several deep breaths before turning to the guard leader, who was now wearily stacking pieces of his armor in the wall compartments. He was young, barely into his twenties, with a long, serious face under a thick shock of long yellow hair. There were already deep lines of responsibility and hard life around his mouth and eyes. He grinned suddenly at Random, an engaging, almost shy smile.
'According to the sensors and our computer records, you two are exactly who and what you say you are. And man, are we glad to see you!' He gestured to the other guards, who immediately holstered their weapons and set about removing their own masks and armor. They all looked young and sober and more than capable of handling themselves in a fight. Random guessed the weaker elements didn't last long on Loki. The guard leader stuck out his hand, and Random shook it automatically. The leader turned to Ruby, but she just gave him a hard look, so he put his hand away and turned back to Random.
'I'm Peter Savage, guard leader. I wanted to take out a search party to look for you, but the city Council was positive no one could have survived such a crash. I could have told them. I knew it would take a lot more than a crashing ship to finish off Jack Random!'
There was a loud murmur of agreement from the other guards, and Random looked around to find them regarding him with wide eyes and smiles and respectful nods. Random indicated Ruby, who'd finally stopped hacking and spitting on the airlock floor.
'I take it you know my companion?'
'Oh, yes,' said Savage, his smile disappearing. 'We know all about Ruby Journey. Please don't let her kill anyone important. Or set fire to anything.'
'Your reputation preceeds you,' Random said dryly to Ruby.
'Anyway,' said Peter Savage brightly, 'we're delighted to have you here, sir Random. Maybe you can turn this bloody war around.'
'Our briefing was pretty basic,' said Random. 'Fill in the blanks for us.'
Savage hesitated. 'I'm supposed to take you directly to the city Council so they can instruct you on the current situation.'
'You can start the process as we go. Tell me about Vidar. How well protected is the city?'
'Walls and doors of solid steel, over a foot thick,' said Savage, leading them out of the airlock's inner door. 'The force screen above the walls keeps out the weather. We need the walls and gates because we can't lower the Screen, even for a second, or the storms would devastate the city. It's not just the winds; the dust gets into everything. Tech is constantly breaking down.'
'Don't the storms ever stop?' said Ruby.
'No, ma'am. But there are lulls sometimes. This way.'
Beyond the airlock lay a simple pattern of narrow streets between low, squat, functional-looking buildings. There was little in the way of color or decoration. Vidar was a mining city, with little time for frills and fancies. People rushed by as Savage led his charges on, but they paid little or no attention to the newcomers. They all wore swords and energy guns, even in the supposed safety of the fortress city. Random found that significant.
'The rebel forces have made an alliance with Shub,' said Savage. He made the last word into an obscenity. 'They have an army of Ghost Warriors, a few Furies, and a whole bunch of high-tech weaponry that falls apart more often than it works. That's Loki for you. Even Shub can't find an answer to the dust. As a result most of our fighting tends to be hand to hand. Flesh and blood against living corpses and men of metal. Not exactly a level playing field, but that's Shub for you. Certainly the rebels don't seem to be objecting. Their leaders don't care about anything but winning anymore. The disrupter cannon that shot you down was as much a surprise to us as it was to you. They must be really scared of your involvement to risk revealing that powerful a weapon. Think of it as a backhanded compliment.'
'Oh, we do,' Random assured Savage, perfectly straight-faced. 'And we plan to return the compliment as soon as possible.'
Savage grinned. 'I have to say, I'm really looking forward to working with you, sir Random. You always were my hero. I've seen all your holo shows.'
The young guard all but brimmed over with sincerity, of a kind Random hadn't seen since his glory days, when he was the only hope against Lionstone's evil Empire. A lot had changed since then. If anything, such hero worship made Random feel old. He wasn't sure he was the man Savage remembered anymore. He felt slightly embarrassed, and Ruby's clear amusement didn't help at all. He moved quickly to change the subject.
'Where is everybody? I expected to see a lot more people in a city this size.'
'With half the outer settlements overrun by the rebel forces, most of the mining equipment on Loki is being run from Vidar these days, which means we're all working overtime to keep the systems going. And… a lot of people here aren't going to be too sure about you, sir Random. There's a man out there with your face, leading the Shub forces, leaving blood and death and atrocities in his wake. Your name has become a curse. That's why you have an armed guard. In case there's… trouble.'
'Let them start something,' said Ruby calmly. 'Let anyone start something.'
'Anyway,' said Savage hurriedly, 'the rebels, backed up by Shub forces, have been systematically wiping out all the outer settlements, knocking out the mining equipment and killing everything that lives before moving on to the next target. They have us surrounded on all sides, and they're moving gradually inward, heading toward Vidar. Because whoever controls this city controls the world's only starport, as well as all the mining. If we fall, the whole colony falls with us. We don't have much of an army, just security guards and a whole bunch of volunteers, mostly refugees from settlements that have fallen. We can't even arm all of them. We've never needed an army before. We were always too busy fighting the weather to fight each other.'
'How has your army done in the field?' said Random. 'I take it there have been direct clashes, army to army?'
'Some,' said Savage. 'We go out when there are lulls in the weather. People die, but nothing gets settled. We have the numbers and the training, but they have Shub. It's all been… very inconclusive.'
'Why hasn't Golgotha sent you reinforcements?' said Random, frowning.
'We asked,' said Savage. 'They sent you two. Apparently we're not very high on the priorities list. Everyone's screaming for reinforcements right now, and we're just another mining planet with a relatively small population.'
'Just the two of us against an army of Ghost Warriors,' said Ruby. 'My kind of odds.'
'The trouble is, she's not joking,' said Random. 'Ignore her. I do, whenever possible. How much farther to the Council chambers?'
'We're almost there, sir Random.'
'Anything else I ought to know?'
Savage hesitated, and lowered his voice. 'Watch yourself. The city Council has always done what it considers best… for the Council.'
They walked the next few blocks in silence, each considering their own thoughts. Finally Savage stopped before an ugly, squat building apparently no different from any of the others, and led them through a series of surprisingly stringent security measures. Random was impressed. He still refused to give up his sword and gun when asked, though, and so did Ruby. No one was stupid enough to press the point. Savage knocked diffidently on a door with two armed guards, and a voice from within invited them to enter. Savage opened the door and then stood back to allow Random and Ruby to enter first. Random immediately strode in like he owned the place. He'd learned a long time ago never to appear polite or intimidated by local politicians. They just took advantage. Ruby was right there striding at his side, but in her case it was just natural arrogance.
They found themselves in a reasonably large room that had been decorated by someone with an extensive budget and absolutely no taste. Ruby felt right at home. Random had no interest in his surroundings. He took one look at the five men sitting rather pompously behind the long ironwood table at the far end of the room, and came to a sudden stop. Ruby immediately stopped with him, one hand dropping automatically to her gun. Random glared at the man sitting in the middle of the group, and when he spoke, his voice was cold as death itself.
'Andre de Lisle! What the hell are you doing here, you son of a bitch? Last I heard, you were rotting in a prison cell!'
'It's good to see you too, Random,' said de Lisle calmly. 'It's been a while since Cold Rock, hasn't it?'
A low growl of anger burst from Random's lips, and suddenly he was surging forward across the gap that separated them. The guards that had followed him in went for their weapons, but Ruby had already turned to face
