The Lost Destroyer (Lost Starship Series Book 3)

by Vaughn Heppner

  “You don’t trust me back here?”

  “Of course I trust you,” Maddox said.

  Dana lost some of her tension.

  “I trust you to act like a lover and think of the professor first,” Maddox said. “That’s why I’m keeping you with me for the moment.”

  “I resent that,” Dana said. In her heart, though, the doctor knew the captain was right. Maddox could hardly make any other choice after the things Ludendorff had done.

  “Strap him in,” Maddox said. “Then come along. I’m not going to give the professor a second chance to wrest control of the starship from me.”

  ***

  Valerie waited on Victory’s bridge, keeping a careful watch on the shuttle working its way out of the asteroidal junk and watching the two star cruisers building velocity in a hurry. The New Men weren’t doing anything to hide their advance. So far, the enemy commander over there hadn’t tried to communicate with her.

  “The shuttle cannot accelerate quickly enough to make it in time,” Galyan observed.

  Valerie had just about reached the same conclusion.

  “We can attack the star cruisers,” Galyan suggested.

  Valerie nodded thoughtfully. She would like that. In her estimation, she made a good combat officer. The trouble was that she’d never had an opportunity to show anyone. This could be her chance.

  “I’m not sure,” Valerie said quietly.

  “The disruptor cannon is fully operational,” Galyan said.

  “But the shield is still rebuilding. Plus, I don’t have anyone to help me on the bridge.”

  “I can do that.”

  “Certainly,” Valerie said. In her heart, though, she wanted a Star Watch-trained officer to help her, not an alien AI.

  “Ah,” Galyan said. “I detect another two star cruisers.”

  “Approaching us?”

  “No, coming into existence by the Nexus.”

  “Is there a special jump gate there?” Valerie wondered.

  “I have not detected one.”

  “Maybe there’s another Nexus in New Men-controlled territory. Somehow, they learned we were here and used the silver pyramids to reach us.”

  “How would that be possible?”

  “Didn’t you hear?” Valerie asked. “The professor has a distance communicator, another ancient relic. The New Men have a few too. Or maybe the Builder drones alerted the enemy, and the New Men decided to send a few star cruisers over.”

  “Your possibilities are logical,” Galyan said. “Yet, given the star cruisers have just made a tremendous jump, wouldn’t that mean the enemy crews would be tired now? That should give us a temporary advantage.”

  “There is that.” Valerie snapped her fingers. “I should have thought of this sooner. Galyan, ready the neutron cannon.”

  “We’re attacking?”

  “No. We’re going to start blowing away excess debris in the shuttle’s path. At the moment, Keith has to ease through the junk, slowing down to avoid rocks and gravel. I plan to give him a clear path so the shuttle can accelerate to us on the double.”

  Galyan stood perfectly still before saying, “That is an optimum plan. I congratulate you, Lieutenant.”

  “Thank you,” Valerie said. “Let’s hope Captain Maddox feels the same way.”

  ***

  Maddox sat in the shuttle’s control chamber, watching the passive sensor. The two star cruisers were increasing velocity. Their craft would be in red beam range soon.

  Outside the asteroid maze, Victory’s neutron beam smashed rubble into fine particles. The ace threaded through the debris on their side, taking more chances than Maddox thought wise. The alternative was worse, though, so he kept his mouth shut.

  “Maybe we could make a deal with the New Men,” Dana suggested.

  Maddox knew that was her love for Ludendorff speaking. There would be no deals with the New Men. If these were the “good” ones the professor had spoken about before, why were they bearing down on them so hard? No. These were the regular New Men, invaders without quarter. There was only one way to fight them, no-holds-barred.

  Keith sat back and swiveled to face Maddox. “We’re not going to make it like this, sir,” the ace declared.

  “Suggestions?” Maddox asked.

  “Increase acceleration as we roll the dice.”

  “With what breaks through our hull and ricochets around inside?” the captain asked.

  “That’s right.”

  Maddox only needed to debate the idea a moment. The other alternative was to wait for the star cruisers to destroy them once the enemy got in range. “Do it,” the captain said.

  “No,” Dana said. “That doesn’t make sense to take needless risks. We’re so close to our ship.”

  “It’s a bitter choice, I realize,” Maddox said. “But we’re out of options.”

  “We can’t keep attempting hazardous selections like this,” Dana said. “One of these times, the risks are going to catch up with us.”

  “These are the New Men we’re dealing with,” Maddox said. “We’re forced into one hazardous venture after another because we’re playing to win, not come in second to them.”

  “We’re humanity’s last hope against the planet-killer,” Dana said. “Ludendorff is our only hope against stopping it. We can’t afford to die just yet.”

  “Negative,” Maddox said. “There’s always more than one way to win, even for humanity. Or haven’t you ever heard of the test they gave a chimpanzee?”

  Dana stared at him.

  “In an intelligence study,” Maddox said, “scientists once gave an imprisoned chimpanzee fifteen ways to escape. The ape found the sixteenth.”

  “That doesn’t prove anything out here,” Dana said in exasperation.

  “Go,” Maddox told Keith. Afterward, the captain put his helmet back on.

  “Someone should look after the professor,” Dana said.

  Maddox studied her, finally nodding. “Go,” he said.

  “Now you trust me?” Dana asked in a bitter tone.

  “Would you tell if I shouldn’t?”

  Dana peered at him thoughtfully. “After all we’ve been through, yes, I would tell you if you shouldn’t.”

  “I believe you,” Maddox said, although he wasn’t really sure he did.

  His words made the doctor smile sadly. She locked her helmet to the vacc-suit, got up and hurried from the chamber.

  “Here we go,” Keith said, while increasing velocity. “We’re playing craps in space.”

  The shuttle continued to dodge and weave through the debris, but more pebbles struck the hull. Then a fist-sized rock bounced off the armor, leaving a large dent outside. More debris struck, one plowing through the hull armor. It shattered a water line in a secondary compartment. Moisture sprayed into the sudden vacuum. Hatches sealed. The line froze and the shuttle continued through the mass.

  “I don’t know, Captain,” Keith said. “This isn’t looking good for us.”

  “Where’s the optimist I’ve come to know?” Maddox asked.

  “He’s struggling to break free of his pessimism, sir.”

  “Faster,” Maddox said.

  Keith bit his lower lip as he obeyed orders. The shuttle jinked one way and then another. The gravity dampeners purred at maximum. A larger boulder tumbled toward them. Keith couldn’t avoid it altogether. The tons of stone smashed one of the stubby wings and shredded open that side. The shuttle began to tumble end over end.

  Maddox hoped the doctor had made it to medical and strapped herself down in time.

  The ace struggled to right the craft. He might have won the contest. He was the master ace after all, but the craft plowed against another massive object, and they began to spin.

  “We rolled snakes eyes this time, sir!” Keith shouted.

  “Captain Maddox,” Valerie radioed.

  Without the gravity dampeners in operation, not even Maddox would have been able to lift his arms. He tapped his board, saying, “M
addox here.”

  “The enemy vessels have locked onto you, sir,” Valerie said. “I’m heading for you. Maybe if we can get close enough, I can try to energize the shield with you inside.”

  “Valerie!” Keith shouted, even as he worked the controls.

  “Yes?” she said.

  “I have a better idea. You have to swoop onto us and use the star drive at the same time. Hopefully, what’s left of our shuttle will be caught up in your wash.”

  “You think you’ll jump with us?” Valerie asked.

  “It’s one of the theoretical problems we had on Titan,” the ace said. “It might work.”

  “What do you think, sir?” Valerie asked Maddox.

  “Do it, Lieutenant. Once the star cruisers fire their beams, we’re dead anyway. This at least gives us a chance, however slim.”

  “Roger,” Valerie said. “I’m on my way. This is going to get tricky.”

  Keith continued to fight against the out-of-control shuttle. He braked, used side-jets and applied thrust against the spin of the craft.

  “If we can keep from hitting another rock,” the ace said, “I’ll be happy.”

  Maddox studied the passive sensor. The lead enemy star cruiser was in beam-firing range. A light appeared on the comm-board. The captain slapped it.

  A second later, a New Man appeared on the screen. He was lean like all the others, with golden skin and a sneering manner.

  “Surrender or die,” the New Man said.

  “We surrender,” Maddox said.

  The New Man nodded. “The alien craft attempting to rescue you must immediately break off.”

  “At once, Your Excellency,” Maddox said.

  “The star cruiser is firing,” Keith said. “His talk was a trick to lull us.”

  Maddox didn’t know why the New Man had bothered.

  Keith jinked wildly. Because of their spin, the end of the shuttle violently flipped upward. The red beam slashed where the aft part of the craft had just been.

  The shuttle now tumbled out of control faster than ever. A gravity dampener blew, sending dense smoke into the compartment.

  Maddox knew the enemy must be retargeting them. Why had the New Man lied about asking for surrender?

  Another gravity dampener gave out with a screeching sound. The tumbling end-over-end now produced too many Gs. Keith’s head slumped forward as the ace passed out. Maddox hung onto consciousness a little longer.

  Then, Starship Victory filled the window outside.

  Are we jumping? It was the captain’s last conscious thought before he too passed out from lack of blood to the brain.

  -19-

  Kane sat in the control room of his nondescript scout. He’d already spent many lonely days among the space debris in the Epsilon Indi System. He’d reached here from the Beyond in a single, agonizing leap. It had taken Kane twelve hours to recover sufficiently to drag himself to sickbay. The agony of the jump…he never wanted to do anything remotely like that again.

  The K class star was twelve light-years from the Solar System. Instead of planets, Epsilon Indi had binary brown dwarfs as companions. The two masses—the larger sixty times greater than Jupiter—circled each other at 2.1 AUs. The brown dwarfs orbited Epsilon Indi at 1500 AUs. The pulling, twisting gravities of the star and its brown dwarfs had made this an unprofitable system for the larger corporations and even for the independence-minded wild-caters. No useful planets or asteroids orbited here. Despite the unprofitability of Epsilon Indi, because of the system’s proximity to Earth, Star Watch sent regular patrols through and often left recording buoys.

  According to Kane’s sensors, the buoys had failed to detect his appearance into the system. His masters had perfected the art of long-distance insertions. It was one of the Throne World’s key espionage secrets. The only trouble was the process often called for an agent’s patience as he waited for pickup.

  During Kane’s wait, he exercised in the small gym with the enabler and later practiced mental calisthenics. Every time his thoughts drifted to Meta or even to Captain Maddox, Kane deliberately shifted focus. It was time to forget the woman. What did he gain by thinking of Meta’s beautiful form and her intriguing features? It’s true she had an innate and physical strength that he found appealing…

  Kane paused in his thoughts, as he lay stretched out on his cot. Unable to tear his imagination from her, he continued to ponder on what it would feel like running his hands over her voluptuous body.

  As the here-again, gone-again owner of the Los Angeles Wolverines, Kane had had his pick of Earth’s beauties for some time. The last indulgence had been with Susan Love the fashion model. He had found their couplings to be tedious affairs. He’d had to hold back lest his greater mass and strength cripple the so-called “insatiable lover.” It would be different with a strong woman like Meta. He would be able to let himself go and enjoy the process as he wished.

  “No,” Kane rumbled. “Release the thought. Concentrate on the commando mission.”

  He wondered about his fixation on Meta. Yes. That’s what it was, wasn’t it? The woman refused to depart his mind. After kidnapping Meta in New York City, he had held back with her for so long that it had started to bother him. During their time together, she had been his for the taking. Yet, Kane had realized then that the dominants would be displeased if he’d used her sexually. They’d wanted an unsullied captive on the off chance they would have desired to send her to the breeding masters.

  Kane scowled.

  The dominants desired to do the breeding that improved the human race. Kane’s genetic material was considered inferior compared to the perfection of the Throne World’s highest citizens.

  Kane frowned, realizing that he continued to indulge in fantasies. The Throne World believed in pure thought, not in rutting with the mongrel races. The New Order demanded perfection from the human race. There would be no random couplings that produced freaks, sports and retards. It was a wonder humanity had managed to populate so many star systems. The chaos inherent in their genetic randomness should have already produced a vast breakdown in stellar society.

  Kane wondered if the best minds on the Throne World tackled the dilemma of the flood of weak genetics. He’d never been to the heart of the New Order. He didn’t know what it was like on the Throne World. Kane had been to a genetic facility on a lesser world, though. He never desired to return. From what he’d witnessed, it was clear the masters treated the lower orders like cattle.

  Kane pondered his own position. He engaged in a critical commando mission for Oran Rva. Surely, the dominant realized his genetic inheritance exceeded regular humans by several factors. Would that continue once the Throne World conquered Human Space? If Kane managed to take Methuselah Treatments to gain extended life, would he progressively lose rank as the rest of humanity improved genetically? Those as good as him would grow in number as those genetically beneath him were eliminated.

  Kane sat up, shaking his head. This was useless speculation. The Throne World would win the war. Of that, there could be no doubt.

  He got up, moving down the corridor toward the exercise chamber. As he did, Kane paused. He rubbed his forehead before a hatch he was unable to acknowledge. Sometimes, it felt as if he carried a hidden passenger in the scout. That was a strange sensation without any logical reason. With a shrug, Kane kept moving.

  Soon, he stood in the exercise chamber. He wrapped his fists and hit a heavy bag, working out for the next hour.

  A warning beep caused him to step back from the swaying bag and lower his throbbing hands. He moved down a corridor to the control chamber. A number flashed across the piloting monitor.

  Kane unwound the wraps, rushing to his chair and sliding into it. He tapped out a coded sequence. Afterward, he found himself breathing heavily in anticipation.

  That was wrong. He must wait for his message to reach the Cestus hauler moving through the system.

  Kane’s scout drifted among a cluster of rocks. The star was far away.
The brown dwarfs were closer, but far enough away that their heavy radiation didn’t reach his ship in sufficient quantity to cause him harm.

  There were several Laumer-Points in the system. None of them linked directly to important nodes. It’s what made Epsilon Indi so useful to the Throne World’s secret service—a quiet star system near Earth.

  Kane forced himself to stand. When he found himself watching the monitor, even though the hauler couldn’t possibly return a message yet, he knew he had to depart the chamber.

  He went back to the exercise room, stepping on a rotation wheel. He began to run, spinning the wheel as sweat appeared on his skin. Like a rhinoceros, he charged kilometer after kilometer.

  The time approached when he would reenter the chaotic world of free humanity. Star Watch Intelligence would be waiting for him.

  On the wheel, a smile stretched across Kane’s square face. He yearned for the challenge. If Meta should cross his path during the mission… Kane’s eyes narrowed. He would use her, as he should have done many months ago.

  Kane let a low rumble of laughter escape his throat. As he did, a warning sound came from the control cabin.

  Kane stepped off the rotation wheel. With a sure stride, he reentered the control chamber. He nodded to himself.

  In the distance moved a gigantic hauler. It was vast, approaching the size of a Spacer home-ship. The vessel was gunmetal-colored with thousands of lights to show its outline. Kilometer tall letters and numbers showed this to be Cestus Hauler EV-3498-Z109.

  Buckling himself into the piloting chair, Kane acknowledged the coded signal. He made a last sweep of the nearby system to make sure no buoy or Star Watch destroyer waited to spot him.

  The minutes fled as he waited. Kane noted no probes or hidden Star Watch vessels. Only when he was certain of this did he ease from the jumble of space debris.

  By dumping gravity waves, he increased velocity for the gliding hauler. It headed for a distant Laumer-Point. Out here, the giant vessel should still be increasing velocity. Instead, it glided through the stellar night. A passing Star Watch patrol might think the hauler captain was trying to save on fuel costs. Accelerating and decelerating the massive ship was expensive.