The Lost Destroyer (Lost Starship Series Book 3) (10 page)

“I suppose I should have foreseen that,” Ludendorff said. “It’s too bad Meta had to interfere as she did. None of this would be happening, otherwise.”

“If you’d come to me and told us the truth,” Maddox said, “it wouldn’t be happening like this either. You’re the one to blame, not Meta.”

“We don’t have the luxury of blaming each other,” Ludendorff said. “Now, I’m going to release both of you. Cesar, I want your word you will shake hands with Captain Maddox.”

“No,” Villars said. “His woman killed Sten. She has to die for that. This boy would try to stop me from enacting justice.”

“I see your point,” Ludendorff told Villars. “But I happen to need Maddox in order to save humanity. Maybe Sten would have understood that.”

“Sten saved my life when the slarn took me down,” Villars said. “I’d be dead if Sten hadn’t waded into battle with the beast. That’s not something you forget, Professor.”

“No, I suppose not,” Ludendorff said.

“So, his bitch gets a wild hair up her—”

“Listen to me,” Maddox said in a calm voice.

“Don’t talk to me, punk,” Villars snarled.

“Oh, my,” Ludendorff said. “This is worse than I thought. Cesar, what am I going to do with you?”

“You’d better kill me, Professor,” Villars said, “because I’m never going to stop going after—”

Ludendorff held up his device and tapped it once. That cut off Villars’s rant before it could get properly started. The web squeezed Villars so hard he gasped for air.

“I don’t appreciate that kind of talk even from you,” Ludendorff told the slarn hunter. “You’re my guard, my final ring of protection. The others are gone, Cesar. Don’t you understand what that means?”

Villars looked at Ludendorff with bulging eyes. It was clear the slarn hunter could no longer breathe.

“You must think long-term,” Ludendorff explained. “Maybe we’ve been on Wolf Prime too long. You’ve picked up some of their wilder customs. That will not do this time around. Don’t you see that?”

Maddox wasn’t sure, but Villars might have nodded the barest fraction.

The professor tapped his device.

Villars inhaled deeply.

“Let us try this again,” Ludendorff said. “Cesar, can you withhold seeking justice until the end of our endeavor?”

“I can,” the slarn hunter said, with his eyes downcast.

“There,” Ludendorff told Maddox. “I’m glad that’s settled.”

“He tried to cut off my feet with monofilament wire,” Maddox said.

“He won’t do that again,” Ludendorff assured the captain.

“That isn’t what he said,” Maddox told the professor. “He agreed to forego his attempts right now.”

Ludendorff shrugged. “Isn’t that good enough?”

Maddox stared at the professor.

“Come now,” Ludendorff chided. “Consider the various possibilities. Cesar might die before we complete our task. You or Meta might perish. Maybe we’ll fail, and we’ll all die together. Then, you will have worried about a future that never existed. It’s true he might kill the two of you later. But then you’ll be dead, and it will no longer be of concern to you. The point is that you’ll have helped save humanity by working together now.”

A fixed grin remained on Maddox’s face. He realized the futility of trying to reason with the man who had the power to imprison him at will. The captain planned to bide his time and kill Villars when an opportunity presented itself now that he knew the hunter’s agenda.

“Are we agreed then?” Ludendorff asked.

“I already said I am,” Villars declared.

“Captain?” the professor asked.

“Certainly,” Maddox said. “Until we have completed the mission, I will shelve the matter.”

Villars laughed harshly. “Do you hear that, Professor? The punk takes you for a fool. He’s lying. He’s going to try to murder me the first chance he gets.”

“This really is too much, Captain,” Ludendorff complained.

“I’ve given you my word,” Maddox said.

“A false word,” Ludendorff said. “It’s clear you have other intentions.”

“I don’t know how you could tell that,” Maddox said.

“With the greatest of ease, boy,” Villars said. “Once you’ve been around the block enough times, it gets easy to see when a punk like you lies through his teeth.”

“Let us see if we can try this again,” Ludendorff said.

“Yes,” Maddox said. “I won’t try to kill your friend.”

“There you go, Cesar. Do you hear that? This time the captain spoke genuinely.”

Villars glowered.

“He thwarted your surprise attempt to kill him,” Ludendorff pointed out. “That should show you Maddox has more resources than the average man.”

“He’s a freak,” Villars said.

“No, Cesar,” the professor said. “That is ill-mannered. You should not say that to him.”

“
Freak
,” Villars said, hotly.

Ludendorff turned to Maddox. “It appears you’ve gravely angered my friend. For your own good, I suggest you stay out of his way.”

“Naturally,” Maddox said.

Ludendorff peered into the captain’s eyes. Finally, the professor exhaled, turning toward Villars. “Come along then. Some separation appears to be in order.”

Ludendorff took the slarn hunter by the right elbow, guiding him down the corridor. The blockier man moved sluggishly, as if the web was still on enough to make his movements difficult. It seemed the professor wasn’t
only
going to trust Villars’s word.

A few seconds later, the force web vanished from around Maddox. He stumbled several steps before he stood in quiet contemplation, examining the knife that Villars had planned to use to cut out his lungs.

Turning around, Maddox went to the monofilament wire. It would take careful work to take down something like this. Afterward, he would have to warn Meta about Villars.

What would the professor do once Maddox killed Villars? It would appear the captain would find out soon.

-10-

Hundreds of light-years from
Victory
in the Beyond, an agent of the New Men sat alone in a room, enduring his latest rehabilitation due to mission failure.

Kane was born on the Rouen Colony. Thanks to scientists of the Chabot Consortium, he had been genetically modified to work on the two-G mining world. He was big and square-bodied, with gray hair and flat slabs of muscle. Kane had the bleakness of a glacier even though he seethed where he sat.

He was aboard a star cruiser in a punishment chamber. At the command of Oran Rva, he attempted to purge his emotions. A condenser ray beamed down from the ceiling at his brain in order to aid the process, or so they had informed him. Kane had begun to doubt the explanation, believing the ray did something else to his mind.

Kane gripped his knees, enduring the process. The beam made his head pound and his teeth ache. As the ray did its work, he attempted to reconcile a truism of his existence.

Regular humans were no match for his excellence. Yet, despite his superiority over the norms, the dominants—what Star Watch called the New Men—were better than he was in every way. Kane understood that he would always be a second tier citizen in the New Order. That was better than becoming cattle like the rest of humanity. Was it not?

Kane felt heat creep up his neck. That was anger. He must control the inner rage. The dominants would never release him for another mission if they detected such fury.

I’ve never had trouble controlling my rage before. The condenser ray should be helping me with this, which means the beam is definitely doing something else. Why have the dominants lied to me?

Kane debated the idea even as he yearned for another chance against the norms. He particularly wanted the opportunity in the hope that Captain Maddox would appear in his path again. Then—

Kane shifted on his chair.

He must forget about the Star Watch Intelligence officer and his woman. Meta’s delicious body and enticing features had goaded him the entire time he had been with her. He should have stripped off her garments and put his hands on her, entering—

No! Kane cared nothing about that.

Why am I lying to myself? I never have before. I want the woman. I desire to use her well and often
.

Kane took a deep breath. He must rid himself of all rutting desires. Only climbing rank mattered. Only the—

Abruptly, the ray quit. Kane knew because his teeth stopped aching and his head no longer pounded. It left a dull emptiness in his mind, though, making it difficult to concentrate.

A noise alerted Kane. He found his reflexes were slow. He moved his head sluggishly as the chamber’s door slid up.

Commander Oran Rva, a golden-skinned dominant, stepped through the hatch. The commander wore a silver suit with a single purple emblem on his right pectoral. He had a weapon belt around his waist with a holstered blaster. Oran Rva was tall with a dark pelt of hair. The eyes, which were like swirling black pools of ink, fixated on Kane.

“Come with me,” Oran Rva said.

It took Kane three tries to rise. What had the invisible beam done to him? Finally, he stood up, only to go down to one knee. With a grunt of embarrassment, he struggled to his feet, finally staggering after the commander.

***

Kane stood in a large auditorium aboard the star cruiser. Oran Rva was behind a table that held a harness of thin straps attached to silver bands.

“You have failed in your deception missions,” the dominant said. “Analysis proves your decisions were lacking. A competent spy needs intuitive powers combined with daring. You have an insufficient quantity of the former but an abundance of the latter. Given your knowledge of Earth customs and ability to swim among the sub-men unnoticed, you are about to embark on a unique mission of straightforward violence.”

Kane said nothing, absorbing the information. Was this a demotion? It sounded like it. Yet, the gear on the table was clearly advanced technology. The dominants never let others use such weaponry, reserving those items for themselves.

“In essence, you will be a one-man commando team,” Oran Rva said.

The slightest of frowns touched Kane’s face.

“State your objections to this,” Oran Rva said.

Kane shook his head. “I have no objections, Your Excellency.”

“Remember that you have stated so. Now, remove your garments, put on this harness and I shall begin your training.”

Kane obeyed, soon fitting soft silver bands around his neck, torso, forearms, biceps, triceps, thighs, calves and other areas.

That Oran Rva, the commander of the initial invasion armada, trained him personally, was food for consideration. The New Men had different customs than the norms. There, an admiral would never teach a commando his trade. Here, the grade of the instructor indicated the importance of the task. That Oran Rva oversaw the training told Kane his commando mission was of supreme importance.

With the straps and bands in place on Kane’s person, Oran Rva indicated a tiny silver ball, with two deep indentations.

“Attach the power source to the harness there,” the commander said, pointing at a cord near Kane’s navel.

Kane plugged the ball to the harness. Instantly, the bands around his muscles buzzed pleasantly.

“You wear enablers,” Oran Rva explained. “They will excite your muscles, allowing you greater speed and strength. Are you ready?”

Kane nodded.

The commander ordered a sequence of exercises. Faster than Kane had ever done before, he ran around objects, leaped higher than he would have thought possible and engaged a fighting robot in a series of engagements.

At the end of the session, Kane removed the sweaty harness. He staggered, and his muscles quivered with exhaustion. In spite of his resolve, the Rouen Colony man collapsed onto the floor.

“Attend me,” Oran Rva said.

Kane concentrated, finding it difficult to focus. He managed to look up at the dominant towering over his prone person.

“With the enabler, you have reacted faster and with greater strength than you are normally capable of doing. The experience, as you can see, has left you exhausted. Instead of giving you a warning of the coming situation, I have let you experience the weakness directly. Never forget that extended exertions with the enabler will leave you powerless afterward.”

Kane said nothing. He was too tired. Finally, Kane sat up. Soon thereafter, time lost meaning for him. The dominant continued the training after injecting him with stimulants. Kane used other advanced weaponry, gaining proficiency with each, becoming lethal beyond his previous experience.

After two days of this, Oran Rva told him, “It is time for your departure. As previously stated, you are returning to Earth. There, you will acquire a critical item. You will bring it to the Throne World.”

Kane sat rigidly, ingesting the data.

“This is a category one assignment, as you will have already surmised,” Oran Rva said. “I am giving you a raptor identity along with a class one intent code. Five assassin teams will be on standby on Earth waiting for your word.”

These were unprecedented conditions. If Kane didn’t know better, he would guess the Throne World convulsed with worry over this item. That was incredible.

“You will use a scout and rendezvous with Exodus Eight,” Oran Rva said. “Because you are a commando now instead of an agent, you will practice a sub-aqua entry onto the planet. After you have gained the item, you will go to the Tango Point for a flash exit.”

In spite of himself, Kane’s eyes widened. This was more than convulsed worry on the Throne World’s part. This was panic. That would explain why the dominants were allowing him to use the highest-class weaponry.

“You will use the Nexus of course,” Oran Rva said.

For the first time, fear welled within Kane.

“You will leave in five hours,” Oran Rva said. “Before that, you will memorize the exact parameters of the mission. Are you ready?”

“I am,” Kane said.

“Stand,” Oran Rva told him.

Kane did so. The New Man stood taller. Kane was thicker and heavier. Even so, he knew the dominant was stronger than he was and could kill him in hand-to-hand combat—unless he fought Oran Rva while wearing the enabler.

Do not think such a thing in his presence. Act like ice. I am ice
.

Oran Rva stared at Kane. The black eyes seemed to burn.

Kane feared the other knew his thoughts.

It seemed, then, for just a moment, that the faintest of smiles appeared on Oran Rva’s face. That vanished a second later.

“Follow me,” the dominant said, turning around.

Kane obeyed, struggling to understand what the hint of smug superiority and amusement he’d just witnessed could mean. The situation brought heat to his neck and anger washing against his mind. With everything in him, Kane attempted to throttle the fury. What was wrong with him? This was what he wanted, another chance to prove himself.

I am the commando. With my success, I will show Oran Rva he can trust me with tougher assignments. I must not ruin what might be my last chance for greatness.

***

Hours later, Kane sat in a scout, a nondescript spacecraft. It would be unremarkable in both the Commonwealth and Windsor League. The small vessel drifted toward a large silver pyramid many kilometers in diameter, the Nexus.

The pyramid was in a star system in the Beyond. No Star Watch vessel had ever been out here. This Nexus was beyond the Throne World in its distance from Earth. Like the Nexus hidden in the Commonwealth, the pyramid lay deep in an artificial asteroid belt. Unlike the Commonwealth pyramid, this one had several star cruisers in orbit.

Kane’s heart beat faster. He was about to transfer almost three hundred light years in a single bound. As far as he knew, this was the outer limit that one could travel in this way.

He dreaded the coming journey. Would the greater distance mean greater pain?

In order to drown his fear, Kane inspected the scout and its equipment. In doing so, he kept passing a hatch, one he hardly recognized as such. One time, he paused before the hatch. Vaguely, he realized he mustn’t go into the compartment. Then, something in his mind caused the hatch to disappear from his consciousness. He continued with his inspection.

After checking everything on the scout except for the “ghostly” compartment, Kane returned to the control room.

Instead of entering the secret world of espionage among the norms, he would practice a commando assault. He had never failed to beat the enemy directly. His failures had only come in grabbing the wrong people. This time, he couldn’t fail in that regard. The item was very particular and there were no substitutes in the known universe. He would go to Monte Carlo, to Nerva Tower, to snatch the item.

A light winked on his board.

Unlike the last time he’d made such a transfer, Kane hadn’t needed to enter the pyramid to set the coordinates. A dominant had done so for him.

With trembling hands, Kane worked the controls. The engine
thrummed
into life. He tried to think of some way to postpone the moment.

Then, a grim phenomenon occurred outside the spacecraft. A tiny pulsating glob of matter appeared. It shimmered and expanded, rapidly growing to a little more than twice the scout’s size. It was a transfer portal.

Kane could no longer draw air. With a shaking hand, he tapped the controls. The scout headed for the pulsating matter. Kane couldn’t tear his eyes from it. He knew the journey would cause him to ache as nothing else could. Kane tested his straps and made sure a water bottle was nearby in order to rinse out his mouth later. He was going to vomit on the other side, hopefully not any blood, though.

The portal grew larger.

“No,” Kane moaned. “I don’t want to do this.”

Then, the scout entered the portal, disappearing as it began the great leap across three hundred light-years…