The Lost Destroyer (Lost Starship Series Book 3)

by Vaughn Heppner

  Three hours passed before the Cestus hauler loomed massive before Kane’s tiny vessel. He slowed, drifting toward a select spot on the giant frame.

  No more messages came his way. No one on the hauler thought to ask for identification. The process was exact. As the scout came within collision distance, hangar bay doors opened.

  Kane eased the scout into the giant vessel. Behind him, the bay doors closed. With great care, Kane guided the scout through a long corridor past many containers. Finally, he landed in a location deep inside the ship.

  Shutting down everything—

  Kane groaned. Pain spiked in his head. He hesitated to tap the last control that would shut off all power in the scout. Instead, he arose from his seat, walking robotically down a corridor and stopping before a hatch he had never consciously recognized. To Kane, this felt like a dream.

  He pressed a switch and a panel opened. A small screen activated, showing him a number pad. Grunting, Kane stepped closer and tapped a precise sequence onto the pad.

  A thrum began on the other side of the hatch. Curiosity shined in Kane’s mind. What was inside the compartment? What did—?

  Once more, pain spiked inside Kane’s head. He groaned. The hatch and the number pad became fuzzy and then altogether disappeared in Kane’s mind. He turned away from it even as a clack of noise occurred inside the compartment.

  The robotic nature of his movements faded as he walked away. Finally, he donned a vacc-suit, forgetting the dream about a strange hatch and hidden compartment on the scout.

  Kane exited the scout and walked for many kilometers in the vacuum of the hauler’s cargo halls. He entered a secret module, sealed the hatch behind him and moved to a panel. Tapping the correct sequence, part of the wall opened. If he had failed the sequence code, hot plasma would have flushed the chamber to turn him into a pile of molten molecules. Instead, Kane found a locker for his suit and case of advanced weaponry.

  He’d safely made it to the insertion hauler. Now, the cargo vessel would journey to Earth. It would easily pass any coming inspections. Once in Low Earth Orbit, Kane would perform a dangerous, sub-aqua entry onto the planet. Then, he would make the deadly commando raid against Nerva Tower in Monte Carlo, collecting the critical key.

  -20-

  By slow degrees, Maddox woke up on a medical bed aboard Starship Victory. Meta stood by the railing, smiling down at him. It seemed as if she towered kilometers above him.

  “Don’t strain yourself,” Meta said, touching his arm with a warm hand. He liked that. “If you’re wondering how you got here, Galyan used a tractor beam, bringing the shuttle under control.”

  She spoke. Maddox could see her lips move. He concentrated. Oh. Yes. The shuttle, he remembered spinning wildly. A tractor beam, Victory had a tractor beam? Pain blossomed in his brain then.

  “Rest, darling,” Meta said. “Keith’s idea worked. Your shuttle entered the star drive with us. We reappeared several light years outside the Xerxes System. Your shuttle kept tumbling, and it took a while for Galyan to recover from Jump Lag. That’s why all four of you are in medical. It was a close thing.”

  Maddox heard the words more easily this time. But the pulsating in his head weakened his resolve to stay awake.

  “You’re okay now,” she said, stroking his arm.

  Maddox tried to anchor onto the comforting sensation.

  “You’re all just going to be tired for a while,” she said.

  The pain in his head was starting to make him nauseous. Then, he realized something critical. He battled against the drowsiness in order to tell Meta. That hurt his head even more, and he considered closing his eyes and going to sleep.

  No! He refused. This was too important. Maddox struggled against the beckoning sleep, finally managing to whisper a word.

  “Please, Maddox. You’re not supposed to strain yourself. Go back to sleep. We can talk later.”

  He couldn’t do that because the stakes were too high. There might not be a later if he couldn’t get his words out. With a straining effort—making his eyesight blotchy—Maddox managed to wheeze, “The professor.”

  “Okay… What about him?”

  Waves of exhaustion rolled against Maddox. Speaking had taken more out of him than it should have. What was wrong with him? He didn’t know. Worse, he felt his mouth closing as he shut down. With a final effort, he struggled against that. The fight made the pain in his head turn into gongs of agony.

  “Shhh, go to sleep, darling.”

  He almost listened to her. Somewhere deep inside him he realized that he was Captain Maddox of Star Watch Intelligence. He wouldn’t quit until he was dead. He had to speak, forcing his lips to move and his throat to convulse.

  “Put…the…Professor…”

  A warm hand squeezed his forearm.

  Maddox couldn’t see anything now. The waves of exhaustion deadened his weak energy, trying to pull him down into unconsciousness.

  They tormented my mother! That did it. A surge of strength gave him the power to speak:

  “Put the professor…in deep freeze. Don’t let him…wake up.”

  “What?” Meta asked.

  Maddox strove to explain it.

  “Yes, of course,” she said, with worry in her voice. “I’ll do what you say. Now go to sleep. Regain your strength.”

  Maddox still wanted to say more. And he wondered if Meta was just saying that? He felt like a drowning man sinking into the depths, struggling to get back to the surface where the light shined.

  “I think I know what’s bothering you,” a faint voice said. “Valerie said we’re headed for Earth. Command needs to know what’s going on. We have to get ready against the doomsday machine. Don’t worry, we know.”

  The exhaustion finally conquered Maddox. The effort to remain awake was simply too much. Quietly, he slipped into the depths of a numbed state of unconsciousness.

  ***

  Due to his superior healing abilities, Maddox was the first to recover sufficiently to leave his medical bed. He found that Meta had transferred the professor into a stasis tank. It was the old way of space travel. With Riker’s help, Meta had also “frozen” the rest of Ludendorff’s team, including Villars.

  His woman had known what to do. Because of Meta, that danger was over.

  So much about Ludendorff troubled Maddox. The appearance of New Men by the Nexus also worried him to no end. Just how much Builder technology did the enemy possess?

  It was time to solve a few of these mysteries. Where should he start? Maddox decided on the time-honored Intelligence technique of searching the offender’s quarters. He summoned Riker, and they headed to the professor’s room.

  “I suspect Ludendorff has a great many secrets,” Maddox said as they walked down a corridor. “He also strikes me as someone who would booby-trap his possessions. We must proceed with caution.”

  Riker nodded. The sergeant carried detection equipment. The various items dangled from straps around his shoulders and neck.

  They entered the room and began checking the closet, drawers and mattress. They searched for secret compartments in the walls, floor and ceiling. They found slacks, shirts, jackets, shoes, a few useless knickknacks and several pill bottles and sheaves of notes.

  “What does an ancient long-distance communicator look like?” the sergeant asked. That was the chief item on their list.

  “I have no idea,” Maddox said.

  In the end, they placed three peculiar items on the table in the room. One was the flat device that had projected the web field. The second was a small chain and bulbous object, which Maddox suspected was the personal force field protector. The third looked like an ordinary tablet.

  “It’s clean,” Riker said, waving a detection wand over the tablet.

  Maddox sat down at the table, flexing his fingers. He tapped the tablet’s screen, examining the options. The tablet lacked a security code, which he found odd. Soon, Maddox read the most recent notes.

  One in particul
ar interested him. What did Meta see aboard the star cruiser in Wolf Prime orbit? You must break her mind-lock. Was HE there? I’m beginning to suspect so.

  Who was HE? Maddox wondered. Whom would Ludendorff suspect? The captain drummed his fingers on the table. Could Ludendorff mean the teacher?

  “Find something?” Riker asked.

  “Maybe.” Maddox tapped the screen again, searching for more clues. He found a file with a security code. After a moment’s hesitation, he attempted to crack it.

  The tablet buzzed.

  “Look out!” Riker shouted, dropping to the floor.

  With the flat of his hand, Maddox swept the device off the table against a bulkhead. He drove onto the floor, covering his head as the tablet exploded. It sent hot shards of plastic everywhere, but missed the captain and the sergeant, who had each positioned themselves behind a bulky object.

  Riker raised his head. So did Maddox. Acrid smoke drifted into his nostrils. He glanced at the sergeant’s detection gear.

  “It didn’t spot anything,” Riker admitted.

  “I doubt that should surprise us. Clearly, the professor has access to advanced technology.”

  Standing, Riker glanced at the flat device still on the table. “Do we try to hack into it next?”

  “No,” Maddox said, who headed for the exit. “I’m locking the room. We’ll leave the last two items here.”

  Once outside the room, they headed for the cafeteria. As they did, the ship’s intercom clicked on.

  “Attention,” Valerie told them. “We’re approaching our next Laumer-Point. We’ll jump in another half hour. That is all.”

  ***

  After recovering from Jump Lag, Maddox sat at his desk in his quarters. He thought about the silver object Ludendorff had carried out of the Builder base. So far, no one had been able to figure out what it was. Should they crack it? Maddox agreed with Dana they should save the Builder egg for the Star Watch experts back home.

  The captain pondered other things, including his interview with Per Lomax and the Throne World’s desire to “improve” humanity by culling eighty percent. That turned his thoughts toward the origin of the New Men.

  Whoever had come up with the idea of creating superior humans had changed Maddox’s life. Without the idea, his mother would never have been a test subject in a genetic laboratory in the Beyond. There never would have been New Men to begin with. He wouldn’t be a hybrid, a half-breed, an outsider among his own people.

  Leave that black hole for now. Don’t let it suck you into useless speculation. Concentrate on solving mysteries.

  Maddox thought about Meta’s close contact with the enemy. The New Men had questioned her in Wolf Prime orbit. He wished he knew what those questions were. It might give him a better insight into the enemy and clues to the doomsday machine.

  The professor had wondered if HE had been aboard the vessel. That must refer to the teacher. Who would have a close connection with Ludendorff and the New Men? The teacher…clearly, the mind-manipulating bastard had gone to great lengths to keep whatever he’d done to Meta hidden.

  Who is HE? I’d dearly like to know.

  Abruptly, Maddox headed for the exit. Had the professor planted the clue in the tablet in order to get him to chase shadows? It was possible. Since he had nothing else to go on, Maddox decided it was worth a try to discover the answer. Besides, as smart as the professor was, he didn’t think Ludendorff would plan for his own failure. The man didn’t think like that. Therefore, Maddox believed it was a genuine clue.

  ***

  Meta practiced in the ship’s gym, snap kicking a heavy bag. Upon Maddox’s entrance, she stepped away from the bag and picked up a towel, drying her face. Draping the towel around her neck, she smiled at him.

  “I’ve been thinking about the origin of the New Men,” Maddox told her.

  Meta’s shoulders deflated. “You’re not going to ask me questions about them, are you?”

  “I’d like to,” he said.

  “I’m sick of the subject.”

  “I realize that,” Maddox said, “but it could be vital.”

  Meta looked away, sighing. Finally, she stepped close to Maddox, peering up into his eyes. “I’ll do it for you.”

  “I appreciate that,” he said, as he brushed her hair back.

  She nodded.

  Maddox had already decided how to broach the difficult idea. He would circle it first before asking. “You once spoke about Per Lomax being Kane’s spy chief, isn’t that right?”

  “I did,” Meta said.

  “On the enemy star cruiser, what happened after Kane spoke to Per Lomax.”

  Meta’s lips tightened. “I don’t remember.”

  “Which part?” Maddox asked.

  Meta gave him a funny look. “If I can’t remember, how could I tell you?”

  Maddox spoke easily, even though he chose his next words with care. “Per Lomax sent you somewhere.”

  “Yes. He sent me to the teacher.”

  “What happened with him?”

  Meta massaged her temples. “I want to remember for you. You say it’s important, and I believe you. But it was a terrifying time. I want to forget it. I—Wait!” Meta lowered her hands, looking at Maddox with surprise. “I seem to recall a spinning table. The teacher twisted my mind while—” Meta groaned as she scrunched her brow. “I already told you what I know. Why are you asking me this all over again?”

  Maddox held her shoulders. He disliked causing her pain. More than ever, though, he believed the professor was onto something. The captain had to follow this single clue.

  “I know this is difficult for you, and I’m sorry for that,” Maddox said, meaning it. “You’re doing well. If you can push just a little more, I need to know what the teacher looked like?”

  Meta frowned, shaking her head. “I don’t know.”

  “The teacher hid himself from your memories. I’m beginning to think he did so for a reason.”

  “What reason?”

  “Yes,” Maddox said. “That’s the question. Why would the teacher hide himself? You were to go down onto Wolf Prime afterward. You would go to Ludendorff—” Maddox stopped as if surprised.

  “What?” Meta asked.

  “How do you feel about taking truth serum?”

  Meta’s stricken look gave Maddox the answer he’d expected.

  He stroked his chin as if thinking. “What if Dana spoke to you again, using hypnosis as she did before?”

  Meta hesitated before saying, “I hated the process. But I’ll do it if you think it might help against the planet-killer.”

  “I don’t know for certain that it will help, but there is a possibility.”

  “How do you know?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” Maddox admitted. “This is one of my Intelligence hunches.”

  Meta considered that, finally nodding.

  “I need to talk to the doctor,” Maddox said. “Thanks, Meta. I appreciate this.”

  She nodded again.

  Maddox turned and headed for the hatch.

  ***

  Maddox found Dana in the cafeteria, eating ice cream. He sat down across from her.

  “I’ve been thinking about the New Men,” Maddox said without preamble. “I feel as if I’m closing in on a truth about them, but I need a few more clues. Their goal has begun to strike me as too strange. Why should they worry so much about improving the human race? What propelled them to think in such a direction in the first place?”

  Dana slid a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, savoring it before aiming the spoon at Maddox. “It’s an interesting question. Why are you telling me, though?”

  “Several months ago, Kane took Meta onto a star cruiser in Wolf Prime orbit. Per Lomax then sent Meta to the teacher. This teacher went out of his way to hide himself from Meta’s memories. I’d like to know why and see what it shows me.”

  “Maybe the teacher is a cultic figure among the New Men,” Dana said. “Part of his mystiqu
e is that no one remembers talking to him.”

  “I don’t believe that’s the answer.”

  Dana shrugged. “What would you like me to do?”

  “Hypnotize Meta again and see if you can break through the blockage.”

  “I failed last time. Why do you think I’ll succeed now?”

  “I don’t know that you will,” Maddox said.

  Dana considered that. “You have a hunch about the teacher, don’t you?”

  “I suppose I do.”

  Dana stirred her half-melted ice cream. “Why don’t we ask the professor about the teacher? That sounds easier and more productive than this.”

  The doctor clearly wanted to thaw Ludendorff, something Maddox had no intention of doing. It had taken too much work to gain control of the professor. He wasn’t going to give Ludendorff a second chance. He didn’t like to give false hopes to anyone. Sometimes, though, any kind of hope was better than none at all. Especially if that motivated the person to do what Maddox wanted them to do.

  “It may come down to thawing Ludendorff,” the captain said, “depending on what you find with Meta.”

  Dana raised her eyebrows. “I’ll do it then,” she said.

  Maddox nodded. Could he finally discover the identity of the mysterious teacher?

  ***

  As Dana spoke quietly, Meta closed her eyes, trying to relax as she lay on a couch. It bothered her that anyone had ever been able to twist her thoughts. She also hated having been Kane’s captive for so long. It was something she’d been trying to forget. She kept wondering if Maddox secretly held it against her.

  “Meta,” Dana said.

  “Hmm…?”

  “I’m going to ask you a few questions. It doesn’t matter how you answer.”

  “Okay.”

  “This is just between you and me. We’ve been friends a long time in rough situations. We’ve always known that we had each other’s back.”

  “That’s true,” Meta said in a sleepy voice.

  Dana began to drone on. She touched on topics they both enjoyed. The doctor spoke about Loki Prime, asked some questions about the frigid weather on Wolf Prime and drifted to the journey through space with Kane.