Sutton II had successfully defended itself, but at a tremendous cost. Norlin shuddered, thinking how few worlds had sector bases and the heavy armament to repel a space fleet. More would have to build their defenses. The word had to be spread. If it did, perhaps the Empire Service would not see so many mutinies.
Sutton's defense would have been far easier if so many Empire warships had remained in orbit, supported by the planet-based lasartillery.
“Here's the hatchway, Cap'n.” Barse cycled it open. A fetid odor came out. “Something's dead inside and starting to turn ripe.”
Norlin drew his pistol and made sure an explosive round chambered with a satisfying snick. Poking his head inside the dimly lit interior convinced him they had cut off all the power. The only illumination came from the sunlight.
“Lamp,” he ordered. “I'm going in.”
“Let Liottey risk his neck.” Barse chuckled. “Let him earn another medal. That was clever of him to think of the foam.”
“It'll soon be part of the permanent fighting system. Admiral Bendo is sharp enough to see the possibilities.”
“It's so low-tech, though. It's almost offensively simple. Why, micron-diameter plastic spheres might work even better in getting through filters and gumming up turbines. They could be delivered by—hey, Cap'n, wait for me.” Barse dived after him.
Norlin wiggled forward through a small tunnel until he came to the cockpit. He shined the lamp around and then laughed.
“What's so funny?” Barse pulled her short, stubby legs under her and looked around the aliens’ cockpit. “Them? They're responsible for the Death Fleet?”
The two dead aliens were spider-limbed and barrel-chested, hardly the picture of invincible conquerors. Sharp beaks hung open, slack in death. Compound eyes stared at ... what? Norlin wondered what their idea of an afterlife would be.
He also wondered what their philosophy of life was to despoil colonized worlds as they did. He wondered at a great deal more but was satisfied for the moment that they were dead.
“Bilateral symmetry, strangely jointed fingers, and it looks as if they have two thumbs. That'd make them experts at hitching rides. Brain case looks too big for the neck. The rest of the body I don't even want to think about. I wouldn't want to go on a bender and wake up the next morning with that beside me.” She looked at the notch between the spindly legs and found nothing like human sexual organs.
“Chitin shell. They might be insectoid,” said Norlin. He shook his head in disbelief. He had pictured the aliens to be towering brutes with prodigious muscles and impossible endurance.
On impulse, he reached out and took one frail arm and broke it over his knee. It was tougher than it looked, but not by much.
“Low-gravity world is my guess,” said Barse.
“Let's get the hell out of here. The smell is making me sick. This is something for the admiral's research staff, not an engineer and a pilot.”
“Yes, Cap'n, but we're one hell of an engineer and a damned fine pilot. That makes a difference.”
Norlin took a deep breath when he got out of the alien fighting machine. He felt unclean. Those monsters had killed hundreds of millions of humans. They had been responsible for Neela's death, too. For that he could never forgive them.
He climbed to the top of the hill and stared into the dusty sunset. The sky turned dark, and the first stars appeared. He identified one and quickly worked his way to where the Preceptor orbited. It shone brighter than anything else in the twilight sky, as it should.
It was his ship.
And there was considerable work to do. The aliens’ Death Fleet had shifted to another star system to destroy humans. They had to be found and stopped. He couldn't do it alone, but with Barse, Sarov, Miza and even Liottey aboard the Preceptor he could do much.
The alien Death Fleet would be stopped. Then they could find the aliens’ home world and make certain Penum and Murgatroyd and Lyman never happened again. Pier Norlin made that promise to himself and humanity.
To be continued...
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Afterword
Space opera. Blood and thunder. Thud and blunder along the spaceways. Excitement like it used to be. That's what I tried to capture in the Star Frontiers trilogy, starting with this book, Alien Death Fleet. I grew up reading pulp fiction and have always had a soft spot in my heart for its conventions and moral certainty in its battles of good versus evil. Some might say this preference is a soft spot in the head, or “nostalgia idiotica,” as SF author and fan writer Buck Coulson once called a longing to look back rather than forward.
So be it. I love space opera for the sweeping scope, the heroes who were heroes and heroines who were, well, heroines. EE “Doc” Smith smashed stars and galaxies together as heroes battled dastardly empires. Olaf Stapleton ranged from one end of time to another (and so did AE Van Vogt). Jack Williamson not only showed the Legion of Space but the Legion of Time to thrilling ends. Isaac Asimov built, destroyed and rebuilt galactic empires in his Foundation series. These are the grand stories of my youth and, stylistically lacking though they may be in light of today's decon-structionism, they soar because of concept.
Alien Death Fleet was originally sold to Pageant Books back in the late 1980s but, for legal reason having nothing to do with the book, was the only one of the three to see print. Zumaya Otherworlds will reprint this volume and print Genetic Menace and Black Nebula, completing the trilogy for the first time.
Consider these books a tribute to the science fiction's Golden Age. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did imagining them almost a quarter century ago.
Robert E. Vardeman
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About the Author
Robert E. Vardeman is the author of more than ninety novels spanning many genres, but his favorites have always been science fiction and fantasy. Most notable series: The Cenotaph Road, Weapons of Chaos, Biowarriors, Masters of Space, The Jade Demons, The Accursed and Demon Crown. He also has coauthored nine titles in the Swords of Raemllyn series with Geo W. Proctor. After twenty years, the reprinting of the first of the Star Frontier series and initial publication of the final two titles, The Genetic Menace and The Black Nebula brings the entire trilogy to the readers—finally.
Individual titles include Dark Legacy (1996, Harper); a Magic: The Gathering tie-in novel, Hellheart (2000) Warner) and the MechWarrior tie-in novel, Ruins of Power (2003, ROC). He wrote the original Star Trek novels The Klingon Gambit (1981, Simon & Schuster) and Mutiny on the Enterprise (1983, Simon & Schuster).
Short fiction has been published in magazines such as The Twilight Zone Magazine and many anthologies. Recent appearances include “The Power and the Glory” in Time Twisters (2007, DAW Books), “Purification” in Invasion! (2007, Black Library), “Tontine” in Sword & Sorceress #23 (2007, Norilana Books) and “Wreckers” in Pirates of the Blue Kingdoms: Shades and Specters (2007, Walkabout Publishing). Publication of “To Cat, A Thief” is slated for December 2008 in Catopolis, with “Jack and the Genetic Beanstalk” to follow soon after in Terribly Twisted Tales, both from DAW Books. Vardeman's short fiction collection, Stories from Desert Bob's Reptile Ranch (2007, Popcorn Press), contains 21 stories spanning the horror, humor, science fiction and fantasy fields.
Under his “Karl Lassiter” pen name, he has written eight epic western novels, including White River Massacre (2002) and Sword and Drum (2003), all from Pinnacle Books. A “Karl Lassiter” short story, “After Blackjack Dropped,” in the anthology Lost Trails (2007) was also published by Pinnacle Books. His first YA western, Drifter, has been sold to Avalon Books.
Vardeman's Peter Thorne mystery series includes The Screaming Knife (1990, Avon), The Resonance of Blood (1992, Avon) and Death Channels (1993, Avon). The high-tech thriller Death Fall (1991, Onyx) gave an opportunity to use his technical degrees in physics and engineering as background. More recently, using the “Cliff Garnet
t” pen name, he published TalonForce: Seafire (2001, NAL).
Robert E Vardeman has served as vice-president of the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) and also edited the organization's Forum. He is a member of the Western Writers of America (WWA) and the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers (IAMTW), serving as a judge for that organization's 2007 Scribe Award, and is also a member since its inception in 1979 of the informal group First Fridays, founded by mystery writer Tony Hillerman. For the past five years, he has worked on the editorial staff of four fantasy football magazines and recently assumed the duty of editor on the bimonthly Albuquerque magazine, For Your Family. As a member of the Coalition for Excellence in Science Education, Vardeman served as consultant to the New Mexico State textbook advisory board in 2003.
More about Robert E. Vardeman's fiction can be found on his web sites: www.CenotaphRoad.com and www.KarlLassiter.com.
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About the Artists
Brad W. Foster is an illustrator, cartoonist, writer, pub-lisher, and whatever other labels he can use to get him through the door! He's won the Fan Artist Hugo a few times, picked up a Chesley award and turned a bit of self-publishing started over twenty five years ago into the Jabberwocky Graphix publishing empire. (Total number of employees: 2.)
His strange drawings and cartoons have appeared in over two thousand publications, half of those science fiction fanzines, where he draws just for the fun of it. On a more professional level, he has worked as an illustrator for various genre magazines and publishers, the better known among those being Amazing Stories and Dragon. In comics he had his own series some years back, The Mechthings, and he even got to play with the “big boys” of comics for a few years as the official “Big Background Artist” of Image Comic's Shadowhawk.
Known throughout the world (though most of the world doesn't know it yet) for his intricate pen-and-ink work, it is possible you've seen more of work in titles as varied as Cat Fancy, Cavalier, or Highlights for Children. Most recently he has completed covers for a couple of Yard Dog Press books, illustrations for magazines such as Space & Time and Talebones, illustrations for the first of Carole Nelson Douglas’ Cozy Noir Press books on Midnight Louie, and has even managed to work a dragon into the official poster for the 2003 Tulsa Oktoberfest!
He spends huge sections of the year with his lovely wife Cindy showing and selling his artwork at festivals and conventions around the country. Check out his website at www.jabberwockygraphix.com for the latest news!
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Martine Jardin has been an artist since she was very small. Her mother guarantees she was born holding a pencil, which for a while, as a toddler, she nicknamed “Zessie.”
She won several art competitions with her drawings as a child, ventured into charcoal, watercolors and oils later in life and about twelve years ago started creating digital art.
Since then, she's created hundreds of book covers for Zumaya Publications and eXtasy Books, among others. She welcomes visitors to her website: www.martinejardin.com.
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Visit www.zumayapublications.com for information on additional titles by this and other authors.
Alien Death Fleet [Star Frontiers 1] Page 18
