The Lost Secret

by Vaughn Heppner

  The disruptor beams struck the incredibly thick iridium-Z armor. The combined beams produced hellish heat and power, and the armor began slagging, melting and disappearing under the fury of the beam assault.

  Then a terrific flash showed on the Alexander’s main screen. It was the King Frederick exploding. The enemy lasers had burned through its armor, spearing into its guts, igniting all sorts of things, causing internal explosions and now the awful destruction of the battleship, the last of its hull hurtling outward in all directions.

  Fortunately, the remaining battleships had spread out just enough. Their shields absorbed the damage even as they continued to fire their disruptors at the enemy.

  The Severn warship retargeted, choosing its next victim. The laser pods adjusted and began to beam.

  The six disruptor beams now punched through the enemy’s iridium-Z hull armor. The rays quested through the interior of the massive warship. Bulkheads went down. Processors exploded and metal vaporized. Heat built up inside the unique battleship. More explosions rocked it, and the beams continued to destroy more material.

  Unfortunately for Battleship Subotai, it didn’t happen fast enough. The Conqueror-class warship exploded like the King Frederick had, taking down yet more Star Watch personal.

  Five disruptor beams still ranged through the giant Severn vessel, and the cumulative result of the interior explosions finally had a huge combined effect. The immense fifteen-kilometer warships erupted into a fireball of destruction. Pieces raced outward, but ninety-eight percent of the vessel disappeared in an annihilating fury of nuclear and antimatter detonations.

  It was glorious. It was wretched. It was war in space. Too many good people had died to achieve the victory. Too many good and faithful sailors and soldiers were still going to die from what their bodies had absorbed in x-ray and gamma radiation.

  Even so, Valerie didn’t hesitate. She’d joined Star Watch, fully accepting the training and ethos. She believed in the concept of group loyalty and loved belonging to the greater organization. If she had to die to do her duty—

  The five surviving ships out of the original sixteen turned to the fourth planet, heading for the area of the worn-down pyramids. What’s more, Valerie ordered a one-at-a-time antimatter missile attack.

  If the Yon Soth had the power to destroy the missiles, he would have to do so for a while. She hoped to wear him down.

  And that’s exactly what happened as the battleships expended their antimatter missile supply. The Yon Soth, presumably, caused each of the missiles to explode prematurely. The process took time, and the missiles began exploding nearer the planet and then in the upper atmosphere.

  It would seem the missile attack fully occupied the Yon Soth, meaning it lacked the resources to project images or thoughts against the approaching battleships.

  “We’re almost out of missiles,” the weapons officer informed Valerie.

  She nodded, absorbing the information. “Hell-burners,” she said. “How many does each battleship have?”

  “Seven,” the weapons officer replied.

  Valerie squinted at the main screen. The planet loomed large before them. The five battleships were aligned so each could view the surface area with the worn-down pyramids. On the Alexander’s main screen, a green circle showed the location.

  Valerie clicked her armrest comm button. “This is the acting admiral speaking. The Yon Soth is tired. We’re going down into the atmosphere—the upper reaches, anyway—and beaming the pyramids. We will then begin a sequential bombing. We’re going to win, gentlemen, because we can’t afford to lose. Too many have already given their lives. Star Watch needs this. Humanity needs this. I expect each of you to do more than your best. I expect you to help me defeat this monster. That is all.”

  The five battleships executed her orders, moving closer yet and beaming at the surface as they approached the outer atmosphere. The planetary winds howled as a shield glowed just above the worn-down pyramids. The disruptor beams struck it. Then, one hell-burner after another screamed at the target.

  The Yon Soth must have had something left. One hell-burner after another detonated prematurely. That caused vicious explosions, causing momentary whiteouts and interrupted the disruptor beams.

  The battleships stayed on station, enduring some of the radiation. The planet’s atmosphere helped them with that, and the next hell-burner came tumbling down.

  Valerie watched from the command chair on the bridge of the Alexander. If she had to, she’d send down shuttles with space marines next. If that failed, the five battleships could find and tow asteroids, launching them at the pyramids. Maybe by that time, reinforcements would have arrived from Earth via the nexus.

  It didn’t come to that, however. The eleventh hell-burner reached the black-glowing shield and ignited, and the shield went down. The twelfth hell-burner reached the worn-down pyramids and detonated—and there were no more ancient structures after that. The thirteenth and fourteenth hell-burners created an impressive crater, surely killing the Yon Soth.

  Valerie made sure, expending their entire hell-burner supply until the area down there bubbled and burned, cooking the Old One out of existence.

  The Battle of the Omicron 9 System was over, with Star Watch the victor and Lieutenant Commander Valerie Noonan the hero.

  -96-

  The victory at Omicron 9 did more than destroy a potentially troublesome Yon Soth and deal with the first incursion of the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan. It gave Star Watch another nexus.

  It would take time and technicians, with Ludendorff’s help, to get the Omicron 9 Nexus running. But that was simply a matter of a few more weeks, it would turn out.

  In the meantime, Valerie relinquished her acting-admiral position and went back to her original job as the Lord High Admiral and Iron Lady’s liaison.

  There were over a thousand sick and dying crewmembers among the five battleships. The medical personnel worked overtime, and the vessels became little more than orbiting hospital ships.

  Mary O’Hara received congratulations from many and confirmation in her new post.

  “We’ll find you another alien problem to solve,” the Lord High Admiral assured her via regular comm channels. It took time for the message to travel from Earth to Pluto. “With this new nexus—by damn, combined with the Builder Scanner, we have a war-winning game-changer. This time, Captain Maddox has outdone himself.”

  Mary used regular channels to reply. “You’re right, Lord High Admiral. Don’t you think it’s time you promoted Captain Maddox for what he’s done?”

  The Lord High Admiral sent her a message back. “Respectfully, are you crazy? I wouldn’t dream of promoting Maddox. You don’t fix what isn’t broken. He’s achieved miracles for us. Someday, yes, he’ll become a commodore, an admiral and maybe even the Lord High Admiral of Star Watch. For now, I’m leaving him where he can continue to achieve the feats we need most. There are too many dangers left to do otherwise.”

  Mary thought an hour before she replied. “I don’t like your idea of using up my grandson like that. He needs a break from these hardship missions.”

  Cook listened to her message three times, finally deciding on the best way to deal with O’Hara. He would ignore her plea—for now. He had too much on his plate to worry about it. There was Methuselah Woman Lisa Meyers, Venna, the Spacers, the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan—maybe he should send Victory on a new scouting mission into the other spiral arm. He’d have to think about that. There was so much to do, including learning how to deal with the change in the Throne World.

  Leaning back in his chair, Cook cracked his big knuckles, wondering what the New Men were going to do next. And he wondered what this Supreme Intelligence wanted with Golden Ural. Maybe Maddox knew more about that than he’d let on. He’d have to ask the captain the next time he spoke with the man.

  ***

  Over fifteen hundred light-years from Earth, deep inside the Library Planet, Golden Ural helped several of th
e Supreme Intelligence’s robots repair an advanced Builder device.

  Something kept tickling Ural’s thoughts; it had been for weeks already. It was a hint dropped by the Supreme Intelligence during the inquest. Balron had caused, or been a chief factor in, the disappearance of the Builders. What had that meant? Every time he’d tried to bring that up with the Supreme Intelligence, the computer-like entity had changed the subject.

  Sometimes, Ural thought the devices they repaired were machines needed to help bring back or revive hidden Builders. Was that a good thing for him, and for the Throne World? Did Lisa Meyers’s sleeping Builder have anything to do with all this?

  Ural continued to help with repairs, waiting, learning and deciding when he would make his move, and what that move would entail.

  ***

  As life proceeded throughout the universe, Captain Maddox continued to recover his strength and stamina. He remained aboard Victory, spending more time each week in the gym. He thought about Emperor Trahey as he practiced fencing. He thought about Artaxerxes Par and Samos of Thetis as he hit the heavy bag. He thought about Methuselah Woman Lisa Meyers and Venna the Spacer spy as he put in time at the pistol range.

  It wasn’t all training, though. He also spent time with Meta, wonderful and joyous time. Thus, it wasn’t a surprise in the greater scheme of things when Meta told him the news.

  He came out of the shower, toweling off, striding to a mirror and examining himself. He seemed fit, ready for action. His speed was back.

  The hatch to their quarters opened. He assumed it was Meta. A few seconds later, she indeed hurried into the bedroom.

  “There you are,” she said, and she stopped to examine him. “My, my, my,” she said.

  “Why don’t you join me,” he suggested.

  “Take my clothes off, you mean?”

  “Exactly,” he said, grinning at her, flexing his pectorals.

  “Well…okay, but you’ll have to be careful with me.”

  “Oh?”

  “I wouldn’t want you to hurt our baby.”

  It took Maddox a second, two actually, to perceive what she meant. “You’re pregnant?”

  “Uh-huh,” she said. “Aren’t you glad?” She seemed unsure of his answer.

  Maddox laughed as came to her, grabbed her by the hips and hoisted her into the air. “Of course I’m glad. Ecstatic, even.”

  “Be careful with me.”

  “Yes,” Maddox said, as he set her down. He hugged her, kissed her, and then he knelt beside her, putting his right palm against her womb. “A baby, you’re certain?”

  “Oh, yes,” she said.

  Maddox looked up into Meta’s face. Joy filled his. “This is wonderful.”

  “Really?”

  He stood, looking into her fabulous eyes. “I’m going to be a father.”

  THE END

  From the Author: Thanks Reader! I hope you’ve enjoyed THE LOST SECRET. If you liked the book and would like to see the story continue, please put up some stars and a review to support the series. Let me know what you would like Captain Maddox and the crew to challenge next!

  -VH