The Lost Star Gate (Lost Starship Series Book 9)

by Vaughn Heppner

  “You mean regular New Men ensnared me in their web?” Ludendorff asked.

  “The New Men must have broken Strand, learned about the Bosks and set up a sting operation there,” Maddox said. “They not only collected you, but Mary O’Hara, Starship Victory—”

  “And you,” Meta said sharply, interrupting. “The New Men want you as well, husband.”

  Maddox glanced at his wife, nodding. “That means we only have a little time left. If I’m correct about the New Men being behind this—we must remember that they move with incredible swiftness.”

  “Begging your pardon, Captain,” Riker said. “But would the New Men really break the treaty like this? I doubt they want another war with us. If the rest of us humans team up, we can beat them. Heck! Admiral Fletcher was getting ready not so long ago to find and storm their Throne World.”

  “You have a point,” Maddox admitted.

  “It could be we’re dealing with a faction of New Men,” Ludendorff said. “Theirs is not a monolithic society as many believe. The Emperor rules the Throne World, but he balances his authority as the strongest Dominant among many.”

  “Whatever the case,” Maddox said, “we have to purge the Moltke of Bosks, establish regular authority here, contact Victory and maneuver into the superior position against the Q-ships.”

  “I’m too tired to do all that, my boy. My head is a cauldron of conflicting emotions and ideas. Part of me loathes you and your wife. Part of me yearns to destroy anyone who has tampered with my mind. I thought you were the hated culprit. But you’re right. The Builder invaded my mind long ago. I was wro—”

  Ludendorff turned away sharply.

  “No one is asking for any sort of apology,” Maddox said, “least of all me. That was then. This is now.”

  “Yes,” Ludendorff said in a hoarse voice. “Well said. I concur with the feeling of letting bygones be bygones. I detest making…well, you know.”

  “The key is the vat-grown space marines,” Maddox said. “It’s time we rounded them up and let the regular Star Watch officers run Moltke. That will be phase one.”

  “Do you have any idea how to achieve this?” Ludendorff asked

  Maddox did, and he began to tell them.

  -33-

  Stage 1 of freeing the Moltke of the Bosk space marines proved relatively quick and painless.

  Ludendorff donned his pendant and belt and hurried to their special quarters. The quarters were off-limits to the regular Star Watch crew. The Bosk marines were not wearing armor in their quarters. Thus, Ludendorff simply walked among them and knocked them unconscious with sub-sonic blasts. Maddox, Riker and Meta entered afterward and secured the fallen with plastic ties, leaving the Bosk marines trussed up in their rooms.

  Stage 2 was trickier.

  With his personal comm unit, Ludendorff called on-duty marine section leaders. Three times, the under-commander wanted to know why Jard hadn’t called. Ludendorff used the same excuse each time, and it worked. The under-commander brought his marines to Ludendorff on the double.

  The place was an ambush site. There, Ludendorff used a jamming device so the marines could not summon aid or warn others.

  Because Maddox had not been able to figure out a different way, he, Meta and Riker used the deadly palm-guns and beamed the marines through the visors, killing them to a man.

  It was ugly and brutal, but losing to the Bosks and then the New Men was worse. They also got lucky. The terrible palm-guns lasted long enough to do the killing, and they refined their techniques. The one time the ambush went south, they’d already worked out the kinks and reacted faster than the Bosks and slew them anyway.

  The Moltke’s regular crew started getting anxious with all these space marines clanking everywhere. Twice, O’Hara called Ludendorff, asking him if something was wrong. Some of her people were getting nervous, asking her.

  Ludendorff made sympathetic noises and gave O’Hara BS explanations. After the second call, Maddox pointed out that the explanations would never have worked if O’Hara had been in her normal state of mind.

  Soon thereafter, Ludendorff led Maddox, Riker and Meta to the Bosk techs. They used the sub-sonic blasts and plastic ties on them. Twice, quicker-witted techs attempted to contact one of the Q-ships. They might have succeeded, but Riker stunned the callers before that could happen.

  Maddox, Meta and Riker had inserted special earplugs to resist Ludendorff’s device.

  In the end, two hundred and ninety-eight Bosks were hogtied in their quarters. The rest were dead, stashed in various off-limits locations.

  Soon, O’Hara called a third time, demanding to see Ludendorff.

  “Certainly,” the professor said, giving her his present location.

  Despite the mind manipulation having dulled her, O’Hara practiced a deception. She came with a squad of regular Moltke MPs. Maybe she planned to arrest the professor or maybe she’d heard too many strange reports. In the end, it made no difference. O’Hara and her MPs dropped to the sub-sonic blasts.

  Meta and Riker secured the MPs with plastic ties. Maddox carried O'Hara, and placed the brigadier on Jard’s cot. The Bosk commander had possessed a room to himself.

  The captain shook her shoulder. After a time, O’Hara awoke groggily.

  Even though Maddox and then Ludendorff explained the real situation to her, O’Hara refused to believe it.

  “I know what I saw,” she said. She referred to the New Men corpses on the Tau Ceti Station, their sawn-open skulls and the wires sticking out of their brains. “I don’t know what the captain has done to you, Professor, but it is desperately wrong.”

  Maddox pulled Ludendorff aside. “Why isn’t she accepting the truth? You did?”

  “I should have foreseen it,” Ludendorff said. “It’s my superiority at work. Her mind simply isn’t as strong or as complex as mine. Consider. Once reality stares me in the face, my superior intellect overcomes whatever fallacies are binding me. I adjust. I even adjust against intense programming because in a mental sense, my mind has herculean powers.”

  “Either that,” Maddox said, “or your love for Dana broke through the webs they overlaid on your mind.”

  “I just told you why I overcame their mind manipulations. Do not attempt to belittle my lofty achievement.”

  “Of course not,” Maddox said. “I stand corrected.”

  Ludendorff eyed him, shaking his head afterward. “You don’t really believe what you just said. You’re far too smug, Captain. Sometimes—”

  “Let’s concentrate on liking and cooperating with each other,” Maddox said. “Whether we realize it or not, the two of us have produced remarkable achievements over the years. I doubt either of us could have done as much alone.”

  Ludendorff tugged at his lower lip. “Perhaps you have a point,” he said quietly. “Brains and brawn—it is a good combination.”

  “We can’t keep O’Hara locked up for long,” Maddox said. “Nor can I just take over the Moltke by giving an order.”

  “Those are problems,” the professor admitted. “Perhaps the two of us can convince the commodore of the real situation.”

  “I doubt she’ll have the imagination to accept the truth,” Maddox said. “She’ll think we’re trying to mutiny.”

  “Perhaps if we sabotage the battleship’s engines,” Ludendorff said. “Victory could face the Q-ships on its own.”

  “It will be better for our bargaining position—to gain Dana’s release—if we can present the Q-ships with overpowering force.”

  Ludendorff tugged at his lower lip again. “You do realize that much of what we believe to be true is mere supposition. Hmm, you desire a strong bargaining position… I know. Several quick disrupter shots at the main shield generators would cripple the Q-ships’ defenses, as they would not be able to raise their shields for some time. That would leave them at Victory’s mercy, giving you a powerful hand.”

  “Right,” Maddox said. “And that way, we won’t have to sabotage the Moltke�
�s engines. It’s also probable that given enough time, the commodore will side with Victory, a fellow Star Watch vessel. O’Hara is conditioned, not the commodore or the other Star Watch officers. Good thinking, Professor.”

  Ludendorff nodded. “The trick is in contacting Victory without having the Q-ships intercepting the message.”

  Maddox grinned.

  “What is it, my boy?”

  “Follow me,” Maddox said. “I know exactly what to do.”

  -34-

  On the bridge of Starship Victory, as Valerie sat in the command chair, she listened closely as Galyan explained everything the captain had told him.

  Maddox had sent a secret signal fifteen minutes ago. It had been a short burst of extremely low frequency. It had meant one thing.

  The deified AI could project his holoimage for an appreciable distance. The Moltke had been just inside the outer limit of that range, allowing Galyan to appear where Maddox hid on the battleship. Now, the little AI finished telling Valerie the precise message.

  “You’re sure about all this?” the lieutenant asked.

  “Yes, Valerie, I am one hundred percent positive.”

  “It’s a wild story.”

  “The captain thought you might have trouble believing me. Under those conditions, he told me to ask you if any of Strand’s or the New Men’s plots had ever been simple?”

  The lieutenant studied Galyan. “Did the captain seem to be under any duress?”

  “No, Valerie.”

  “Was Ludendorff with him?”

  “He was.”

  “Riker and Meta, too?”

  “They were all there.”

  “O’Hara?”

  “No. She was not there, as this procedure would be unnecessary if the brigadier had been present.”

  Valerie frowned. “At least you’re not suggesting I fire on the Moltke.”

  “Excuse me, Valerie. I have not made any suggestions. These are the captain’s orders. He expects you to obey on the double.”

  Valerie looked up at the main screen. The “flotilla” had stopped accelerating some time ago. They all moved on velocity alone toward Usan III. The three Q-ships were behind Moltke in relation to Victory. The Defiant was farther behind as befitted a missile cruiser. It would take a little maneuvering for the Q-ships to be in Victory’s direct line of fire.

  “Weapons?” Valerie asked. “Can you pinpoint the location of the shield generators on the three Q-ships?”

  The man’s fingers blurred over his board. “I have the locations from our original scan. I am not presently targeting the Q-ships, though.”

  “Will you need to do a sensor lock to destroy them?” Valerie asked.

  “That would up our odds for precisely hitting the targets.”

  “Valerie,” Galyan said, “I can do the shooting.”

  “Not this time,” she said. “That’s Mr. Stimson’s job. Figure out a firing sequence,” she told the weapons officer, Sub-lieutenant Brian Stimson.

  “Yes, sir,” he said, and went to work.

  “You are going to comply with the captain’s orders?” Galyan asked.

  “What do you think about all this, Andros?” Valerie asked.

  The Kai-Kaus Chief Technician shrugged.

  Valerie frowned, realizing she shouldn’t have asked him. But since she had, Andros could at least have said something. Was he smarting over last time when she’s told him to keep his opinions to himself?

  She wished Keith was on the bridge at Helm. She would rather have had him do the targeting, too. Truth be told, she wanted to give Galyan the task. But she had to let the sub-lieutenant do his job sometime. Was this the right moment?

  Should she really attack on Galyan’s word? No. That was the wrong question. She had no reason to doubt the AI. What had happened over there aboard the Moltke? This all sounded complicated and convoluted.

  “I have the targeting parameters set,” Stimson said.

  “Thank you, Mr. Stimson. Await my orders. Helm,” Valerie said. And she proceeded to give the orders that would slow the mighty starship just enough that in eight minutes, all three Q-ships would be in direct line of sight of the disrupter cannon, as the Moltke would no longer be in the way.

  Helm made the adjustments. The ancient Adok warship shed some of its velocity. It began to move slower in relation to the other ships of the flotilla.

  Valerie waited, her palms turning moist and her mouth drying out. This was crazy. Why was she so nervous? It wasn’t as if she was firing on official Star Watch vessels. These were auxiliary ships, privateers according to Galyan. Officially, they were under Professor Ludendorff’s command. But Ludendorff had been with Maddox and had given Galyan the go-ahead.

  “Lieutenant,” the comm officer said. “One of the Q-ships is hailing us.”

  “Put them on the main screen.”

  A moment later, a hard-faced man with a knife tattoo on his forehead regarded her.

  “This is Captain Nard of the Bernard Shaw. Are you Captain Maddox?”

  “I’m Lieutenant Valerie Noonan in acting command,” she said. “The captain is aboard the Moltke.”

  “I want to speak with your captain.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t help you then,” she said. “I haven’t spoken to the captain since he landed over there. I imagine he’s in deep conversation with the brigadier.”

  “This is an emergency,” Nard said.

  “Do you need assistance? I can help you.”

  “I can’t speak to you about the emergency. I must speak to your captain.”

  “Then, I suggest you contact the Moltke. I can’t help you at present.”

  The man stared into her eyes. Then, he rudely checked her out. It was obvious and insulting. Captain Nard almost licked his lips.

  “What was your name?” he asked.

  “Lieutenant Noonan.”

  “Why has your ship slowed down, Lieutenant?”

  She sat up straighter. “I am not in the habit of explaining myself…to anyone but the captain. Can I help you with anything else?”

  “I’d like to meet you.”

  “But I don’t want to meet you, Captain. Don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s personal.”

  Instead of frowning, Captain Nard grinned. One could almost call it a leer. “Now I desire to meet you more than ever. Good-bye, woman. We will meet again soon, never fear.”

  The screen went blank. In its place, the ships reappeared.

  “Valerie,” Galyan said. “The Q-ships’ shield generators have come online.”

  “Mr. Stimson?” she asked.

  “I can fire at the first Q-ship’s generator,” the sub-lieutenant said.

  “Fire when ready,” Valerie said. “Helm, give us some extra speed. I want the other two Q-ships in a direct line of sight yesterday.”

  Victory’s mighty antimatter engines purred with power as the disrupter cannon heated up. It had been pre-warmed, so the process was faster than normal. At the same time, the starship’s shields rose to full strength.

  At his weapons board, Stimson pressed a switch.

  The yellow disrupter beam flashed, spearing out at the nearest Q-ship. The shield generator was online, but the shield wasn’t up yet. The beam smashed through the seemingly paper-thin hull, roaring through equally useless bulkheads until it struck and devoured the shield generator.

  In three seconds, Stimson tapped his board. The beam quit raying.

  “Acquiring the second target,” Stimson said, his voice only slightly shaky. Once more, he pressed a switch.

  The powerful disrupter beam flashed for a second time. The second Q-ship’s force field had flickered into place, but not quite fast enough. The yellow beam smashed aside the paltry shield, and once more battered through hull and bulkheads before devouring the vessel’s main shield generator.

  “Valerie,” Galyan said. “The Q-ships are powering up their main weapon.”

  “Knock down the last Q-ship’s shield generator,” she tol
d Stimson.

  “The Moltke’s commodore is hailing us,” the comm officer said.

  “Ignore her for now,” Valerie said.

  “The commodore is ordering you to stop firing. She says she’ll have to fire on you if you continue to attack flotilla vessels.”

  “I’d like to see her try,” Valerie snapped. “Where’s that beam, Stimson? I don’t see it.”

  The weapons officer tapped his board. For the third time, the disrupter beam lashed out. This time, it struck a powerful shield. The shield held against the deadly disruptor beam.

  “Add the neutron beam,” Valerie said. “Smash down the shield.”

  “The Moltke is warming up its heavy cannons,” the comm officer said.

  Valerie leaned forward on her chair, watching the Q-ship’s amazing shield take the full brunt of the disruptor and neutron beams. That was more than a mere privateer. The shield hadn’t even turned red yet.

  “Valerie,” Galyan said. “I have analyzed the Q-ships’ weapon. I believe the vessels work in tandem. I think it is a killing weapon. Do not let it strike us.”

  “I can’t smash down the last shield,” she said.

  “The Moltke’s commodore has given us his final warning,” the comm officer said.

  Valerie bit her lower lip. The last Q-ship’s shield still wasn’t going down. If Galyan was right—

  “Stimson,” she said, “target the first Q-ship.”

  “Lieutenant?” the man asked.

  “Fire at it, Stimson. Take it out.”

  “The first Q-ship doesn’t have a shield,” he said.