Superdreadnought- The Complete Series

by C H Gideon

  He purposely didn’t mention Bethany Anne or the Federation so as to avoid feeling as though he were manipulating or coercing decisions from people.

  “There’s no real direction set for me right now, since I’ll always be chasing Kurtherians wherever they appear. It doesn’t feel right to drag all of you along without some certainty somewhere along the way.”

  Reynolds paused and looked at the crew in front of him. They sat without saying a word, which was what he had expected. Thanks to being the ship, he could hear the muttered conversations of the entire crew, no matter where they were, although he blocked them out for the time being.

  He didn’t want to get a false sense of things by eavesdropping and pushing for something they really didn’t want. Reynolds wanted a truly independent decision on behalf of the crew.

  “Anyway, I’ll come out and say it. I’m leaving on an adventure to who knows where, for who knows how long, with who knows what outcome. So…who wants in?”

  He waited quietly as the crew made up their minds.

  The answer wasn’t long in coming.

  “We’ve decided we’re going with you, Reynolds,” Jiya told him. “Someone’s got to be there to clean up all your shit.”

  Author Notes - Craig Martelle

  January 29, 2019

  Thank you for reading this book, and you’re still reading! Oorah, hard-chargers. I really hope you liked this story.

  The readers have spoken! So many people were disappointed to hear that Superdreadnought would wrap up with number 5, but it won’t. We will continue the series with a big shake-up for Book 6 (not the core of the crew, but where they are and where they’re going). Thank you for being polite and vocal in your need for more Superdreadnought. You are the reason I do what I do. We have the stories left to tell, so we’ll tell them. For you.

  I spent the last week in sunny Wisconsin. I’m being sarcastic. I left beautiful temperatures that had finally made it above freezing (we went 114 days straight without a high above freezing this year – that’s far from a record in Fairbanks, Alaska), but it wasn’t in Wisconsin. I watched temps climb where I live close to the Arctic Circle while they plunged in Wisconsin. It took almost the full week before temps were above freezing. And when they did climb past 32F all the way to 34, it started raining, like a total downpour rain.

  Then temps returned to the low 20s. Sweet. At least when the sun hit the next day, it melted most of the ice and dried up the roads. Wisconsin.

  I was there for a gaming convention, more fantasy gaming and that kind of stuff, a bunch of older folks who were introduced to Dungeons and Dragons in the 1970s now have a convention every year around Gary Gygax’s birthday to celebrate a life well-played.

  That was a long week. I was tired constantly from so much peopling, but it was good and I like the people who attend that show. I had a lot of great conversations with people who are important to me. I also got to spend a great deal of time with my brother, not something I take for granted nowadays. He lost his wife of forty years back in October. I’ve talked with him more on the phone and spent more time with him in the past six months than I had in the previous ten years.

  I spent a lot of last year’s latter half getting books ready to storm 2019:) I have a few series that are doing exceptionally well and a couple, not so much. Sometimes, I have no idea why one series will resonate more with readers than another, but no matter what, I do my best to make sure they are well written. That is in my control. I like the latest reviews on Judge, Jury, & Executioner 5 – Slave Trade, a book that made its appearance a week ago.

  Five Stars! An exceptionally well written, fast paced, action filled book. The characters are well developed and the story held my attention and demanded that I finish it in one sitting. Looking forward to the next book in this series.

  Five Stars! I recommend this series it has colorful characters and is very entertaining. I also like the way characters from the rest of the universe make occasional appearances.

  Those kind words keep the fires stoked within and make me keep striving for better and better. I hope you like what you read in Superdreadnought 5. It is a nice piece of work that I think you’ll enjoy.

  We’ve worked through the details of Superdreadnought 6’s outline to come up with a great transition story. No more plot reveals at this point. I am a ways into Bad Company 5 – Destroyer and will dabble on that each day to try and finish the story by the end of March. That will give me a nice leg up for April.

  Back to the word mines to find those golden nuggets for you.

  Peace, fellow humans.

  Superdreadnought 6

  Book 6

  Chapter One

  The Superdreadnought Reynolds lurked behind a convenient moon, sensors locked on a large ship drifting slowly through the Dorayas system. “Renegades. Pirates. Scum,” a voice mumbled from the captain’s seat.

  “Delivering Justice one last time, Captain Reynolds?” the first officer, Jiya Lemaire, asked.

  The captain stood. “It is time to head home. Take what we’ve learned back to my Queen. We will tell her of the Phraim-‘Eh clan’s destruction and that the Kurtherian has long since moved on. We will report, then we will follow the Kurtherians to the ends of the universe.

  “The pirates are powering up their systems. An intra-system freighter has left the orbit of the fourth planet.”

  The captain faced the screen. “Prepare to engage on my order.”

  “Blow the fuck out of those bad guys!” a voice cried joyously from the tactical station.

  “You need to rethink the words that come out of your mouth.” Jiya covered her face with her hand and bit her lip to keep from laughing.

  “Weapons are live,” Tactical stated emotionlessly before returning to his real self. “For the record, I don’t have a mouth. Mouthy, yes. Mouth, no. Dumbass.”

  Jiya rolled her eyes so far she almost fell backward.

  “Engage.” Reynolds skipped the banter and focused like a laser on the pirate ship. The SD Reynolds surged sunward and dove on the pirates. “Fire.”

  Tactical responded by sending a stream of hypervelocity projectiles toward the enemy, followed by two missiles and a series of laser beams.

  The lasers hit first, scorching the hull and cutting deep into one of the ship’s four engines. The railgun projectiles hit next, stitching across the wide midsection of the cigar-shaped ship. The pirate turned to run, but it was already belching fire from the hull breaches. The flames flashed, then died, extinguished when cut off from the oxygen supply within. The ship moved in slow motion, an easy target for the missiles that accelerated to impact.

  They slammed into the ship. The violence of their arrival was enough to kill the ship, but when they exploded, they tore the pirate vessel apart, turning it into a mini supernova. The Reynolds’ screen darkened for a moment, lightening once the flash was gone.

  As was the ship. Jiya waved at the freighter as it continued toward its destination. The freighter didn’t acknowledge the assistance that Reynolds had provided, but it was still the right thing to do. The superdreadnought sailed past the ruins of the pirates for a victory lap around the sun on their way out of Dodge.

  “With one last act, we leave the Chain galaxy behind,” Reynolds said, legs spread wide, fists jammed onto his hips. He’d seen the stance on one of the old-style video programs. It was supposed to be a power pose, but he didn’t feel the power. Maybe someone else was supposed to be intimidated. As intelligent as he was, some things the warm-blooded, sentient creatures did made no sense.

  He continued, “Comm, give me ship-wide broadcast, please.”

  “Go,” the empty seat at the communications station reported.

  “When we arrived here more than a year ago, we were attacked. Since then, we have been welcomed less often than we were attacked. We helped people and were helped. We’ve made incredible allies, and for them alone, the battles and this trip was worth it.” The captain nodded to his alien first officer
, as human as any human he’d ever worked with, but not human. Just like him. They made a good team.

  “I think it’s time to take back everything we’ve learned. Allow the other ships of the Queen’s fleet to upgrade with the technology we’ve acquired. Learn how the Federation has evolved. We return to High Tortuga, comfortable that we have eliminated a swath of Kurtherian influence, substituting the Justice and peace that comes from Queen Bethany Anne. We will, of course, drop anyone off who wants to remain here, and you have my sincere appreciation for all you’ve done. For those willing to join us on our trip, you are in for a great ride. I hope this is what you signed up for because you are going to see some eye-popping shit! First Officer, canvass the crew and see who we need to let off.”

  Music started playing from Tactical’s position, soft at first—the opening riff to Black Sabbaths’ Iron Man. It built in intensity until Jiya was holding her hands over her ears. Reynolds drew a finger across his throat and the volume dropped, but the music played on.

  “I thought maintenance had completed the repairs? I think they missed something in the comm system. Maybe some kind of large, hungry, metal rodent.”

  “That was music, you heathen!” Tactical called, turning it up again.

  The metal cut off, and a plaintive fiddle cried out through the bridge. “Now, that’s music,” the XO said from the empty chair.

  Jiya clapped her free hand over her ear, her coffee sloshing. “Stop torturing whatever animal that is!”

  “Enough,” Reynolds said. The music stopped.

  “Home?” Jiya asked, Reynolds’ request of her finally registering, making a sour face. “I don’t want to go back to Lariest. Where you go, I go.”

  “Home? Loran?” Asya asked, striding through the door with Ria and Maddox on her heels. “I don’t think so.”

  “Good enough for me.” Reynolds turned to Asya, Ria, and Maddox as they strode onto the bridge. “What about the rest of you? You all said you want to continue the adventure with me. Are you having second thoughts?”

  The four crew members shook their heads. “No, sir!” they cried in unison.

  “You won’t get rid of us that easily,” Jiya said. “Let me verify with the rest of the crew.”

  Jiya went to the comm station and tapped a few buttons to open the ship-wide broadcast. “If anyone wants to get off the ship, you have fifteen seconds to tell me. You would already know if you did, so that’s why I’m not giving anyone time to waffle.” She counted down. No one signaled her. “Done. Prepare to Gate across the universe.”

  “You meatbags just warm my heart,” Tactical said.

  “Stow it, Tactical.” Reynolds sat in the command chair. “Ensign Alcott, Navigation will send you the coordinates for the Devon system.”

  “Stations, people,” XO said. “Sound General Quarters. Battlestations.”

  “If we’re headed home, do we really need to be at battlestations?” Jiya asked. “I thought this place you’re from is safe.”

  Asya shook a finger at her. “Haven’t we learned anything? We always bring up the shields and go to battlestations before making a jump.”

  Jiya rolled her eyes but strapped herself into her chair. She gulped the last of her coffee and slid the mug into the cupholder she’d had Takal install at her place. “I’m ready,” she said to the room at large.

  “I guess we can go now,” Tactical said. “Her Majesty, the first officer, is ready.”

  “All systems are green. All hands confirmed at battlestations,” XO announced.

  “Sir, we’re seeing high levels of solar activity in the primary,” Maddox announced.

  Reynolds shrugged. “Can’t be worse than what we saw at Muultu.”

  “Not worse,” Maddox said, slowly. “But different. This star is somewhat unstable. Takal says it’s normal fluctuations for the Dorayas system. Likelihood of negative impact to our ship is extremely low.”

  “Then why’d you bother bringing it up?” Tactical snapped.

  Reynolds glared at Tactical’s workstation. “He brought it up because it’s his job. If you’d stick to yours, we’d all be better off.” He looked around the bridge. “Report.”

  “Course set,” Ria said. “Gate activated. Ready to go home, Captain?”

  “Make it so, Ensign.” Reynolds’ lips quirked. That never got old.

  A brilliant light flashed through the bridge, blinding them. Static frizzed through the speakers.

  “What the fuck—” Reynolds swiped his android eyes, but white splotches filled his vision. “Report!”

  “I can’t see anything!” Ria cried, panic in her voice.

  “Me neither,” Jiya said. “What was that?”

  “Comm, cut the static!” Reynolds ordered.

  “I’m on it,” Comm replied. “I’m not sure— Wait, here we go.” The white noise faded.

  “Damage report!” Reynolds said.

  Jiya looked at her screens, or tried to. “I can’t see my screen, Captain. That flash—it’s not permanent, is it?”

  “Since I don’t know what it was, I can’t answer that,” Reynolds said. “Would someone without eyes give me a damage report?”

  “No damage,” Comm said. “No injuries, all systems nominal.”

  “Maybe no one can see well enough to report damage,” Jiya muttered.

  “The automated systems are showing nominal,” Comm repeated, his tone affronted.

  “Until we hear otherwise, we’ll assume no physical damage,” Reynolds repeated. The white blurs turned to sparkles, then his vision cleared. The bridge looked the same as always, except the physical crew were rubbing their eyes.

  “That was a solar flare,” the XO said.

  “Not just a solar flare,” Takal’s voice came through the speakers from his lab. “A huge solar flare. High-energy gamma particles. Fortunately, the shields deflected most of the radiation. My instruments are showing a small spike within the ship, but the external probes pegged into the red.”

  “Why didn’t you see it coming?” Reynolds demanded. “Don’t those things take time to get from the sun to the planetary orbit?”

  “We saw the solar activity, but as I told Maddox, there’s nothing unusual about that here,” Takal said. “Since the Dorayans live inside the planet, they haven’t studied the phenomenon. They have no satellites monitoring the star, so we had little historical data to go on. Gamma particles travel close to the speed of light, so if we’d been watching closely, we might have had a few seconds’ warning. But the ship’s shields are designed to protect us from gamma rays. I don’t know why they didn’t stop the light show. Maybe this flare was just too much?”

  “If it didn’t damage us… It didn’t damage us, right?” Reynolds swung around to look at Jiya.

  The first officer shook her head as she squinted at her screen. “No casualties. No reports of damage, except to some of Takal’s specialized external sensors. Looks like we have replacements in storage for those, but all the rest are intact. Should only take a few minutes to replace Takal’s.”

  “Comm,” Reynolds started, “contact the Dorayans and ask if they require assistance. We’ll have the sensors replaced when we get to High Tortuga.”

  “Uh, Captain?” Ria whispered.

  “That might be difficult,” Comm said.

  “Captain?” Ria said again.

  “Difficult how, Comm? You said there was no damage. Contact the Dorayans.”

  “Captain!” Ria’s yell came out in a strangled squeal.

  “What is it, Ensign?” Reynolds snapped.

  “Comm can’t contact the Dorayans,” she gulped audibly, “because we already Gated. During the flare.”

  “I was trying to tell him,” Comm said.

  “Great!” Reynolds rubbed his hands together. “Contact High Tortuga and tell them we’re home.”

  “High Tortuga is not responding on normal channels,” Comm said.

  “Captain, we aren’t—” Ria started, her voice still choked.


  “Ensign, just spit it out!” Asya said. “What are you trying to tell us?”

  “I don’t know where we are,” Ria wailed. “The system doesn’t recognize this location.”

  “Navigation!” Reynolds snapped. “What’s the problem? Where the fuck are we?”

  Navigation didn’t answer immediately.

  “Navigation?”

  “We’re not in Kansas anymore.”

  “I don’t know where Kansas is,” Asya said. “So, it doesn’t matter if we aren’t there. Where are we?”

  “I’ve run an analysis of the local stars, and there is a zero-point-zero-three percent correlation with any known galaxies,” Navigation reported. A starfield appeared on the big screen, with red and blue flashes of data appearing and disappearing as the system measured distances between the stars. “Since the margin of error for my system is zero-point-zero-eight percent, that means I have no idea where we are.”

  For a heartbeat—if he’d had one—Reynolds stared at the screen. Then he nodded. “Comm, get Takal up here. And Geroux. We need to figure out where we are, so I know where to go.”

  “Why don’t we just activate the Gate and go to High Tortuga?” Jiya asked.

  “The system has to know where it is in relation to where it wants to go,” Ria explained. “If we knew High Tortuga was nine thousand light-years that way,” she pointed randomly, “then we could go. But we need to know what direction and how far before we activate the Gate. To do that, we need to know where we’re starting from.”

  The doors opened, and Takal Durba hurried in. He worked in the lab most days, where he’d modified and improved the technology they’d collected in their adventures across the Chain Galaxy, including the agroprinters from Grindlevik 3 and the Gulg transporters. His niece, Geroux, followed him onto the bridge.

  “Geroux, Takal,” Reynolds called out. “Work with Alcott and Navigation to figure out where we are. Maddox, Asya, keep a sharp eye on the scanners. We’re in a potentially hostile environment. The rest of you, run diagnostics on everything. I want to know exactly what those gamma rays did to me. I mean, my ship.”