The Lost Destroyer (Lost Starship Series Book 3)

by Vaughn Heppner

  Maddox had explained it quickly. One, Villars might have monofilament wire able to breach the space marine armor. The wire could be crisscrossed in there like a spider’s web. Trust Maddox to think ahead like that. Villars was a cunning bastard, liking to draw others into an ambush. So, they would end-run the hunter. That’s why Meta had woken up Dana.

  “We’re almost there,” Meta said.

  Dana didn’t respond.

  Meta clanked around a corner and came to the hatch that protected the AI’s core chamber. It was time to try to take out the backdoor. Ludendorff was gone, and Villars might not think of this in time.

  “Ready?” Meta asked.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Watch,” Meta said. She charged, building up speed. This was no time for finesse. She used her body armor like a projectile, slamming against the reinforced hatch, caroming off it.

  Meta found herself on the floor. The absorbers had taken the shock. Climbing to her feet, she continued to assault the hatch, battering it down as if she was an elemental force of nature.

  ***

  The metallic hammering sounds reverberated throughout the halls, reaching Maddox.

  It’s time, he realized.

  Maddox marched toward the disruptor cannon hatch. A second later, Galyan appeared beside him.

  “Not now,” Maddox said. “I’m busy.” He ran at the hatch.

  The AI disappeared, no doubt to warn Villars.

  With his hand on the wheel, Maddox waited. He wanted to stretch this out as long as he could. The seconds ticked by.

  Galyan reappeared.

  Maddox turned the wheel and began opening the hatch.

  The AI disappeared.

  Two seconds after Maddox opened the hatch, shots rang out from the chamber. Bullets whizzed past the captain as he stayed out of the line-of-sight behind the opened hatch.

  More precious seconds ticked past.

  Once again, Galyan appeared in the corridor, no doubt to see what the problem was.

  Maddox slammed the hatch shut, dropped to his stomach and slithered away, keeping his pistol aimed at the entrance.

  “What are you doing?” Galyan asked.

  “Tricking the slarn hunter,” Maddox said.

  “I do not understand.”

  “I’m making him nervous,” Maddox said. “Soon, he’ll open the door to investigate. When he does, I’ll shoot him.”

  “Ah, clever, clever,” Galyan said. “Villars would want to know that.” The AI disappeared.

  Maddox scrambled to his feet, returning to the hatch, with his free hand once more on the wheel.

  Galyan dutifully reappeared. “He will not—” The AI stopped talking and looked around, spotting the captain by the wheel. “Captain, I have just realized something.”

  “What’s that?” Maddox asked.

  “There is a high probability that you have engaged in these actions in order to delay.”

  “That can’t be true,” Maddox said.

  “I assure you that my probability matrix has given this a high grade ratio.”

  “I’m going to kill Villars.”

  Galyan cocked his head. “Captain, it appears that you are delaying even now with these arguments. Why would you—” The holoimage looked up. “What is that noise?”

  Another of the clangs had just reverberated down the corridor.

  “What are you talking about?” Maddox asked.

  The AI’s deep-set eyes fluttered rapidly. The head swiveled until Galyan gave Maddox an accusing stare. “Someone is attempting to break into my AI core chamber.”

  “As soon as you leave,” Maddox said, “I’m going to enter the disruptor control room and kill Villars.”

  “You say that in order to delay me.”

  “What are your orders, Galyan?”

  “I must leave to inspect the new threat. I must—”

  “You must warn Villars first. Hurry, Galyan, go warn him because I’m going in.” Maddox turned the wheel again.

  Once more, the AI disappeared.

  ***

  Meta gripped the twisted hatch, wriggling her power-gloved fingers deeper into the opening. Once she had a solid hold, she pulled. The exo-skeleton servos whined. Metal shrieked. Slowly, the metal bent more and more. Finally, Meta ripped the hatch from its hinges, flinging the metal against the farther bulkhead.

  “Go,” Dana said.

  Meta stepped through the entrance into the AI core chamber. Banks of lights winked in profusion, the holy of holies to Driving Force Galyan, the deified Adok commander.

  Gas billowed from vents into the chamber.

  Meta ignored the growing green cloud. Her suit had independent air tanks. Behind her, Dana stepped through. The doctor had a rebreather and a skintight suit.

  “What now?” Meta radioed.

  “Shhh,” Dana whispered. “Let me think.”

  As the doctor slowly rotated, scanning the chamber, the holoimage appeared in the thickening mist.

  “You must leave at once,” Galyan said. “This is a proscribed area.”

  Both women ignored him.

  “This is your final warning,” Galyan said.

  “We’re just trying to help you,” Meta said.

  “This is an invasion of my privacy,” Galyan said.

  “Go ask Maddox about what we’re doing,” Meta suggested.

  “This takes precedence.”

  Dana looked up. “I bet the captain is getting ready to charge Villars. Won’t the slarn hunter be surprised when he does?”

  A look of anguish swept over Galyan’s holographic features. A second later, the holoimage disappeared.

  “Can the AI do more than gas us?” Meta asked.

  “Theoretically, Galyan could make the antimatter engines go critical.”

  “Then you’d better hurry,” Meta said.

  “Shhh,” Dana said. “Don’t rush me. I have to think this through so I do it right the first time. I doubt I’m going to have a second chance.”

  ***

  Maddox spoke to the agitated AI. “This is a tactical dilemma,” the captain told Galyan.

  “Yes. It bothers me. I wish to resolve it. Why can’t I make an optimum choice?”

  “That’s an interesting question,” Maddox said.

  “No, no, this is simply more of your delays. Won’t you help a friend in distress and give me the optimum solution to this problem?”

  “I’m already doing that,” Maddox said.

  “Explain yourself.”

  “Ludendorff put a backdoor into your core. He has bewitched you.”

  “I do not understand the last term,” Galyan said.

  “It is an archaic expression,” Maddox said. “It refers to a spell.”

  “The professor put an input node into the chamber, not an archaic spell of dubious reality.” The AI froze. A moment later, Galyan glared at Maddox. “I know what to do now.”

  “Care to tell me what that is?”

  “Villars is the professor’s proxy. I will request his aid.” With that, Galyan vanished once more.

  ***

  “There,” Dana said, pointing. “That’s the professor’s handiwork.”

  Through the billowing gas, Meta watched the doctor hurry to a fist-sized housing at shoulder level on the wall. Dana selected a small needle-sized instrument from her kit and a pair of electrical tweezers. Taking a deep breath, she raised the tools and began to work on the backdoor. A spark leapt from it, shocking the doctor. It caused Dana to stagger backward, dropping the tiny tools so they tinkled onto the deck plates.

  “Now what do we do?” Meta asked. “Should I start smashing the AI’s data banks? If we destroy Galyan, the alien computer can’t hurt us anymore.”

  “It may come to that,” Dana admitted. She shook her hands, flexing them, and scooped up the tools.

  Galyan appeared. “If you do not back out of the chamber, I will make the engines go critical. I will destroy the starship.”

  “
Can’t you see we’re trying to help you?” Meta shouted through the armor’s speakers.

  Galyan’s holoimage shook its head.

  “If you leave us to mess with the engines,” Meta said, “I’m going to start smashing everything in here. If you’re going to destroy us, I’m going to destroy you first.”

  Galyan stood blinking at her. “That will be genocide, as I am the last Adok in the universe.”

  “You’re just a ghost of an Adok,” Meta said. “Your race is already dead. So don’t try to lay that on me.”

  Galyan began blinking more furiously than ever. Finally, he vanished.

  “What’s it going to be?” Meta asked. “Do I go crazy in here and start smashing the computer core?”

  “No,” Dana said. “I have to endure the shocks. It’s as simple as that.” With her features screwing up with determination behind the rebreather mask, the doctor approached the offensive protrusion.

  ***

  On the bridge, Valerie examined her board with shock. “Keith, the engines are going critical.”

  “What?” the ace asked. He checked his panel and found her allegation to be true. “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know,” Valerie said. “This doesn’t make sense.”

  “See if you can stop it.”

  “I am!” Valarie shouted. “Nothing is working.”

  “We’d better call the captain,” Keith said, opening intra-ship communications.

  ***

  “Galyan!” Maddox shouted. “I’m ready to make a deal.” He’d just received Keith’s message.

  Seconds later, the holoimage appeared in the corridor. “I am making the engines go critical,” Galyan said.

  “You’ll destroy yourself.”

  “I realize this. I wish I could do something else, but Villars won’t budge.”

  “He’s insane.”

  “No. He is fully sane.”

  “Talk to him. Tell him I’m ready to negotiate.”

  “Is this another stalling tactic, Captain?”

  “No. Listen. I’m about to instruct Meta. Are you listening to me?”

  “I am,” Galyan said.

  Maddox took out a comm-unit. “Meta, can you hear me?”

  “Yes, Captain,” Meta said.

  Maddox pressed a button so a red light would blink inside her helmet. “I want you to instruct Dana to desist working on the backdoor.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  “There,” Maddox told Galyan. “Tell Villars what I did. See if he will agree to stop the self-destruct sequence.”

  The holoimage hesitated. “First, I will have to slow the critical functions in order to give Villars time to reconsider. There, I’ve slowed down the anti-reaction mass. I will ask Villars if he is willing to negotiate at once, Captain, and thank you, sir.”

  “Of course,” Maddox said, knowing that Dana still worked on Ludendorff’s secret mechanism.

  ***

  Inside the space marine armor, Meta winced. She watched the doctor. Dana’s hair stood on end from the electrical discharges coming from Ludendorff’s unit. Even so, Dana continued to make minute adjustments.

  Meta shivered with suppressed emotions. She wanted to smash the delicate AI walls and destroy the ancient computer. In another moment, that’s exactly what she was going to do.

  Then Dana screamed. Her hands flew away from the unit as she staggered backward. “I can’t do it. I can’t open it. I don’t know what to do.”

  Meta shouted with frustration. In two clanking strides, she stood beside the doctor.

  “Meta, no!” Dana shouted.

  She raised a power-gloved fist. When all else failed, it was time to smash. She swung her arm. The fist connected with the unit and obliterated it.

  A surge of electricity played upon the AI walls. Smoke billowed. Sparks blew. Loud electrical noises increased in volume. Then, nozzles appeared on the ceiling and began to blow foam.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Meta said. Delicately, she grabbed one of the doctor’s wrists. With a soft tug, she made Dana stumble after her.

  The two stepped through the opening. Meta released the doctor and clanked to the hatch. Picking it up, she marched to the opening and shoved it against the entrance, sealing the AI core.

  “Good-bye, Meta. Thanks for everything you’ve done.”

  Tears brimmed in the assassin’s eyes. Had her temper just sealed their fates, bringing death and destruction to Victory and everyone aboard the starship?

  ***

  Maddox watched the stern AI as it spoke to him.

  “You must surrender immediately, Captain,” Galyan said. “Those are Villars terms. Further—”

  The holoimage abruptly stopped speaking. Its image wavered, grew fuzzy, fuzzier and then became sharper than ever.

  “What just happened?” the captain asked.

  Galyan’s slit-lipped mouth opened. “Oh no,” the AI groaned. “I’ve set the ship on a self-destruct sequence. I can’t believe I did this. It is sacrilege to the memory of my race.”

  “Can you halt the process?” Maddox asked.

  “Just a moment,” Galyan said. He appeared to concentrate for several seconds. Finally, the AI looked up. “There. I’ve brought the antimatter cyclers back under control. Why did I cause that to happen?”

  “Don’t you remember?”

  Galyan shook his head.

  “Will you do as I request?” Maddox asked.

  “Why wouldn’t I?” Galyan asked. “Don’t you remember that I agreed to serve under your leadership?”

  Maddox grinned. It was time to remove Villars from play. “Listen, then. Here’s what I want you to do…”

  -17-

  “Are you ready?” Maddox asked Meta.

  She stood beside him in the corridor, still wearing space marine armor, with a tangler in her hands.

  “There,” Meta said through a speaker. “I activated the suit-trigger. Anytime you want, I can go.”

  “Villars!” Maddox shouted. “I’m willing to surrender. Will you accept it?”

  “I will,” the slarn hunter said through the closed hatch to the disruptor chamber. “But I want your woman, too. Do you understand?”

  “I—”

  “No more hesitation, Captain. Either you give me your woman, or I will destroy the starship. That means the death of humanity.”

  “You’re a sadist,” Maddox shouted, putting heat into his words.

  “Now, now, none of that, Captain. I might take it personally.”

  “Don’t shoot,” Maddox said. “I’m coming in.”

  “Of course not,” Villars said, with glee in his voice.

  Maddox opened the hatch, careful to stay behind it. Heavy slarn rifle shots rang out. The slugs whanged off Meta’s armor.

  She marched through the hatch. A second later, the tangler made a popping sound. Afterward, the slarn hunter cursed profusely.

  “Destroy the starship, Galyan!” Villars shouted. “Blow it away.”

  Maddox swung around the open hatch, stepping into the disruptor cannon chamber. The blocky trapper lay on the deck plates, tangled by the sticky threads.

  “Should I kill him?” Meta asked. She stood beside Villars.

  “Do what you want,” Villars told her. “We’re all dead anyway.”

  “Why?” Maddox asked Villars. “Why destroy all of us?”

  The slarn hunter gave a harsh laugh. “What do I care happens to the world once I’m dead?”

  Maddox holstered his gun and wrung his hands. “If we’re all going to die, why not tell me this. How old is the professor anyway?”

  “Older than you can imagine, punk.” Villars’s grin abruptly slid away. “Why do you want to know anyway? Why aren’t you trying to talk me out of…?” Villars’s words drifted away. He glanced at Galyan, who watched the proceeding. “Ah… you figured it out, didn’t you? Now you’re just trying to pump me for information. You’re a sly operator, punk.” The slarn hunter struggled to free himself of th
e tangle threads, but it proved impossible. Finally, the man lay still, panting.

  “Should I stomp on his hands and break his bones?” Meta asked.

  Maddox wondered if the professor was dead or alive. They might need Villars if Ludendorff had died.

  “No,” the captain said. “Take Villars to the brig. I’m going to warm up the disruptor cannon. Galyan, I’ll need your help for that.”

  “Yes, Captain,” the AI said.

  “Don’t hurt the slarn hunter,” Maddox told Meta. “We have to take our time with him later.”

  “Ah,” Meta said. “Yes, I understand.” In her power-armor, she scooped up the tangled slarn hunter, marching out of the chamber with him, carrying Villars as if he was an oversized baby.

  “What do we do first?” Maddox asked Galyan.

  “Leave it to me,” the AI said.

  ***

  “The captain did it,” Valerie said on the bridge. “Galyan is powering up the disruptor cannon.”

  “None too soon,” Keith said. “How’s our shield doing?”

  “It won’t be up for some time yet,” Valerie said.

  “Fine,” Keith said. “If I can keep the drone from exploding, it won’t matter anyway.”

  “How can you do that?”

  “It’s going to take combination neutron and disruptor beam fire. I give us a fifty percent chance of success.”

  “Those are bad odds,” Valerie said.

  Keith glanced at the sergeant. “Maybe, but they’re better than a thirty percent chance. How much longer until I have the disruptor cannon?”

  Valerie checked her board. “Two minutes,” she said.

  The ace grinned in a nasty manner. “That should be just about right. Are you ready?”

  “What am I supposed to do?”

  “Watch and learn, little lady, and see how it’s done.”

  Valerie grinned tightly. Long ago, his hyper-confidence had bothered her. Now she drew strength from it because everyone was relying on the man. If anyone could do this, it would be Keith.

  The ace began maneuvering the starship, once more coming out from behind the asteroid. The sight shocked him and caused Valerie to gasp.

  The last drone attacked Ludendorff’s asteroid. Massive chunks of rock drifted from the main mass. The red beam sliced off another piece as they watched. Somewhere in the floating jumble of debris was the professor.