The Lost Command (Lost Starship Series Book 2) (44 page)

“Did you watch your star cruisers blow up?” Maddox asked. “I did. It was beautiful. Even better, all those aboard the ship must have burned to a crisp. Your day is over, Oran Rva. The New Men picked the wrong people to mess with.”

“You pitiful mongrel,” the New Man said. “You cannot conceive what is in store for you. One small success doesn’t a war make. You prattle on because you managed to use an ancient weapon. Yes, we know all about your starship. Maybe it will return home to Earth. The rest of your fleet will never survive the journey.”

Maddox smiled.

Oran Rva scowled and made a sharp gesture. The connection ended.

“What was that about?” Valerie asked.

“He just gave his game away?” Maddox told her.

“What game?” she asked.

“The second way the New Men plan to destroy the Fifth Fleet,” Maddox said.

“What way is that?” Valerie asked.

Captain Maddox told her, and he told her how they would defeat the last attempt.

-44-

Kane gasped as the pain booth cycled down. The restraints holding his wrists opened. His arms dropped to his side.

He had lost weight. The greatest difference, though, was to his eyes. Desperation shined in them.

The hatch opened. Kane staggered through and slumped onto a bench. He waited. Would they feed him, let him drink? Or would they order him back into the booth?

The outer hatch slid up. Oran Rva stepped within.

Surprise caused Kane’s mouth to open. Hurriedly, he shut it.

The golden-skinned dominant stared at him. “I question your utility. Each time, you have captured the wrong person. A third failure means your destruction.”

Kane struggled for self-control. They were going to let him live. He had made the correct decision after all. For some time now, he wished he had died trying to kill the one who had put him in the pain booth.

“You will return to Earth,” Oran Rva said.

Kane did not close his eyes. That would be bad form. Returning to Earth would be painful, as it meant another long-distance jump.

“Will you succeed this time?” Oran Rva asked.

“I will,” Kane said in a raspy voice.

“You do not even know your assignment yet. How then can you make such a boast?”

“Let me prove my worth to the New Order,” Kane said. “Give me any task, and I shall succeed.”

Oran Rva sneered. “You have failed twice, but you understand the Earthlings. I grant you that. Thus, the Throne World requires your services once again. Attend me well, Kane. I will only give you these instructions once. Are you ready?”

“Yes,” Kane said.

“No. You will clean yourself first and eat. We have a little time still. It is possible the Fifth Fleet will fail in their next attempt. If they succeed, however, I will personally give you the assignment. Afterward, you will leave in a scout.”

Kane nodded. He would get another chance. This time, he would succeed, doing whatever he had to in order to gain rank in the New Order. And if the chance came, he would teach Meta and Captain Maddox the price of having thwarted his will.

***

The surviving ships of Fifth Fleet waited before the Tannish Laumer-Point, having braked hard for over two days.

Oran Rva’s eighteen star cruisers were in the outer Tannish System, waiting and no doubt watching. To escape the star system and escape the debacle of the Battle of Caria six months ago, all Admiral Fletcher’s vessels had to do was jump through the Laumer-Point and begin the journey home to Earth.

Using the Laumer-Point was the rub, though. That’s what Maddox suspected, at least. He knew about Commander Guderian’s report of the Battle of Caria. Six months ago, the New Men had begun the battle with forty-eight star cruisers. Fletcher had destroyed seven enemy craft. His warships had damaged fourteen more. That had left twenty-seven star cruisers intact.

At the beginning of the Tannish Battle, the New Men had twenty-four vessels. That implied three other unaccounted for star cruisers. Now, it made sense that some star cruisers had sustained damage during the ensuing six months of New Men activity. It also seemed possible that out of the fourteen originally damaged craft from the Battle of Caria 323, some had managed to finish their repairs back at the Throne World. Those could have rushed back here.

Maddox suspected that some star cruisers waited for the Fifth Fleet at the other end of the Tannish Laumer-Point. The jump route led to the Markus System three and half light-years away. Oran Rva had cut and run here. The New Man had also threatened Maddox, saying the captain didn’t understand the true situation.

Maddox felt that he did understand. The enemy would pounce on the Fifth Fleet at the worst possible moment. Waiting star cruisers in the Markus System would hit the Fifth while the crews were in the grip of Jump Lag as they came out of the Laumer-Point. The enemy vessels in the Markus System would likely be far enough away from the Laumer-Point to shrug off any thermonuclear warheads Fletcher sent through first. But those enemy vessels would also likely be close enough to use their long-range beams against the Fifth’s vessels.

“Are you ready?” Fletcher asked Maddox.

It had been over two days since the New Men had sprayed their crustal field to help them escape. During that time, Ludendorff, Dana, Galyan and the remaining technicians had worked overtime on the disruptor cannon. The professor believed the cannon could fire two more shots, but not one extra. Maddox hoped two would be enough for what he had in mind.

“I’m ready, Admiral,” Maddox said over the screen.

“Good luck, Captain.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Fletcher added.

“Sir, I have the best crew in the service.
They
know what
they’re
doing.”

“I imagine they do at that,” Fletcher said.

“Give us a half-hour, sir. Then, start bringing your ships into the Markus System.”

“No nuclear blasts first?” Fletcher asked.

“That’s right, sir. We may be in a bad way and couldn’t survive any nuclear warheads.”

“This is the last risk,” Fletcher said.

“For now, at least,” Maddox said.

The admiral cut the connection.

Maddox stood up, moving beside Keith.

The ace unwound a cloth, revealing three hypos he’d taken off the last tin can in
Victory’s
hangar bay.

“Even with these Baxter-Locke shots,” Valerie said. “Some of our ship systems won’t work immediately as we come out of the star drive jump.”

“True enough,” Maddox said. “But the New Men in the Markus System aren’t going to know right away that we’re there with them. They’ll be watching the Laumer-Point. We’re using our star drive instead.”

“You hope they won’t notice us right away, sir,” Valerie said.

“It’s always a matter of playing the odds,” Maddox said. “Ready?”

Valerie and Keith nodded.

“Let’s do it,” Maddox said.

Each of them injected themselves with the experimental dosage to help them shrug off Jump Lag.

After Maddox was finished, he flexed his left hand. He felt disoriented. Then, his mouth became dry, and his eyes felt gritty as he blinked them.

“I don’t feel one hundred percent,” Valerie said.

“You never do,” Keith told her. “It’s better than Jump Lag, though. That’s the point.”

“Galyan?” Valerie asked.

“I’m ready,” the AI said.

The lieutenant glanced at Maddox. He nodded. Valerie warned the crew to get ready for jump.

Thirty seconds later, as Keith piloted the ancient vessel,
Victory
made a star drive jump to an exact point in the Markus System.

Maddox felt the familiar sensations, but they weren’t as strong as in the past. He felt woozy. Then, the starship landed inside the new system several hundred thousand kilometers from the Laumer-Point connected to the Tannish System.

The captain squeezed his eyes shut before opening them wide. He glanced at Keith.

The ace grinned. “Amazing, isn’t it, sir?”

Maddox nodded. It was indeed.

“Ah,” Keith said. “My controls are coming back online.”

Maddox saw the pilot’s screen flicker into normal usage.

“I see the enemy,” Valerie said. “I’m counting four star cruisers…three hundred thousand kilometers away. They’re on the other side of the Laumer-Point as us, sir.”

“Use the star drive again,” Maddox told Keith. “Come in behind them.”

“At what distance should I do that, sir?” the ace asked.

“Make it twenty thousand kilometers,” Maddox said.

“They’re going to start pounding us almost right away,” Valerie said. “There’s no way they’ll miss us if we jump that close.”

“This is where the expensive collapsium armor is going to earn its pay,” Maddox said. “We’ll absorb their hits until the shield comes back online.”

Valerie looked worried.

“It’s going to take Ludendorff time to come out of Jump Lag for us to use the disruptor cannon,” Maddox said.

The lieutenant used the intercom, warning the others they were about to jump again.

As she did, Keith’s fingers began to play on his board. “I don’t think the New Men see us yet,” the ace said. “They’re not looking here. They’re watching the Laumer-Point.” His board blinked green. “Get ready,” Keith said. “Now!”

The jump sensations hit Maddox once more. Reality disappeared and reappeared at almost the same moment. The captain felt dizzy. He sat down hard on his chair. Then, a faint buzzing sound made him cock his head.

“Do you hear that, sir?” Keith asked him.

“Yes,” Maddox said. “What is it?”

“That’s the enemy beams chewing into our collapsium, sir.”

The knowledge made the hairs stand up on Maddox’s neck. The New Men hammered
Victory
. Just how long could the collapsium armor take this kind of punishment?

“Should I jump again?” Keith asked.

“Negative,” Maddox said. “We can do this. We have to.”

Lieutenant Noonan hunched over her board. A green light suddenly blinked. Valerie pressed a spot on her panel. The ancient starship’s antimatter engines began to whine. Then, the purple neutron beam lanced outward and hit an enemy shield.

The seconds passed in growing violence. All four enemy star cruisers hammered the hull armor. Vaporized metal floated in droplets outside the giant vessel. Klaxons blared on the ship. The enemy beams threatened to rupture through into the interior.

Maddox felt his gut churn. Was he about to lose
Victory
?

Valerie laughed as she pressed a control. The shield appeared, absorbing the four rays. The enemy beams turned the shield red and then brown, the area growing larger by the second.

The starship’s hull armor began to cool. Now, the targeted star cruiser’s shield turned brown. The enemy vessel maneuvered to get behind another star cruiser.

“Pound that ship,” Maddox said.

The purple beam poured against the enemy shield, turning it black. Another ten seconds passed, and the enemy shield collapsed.

“Yes!” Keith shouted. The neutron beam hit enemy hull armor. It began chewing through it. At that moment, the star cruiser slid behind one of its fellow vessels.

“I’m retargeting,” Valerie said.

Keith swiveled in his seat, facing Maddox. “We can’t win this one, sir. Those star cruisers are too close together. They’re supporting each other. Our shield is starting to go critical.”

Maddox said nothing. He waited.

Again, the purple neutron beam brought a star cruiser’s shield down. As before, the stricken vessel hid behind a fully shielded star cruiser.

“I’m ready,” Ludendorff said over the main screen.

“Do it,” Maddox said.

Now, the battle entered a new phase. The disruptor cannon came online. The horrible whine built in power. Then, the cannon ejected of glob of unstoppable force.

It struck a star cruiser’s shield, knocking it down. Now, the neutron beam chewed into the hull armor. The stricken vessel tried to flee. Unfortunately for it, the disruptor blast that took down the shield also weakened the hull armor. It gave the neutron beam an advantage. Before the star cruiser could escape behind a different vessel, the neutron beam stabbed into the star cruiser’s vitals.

The enemy craft shuddered. Armor plates blew off it. In slow motion, cracks appeared in the star cruiser. The cracks widened and ship atmosphere and water vapor billowed out. Then, particles appeared in the volume. Those were New Men squirming and other objects.

Immediately, Maddox ordered the neutron beam against a different star cruiser. With three enemy vessels, the number of beams against
Victory
lessened. The newly targeted enemy shield blackened all too quickly.

“I can give you one more shot,” Ludendorff said.

“Aim at the stricken star cruiser,” Maddox ordered Valerie.

“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant said.

The enemy shield collapsed from the neutron beam. Then, the disruptor fired and the glob of energy struck the star cruiser. The reaction was a fantastic and obliterating destruction. The force of the spheroid explosion—it was an expanding nova white flare—weakened the last two remaining enemy shields.

At that point, the battle turned sharply in
Victory’s
favor. The New Men didn’t try to flee. Instead, despite the distance, the two star cruisers started a run at the ancient vessel. Their exhaust plumes lengthened to an incredible degree as the enemy vessels accelerated hard.

“They’re going to try to ram us, sir,” Keith said.

“Good,” Maddox said. “Let them try.”

“Sir?” Valerie asked.

Maddox didn’t reply to her question. The captain watched as the neutron beam destroyed first one and then both enemy vessels. The first kill caused an explosion, weakening the last enemy shield. Then, it was over. The last two star cruisers never even got close to
Victory
.