emergency codes. The Steward answered immediately, as though he'd been waiting for the call.
'My lord, where are you? I've been trying to locate you for hours! It is imperative that you return to the Standing immediately, to answer the ridiculous charges set against you.'
'Where's my Security chief?' said David. 'He's supposed to answer my emergency codes.'
'He is unavailable at the moment,' said the Steward. 'Things are rather chaotic here, as I'm sure you can imagine. Tell me where you are, my lord, and I'll send an armored flyer to fetch you, and bring you back safely.'
'Turn it off,' said Kit. 'If he's in charge, your people are dead. The Steward's the one who sold you out in the first place.'
'I must insist on knowing where you are, my lord,' said the Steward. 'You are in danger every minute you're not under my protection.'
'Turn it off,' said Stevie One. 'Before they trace the signal.'
David shut down the screen. He didn't know what to say. It had never occurred to him that his own people might turn against him. Sure, he and the Steward had had words on more than one occasion, but to betray the Family that had fed and sheltered him from birth, that gave his life purpose and meaning… It had all happened so quickly. One minute he was the man who had everything, then suddenly he had nothing but a price on his head. Just like his cousin, Owen. Maybe the planet was jinxed. Laughter dangerously close to hysteria bubbled up inside him. He realized Alice was talking to him and tugging at his sleeve.
'My parents, David. I need to know about my parents.'
'Of course you do. You set the codes, I have to think. Kit, if the Steward's got my emergency codes, my private security measures aren't worth shit anymore. But that works both ways. If he's got access to my codes, then I've got access to his.'
'What good does that do us?' said Kit.
'I should be able to patch into the Standing's comm system, and through that into the Empire's systems. We'll be able to see what they're seeing. I need to know what's happening elsewhere on my world. I can't believe Lionstone's ordered a complete taking of Virimonde. The loss of life would be enormous. Appalling.'
'Since when has that ever stopped the Iron Bitch?' said Kit.
'Kit,' said David. 'They said it's all my fault. My people are going to die, because of what I did.'
'I've got the farm!' said Alice, and they all turned to look. The view on the screen was fuzzy, unfocused. Alice bent over the control panel, cursing under her breath as she tried to boost the signal. It finally snapped into focus, and Alice shrank back from the screen, one hand half-raised, as though to protect herself. She'd patched into one of the farm's exterior sensors, showing the farmhouse from outside. The great stone building was under attack. The stonework was riddled with holes from energy guns, and part of the roof had been blown away. What remained of the thatched roof was burning fiercely. There were two bodies lying still in the courtyard, clutching projectile weapons in their dead hands. They'd both been hit by energy guns.
Alice shook her head slowly, as though to deny what she was seeing. 'That's Sam. And Matthew. My brothers. Where are the others? Where are my father and mother?'
David put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she didn't feel it. The farmhouse's front door flew open, and black smoke billowed out, thick and heavy. And out of the smoke, projectile weapons in hand, firing at an unseen enemy, came Adrian and Diana Daker. They kept up a steady fire as they ran for the stables behind the house. The camera was too far away to show their faces clearly, but their body language showed calm determination. They weren't panicking.
Energy beams flashed around them, blowing holes in the farmhouse wall, but the Dakers were hard targets to hit. And then a company of Imperial marines appeared from behind the house, cutting the Dakers off from the stables. Adrian and Diana skidded to a halt, looking quickly about them, but there was nowhere they could go. The marines opened fire. Diana screamed and fell as one of her legs was shot out from under her, and then screamed again as an energy beam punched through Adrian's stomach and out his back. He fell to the ground, still holding his gun. Diana tried to pull herself along the ground toward him. Adrian reached out a hand to her, and another beam blew his head apart. Two more blasts hit Diana, tearing her body in two. Her torso rolled away, leaving her legs shuddering on the ground. She looked across at her dead husband. Her mouth moved as she tried to say something,
