The Lost Command (Lost Starship Series Book 2) (13 page)

“Let me state it plainly.
Victory
is haunted. It’s a death ship. The scientists working on it have become frightened. Many refuse to return to it.”

“Haunted, ma’am, is that what you just said?”

“This is no joke,” O’Hara replied. “It’s an interstellar emergency.”

“I’m not sure what you mean by calling
Victory
a death ship.”

O’Hara shook her head. “It’s an alien vessel, the biggest military machine anyone has ever built. According to your report, the aliens built the ship and others like it to face the Swarm.”

“That’s what the alien AI told me,” Maddox said.

“Well, the ancient starship has hidden safeguards that keep surprising the scientists. Some of those surprises have been lethal.”

“The AI has been killing scientists?” Maddox asked.

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

“Have you thought about dismantling
Victory
?” Maddox asked.

“Oh, we’ve thought about everything, believe me. Doctor Rich has warned us that dismantling the vessel could be dangerous. It might set off hidden explosives.”

“Ma’am?”

“If we attempt something like that,
Victory
might self-destruct. That would take its ancient secrets to the grave.”

“That would be a disaster for us,” Maddox said.

“Precisely.”

“What technologies have you managed to uncover so far?”

“Nothing,” O’Hara said.

“In ten months you haven’t learned a thing?”

“The starship hides its secrets well,” O’Hara said.

“Surely, others are developing a neutron beam. Since we know it is possible now, it’s simply a matter of uncovering the processes.”

“Captain, let me tell you a secret. This is what Doctor Rich has reported. The alien technologies are far in advance of our sciences. It’s like cavemen operating a radio. We can turn it on and off and speak to others with another radio. But we have absolutely no idea how to replicate a radio because the technology is so far beyond what we know.”

“So what do we know?” Maddox asked.

“In terms of the analogy, how to rub two sticks together and make a fire.”

Maddox scrunched his brow. “It sounds as if we’re
years
away from duplicating
Victory’s
neutron beam.”

“Years away from that or any other alien advancement,” O’Hara said. “The only thing we’ve learned is how to perfect our latest tin cans.”

“I’ve never heard of those.”

“And now isn’t the time to go into it,” O’Hara said, “other than to say we learned how to fold space for extremely short hops.”

“I take it that has something to do with
Victory’s
star drive.”

O’Hara sat back in astonishment. “You came to that conclusion with very few clues, Captain. I’m impressed.”

Maddox said nothing.

“Very well,” O’Hara said. “I’ll get to the point.
Victory
is a bust for us, so far. We had hoped to pirate the ship’s alien technologies. We aren’t going to do that soon enough to defeat the New Men.”

“So we’re back to square one?”

“Not exactly,” O’Hara said. “We have the starship, and it possesses the various systems. You used the neutron beam against the New Men and destroyed a star cruiser. Just as impressively, you fought off three star cruisers for a time. The ancient starship is a marvel.”

“But your scientists believe it’s haunted.”

O’Hara’s nostrils flared. “Do you remember that Professor Ludendorff spoke about certain people having the right requirements to board the ship?”

“I read his notes. He did say something about that.”

“We understand now what he meant. Doctor Rich agrees with the assessment. It has to do with the starship allowing certain people to survive while aboard. Those without the right requirements, the ship eliminates when it gets the opportunity. It’s why your team survived the voyage from the Beyond.”

“Interesting,” Maddox said.

“No, it’s maddening. We need
Victory
now more than ever. It’s also clear that under our present circumstances we’re not going to get the starship’s cooperation.”

“You brought me in because you want me to go to the Oort cloud to talk to the AI?”

O’Hara laughed dryly. “If only it were that easy. No, Captain, I want you to return to
Victory
as its commander.”

“Excuse me?” Maddox asked.

O’Hara searched his face. “Doctor Rich explained it best. Our scientists have been unable to unravel the starship’s secrets. It does not appear they will do so any time soon. Instead, we need a genius, someone who can make intuitive leaps of logic. Obviously, Professor Ludendorff is that man. We would never have acquired the super-ship without his notes, without his instructions.”

“So ask Ludendorff what do to,” Maddox said. “Dragoon him into the project.”

“Precisely,” O’Hara said. “That will be your task, Captain. You are to find Professor Ludendorff.”

“I thought you said you wanted me to command
Victory
.”

“The two tasks are not exclusive of each other,” the Iron Lady said.

“Perhaps you’d better explain that.”

“It’s very simple,” O’Hara said. “Star Watch, the Commonwealth, maybe humanity as a whole, needs Admiral Fletcher’s thirty-six capital ships. We dare not take our Home Fleet out to save them. Instead, we need a commando ship to do that.”

“
Victory
?” Maddox asked.

“Yes,” O’Hara said. “But the alien super-ship cannot defeat the New Men unless some of its greater technologies are in operative condition. We’ve cleaned up and patched
Victory
as best we can. Now, we need Professor Ludendorff to figure out the rest.”

“Wait a minute,” Maddox said. “Are you suggesting I’m supposed to be in the Tannish System within the next few months, to help Fletcher defeat the enemy invasion fleet?”

“Exactly,” O’Hara said, “except you have less than three months to do it in.”

“But before I head to Tannish,” Maddox said, “I’m supposed to pick up Ludendorff. Then, he’s supposed to figure out how to use the destabilizer, for instance.”

“Yes.”

“Who will be my crew?” Maddox asked.

“The same people who went with you out into the Beyond, plus some space marines and specialists who have similar mental faculties.”

“Where is Professor Ludendorff?”

“Ah, that’s the rub, Captain. He is on Wolf Prime.”

“Where is that?” Maddox asked.

“Behind enemy lines, I’m afraid.”

“Do you mean Wolf Prime is on the rim of “C” Quadrant?”

“I do,” O’Hara said.

“Why is Ludendorff way out there? Doesn’t he know there’s a war on?”

“I don’t know what he knows about the war,” O’Hara said. “We’ve discovered he went to Wolf Prime to study alien artifacts.”

“
More
alien artifacts?” Maddox asked.

“Not as you’re thinking,” O’Hara said. “In any case,
Victory’s
star drive should allow you to sneak through enemy occupied systems.”

“I’m supposed to do this with a crippled starship?”

“Captain, this is a difficult assignment. I realize that. This is an emergency, however. The Lord High Admiral and his Strategy Council doesn’t see any other way of rescuing Fletcher’s capital ships. Without those, it’s doubtful we’ll win this war.”

Maddox stared at her. “You’re not telling me everything.”

“Even if true, there would be a reason for that. But that’s not important right now. Do you accept the assignment?”

Maddox was surprised. “Yes, of course I do.”

The Iron Lady tried to hide her relief, but it was visible just the same.

“Why shouldn’t I accept?” Maddox asked.

“Well…” O’Hara looked away. “The scientists turned on the alien AI once too often. It had been waiting for the right moment. It took over. Well, it took over most of the ship’s systems. There has, in fact, been a standoff in the Oort cloud for the past month. The Home Fleet is facing off the alien starship. We don’t want to destroy it, because we need the ancient ship. You have to try for Ludendorff. But captain, if it looks as if the New Men are going to capture the starship…”

“I understand, ma’am.”

“Good. Is there anything else you need?”

“Meta.”

“Yes,” O’Hara said. “She was part of the original crew, wasn’t she? Before you leave the Solar System, Meta will join you. I’ll see to that.”

O’Hara stood and came around the desk. She held out her hand. “This is goodbye, Captain. You will leave my office and head straight into space. You will travel aboard a fast experimental ship to reach the Oort cloud in a few days. Godspeed, Captain. Find Professor Ludendorff, and bring us back Fletcher and his fleet.”

“I’ll do my best, ma’am. You can count on that.”

They shook hands. Then Captain Maddox turned around and headed for the door.

-12-

Captain Valerie Noonan stood in a viewing bay of SWS Battleship
Gettysburg
. She stared into the void of the Oort cloud.

She was far from Earth, a little over two thousand AUs. Pluto was presently thirty-five AUs out from Earth, a mere step away from the home planet compared to this distance. The crazy thing was that this was the
inner
Oort cloud, what some called the Hills cloud. One could travel outward for months from here and still be in the Oort cloud.

Out here, the Sun looked like just another star, if brighter than most. Because the Solar System’s planets were so far away, so were the various Laumer-Points leading to nearby systems. That would give the Home Fleet time to deploy if the New Men came for the alien starship. The unique vessel was a little over one hundred thousand kilometers from
Gettysburg
. The Home Fleet was giving
Victory
some space. No one wanted the alien AI running the starship to panic and start attacking.

Valerie shook her head.

The fools should have never turned the AI on and off all those times. Doctor Rich had been instrumental in the decision. The first time Valerie heard about the idea, she’d warned the Lord High Admiral against it. She believed the alien artificial intelligence had always been plotting. None of the others had seen the way the tiny holoimage used to watch Captain Maddox when he wasn’t looking on the journey home from the Beyond.

Victory
had not only gotten smart again, but belligerent. Now it was caged by the Home Fleet with only the illusion of freedom.

First, the New Men struck. Now, the AI threatens our last big fleet. Star Watch is in real trouble
.

Valerie sighed.

She felt herself to be more mature than the young lieutenant who had left well over a year ago with Maddox into the Beyond to find the alien starship. During the last ten months, Valerie had sat with the Lord High Admiral on his Strategy Council. The first few times had been daunting. She’d kept quiet as a mouse, as people said. The Lord High Admiral had finally begun asking her pointed questions in front of the others. Cook had forced her to give her opinions. The surprising thing—no, the
amazing
thing—was that the old ones on the council had listened to her words. It turned out that she was the expert concerning the New Men, as she’d actually dealt with them in the Beyond.

How can this crazy situation have happened?

Her focus switched from the stars to the clear plastic of the viewing port in front of her. Faintly, she saw her reflection in it.

Valerie was medium-sized, with long brunette hair and a face her friends had told her was beautiful. She played handball all the time, and won almost every match. She was inordinately proud of her captain’s uniform, with the hat presently tucked under her left arm. It hadn’t been all that long ago that she’d graduated from the Space Academy on Earth. Who would have thought the welfare kid from Greater Detroit would have ended up on the Strategy Council giving the leaders of Star Watch advice? It was incredible.

That’s what hard work and determination brought, with maybe a little luck added in. Captain Maddox didn’t believe in following the rules. But Valerie most certainly did. Without rules, people became animals like the gang members in the slums. Of course, the gangs had also been dangerous because of their savage rules, but that was different, wasn’t it?

Valerie lived by a strict and honorable code taught by her father. The regimen at the Space Academy had been easy for her. Getting along with the rich kids who made up most of the cadets had been something else.

Yet I’m the one who made it onto the Strategy Council. I’m the one the Lord High Admiral speaks with when he wants to know the mind of the New Men. Have any of my peers accomplished that?

Valerie knew they hadn’t. Was she proud of what she had done? Oh, yes, she was proud. Two months ago, she had run into Sally Fredrick from Richmond, Virginia. Sally had been a cadet with her in the Space Academy, one who had led others in asking mocking questions about Detroit. Sally had driven home in a sleek Cougar air-car at Christmas and Easter Breaks. She had given other rich-kid cadets rides home in her air-car. Valerie had stayed at the Space Academy over the vacations. There hadn’t been anything in Detroit for her to visit.

Two months ago, out here in the Oort cloud, Valerie had run into Sally Fredrick, a comm cadet aboard the SWS Destroyer
Bombay
. Sally had been in the
Gettysburg’s
cafeteria. The former Richmond socialite had been her commander’s go-fer, carrying several briefcases and looking more than a little harried doing it.

Valerie had known she shouldn’t do it, but she’d walked up behind Sally and said, “Hello, Cadet.”

Sally had turned around in surprise. “Detroit,” she’d said, smiling, holding out a hand.

The word had stung. Valerie understood it hadn’t been meant as an insult, but she’d taken it that way anyway. In their Space Academy days, Sally
had
meant it as mockery.

Ignoring the hand, Valerie had nodded, making a point of staring at the cadet patch on Sally’s uniform. Then, Valerie had brushed her captain’s shoulder board. “Good to see you again,
Richmond
.” Afterward, Valerie had walked away.

Valerie might have felt a greater sense of victory if she hadn’t seen the Lord High Admiral frowning in her direction. How had the old man happened to see that?

Valerie was a captain, which was good. But she had become a staff officer, which was bad. She wanted a line command, her own ship. Would the Lord High Admiral help her get her own ship if he thought she lacked the social graces? Star Watch wanted balanced commanders out in space.

I should have shaken Sally’s hand instead of being so bitter over past wrongs
.

Valerie knew she didn’t wish she’d shaken hands for her own good, to be good, but because it might have poisoned the Lord High Admiral just a little bit against her not to have done so.

Captain Noonan frowned as she stared into the void. The Commonwealth was under assault. Star Watch was in terrible jeopardy. Now, the Lord High Admiral and his Strategy Council had come up with a harebrained scheme to try to save the Fifth Fleet heading to the Tannish System.

Valerie had no faith in the mission. A bitter, alien AI, ancient tech, a crazy professor poking around a frigid planet because of extraterrestrial cave etchings and a self-indulgent Intelligence officer were supposed to save the day. No. Valerie didn’t think so.

Instead, Star Watch should gather all the warships it could, wait for the Windsor League main fleet and then go out and do battle with the enemy. Valerie knew the enemy’s star cruisers were good. She’d been there when the New Men had destroyed Admiral von Gunther’s battle group. She—

“Captain,” a man said from behind.

Valerie hadn’t seen or heard the sergeant walk up. She turned with a start, her hand reflexively dropping to where she used to keep a hidden knife to defend herself back in Detroit. Fists, knives, even guns, it didn’t matter. Valerie Noonan didn’t back down to anyone.

“I’m sorry if I startled you, Captain,” the sergeant said.

Valerie scowled, shaking her head. “You did nothing of the kind.”

“Oh,” the sergeant said, at a momentary loss. “Well, if you’ll come this way, sir, the Lord High Admiral is ready to see you.”

Valerie followed the sergeant to the hatch, down several corridors and through a main thoroughfare. The
Gettysburg
was huge. The alien starship dwarfed the battleship, however.

The sergeant hurried to another hatch, opening it for Valerie.

“Captain Noonan to see you, sir,” the sergeant said in a loud voice.

Valerie ducked her head as she entered the Lord High Admiral’s private study. Behind her, the sergeant closed the hatch.

“Captain,” Cook said, looking up. “Come, sit down and share a glass of brandy with me.”

Lord High Admiral Cook wore a white uniform. He was large and red-faced, with a thick wave of white hair and a seamed face.

The office contained computer equipment, screens and holo-imagers. Cook sat behind a desk, using his thick fingers to tap a pad. Above the pad rotated a holoimage of an enemy star cruiser.

Valerie sat before the desk.

Abruptly, Cook pushed the pad and holoimage aside. He picked up a decanter and poured brandy into two snifters.

“Please,” he said.

Valerie leaned forward, taking her glass.

The Lord High Admiral leaned back in his chair, swirling the brandy, sniffing it appreciatively. Then, he took a sip. The old man watched her and finally raised an eyebrow.

“Oh,” Valerie said. She swirled her snifter and made ready to sip.

“I forgot,” Cook said in his heavy voice. “You don’t drink.”

“Not usually, sir, no.”

“But you were about to take a sip anyway?”

“I was, sir. Is that bad?” she added.

“I don’t know,” Cook said. “Maybe.”

Valerie blushed.

“No, no, that won’t do, Captain. You shouldn’t be embarrassed. I don’t need toadies and lickspittles. I want officers who can follow orders and stand by their principles, telling me facts straight from the heart.”

“Yes, sir,” Valerie said.

“That means even if you disagree with me about this mission, and have told me so to my face, and yet still I order you to go, that you should hold to your convictions.”

“I’ll remember that, sir.”

“I want you aboard the
Victory
for several reasons. I trust you, Captain. You are regulation Star Watch to the core. I like that. You also speak your mind. Well, most of the time, you do. You were there from the beginning with the alien starship. You also have a powerful desire to win no matter what the odds. Humanity is going to need that. I also think that Captain Maddox is going to need your help.”

“Sir?” Valerie asked.

“I doubt Maddox realizes the need yet. Space marines are joining the expedition and other carefully selected Star Watch technicians. Maddox is an Intelligence officer, a good one. No, he’s a maverick. He gets results, though. That doesn’t mean he knows how to truly run a starship. You have to help him—even if you don’t like him.”

Cook stared at her.

After a moment, Valerie fidgeted in her chair.

“Do I make myself clear?” the old man asked.

“Yes, sir,” Valerie said. “Even though Maddox uses high-handed methods and ignores the regulations most of the time, you want me to make sure the space marines obey his orders.”

“I want everyone to follow Maddox’s orders.”

“What if his orders are wrong, sir?” Valerie asked. “What if Maddox does something so outlandish it jeopardizes the mission?”

Lord High Admiral Cook swirled his brandy again then
clunked
the glass onto the desk without sipping. He opened a drawer and took out a sealed envelope. With his big fingers, the old man slid it across the desk.

“You will open this only as a last resort,” Cook said. “In your opinion, Captain Maddox will have gone over the edge.”

Valerie was shocked. “Do you anticipate him doing so, sir?”

“That is an interesting question,” Cook said. “I have found to my surprise and delight that you often ask those kinds of questions. On this mission, you are my hole card, Captain. I don’t want to have to use my hole card. But if Maddox goes too far—and this is a matter of judgment—then you had better damn well unseal the envelope and read the orders in it.”

“These orders will elevate me to command of the starship?”

Cook stared her in the eyes. “Yes,” he said.

A powerful emotion surged through Valerie. It warmed her and made her smile. “I won’t let you down, sir.”

“I want you to listen to me, Valerie.”

She leaned toward him.

“Maddox is cunning. I trust him to do incredible deeds. Yet sometimes, such a man oversteps his bounds. I think you will know when that moment is if you keep in mind that victory over the New Men trumps everything else.”

“Meaning what, sir?”

“That if Maddox’s unorthodox behavior will bring us victory, you must let him proceed as he plans. I realize you do not have faith in this venture. I understand your reasons. This is a long shot. I’m afraid the latest setback in Caria 323 puts us in this spot. The Wahhabi sheiks simply can’t see reason. The Spacers are terrified of losing their home ships, and the Windsor League has divided leadership on the correct course of action. This is a mad gamble, and Captain Maddox is the right man to undertake it.”

“Are you warning me against unsealing these orders?” Valerie asked.

“No,” Cook said. “I’m telling you something that might be the most difficult thing in your life. You must use good judgment.”

Valerie found herself blushing for a second time. “You think I lack that, sir?”

“You hold grudges, Captain. I think we both know that.”