The Lost Destroyer (Lost Starship Series Book 3) (11 page)

-11-

Maddox was in a hangar bay, working with Meta. They attached a warfare pod to the underside of a shuttle. Once they reached the Xerxes System, Maddox was certain they would go the Nexus.

Maddox had gone over with Meta her time with Kane. The enemy agent had used a space-cycle to approach the silver pyramid. Maddox believed Kane had kept the scout from the Nexus’s immediate vicinity for a reason. What that reason was, the captain didn’t know. The point, to him, was to keep
Victory
away from the silver pyramid. That would mean using a shuttle to reach the relic.

They attached the warfare pod to the shuttle to ensure it had heavy enough armaments.

It had been several days now since the fight with Villars. Maddox had told Meta about it, and she’d wanted to ambush the man and finish it.

“Not yet,” had been Maddox’s reply. He wanted Villars to get comfortable first.

“You don’t know what it feels like being hunted.”

Maddox had assured Meta he did. That was why either Riker or he was with her at all times.

“I don’t need bodyguards,” Meta had told him. “I can take care of myself.”

“No doubt, but Riker and I are going to help you just the same. That’s what family does.”

Meta had finally accepted the proposition. Maddox had moved into her quarters. When they were apart, Riker took over guard duty. Ludendorff had his personal force field and web-field, but Villars just had regular means. Thus, the sergeant would use the stun gun and Maddox his long-barreled weapon to kill Villars if the slarn hunter tried to stalk Meta.

“Lift,” Maddox said.

Meta strained as she raised the main housing, pushing a joiner against the shuttle’s under-plate.

Maddox pulled a trigger, making his screw-gun
whirr
with power. He installed the rest of the housing to the warfare pod.

“Captain, could I have a word with you?”

Maddox turned around. Dana stood beyond the shuttle. She wore her white lab coat and an intense frown.

“Go ahead,” Meta told him. “I can finish up here.”

Maddox handed the drill to Meta before taking a rag from his pocket. He wiped grease from his hands, walking out from under the shuttle.

“Maybe we can speak inside there,” Dana said, indicating the shuttle.

Maddox shrugged and headed for a lift, climbing to the control compartment hatch. He stepped inside the shuttle. Dana followed close behind, closing the hatch.

That surprised Maddox.

Dana pulled a small device from a lab coat pocket. With the flick of a thumb, she turned it on, causing an audible vibration.

Maddox could feel the vibration strongest against his teeth.

“I doubt the professor is going to give us much time,” Dana said. “This is an anti-snoop scrambler. I made it myself.” She attached it to a panel.

“Ludendorff will know we’re plotting against him because it’s on,” Maddox said.

“I’ve already indicated as much,” Dana said. “Now listen. I know where Ludendorff must have put the backdoor to the AI. Do you remember when the computer tried to gas us several months ago?”

“Of course,” Maddox said. “It was right after the de-bugging, after you and Ludendorff rid Galyan of the Swarm virus.”

“Exactly,” Dana said. “I’ve been thinking of that moment. It’s always bothered me. Why would Galyan have gassed us at the precise moment we helped him most?”

“I have no idea,” Maddox said.

“Neither did I. So, I asked myself, who gained the most from that? Ludendorff did. He’d done something in the chamber he didn’t want anyone else to find out about.”

Maddox considered the idea. “You’re right. That’s an excellent deduction, Doctor.”

Dana looked down, perhaps to hide her smile at the compliment. When she looked up again, her features were composed. “So, all we have to do is break into the chamber, find the backdoor and take it out. Then Galyan will follow you as the AI has indicated it will do, and you shall control
Victory
again.”

“Ludendorff will likely have protective devices in the core chamber,” Maddox said.

“Yes,” Dana said. “Gas, for one thing. A suit and rebreather should take care of the problem.”

Maddox nodded thoughtfully.

“The professor could have put more fail-safes in place, but—”

“Just a minute,” Maddox said, interrupting Dana. “Our time is ticking. Ludendorff is going to notice your scrambler soon, if he hasn’t already. Now we know where the backdoor is. When the time is right, we’ll break in, search for it and deactivate the device. You’re going to have to think deeply about where exactly it’s hidden.”

“Yes, yes,” Dana said, impatiently. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”

“Before you go into that,” Maddox said. “I want to know how you successfully mutinied against Ludendorff the first time in the Adok System. The man is deceptively clever and devious in the extreme. How did you defeat him?”

“How could that possibly matter now?” Dana asked. “That happened years ago. It’s old history.”

“Knowing will help me figure out how to beat him this time around,” Maddox said.

“Believe me, it won’t,” Dana said. “He’ll never fall for that trick again.”

“Maybe, but knowing will show me one of his weaknesses. That’s always good to know.”

Dana looked away, her features twisting with distaste.

“We don’t have the luxury of being fastidious,” Maddox told her. “You did something secretive many years ago. It fooled Ludendorff. I must know what you did, but time is of the essence, Doctor. Learning it later isn’t going to help.”

“Oh, very well,” Dana said. “I was Ludendorff’s lover. There, are you satisfied?”

Maddox kept his features blank. Inside, he was nodding. He should have already seen the answer. It helped explain her hostility toward the professor.

“Mutinying against him was one of the hardest things I ever did,” Dana said in a monotone.

Maddox could almost hear the words she didn’t say, “I wish I’d never done it.” The captain didn’t get that from her face. Dana’s features were stiff, with her eyebrows raised and her nostrils flared. The captain’s understanding about the doctor’s feelings toward Ludendorff was a gut instinct. Maddox was certain the event had been decisive in Dana’s life. He would like to know the mutiny’s details. What impact had her treachery had on the professor?

The opposite of love wasn’t hate but indifference.
It would seem Doctor Rich still isn’t over Ludendorff
.

“Let me—” Maddox said.

The scrambler vibrated louder than before. A second later, a blue nimbus shined from it.

“Down!” Dana shouted, as she dropped to the floor.

Maddox followed her example. As his chest touched a deck plate, the scrambler exploded, blowing hot shrapnel everywhere, tearing the fabric from the nearest seat.

“Ludendorff worked fast,” Maddox said from the floor.

“He always does,” Dana said.

Maddox scrambled to his feet, drawing his gun as he pushed open the hatch. Villars stood on the hangar bay floor, staring intently at Meta under the shuttle.

Without hesitation, Maddox aimed and began to squeeze the trigger. The captain felt the force web begin to tighten around him. Then the gun discharged. The bullet plowed through the surrounding web. It must have wobbled in flight, taking it off course just a little. The slug tore through Villars’s left shoulder, twisting the slarn hunter. It didn’t throw the man onto the floor, but it did cause him to stagger back.

The web tightened so Maddox couldn’t breathe. He willed his finger to move again. It did. The long-barreled gun sent another slug at Villars. This round ricocheted off the floor by his right boot.

The web tightened even more, squeezing the captain’s chest. Maddox fired a third time. Villars was already backpedalling as he clutched his wounded shoulder. Blood trickled between the slarn hunter’s fingers.

Maddox would have fallen out of the hatch, but Dana yanked him back inside. Then, the captain blacked out…

Maddox woke up several minutes later. The hangar bay lights shined down on him. He must not be inside the shuttle anymore. He noticed Dana and Meta. They stood uncomfortably stiffly to the side. The professor must have webbed them.

From on the floor, Maddox stirred.

“Finally,” the professor said. “You’re back. Good. We need to speak, you and I.”

Waiting several seconds, Maddox summoned his energy and managed to sit up. The professor stood to the side, making minute adjustments to his flat device. There was no sign of Villars.

“Where’s the sadist?” Maddox asked.

Ludendorff frowned. “I do not appreciate your firing at my bodyguard. I take that as a personal affront. He will see it as the beginning of a vendetta. You’re making this harder than it has to be.”

“You should have known better than to bring Villars near Meta,” Maddox said. “I did the rational thing upon seeing him. The man’s unpredictable. I had to act before he did.”

“Forget about Villars,” Ludendorff said. “You used a scrambler in order to plot against me in secret. You should know better than that.”

“I’m afraid I don’t. You took my ship. Give it back, and we can start over.”

“Come, come, Captain, this petulance isn’t going to help either of us. It’s true I have command, at present. But that’s how it should be. I’m wiser and have more understanding of the situation than any of you do. I know what’s at stake and how to defeat the problem. In time, I’ll leave, and
Victory
will return to your command.”

Silently, Maddox disagreed most profoundly about who was wiser. Aloud, he said, “I understand your thinking. Yes, let us proceed then and put this behind us. If you would release my two crewmembers from your web, I’d appreciate it.”

Ludendorff glanced at Dana and Meta before regarding Maddox. “You were plotting against me, Captain. Worse, you did it with someone I find reprehensible. I no longer trust the doctor.”

“It hardly matters anymore. You destroyed her scrambler and nearly wounded one of us in the process. That was risky on your part.”

“Play with fire and you can get burned,” Ludendorff said in a hard tone. He paused, and it seemed he brought his anger under control. The stiffness left his features, replaced by a roguish grin. “What happened in the shuttle reveals a little of my…hmm, shall we call them my resources?”

“I’m duly impressed,” Maddox said. “I won’t try something like that again.”

Ludendorff eyed the captain. “I’m going to have to take your gun, of course.”

“I don’t advise that,” Maddox said. “Villars will take advantage of my defenselessness.”

“Cesar is wounded. That will slow him down for a time, making you two even, which is more than I should give you for what you just did.”

Instead of responding, Maddox climbed to his feet. He stood too fast, though, and his vision blurred. He held himself still, with his head down until the grogginess passed. Finally, he fully straightened.

“Your assassination attempt just now reveals several interesting factors about you,” Ludendorff said. “You have a remarkably swift reaction time, and you can act without hesitation. If Villars didn’t understand before how dangerous you are, he does now. That will make him doubly hazardous for you. Before, he underestimated you. I assure you he won’t do that again.”

Maddox said nothing.

“That’s another thing I admire about you,” Ludendorff said. “Sometimes, you know when to keep quiet.”

Maddox continued to wait.

“You don’t have a response to that?” Ludendorff asked.

“What would you like me to say?”

The professor frowned. “What did you and the doctor talk about in the shuttle?”

“You.”

“And…?”

“Dana told me how she admires your resourcefulness.”

“That isn’t what she said,” Ludendorff snapped.

“Actually, it is.”

“Come, come, Captain, you’re trying my patience. That isn’t wise on your part.”

Maddox looked the professor in the eye and gave him a professional smile.

“Do you dare to mock me?” Ludendorff asked in wonder.

“Professor, I’m afraid you’ve done exactly what your sadist did, which was to underestimate me. I salute your genius. It is a rare quality and quite admirable. You have potent toys, and you play the long game. However, the fact of your keeping Villars in your company causes me to doubt your judgment.”

“I don’t care for lectures,” Ludendorff said, “and I like it even less from a hypocrite. You have an assassin and a clone thief in your crew. They were both judged as violently dangerous, enough so Star Watch sent them to a prison planet. Villars—”

“Is a sadist,” Maddox said calmly, interrupting the professor. “Both Dana and Meta acted out of noble sentiments. You cannot compare them to the monster you call a bodyguard. You’re a clever, man, Professor. You’ve shown that more than once. But, as I said, I wonder about your judgment.”