Deathstalker Read Online Free

justan amateur historian. Wrote long books on obscure subjects that no one ever read. Looking back was unofficially discouraged; there were too many subjects the Empire preferred its people to forget. Presumably the Deathstalker had stumbled across something he shouldn’t have. Whatever it was, Owen Deathstalker wouldn’t be writing a book about it this time. He was Outlawed, a nonperson with a price on his head. Literally. The Empress liked proof of her kills.
    Silence shrugged and sat back in his command chair: a tall, lean man in his forties, with a thickening waistline and a receding hairline he tried not to be touchy about. He sat in the command chair with a quiet dignity, as though he belonged there. He’d served the Empire to the best of his ability all his adult life, and if sometimes he found himself on a mission he had no stomach for, well, that was the Empire for you, under Her Imperial Majesty Lionstone XIV. Also known as the Iron Bitch. Silence stopped that thought short. It wasn’t wise to let one’s thoughts run free in some directions. You never knew when an esper might be listening. He concentrated on the pirate ship before him. Small craft, built more for speed than action. No threat to a starcruiser. But she shouldn’t have been here … not just now. Silence looked across at his comm officer.
    “Do we have an identification on her yet?”
    “Not yet, Captain. Their AI is talking our ears off, but not actually saying much. It’s trying to feed us some nonsense about being a medical ship on a mercy mission, but it’s the wrong kind of craft for that, and it doesn’t have the proper identification codes. Odds are they’re just trying to keep us occupied while they power up for a hyper jump. Do we stop them, Captain, or let them go?”
    “We stop them,” said a calm, cold voice, and Silence nodded to Investigator Frost as she came to stand beside him. Frost was in her late twenties, tall and lithely muscular, with a gun on her hip and a long sword hanging down her back. Even standing still she looked competent and extremely dangerous, like a predator in a world of prey. Dark eyes burned coldly in a pale, controlled face, framed by auburn hair cropped close to the skull. You couldn’t call her pretty, but there was a daunting glamour to her, attractive and intimidating at the same moment.
    Investigators were trained from childhood to be loyal, efficient and deadly. Their job was to study newly discoveredalien species and determine how much of a threat they might prove to the Empire. Depending on those findings, the aliens would then be either enslaved or exterminated. There was no third option. Investigators were also used as security chiefs, bodyguards, and assassins. They were cold, calculating killing machines, and they were either good at their job, or dead.
    Silence and Frost had worked together on several missions and understood each other. Which was as close to friendship as you could get with an Investigator.
    “There’s no hurry,” said Silence. “A ship that small takes forever to power up. They’re not going anywhere yet.”
    “I don’t like it,” Frost said flatly. “An unexpected ship in orbit, waiting for us? I don’t believe in coincidence. Someone has alerted our target that he’s been outlawed. That ship is either here to protect him or carry him away. Either way, our orders are quite specific. Under no circumstances is the target to be allowed to escape.”
    Silence nodded. The outlaw was only ever referred to as the target in public. It wouldn’t do for the lower orders to know that a Lord had been outlawed. Especially one with such a famous name. The name Deathstalker could still command respect and possibly allies in certain quarters, irrespective of the Empress’ wishes or orders. Which was why an entire starcruiser had been sent to see that the Deathstalker’s outlawing went smoothly. He was to be captured and executed before word could get out to potential