The Lost Destroyer (Lost Starship Series Book 3) (28 page)

“Ready?” Maddox asked Keith.

“Aye-aye, sir,” the ace said.

The two boarded the shuttle and strapped in. Riker and Valerie hurried out of the hangar bay. Soon, the giant bay doors opened. The shuttle lifted off the deck and drifted toward space.

“The Earth looks lovely, doesn’t she, sir?” Keith said from the pilot seat.

Maddox sat beside the ace, staring at the blue-green planet.

The shuttle began the plunge. Maddox spied Australia and New Zealand. Neither of the landmasses had much cloud cover. There was a big storm brewing over Tasmania, though.

“Feels as if I’ve been gone forever,” Maddox said, surprised at the pang in his chest upon seeing Earth.

“Aye,” Keith said. He manipulated his panel. The shuttle began its flight for Europe and the Geneva Spaceport.

They passed Star Watch laser satellites, spied big battleships in low orbit and saw heavy lifters heading to waiting space haulers at a Lagrange point.

Maddox’s fingertips tingled in anticipation of the coming meeting. Should he have said anything about Strand? Maybe it was better to have kept quiet about that. If the chief of Nerva Security could slip back and forth, Strand or his proxy could probably intercept laser messages from
Victory
to Star Watch Headquarters.

The shuttle began to shake as it entered the stratosphere. Maddox glanced at the pilot. That shouldn’t be happening.

“Not to worry, sir,” Keith said. He tapped the board.

Instead of eliminating the shaking, it got worse. Suddenly, an explosion in one of the rear engine ports caused the shuttle to plummet even faster.

“What just happened?” Maddox shouted.

“Damned if I know, sir,” Keith said between clenched teeth. “Hang on. This could get rough.” Keith swerved sharply and aimed them almost straight down. At the same time, the shuttle twisted and began to buck and heave.

“What are you doing?” Maddox shouted.

“Saving our lives, sir! Now kindly shut up and let me pilot. We’re under attack.”

Maddox was thrust forward, to the side and back, but finally managed to grip the straps crisscrossing his body. “How do you know this isn’t an engine malfunction?”

“Because I checked those babies myself, sir, before we left the starship. They were dandy.” The ace cursed profoundly then.

Maddox saw it on the pilot’s board. The heat on the skin of the shuttle rose dramatically.

“We’re going down too fast,” the captain said.

Keith snarled something about a microwave beam striking the craft. He twisted the shuttle. The bulkheads shook. Screaming sounds from outside added to the confusion.

“Need some missiles,” Keith said. “Okay. This is going to get really rough now, sir. Get ready. Three, two, one…here we go.”

Maddox gritted his teeth as the ace took the shuttle through even more intense maneuvers. They corkscrewed, flipped, slid sideways and burned through the thickening atmosphere.

Then, Star Watch interceptors joined them. They were sleek, ultra-fast atmospheric fighters that looked like giant wasps. Keith flipped on the radio and garbled something to the pilots. Seconds later, missiles blasted from the interceptor under-bays, disappearing as they zoomed down to the surface.

It told Maddox Star Watch was still on his side, just as the microwave beam attack told him the enemy was definitely up to something sinister.

Soon, Keith leveled out. The shaking stopped, so did the sounds of shrieking wind. They were over the Pacific Ocean, heading northeast toward Hawaii.

Maddox released his death grip on the straps, finding his fingers stiff from the intensity of the strain.

“You said microwave beams?” the captain asked.

“Aye, sir,” Keith said. “That’s my best bet. We should be okay now, I think.”

“Someone on Earth—”

“That’s right,” Keith said, as he adjusted their flight path. “Someone down there wanted to make our deaths look accidental. They beamed a microwave ray at the engine port, burning it out. They tried to do the same thing to the other one, but I wouldn’t let them.”

“That’s why you practiced that insanity?” Maddox asked.

Keith laughed. “Any time they can hit a fighter I’m flying, when I know what’s going on, I deserve to die. They didn’t realize who piloted our shuttle. You’re lucky I came, sir,” the ace said with a grin. “Without me beside you, you’d be a goner.”

“Indeed,” Maddox said. “And the interceptor missiles…?”

“I was tracking the enemy as he tried to beam us. I gave the coordinates to the interceptors.”

Maddox found it amazing Keith had been doing all that while he—the captain—had been hanging on for his life.

The rest of the flight proved uneventful. Keith took them over Central America, the Atlantic Ocean and brought the shuttle down in Geneva Spaceport in the Alps Mountain Range.

Maddox watched several hovers rush out of a terminal building. There was something off about them. He wasn’t sure what, but he felt it in his gut.

“Let’s not go over there,” Maddox said, pointing at the hovers. “Head to the terminal over there,” he said, pointing at a large, square building in the distance.

Keith glanced at the captain, giving him a look that said the others were expecting them at the first location.

“Something feels wrong about this,” Maddox said. He’d been doing some heavy thinking during the flight. The enemy wasn’t going to let them reach the Lord High Admiral so easily. The Pluto Command quarantine and the microwave attack showed that.

“Got it, sir,” Keith said. He turned the shuttle, using repeller rays to float them to the new destination.

In seconds, a hard-faced man in space marine greens appeared on the screen. “Where are you headed?” the marine asked.

“You can send the hovers away,” Maddox said. “We don’t need them.”

The grim-faced marine hesitated just a moment. Then, he shook his head. “Sorry, Captain, I can’t do that. You’re under emergency orders. I have to take you in myself. I’m supposed to guard you and your packages.”

Maddox tapped his board, making the man’s image disappear. He called Cook’s office. A secretary answered. Before she could speak, the screen went blank.

“What the heck?” Keith asked. He’d been watching the exchange.

Maddox made a quick check. Someone used ultra-advanced jamming equipment against the shuttle.

“It appears the attack against us isn’t over,” Maddox said. “The enemy must want us dead pretty badly if they’re willing to burn an asset embedded in Star Watch space marines.”

The captain unbuckled. In three strides, he reached the weapons locker, opening it.

“The hovers have speeded up,” Keith said. “They’re not going to let us get away, sir.”

Maddox turned toward the ace. A premonition of greater danger touched the captain. The marines coming to escort them weren’t going to stop in the face of a grenade launcher. If he simply took them all out, though, without the enemy first showing his hand, there might be hell to pay.

He was playing with the end of the world at stake. Who was his hidden foe? It couldn’t be Strand himself, right? The man was far away in space. It might be Strand’s second-in-command then. It was possible Kane had returned to Earth. Or had some other New Man gotten here, sent by the space pyramid in New Men territory?

A hard knot of certainty filled Maddox. “Turn the shuttle around,” he told Keith. “Then use a missile. Take out the hovers.”

For once, Keith looked surprised. “Are you sure, sir? They’ll court martial us for doing that.”

“Turn the shuttle,” Maddox ordered, leaving the grenade launcher in the locker. He sat back in his seat as Keith caused the shuttle to rotate on its repellers.

The three hovers flew across the tarmac toward them.

“Could you be wrong about them, sir?” Keith asked.

Maddox didn’t answer. Instead, the captain leaned forward, engaging a missile. The space weapon wasn’t meant to use like this on the ground, but it should work.

Tapping the screen a second time launched the missile. The shuttle shook as the missile ignited its engine. Through the blast window, Maddox watched the streaking thing. It struck the lead hover and exploded into a giant fireball. One hover flew into the air, its dome a splintered shell as it tumbled end-over-end. There was no sign of the other two hovers. Heat and debris smashed against the shuttle, causing the craft to tremble as hard as it had during the flight down.

Seconds later, the shuttle stopped shaking. The airborne hover smashed against the tarmac. Pieces went everywhere, some rattling against the shuttle. The other hovers were smoking debris.

Maddox slouched in his seat. At the same moment, sirens began to blare. Just how many more attempts was the enemy going to make against him?

-30-

“Sir,” Keith said. “Look over there. Combat cars are coming.”

The ace pointed out the blast window. Three dots in the sky floated down, rapidly gaining size.

Maddox stood and drew his gun.

Keith tried the radio. It worked. The ace asked for confirmation regarding the air-cars. He told Maddox, “They’re from Intelligence, straight from headquarters.”

Maddox eyed the growing combat cars, finally putting the gun into its holster. He waited until they landed, dust puffing outward from their armored skirts.

Opening a hatch, the captain watched soldiers bound out of the cars, racing into a circular formation around the shuttle, facing outward with rifles leveled. A major exited the lead combat car. He marched near the shuttle, studying Maddox.

It was Major Stokes, one of O’Hara’s chief aides. Maddox was relieved to recognize someone.

Stokes glanced at the smoking, hover wreckages before shaking his head. “Never can leave things as they are, can you, Captain? You went and ruined the welcoming committee.”

“The more things change,” Maddox said, dryly.

“You have a knack,” Stokes said. “There’s no denying it. Wherever you go, people learn to love you.”

“What’s the next step?” Maddox asked.

“In a hurry, are you?”

“As a matter of fact, I am.”

“Good,” Stokes said. “You’re to come with me.”

“To see the admiral?”

“In time,” Stokes said. “First, The Iron Lady wants an explanation for all this mayhem.”

Stokes had never been a fan of his, but the man was solid. The enemy wouldn’t have been able to corrupt him, and the major was too logical to fall easily for a trick.

In three minutes, Maddox found himself secure in a combat-car, flying nape-of-the-earth to headquarters. They landed on the roof of a squat fortress-style building. Stokes marched them through every security check. Underground, Keith left them, no doubt heading to a different debriefing.

“Why the silent treatment?” Maddox asked.

Stokes cocked an eyebrow. “Orders, my fine fellow. The brigadier doesn’t want you tainted before she sinks her claws into you. This time—well, never mind. We’re almost there.”

Several minutes later, Stokes escorted Maddox into Brigadier Mary O’Hara’s office.

The Iron Lady sat behind a large synthi-wood desk, with her hands folded beside a thick and ancient book. The brigadier of Star Watch Intelligence had gray hair, a matronly image and a reputation for never losing her temper.

“Here he is, Ma’am,” Stokes said. “I found him as delightful as ever. The man stayed in his shuttle like a turtle, eyeing me as if I were the Devil himself come to hang him.”

“Thank you, Major,” O’Hara said, quietly.

Stokes cocked another eyebrow, coming to ramrod attention, giving a perfectly crisp salute.

“None of that now,” O’Hara said. “You did your chore. I’m appreciative of it, I assure you.”

The major turned around.

“There’s something wrong here, quite wrong,” the brigadier told Stokes. “I wanted someone to go that the captain would trust and who could also sniff out trouble. This isn’t over, Major. In fact, I think it has just begun.” O’Hara glanced at Maddox.

The captain nodded.

“See to the postings outside the building, Major. Then ready a combat team.”

Stokes turned back around to face her. “You think someone is going to try to storm the building, Ma’am?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if our hidden enemy launched an attack on us. I can’t explain it, but there is a nefarious presence on Earth. I’m beginning to wonder if it has something to do with Captain Maddox’s return.”

“Ah,” Stokes said. “I shall redouble my efforts then.”

“That is most appreciated.”

With a final nod, Stokes took his leave, quietly shutting the door behind him.

For a moment, Maddox didn’t know what to do. It was strange. He almost felt like a young lad again, coming home after a year away from his…his…

“Captain,” O’Hara exclaimed. She almost jumped to her feet as she rose. The brigadier came around the desk and gave Maddox an uncharacteristic hug.

He held out his arms, finally patting her back. She was so much smaller than he was.

Abruptly, the brigadier released him, returning to her desk, sitting down and folding her hands back beside the dusty tome. She regarded him solemnly, seeming more like a superior officer.

“Please, Captain, sit down. Tell me what you’ve done with Starship
Victory
while you’ve been away.”

“Yes,” he said, moving to the chair before her desk. Maddox sat, crossed his legs and began to relate his and the crew’s exploits.

O’Hara didn’t ask questions. She let the captain explain things his own way. Halfway through his talk, a small red light on her desk blinked on. She pressed a switch and the light disappeared. Afterward, the brigadier watched him more closely than he recalled from previous debriefings.

He gave her a look. She chose to ignore it. Maddox filed that away. He spoke at length, trying to include everything of note.

Finally, he came to recent events. “After the microwave-beam attack, Ma’am, I knew the enemy wouldn’t stop there. My instincts told me the space marines in the hovers were the enemy’s next play—at least this round before I spoke with you.”

“The comm-blanketing at the spaceport suggests you’re correct about the marines,” O’Hara said. “But what if you’re wrong?”

“Then I killed innocent men, for which I’m sorry. However, I believe the stakes involved mean I should err on the side of Earth’s survival.”

O’Hara studied him.

Maddox wondered about the red light and the book on her desk that didn’t seem to serve any purpose. The book was positioned so if a recording device were up there in the display case….the recorder wouldn’t show the light coming on because the book would have blocked it.

Maddox found that interesting and telling.

“We’re still making inquiries about the marines,” the brigadier was saying. “The Lord High Admiral didn’t order them there. We know that much, which would seem to substantiate your instincts.” O’Hara touched the book on her desk. “We are to meet with the Lord High Admiral. In fact, he is waiting for us. Are you ready, Captain?”

“I’m surprised,” Maddox said. “I would have thought you had questions for me.”

“Oh, I have questions. Your tale is…
miraculous
. By your account, the Adok starship is proving successful beyond our wildest fantasies. Ludendorff’s actions since the Battle of the Tannish System…I find them odd. Can he really have done all those things you say? Your discovery about Strand…” The brigadier shook her head. “If true, your discoveries have unpleasant implications concerning the Methuselah People. That personally troubles me, as I’ve taken the preliminary treatments, which you well know.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” the captain said. Her answers seemed strange.

“I’m sure there’s even more you haven’t told me. It’s difficult to absorb so much in such a short amount of time, but—”

O’Hara stood. Maddox followed her example.

“If you’re correct about this doomsday machine…” the brigadier grew quiet. “Come, we must speak with the Lord High Admiral. We’re wasting time with this chitchat.”

The brigadier headed for a secret door, opening it with a wave of her hand. O’Hara led the way down a corridor. Maddox followed close behind. This wasn’t how he’d expected it to go. They should storm Nerva Tower at once and arrest Octavian and whoever Strand had put in his place.

O’Hara turned abruptly, staring up into the captain’s eyes. “Security personnel will be at the meeting.”

Maddox absorbed the information in silence.

“In the past few days we have uncovered evidence that suggests you’re a traitor in the pay of the New Men.”

Slapping his face would have surprised Maddox less. First, there had been Commodore Kinshasa at the Pluto Laumer-Point and now this. “What is the nature of the evidence?” he asked quietly.

“That doesn’t matter at the moment. I should tell you that scanners have checked you while you were in my office. You’re clean, devoid of hidden assassination devices on or in your person. We were advised it would be otherwise.”

Had that been the reason for the red light?

“If I had these devices,” Maddox said, “and you only found I was clean while in your office, why did you risk meeting me by yourself first?”

“Never mind that,” the brigadier said. “It’s time to proceed to the next phase.”

“If you will allow me one more question, Ma’am,” Maddox said.

O’Hara regarded him.

The next words were difficult.
This is ridiculous
.
Just ask her
. “Ma’am,” he said, with the slightest catch in his voice. “Do you believe I’m guilty of traitorous intent?”

“Don’t be absurd,” she said in a low voice. “And Captain,” she added, speaking louder. “Our conversations have been recorded throughout.”

Maddox ingested the information.

The brigadier faced forward again, continuing to move down the corridor.

Soon, they entered a large, circular room. Five guards lined the walls. Each of them tracked Maddox with their eyes.

The brigadier indicated Maddox’s chair. After he sat down, she walked around the table, sitting across and slightly to the left of him.

Seconds later, another door opened, and the Lord High Admiral entered. He sat beside O’Hara.

Now, a third door opened. Guards brought Professor Ludendorff into the room. The leathery-faced man with his bald dome and gold chain around his neck looked small beside the marines escorting him into the chamber. To Maddox’s amazement, the professor had magnetic cuffs on his wrists.

Maddox watched as the marines pushed Ludendorff to a location between Cook and him at the table. Then the marines put Ludendorff’s wrists over magnetic receivers embedded in the table. Afterward, the marines left.

Ludendorff lifted each arm, discovering the range of motion the magnetic cuffs were going to give him. “This is splendidly melodramatic,” he said, glancing at Cook. “Yet I wonder if it’s necessary?”

“Quite,” Cook said in his deep voice. The big man shifted in his seat and seemed to shift topics in his mind. “We’ve desired to speak with you for some time, as you know. For years now, you’ve rejected our requests to come to Earth or any suitable place in the Commonwealth. The captain’s information regarding you has added to our worst fears. Clearly, you are even more dangerous than any of us thought.”

“Nonsense,” Ludendorff said.

“Please, professor,” Cook said. “None of that is going to work here. You are a mystery wrapped in an enigma. We intend to learn why, and the sooner we do, the better it will be for you.”

“Do you know that’s what they used to say about Russia in the twentieth century,” Ludendorff told the admiral—“The enigma part.”

No one responded to that.

“This is a fine mess you’ve put me in,” Ludendorff told Maddox. “If you would have revived me on the starship, we could have forgone this silliness and gone straight to solving the problem.”

“That the captain had the foresight to put you in stasis speaks to his uncommon wisdom,” O’Hara said.

“It has little to do with wisdom,” the professor told her, “but everything to do with his suspicious hybrid nature.”

O’Hara’s mouth tightened. “I do not appreciate the comment. You will desist from making more in that vein.”

Ludendorff glanced from the brigadier to Maddox. “Ah, I see. This is interesting, quite interesting. I hadn’t foreseen that.”

The Lord High Admiral cleared his throat. “We don’t have time for your games, Professor. If Maddox is correct…” Cook glanced at O’Hara.

“I do not believe the allegations against the captain,” O’Hara told Cook. “In my opinion, we can trust him implicitly. I believe the new information against him came from tainted sources. We should put those sources under the microscope.”

Cook appeared thoughtful. “If the captain is correct,” the admiral continued, “an ancient doomsday machine is headed for Earth even as we speak.”

“The captain is indeed correct,” Ludendorff said. “The doomsday machine is on its way here.”

“According to the captain,” Cook said, “the evidence suggests the machine is a Builder vessel.”

“That’s a ridiculous notion,” Ludendorff said. “I’m surprised you could utter such an idea.”

“According to the captain, the Builders used the machine in the distant past.”

“Oh, the Builders most assuredly did use it,” Ludendorff said, “but they didn’t construct the machine. Frankly, I don’t know who did. So let’s avoid the subject as it’s a waste of time.”

The admiral studied Ludendorff. “I find it hard to believe you don’t know the creator of the planet-killer.”

“Believe what you wish,” Ludendorff said, “just as long as you don’t pester me with stupid questions.”

“Here, now,” O’Hara said. “This is the Lord High Admiral of Star Watch you’re addressing. You will keep a respectful tone when speaking to him.”